Chapter 3
Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants
[Aaron]
Time to confess: we ditched Grover immediately after we got off the bus.
We know it was rude, but we have reasons.
First off, Grover was really freaking us out, acting like it was our funeral, an muttering "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?" But we weren't surprised when he had to go to the bathroom right away, because when Grover gets nervous, his bladder acts up.
And the second reason why we ditched him, was because we both really, really wanted to see our mother again.
Even though it had only been a couple months since we had last seen her, we were definitely homesick, even if we had to put up with our nasty, abusive stepfather, who was always home.
Anyway, Grover told us to wait for us while he went to the bathroom, so we slipped out of the terminal and hailed a taxi.
"East One-hundred-and-forth and First," Percy told the driver.
We decided that I shouldn't fly us back home because, it was the middle of the day in summer, so a lot of cars were on the roads. In the winter, he flew us back home, because there were actually some snow and clouds that would hide us from any onlookers.
Also, a word about our mother, before you meet her.
Her name is Sally Jackson, and she's the best person in the world, no doubt about that, which just proves our theory that the best people always seem to have the worst luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five-and-a-half, and raised by an Uncle who never cared for her. She always wanted to be a novelist, so she spent her High-School working to save enough money for her to go to a college with a good creative-writing program for her to learn how to write. Then, her Uncle got sick, with cancer, and she had to quit her school to take care of him in her senior year. After he died, she was left with absolutely nothing. No money. No family. And no diploma.
The only real break she ever had, was meeting our father.
We didn't have any memories of him, at all. The only thing close to confirming he existed to us, was this warm glow, maybe the barest traces of a smile. Our mom doesn't like to talk about him, because it makes her sad to think about it. She doesn't even have pictures of him either.
You see, they were never married. She told us that he was very rich and important, and that their relationship was a secret, no one else knew. Then, on day, he sailed out across the Atlantic on some important travel, and never came back.
"Lost at sea," our mother always told us, "Not dead, lost at sea."
She always worked odd jobs, took night classes, working towards her High School diploma, and raise the two of us, all on her own. But she never complained, not even once. But Percy and I both knew, that we weren't easy kids to raise,
Then, she married Gabe Ugliano. The bane of our existence. Who was nice for about the first thirty seconds we knew him, then he stripped away that 'kind act' and showed his true colours as a world class jerk. When Percy and I were young, we nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. You can't blame us for that, because his smell was toxic.
Between the three of us, we made our mothers life pretty stressful. Between the way Gabe treated her, and the way me and my brother got along with him, well . . . when we got home from Yancy is one example.
My brother and I walked into or family's little apartment, hoping our mom was home from working. Instead, Smelly Gabe and his friends were in the living room playing poker, television blaring ESPN, chips and beer cans discarded everywhere, not just in the living room, but the whole house.
Hardly looking up at all, he said, "So, you two brats are home."
"Where's our mom?"
"Working," he said. "You two got any cash to hand over?"
That's it, and that's all it ever has been for us. No, Welcome back. Good to see you two. How has your lives been these last six months?
Gabe had put on a lot of extra weight he couldn't afford to gain. He used to look like a walrus, but now he looked like a giant Blob Fish in dirty thrift store clothes. He only had about three hairs on his head (whatever caused him to lose it all, I don't want to know), all combed over his shiny, bald scalp, as if that made him look better.
He was supposed to manage the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, we don't know how he even got hired there, or managed to keep the job, because he stayed home all the time collecting paychecks and spending it on cigars, choking on the poisons that come from it, and I was surprised that the building's fire alarm didn't go off. And beer. Always on beer. That's why there were more cans of it strewn on the floor than anything else. Whenever we came home, he expected us to give him money to gamble in his game, which he called or 'guy secret'. Meaning, if either one of us tell our mom, he'll knock us out the window.
"We have no cash." I said
He sceptically raised a greasy eyebrow.
Gabe was like a bloodhound when it came to money, which surprised everyone, because his own smell should'v covered up everything around him.
"You two took a taxi, because it's summer," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. You've got six, seven bucks in change. If anyone expects to live under this roof, they ought to carry their own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"
Eddie, who was the building's super, looked at the two of us with a hint of sympathy.
"Come on, Gabe," he said. "They just got here."
"Am I right, Eddie?" Gabe said, a bit more stern
Eddie shrunk back into his seat, looking at his poker ships with interest. I was grateful for him sticking up for us, even if it was a failed attempt to do so anyway.
"Fine." Percy said, giving in. "I hope you lose."
"Your report cards came in, brain boy, I wouldn't act so snooty!" he said to Percy.
"Hey!" I said to him. "Leave my brother alone
I probably should have left it alone, because that probably got us both in more trouble with him, more than just existing, which was enough to tick Smelly Gabe off as it is.
"You . . ."
Gabe started to say, but was interrupted by the opening and closing of the front door to our apartment. Percy and I took that as an escape, because it wast probably our mother coming home from work. We ran to the front of our apartment, overjoyed that it was in fact, our mom.
"Percy! Aaron!" She shouted excitedly. "Oh, my boys!"
"Mom," I said weakly.
"You're crushing us . ." Percy said, the out of him.
"Sorry. She pulled back from the hug and smiled "You two have grown since Christmas!"
Our mother can make anyone feel good, just by being near them. She was wearing her Sweet on America uniform, which smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and a lot of other stuff that she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She always brought home a huge bag of 'free samples', the way she always did when we got home.
We decided to have a talk in our room, so Gabe wouldn't hear what we were talking about.
We all sat on Percy's bed, while me and him attacked different sweets from our bag of 'free samples', our mother demanding to know everything that we either didn't tell when we were home on winter break, or whatever we didn't tell her in our letters. I was grateful that she wasn't mad of our being expelled and that she didn't even bring up that topic. She didn't care about that at all. But were we both okay? Were her two little boys doing all right?
Percy told her she was smothering him and to lay off. But secretly, I knew he was glad she was here, and so was I.
Suddenly, from the other room, Gabe yelled out, "Hey Sally . . . how about some bean dip, huh?"
I was seriously debating on whether I should get my brother to toss that pig out the window.
Our mother was the nicest person in the world. She should have been married to a billionaire rather than that garbage dump in the living room
We both tried to make the year sound better than it was. We told her that we weren't to down about being expelled from Yancy. We tried to sound exited that we almost lasted an entire year this time, which for us, was a new record by far. We had made some new friends. We hadn't done that bad in Latin class. And to be honest, the fights werent as bad as the headmaster said they were. We both liked Yancy Academy. We put such a good twist to our last few days at Yancy, that I almost convinced myself. I started thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit didn't seem so bad at the time.
Until we got to the part with the museum . . .
"What?" she asked us, trying to guess at what could have made us falter. "Did something scare you two?"
"No,"
"Mom." we lied
I felt bad lying to her. I wanted to tell her what happened with Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies at the fruit stand with the yarn, and I had a feeling Percy was feeling the exact same way, but I thought it would sound crazy.
She knew we were holding something back, I could tell by the look on her face, but she didn't force us to tell what it was.
"I have a surprise for you two," she said. "We're going to the beach."
Our eyes widened.
"Montauk?" we both asked.
"Three nights, same cabin as last time."
"When?" we both asked, waiting for an answer.
She smiled. "As soon as I get out of my work uniform."
I was utterly shocked, and Percy's face mirrored my expression. The three of us haven't been to Montauk for a couple summers now, all because of Gabe was really greedy and said 'there wasn't enough money for the trip', which really pissed Percy and I off.
Gabe appeared in the doorway of our room, growling, "Bean dip, Sally? Are you too deaf to hear me?"
Percy and I were ready to toss him down the stairs and beat him, but I met our mother's eyes and I understood she was offering us a deal; be nice to Gabe for a bit. Just until she was packed and ready for our trip to Montauk. Then we would get out of here.
I held my brother back, so that he wouldn't anger Gabe. When he saw how serious I was, he calmed down, just enough to not want to kill Gabe.
"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about our trip."
Gabe narrowed his eyes "The trip . . . You mean you were actually serious about that?"
"I knew it," Percy muttered
"He wont let us go." I said.
"Of course he will," our mother said. "Gabe's just worried about money. that's all. Besides," she continued. "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make sure to make him enough seven-layer dip to last the entire weekend."
Gabe heard this and softened a bit."So . . ." he said. "This money for the trip comes out of your clothes budget, right?"
"Yes, Gabe." she said.
"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."
We'll be careful."
Gabe scratched his giant double chin. "Maybe . . ." he said. "If you hurry up with that bean dip," he added. "And if the kids apologises for interrupting my poker game. And if he . . ." he said, pointing at me. "Says sorry for being rude."
Maybe you should think of what you did to deserve it, and maybe if I kick you in the soft spot and shove you out the window, I thought
But I really wanted to go to Montauk, so I stayed quiet
Gabe looked at me expectantly, which really pissed me off.
I wonder why our mother still put up with this guy, especially when he treated her with immense disrespect.
"We're sorry," Percy muttered.
"We're really sorry for interrupting your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it, right now." I said.
Gabe looked like his tiny brain was working to its limits, trying to detect sarcasm in our apology.
"Whatever." he finally decided.
He then lumbered back to his buddies in the living room.
"Thank you." our mother said to us. "Now, can you two help me carry our bags out to the car?" she asked.
"Yea," I said
"Anything to get out of here as fast as we can."
She smiled at us.
"Once we get to Montauk, you two can tell me . . . whatever you forgot to tell me." her smile wavered a bit.
For a brief moment, I saw anxiety in her eyes, but it lasted for a millisecond, only to be replaced by the same smile as before, though it seemed just a bit forced.
She ruffled our hair, and then went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.
About an hour later, we were ready to leave for Montauk
Gabe, being stubborn, got up from his poker game to see us away, Sad that he would be losing our mom's cooking for a whole weekend, and even worse, his 78 Camaro, which he barely ever used. He gave me and Percy a lecture about 'harming his car'.
Like we were going to be the ones driving the thing.
We were both twelve, not close to being eligible to drive yet.
But Gabe Didn't care. If anything, and I mean anything, happened to his Camaro, he would somehow find a way to blame me or Percy for it, most likely both of us.
"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy." he began lecturing my brother. "Not One."
I just rolled my eyes and got in the back seat of the car, as Percy got in the front.
Suddenly, we both did something very odd at the moment, and we can't explain why. Almost like we did it subconsciously. As Gabe reached the screen door, we both made a hand gesture in unison, the one we saw Grover do on the bus that I thought he was crossing himself, now I realized that it was more of warding-off-evil gesture. We made a clawed hand over our hearts, then shoved that gesture outward toward the 'evil', known as Gabe. We were surprised when the screen door shut so hard that it whacked him on the backside and sent him up the flight of stairs, almost like you see when someone was just shot out of a cannon. It was most likely a freak accident with the hinges.
We told our mom to step on it, then we peeled out of the lot and onto the road, heading to Montauk.
The cabin we always rented was on the south shore of Long Island, way out at the tip. It was a small pastel box with faded curtains, half shredded and sunken into the dunes.
We had to clean out the place every time, because it always had spiders in the cabinets and sand in the bed, but we were able to sweep them away, but it was still a pain in the butt to do. Our mother didn't mind the state of the cabin every time we got there, because this was the place she had met our father.
Most of the time, the water was too cold to swim in. But on times that it wasn't cold enough to freeze our noses off, Percy would always ask me to fly him up above the water, so that he could dive from that height.
Me and my brother were surprisingly good swimmers for our age, better than some adults as well.
As we got closer to Montauk, our mom seemed to grow younger in years, looking like mountains of stress had been relieved off of her shoulders. Her eyes turned the colour of the sea.
We got there at sunset, cleaning up the run-down cabin and opening all the windows, and at least tried to dig the sand dunes away from the windowsills. We walked on the beach for a couple hours, fed blue corn ships to some passer by seagulls, and munched on blue saltwater taffy and a lot of other sweets that we had brought along with us.
We should explain the blue food.
Once, our mother and Gabe were having this argument, which was majorly small at the time, that blue food didn't exist, that there was 'no such thing' and other stuff like that. But ever since that day, our mother had gone out of her way to make blue food. Blue matching twin birthday cakes for Percy and I (Obviously on our birthday), mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home as many blue candies as she could bring back. All of this as well as keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself 'Mrs. Ugliano', which sounded stupid anyway, was proof that she was a rebel like us, not suckered up to Gabe and his greedy needs.
When it got dark out, we decided to make a fire, and I decided to light it. The memories here . . . how I longed to be a kid again, carefree of what was happening in the world around me, living a somewhat happy life (Though nobody could live a 'happy' life with Gabe around).
I was lost in my thoughts, until Percy snapped his fingers in front of my face.
"Watch out," he said. "You might burn yourself with the lighter."
He was right, I had almost burned my hand because the lighter had already lit the fire, and the flames licked at my hand. I instinctively pulled it back.
We were roasting marshmallows, kind of a tradition around a camp fire. Mom told us the stories of when she was young and her parents had taken her here, until they died in a plane crash. She also mentioned the books she wanted to write one day, when she got enough money to do so.
Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask what was always on me and my brother's minds when we came here. Our dad. But Percy beat me to that question.
Our mom looked lost in memories, and I figured she would tell us the same thing she always did when it came to our father. But we never tired of hearing it.
"He was kind," She said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful, but gentle too. You two both have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."
She sighed, fishing out a blue jelly bean out of her bag of candy. "I wish he could see you two, he would be so proud."
I really didn't see what he could be proud of, I mean, two ADHD and dyslexic kids, who have been kicked out of every school they have attended.
"How old were we?" I asked. "When he left?"
She stared at the flames coming from our little camp fire. Her response took me away.
"He was only with me for one summer," she said. "Right here at this beach
"But . . ." Percy started. "He knew us as babies, right?"
"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, turned out to be two, but he never saw either of you. He had to leave before you were born."
That thought didn't settle well with me. The fact that our father had never known us, much less seen us. The reason why this new information didn't settle well with me or my brother, is because the only memory, we thought to be of him, was this warm glow . . . a smile. And now we were being told that he never knew us.
Percy and I always assumed he knew us in our infant year. Our mom had never said anything about it outright, but even then, I'd felt like it must have been true. And here we were, being proven wrong.
I admit, I felt a little resentment against our father, but it died down a bit almost instantly, though it would be there for a while, especially since he left us to suffer with Smelly Gabe.
"Are you going to send us away again?" Percy asked, his voice cracking a bit. "To another boarding school?"
She didn't meet our eyes, pulling a marshmallow from the fire.
"I don't know," Her voice was heavy. "I think . . . I think we will have to do something."
"Because you don't want us around?", Percy looked like he wanted to take what he said back.
Our mom was on the verge of crying. "Oh, Percy, no. I . . . I have to, honey. for your own good. I have to send you two away."
Her words reminded me painfully of what Mr. Brunner had said to us . . . that it was for the best that we left Yancy.
"Because I'm not normal." I said, they both turned to look at me. I just stared at the flames. Percy looked like he wanted to punch me for saying something that stupid. What a loving brother.
Our mother was close to breaking down.
"You say that as if . . . as if that was a bad thing, Aaron. But you have no idea how important you are. Both of you." she said.
"I thought Yancy would be far enough away, for you two to finally be safe." she said, almost to herself.
"Safe from what?" we both asked.
She looked up, and met our eyes. A flood of memories began to pour into my head, like a pitcher pouring water into a bowl . . . all of the weird and scary things that happened to both me and Percy over the years, most of which, we both had tried our hardest to forget.
One example was when we were in third grade. A man in a black trench coat was stalking us on the playground. Then, when the teachers threatened to call the police on him, he walked away grumbling. Though, no-one believed us when we said that under his broad-brimmed hat, he only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.
Way before that, a really early memory, when Percy and I were in Pre-school, and a teacher had accidentally put Percy to sleep in a cot that a snake had slithered its way into. When out mother came to get us, she found Percy and I playing with a long, snaky rope that Percy somehow managed to strangle with his meaty toddler hands.
I shivered remembering that.
In every single school my brother and I attended, something dangerous and scary had happened, and we were forced to move.
We both knew that we had to tell out mother about what happened with Mrs. Dodds, and our hallucination that we somehow sliced her up. But we were afraid it would be the end of our family trip, and I, personally, didn't want to spend any more time near Gabe then needed.
"I've tried to keep you two close to me," she said. "They told me that it was a huge mistake . . . but there is only one other option for you two . . . the place your father wanted you to be. And I . . . I just can't seem to let you go there."
"Wait," I said. "Why would he want us to go anywhere special, when he has never met us in the first place?" I asked. Percy nodded, wanting to know the answer too.
She looked at us, sadness clearly in her eyes.
"It's a special place, for . . . for kids like you." she said.
"Please," Percy groaned. "Not another boarding school."
"Not a school,: she calmly said. "A summer camp."
Hold up . . . you're probably wondering the same thing as me and my brother; why would our father, someone we had apparently never met, want us to go to a summer camp? Well, you're about to find out soon . . .
"I'm sorry, you two," she said, seeing the shocked look on our faces. "But I can't talk about it, It . . . it might mean that I will never see you two again, say goodbye, for good."
"I thought you said it was just a summer camp?" I asked.
She turned her head towards the fire, the look on her face meaning that if we press her anymore, she might start crying.
I am always used to weird, vivid dreams. But this one, was one of the worst I have had in a while.
It was a stormy night, and I was standing there on the beach, my wings wrapped around me protectively, so I wouldn't freeze to death (But I knew it was just a dream, and not real). Two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were fighting to the death. The two animals exchanged attacks the horse kicking the eagles wings, and the eagle trying to rake its claws across the horses muzzle. A dark, monstrous voice seemed to be amused by the animals' fighting, goading them to fight harder.
I ran towards them, knowing I had to stop them before anything goes wrong, but the wind was so strong that I was sliding in the sand.
I had to retract my wings from around my body, exposing me to the cold weather, so that I didn't go flying backwards and end up buried under the sand.
I saw my brother on the other side of them, desperately trying to run against the wind, but to no avail.
We watched, hopelessly, as the eagle dive down, aiming at the horses wide eyes, as the scene fell away. Waking me in a cold sweat.
I heard thunder, and realised that there was actually a storm happening, the ones that crack houses from their foundations. There weren't any animals on the beach. No horse, no eagle. Lightning flashed through the window, giving me the false impression of daylight. Waves relentlessly washed up against the shore, pounding the dunes like artillery.
I looked over from the floor I slept on, to the bed my brother sit strait up in. his eyes wide, but a bit tired.
The next thunderclap woke our mother up. She sat up strait, with wide eyes and said, "Hurricane!"
A year ago, that would've sounded ridiculous. Long Island never saw hurricanes this early in the year, but with all these storms brewing, I could think anything was possible.
We were startled out of our thoughts as we heard a soft banging sound against the door of our rental. The door sprung open, due to the severe wind, and standing there, was our friend.
"Grover," I said to myself.
"Searching . . . all night," he gasped. "What were you two thinking?" he asked us. But I just stared at him, dumbfoundedly.
Our mother looked at us, her face was stern, but riddled with fear.
"Percy, Aaron," she shouted over the wind. "What didn't you tell me, what happened at school?"
I didn't even register my mother talking to us, just stared at him. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"
I still didn't register his words, until I realized that he had cursed in Ancient Greek, and I had understood him perfectly. Sensing my brother right next to me, still as a rock, just staring at Grover like he just came from another planet. But he could have, from what I was seeing in front of me right now, right where his legs should be . . . where they should be . . .
"Boys!" She yelled sternly at us. "Tell me. Now."
Percy and I rambled something, together, about Mrs. Dodds, the demon math teacher, and three old ladies on the side of the road. I didn't know if they could understand what we were saying, because we sure as heck didn't.
She wasted no time after we finished , and grabbed her purse, and tossed Percy his rain coat. I didn't have one here, because I could easily just cover myself with my wings to keep warm. But that wasn't what I was worrying about.
Grover was runni-. . . no, trotting, towards our step-father's car. And all of the sudden, Grover's muscular disorder in his legs all made sense to me, how he could run so fast but still limp.
Because where his lower half should be, wasn't human. No.
Our friend, was half goat.
Hey guys! I'm really, really, really sorry that this update came so late, but I had a lot of school work and I'm only now, able to upload it.
So, here you go!
I hope you enjoy this one, because I put more effort into the end than I should have been able to, considering I finished this at 11pm.
Next chapter, if there are any reviews, I will try my best to answere any questions, and ignore the hate comments.
Anyway, I am asking you guys (I know, I shouldn't ask anything of you since I made you wait this long, but just listen) if you could try to create a good cover picture for this book, that would be amazing!
Anyway, enjoy!
Peace out ..
