This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―ii. three old ladies knit socks of death

THIS TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN HALLUCINATION was starting to get really old. For the rest of the semester, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on her and Percy. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blonde lady who Naomi was almost positive she'd never seen before in her life—had been their math teacher since Christmas. 

But if it was some weird school-wide prank, Grover was seriously bad at keeping up the act. Every time she or Percy mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But Naomi could tell he was lying.

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

Naomi was fairly certain the only reason she hadn't completely lost her mind was because Percy was in the same boat.

She didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and bat wings joined the already extensive library of nightmare-fuel she had in her brain.

The freaky weather continued, which didn't help her mood. Several nights throughout the semester, thunderstorms woke her out of a dead sleep, shaking the dormitory building with a vengeance. The biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events they studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

Percy started acting cranky and irritable most of the time. He never lashed out at Naomi or Grover, but he started getting into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. He was sent out in the hallway in almost every class. When their English teacher, Mr. Nicholl, asked him for the millionth time why Percy hadn't been studying for his spelling tests, he snapped. He called him an old sot—an insult Naomi was kind of disappointed in him for. She could think of about a dozen better insults, but alas.

According to Percy, the headmaster sent his mom a letter the following week, making it official: Percy would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

Percy wasn't too devastated by the news, but Naomi had to try hard to hide her own disappointment. She didn't want to think about having to spend another year at Yancy without Percy. She had a hard enough time making friends, and she dreaded the idea of having to try to make more.

As exam week drew closer, Naomi's roommate got more irritating, so she found herself staying at Percy and Grover's room until right before curfew. She tried to study, and in turn help Percy study, but that was like two dogs trying to teach each other how to fly.

Naomi jumped as Percy threw his mythology book at the wall farthest away from her, perched cross-legged on his unmade bed with her messily annotated copy of Holes open on her lap.

As soon as it hit the wall and Percy saw her startled response, his shoulders sagged. "Sorry, Nay," he said, his voice purposefully soft. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just frustrated about this Latin exam."

Naomi dreamed of the day that explanation wouldn't be necessary, when she wouldn't flinch at every sudden noise, but that day wasn't close by any means.

"'S okay," she mumbled, shoving her book off of her lap and drawing her knees up to her chest. She hugged them and rested her chin on the top of her knee before asking, "It's your second exam tomorrow, right?"

Percy nodded.

"I have it first," she said. "I'll try to remember what was on it to give you a leg up."

"If you get caught helping me cheat, you might get kicked out, too," Percy pointed out.

Naomi shrugged. "So?"