I befriend the people who can control my life
After the weirdest day of my life (the sock incident did not count), everyone acted like it never happened. It was like I was in a gaming seminar 24/7 and never going to get out. The Mrs. Kerr person was a perky blond woman that was pretty cool and everyone, including her, was convinced that she had been there all along. Because I had a reputation of being a troublemaker kid, I had to spring a Mrs. Dodds reference every once in a while to see everyone get tripped up all of a sudden.
Grover didn't have the kind of reaction I was hoping for, he would just stop whatever he was doing and stall for a few seconds before trying to laugh it off nervously. I'm suspicious of him a bit, but for no reason whatsoever.
Anyway, nothing freaky really happened the rest of the year and soon enough, I had three hour exams to get through and the inevitable thing of me being kicked out of this school once again.
The night before my latin exam, I tried to stay up studying and actually get a good grade, but my dyslexia acted up and made the words swim on the page and refuse to stay there where I can see it. I eventually gave up and threw the book across the room, anger consuming me. It took a few seconds to realize what I did and pick up the book.
I looked around the empty dorm and sat back down. Maybe if I asked for help, then it'll be better to study? No, well maybe, I don't know because I've never asked for help anymore. Having a 'bad boy' reputation doesn't help when asking for help apparently.
I then made my choice, maybe Mr. Brunner might be willing to help me in this. It is latin after all. Maybe he has a trick for latin verbs or remembering the difference between Chiron and Charon.
Grover was out, so I left him a note saying that I was going to Mr. Brunner for help with studying and snuck out.
Mr. Brunner's office wasn't that far from the boys dorm so it only took a few minutes to find the office and hear voices from the inside.
"...Alone this summer. I mean, a kindly one in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-" Was that Grover? Was he talking about me. That didn't sound like something he would do...
"We would only make matters worse by rushing him. We need the boy to mature more." Mr. Brunner, was there anyone else there? Also, a kindly one? Was that what they called the bat thing in the museum? So that did happen and the gods were real. Great.
"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"
"Will be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can." Ignorance, that doesn't stay when you hear about this stuff does it? I already know about the gods, so if people could just fill me in on this stuff, then life will be better. I hate being left out of this stuff, the last times those happened, mother left to do her duty and I wouldn't know until the day she left and it'll be a quick goodbye.
"Sir, he saw her..."
"His imagination. The mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him that." The mist, was that how Mrs. Dodds kept hidden?
"Sir, I... I can't fail my duties again. You know what that will mean."
"You haven't failed Grover.I should have seen her for who she was. Now let's worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-." He stopped as my grip slacked from a cold realization as Mr. Brunner said my name. I picked it up and hid in the shadows as the shadow of Mr. Brunner grew and turned into a shadow of a horse. Okay, people really need to stop and fill me in then the world might actually not end. Where had that thought come from? Whatever.
Stupid ADHD, I skipped thoughts every few seconds and everything with that happened so fast. I almost missed Mr. Brunner's next sentence after he got out of his office with a bow. Great, weapons are included too, "Nothing. My nerves haven't been the same since the winter solstice." Everything seems to revolve around the darkest day of the year, what a coincidence the darkest day of the year is correlated with whatever things Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about.
I walked quickly to the dorm, a few minutes before Grover slipped in and feigned sleep. Grover fell asleep soon enough, leaving me to lay there and think about what happened.
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Mr. Brunner called me to the front after the exams and tried to will away the images of the misspelled words swirling in my head. I looked at his grave face and wondered if he found out about my eavesdropping last night, but it was a different can of worms altogether that I really shouldn't be surprised about.
"Percy, don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's... it's for the best." His voice was quiet but the others in the room could hear that I was being kicked out. I wanted to kick Yancy like my mom does to mother when she did something that mom didn't like. That'll teach her and I was already being kicked out, so I really won't be in that much more trouble. Mother would be proud of me for this, if I remember her correctly.
"Okay, sir" I mumbled back and turned to leave, my books clutched in my hand.
"I mean," I turned back to him, my eyes still downcast. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."
My eyes stung. "Thank you for teaching me though" I turned and left for good and not even Mr. Brunner trying to talk to me or Grover grabbing my hand made me turn back.
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It was a rich kid school, so the other boys in the dorm were talking about what fabulous things they were going to do over the summer and when they asked me, I shrugged and refused to answer. They eventually turned back to their conversation while I packed and made sure everything was ready.
"I'll miss you man." I was prepared to say goodbye to Grover, but he showed me his bus ticket that was the same one as mine. At least our goodbye will be postponed for a bit. We boarded the bus and I was trying to think of how I was going to say goodbye. We were really close during the year, he was helping me focus and I was protecting him from the bullies. I hope he'll be okay next year...
Grover kept on glancing around the bus nervously and it was getting on my nerves, so I decided to trip him up again.
"Looking for the kindly ones?" I smirked as he jumped up in fear and turned to me.
"Wha-what do you mean?" I smirked and then told him in detail about the night before final exams.
"You heard that much? Ugh."
"Why were you even there? Also, protecting me? You can't even handle the bullies." I felt my eyes soften.
"I was worried about how you were hallucinating about demon math teachers. So, I went to Mr. Brunner to see if there was anything to help you and-."
"Grover, I know what I saw. I know the gods were real. What, do you think that is the first time something happened that no one can explain? I've met weirder people before. That's the whole reason why I started studying the gods and science so much." I started feeling female again (I'm genderfluid, have been for like a year), and took my shoulder length hair out of it's ponytail as my eyes softened at Grover.
"You do?" Grover's eyes were wide.
"Yup, and this year just proves it."
"Well, here is my card. Um, call if you need anything." He gave me a card and I turned it a few times. Ugh, cursive.
Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009
"What's Half-"
"Shh, don't say it. That's my summer address." I nodded as my heart sank at the reminder that Grover might be from a rich family.
"Okay, so I can come if I need you for this stuff?"
"Yeah." He was interrupted by the bus pulling over on the long stretch of a road we were on. The driver cursed and forced everyone out so he could fix it while we stood in the blistering heat. My ADHD acted up and I noticed a fruit stand on the other side of the 4 lane road with three old ladies knitting a huge sock. It looked like the sock could probably fit bigfoot. Yeah I know, that big.
The women looked ancient, silver hair and gaunt faces, the full old lady package. What was really weird was that they were looking right at me, as if weighing my soul.
"Grover, do you see them?" I asked the boy next to me.
"A-are they looking at you?" He looked as scared as he was when we talked about Mrs. Dodds.
"Yeah, weird right? They seem to be running out of yarn, I'm going to go help them and maybe get an apple for the way home." I looked both ways and ran to the other side, ignoring Grover's protests.
"Hello Ladies" I bowed slightly and saw another ball of the same color of string.
"Hello Percy Jackson." They caught me off guard with knowing my name, but I made sure not to let them know.
"Here is another ball of string. What are you making?" I held out the ball to them and asked politely.
"Pastries on socks with our familie's lives plastered on it. But sadly, each time we cut the string, someone dies in our family or in another's."
"How about I do it? Then one person's life won't be your fault Lady Fates." I gently took the scissors out of the middle lady's hand and proceeded to cut the string for a new ball of yarn. "I feel bad for you guys, having to do all these things to keep the very balance of the universe and nobody realizes the burden of your positions. At least now, that burden will be a little lighter." I smiled brightly and turned to leave. The one on the left stopped with a bony hand.
"Thank you Percy, we thank you so much."
"I'm just being a good person." I waved goodbye and crossed the streets once again, feeling a lot lighter even at Grover's despaired look. The Fates still were looking at me, but they seemed much younger, especially while smiling. I smiled back and got on the bus once more.
"What were you doing?"
"Taking a burden off of another's shoulders." I stared out the window the rest of the way and couldn't wait to see my mom, even if it meant dealing with Smelly Gabe.
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Clotho watched as the young hero left the stand, already aware of the journey they would have to make and wished she could change it.
"She is nicer than I thought. Cutting the string for us, even if it meant sealing her own fate."
"Definitely a mix between Lady Sally and Poseida."
"Let's hope she isn't a huge terror like that." Sally Jackson was a strong woman who knew just what to do at any time. She even managed to make Poseida fear her kick, and the goddess didn't fear much at all, having grown up in Tartarus.
"She will have a lot of strength for her journey." With that, the three ladies and the fruit stand vanished from thin air.