Disclaimer:

I DO NOT own this series. That goes to the wonderful Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. I am just borrowing the story and characters. I will say that the story lines will be written down because it makes it much easier to follow along and know the current placement, especially if it has been a while since reading the book. Also, this is not beta'd so there will most likely be a few mistakes, feel free to let me know. Enjoy!

Oh, this is also only my second story ever so please be gentle. I've been really enjoying getting to share how I would imagine characters would react to their tales and I hope to continue to do so.

Book

'thoughts'

"speech"

Here's our next chapter, I've gotton a good rhythm going so this may have quite a few initial updates. More to read and share! Thanks to those commenting, they've really helped a ton while working on this. Enjoy!

Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

"I'm sorry, what?" Annabeth said.

"Um… Have I never mentioned this?" Percy cringed.

"No, you have not." She growled.

Percy hunched his shoulders, "I'm fine, let's just read, okay?"

Annabeth relents and motions for Thalia to begin.

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. 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 blond 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 prealgebra teacher since Christmas.

"Who was she anyways?" Percy asked Chiron.

"Oh, she was a mortal. I have a few teacher connections with substitutes just in case school situations happen," the centaur explained. "They're all subs who are willing to just show up. Makes things easy."

"Huh, would've never thought of that," Percy shrugged.

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.

It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

Almost.

"Bet you Grover gave it away." Travis told his brother.

"Not taking that bet. Too obvious." Connor replied. Grover was blushing hard when Percy nudged him.

"You've gotten a lot better, man." He said. Grover gave him a small smile in thanks.

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.

"It's hard for satyrs to lie," Dionysus spoke shocking everyone, "Have to be really lucky for it to pass off as true."

"You're paying attention?" Apollo asked incredulous.

"Of course not." The Wine God scoffed going back to reading his magazine.

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.

"How often?" Grover winced.

"Not as often as you think, but when I got stuck on the memory of the museum, I got them. So, maybe every few weeks? They freaked me out more than anything." Percy shrugged.

Chiron frowned, he had never noticed Percy struggle those days."

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.

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.

"Seems like you're very connected with your father if you're mood is changing so easily." Hestia commented.

"Probably," Percy shrugs. "My mood can change real fast."

"The sea changes as fast as the tide." Poseidon smirks.

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.

That caused the demi-gods to burst with giggles.

"Haha, what does that even mean?" Travis struggles to ask.

"A drunk." Annabeth answers finally calming down.

"Oh, so D?" Hermes chuckles.

The comment causes the laughter to start up again, this time a few of the gods joining in.

The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

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.

"Poker parties?" Nico asks.

"It's not Paul. You never met this guy." Percy is quick to say. "Thankfully." He mutters to himself.

Unfortunately, both his parents heard him and frowned; what was that supposed to mean?

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.

Grover smiled hearing his friend's thoughts. He had never had another demi-god friend who was worried for him like Percy. Sure, they had the empathy link, but it was nice to know he felt that way before knowing about the bond.

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.

"If only it could have lasted a bit longer." Grover sighed.

"Eh, I don't think it would have made much of a difference." Percy argued. "If anything, it might've been worse."

He received many confused looks from the campers.

"Think about what the timeline of my first quest and the events." Percy pointed out.

At that there were sounds of agreement and nods.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.

Annabeth and Athena gasp at the thought of hurting a book.

"I'm sorry, okay?! I was getting super frustrated; it definitely didn't help that I felt like I was going insane!" Percy tried to justify to the glaring ladies.

Hearing that Annabeth had to reluctantly nod, it was difficult even she had had the urge to throw something every now and then. Just never a book.

Athena just continued to glare at the boy, furious.

Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.

"Oof, that's actually a great way to describe the dyslexia." Thalia paused in her reading.

"Yeah, hurts after a while." Someone groaned.

There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover look to each other trying not to burst out laughing at the memories.

I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.

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.

"I knew you were trying, Percy." Chiron smiled proud.

Percy nodded, already hating how much this book was revealing. And they were only on chapter two!

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.

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.

"Okay, I eavesdrop, like, all the time, but even I can agree there's no way anyone wouldn't have listened in that scenario." Connor argued.

"Guess that habit decided to stay with you. Huh, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth chuckled nudging her boyfriend.

Said boyfriend flushed, "Not my fault I always seem to be in the perfect place to hear stuff."

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."

"Ah, I didn't mean that badly." Chiron cringed.

"No, I get that one, I mean I was only twelve." Percy said dismissing the teacher's worry.

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—"

"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."

"That was not your fault, Grover!" Annabeth chastised. However, Zeus was growling. In his mind his daughter ending up as she did was definitely the satyr's fault.

"I made my choice! You know I told you to save the others." Thalia chided.

Grover nodded sadly, "I know, but I still feel bad, Thals."

Thalia and Annabeth sigh heavy, maybe someday they'll be able to get Grover to believe them.

"Speaking of you, how are you not a tree?" Apollo asked, blunt as ever.

"Percy." She replied.

The gods looked to the boy who shook his head.

"Don't look at me, it was Clarisse's quest."

Clarisse sighed, "Prissy, just accept you did it. You were the reason I even got the quest."

"Whatever."

"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 my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

"No, don't give away your position!" Hermes shouted.

"This has already happened man." Percy chuckled.

"But… still." The Messenger god deflated.

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.

"You're not disguised?" Zeus bellowed. He was getting annoyed at how much attention this demi-god was receiving.

"We had a Kindly One attack, why would I not be prepared?" Chiron said looking unimpressed.

The Lightning Lord when silent. There wasn't really anything he could say to that.

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.

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."

"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."

"Ugh, those were awful." Both Grover and Percy groan.

"Come on, they couldn't be that bad." Annabeth said not believing them. Surely there was worse.

"Just wait, the book may mention them. At least Chiron's should be." Percy motioned.

Chiron was thankful nobody could see him flushing. He remembered that final. 'Maybe it was a little too much.'

"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.

"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.

"Wouldn't help, Peter." Dionysus muttered still shocking the others.

"Well, I didn't know that at the time, did I?" Percy remarked.

The Wine god looked over his magazine at the boy eyebrow raised. Eventually, he returned his attention back to his reading, muttering under his breath.

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.

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.

"Oh gods. Really, Chiron? Three hours?" Annabeth whined. Her mother looked to her prepared to berate her daughter.

The girl saw her mother's expression and was quick to cut her off. "Sorry mother, but even for me, and many more of my siblings, three hours is torture. ADHD would make that a horrible time and I may be able to tough out dyslexia better, but it does still affect me after a while."

Athena sat there, mouth agape, quickly shutting it once she noticed. Surely, it's not as bad as the children were saying. Yes, they were just exaggerating.

Meanwhile, Percy was cringing at the memory of what was about to occur.

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.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's…it's for the best."

"Yup, you still suck at inspirational speeches." Hermes chuckled.

Chiron winced looking down.

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.

"Ah, maybe I should have waited until after." Chiron grimaced.

"Might have helped." Poseidon muttered.

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."

"Just stop making it worse man." Apollo said.

My eyes stung.

Here was my favorite 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.

"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—"

"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."

"Percy—"

But I was already gone.

"Ah, Percy I never meant-" Chiron started.

"I know, I know. Just wasn't the greatest thing to hear since I didn't understand." Percy murmured.

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.

"Nobodies, right." Chris drawled.

"Well, a few of us are Nobody." Annabeth smirked.

That caused the demi-gods who were on the Sea of Monsters quest to snicker. The gods look among them confused.

"Um, second book I believe will talk about it." Percy breathed out still trying to stop laughing.

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 fall.

"You don't need to do that honey." Sally said. "I'd figure it out."

Percy winced this wouldn't be a fun experience when they got to Gabe.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

"Rude." Hestia muttered causing many to jump. She had been so quiet.

The only person I dreaded saying good-bye 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.

"Ah, yes, convenient that." Nico droned.

"Oh, shut up." Grover muttered.

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.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

"Nearly gave me a heart attack there, Perce." Grover chuckled.

"Well, you were the only way to get answers, G-man."

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.

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…"

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."

"TRUTH!" the Stolls scream out startling everyone.

"Quiet!" Zeus thundered. He was getting irritated at all the interruptions. At this rate it would take forever to finish just this book. His brothers on the other hand were finding this all too humorous, especially at the sight of their little brother's face.

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, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"Why's it in calligraphy?" Sally asked.

The demi-gods point to Dionysus. "Mr. D makes the cards."

"It makes it look nice," he defended.

"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.

"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 and Sally yell.

"Sorry!"

"Hold on, let me continue before you gripe at him too much." Thalia interjected. Percy looked to her with thanks.

It came out harsher than I meant it to.

The ladies settled down in their seats at that.

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.

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.

"Yeah, I can see how that didn't sound right." Grover acknowledged.

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me 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 we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

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.

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 I'd ever seen.

"No…" Poseidon whispered, clutching Percy to him tightly.

The other demi-gods saw this with jealousy, but that was quickly dispelled. If anyone deserved a parent's worry it was Percy.

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.

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.

A whimper was heard. Yup, it was the Sea God tightening his hold on his son.

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

"No, no…" the plea could be heard by all.

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?"

"Not the time, Kelp head." Annabeth growled.

"How was I to know?" Percy stuttered trying not to complain at his father's tight grasp.

"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. 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."

"Come on!" He pried 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. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.

A few exhales of laughter were heard, but the tension of the room was still high.

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 we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling me?"

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, 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."

"How are you alive man?" Travis let out a breath.

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."

"What last time?"

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

"And now you're gonna start freaking him out." Chris muttered.

"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."

This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.

"Fat lotta good that did." Grover said.

"Sorry."

"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?"

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.

"Dude, seriously. How are you not dead?" Connor asked.

"It- Dad? Can you let up some?" Percy started, but couldn't breathe right. Poseidon let up the hold a bit, still keeping his son in his reach.

"It wasn't mine." Percy got blank and incredulous stares. "It's kinda like they were warning me. Like my fate was tied with another's. It's hard to explain."

Thalia let out a held breath. "Okay, on that note. Who wants it next?"

Apollo waved a hand. "I will!" He got looks for his excitement. "What? I'm the god of prophecy. Clearly if something hasn't happened to him, and he's obviously sure of the answer I see no reason to not agree with Percy. Anyways I haven't noticed anything since meeting him, usually that would have happened by now."

Impressed sounds are heard. It was rare to see Apollo be so serious.

The Sun god cleared his throat and read out the next title.

AN: And there it is. We've got a good start going. Based off how this has been so far this week will have a few updates for us. Yay! Hopefully we'll get through a good chunk of the book!

Feel free to review/comment or if you prefer to PM, I read all of them! Thanks again to those who have already been sharing their thoughts, they've been so refreshing to read.

See y'all next time!