-time skip, half a year later
I was used to the occasional odd experience. It wasn't unusual for me- odd things always happened around me, but Mrs. Dodds…this 24/7 hallucination was the breaking point of these. I'd been springing not-so-subtle references at people all the term, asking them if Mrs. Dodds existed. I had no problem with the new maths teacher- a perky blonde called Miss Kerr (a pretty one at that), but something just felt wrong with me. While everyone would act like I was psycho when I mentioned Mrs. Dodds, including Mr. Brunner, if I sprung the trap on Grover, he'd always hesitate before answering no or denying her existence. I swear, if he continued to keep this up after the winter holidays I was gonna confront him. Speaking of winter holidays…
"Where are you going this winter?" "Oh, nowhere new. Just the Caribbean, plus a short trip to Britain. Oh, have your parents given you new stuff?" "Yeah! I got a new XBOX, plus a new iPhone!" "Wow! That's cool! Can I….." the voices grew further and further, and I unclenched my fist. I didn't even know I had been so riled up-just by hearing others talk.
I hated small talk like that. Here at Yancy, it was impossible to run into someone poor. Or at least, nearly impossible, because me and Grover existed. Out of everyone I'd ran into so far, everyone acted-and presented-themselves like snobby idiots. They'd try to outdo others by flaunting impossible amounts of wealth, or perhaps by gifting each other crazy gifts. With the winter holidays coming up, it was nearly impossible to avoid any talk about the holidays. "Oh where are you going this holiday?" "You gonna go overseas this year?" "Hey, remember to buy some souvenirs when you visit (insert location here)!"
But of course, I had nowhere to go. I, same as Grover, were butt-broke. Every time someone asked, I'd always try to avoid the question, because my response would be the same every year. I would go to visit my parent-rather, parent down in montauk.
I was raised by a single mother, Sally Jackson. She's been close- and I mean very close- to me since I was born. I never knew who my father was, and in his place was the worst person I could even ask for. Gabriel, or "Smelly Gabe" to me, was the worst person in the entire world. He not only stunk, he leeched off my mother, who was working 2 jobs just to keep me and him afloat- and he would even take money out of my budget to fuel his gambling addiction. I loathed him. And as such, I hated the holidays- I would either be forced to remain at Yancy if Gabe took too much money out of my pocket, or be forced to go back home anyway if mother insisted.
Not that I hated seeing my mom-I loved her, don't get me wrong! But I just couldn't withstand Smelly Gabe and his antics. When I returned last year, he'd been eyeing me up like I was some sort of object. This year, just like any other, I dreaded returning home. But since the incident, Yancy Academy had… All but expelled me in name. And now, I had to return home as I had nowhere to go.
-time skip (Grover POV)
"Percy, you ready to go?" The Raven-haired girl in front of me let out a sigh, before she turned to face me. "Yeah, let's go before I get nostalgic about this place, eh?" Her brilliant sea-green eyes looked sad and dejected, and the corners of her mouth were turned slightly down. I could sense sadness radiating from every inch of her as she looked down at her ratty suitcase between her legs.
"Perce… You okay?" I asked gently, stepping closer and placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, and I swear I saw a small glinsting tear in the corner of her eye, before she hurriedly wiped it away. "I'm-I'm fine." She sniffed, and then turned to pick up her suitcase from between their legs.
Soon, we were on the road, sitting in this ratty greyhound which creaked and rattled constantly. Percy was fast asleep, her head resting on my shoulder, and I placed an arm around her shoulder. I felt sorry for her, she'd been through so much. First, from what I heard, her abusive stepfather that she absolutely loathed, and then the multiple-and frequent-school changes, plus the constant bullying. It didn't help she was one of the prettiest people I'd ever met-it just drew extra attention on her.
Unnecessary attention that could lead her to trouble.
I'd seen enough demigods getting unwarranted attention. They always ended up, one way or the other, dead. In the recent months, even having a demigod get into camp was hard enough. My task was not just to ensure her safety, but to get her into camp too.
Not to mention, she was the child mentioned in the great prophecy. One of the descendants of the big three-and judging my how water would always react to her emotions, I could already guess which of the three was her actual father.
I didn't think it was this bad. Not until a kindly one-one of the three-showed up at Yancy, did I ever realize how terribly south this might go. The lord of the underworld had caught on. Now, it was a matter of time until every monster within 50 miles of her caught wind too.
As if sensing my troubles, Percy shifted in her sleep, muttering something about "blue pancakes". I gazed down at her sadly and fondly. She'd been one of - if not the sweetest demigod I'd been assigned to escort. She was a really nice friend, and we'd even bonded together nicely. But this made me even more scared of failing-I still hadn't forgotten the last time I failed. I shuddered, and it seemed to cause Percy to half-wake from her uneasy slumber. "Grover…? What…"
"Perce, it's nothing. You can go back to sleep."
"Okay, Grov. Wake me up… When we're near Montauk." She then leaned against the rattling glass windows of the greyhound, and judging by her breathing rhythm, soon fell asleep.
-Time Skip
A loud bang jolted me awake from my slumber.
Wearily opening my eyes, I could feel a mild throbbing on my right temple. Must've been my head constantly banging against the rattling window.
"Percy! Percy! Wake up, we gotta go." I could hear Grover urgently trying to wake me. "Grover, I'm awake. Stop shaking me." I mumbled, trying to push him away. "Percy! The bus broke, stop trying to go back to sleep!"
That got my attention.
I immediately opened my eyes and sat up straight. Looking to the aisle, I could see people-grumpy and annoyed people-shuffling down the aisle and out of the bus.
And then the smell hit me.
"Ack-Cough-Wh-Ack!" I choked. "What, in the hell is that smell?" it smelled bad-like a rotten egg had exploded inside the bus. "Folks! Move it!" I could hear the bus driver holler from the drivers cab. "Ugh… Fine." I grumbled, grabbing my ratty suitcase that my mother owned even before I was born, and WA about so get up when I noticed them.
Three unsuspecting old grannies, sitting by the roadside. Knitting. Out of all things they were doing, they were knitting.
But that wasn't abnormal. Well, for me at least. I'd seen lots of odd things in my life-that one time a massive man stood in front of me before getting arrested for "suspected inappropriate behavior towards a minor". I swear he had only one single eye-in the center of his forehead.
Or that time a snake was in my cradle, back when I was just a toddler. Which I killed with my bare hands.
In the mere 14 years that I existed, many, many odd things had happened. They didn't stand out, but they added up subtlety to let me be aware of it. But this wasn't the case. This stood out. A lot.
The three old ladies were like Mrs. Dodds when she attacked me. At least, a more Kinder, normal version-or versions-of her. They all looked the same, down to the wrinkles on their forehead. That was normal, I suppose. They could be triplets. Or just perfect clones of one another. They were knitting a…I had to do a double take when I saw what they were knitting. A sock. Amongst the three of them, threads of yarn came together to form a sock. Though the sock was on the lap of the middle granny, all three of them were actively partaking in the knitting, with the yarn from the other 2 grannies floating into the sock as they knitted,
Wait, floating?
Just as I realized this, all three grannies turned their heads to face me. Through the dirty bus windows, I could swear I felt their eyes connect with mine.
The creepy part? They never stopped knitting, even though they weren't looking.
"Perseas Jackson." I almost jumped out of my skin as I frantically glanced around, praying the voice in my head was anyone or anything other than the three creepy grannies. I saw Grover looking at me oddly, before he too saw the three old ladies and shock set in. But before I could look anywhere else, my head was forced to turn to look at the three old grannies, I frantically rolled my eyes around, but those too were quickly locked in place. Something was forcing me to look at the three unsuspicious (okay, maybe a bit suspicious) old ladies,
And then I noticed the sock changing color. And shape. Before, the yarn it was knitted in was the colors of the rainbow. Now, the sock was white, and in the shape of…a knitted scarf. The yarn on the left was almost pure white- the yarn towards the right was a mix of colours, with lightning blue, sea green and silver mixed and interwoven within the fabric. Some gold was also mixed in, but as I watched, the gold slowly took over, mixed with more sea green strands, and then the gold turned to white. And as I watched, the amount of gold strands slowly decreased towards the right, replaced with silver and sea green. Some shimmering blue yarn was also added, before everything changed to an earthy brown mixed with sea green. It seemed like one out of the three grannies loved sea green yarn. But as I watched, the grannies slowly stopped knitting and the middle one held up a silver scissor to a white strand of yarn, yet to be knitted into the scarf.
For some unknown reason, I felt fear flare in my heart and mind as I tried to move desperately.
And from within the bus, separated by a layer of dirty glass and thin metal, I could hear clearly the quiet "snip" of the scissor as it sliced through the white strand.
"It is done." The voice in my head thundered, and they packed their knitting kits into a basket. My eyes still refused to leave them.
I could only stare at the grannies, and naturally, blinked-Wait, I regained control over my body! I sprung up, accidentally surprising a couple of old-timers still shuffling out of the bus. "Sorry," I mumbled, as I looked at the grannies-rather, where the grannies were a moment ago.
They were gone.
"Percy! PERCY!" Grover yelled, startling me. I didn't even realize I was off the bus and had rushed to the bench to see if the ordeal was real. "What-did you just-those-" "Grannies?" I guessed. His look confirmed my answer, but it also looked…haunted. sweat broke out across his brow, and he started muttering to himself. "Grover, what's wrong?" He stood there, staring at me frightfully. "Grover." He kept staring. "GROVER!" "Huh-oh, nothing." His expression didn't match what he told me one bit.
"What's gotten into you these days? You good, G-man?" "Yeah…it's just…my task." His next reaction told me he'd said something he shouldn't have. So naturally, I pressed further.
"What task?"
"What? What do you mean, task?" He acted shocked. Like I didn't see his reaction after he blurted it out.
"You just said it. So I asked," I replied. "Grover, just tell me. I'm your pal, and you're my pal. C'mon, just spit it out."
"Fine." His response told me he was anything but. "I was…well, I kind of have to protect you," "The hell do you mean, kind of?" "Look, Perce." Grover suddenly straightened up, with this hard look in his eyes. "I'm not letting it happen again. It's my job to protect you as…as a friend," he said, pausing slightly as of he was thinking, "and I'm not letting you out of my sight or…" suddenly, the haunted look returned. "Or what, Grover? What are you saying?" "Just…I'm not letting you getting-getting picked on again. I'm your friend. It's my duty to protect you, to be concerned about your safety." It felt like he was convincing himself instead of me. "Whatever, G-man." In truth, I wasn't gonna let this slide. In fact, I planned to ditch Grover as soon as possible. I was already gonna have a hard time dealing with smelly Gabe. I couldn't let Grover act slightly mental and thus be picked on by him too.
"Percy, don't narrow my eyes at me for no reason." "Huh? I didn't-oh sorry Grov, I was deep in thought." Grover sighed, before grabbing my arm. "Percy. Listen very, very carefully. Do. Not. Move. I need the loo, and I really, really don't want you to…be on your own." The haunted look on his face had returned, and it was seriously creeping me out. "Whatever, Grover. Quickly now, before I start wandering around the area and get picked on by someone." A small, fleeting smile graced his features, before he turned and dashed to find a bathroom nearby.
I then turned and walked away. Towards Montauk, towards Mom, and to the worst person I knew in this world.