Weird things had been happening to Cassidy for as long as he could remember. However, the twenty-four-seven hallucination was getting old. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr- a perky blond woman who had no recollection of alongside Percy, had been there since Christmas. Every so often Percy would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if he could trip them up, but they would stare at him like he was psycho.

If he had been alone, Cassidy would have assumed it was a bipolar hallucination, something he had when he was really stressed. Grover's inability to lie and Percy also having said hallucination really hit home that it was very, very real.

The freak weather really did not help any, he felt tired and worn as the weather got worse, like the air itself was sapping his strength. He rarely if ever got sick and ended up with the flu twice. Still, he managed to keep Percy in line and their grades and behavior were top of the line so they never failed out. Even attacking Nancy seemed to be pushed under the rug, Cassidy had managed to talk his way out of it stating there were literally cameras showing her theft and constant bullying and so she was removed from school making life far easier for him, Grover, and Percy.

Life was getting harder though in other ways. Percy, thanks to Cassidy actually getting him to own up to his emotions, got Grover removed as his roommate and Cassidy moved in his place. Cassidy currently was helping him to study the difference between Charon and Chiron.

"Charon is the ferryman to Hades, Chiron is the Centaur Teacher of countless heroes."

Percy nodded, pleased. "It's good only one of us has Dyslexia, I'd never get this far without you."

Laughing, Cassidy gestured to his head. "Bipolar disorder might be worse but I digress. The meds do wonders."

"Hey...do... do you think we should confront Mr. Brunner? He lied to us, but he does seem to care... maybe if he's alone, we can confront him?"

Sighing, knowing that would not really help, Cassidy still nodded. "Fine, but if he lies again we are done with him. We deserve better than that treatment. Bring your Mythology book, it would be a good excuse if we are asked why we are walking out of hours."

Together they walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. They were three steps from the door handle when they heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir. And honestly, Cassidy scares me, his aura is unlike anything I have ever seen."

They froze.

Inching closer, with open ears, the two boys shared a frown.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. And Cassidy... I am not even sure we know what he is. It has been far too long since I have seen anything similar to him."

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line- "

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"Sir, he saw her... ."

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that.. or I would say that if Cassidy was not pushing him past it. That is my worry. I fought to have them separated, but the Principle seemed immune to the Mist, I saw traces of magic on him. I suspect Cassidy."

"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"

The mythology book dropped out of Percy's hand and hit the floor with a thud.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

Quickly, Percy picked up the book and backed down the hall.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than their wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.

They opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

A few seconds later they heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled woodblocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. Cassidy shivered, the air feeling colder for a moment.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me."

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.

They waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. Finally, they slipped out into the hallway and made their way back up to the dorm.

Cassidy immediately frowned as soon as they got into their dorm. "Something big is going on, why do they suspect me so much though? What the hell did I do to be so... well feared I guess."

Percy shook his head. "Not a clue, but you'd tell me if you knew, right?"

"Always."

""""

The next afternoon, as they were leaving the three-hour Latin exam, Mr. Brunner called Percy back inside. So, naturally, Cassidy not trusting the man he too followed his friend into the office.

"Percy," he said. "I-"

"Save it." Cassidy started. "You are a liar, and we caught you in that lie. Whatever you are hiding, you will be found out and if we find out you are a threat you will be delt with." Cold as ice, Cassidy's hate overpowered his attempt at calm. Madness always oozed at the edges of his mind, he pushed back at it but the damn thing oozed forth with lairs and threats. "Now, leave him alone unless you would like to be dealt with early."

Nodding, Percy and Cassidy left, leaving a gaping Mr. Brunner looking after them.

Despite avoiding Grover since the Incident at the Museum, the three of them ended up sharing a bus on the way to their home.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other

passengers. It occurred to Cassidy that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when they left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. It seemed like regular anxiety before, but now there was a new edge to it...

Percy, after a while, started. "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"

Percy confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"

He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."

"Grover-"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

Cassidy grabbed Grover's arm and squeezed, making the boy squeak out. "Liars really piss me off, Grover, I'd advise you to make the smart choice." Then he let go, making Grover cower and holding his arm in pain.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer. Both of you I guess." The card was in fancy script, which was odd in and of itself.

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half-" Percy asked.

"Don't say it aloud!" Grover yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."

"Okay," Percy said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded. "Or ... or if you both need me."

"Why would we need you? You're a liar." Cassidy added, cold and unyielding and almost hateful. "We've been protecting you for the entire year, you did nothing but lie to us and talked about is with Brunner in secret. Why trust you at all? What have you done to earn it?"

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple and sighed with great sadness. "Look, Percy, Cassidy the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you both."

They both started to laugh, Percy in confusion and Cassidy in amusement. Grover was bullied, abused, and had not an ounce of spine. Cassidy and Percy had protected him dozens of times throughout the last year.

"Grover," Percy asked, "what exactly are you protecting us from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that they'd all have to get off. The three of them filed outside with everybody else.

They were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On thier side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with the afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks Cassidy had ever seen.

They were massive socks, each the size of full-blown sweaters. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at ... Percy!

They looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face.

His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" Percy said. "Hey, man-"

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. They heard Grover catch his breath.

"We're getting on the bus," he told them. "Come on."

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but Cassidy and Percy stayed back unlike spineless Grover.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching Percy. The middle one cut the yarn, Cassidy actually could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving them wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once they got going, a rush of exhaustion overtook Cassidy, like he was suddenly ill.

Percy looked feverish to be honest, it was kind of sad. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?" Percy asked.

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling us?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

His expression was hard to read, even for Cassidy who could usually figure out what people were feeling rather simply. However this time it was like there was a block, like something was masking everything oozing from Grover other than fear. That made him wonder if the Old Ladies were worse than Dodds had been.

He said, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older. He said, "You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?"

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"Grover, What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you both home from the bus station. Promise me."

Percy frowned and turned to Cassidy. "Only if you agree to tell us more." Percy asked.

Grover went cold. "Please!"

"We don't associate with liars Grover." Cassidy shrugged. "That's really on you more than anything."

And yet, as he said these words, he finally felt something ooze off of Grover. Like real emotion, like the ice around him was thawing and he could smell the raw emotion behind the ice. It reeked of fear, of course, but something far greater that he could hardly understand.

And that scared him more than anything.