AN 5/16/15: Hey so I hope you enjoyed that last chapter, first taste of battle in this era. I'm glad you found no spelling errors Paper Kaine, I am always paranoid about those, haha. Hopefully this doesn't have any either, I even read it aloud to myself as a check. Anyway, thanks for the continued support to all who have been reading this, or are reading it for the first time. I will probably release the next chapter a about mid-week next week as this is a bit of a shorter chapter compared to the rest, just about 2.6k ish. Hope you all had a good week so far and are enjoying the weekend!

For the rest of the school year Percy was determined to catch somebody slipping up about "lying" about Mrs. Dodds' existence. I knew better than to even try, the Mist was a powerful thing. Percy managed to pull me into a number of lengthy conversation about what had happened at the museum. I did my best to keep him from realizing who he was while still trying to keep him sane, but that was easier said than done. I had to act like I knew nothing, but I knew the time for camp was rapidly approaching. If a Fury came after us, questioning Percy about something missing, then something big was going down.

I was a bit ticked off though, the Furies were servants of my father, but Mrs. Dodds had paid no mind to me all year, and didn't stop trying to kill at the museum. She didn't even recognize me. It made me question if I still had any influence as a child of Hades, and how she hadn't noticed me all year, even just as an "escaped soul". Was I just some kind of echo of my former self? It really felt like that at times, being stuck thinking in the past and then this. I doubted that my father didn't know I was not down in the Underworld where I was supposed to be.

I knew Percy was having nightmares about what happened, and I was too honestly, but mine were more from fear of the future. There were so many horrible things that could happen now that things were picking up again. Zeus was really not happy about something, the weird weather only grew worse. There were bad thunder storms, and just a few days ago the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down just fifty miles from the school. On the night of one particular thunderstorm one of the windows in the boy's room was blown out.

Percy was getting in more trouble than usual, his grades were slipping and he was getting into more fights. I found myself having to jump in more and more frequently. Our final straw though was when Percy called Mr. Nicoll an old sot, but the guy really had it coming. He kept nagging Percy about his dyslexia, blaming his bad grades in spelling tests on apparent laziness. I half expected to see steam coming out of his ears like in the cartoons after that event.

The headmaster, Mr. Miller, sent Sally a letter the following week making it official: we would not be welcomed back to Yancy Academy for the following year. Apparently he was fed-up with us "causing so much trouble and so many disruptions". I felt a bit sad about that choice though, I would really miss Mrs. Davis and Amy. I had grown closer to both of them, I would even eat lunch with Mrs. Davis some days. It would have been doubly hard for Percy though, being kicked out of basically every school we went to. I knew the reasons but to him it must have felt like he was the main problem, that nobody wanted him. He had really connected with Grover and Chiron, but I was sure he would see them again sooner than he expected.

Chiron kept dropping hints and making it too obvious that knowing Greek Mythology was the difference between life and death for us. I was getting pretty annoyed at him for that. He kept pushing Percy to find out when he should be letting him enjoy his ignorance. Once you came into the Greek world, there was no going back.

It was the end of our three-hour Latin exam on the last day of classes that I had to stop myself from giving myself away and snapping at him. I was still finishing up my test, trying to make it look like I was having trouble with the answers when Percy got up to hand in his test when I heard it. I knew Chiron had tried to keep their conversation between the two of them, but he had failed miserably.

"Percy, don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's.. it is for the best." I set down my pencil at that, staring at him. I couldn't believe him at that moment, there were still kids finishing the exam and they could hear all of it, Nancy included. I caught her making sarcastic kissing motions at Percy and chucked my eraser at her. It nailed her in the back of the head and she turned around to me but I just shot her a glare. Chiron was trying to be reassuring and kind to Percy but he had really, really bad timing for someone who was alive for thousands of years. I would have thought he would have that mastered by now with his age.

"Okay, sir." Percy mumbled.

"I mean.." Chiron was rocking his wheelchair back and forth, trying to decide what to say next.

"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." I hit my forehead. You are wonderful with words, oh mighty Chiron. I saw Percy trying to keep his cool, his hands clenched at his sides.

"Right," His voice shaky.

"No, no. Oh confound it all. What I'm trying to say.. you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"

"Thanks. Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me." Percy cut him off and left the room. Chiron tried to call to him but he was too late. I stood up, not bothering to finish my edits and walked up to the front of the room. I made sure to hit Nancy with the booklet to stop her snickers on my way up, receiving an indignant "Hey!" from her for my efforts. I placed my booklet on Chiron's desk. He was watching me with those eyes. I knew he wanted to talk with me but before he could say anything I left with a passing, "Smooth" to make it clear that I was not happy with him. I wanted to say more but that would be a no-go. As it was that one word already indicated more than was preferable, but I was just so ticked off at him.

The next day I packed up all my stuff, exchanged contact information and some farewell bracelets with Amy, and left to catch the bus. Amy had been a good roommate and friend, she had even gotten me hooked on bracelet making. I wouldn't mind keeping in touch with her. I wasn't all too surprised when Grover boarded the same bus as Percy and I. I had been expecting nothing less. The whole ride he spent looking around nervously, watching all the passengers and windows.

"Looking for Kindly Ones?" Percy finally broke the silence. I nearly jumped alongside Grover.

"Wha-what do you mean?" He stuttered. I listened as Percy confessed about eaves dropping on him and Chiron the other night.

"How much did you hear?" Grover's eye twitched. Such a bad liar.

"Oh.. not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?" My ears perked up at this as Grover flinched.

"Look, Percy.. I was just worried, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers.." Percy tried to cut him off but he kept on going. "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 are a really, really bad liar." I held myself back from agreeing with Percy aloud.

Grover's ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket he pulled out a pair of worn business cards.

"Just take these, okay you two? In case you need me this summer." The business card was just what I was expecting it to be, Camp Half-Blood. The writing was in cursive, which luckily was relatively easy to read, as my old teachers would always write in it when I first grew up. I hid a sad smile as Grover cut Percy off from asking about the card.

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

"Okay," Percy said, a slightly downtrodden look on his face. "So, like, if we want to visit your mansion or something.."

"Or.. or if you need me."

"Why would we need you?" He asked and I quickly slapped his shoulder. "Percy, not nice! Who knows, we might want to hang out, or need him at some point or something." Grover was blushing big time, fiddling with his hands.

"Look, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you. You too Allison." Percy just stared at him, and I could see why. All year we had gotten into fights keeping the bullies away from him.

"Grover, what are you protecting us from?" You don't even want to begin to know. Just as he said that there was a huge grinding noise and black smoke poured from the dashboard. The whole bus started smelling. I found my hand had flinched down to my boot, where my knife was - immediately on guard. The driver dragged the bus over to the side of the highway and told us to get out after a few minutes of shuffling around in the engine compartment.

We were stopped on a peaceful stretch of country, aside from the highway that is. On our side there were nothing but maple trees and litter from passing drivers. On the other side of the highway was an old-fashioned fruit stand. Once I saw that stand I got a pit in my stomach and tried to pull Percy away from view.

At the stand were three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs. That may not have been a bad thing, had they not been knitting a giant pair of electric-blue socks. The ladies each had their own job in making them. The lady on the right, Clotho, knitted one sock, Lachesis on the left the other. The one in the center held the basket of yarn. The Moirai looked extremely old, like they had seen countless lives come and go, which they had. They were looking right at Percy and I. I froze, trapped in their gaze. Grover was frozen too, all the blood draining from his face. The aura they gave off was one of ancientness and power.

"Grover? Hey, man-"

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

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit us?" I was incredulous at the causal air of his remark, like this was nothing. How could he joke about something like this? They never just appeared for no reason.

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all." The old lady in the middle, better known as Atropos, the cutter of the life cord, took out a long pair of scissors-gold and silver, long bladed. I felt the connection the yarn had to life immediately.

I grew stiffer once I saw the second knitting project of theirs. The yarn was a deep purple. The length of yarn from it on Atropos' lap looked very frayed and worn, a patchwork almost. Like it had been mangled. I instantly knew this thread represented me, my life. My eyes zeroed in on the broken area. That must have been my death.. they patched it. That was the only clear thought I could manage at the time. They wouldn't show themselves just to announce a simple cutting of the cord. It was a warning, something big, very big was about to happen that ended in death, an important one. This was like the prelude to all hell breaking loose.

"We're getting on the bus," Grove told us, trying to pull us to the doors. "Come on."

"What? It's like a thousand degrees in there." But my feet were grounded.

I watched as Atropos went to cut the cord, sending me a meaningful look. As I met her eyes images of my past life flashed before my eyes. Memories from my childhood before I knew I was a demigod, ones of me with my mother and Nick. The night we found out and all the way up to that last day. I heard those last words I had ever heard from that life ringing in my head, "I'm not done with you either, you will not be forgotten. Until next time Allison, I will wait."

I felt that same strong sense of my job not being done as I had felt back then. I was numb. Flashes of this life passed through more rapidly. Then I saw flashes of stuff I had yet to see. A scythe that radiated power, images of battles, then those powerful, dangerous golden eyes and voice I had heard so long ago. I felt a sense of dread, the sense of death that accompanied those eyes overwhelming. I stumbled a bit as I came back to the present, back to standing before the three Fates. Grover caught my arm, holding me steady. I heard the snip of the cord being cut across four lanes of traffic, like a door being sealed shut and I could swear I saw a flash of gold eyes turn to blue. Chester? I looked back into the eyes of Atropos, her staring right back with those eyes.

I realized that I had goose-bumps and was shivering in a cold sweat. Grover managed to pull Percy and I back into the bus. The feeling of foreboding growing stronger. We were sitting back in our seats, the bus driver had gotten the bus back up and running, the rest of the passengers boarding. I noticed that Percy wasn't doing too well himself, nor was Grover, his teeth were chattering. I needed to talk with Chiron, desperately.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling us?"

"What did you see back at the fruit stand?" Grover demanded as he dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. I tried to focus on the ambient sound of the bus rattling along down the highway, the movement of the bus and hum of the motor. To focus on anything else besides what had just happened and what seeing those images brought up.

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them? They're not like.. Mrs. Dodds, are they?" Worse. I had to stop myself from giving Percy a look. Grover had a deadly serious expression on his face, one that I had only seen him use on chance occasions.

"Tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took our her scissors, and she cut the yarn." Grover closed his eyes and made a warding off evil gesture.

"You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?" But he didn't sound sure.

"Grover, trouble is coming, and we are at the center of it." I said which probably came out as ominous, but I felt like I had to say it. Grover just looked at me, as if questioning how much I knew. Then he turned away and started mumbling to himself, saying stuff like how this couldn't be happening again and how it can't be like the last time, eyes wide and frightened. I was in the same boat as him. Why couldn't I just have a regular demigod life?

Percy nervously asked about what Grover was muttering about but he just kept on going, not giving away any more information. Then he suddenly looked up and begged us to let him walk us home from the bus station. Percy promised for both of us. My mind was off running over what I had seen over and over again. Did this have a connection to me being here now, in this life? It had to be, I was sure of it. I needed to talk to Chiron, to drop the act and find out what the heck was going on. I needed my father figure back too, I had spent long enough without him.

"Grover-that cutting of the yarn, does that mean somebody is going to die?" Grover looked at us mournfully, like he was already planning our shrouds.

This is one of my favorite chapters with what I've done with it in terms of the Fates and the other piece of knitting. Any suggestions, comments, or reviews are always welcomed! Thanks!