Athena walked towards Piper and took the book from her, "I'd like to read the next chapter."

THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH

"That is...an interesting title I have to say."

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty- four/seven hallucina-tion 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 pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Athena mused over the words she had read, "The Mist seems truly powerful."

Carman beamed, "It is! Grandmother is amazing, she invented it, I look up to her."

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.

"Pfft, he is psycho!"

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

The demigods and descendants looked at both the past and future Grover.

Travis looked over at Connor, "I believe he needs lessons. Give him our business card Connor," Travis then looked back at Grover as he looked over at the card he was handed, "call us soon you poor un-lying soul."

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.

All demigods and descendants nodded, they understood what he meant. The first monster was something that would stay with you your whole life.

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.

Everyone looked at Poseidon and Zeus, bluntly glaring at them.

"And what is it this time dear brothers?" Hestia shook her head.

Zeus jutted his chin haughtily, "Who are we to know, this is the future."

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.

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.

Annabeth burst into a fit of giggles, surprising those around her as she had been crying only moments ago. Everyone looked at as if she was crazy besides Annie who had also burst into fits of giggles herself.

Annabeth had calmed down enough to notice the looks that were directed at herself and her younger self, "Old sot is a drunkard." She then burst into giggles, putting a fist against her lips to try to quite her giggles.

It did not work as those around her fell into laughter in a domino affect, the Stolls and Leo having fallen off their seats which had then cause another round of laughter from everyone.

Nico had tears coming out of his eyes while putting a hand on Thalia's shoulder to support himself, "So like Mr. D?"

His question had caused many of the past and future Greek demigods along with Jason to cackle. This had caused many of those who did not know who Mr. D was to look at them as if they were lunatics.

"Who is Mr. D my child?"

Nico looked at his father still laughing, he could not speak so all he could do was point at Dionysus. Apollo and Hermes joined in the demigods antics while some of the Olympians had only giggled, amused at Dionysus' rapidly growing purple face.

The Romans had looked at their Greek counterparts in shock and anger at their blant disrespect towards a God. Only for them to be even more shocked as Apollo and Hermes had joined them and the other Olympians having showed amusement.

"How dare you Nicole! I will turn you into a rat!"

Dionysus' threat had only caused the demigods to burst into laughter again, "He still messes up our names!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss it."

Athena quickly read on before Dionysus could say anything.

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.

The future Greeks excluding Piper, Jason, and Leo suddenly felt homesick themselves. They missed going to Aunt Sally's and spending the night there away from the Greek world. They missed the nights when they all surrounded the T.V while watching a movie with popcorn strewn across the living room from their previous popcorn fight and Sally's blue cookies having just come out of the oven as Sally called them from the kitchen. They would all then fall asleep, piled together as one big happy family in Percy's living room, the movie still playing. They missed Percy most of all.

The Olympians noticed the sad looks the future Greeks had. They wondered why, maybe they missed their home?

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.

Thalia along with those who didn't know that Percy had a previous stepfather were confused. Percy enjoyed being with Paul, the mortal was pretty cool but with the way Percy talked about his stepfather in the book had caused them to wonder why he seemed to dislike him. "Paul doesn't play poker, at least not that I know of."

Grover shook his head solemnly, "No, Paul is his second stepfather. Gabe was his first stepfather, he was not— let's just say he isn't a very likable person."

People looked at him suspiciously as he wouldn't look at anyone.

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.

Underwood looked shocked at the way this Percy seemed to truly care about him. He then looked at the way his older self seemed to beam with delight, "Are we really good friends with him?"

"Oh the best! He's our best friend and we are his, well we actually share that spot with Annabeth. He's always been there for us no matter what, he believed in us and supported us in many ways. He has saved our lives countless times as much as we have, we would follow him anywhere."

Underwood seemed to brighten with every word his older self uttered. He had Annie and everyone else at Camp but he never truly had a best friend and he was glad that the person who was his best friend in the future seemed to be a truly selfless and kind person.

I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tourna-ment days and his faith that I could do well.

Chi shook his head warmly, "I still have faith in you my boy."

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I stud-ied 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.

"Good, believe in Chiron my boy."

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

"What! How dare that sea spawn,"

"Enough mother! Don't say you haven't done the same thing when you're frustrated, if not then I admit that I have. Percy along with many othe demigods have dyslexia, I too get frustrated that I can't read words because of dyslexia. It is not his fault."

Annie was baffled at the courage for her older self to stand up to their mother, she had seen it before but she was still not used to it. She agreed wholeheartedly though, it truly did get frustrating when dyslexia held her back from learning to her full extent.

Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces.

Having noticed her mother about to comment Annabethinterrupted her, "He meant the spelling mother, not the actual difference between each. I believe I had already told you about the disorders demigods acquire in the future, honestly mother. Please don't let your rivalry between Poseidon cloud your judgement of Percy, if you were actually open minded about him then you will see who he is. And even if he actually didn't know the difference between the Chiron and Charon then he certainly does now, he has met both."

Athena was baffled, her future daughter has stood up to her which not many have. She had said things that were true and she was wise enough to consider the factors that were giver to her but Annabeth was right, her rivalry with Poseidon had clouded her judgment. She nodded at Annabeth and tried to convey her apology as she looked into her daughters eyes.

Poseidon hugged Charles closer, "What do you mean he had met both, I understand Chiron but why Charon?"

"It was during a quest my Lord." Her reply didn't comfort him at all, it only caused him a great sense of worry.

And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.

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

Travis and Connor burst into laughter as Clarisse glared at them with a burning rage. She remembered all too well, "So this is how Percy came up with the prank. Oh gods Connor remember Clarisse weirdly dancing around Camp? That was priceless!"

Travis was to busy laughing to notice the fist that came flying towards his face, "Shut it dweeb or I'll punch you again! Don't you dare say anything Connor or I'll gut you too." Connor held up his hands in surrender as he tried hard to muffle his laughter.

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

Chi looked downcast and muttered to himself, only those around him heard, "And he does give me his best and so much more, that poor boy..."

I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.

Athena nodded, still put off about him throwing a book.

I'd never asked a teacher for help before.

"Well that's probably the reason why he is not succeeding."

Annabeth shook her head sadly at her mother, "I have asked him why he never asks for help from his teachers before, he asked me why he would ask for help when the teachers have already given up on him when they found out he had ADHD and dyslexia, why he would ask for help when he knows that they think he is a lost cause. He has been put down by teachers and he learned from a young age that even adults can be cruel, that is why he doesn't ask for help because they wouldn't take him seriously."

Athena was appalled at the reasons her daughter had listed. Mortals were cruel, if they had given the boy a chance... my gods she's a hypocrite. She can see where her daughter is coming from. She vowed to herself that she would be open minded about the boy.

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 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,

"Pfft, yeah right!"

but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.

Many sighed but nodded, they understood that.

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."

Nico and Thalia caught each other's eyes before cackling like maniacs, "We're still waiting!"

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

"Deadline? Why would there be a deadline?"

Thalia looked uneasily at her father before looking at Annabeth, silently asking something with her eyes. Whatever the conversation was she understood and nodded, "It'll come up soon dad."

"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."

"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-"

Poseidon looked at the book and then at Chi in horror, "What do you mean by that brother!" Chi wouldn't look at him, "Answer me!"

Hades laid a hand on Poseidon's shoulder, "Calm down brother, I'm sure your boy is alright." He was answered by a hesitant nod.

The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

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.

"Why would you have your bow out Chiron?"

Chiron looked down at Annie, "Always be prepared my child."

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

Both sets of Stolls nodded in praise.

A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muf-fled 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.

Thalia looked at Chi in confusion, "You are out of your disguise, why?"

"I do not remember, poor planning on my part I suppose. It was very cramped but I guess that is no excuse."

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."

"Don't remind me."

"Oh man, I hate being in school so many times and taking tests. They are the worst!"

Thalia cringed, "Oh Hera I forgot you age differently Goat Boy. Damn I feel sorry for you."

"How dare you use my name in vain!"

"Oh shut it you cow." Hera gaped at her, appalled at the the blant disrespect. The less mature ones in the room snickered, even his royal highness tried to cover up the treacherous burst of laughter that came out.

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.

Dionysus rolled his eyes as he lazily ate his grapes, "Stupid Pedro, satyrs can smell emotions."

Underwood hasn't met Percy yet but his older self said that he was his best friend and he would not let anyone talk crap about him. He looked at Dionysus uncertainly but then looked at his older self who nodded and smiled at him, a sudden surge of confidence replaced his uncertainty as he looked back at Dionysus, "It's not his fault, he doesn't know about our world."

Dionysus looked at the young satyr in interest, he was weak and had little confidence but he had will and had much potential if his older self had anything to say about it.

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,

"Three hours! That's torture!" T.S and C.S dramatically fell to the floor as if dying, grabbing Rodriguez in the process.

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.

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

Annabeth along with Thalia and Grover looked baffled at Chi, "Oh gods no. Chiron how could you? He's going to take it the wrong way and it'll break him."

Chi looked down, "Yes that was a mistake on my part. I hope he forgives me and understanding what I mean."

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.

Thalia scowled at the book, "Ugh that tomato better watch her back!"

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."

Annabeth closed her eyes, "Oh gods just stop, you're only making it worse."

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.

Hestia frowned, the boy wasn't very confident in himself. It was not healthy at all.

"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 noth-ing to be-"

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

"Percy-"

But I was already gone.

Chiron cringed at his future self, "I'll try to say it in a better way when the time comes."

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 fam-ily of nobodies.

"Nobody's! How dare he,"

Thalia glared at her father and stood up, "Dad he has no idea about our world, remember?"

Thalia was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter from Annabeth, Grover, and most surprisingly Clarisse, "Nobody's the best somebody though!"

Annabeth nodded at Grover, "Yeah and not to brag but I think I'm the best Nobody." Clarisse cackled.

Everybody looked at them as if they were maniacs but was waved off by Grover to read on.

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 sum-mer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

Many frowned, they had definitely noticed how Percy wasn't very confident in himself but this...

Those who knew Percy didn't know what to think, the guy seemed to have a hard life, well they knew he had a hard left but they didn't think it was bad before he found out about the Greek world.

Hestia felt her heart ache for the boy, he seemed to be an amazing boy who was kind and loyal, "He shouldn't need to worry so much, especially as a child."

Annabeth shook her head, "He is a hard worker, in the books now he...needed to work but now he works to help out his mother. He works to help get the bills paid so his mother doesn't need to work as much so she can focus on what she loves to do the most— to write. He's an amazing person who has so much love in his heart."

Many of the Goddesses smiled, Annabeth seemed to love him a great deal and Percy sounded like a lovely guy.

Annie had studied the way her older self talked about Percy. She seemed to long for him and love him with every fiber of her being. She was excited to meet him.

Castellan had also been studying Annabeth, she ignored him anyway she could and when she did look at him she would have many emotions in her eyes ranging from sadness, anger and betrayal. And whenever she talked about this Percy guy her eyes would light up and her sunken eyes would sparkle with—love.

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

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

The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I had 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.

Travis snickered, "Geez Grover, didn't know you were such a stalker." Grover blushed deeply before punching him.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing ner-vously 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?"

"Gave me a heart attack."

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 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."

Chris along with his brothers cringed, "You really need to call Travis and Connor when you have time Grover."

"Hey I've gotten better!"

"Yeah ok Grover, sure."

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

Piper looked perplexed, "We have a calling card?"

"Well duh. How else can mortals reach us."

"What's Half-"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... sum-mer 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.

"Oh gods Percy, I didn't think that through."

Piper didn't know how she felt about this, "Hey what's wrong with rich people!"

"It's just that Percy was always bullied by people who were rich, they used it to make everything hard for him and use their money so they can't get punished."

Piper nodded in understanding, she understood where Percy would be coming from.

"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?"

"That seems rude of him."

Thalia shook her head at Demeter, "That's not what he means. ADHD kind of makes us say things differently than we mean, we just blurt things out and not think it through."

It came out harsher than I meant it to.

Thalia looked at Demeter smugly, "See I told you so."

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.

Just as everyone in the room did.

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.

Many of the Goddesses and demigoddesses awed. Their heart aches, filled with joy at this boy who loved and defended his friends even if it meant getting hurt himself.

"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 com-partment, 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 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 bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no cus-tomers, 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.

Annabeth straighted up and whipped her head at Grover who wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

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.

Thalia and Nico now also glared at Grover scrutinizing him.

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.

Athena's mind ran with possibilities and gasped, looking at the demigods then Poseidon in horror.

"What is it Owl Head."

"I...its nothing."

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

Now all the future demigods looked at Grover in a threatening manner.

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 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.

As did everyone in the room. Poseidon's eyes seemed to crack as a hurricane of fear crashed into his eyes and spread throughout his face, "No, no this can't..."

Hades and Zeus layer a comforting hand on Poseidon's shoulders and looked down.

"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.

"No get on the bus son!"

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.

"No! My poor boy." Poseidon was reduced to sobs. How could he loose his son in such a way.

Annabeth crumbles to the floor and sobbed, she can't loose him, not like this. He survived so much and this is how he was... she couldn't even... she wouldn't know how she would live without him.

Tears streamed down Thalia's face as she lunges at Grover's shirt and pulled him to her violently, "How dare you not tell us! Why!" She lost her strength and crumbled in Grover's arms, sobbing.

Catrina ran towards her mother and held her as she cried into her shoulder while Damson hugged Annbeth, "Shh its ok mom. It's ok. Dad will be ok, me, Luke, Zoë and Charles are here aren't we?"

Annbeth looked up at his face her tears seemed to slow to a slow trickle, "How,"

"I don't know, dad never talked about it before."

"You here that brother? Your boy is going to be ok." Poseidon had started crying in joy. Theseus has watched his father seem to care deeply about the demigod and he hasn't even met him yet, he didn't know how to react.

The Romans had watched Poseidon cry for his son and was shocked at the amount of care he showed.

Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.

Travis shook his head, "Not funny Perc."

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."

Poseidon knew Percy would be alright but he still worried.

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.

Athena was surprised at the amount of attentiveness he showed.

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."

Thalia glared at Grover and Underwood who had looked down.

"What last time?"

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

The sound of Thalia slapping Grover upside the head could be heard vibrating throughout the room, "It's not your fault Grover! How many times do I have to tell you?"

"What are you talking about daughter." Thalia looked up at her father who had scrutinized her.

"It's nothing father, I think it'll come up later anyways.

"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 prom-ised 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?"

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

Chris tried to make the suffocating atmosphere diminish, "He likes Water Lily's."

Clarisse looked at her boyfriend perplexed and proceeded to smack him. Before she could say anything she was interrupted by a blinding flash.