Chapter 5

There were two things that Helena noticed when she came to: one, she was still stuck in her wet clothes, and two, she was drooling on her sister's collar. Mrs. Dodds had turned into a leathery demon straight out of Hades – her memory of it was blurred, blanketed by an unknown force. Helena dug her claws into reality, shaking off the world's endeavor at making her forget the truth of things.

Beside her, Percy and Grover were making stilted conversation. Helena lifted her head up, glancing between the two of them. A smile stretched out across Grover's face, yet it dropped upon seeing that Helena was awake. Fear danced within his eyes.

Visions of a screaming Nancy Bobofit flashed before her eyes, making Helena inhale sharply. She had tried to kill someone, nearly succeeded, were it not for her sister pulling her away. Helena swallowed, glancing at the older girl in question. Percy's eyes were rimmed red, swollen, like she'd been crying for the entire bus-ride. Right. Unlike Helena, who failed to murder their classmate – Percy was forced to defend herself against an evil math teacher, and unfortunately won.

Regardless of Mrs. Dodds's true nature, her sweet sister was going to feel guilt over it until the end of her days. Percy was good, she believed in good, and it was something that separated them in their ways of handling thing. Helena felt embarrassed, felt ashamed, but she didn't feel guilty over having tried to drown Nancy in museum's fountain. She wondered what her mother would have to say about something as awful as that. But, then again, she was the one who slept and had not one, but two children with a god, so clearly her moral judgment wasn't all that great.

"What happened?" Helena croaked out, feigning confusion.

Percy opened her mouth, then closed it, instead allowing Grover to speak. "You don't remember?" He asked. "You fell into the fountain and hit your head pretty bad. We had to cut the field trip short because of it, but don't worry you're not concussed or anything." Grover continued to smile, seemingly unaware that the more he did so, the creepier he became.

"Right…" Helena said in out-right disbelief, side-eyeing her sister. There were two people, and two people alone, who were actually allowed to lie and manipulate Helena: Percy, who would never in the first place, and Sally, who tried to do it all the time. And she was insistent that the same could be said for Percy, though the poor girl was oblivious to it more often than not.

"What about Nancy?" Helena asked, noting the way Percy eased her shoulders, her body softening into Helena's side. She didn't like to see her older sister this way, unsure and afraid, doubting her own ability to see what was real and what was not. A part of Helena understood that Grover was doing this to them with good-intentions, but sometimes, it was best to just give up and understand that the game was over.

Grover swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing up and down in his throat. "Who's Nancy?" He asked tentatively, giving Helena a wide-eyed look. She could see a drop of sweat roll down his forehead. Damn. Grover was really sticking to this story of his. Helena fashioned her eyes into a hard glare, turning back around. She grabbed Percy by the sleeve, dragging her down until the two girls were at eye-level.

Without saying words, both she and Percy exchanged a series of glances that led to them to the realization that the two of them were expected to play along with this weird charade. Helena wondered what happened to Nancy to keep her from talking. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to delve as deeply as that. In that direction, there was guilt, and Helena refused, refused, to feel any sort of remorse for that ginger bitch.

Percy pretended to get along with Grover for the remainder of the bus-ride back to Yancy Academy. She also subtly pointed out the blonde woman towards the front, near Mr. Brunner: a 'Mrs Kerr' or so she was called, but Helena preferred to think of her as the poor mortal who got roped into being a teacher at Yancy after Dodds exploded into a ball of dust and despair. The woman might have been kind, but she was lacking something behind the eyes; odd are she was just an innocent woman who'd been plucked right out of the museum due to the gods having a lack of fake, spy teachers on stand-by. Helena pondered on what her life was like before she got brainwashed, but soon found there was truly no point in doing so. What's done was done, and there was nothing the two sisters could do about it.

"Do you need me to walk you to your dorm?" Grover asked, despite having never offered before. Helena rolled her eyes, scuffing the sides of her shoes against the corridor floor. Students pushed past them, slinging their bags into each other as they walked.

Percy shrugged, the corners of her lips tugging themselves upwards into a half-assed imitation of her smile. The light had yet to return to her sister's eyes. Helena wondered if it ever would. An undercurrent of tension flowed between the two of them; Helena had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be going away any time soon.

"Nah, man." Percy popped her knuckles, pulling the joints one by one; Helena winced at the ends, noting the jagged ends of Percy's nails. She must have chewed them off, then went and done it again. The skin around each individual nail was red, irritated, with tiny bits of flesh dangling like hangnails. "I need to go for a swim."

"In this weather?" Grover asked. "You sure you don't want me to tag along? We can try and beat your record – last time was five and a half minutes. Seven is right around the corner!" He laughed.

Percy lowered her gaze, eyeing his crutches with an emotion Helena was unfamiliar with. "I don't think you understand, Grover – I don't want you there." Percy flinched at the sound of her own voice; an apology flew out from her mouth, wasting no time to try and placate her friend's feelings. "I mean, I just want to be alone, please. I've got a headache."

Grover, zero. Helena, one. She smirked at Grover from behind her sister's back. Percy jerked her head back. "That goes for you too, Helena." Percy declared, her voice cold, heartless, and Helena could tell it killed her on the inside. "I should call mom – be grateful I'm not."

Helena jerked her chin down, biting down on her bottom lip. A myriad of responses weighed down on the tip of her tongue; none of them kind. "Fine. I'll be going up then. Our bag?" She gestured to their shared bag.

Percy shrugged it off her shoulders, dropping it Helena's outstretched hand. For a split second, Percy's cold demeanor dropped. "I'll be back in less than an hour, okay?"

"And if you're not?" Helena questioned, analyzing the worry marring Percy's face.

"Then, in that case, you should definitely call mom." Percy huffed, but this time a hint of a true, genuine smile lit up on her face, even if for but a moment. And that was all it took to rid Helena of her newly-born fear, that her dear sister had been tainted by this day permanently.

"Will do." Helena agreed, her voice soft, agreeable. The thought of Percy turning into Helena 2.0 was enough to keep said girl sweet – at least, to her sister. Percy shifted her shoulders, turning back, and headed down the corridor that led to the school's pool. Helena waited until the moment she was out of sight to rear her head towards Grover, the poor boy, who'd already been trying to make for a getaway. "Stop where you are," she hissed, dropping their bag onto the floor.

Grover stopped in his tracks, then reluctantly turned to face her. "Yes, Nell?"

"Don't call me that ever again." Helena demanded, glaring up at him with all her might – which was a tad bit lackluster, considering how exhausted she was from the incident earlier that day.

"S-Sorry!" Grover said, gulping. "I just assumed since Percy calls you that-"

"Are you my sister? Did you grow up sleeping in the same crib as me?"

"No-"

"Then keep that name out of your mouth, but enough about that. What the hell is your game?" Helena crossed her arms. Grover must have thought highly of his acting abilities, because he appeared downright astounded that Helena managed to see through his facade.

"What game? I don't know what you mean…" Grover's chin wobbled.

"Don't play stupid with me, Underwood. I know what you are. I know why you're here. Percy's a different story. She expects the best out of people. But did you really think you actually managed to pull one over me? Me? I've been calling you out since day one." Helena clenched her fists, digging down deep into the skin of her palm. Grover, the fool, was not budging. She wondered if it was because of what happened last time; to the friends who knew much, who'd been fighting too long, only for Grover to come along and seemingly their ruination with him.

At that last thought, her chest collapsed inwards. Metaphorically. She was not Demon Dodds come back from the dead. Maybe in the future, but she was not quite there yet. Helena sighed, too tired to continue with tactics that were evidently not working. She rubbed at her brow. "Whatever," she said. "Just go on, leave."

Grover hesitated. "I understand it's hard, to be kept in the dark, but it's for your own good. I promise. Percy is my friend. I want her to live, the same as you do. You need to try and forget what happened today; at least until spring break. I can't say anything more than that. Please, please just understand."

"Fine." Helena said.

"You'll try and forget?"

"What? No, of course not. Don't be stupid." Helena snorted. "But, I do understand. Percy means the world to me. Besides, I know being a man in black must be way harder in real life than it looks in the movies, right?"

Grover's mouth dropped, the boy speechless, but not out of fear for once, but rather plain, out-right shock. He then wasted no time on words, nodding fervently. "Yes! You have no idea!" What a sucker. Oddly enough, it was the most truthful sounding out of any of his lies. To be frank, in order to capture Percy's interest, Grover probably should have taken a few more notes on the mortal world.

Helena grabbed her bag, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. And that was how it was done, Camp...Camp…Dammit. She wanted to be sure that Grover wouldn't say anything about their conversation to Mr. Brunner, who was definitely apart of this whole scheme somehow. She just couldn't remember exactly how or who or what he was.

She was banking on Grover not wanting to explain a pop culture reference that he himself might not even know all that much about to Mr. Brunner, aka his boss. Not only that, but she doubted he would admit to have screwed up enough for Helena to be suspicious in general. She didn't want to deal with Brunner watching her more than he already did. Helena had a distinct feeling that he was smarter than she, Percy, and Grover combined.

By the time Helena made it to her dorm, she felt as if she were about to pass out. She dropped their stuff on the floor, kicking the door in with her foot. At last, she could let the weight of the world slip from her shoulders and into her far more capable bed. She flung herself onto it, holding one of her pillows tight to her abdomen. Helena should probably replace her clothes, at least with something warmer and not covered in red Gatorade. She could smell it – awful, but, it was proof.

"I killed someone." Helena tried to say, but the words sounded false in her ears. Another voice, her voice, spoke up from the back of her head, reminding her that Helena did not finish the job. Helena made too big of a mess to clean, and Nancy Bobofit was too irrelevant of a person to waste time and energy on. "I killed Nancy Bobofit," Helena whispered, firmer this time. Something about it was wrong.

She pushed herself up and off the bed, choosing to at least kick off her shoes. Helena shrugged her blazer off, draping it across her desk chair. She looked out the window beyond it. Grover hadn't been lying. The clouds were dark, and constant; the weather was unpredictable, as told by the reporters, and dangerous. Rain was predicted to last up to weeks; a fact that had the Californians rejoicing and those from Washington merely shrugging their shoulders.

Thunder boomed; lightning crackled out in the clouds, dancing in an array of blue and purple hues. Helena jumped as lightning flung out, hitting the side of one of the school's buildings. Thunder ran after it, roaring, and Helena gasped, gripping the chair beside her as the walls shook, the floors trembling. Bits of ceiling plaster crumbled, dropping to the ground.

"Dammit," Helena cursed, pushing herself away from the window. Whatever she did it the courtyard that afternoon had more than just Brunner watching her it seemed. In this new world of hers, nothing was a coincidence, and it would do her no good to go about forgetting that. Helena moved towards her dresser, pulling out a night-gown.

Around the time she finished spreading out the pieces of her uniform on her bed, the door to her dorm slammed open, and Percy stormed in. "Did you see that?" Her sister asked excitedly, nodding towards the window. "I could have sworn that sucker was aimed right at me!"

"Maybe it was," Helena shrugged, giving an awkward laugh, horrified at the fact her sister had only just narrowly escaped getting skewered by one of their uncle's infamous bolts. Percy's hands shook with adrenaline as she pressed her face right up against the window.

"Percy!" Helena snapped. "Get away from there – or you really will get struck! We've already been through enough today, wouldn't you agree?"

Her sister went quiet – too quiet. She went stiff, though removed herself from the window as asked. Percy ran a few fingers through the dampened curls of her hair, unable to look Helena in the eye. "How was your swim?" Helena prompted, treading lightly.

At first, Percy did nothing but stare around the room silently. Being Percy, there was only so much silence the older girl could take. "Good," she answered. "It was good."

"So, terrible then?" Helena joked.

Percy snapped. "I said it was good, didn't I?" She let out a huff, but then closed her eyes and took a deep, deep breath. "Sorry. I do mean it, though. It was – it was nice, but I don't think anything can make me feel better after today. We should probably speak about it, by the way."

"Do we have to?" Helena whined, but then cut herself off. She tried to channel her inner Sally Jackson. "Right, never mind that. You're right we need to speak, to talk it out, and work through our emotions." The two sisters made eye contact, then abruptly broke out into giggles.

"I don't think I've ever done that in my entire life." Percy admitted, giggles spilling out. She seated herself on the top of her bed. Her school outfit was even more askew than normal, presumably due to having been carelessly thrown back on when her sister was finished swimming her laps around the pool. "Were you trying to sound like mom?"

"Yes."

"Not bad, not bad." Percy approved. She dangled herself down, pulling out a card-board box beneath her bed. "In a few more years, you might even actually mean it one day." She pulled the top of the box off – stashed way inside of it were two big bags of candy.

"Oh shut up," Helena said, choosing to bundle herself up beneath a blanket, relishing in its warmth. As much as Helena adored the cold, she loved to warm up just as much. It reminded her of Christmas – not that Helena celebrated Christmas. Sally wouldn't let them, but under the guise that she and Santa did not get along and never would.

"No more sour straws," Percy warned absently as she pulled the two bags of candy out of the box, exposing the wallet stuffed with cash underneath. "Do you think we have enough?" She asked Helena.

Helena twisted her head to look at her. "Enough of what?"

Percy gestured towards the cash. "Nell – our school is insane. I murdered my math teacher and you assaulted Nancy Bobofit – who, by the way, has disappeared. To get a lawyer, I bet, and tell her parents to sue the shit out of mom. We're felons now – and I have a gut feeling that the cops are gonna bust in here and take us both to prison if not today, then tomorrow."

Helena bit at her cheek. "And what about Mrs. Kerr?"

"FBI Agent," Percy stated, entirely serious. "I'm surprised you haven't said it by now." Percy tacked on, fumbling for a piece of chocolate.

"Said what?" Helena was feeling slower than normal. She imagined Percy's brain must have been working at the speed of light, if that was the case.

"You know, I told you so? About Grover? I think Brunner is on it too." Helena was tempted to check to see if her sister was wearing a tin-foil hat. She thought back to what she'd said to Grover earlier. Percy would have eaten up a good 'we're the men-in-black' story. She was positive of that. Everybody would have been far, far happier with the end result.

"Oh…Well…" Helena hummed, then beamed. "I told you so! I told you so! What do you think they're here for?"

"Drugs, Nell, drugs." Percy remarked casually, as if it were just another day at Yancy. "I've got a pretty lucrative deal with the swim team – softball team, too. They play their games, go out to a local gas station and buy a shit ton of candy bars, bags of chips, whatever they find that can be shoved down into their three-hundred dollar sports bras. None of them can risk their places on the team, so they give the candy and shit to me, and well I up-charge and agree to split half. Of course, I've been giving them a third for weeks now and none of them have noticed yet."

"I think the word your looking for is contraband. I highly doubt cops are wasting their time in searching for 'illegal' candy bars." Helena pointed out.

"You didn't let me finish!"

"Okay, okay, sorry. Continue."

"As I was saying," Percy narrowed her eyes, stressing the last word. "Being in such a lucrative business means I've come across some shady, shady people. The eighth graders deal with a different sort of candy, if you know what I mean." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Cocaine?" Helena suggested.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

"So let me get this straight," Helena sighed. "You think Grover and Brunner are government plants at Yancy Academy?"

"Yes."

"And you think that they're here to stop the middle-school drug industry?"

"One-hundred percent."

"Right." Helena closed her eyes, ten seconds away from banging her head against the wall. "Percy, are you sure you didn't actually just get hit by some lightning?"

Percy paused, as if genuinely having to think about it. "Pretty positive."

"Anyways, Perce, that doesn't explain Mrs. Dodds turning into a monster – and Brunner giving you a sword to kill her with."

"I actually thought about that," Percy perked up, eager to explain.

Helena ushered her on, curious against her better judgment.

Percy held up a finger. "Dodds, was, get this, the supplier! Dun. Dun. Dunnn. It's all coming together. Anyways, that's why we have to go on the run. Because either I'm going to prison or I'm getting assassinated. Innocent people who assist the government in stuff like this never end up living long, healthy lives. And frankly, Nelly, I wanna grow so old that my wrinkles have wrinkles!"

Helena tried to think about her sister as an old woman, but found herself incapable of it. Percy was never going to be old to her. Not that she was aware of it, but, Helena was always going to be a few steps ahead in the department. At least, if the two girls were judging by the area that truly mattered: the soul. "Percy…" Helena stated, unsure of how exactly to continue. "We can't leave Yancy. Not on our own."

Percy immediately opened her mouth in protest, but was stopped by the finger Helena held up, subtly implying that Helena wasn't finished with what she had to say. "Do you trust me?" She asked, unable to handle the way her sister's expression went blank. Helena focused down, playing with a few of the frayed ends dangling down from her light, green nightgown.

"Something happened today…" Percy uttered softly, avoiding the question. "Something that…Something that I haven't been entirely honest about."

Helena thought upon what happened earlier, and attempted to grab at the bucket of vague memories insistent on buoying through the waters of her mind; each time her fingers grasped its handle, the bucket would leap out of her reach, insistent on staying far, far away. Nancy Bobofit was gone, because of Helena, and for whatever reason, her mind was refusing to let her in on the full picture.

"What exactly do you remember?" Percy asked.

Helena went rigid, but then quietly admitted. "Not as much as I would like. Nancy pushed me into the fountain. And then, I…I can remember wrapping my hands around her throat with the intentions of strangling her beneath the surface of the water, but it was – it was strange, I can't explain it in a way I think you'd understand."

There was a piece of her story missing; a piece that Helena deliberately held back, refusing to complete the puzzle. She feared her sister wouldn't look at her the same if she understood the true extent of Helena's feelings at the time; feelings that, while mostly submerged elsewhere, continued to leak out, sending delighted shivers running up and down her spine at the thought of Nancy's terrified face. That part of Helena didn't consider her actions to be murderous, but rather it considered what she'd done to Nancy as an act of retribution.

"Your eyes," Percy declared, solemn, hands trembling in her lap. "I didn't recognize them. Our eyes are the same, Nelly, and they're fine now, but I know what I saw. The color it was – it wasn't black, but it was dark, much darker than normal."

Helena felt up her eyes, prodding at the eyelid, poking in the two, wet corners: nothing seemed amiss with them. She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. Helena didn't have a lot of things that she could truly claim as her own. Percy and she were too close in age to have done anything but share. Most of the time, Helena remained unbothered by it. She loved Percy, loved having a bond with her sister that a lot of people never got to have with their own. Helena supposed it was one thing to have been brought up several years apart, but with she and Percy being so close in age, and their faces borderline identical, well, most of the world treated them as twins. At times, even their own mother did.

"Right." Helena bit out, her her beating erratically inside her chest. She clutched at it, rubbing soothing circles, but nothing worked. Her lungs squeezed, refusing air. Helena wanted to shrug it, to accept it as it was, that inside of her lurked a vicious creature; a vile enough being powerful enough to darken her eyes and rid her of reason. She's not sure why she's so surprised by it. She'd known forever that she was troubled. If anything, this was confirmation of that fact, but…Helena supposed she figured that as long as she could control it, keep it locked away, that it didn't run any deeper than the surface-level of her soul.

How bad of a person was she before she'd been reborn? Helena squeezed her eyes shut – stinging, they were stinging, determined to shed a few tears over the matter. Others would sigh in relief at being told that their vices, their virtues, their worst and best qualities, that none of it was their fault – that it was the way they as people were supposed to be. To be without empathy towards those who do her wrong, well, Helena figured that part of her was a lot more normal than society would ever deign to admit.

Being aware of that didn't terrify her, but what did was having her sense of self slowly, but surely be stripped away from her the older she grew. She was a smart girl. Her sister was destined to start discovering her own range of abilities soon as well. Helena was, frankly, excited to be able to bend water to her will, conjure up a few hurricanes, forge a tsunami through the sheer will of her anger. Gods, she was eleven years old for fuck's sake. She shouldn't have to be dealing with this.

A pair of hands gently grabbed at the sides of Helena's face, bringing the world back into focus. Helena figured this was part of the problem; she retreated inside of herself when under duress, or even bored. It didn't take a genius to find the connection between Helena's terrible way of coping with her not-so-new reality and what happened in the museum's courtyard.

"Nell." Helena found herself looking into her sister's eyes: a unique shade of blue-green, carrying with them a vivid intensity that belonged to those of born from the divine. In them, she could see turbulent waves rocking back-in-forth, a gateway to the Mediterranean sea itself. Helena shared the same eyes, but she couldn't help but admire her sister's far more; for at least the beauty lurking within them was genuine, was real. "Nelly," her sister pleaded. "You have to breathe!"

Oh. Her lungs were on fire. How about that. Helena inhaled, exhaled, inhaled again. Percy sighed in relief, wiping away at the trail of tears dripping down the sides of Helena's face. "You worried me."

"Sorry," Helena sniffled. She glared downwards, upset at herself. Upset at Percy having to mother her. It was more often the other way around. "You never answered my question."

"…What question was that again?" Percy asked nervously, tugging at one of her frizzy curls. She was laying on Helena's bed now – feet tucked inside of Helena's bundle of blankets. Due to the circumstances, Helena would let it pass, but she hoped her sister wouldn't get the impression that Helena was running a bed-and-breakfast these days.

Helena grumbled. "Do you trust me?"

"Oh." Percy smiled fondly down. "You know, a wise girl once told me that if you ask a stupid question, don't expect to get an answer back."

Helena warmed, feeling the calm wash over her; it pushed aside the silly, little fear nagging in the back of her head, the one that felt as if the bond between the two sisters had broken beyond repair. "Good, then trust me now when I tell you that we need to stay at Yancy until spring break: that's two and a half weeks away. After that, the both of us will go straight home, to Mom, then we'll go to Montauk, celebrate our birthdays together. That same night we're going to tell her about Mrs. Dodds, who, by the way, Percy, was not selling cocaine to eighth-graders. I don't know who is, but to be honest, I don't really care. Do not, under any circumstances, repeat what I'm about to say to Mom or Grover or even Brunner, okay?"

Percy kept quiet, but shook her head in agreement. "Okay, well," Helena swallowed, hesitant, but her sister was confused enough. "Grover and Brunner do not work for the government. No, I cannot delve into the specifics, but whatever is going on at the moment involves our father, and, subsequently us. Grover and Brunner are here to help us, but they're hesitant – the longer the wait, the more danger you and I are going to be in. So we can't rely on them, only each other. You got that?"

"Our dad! Our dad is the reason I got attacked by our math teacher, why you when all ape-shit on fucking Nancy Bobofit?" Percy blew up, rearing up on her knees, the weight of her pushing the mattress down – and disturbing Helena's comfort. This was why Percy had her own bed across the room.

Helena slapped a hand over Percy's mouth. "Shut up!" She hissed. "But yes, that's why Dodds attacked you. The thing with Nancy was…It was unrelated, regardless you have to keep the secret. Our safety depends on it!"

"How do you even know about this?" Percy demanded, but kept her voice toned down into a hushed whisper.

The question made Helena falter. She'd been expecting it, but that didn't mean she was prepared. She bit down hard enough on the side of her cheek that it caused the flesh to begin to swell.

"I can't say." She croaked out, hating this due to Percy's honesty with her earlier. If there was a secret that could ruin everything between the two of them; it was this one. "But, I'll tell you one day, I swear."

A temporary truth. At the moment, Helena was vulnerable enough that Percy could push a bit more, and wrangle out the entire truth. Instead, the older girl fell back against the mattress, appearing exhausted. Percy grabbed her hand, squeezed it tightly.

"Okay," she said.