Hey Guys I am back with a new chapter I loved the Reviews. Thank you so much. So I will talk less and you guys read and also tell me in your review that who you want in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or any of the characters. All credit of the writing in bold goes to Uncle Rick.
CHAPTER 2
"Thalia read on" said non other than Annabeth.
"Yah I am reading" answered Thalia. She read:
THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH
"What kind of socks are those?" asked Leo scratching his head in deep thought.
"If we read we'll know" replied Jason.
I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty- four/seven hallucination 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.
"Yah the campus has nothing else than to play a trick with you Percy" said Thalia rolling her eyes.
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. 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.
"They are right, you are psycho" laughed Clarisse.
It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed. Almost.
"I bet five drachmas that it's because of Grover" said Annabeth.
"Your so on" yelled Conner.
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.
Annabeth walked over to their seats and took her gold coins and then came back and seated herself next to Percy.
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.
"Nothing is worse than Percy's nightmares" shuddered Annabeth. Poseidon eyed his son again and thought what type of nightmare his son could have and what danger does he gets himself into. He decided to leave the topic and listen to the books so he can find out.
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.
"Someone's Angry" sang Apollo and Hermes in unison.
"Shut up you two" said Artemis obviously annoyed.
"Is it my fault that dad and uncle P are fighting?" asked the sun god.
"I bet uncle P will win" said Hermes grinning like a mad man.
"Yah cuz he is awesome" replied Apollo.
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.
Eyes went to the two brothers again only Percy and Annabeth knew what was happening.
I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.
Athena looked at him in disappointment.
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.
Athena and Annabeth started to laugh.
I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.
"It means Old drunkard" said Athena. Everyone started laughing. It took a while for them to calm down.
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.
"Aww does little Percy miss his mommy" said Ares in a sickly sweet tone. A gallon of water was dumped on it. He quickly shut up.
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. 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.
"That's so sweet of you Percy" said Hestia smiling sweetly.
I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.
"Aw Percy wants to impress Chiron" said Nico smirking at his cosine's embarrassment.
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.
"That's good" said Poseidon sighing in relief.
The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.
"How can you do that to a book" yelled Athena and Annabeth in Unison.
"Like Mother like daughter" said Hermes, suddenly a flock of owls came and started to peck his eyes out and a dagger was thrown right next to his foot missing by an inch.
Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards.
Cue the laughter.
There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,
"It's easy" said Annabeth.
"I know now after meeting both of them" Percy told them.
"You have met Charon?" asked Hades silently wishing he had died and met Charon but then why is he here then.
"Yah and you will find out soon" answered Percy.
Or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.
"Latin verbs are easy" said Jason like he was stating the obvious.
"Not everyone is Roman little bro" said Thalia smirking.
"Hey I am older than you now"
"Believe what makes your boat float"
I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. 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.
"Such high spirits Perce" Said Leo.
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.
"No Percy you melted" said Leo snickering.
I'm not usually an eavesdropper,
"You eavesdrop all the time" said Annabeth.
But I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.
"He has a point" said Hermes.
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. "
"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. "
"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."
"He thinks it was his fault" said Thalia sadly.
"Yup he thought that for a long time" replied Percy.
"But I forgave him".
"He know that"
"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-". 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.
"Good leave the place of the crime immediately" said Hermes earning some weird glances.
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.
"He shouldn't be in his real form in school" said Dionysus "it can be very dangerous". After saying that he went to read his wine magazine again.
I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled 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. 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."
"I hate exams" moaned Nico.
"So true" came a lot of murmurs of agreement.
"Don't remind me."
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. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.
"But that won't solve your problems" said Jason.
"Yah we didn't know that Mr. Obvious" replied Clarisse.
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.
"When are you not in danger?" said Annabeth.
"That time when we were… No when we went to… The time when you… Ok fine I don't remember anytime right now" he said crossing his arms. Poseidon went in his taughts again.
"I hate exams" moaned Nico again.
"Shut up death breath" said Thalia.
"I hate them especially the three-hour exams" he said again. This time everyone decided to ignore him.
The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,
"How are you alive then" shouted Nico.
"Don't worry Nico that's an unsolved mystery" sighed Annabeth.
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." 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.
Annabeth growled so Percy put an arm around her. Athena noticed this and said "why is your arm around my daughter?"
"Aww they are dating" exclaimed Aphrodite.
"What!" thundered Athena.
"Ok Athena I would love to tell you the story and suffer your interrogation but I have already done this in the future and you will read them in the books" reasoned Percy.
"You have suffered my interrogation?" asked Athena.
"I still get the nightmares" replied Percy.
"He admits it" squealed Aphrodite. "Percy and Annabeth sitting on a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G"
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. "
"He is going to get it the wrong way" sang Travis.
"I am right here you know" said Percy.
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.
"Poor Percy" said Hestia.
"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 nothing to be-"
"Chiron is very bad at talking to people" said Leo
"Sometimes" mumbled Annabeth.
"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."
"Percy-". But I was already gone. 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 family of nobodies.
"You think we are nobodys, boy" said Zeus.
"Hey I didn't know about my dad then" exclaimed Percy.
They asked me what I'd be doing this summer
"They are not that bad, they asked you too" said Hestia.
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 summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.
"Oh, " one of the guys said. "That's cool. " They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.
"Forget what I just said" sighed the hearth goddess.
The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I 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. During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously 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?"
"That would have freaked him out all the way to Hades" said Annabeth Laughing.
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?"
"Oh not much just all of it" said Apollo trying to mimic Percy.
He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."
Laughter erupted in the room. "Demon math teachers! Where do you guys come up with these stuff" managed Nico between laughs.
"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. "
"The worst if you ask me" Said Hermes.
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
"True it's defiantly murder" said Thalia.
"Why do you write it in a fancy script Mr.D if you know that we demigods have a hard time reading it" asked Jason.
"That is the reason I use the fancy script, Jake Grouch" said Dionysus smirking.
"My name is not Jake Gr…" started Jason
"Don't bother" interrupted Percy.
"You have something to say Peter Johnson?" asked the wine dude.
"See?" replied Percy.
But I finally made out something like:
Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009
"What's Half-"
"Don't say it out loud" yelled Travis and Conner.
"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped.
They both got up and fainted after yelling "we think like a goat". Everyone rolled their eyes at their antics.
Suddenly Leo said "what if you two have brains of a goat"
"Yes I was thinking the same thing. What if a satyr has three brains and Connor and Travis here were born with no brain. The satyr took pity on them and donated two of his brains to them, so now they think like a goat" yelled Nico. After a while of pin-drop silence everyone burst into laughter.
"Gods! Nico where did you come up with this explanation" said Thalia after calming down. He just smirked in return.
"That's my, um ... Summer 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.
"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "
"Like a mansion it is" huffed Thalia.
He nodded. "Or ... Or if you need me."
"Why would I need you?"
"Ouch, Harsh" said Conner getting up from the floor and seated himself on his chair. Travis following his example.
It came out harsher than I meant it to.
"Yup it did" mumbled Annabeth. Meanwhile Percy was thinking if the book was in his point of view, everyone would know that he had a crush on calypso and that Rachel kissed him. Oh gods Annabeth is so going to kill him.
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.
"Staring is impolite Percy" said Leo in a Motherly way.
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.
"Percy, Grover is very lucky to have you as his friend" Said Hestia in a very Polite and sweet way.
"Thanks Lady Hestia" answered Percy.
And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me. "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.
"Ewe Rotten eggs! That's disgusting" yelped Aphrodite.
"A sure sign of monsters" Said Jason.
"But there was no monster, It was something far worse" said Percy shaking his head.
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 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 passing cars.
"I hate cars!" yelled Dionysus.
"Ah Why?" asked Piper.
"Because they destroy nature" He yelled again.
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.
"I am hungry!" exclaimed Leo.
"Ok we will have some food after the chapter" Said Zeus.
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 I'd ever seen.
"Those aren't the…" Athena said paling.
"Yup you are right" answered Percy. Everyone looked confused except from Percy and Athena who had figured out who were the old ladies.
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. 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 weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.
"You faced The Three Fates didn't you" yelled Annabeth.
"Wow you figured it out" said Percy whimpering in fear because of his girlfriend's outrage. Thalia decided to read quickly before Annabeth start to beat Percy
I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.
"Hey Conner and Travis does your nose twitch" asked Nico strangely.
"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." Said Thalia.
"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."
The room burst into fits of laughter. "We are not the only ones who have goat a brain" said Travis.
"Yes! Thalia also has a goat brain" said Conner. I don't know but they both got a big shock of voltage turning their face into a black crisp. Both the stolls lost consciousness and lay on their seats.
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. "We're getting on the bus, " he told me. "Come on. "
"Listen to his Percy" said Poseidon worrying for his son.
"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "
"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.
"Why did you stayed back, seaweed brain" said Annabeth affectionaly.
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.
"She cut the yarn!" yelled Annabeth who was nearly fainting.
"How are you still alive" said Athena.
"The yarn was not for me it was for someone else" answered Percy sadly. Hearing this Annabeth seated herself in her seat and snuggled into Percy's chest who was sitting right next to her.
Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla. 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 and 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.
"Oh Grover also got the flu" said Leo fidgeting with some screws
"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?"
"They are much worse" Muttered Annabeth under her breath but everyone heard her and nodded while Thalia laughed a little reading the next line.
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."
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 I said it, I knew it was a big deal.
"A very big deal" said Athena shaking her head.
"This is not happening, " Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."
Thalia looked down. And Annabeth put a reassuring hand on her shoulder
"What last time?"
"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "
"Percy you must have been freaking out that time" said Nico giving his 'I am right smirk'.
"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 promised 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 picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.
"What kind do you like" asked Nico.
"Shut up Death Breath" said Percy.
"Ok the Chapter is finished" sighed Thalia.
"By the way am I born in this timeline" asked Annabeth.
"Yes you are Annabeth you are 2 and so is Percy" answered Athena.
"Can we eat now" Yelled Leo.
"Yes, follow me" said Zeus. All the ten demigods, the eleven Olympians, hades and Hestia followed Zeus in to the Dining room where he summons one black throne like chair and one orange for Hestia and Hades. Then he summoned ten more small chairs which were the duplicate of their parents' thrones. Everyone seated themselves and with a wave of his hand Zeus filled the table with a feast. After a minute of surprise the demigods and gods gladly ate their food.
After a while they were finished. They headed back to the throne room where they sat at their respective seats.
"Ok so who will read now" asked Thalia waving the book in the air.
"I will" said Piper taking the book.