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Living at Yancy Academy was nothing like what Marlowe thought it would be.
She had to actually try at her classes, and had no idea what was going on for a majority of the time.
She stayed close with Percy, since they were the only two who knew of a Mrs. Dodds.
Marlowe knew that since this was how the book went, she shouldn't say anything about Grover lying. It would only make things worse.
She was impressed at how well Grover kept his mouth shut. He kept the act up for months, which Marlowe knew had to be hard for him.
Percy couldn't handle it, though. He felt like he was going through twenty-four/seven hallucinations and people thought he was going crazy.
Marlowe stayed by and continued to tell him that he would be okay. The black haired boy got worked up a lot, which resulted in him in Marlowe's dorm—which she didn't even know she had—in the middle of the night.
"I—I'm not going crazy, right?" Percy asked, fiddling with the ends of his jacket. "I mean, you saw Mrs. Dodds, too?"
Marlowe gave a weak smile. "Yeah, Perce. I saw her, too."
Over the months, Marlowe and Percy got to know more about each other. Obviously, it was hard for the blonde to share anything, but she gave small details and kept most of her life hidden.
Percy felt glad to share things with her. He told Marlowe about his mother, Sally. He could have talked about his mother all night, and even brought up the resemblance between the two, but curfew hit and Percy had to run back to his dorm.
Marlowe didn't expect the nightmares.
She would have thought that her dreams would be blissful after a hard past life. Her entire life with her abusive father was a nightmare. Why did she have to relive it?
No, these nightmares were about Mrs. Dodds. Her talons, leathery wings, razor-sharp teeth.
The bat woman...thingy was all that occupied her mind, so you can assume how hard it was to pass classes. Marlowe could barely stay awake during lessons and would get detention every other day because of it.
The freak weather continued, which didn't help either of the kids minds. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows of their dorms, as if Zeus was seeking them out.
A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.
Percy started to feel cranky and miserable, which Marlowe picked up on. She was constantly pulling him away from fights—and even got in a few herself. She had to speak to the boy softly or else he thought she was turning on him.
But Marlowe understood what he was going through. She would never turn on him or think differently about him.
At first, Marlowe thought talking to Percy would be weird, but the more time she spent with him, the more their relationship grew into a friendship. A true friendship.
