"The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,"
A couple of people winced and looked sympathetically at Percy. "That would have been so annoying!" Ron stated, thanking merlin that their OWLS didn't take that long.
"My eyes swimming,"
Jace huffed and shook his head at Percy's use of water related words.
"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. "
"He's not going to take that well." Thalia sighed. "Chiron might be good t lying but he really needs to work on talking to others about these things."
"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."
All the demigods where ready to take off and get a little payback for Percy. Even the Golden Trio looked angry that this girl would be so mean to their new friends.
"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 looked down, "Come on Chiron! That was the wrong thing to say."
"My eyes stung. Here was my favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling me that I couldn't handle it."
"If Dumbledore ever did that to me, I would feel so terrible!" Harry shook his head and looked at his wand sadly
"After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me that I was destined to get kicked out. "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-"
"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot sir, for reminding me."
"Percy-"
"That wasn't nice of Chiron but he was kind of right, you aren't normal Percy!" Annabeth laughed to sooth the sadness in the air.
"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 going cruising around 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."
At this, all the gods snorted and glared at Percy. "I can't believe you just said the gods are nobodies!" Jace laughed. Percy just shrugged and leaned closer into the couch. "How come you can be so unfazed about everything? You don't even look scared!" Ron asked, clearly confused. "Well, you see, I am the great and powerf-" Percy's great monologue was cut out by the groan of all the demigods. Grover shook his head and mumbled, "Not this again! This happens ALL THE TIME!" Percy just gave an offended look and tilted up his chin to continue, "As I was saying, I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, PERSASSY, also known as PERSASSIUS JACKSON!" The Throne Room was silent as everyone stared at Percy and wondered why he wasn't in rehab already. Annabeth rolled her eyes and reached over to the back of his head and whacked him. Nico cleared his throat, waking up everyone from their odd gazes they were giving Percy, "Well, how about we just continue." Without waiting for anyone else's comment, he proceeded to read,
"They asked me what I would be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spending all my free time worrying about where I would go to school next fall."
"Or, you could go to Half-Blood Camp!" Annabeth smiled. Jace wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "Or maybe you could get it on with Ann- OW!" Clary quickly elbowed him in the ribs and glared. Percy and Annabeth were both blushing and looking anywhere except each other. Athena raised an eyebrow and looked at the blushing couple. Apollo and Hermes smirked, thinking about how they could tease Athena for the rest of the millennium.
"They asked me what I would be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spending all my free time worrying about where I would go to school next fall."
Jace coughed, "Stalker." And Grover blushed deeply to the amusement to everyone.
"They asked me what I would be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spending all my free time worrying about where I would go to school next fall."
Thalia looked at Percy, "You literally would have scared him so bad! Urgh, Kelp Head, you are so stupid!"
"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."
Hermes rolled his eyes and shook his head disappointedly at Percy, "I am becoming more and more disappointed in you. First the thing about sneaking around, and now this!" All the gods rolled their eyes at him and gave everyone similar looks of 'I don't know who he is'.
"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."
Jace and Clary quickly jumped out and brought out their Seraph blades, ready to attack. "What are you doing?" Peeta asked them while warily eyeing their blades. Jace looked and around and once he realised that everyone was staring at both of them, the immediately relaxed. He chuckled in embarrassment and itched the back of his neck.
"Grover-"
"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something because there was so such person as Mrs. Dodds, and…"
"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."
His ears turned link. 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 fancy script, which is 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"
All the demigods looked angrily at Dionysus who was shrinking behind his wine magazine.
"What's Half-"
Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um… summer address."
"The best place in the world!" Percy smiled.
"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."
Clarisse snorted and laughed, "Camp Half-Blood is definitely NOT a mansion!"
"He nodded. "Or…or if you need me."
"Why would I need you?"
Annabeth elbowed him and chastised, "Harsh!"
"It came our harsher than I meant to. 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. All year long, I'd gotten into 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."
Artemis begrudgingly started to like this boy; he was very loyal to his friends. Grover smiled at Percy, "Thanks Perce." Percy just shrugged and answered, "No problem G-Man!"
"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."
Everyone crinkled their noses and some gagged at the sound of the scent.
"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 were nothing but maple trees and litter from passing 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 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."
Annabeth's eyes widen and she gave a huge shriek that made everyone jump a little in their seats. "Perseus Jackson!"
"Oh no Percy! She used the dreaded full name!" Nico laughed, "What are you even angry about Annabeth?"
Annabeth's eyes darkened and gripped Percy's arm really hard, "YOU IDOT! Why didn't you tell me you saw the freaking FATES?"
Nico face faltered (A/N: PERNICO SHIPPERS ARE YOU THERE? DON'T WORRY PERCABETH SHIPPERS I WILL GIVE YOU A LARGE DOSE OF PERCABETH SOON!) with worry. Annabeth's eyes were filled with tears as she looked at the ground.
"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, and bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me."
Annabeth bit her lip, trying to keep her tears from coming out while Percy comforted her. Tris raised an eyebrow and asked tentively, trying not to upset Annabeth even more, " What is the deal with the 'Fates'? Is it like a bad omen or something?"
Annabeth sniffed and answered, "Seeing the Fates is a very bad thing. I don't really want to talk about it right now." Tris nodded and decided to find out more when Annabeth was not on the edge of bawling her eyes out.
"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 tension in the room was very high as everyone was gripping the edge of their seats in anticipation.
"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."
"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."
"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back."
"Just get on the freaking boat Percy!" Clarisse muttered. No one even bothered to comment that she just called Percy by his correct name, and not Prissy.
"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."
Everyone was silent as they debated whether to ask Percy how the hell was he still alive or to burst out in tears. Annabeth however, started to sob silently as Percy muttered soothing words in her ear and rubbing lightly on her back.
"Her two friends balled up the electric blue socks, leaving me to wonder who they could possibly be for- Sasquatch or Godzilla. At the rear if 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. "Everyone 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 shirtsleeve. "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?"
Poseidon looked gravely at Percy, "No son, much, much worse."
"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.
"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."
"What last time?"
Thalia looked down and stared at the ground, "Look, Grover. It was might choice! I made that choice myself, stop beating yourself up over it." She looked up to flash Grover a weak smile as she started thinking about Luke.
"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."
"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 yearn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"
He looked at me mournfully; like he was already picking the flowers I'd like best on my coffin."
Jace cleared his throat after everyone had gone silent when Nico finished the last sentence, " Well, I don't know about you but it is getting late now so, would it be okay if we went to sleep now?" A couple of people murmured in agreement and Tobias even yawned to make his point. "Okay, I guess it is getting pretty late. Now, lets go to sleep and remember to wake up early tomorrow to continue this book. I know that all of us want this whole book think over and done with so we can go and do our own business and you can do… what ever mortals do." Athena finished. Everyone nodded and followed Athena to the spare rooms that were at the end of the hallway that started on the right side of the Throne Room.
(A/N GUYZ I KNOW THIS CHAPTER IS REALLY REALLY CRAPPY! As I was reading through it, I realised how OCC ALL these characters are being AND I AM SO SORRY! Okay... First things first, I LOVE PERSASSY SO MUCH AND I FELT THE SUDDEN URGE TO PUT HIM IN THERE. *Sigh* I have no life. I am really really sorry that my chapters take so long to be updated, but keep this in mind, I have to type the WHOLE entire book out on my laptop, WORD FOR WORD! Usually what happens is I take A LONG time typing out the book and then spend a day yping out the comments... BUT I WANT TO GIVE A HUGE THANK YOU to those of you who have Favourited, Followed or even Reviewed! You guys are amazing and thank you for sticking up with my long periods of time before I update!)
I hope you guys have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR! And now, before we say 'adios', we shall sing a christmas carol. Are you ready?:
Deck the halls with boughs of fandoms, falalalalalalalala
Tis the season to ship couples, falalalalalalalala
Don, we now our phones and iPods, falalalalalalalala
Heedless of the tragic books, falalalalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
:) Merry Christmas
(Song by: annabeths_divergence Go check her out on Instagram, she is pretty awesome!)