Percy and Grover go wide-eyed at the title and turn to each other.
"You don't think..."Grover started but didn't want to finish.
"Oh, I'm sure this is it." Percy grimaced. "I assume you never told anyone cause I didn't."
"No. I didn't." Grover replied grimacing.
"All I'm hearing is that someone is going to be smacked." Clarisse smirked while looking at Annabeth who looked like she was compilating murder them both.
"We are screwed" Both boys groaned slumping into their seats. Poseidon had finally calmed down but was now worried about what was about to happen.
(I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle.)
"That must have sucked." Jason remarked thinking back to how he woke up with no memories.
(For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs Kerr – a perky blonde woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip – had been our maths teacher since Christmas.)
"Wait, so did the mist just make a whole new person?" Hazel asks Grover in awe of the power of the Mist.
"No, the mist can't do that." Grover says shaking his head. "Chiron just had a daughter of Athena on standby if something happened." Hazel nodded, understanding that the Mist had limits.
(Every so often I would spring a Mrs Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.)
"You are a psycho." Every Greek Demigod that had ever been a part of one of his plans.
"Yeah, man. Your plans are stupid and insane but somehow they work." Chris said to Percy. Hazel and Frank glanced at each other again, remembering how everyone looked when he back talked Mars.
"Thank you. What does it matter if they work?" Percy asks looking around.
"They're dangerous. " Thalia said. " Plus I'm pretty sure they only work if you're the one doing them or are nearby."
Poseidon looked ready to ask a million questions about what his son got up to but he knew he would find out soon, so he kept his mouth shut.
(It got so I almost believed them... Almost)
"Groovvver." The Greek groaned. Hermes and his kids looked at each other and nodded.
"Hey, Grover, how bout we help you out with you lying either during breaks or after this whole thing is over." Travis asks.
"Cause you're gonna have to lie at some point." Conner pointed out.
"Yeah. I might take you up on it." Grover said to them, thinking of all the past quests.
(But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.)
"Yeah. Maybe we start sooner." Chris said wincing. Hermes and the Strolls nodded. Grover just slumped a little further in his seat.
(Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.)
"I used to get those too." Thalia said. Both Greek and Roman camps nodded knowing the night terrors that came with the job. Zeus and Poseidon started to glare at Hades again. The rest of the Gods looked around at their kids wondering what they went through in the future.
(The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.)
All the Gods turned their eyes to Poseidon and Zeus, who both cringed.
"You know better than to kill mortals in your squabbles." Hestia chastises them. The two Gods slump down on their thrones.
(I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.)
"So, your emotions are tied closely to your father's mood." Athena noticed.
"I will admit I have a problem with my temper as well." Percy mumbles but loud enough to be heard. Poseidon looked slightly worried at that knowing that his powers are tied closely with his emotions and would be quick to get out of control.
"Your grades dropping must have been rough." Leo remarked looking up from his designs.
(Finally, when our English teacher, Mr Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.)
There was scattered laughter at that.
"What does that mean?" Leo asks.
"It means old drunk." Annabeth says through her laughter. Leo's face brightens in understanding before he starts laughing.
"Oh, so he called him dad then." Dakota said before he was smacked on the back of the head by one of his father's vines. The laughter got a little louder at that.
(The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.)
"That's the sixth school in six years right?" Gwen asks. Percy nodded. "That must suck."
"Eh, you get used to it after a while." Percy shrugs. The Greeks gave him sympathetic looks, each understanding the hardship at least a little.
(Fine, I told myself. Just fine. I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.)
"I didn't think Paul played poker." Thaila said confused. Every Demigod who had met Sally and Paul was confused.
"No, not Paul. This is my stepfather who came before him." Percy said gritting his teeth, he had forgotten about Gabe. He could already feel his dad's gaze on him.
(And yet… there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.)
"Thanks, man." Grover deadpanned.
"No problem." Percy grinned.
(I'd miss Latin class, too – Mr Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.)
Poseidon nodded glad that Percy was starting to understand even subconsciously.
(The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.)
Athena and Annabeth both glared at Percy, who winced.
(Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.)
"Is how it is for all of you?" Athena asked the Demigods. They all nodded.
"I'm pretty sure Percy is the worst one at camp with Dyslexia." Annabeth adds.
"We don't get anything like that." Reyna said.
"I'm just lactose intolerant, but I don't know if that's from Demigodness." Frank pipes up. Everyone even the Gods look at him weirdly.
(There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,)
"Well, I know it now." Percy laughs. "Both ways the spelling and what they look like."
"Is it because Chiron is your teacher and that you have never been to the Underworld?" Poseidon asks his son dreading the answer.
"Sure, Dad." Percy says unconvincingly. Poseidon just smacked the back of his head on his throne.
(or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.)
"We don't have that problem." Jason grins at Reyna.
"Lucky you." Groans the Greek Demigods.
(I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.)
"I hate that feeling." Conner shudders as his brother nods.
"How do you know?" Gwen asks.
"One of their pranks backfired on them." Chris told her grinning.
(I remembered Mr Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.)
"And that's all anyone ever gets from him." Katie says smiling at Percy. Percy blushes at the praise. Poseidon grins proudly at his son.
(I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat 'F' I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.)
"Aww, Perce, I'm sure he knew you were trying as hard as you could." Grover said to Percy.
(I 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. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said, '… worried about Percy, sir.' I froze.)
"Oh, I forgot this had happened." Grover said to himself. Everyone glanced at him before going back to listening.
(I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.)
"I'm pretty sure each and every one of us would." Piper said glancing around, seeing most people nodding.
(I inched closer. '… 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.' 'But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline –')
"Deadline?" Apollo asks leaning forward. "Deadline for what?"
"I don't know. If you would let me read we might find out." Athena says staring Apollo down.
('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.' 'Sir, I… I can't fail in my duties again.' Grover's voice was choked with emotion. 'You know what that would mean.')
"He's right, Grover." Thalia says with a serious face looking him straight in the eyes. "What happened was not your fault." Grover blushed but nodded saying he understood.
('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 autumn –' The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.)
"Ooo, that's not good." Hermes says. "You just gave away your position."
"Thank you, Hermes. I didn't realize." Percy sarcastically says.
(Mr Brunner went silent. My heart hammering, I 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 my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.)
"He brought out a bow with mortals around?" Artemis asked Grover.
"Well, it was after the time the students were supposed to be there." Grover shrugs. "We didn't want to take chances on it being another monster after the Fury. " Artemis frowns but nods, understanding the need to be cautious.
(I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.)
"Did you and Chiron not know Percy was there?" Will asks.
"No, his scent was everywhere in the school." Grover says. "Because of that, it's difficult to tell where he is."
(A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Somewhere in the hallway, Mr Brunner spoke. 'Nothing,' he murmured. 'My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice.')
"What happened at the winter solstice?" Demeter asks.
"You will have to find out at the same time as the others." Percy told her.
"You need to eat more cereal." Demeter tells him. Katie, Nico, and Hades groan.
('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. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.)
"You may not be able to lie but you can act your pants off." Chris says to Grover.
('Hey,' he said, bleary-eyed. 'You going to be ready for this test?' I didn't answer. 'You look awful.' He frowned. 'Is everything okay?' 'Just… tired.' I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.)
"You know satyrs are empaths. So, they don't need to see your face." Dionysus tells Percy. Everyone startles as that was the first thing he's said all day.
"Yeah, I know that now. " Percy says. "But I thought he was a normal kid then so." He shrugs.
(I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.)
"Percy's always in danger. What else is new." Nico shrugs. All the Greek Demigods nod even the Roman Demigods who have known him for about 2-3 days. Poseidon grows very worried at the nonchalance of the danger his son could be in and wonders what exactly has happened in his son's life.
(The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.)
"Oh Gods, please don't let this be one of his pep talks." Annabeth begs.
"Why?" asks Dakota.
"Because while he may be able to train the best heroes. He sucks at trying to encourage them." Apollo tells him. " He somehow always says the wrong thing." The Greek demigods nod even Jason who has been there a while now.
('Percy,' he said. 'Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's… it's for the best.')
"Yup. There it is. The beginning of the end." Hermes chuckles to himself.
(His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.)
At that Aphrodite almost throws up.
(I mumbled, 'Okay, sir.' 'I mean…' Mr Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. 'This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time.')
"Oh Gods, this is worse than normal." Apollo laughs. All the demigods are wincing at this point.
(My eyes stung. Here was my favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.)
"You know he didn't mean it like that." Grover tells Percy.
"Yeah, I know now. But then..." Percy just shrugs.
('Right,' I said, trembling. 'No, no,' Mr Brunner said. 'Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say… you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be –')
"Wow. This was the worst pep talk I have ever heard." Reyna says shocked that such a good trainer is unable to give encouraging speeches.
('Thanks,' I blurted. 'Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.' 'Percy –' But I was already gone.)
"So. That was awful. Most defiantly Top 10 of the worse speeches I've ever heard." Ares said. Everyone was shocked he said something as there was no action.
(On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.)
"Percy. You are not a nobody. You are my son and my son isn't a nobody." Poseidon tells Percy.
"You're also our leader. I wouldn't let a nobody be the leader if I could help it." Clarisse says making Percy smile at her. "This doesn't mean anything Prissy."
"Thanks, guys."
(They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the autumn.)
"You shouldn't be worrying about a job or school. You're twelve." Poseidon points out.
"Yeah well, all the schools knew me and my reputation. Mom also couldn't homeschool me cause we couldn't afford it." Percy told his dad, he didn't mention having to stay home with Gabe, when his Mom went to work.
('Oh,' one of the guys said. 'That's cool.' They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.)
"Rich kids." Scoffs Rachel.
"Aren't you a rich kid?" Annabeth asks.
"Yeah but I'm not like them."
(The only person I dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover but, as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.)
"Woah, what a coincidence." Will laughs.
"Who would have thought Grover would end up on the same bus?" The Strolls laughed. Grover rolls his eyes at them.
(During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.)
"I think you might freak him out with how your acting." Thalia tells Grover who winces.
(Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. I said, 'Looking for the Kindly Ones?')
"Percy." Annabeth says fondly.
"You almost gave me a heart attack when you said that." Grover laughed
"Well, I wouldn't have if people would tell me things when I asked questions." Percy grinned.
(Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. 'Wha – what do you mean?' I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr Brunner the night before the exam.)
" Don't confess!" The Strolls, Chris, Hermes, and Apollo yell out startling everyone.
"Not necessary." Hera glares at them.
(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 maths teachers…')
"I doubt that will work seeing as he's asking about it." Will points out.
"I had to try." Grover shrugs.
('Grover –' 'And I was telling Mr Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs Dodds, and…' 'Grover, you're a really, really bad liar.')
Everyone nods even Grover himself.
(His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. 'Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.' The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes,)
"Why is it in script anyway?" Katie wonders.
"Because that's how Mr. D makes them." Annabeth sighs. All the Gods with kids glare at Dionysus who pretends to be asleep.
"Of course it is." Grumbles the Greek Demigods.
"Get them reprinted so they can actually read it." Poseidon sternly tells Dionysus who slumps on his throne and nods. The Gods stop their glaring now that the problem is going to be fixed.
(but I finally made out something like: Grover Underwood, Keeper Half-Blood Hill Long Island, New York (800)009-0009 'What's Half –' 'Don't say it aloud!' he yelped. 'That's my, um… summer address.' My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.)
"Eh, I think we are a bit richer than them." Nico says.
"Sorry man, I didn't even think you would take it that way." Grover apologizes to Percy.
"Nah man, It's cool."Percy shakes his head. " I understand now."
('Okay,' I said glumly. 'So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion.' He nodded. 'Or… or if you need me.' 'Why would I need you?')
"Percy!" Annabeth turns to him and smacks him on the head.
"Man, that's harsh." Chris tells Percy.
"I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Percy says.
(It came out harsher than I meant it too.)
"See?" Percy throws up his arms.
(Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. 'Look, Percy, the truth is, I – I kind of have to protect you.' I stared at him.)
"Yeah, I can see where he would be confused." Jason says. " It sounds like you were the one keeping bullies away when it was the other way around."
(All year long, I'd gotten in fights keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.)
"You didn't tell me you lost sleep." Grover turns to Percy horrified. "I knew about the fights obviously but not you missing sleep."
"It wasn't a big deal." Percy says. "I didn't want to bother you." The Gods exchanged looks thinking him different from past demigods. Dionysus and Artemis watch the boy, thinking that he was kind but he could always prove them wrong.
('Grover,' I said, 'what exactly are you protecting me from?')
"Oh, you know. Everything." Thalia says casually.
"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" Poseidon says slowly. "Did you say everything?" The Greek demigod glanced around each other.
"Who's gonna tell him?" one asked.
"Don't. Let him live in denial." Another said. "It's better that way."
"She's exaggerating, Dad." Percy glares at his friends. Frank and Hazel wonder if they will come back from their quest alive if Percy really has that many enemies.
(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 we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.)
"Oh. That's not good." Leo says.
(We were on a stretch of country road – no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our 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 afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.)
"And now it's the start of a horror movie." Leo adds on.
(The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red 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 I'd ever seen.)
Everyone in the room paled even the Romans who had a small amount of Greek Myth knowledge knew who these women were.
"No." Poseidon shakes his head. "It can't be them."
"You didn't tell me about this." Annabeth turns to Percy.
"To be fair, we were barely friends in the beginning then I forgot about it." Percy points out.
(I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. 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.)
"It is them. What are they doing there?" Poseidon asks shakenly.
(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 me.)
Everyone was on the edge of their seat except for Percy and Grover who were trying to hide in the cushions.
"Get on the bus. Run away. I don't care just get away from them."Poseidon mutters to himself.
(I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. 'Grover?' I 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?')
"Now is not the time for your jokes Percy." Annabeth snarls as the group nods in agreement with her.
('Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all.')
"I told him." Grover says to Annabeth thinking it might keep her from smacking him later.
(The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath. 'We're getting on the bus,' he told me. 'Come on.' 'What?' I said. 'It's a thousand degrees in there.')
"Get on the bus. I don't care how hot it is." Poseidon mutters.
"Dad. I'm here. I'm fine." Percy says trying to calm his dad down.
('Come on!' He prised open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.)
"How are you still alive?" Reyna asks as everyone is staring at Percy like he's gonna drop dead right there.
"I'm alive. I'm fine." Percy mutters to his dad before answering. "I'm sure it will come up in one of the later books but that yarn wasn't mine." He told the group just to keep his dad from passing out thinking Percy might die.
(Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for – Sasquatch or Godzilla.)
Everyone laughs shortly as they come down from the terror of reading about The Fates.
(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.)
"Oh. Of course, It comes back on now that The Fates are gone." Apollo scoffs. Grover and Percy glance at each other wondering if they were meant to witness them cutting the thread.
(The passengers cheered. 'Darn right!' yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. 'Everybody back on board!' Once we got going. I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.)
Poseidon whimpers.
"Hey. I'm fine. I've told you, I'm not going anywhere." Percy promises his dad.
(Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. 'Grover?' 'Yeah?' 'What are you not telling me?')
"Oh not much. Just everything that's being hidden about your life." Nico shrugs.
(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?')
"No. They're worse." Hades mutters. "Much worse."
(His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs Dodds. He said, 'Just tell me what you saw.' 'The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn.')
Everyone winces.
(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?' But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. 'This is not happening,' Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. 'I don't want this to be like the last time.')
"Oh no, Grover. You're gonna freak him out." Will says while Grover winces.
('What last time?' 'Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.')
"Oh Gods, Grover." Annabeth groans.
"Cue freak out." Hermes states
('Grover,' I said, because he was really starting to scare me. 'What are you talking about?' 'Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.')
"He not going to keep it." The Strolls say.
"At least not with how you are acting." Chris adds. "I'd run away if my friend started acting like that."
(This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. 'Is this like a superstition or something?' I asked. No answer. 'Grover – that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?')
"Yes!" Screamed everyone. Percy covered his ears from the loudness of their voices.
"I got there. I know now." Percy stares at them. "Calm down."
(He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.)
"Who wants to bet that Percy ditched Grover at some point?" The Strolls called out.
"No. That's a fool's bet." Clarisse stated.
"Ok. That was the end of that chapter. Who wants to read next?" Athena asks holding out the book.
"I'll read." Hermes said getting up and grabbing it.
"Wait, before you read the next chapter can we get a 15-minute break." Annabeth asks The Gods. "We've been reading for awhile."
The Gods looked at Zeus. He looked around the Demigods and fidgeting said, "Go. Be back in 15 minutes. Eat, Drink, and go to the restroom. Whatever you must do."
"Thank You." The Greeks got up from their seats and left the room. The Romans followed behind but not before bowing to The Gods.