Telling a Story To the Greek Gods Chapter 2

Telling a Story To the Greek Gods

Ch.2:Socks

"Hestia, are you here?" Zeus called out to his wife. "What do you want Zeus."Hestia snapped at her husband. "I'm sorry for betraying you again." Zeus told her. "If you didn't mean it then why did you do it." Hestia yelled at Zeus. "I have no answer to your question but please come back to hear the rest of the story." Zeus pleaded.

"Fine." Hestia said as she walked back into the throne room and Zeus trailing after her. Once they sat down

Chapter 2: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

"What up with the title Seaweed brain." Thaila asked, Looking over at her cousin. Percy looked over at her and smiled and didn't say anything.

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.

"When was your life was ever normal?" Nico asked, looking over at Percy. "Good question." Percy replied, smiling at his cousin as he put

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. 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.

It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

"Percy, how can fall for that?" Thaila asked. "I don't know but Grover is not the best liar." Percy said.

Almost. 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.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.

"Of course something happened if you weren't paying attention.

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.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood.

One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room.

"Why are you so angry at him for?" Aphrodite asked Zeus. "How am I supposed to know." Zeus replied.

A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.

"You guys are acting like a couple of children." Hera said, glaring at Zeus and Posieden.

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.

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.

"Why are you getting better grades." Athena asked, Glaring at Percy. "Athena, stop staring your going to make me catch on fire."Percy said.

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.

Nico and Thaila started bursting out laughing while the gods had a amused smiles on there faces.

I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.

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.

"Momma's boy." Ares spat. "Proud to be." Percy replied.

I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side,

Posieden sighed contently as the mention of Sally.

even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.

"What are you talking about Paul doesn't gabble." Nico said to Percy. "No, this my other stepfather."Percy told them.

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.

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.

"Why didn't you study for your other classes?" Athena growled. Percy ignore her and she continued to read.

I hadn't forgotten what had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.

"How dare you through a book." Athena yelled trying to get Percy but Apollo and Hermes hold her back.

Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.

"I certainly know the difference now." Percy said,as Nico put his hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

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 hate it when he does that at camps setting his expectations to high." Nico said.

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. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.
"That the spirit continue to try hard and still fail." Apollo said.

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.

"The joys of eavesdropping." Hermes said. "Yeah but Percy not any good at it." Nico before Percy splashed him with water. Thaila snickered at Nico downfall.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.

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—"

"There giving away everything an they didn't even notice you." Thaila said and Percy nodded his head

"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 deadline— "

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"Sir, he saw her... ."

"Damn straight I saw that old hag"Percy growled. Nico and Thaila started laughing at Percy.

"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.",/b>

"Oh Grover, he still blames himself for that time doesn't he." Thalia said, looking down at her hands. "Its ok Thaila, he over it now he knows that the sacrifice you made wasn't in vain."Nico told her. "You right Death breathe." Thaila said wiping away her tears from the corners of her eyes. The gods were all thinking the same thing what did this little girl have to give up.

"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.

"You sure are clumsy Percy." Nico said. "Shut up." Percy said

Mr. Brunner went silent.

My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.

"Scardy Cat." Ares mumbled, as Posiden shot he a glare making him fall silent.

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.

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

"You can be stealthy when you want to be." Thaila commented. "It's not my fault that Monster can sense me easily," Percy grumbled

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 ..."

"What going to happen on the day of solstice?" Hermes asked, looking down at the three demigods. Thaila and Nico shrugged there shoulders and looked over a Percy. "You will find out later." Percy said.

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"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?"

"When is Perce, Ready for anything." Nico joked, Percy glared at his cousin and knocked his chair down when Nico was not looking.

I didn't answer.

"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just... tired."

I turned so he couldn't read my expression,

"I hate when he does that." Percy said. "Do what?" Posieden asked. "Satyrs can read people emotions on peoples faces." Dionysus commented. Everyone looked over at him shocked never once did he comment about any of the demigod or anyone from the camp in a dignified manor.

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 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 am I not in Danger?" Percy asked, sighing as his cousin laughed at him.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,

"That sounds like torture." Posieden murmured. "It was."Percy said, groaning remember about having to sit down for that long.

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.

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."

"There he goes with another one of his cryptic sayings." Thaila Groaned. Nico and Percy nodded their heads in agreement. "Those saying do get annoying after a while." Dionysus commented

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.

"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—"

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.

"The Caribbean, is a perfect place to visit in the summer." Posieden commented.

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.

"Well that harsh." Posieden murmured, as Percy gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry I didn't know about who you guys were until a little later on." Percy told him, as he scratched the back of his head looking sorry.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer 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.

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?" Grover nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Way to blow your cover, he is not smooth at all when hiding his identity." Nico yelled as he gripped his hair and started to pull on it slightly. "Oh come on Nico, you can't act like that you weren't nervous once it was your first time on your own."Percy said, Nico blushed in embarrassment a mumbled something like "You stay in a hotel for seventy years and come back outside you'll be the same way."

"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?"

"That what we would like to know as well." Hera said, looking over at Percy who smiled softly at the goddess.

He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."

"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."

"He sure is." Thaila commented, Nico nodded his head in agreement.

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, but I finally made out something like: Grover Underwood Keeper Half-Blood Hill Long Island, New York (800) 009-0009 "What's Half—"

"Your not suppose to say thing out loud like that Percy." Nico told him. "I know I learned that the hard way." Percy murmured to himself.

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "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."

He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."

"Why would I need you?"

"Percy that was harsh."Thaila yelled at Percy. "I felt bad about it you know." Percy yelped, as Thaila stealthy zapped Percy so none of the Gods would notice. Percy glared at her.

It came out harsher than I meant it 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 in 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.

"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. 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. 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. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree,

"Please tell me those aren't what I think they are?" Nico said, looking over at Percy. Who looked at him sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head."Y-yyou never told us that you encountered them." Nico yelled, looking at Percy shocked. "Calm down Nico, I'm fine." Percy told him. As the Gods and goddess where confused about what just happened.

knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.

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.

"The fates." Zeus murmured as everyone caught these and their eyes widen and turned to look over at Percy shocked.

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?"

"Of course they are looking at him Goat boy." Thaila commented

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"How can you find a time to joke about this right now?" Hermes asked, Percy shrugged his shoulder and loooked over back at Athena signaling her to continue to read.

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

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.

Everyone gasped and paled as the all looked over at Percy. Who looked back at them and didn't say a word.

"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Please go inside." Posieden begged, none seemed to notice beside the demigods.

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

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.

"Oh my Hades." Posieden gasped as he buried his head in his hands. "Why does everyone curse upon me?" Hades grumbled as he turned away from the group and began to pout.

"How are you alive?" Hestia asked. "It was not my life line they cut." Percy replied.

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 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 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 shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"The fates." Percy told him.

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

"No, there much, much worse." Aphrodite commented.

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.

"You don't know how wrong you are." Apollo said.

"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?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"He will never get over that will he?" Thaila said, rubbing her forehead."Unfortunately until you came back he is always like this." Percy told her.

"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?"

"Yes it means your life is soon to come to an end." Zeus commented.

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.

"That is the end of the chapter." Athena said. "Who wants to read next?" Percy asked. "I will." Posieden said.