Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief Rewritten

Ch. 2-Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death

I was pretty used to weird shit happening around me, but usually, they were over pretty damn quickly. This 24/7 hallucination thing was more than I could handle. For the rest of the year, the ENTIRE CAMPUS seemed to be playing one giant trick on me. The students there acted like Mrs. Kerr--a perky blonde woman whom I have never seen in my life until she got on the bus at the end of our field trip--had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.
Every so often, I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference somebody just to see if I could trip them up, but they would just stare blankly at me like I was a psycho.
It got so I almost believed them--Mrs. Dodds never existed....ALMOST, but Grover couldn't fool me. Whenever I mentioned the name Dodds, he would hesitate and then claim Mrs. Dodds had never excited. But I knew his was lying.
Something was going on, something had happened at the museum.
I didn't have much time to think about it during the day, but at night, at night, I had visions of Mrs. Dodds with those talons and leathery wings waking me up in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help mood. One night, the fucking thunderstorm blew out my window in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in Hudson Valley was spotted only fifty miles from Yancy. One of the current events we studied in our Social Studies Class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in the Atlantic that year.
I started feeling cranky and was irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into so many more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. I just stopped caring.

Finally when our English teacher, Mrs. Nicolle asked me why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I just snapped at him and called him an 'old sot'. I didn't even know what it meant, but it sounded good.

The headmaster sent a letter to my mom the following week, making it official: I would NOT be invited back the following week to Yancy Academy.
'Fine' I told myself. 'Just fine, I'm homesick anyways.'

I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side anyways, even if that means I have to go to public school and put up with my stupid and obnoxious stepfather and his stupid fucking poker parties.

And... yet ...there were things I'd miss at Yancy Academy. The gorgeous view of the woods outta my dorm room window, the Hudson Riverl in the distance, the smell of pine trees, and Grover. I'd especially miss Grover. We had become good friends, even if he was a little strange. I was a bit worried how he would survive without me next year.
I'd also miss Latin Class too--Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith in me that I could do well.

As exam week grew closer, Latin Class was the class I studied the most for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why but I believed him.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw my copy of the Cambridge Guide To Greek Mythology across my dorm room. The words had started swimming off the pages again, circling my head and doing 1-80s as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was gonna remember the difference between Chiron and Charon or Polydictes and Polydeuces and conjuring those Latin Verbs? Forget it.
I paced my room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. "I will only except the best from you Percy Jackson. "

I took a deep breath and went over to pick up my Mythology Book. I had NEVER before asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. I mean at least I can apologize for the big fat F I'm about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy without him thinking I at least tried.
I walked downstairs to the faculty office. 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 away from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question and a voice that was definitely Grover's said "...worried about Percy sir."
I froze.

Now, usually, I'm not an eavesdroper, but I dare you to try not listening when you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.
I inch closer.

". . . Alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, there was a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure and they know too--"
"We would only make things worse by rushing him Grover. " Mr. Brunner told him. "We need the boy to mature more."
"We may not have time, I mean The Summer Soltice deadline -"

"-will just have to be resolved without him, Grover. Just let the boy enjoy his ignorance while he still can." Mr. Brunner was telling Grover.

"But sir... he saw her..." Grover started before Mr. Brunner interrupted him.

"A trick of the light, his imagination." Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff should be enough to convince him."

"Sir?" Grover starts. "I...I can't fail again..." his voice was choked with emotion. "You, of all people, knows what that would mean for me..."

"But you haven't failed Grover," Mr. Brunner told him, kindly. "To be honest, I should've seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy ALIVE until next fall...."

At those words, the Greek Mythology textbook I was holding dropped outta my hand and landed with a thud.

Mr. Brunner went silent.
A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's door, but out came the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, and he was holding something that suspiciously looked like an archer's bow.
I opened the door that was nearest to me and slipped inside.
A few seconds later, I hear the strangest thing. It was a slow clop-clop-clop like muffled wood blocks, and then I heard what sounded 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 as I breathed a sigh of relief.
Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing..." he murmured. "My nerves have been fucked up since the Winter Soltice..."
"Mine too sir..." Grover said. "...but I could've sworn..."
"Back to your dorm," Mr. Brunner interrupted. "You've got a LONG DAY of exams tomorrow."

"Please don't remind me, sir."
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 my dorm.

Grover was lying in bed, studying his Latin Exam like he had been there all night.

"Yo," he said, bleary-eyed. "Ready for tomorrow's test?"
I didn't answer, but that didn't stop him. He looked at me and frowned. "You... you look awful Perce, everything alright?"
"Fine, just... tired.." I responded, then turned so he couldn't read my expression and started getting ready for bed.