Chapter 2: Knitting Fate

As soon as everyone arrived back at Yancy academy, they were all sent back to their dorm rooms. Percy bunked with Grover, which is why the two of them were friends. You kind of have to become friends with your dorm mate, or you'll just be miserable.

Once they got back to their dorm, Percy glanced at Grover. "Hey, I'm gonna go get an early night, okay?"

Grover looked at Percy with sympathy, before nodding. "Yeah, I hear you. Sleep well Perce."

Percy just nodded and climbed into bed without changing. He didn't go to sleep, however. Instead, he thought, 'Willow? Are you there?'

'I am,' came the voice of Percy's alter ego. 'What is it you require of me, Percy?'

'I have some questions,' he told the crazed half of him.

There was silence for a minute, before Willow spoke up, 'Ask away. I shall answer to the very best of my abilities.'

Percy nodded as he took a minute to decided which question he wanted to ask first. He settled on, 'When exactly did you start to...live inside of my mind?'

Willow laughed softly, 'Ah...you wish to know of that day. It was 6 years ago.'

'When though?' he pressed.

'I remember it as if it were yesterday...' Willow sighed happily. 'You and mother were speaking in the kitchen, when the door opened and fat fuck Gabe came home. Mother quickly hid you in a cupboard and told you to stay hidden, but you opened the cupboard just a crack. Gabe walked into the kitchen and asked where you were, and mother said she'd put you to bed. Gabe looked at her and told her to strip.'

'What?!' Percy yelled at Willow. 'Why don't I remember any of this?'

'If you will let me finish,' Willow snapped. 'I'll explain. Mother tried to persuade Gabe not to, but he got angry and hit her. He began to beat her, and it traumatised you to such an extent that it broke your sanity. And as your sanity broke, I was born and took the brunt of it. The easiest way to say this is that you- Percy- are legally insane, you are just the sane half.'

Percy gulped at that. He didn't want to be insane, but he was grateful Willow was born and was insane instead of him. 'Wh...what happened next?'

The black haired boy could feel Willow smile. 'Ah yes...I assumed control of our body and stepped out. Gabe grabbed a knife and said he would kill us, and I asked him a question. He tried to hurt us, so I...' Willow frowned. 'I honestly do not know how I did what I did...I accessed a...strange power, and with it as my aid, I killed Gabe.'

Percy's heart stopped for just a second. 'Y...you killed Gabe?'

Willow's smile returned in full force and he giggled psychotically. 'Yes...I killed him...he hurt our mother...he had to suffer for what he had done...after I killed him, mother said your name. I told her I wasn't you. She asked who I was and I told her that I am Willow. She then asked if I were her son. I told her I was, when finally the stress of the power affected me. It was a strange ability, and it tired me out. You returned to control with no memories of the event, and I fell into a deep slumber...and when the strange creature attacked you, I assumed control again.'

He nodded slowly, 'I...I see...I'm assuming the power you used is the same one you used against Mrs. Dodds?'

'Yes...' Willow confirmed. 'I do not know why or how I am able to use it, I simply am, and I simply know how. I wish I were able to explain it more, but I am unable to.'

He took a deep breath as he thought about what he'd learned. Smelly Gabe was dead, which meant he'd never come back, and explained why his mom suddenly had a lot more money so they could have a bit of a better life. He had a...split personality? 'No that sounds stupid...'Percy thought to himself. 'Alter ego? Yeah, alter ego sounds better.'

'Indeed it does,' his psychotic half happily agreed. Split personality sounded really stupid.

Percy ignored Willow and continued his train of thought. He had an alter ego that symbolized he was insane, and also had access to a weird power. 'Could I use this power?' Percy questioned.

Willow hummed, 'I see no reason why you couldn'thowever...I think you would need to learn from scratch. I'm just able to use it, I never learned, I was able to use it as soon as I was born inside of your mind. I don't think I'm able to teach you how to use it either...'

The sane half tried not to feel disappointed, 'I see...'

'Any other questions?'

Percy lightly shook his head, 'Not right now...this talk was very...enlightening. I'm sure we'll speak again more in the future.'

'But of course,' Willow agreed. 'Right now, however, I think I need to rest, as should you.'

He didn't speak, instead opting to close his eyes and follow Willow's advice. Percy Jackson drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to believe that Mrs. Dodds never existed.. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom Percy had never seen in his life until she got on the bus at the end of the field trip-had been their pre-algebra teacher 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 Percy like he was crazy, which he technically was.

Percy could have believed them. Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

But he knew she did. It was impossible for her not to.

The pieces all fit together no matter where he put them. The first was Mr. Brunner's ballpoint pen. Any time he pulled the cap away, it changed into a bronze sword. And then there was Willow, who had been the one to kill Mrs. Dodds. And then there was Grover.

Poor Grover, he couldn't fool Percy. Whenever Percy mentioned Mrs. Dodds to Grover, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. Grover might have fooled someone who didn't know him, but Percy knew Grover too well, and could tell he was lying.

Percy knew something strange was starting to happen. The incident at the Museum proved it.

He didn't really have much time to think about it, with exams right around the corner, but there were times that visions of Mrs. Dodds with her sharp talons and leathery wings would awaken him in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help Percy's mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in his 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 his class studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

He was also starting to feel really cranky and irritable, so much so that Willow had to calm him down as best he could, lest he be forced to take control. His grades slipped from Ds to Fs, and he got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends, although Willow noticed something strange about Nancy. Out the corner of Percy's eyes, he noticed that Nancy seemed to blush sometimes when looking at Percy, and he filed the thought away for later. Percy also got sent out in nearly every single class.

Finally, when his English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked Percy for the millionth time why he was too lazy to study for spelling tests, he snapped. He called him an old sot. He'd wanted to say a lot worse, but Willow hadn't let him, claiming it was his job to yell profanities and not Percy's.

The headmaster sent Percy's mother a letter the following week, making it official: he would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

'Fine,' Percy had told himself. 'I'm glad to get away from this hell hole for good.'

He wanted to live with his mother in their little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if it meant going to a public school and enduring all the insults that would no doubt be tossed at him there.

Despite that, Percy knew there were things he'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside of his dorm room, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. He'd miss Grover too, he'd been a damn good friend to Percy, even if he was just a little strange. Percy was honestly worried about how Grover was going to survive Yancy without him.

Percy would miss Latin class, too- Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that Percy could do well.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test Percy had studied for. He hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told him about this subject being life-and-death for him. With what happened in the museum, Percy would be a fool not to believe Brunner.

The evening before his final, Percy got so frustrated that he threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across his dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling in his head, the letters doing one-eighties. There was no way he was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. His dyslexia was just so damn bad, it was a nightmare.

'I'll never remember any of this crap!' he screamed mentally, clearly frustrated.

Within his mind, Willow sighed. He had expected this, so he was once again going to calm Percy down. Most people would think that- being insane- you wouldn't calm someone down. But the most insane people know that they had to hide it from the world and just tell people the things they wanted to hear.

'Calm down, Percy,' Willow told his sane half. 'There is no use in getting frustrated about this.'

'I know Willow,' Percy replied, still clearly annoyed. 'But still...maybe I should just go ask Brunner for help...'

Willow hummed, 'That might be for the best.'

Percy picked his mythology textbook off the floor and took a deep breath. He 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.

He was three steps from the door handle when he heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."

Percy froze solid. Now, he wasn't normally an eavesdropper, but Grover was talking about him to an adult, how could he not listen in and find out what they were talking about. He inched in 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 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, though I do hope he doesn't uncap the pen...I still have no clue how he got it to look like that."

'Mist?' Percy thought. 'What on Earth is that?'

'It sounds like some method of mind control,' Willow piped up. 'He said it was over the students and staff...keep listening in.'

"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-"

Percy's textbook slipped out of his fingers and hit the floor with a thud.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

'Hide!' Willow hissed.

Percy didn't need to be told twice.

His heart hammered against his chest, but he 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.

Percy opened the nearest door and slipped inside as quietly as he possibly could.

A few seconds later, slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, was heard, and then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside the door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. A bead of sweat trickled down Percy's neck and he stopped himself sighing in relief.

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.

Percy waited in the dark for what felt like an eternity. 'What...was that about?' he thought. 'Summer solstice deadline? Kindly Ones? Mist? Failing his duties? Keeping me alive until next fall? What the hell is going on?'

'I don't know,' Willow's voice came, sounding baffled. 'But you should head back to the dorm quickly, or Grover might get suspicious.'

There was no denying that. Percy waited a bit longer before finally slipping out into the hallway, and making his way back up to his 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?"

Percy didn't answer. He couldn't bring himself to.

"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just... tired." Percy turned way so his expression couldn't be read, and he started to get ready for bed. He didn't understand what he'd heard downstairs, none of it made any sense. Only one thing was perfectly clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about him behind his back. They thought he was in some kind of danger.

The next afternoon, as Percy was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, his eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names he'd definitely misspelled, Mr. Brunner called him back inside. For a moment, he was worried Brunner had found out about his 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."

His tone was kind, but Percy wanted to punch the man in the face for embarrassing him. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids that were finishing up the test could still hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at him and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips...although Willow noticed her eyes. They were...sad? He filed away the information for later.

Percy 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."

His eyes stung. Percy honestly felt like crying. Here was his favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling him that he couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in him all year, now he was telling him that he was destined to get kicked out. What a kick in the balls that was.

"Right," Percy said, visibly 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," he snapped. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me that I'm a weirdo."

Mr. Brunner frowned, "Percy-"

But Percy was long gone. He ran through the halls, hiding his face as he held back tears. Normally he'd run to his dorm room, but today he went somewhere else. He headed to the roof of the school. Nobody was ever there, so it was a place where he could be alone in peace. He stood by the railings, looking down as tears fell from his eyes.

'Stupid Brunner...' he thought to himself. 'Stupid Nancy...stupid principle...stupid Yancy Academy...stupid everything!'

'Would you like me to take control for a little while?' Willow asked him.

Percy shook his head, 'No, knowing you, you might do something I'll regret.'

Willow's voice came, this time amused, 'Something you'll regret? Why will you regret it?'

'Because you don't have regrets,' Percy quipped, something Willow laughed at. However Percy froze when he heard the door open. Nobody came up here! He quickly turned, and blinked in surprise at the sight of the person he last expected to see, "Nancy?"

She smirked at him, "Look at who I found! Not coming back to Nancy next year Jackson?"

Percy scowled, "What's it to you?" he growled at her, in no mood for her shit. "My exams are done Nancy, and I don't have anything stopping me from kicking your ass right here and now."

Nancy blinked in surprise at Percy's aggression, before she sighed. She walked over and stood to his right, looking over the school. "In all honesty, Percy," she said softly. "I really am gonna miss you. You might be a huge dufus and a loser, but you made school interesting. It won't be the same without you here."

He blinked at her words, before snorting, "I thought you'd be glad to see me gone. You did get into fights with me and Grover a lot."

She chuckled, "And that's what made it interesting. There won't be anybody for me to pick on once your gone."

He snorted, "Nice to see you think so highly of me." He didn't know why he was talking to her. Any other time, Percy would have just left, but right now, he just didn't care anymore.

"Mhm..." Nancy continued to stare out at the school, and Percy's gaze shifted as well, looking over the school and town. "Hey Percy?"

He turned his head to her, "Yea-" he was cut off as Nancy's lips pressed against his. Green eyes widened in shock, and Willow was at a loss for words at what was happening. Nancy was...kissing him!

Nancy kissed him for damn near five minutes, and Percy had stood there, stunned the entire time. She pulled away, and gave him a small smile, a huge blush spread across her face. "Don't be a stranger Percy," she told him softly, before she turned and left the roof.

Percy watched her go, his eyes still wide. He slowly lifted his hand to his lips. He could still taste her...her lips were warm...and soft...

'That...wasn't so bad...' Percy thought to himself. Willow didn't speak, but Percy could just tell that his alter ego was in agreement with him.

On the last day of term, Percy shoved his clothes into his 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, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. Percy was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.

They asked Percy what he'd be doing this summer and he told them that he was going back to the city. What he didn't tell them was that he'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend his free time worrying about where he'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool." And then they returned to their conversation as if he'd never existed.

Of course, Percy hadn't really paid attention to them. His thoughts were still on the events that happened on the roof about a week ago. Nancy Bobofit- someone who he considered his worst enemy- had kissed him! Why did she do it? What did it mean? And why did she tell him not to be a stranger? It was all so confusing, and Percy just didn't know what to think.

The only person Percy dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover, but as it turned out, he didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as he did, so there they were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to Percy that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when they left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, Percy'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Willow was suspicious as well. Ever since the museum, Grover had been acting stranger than usual. He kept looking around the school and sniffing the air, he fidgeted around a lot more, and then there was the talk with Mr. Brunner. Grover was definitely hiding something...

Finally Percy couldn't stand it anymore. He said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

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

Percy, against his better judgement, 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 dead-line?"

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," Percy told him bluntly. It was mean, but true.

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 Percy's dyslexic eyes, but he finally made out what it said.

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."

Percy felt his heart sink. Grover had a summer home? Percy had never even considered that Grover's family might be as rich as all the other kids at Yancy. "Okay..." he 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?" Admittedly, it came out a lot harsher than Percy had meant for it to sound.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."

Percy stared at him. All year long, he'd gotten into fights, kept bullies away from him, lost a LOT of sleep worrying that Grover'd get beaten up next year without him! And now he was acting like he was the one who had defended Percy!

"Grover..." Percy spoke slowly, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under their 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 everyone would have to get off. The two 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 their side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from pass-ing 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 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 Percy had ever seen in his entire life.

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.

The strangest part about it though? They all seemed to have their gazes locked right onto Percy.

Percy looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

Within his mind, Willow frowned as he looked at the ladies. Things were very strange. First the weird thing that was Mrs. Dodds attacked them. Then Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about Percy, like he was in mortal peril. And then these three ladies were looking at them while knitting HUGE socks. Not to mention the pen that turned into a bronze sword...and Grover's face while he was looking at the ladies.

"Grover?" Percy said in concern. "You alright man? You aren't looking so good..."

"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."

'Well I thought it was clever...' Willow mumbled.

'Of course you do, you're part of me,' Percy told him, making Willow grunt in acknowledgement.

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. Grover's breath caught in his throat.

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

"What?" Percy said incredulously. "It's a thousand fucking degrees in there!"

Willow snapped at Percy, 'Hey, cursing is my shtick!'

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

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

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

Once they got going, Percy started to feel feverish, as if he'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better either, he was shivering horribly and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?" Percy asked.

"Yeah?" Grover responded shakily.

"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?"

'Don't worry about it,' Willow told Percy. 'If they are, I'll just kill them. Job done, right?'

'Not helping Willow!' Percy told him, focusing on Grover again.

His expression was hard to read, but Percy 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."

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 Percy said it, he could tell it was a big deal by how Grover was reacting.

"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, you're freaking me out man," Percy said. He was really starting to get scared. "What are you talking about?"

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

Willow's eyes narrowed, 'He knows something! He didn't deny anything about Mrs. Dodds! He's hiding something from us!'

Percy could tell, but he was going to press Grover for more information. "Grover...that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

Grover looked at Percy mournfully, like he'd already picked which flowers would look best on his coffin.

Percy tore away his gaze from Grover, and let himself fall into a conversation with Willow. 'Something weird is going on...what could it possibly be?'

'I don't know,' Willow mumbled. 'If we figure it out, then maybe it can explain my powers...we need to figure out, Percy. Grover and Mr. Brunner are hiding something...maybe mother will know something..."

The sane half didn't respond, but Willow knew he was in agreement. Percy's fist clenched. He was going to find out what the heck was going on around him, one way...or another.

There we go! Another chapter done. I was thinking of making this a PercyxNancy but if you don't want that just tell me. I should be updating soon maybe later today or tomorrow. I'll update soon. Until next time!