Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Did I mention last chapter that I have been learning Attic Greek (one of the ancient Greek dialects) for the past two years? No? Well, now you know. And I'm a bit of a nerd about it so, uh, get used to the idea of having these little translation notes in my A/N's from time to time.

Anyways, here's Chapter 2, hope you enjoy it! Oh, and I'll see you all next week! ;)

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

Μὰ θεούς – By the gods/I swear to gods

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 2: Necessity Pays Me A Visit~

Now, contrary to what you might think, I did not freak out or do anything rash following the whole Mrs. Dodds debacle. Don't get me wrong, a large part of me wanted to, but I realized that something was going on to make everyone except me, Katie, and maybe Mr. Brunner – it was a gut feeling of mine – forget that Mrs. Dodds had even existed, and doing anything to try to force them to remember would only make me seem like a bigger basket-case than I already was.

Plus, I still had the pen-sword, and I wasn't going to give it up anytime soon. And not just because it was tangible proof that pretty much everyone else had forgotten the truth; I also kept it because 1) Mr. Brunner (and also Katie, somewhat, which was a little weird) kept on wanting me to give it back and it was humorous to see his failed attempts at taking it from me and 2) I was determined to find out what was going on.

Because obviously, obviously, there was something more going on than just math teachers turning into demons for no apparent reason. I mean, there was also the freak weather to consider, too, especially since it had somehow gotten even worse since I had vaporized Mrs. Dodds and I was pretty sure that it wasn't a coincidence. I just couldn't figure out how the two things were connected, outside of something like the Harry Potter movies. And I was fairly certain those weren't real.

Fairly.

Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately, depending on how you look at it – for me, however, I still must have done something to piss off the headmaster of the school, because not long after the field trip he sent a letter home to my mom, telling her that I would not be welcome back at Yancy Academy the following year.

Which was fine. Really. I was homesick, anyways. I still desperately wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to a shitty public school and put up with my douchebag of a stepfather and his stupid poker parties.

...Although, that wasn't to say that I wouldn't miss Yancy. Or, at least, certain things of it. I'd miss the view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, and the smell of pine trees. I'd also miss Katie, who despite still refusing to tell me what was going on with the whole Mrs. Dodds thing outside of "you'll understand eventually,"was a pretty awesome best friend all around.

And I'd miss Latin class too, because despite his pushing, Mr. Brunner was a good teacher and he always had faith in me, even when I didn't have faith in myself. And that was a strange, but also good thing to know.

As exam week got closer, I busied myself with studying for my tests, although that wound up proving to be a frustrating endeavor. As due to my ADHD and dyslexia, I couldn't sit still for very long and when I did, the words started swimming off the pages of the books and study guides that I was using.

In fact, one night – the night before my Latin final – I got frustrated enough that I wound up throwing the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. I stared at it for a few moments, my chest heaving from anger, as I knew that there was just no way that I was going to be able to pass this test. I mean, I couldn't even remember the differences between Chiron and Charon, much less how to conjugate Latin verbs!

After those few moments, though, I let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through my hair, and walked across the room and picked up the book. I could do this. I could do this. Granted, I probably couldn't do it on my own, but if I had some help from Mr. Brunner...then I probably could. Especially with his handy mnemonics and shit. Heh, I thought, my lips quirking as I remembered how he had used the word as a way to remember a certain goddess, too. Mnemonic, as in the titaness of memory. Mnemosyne, or Moneta.

With those thoughts in mind, I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, and the light from his room was stretching across the hallway floor. Great.

But I was three steps away from the door handle when I paused, because I could hear voices coming from inside his office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. And a voice that was undoubtedly Katie's said in response, "It's just...I'm worried about Percy, sir."

I stiffened.

Now, I'm not usually one for eavesdropping, but I don't think anyone, especially me, could just walk away when they hear their best friend talking about them from behind their back. Especially when an adult is involved.

Shakily, I inched closer to see if I could hear what they were saying better.

"He already suspects, sir," she said. "It's only a matter of time before he figures it out...and since he has the sword..."

"Rushing him will only make matters worse," Mr. Brunner responded in a placating tone. "He needs to be more ready, especially with the way things are now."

"But he – we – may not have that kind of time," Katie argued. "The summer solstice deadline – "

"Will have to be resolved without him," he interjected calmly.

"Not if You-Know-Who is dead certain that he's the thief, no pun intended."

For a moment, neither of them said anything, but then Mr. Brunner sighed. "You remind me so much of your mother," he finally said. "And you're right. But he should be able to enjoy his ignorance for at least a little longer. It's the least that he deserves, considering what awaits him."

Considering what awaits me?

The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

"Shit," I mouthed, before I hurriedly picked up the book and backed down the hall, my heart hammering in my chest as I did so.

A shadow slid across the light that was pouring out from Mr. Brunner's office – the shadow of something that was much, much taller than my teacher could be, what with him being in a wheelchair and all. And it was holding something that looked a lot like an archer's bow.

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

A few seconds later, I heard a clop-clop-clop noise, then a sound almost like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.

A bead of ice cold sweat trickled down my neck.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "You know, my nerves haven't been right ever since the winter solstice."

"I doubt anybody's have," Katie replied. "But I could have sworn..."

"Go back to your dorm," Mr. Brunner said. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

She sighed. "Don't remind me."

The lights went out in his office.

For what seemed like an eternity, I waited in the dark. At last, though, after I was relatively certain that no one else was around, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. And all the while, I couldn't help but think: what the fuck awaits me? And "what I deserve?" What does that even mean? Also, how does Katie know about the sword?

The next morning, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all of the Greek and Roman names that I knew I must've misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a second, I was worried that he'd somehow found out about my eavesdropping the night before, or that he was going to try and get the pen-sword back from me again, but neither of those things seemed to be the problem. Perhaps he had given up on the latter.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's...it's for the best."

His tone was kind, and yet the words still embarrassed me, as they struck a chord deep within me that I was constantly trying to bury and ignore. Plus, there were a few students that were still finishing up their tests from behind me, and I could practically feel Hudson Lake smirking as he stared a hole into the back of my head.

"What do you mean, sir?" I asked as my face burned something hot.

"I mean..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't quite sure of what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

My eyes stung.

I mean, here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying that he had believed in me all year, he was now telling me that I had been destined to get kicked out from the start.

"Right," I said, trembling.

"No, no," he said with a grimace. "That's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say...you're not normal, Percy. Now, that's nothing to be – "

"Thanks," I managed to blurt out, although my voice cracked as I said it. "Thank you, sir, for reminding me."

"Percy – "

But I was already gone.

On the last day of term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase with a ferocity that they definitely didn't deserve.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans and other shit like that. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was going to be cruising in 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 didn't even have a father.

Just my stepfather, and that was more than enough to say on the matter.

At some point, one of them asked me what I'd be doing this summer. I told him that I was going back to the city, and left out the fact that I'd have to get a summer job somewhere while spending my free time either worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall or staying out of my aforementioned stepfather's way.

"Oh," the guy said. "That's cool."

Then he went back to talking with the other guys as if I had never existed.

The only person that I dreaded saying goodbye to was Katie, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. She'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound I had (something about spending time with her family...although I didn't really know what was that about, considering how she had told me before that her father was dead and she lived with other relatives upstate), so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Katie kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred me to at some point that this had never really happened before – she was generally pretty good at keeping her calm, unlike me. I was like the raging storm, or so my mom liked to tell me. And the fact that she wasn't right now not only made me nervous, but fidgety as well, to the point where I finally couldn't stand it anymore and had to speak up, even if it meant my own disaster.

"Looking for Mrs. Dodds?" I asked, whilst trying to keep my tone as casual as possible.

Katie immediately turned to look at me, her green eyes wide as she did. "What do you mean?" she questioned back nervously.

"You've been on the edge of your seat this entire trip," I pointed out. "And it's making me nervous. I mean, don't I supposedly deserve the opportunity to 'be in ignorance' a little while longer?"

She gaped at me. "I knew that someone was eavesdropping that night!" she exclaimed, before a guilty expression swept across her face. "Percy, tell me...how much did you hear?"

"Oh...not much," I shrugged with fake nonchalance. "Just that you know I have a sword on me and something-something about the summer solstice deadline."

Katie winced. "Look, Percy...there's a lot going on right now that you don't know about...that you can't know about. At least, not yet, anyways. But I promise you, it'll all make sense – "

"Eventually," I finished for her. I knew the routine. It was something adults liked to say, the ones who liked to pretend something wasn't wrong when there obviously was.

Another wince. "Yes. But, in the meantime, just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."

From her pants' pocket, she fished out a crisp business card. Nervously, I took it, and tried to read what it said, but the fancy script was murder on my dyslexic eyes. It was only after a few moments that I was able to make out:

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half– "

"Don't say it out loud!" she hissed. "It's...well, it's my summer address."

My heart sank. Of course, Katie had a summer home. I'd never considered that her family might be as rich as the others at Yancy, but it made sense. The only delinquents who went there were rich ones, or ones who had been kicked out of everywhere else, like me.

"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your summer mansion, I can?"

She nodded. "Or...or if you need me, you know?"

"Why would I need you?"

The question came out harder than I meant it to.

Katie flushed to the roots of her hair. "Look, Percy, the truth is – "

Whatever else she was going to say, it was cut off in that moment by a huge grinding noise from underneath our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus started to smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes of clanking around in the engine compartment, once he got to his feet and went to go check it out, he announced that we'd all have to get off, much to the frustration of everyone on the bus. Nevertheless, Katie and I filed out with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road – basically, no place you would notice unless you broke down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars, which caused Katie to upturn her nose in disgust. On the other side, though, 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 and pomegranates, with walnuts and apricots as well. And there were jugs of apple cider, too, in a claw-foot tub of ice. But strangely, none of these things caught my eye as much as the lady sitting next to them did.

I mean, this lady was beautiful. She looked to be in her mid-thirties or somewhere along those lines, with long, brown hair that curled in the same way that Katie's did. She also had these strange, silvery eyes which I could somehow see the color of despite the distance, and they were both piercing and mesmerizing at the same time. And she was wearing this white, flowing summer dress, one which reminded me a bit of the dresses the ancient Greco-Roman wore in my Latin books.

But the most interesting part about her of all was the fact that this lady was crocheting what had to be one of the biggestblankets I've ever seen. I mean, it was massive, bug enough to probably fit on two king-sized beds put together. But it was beautiful, too, as it was made up of a light blue yarn base which was intertwined with a variety of colors of yarn – amber gold, sea green, stormy grey, and electric blue, just to name a few.

I looked over at Katie to make a comment about how beautiful the blanket was, but I paused when I saw how all of the color had drained from her face.

"Katie?" I asked, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"Tell me she's not looking at you."

I turned back to look at the lady. "Uh, I think she is."

"Μὰ θεούς," Katie moaned in response.

I blinked. I hadn't ever heard anyone, much less her, say something like that before.

At the same time, the lady pulled out a huge pair of bronze-and-silver-colored scissors that were also long-bladed, almost like shears.

Next to me, Katie let another moan, this one wordless, before she told me, "We're getting on the bus. Come on."

"What?" I said. "It's, like, a thousand degrees in there, Katie!"

"Come on!" she hissed, before prying open the door and climbing inside.

I didn't follow her. Instead, I stayed back and looked at the lady, who was still staring at me with those piercing eyes of hers, even as she cut the yarn that she was crocheting from.

I swear, I heard that snip across all the four lanes of traffic, even though it shouldn't have been possible. And that sound sent shivers down my spine in a way that nothing had before, or has come close to since.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered at first, but then it abruptly roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Damn right!" he shouted, before 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.

Katie didn't look much better. She was shivering and her teeth were chattering.

"Katie?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling me?"

She rubbed her hands together then, as if she was trying to get warmth in them. "Percy," she said, her voice low and serious. "What did you see back at the fruit stand?"

I frowned. "You mean the crocheting lady? She's not...she's not like Mrs. Dodds, is she?"

"Yes," Katie replied, before she shook her head. "No. Just tell me what you saw. Please."

"She...well, she took out her scissors and she cut the yarn."

My best friend closed her eyes then, before she made a gesture with her fingers that might've been crossing herself, except it wasn't. It was something else...something that I had a feeling was much older than Jesus.

"You saw her snip the cord," she said blankly. "You saw Necessity snip the cord...damn it!"

I stared at her in response. Katie was not one to usually curse, not like me and my unfiltered mouth, and yet she just had...and I had a feeling she had before with whatever she had said then, too. It was unnerving. The fact that she apparently knew the lady's name, Necessity, was even more so. Although, that being said, it also made me wonder just what kind of parent named their kid something like that. I mean, really? That was basically just asking for your kid to be bullied.

After a few moments, Katie opened her eyes which were now begging, pleading, and said, "Let me walk you home from the bus station. Please."

This seemed like a strange request to me, but nevertheless I told her that she could. Then, I added, "Is this like a superstition or something?"

No answer.

"Katie," I tried again. "That...that snipping of the yarn? Do you think that it means someone is going to die?"

The guilty look that she gave me in response was enough to make me think that not only was the answer to my question yes, but that she was also already picking out which flowers she thought would look best on my coffin.

Word Count: 3,387

Next Chapter Title: My Best Friend Turns Out To Be My #1 Stalker