Chapter 7: Chapter 7 - Farewell
After the night Percy and Ikki overheard the conversation between Mr. Brunner and his friend, a week passed without many events.
The only thing worth mentioning was that throughout this week, they had exams. It was late in the afternoon, and Percy and Ikki were leaving their Latin exam after three hours.
Ikki seemed relaxed; he had no trouble with the test. Percy, on the other hand, was still stunned by all the Greek and Roman names he misspelled; his dyslexia was really annoying.
"Ugh, my eyes are swimming with all these Greek and Roman names I wrote incorrectly..." Percy complained, a little pale.
"Well, the test was harder than I expected too," Ikki said casually. Mr. Brunner really didn't go easy on the students; the questions were very tough. Nothing he couldn't answer, but the others were another story.
"Hard? That test was a nightmare..." Percy grumbled, still pale. While they talked, they walked towards the classroom exit.
However, they didn't get the chance to leave. Mr. Brunner called them over for a chat.
Percy was a bit worried that Mr. Brunner might have discovered that he and Ikki had been there a week ago, overhearing the conversation that night, but he sighed with relief in his heart when he realized the reason was just to give them their exam results.
And the results weren't bad, but he would still have to leave the school for not meeting the requirements.
"Percy," Mr. Brunner said gently, "Don't be discouraged by leaving Yancy. It's... it's for the best."
Although the Latin teacher's tone was kind, his words made Percy feel embarrassed and sad. Even though Mr. Brunner spoke quietly, those still taking the exam could clearly hear.
Nancy Bobofit, who overheard, had a fake smile and sarcastically blew Percy a kiss, which made him very upset.
He muttered, with a downcast expression on his face.
"Alright. Sir..."
Mr. Brunner seemed to realize he had been too harsh with his words, but he didn't say anything more about it. He just looked at Ikki and asked, "And you? Will you join us here at Yancy next year..."
"I can't leave my best friend, I feel bad for Grover. But, I'll follow Percy so he's not the only new kid..." Ikki shrugged and said, "Besides, I doubt the Seaweed Brain could survive without me..."
"Hey!..." Percy was obviously happy to hear that his friend was following him to a new school, but he was offended when Ikki said he wouldn't survive without him. Not that it was a lie, his friend had saved him from many problems.
Like that time when the bullies grouped together and wanted to beat him up, his friend fought and beat all of them, with his help, of course...
"I understand..." Mr. Brunner commented. He moved his chair back and forth, as if unsure of what to say. "I had a feeling this place wasn't right for you boys, so... I thought it would just be a matter of time before you left..."
Hearing his Latin teacher's words, Ikki felt bad for his friend. I mean, here was his favorite teacher, in front of the class, saying these cruel words. After all year saying he believed in him, that he just expected the best from him, now saying he was destined for expulsion?
He was very upset with Mr. Brunner.
"Right..." Percy's voice trembled, he was a bit pale, his sea-green eyes burning like green fire, you could tell he was very sad and upset.
"No, no..." Mr. Brunner realized he had gone too far this time and tried to explain his point, saying, "Oh, damn it. What I was trying to say... is that you're not normal, Percy. And neither are you, Ikki, that's nothing to be-"
"Thanks..." Percy interrupted, his voice heavy with emotions. "Thank you very much, sir, for reminding me..."
After saying that, he grabbed his backpack and quickly left the room.
"Percy!" Mr. Brunner shouted, but Percy was already out of the room.
Ikki sighed, and before following his friend, he said to Mr. Brunner:
"You should have chosen your words better, Mr. Brunner."
Watching Ikki leave the room, Mr. Brunner had a gleam in his eyes as he murmured, "Maybe I was a little too harsh with him..."
After the Latin exam, the days quickly passed.
Until the last day of the semester came, Ikki was standing on the sidewalk next to the yellow bus, his bags on the ground beside him. While waiting for his only two friends, he looked bored at the other boys making jokes, talking about plans for the holidays. They were juvenile delinquents like him, but rich juvenile delinquents.
Some girls were gossiping about some boys, while others were just talking about various uninteresting things. Two friends had the company of two bolder boys who hit on them. Conversation went back and forth, and those two boys managed to win over a girl each and went to a more private place with them.
Watching the two following the girls to a private spot, while celebrating, certain thoughts wandered through his mind about his past life.
He had been like those boys during his time in high school when he met his future fiancée, which ended in failure because of him. Reliving adolescence, he wanted to do things differently, focus more on what mattered: his future. There was just one little problem, his mother wanted him to bring a girlfriend home as soon as possible.
It was one of her peculiarities, even in his past life.
Ikki could only resign himself when thinking about this, but a smile appeared on his lips. He missed his mother a lot, although she had her peculiarities, it didn't change the love he felt for her.
He snapped out of his thoughts about his mother when his two friends arrived, one after the other. The three talked a little until everyone had arrived and boarded the bus, which then left Yancy.
During the entire bus ride, Grover nervously looked at the aisle, observing the other passengers. He always acted nervous and restless when out with Ikki and Percy, as if he were expecting something bad to happen.
So it was no surprise to the two. Ikki looked out the bus window, and Percy sat silently, uneasy. Something he couldn't stand for long, remembering the night he and his friend overheard the conversation between Mr. Brunner and Grover, he broke the silence and asked.
"Looking for Benevolent Ones?..."
Ikki, who had been looking out the window, turned his attention to Percy and Grover. When Percy suddenly asked this, Grover looked like a cat who had its tail stepped on. He almost jumped out of his seat.
"What... what do you mean?" Grover asked nervously.
Percy confessed that he and Ikki overheard his conversation with Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.
Grover was shocked, and his left eye twitched as he nervously asked, "How much did you hear?"
"Not much, but enough to raise some questions." Ikki looked at Grover and asked, "Like, what's the deadline for the summer solstice?..."
Grover dodged the question; not answering, he said, "Look, guys... I was just worried about you two, you know? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers..."
"Grover..." Percy said, giving him a strange look.
"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you two were just really stressed out or something like that, because there was no one named Mrs. Dodds and..." Grover explained, hesitating when he mentioned Mrs. Dodds.
"You're terrible at lying..." Ikki said calmly.
Grover's ears turned pink at his words. But he didn't answer, instead, he put his hand in his shirt pocket and pulled out two dirty business cards.
"Take this, alright? Just in case you need me this summer..." Grover handed the card to both of them.
The card had fancy writing.
Grover Underwood
Guardian
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009
"What's Half-Blood..." After reading it with difficulty, Percy tried to ask, but was interrupted by Grover.
"Don't say it out loud!" Grover practically shouted, "That's my summer address..."
Ikki was still looking at the card while pondering.
Percy felt sad; even Grover had a summer house like the other people from Yancy. He looked at Ikki, and his sadness was somewhat eased; he felt better knowing that Ikki wasn't rich like the others, he had a life similar to his.
"Alright..." Percy seemed grim as he said, "Okay, if I want to visit your mansion..."
Grover nodded surprised, and said, "Or... or if you need me."
"Why would I need you?" Percy said rudely.
Grover's face turned all red, but he gathered the courage to say, "Look, Percy, the truth is, I... I have, in a way, to protect you two..."
Percy looked at Grover strangely. In Yancy, it was he and Ikki who protected the Satyr from the bullies.
"Grover..." Percy, a bit confused, asked, "What exactly are you protecting me from?..."
Before Grover could answer Percy's question, there was a tremendous sound of something being crushed beneath the boys' feet.
A black smoke poured out of the panel, and the whole bus was filled with the smell of rotten eggs. The driver cursed and managed to pull the Greyhound to the shoulder. After a few minutes making some metallic sounds in the engine compartment, the driver announced that everyone should get off. Grover, Percy, and Ikki got off in line with all the others.
The bus was on the shoulder of a rural stretch of road – a place no one would notice if the bus hadn't broken down there. On the side the bus had stopped, there was nothing but the edges and some trash thrown by passing cars. On the other side, after crossing four lanes of asphalt reflecting a shimmering light from the afternoon heat, there was an old-fashioned fruit stand.
There were no customers, only three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting a huge pair of socks that looked more like sweaters, but were obviously socks.
The lady on the right was knitting one of the socks. The one on the left was knitting the other. The one in the middle held a huge basket of bright blue yarn.
The three women looked very old, with pale, wrinkled faces like dried fruit, silver hair tied back with a white scarf, and bony arms sticking out of pale cotton dresses.
The moment Ikki laid eyes on these three old women, he felt a strong sense of discomfort arise in his heart. It confused him, and he carefully examined them, trying to find what was bothering him.
"Wait, are these three the Fates?" He could feel something strange in these old women, ancient and controlling, and they made him remember the description of "Fate" in the books. This led him to that conclusion.
As soon as he reached this conclusion, hundreds of possibilities that explained the discomfort in his heart appeared in his mind. At the same time, he unconsciously controlled his body secretly in preparation in case something happened.
"Grover?..." Percy said, looking at Grover's completely pale face. His words pulled Ikki out of his thoughts and caught his attention.
In fact, Grover looked as if he had seen a ghost. In addition to his pale face, sweat was running down the side of his face, and his nose was trembling.
"Hey, man... Are you okay?..." Percy called out, a bit concerned.
"Tell me, are they looking at you two? They're looking, aren't they?" Grover asked in a trembling voice.
"They are. Weird, huh?..." Percy turned his gaze to the three old women and said in a strange tone, "Do you think those socks would fit me?"
He joked at the end of his words to relieve the visible tension in his friend.
"That's pretty unlikely, you're too short..." Ikki casually assessed Percy from top to bottom with amusement.
Percy glared at him and punched his arm. Ikki just raised both hands in surrender, with a playful smile that was barely perceptible on his lips.
"Not funny, you two..." Grover seemed even more agitated, he whined, "This is not funny at all..."
At that moment, the old woman in the middle picked up an enormous pair of scissors—golden and silver, with long blades, like shearing clippers. Grover took a breath and quickly said.
"Let's get on the bus..."
He climbed the steps to the bus entrance and said, with a slight desperation in his voice, "Come on..."
"What?..." Percy looked at Grover like he was an idiot and said, "It's five hundred degrees inside..."
"Let's go!..." Grover forced the door open and entered, while Percy and Ikki stayed behind a little longer.
Ikki took another look at the three old women, who were literally the Fates of this world, and saw that they were still looking at Percy and him. When they looked at him, signs of strong hostility could be seen in the eyes of the three.
This made him cautious, and many thoughts crossed his mind.
That feeling in his heart was getting more and more uncomfortable; he wanted nothing more than to get away from these three old women or kill each of them.
At that exact moment, the one in the middle cut the thread of wool, and a noise seemed to cross all four lanes of traffic. The other two women began rolling up the blue socks.
Ikki took a deep breath to calm the uncomfortable feeling and, after giving one last glance at the Fates, climbed the steps to the bus entrance.
"Let's go, before Grover has a nervous breakdown..." He said to Percy, rolling his eyes.
At the back of the bus, the driver pulled a large, steaming chunk of metal from the engine compartment. The bus shook, and the engine roared back to life.
All the passengers outside applauded.
"All clear!.." The driver shouted. He knocked on the bus with his hat, "Everybody inside!"
As the bus started moving, Percy became feverish, as if he had the flu, and Grover wasn't doing any better, his teeth chattering like he was cold.
Ikki was normal, feeling unaffected in any way. His supernatural body could handle any heat.
During part of the trip, Percy suddenly asked.
"Grover?..."
"Yes?..."
"What are you hiding from us?..."
Grover wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt and said, "Percy, what did you two see at the fruit stand?"
"Three old ladies with a lot of free time..." Ikki said casually, although even after stepping away from those three old women, the uncomfortable feeling in his heart still lingered.
"Yeah..." Percy smiled, but his smile died when he saw the serious expression on Grover's face. He asked, "They're not like... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"
Grover's expression was hard to interpret, but his eyes said that those three old women were something much worse than Mrs. Dodds. Which was totally true, as the three Old Women were literally Fate, and Mrs. Dodds was just a Fury serving Hades.
"Just tell me what you saw..."
"The one in the middle took the scissors and cut the thread." Percy shrugged, as if it was nothing important.
Grover closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that resembled the sign of the cross, but it wasn't that. It was something else, something a bit... older.
"You saw her cut the thread..." He asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I saw it too..." Ikki said casually.
"This isn't happening." Grover looked grim, he started biting his thumb while murmuring, "I don't want it to be like last time..."
"Last time?..." Percy asked, a little scared. This was getting crazier and more macabre by the minute.
"Always in sixth grade. They never make it past sixth..." Grover murmured to himself, ignoring Percy's question.
"Grover." Percy was really starting to get scared, he asked hurriedly, "What are you talking about?"
Once again, Grover ignored his question and said seriously, "Let me take you two to the bus station house. Promise me..."
Ikki saw no problem with that, and Percy also promised.
"Is it a superstition or something?" Percy asked, but got no answer, and after thinking for a brief moment, he asked, "Grover... that cut in the thread. Does it mean someone is going to die?"
Grover looked at Percy and Ikki with sadness, as if he was already choosing the type of flowers they would want in their coffins.
The rest of the trip was tense and silent...
As soon as the bus reached the bus terminal, Percy decided to ditch Grover. He was scared of the poor Satyr, who kept looking at Ikki and him as if they were both dead men. So when Grover went to the restroom at the bus station, he said goodbye to Ikki and took a taxi.
Ikki did the same, he didn't need protection. At least, that's what he believed...
As the taxi took him home, sitting by the window in the back seat, Ikki looked out the window as the buildings passed by and the various people walked on the sidewalk. He couldn't help but think about his encounter with Fate.
The feeling he had experienced when meeting those three old women had faded, just before he got in the taxi.
Inside the taxi, he thought about his encounter with one of the most terrifying entities in this world. You couldn't mess with Fate. He had to be cautious, but afraid?
That would be a joke.
He didn't feel afraid because this was the enemy that had controlled his entire past life and made him suffer misery. If he were afraid, he felt that he would be breaking his promise to be free from the shackles of destiny—something he had made when discovering the danger he faced in this world.
Nothing would stop him from that.
At that moment, deep in his pupils, a terrifying light appeared.
His eyes changed completely for a moment. For an instant, he showed a pair of eyes that gave the impression that he would devour the entire existence.
Before his eyes, everything in this world became trivial; the sky and the earth had no meaning, and all existences were insignificant! Before his eyes, everything changed. There was no longer a distinction between beauty and ugliness, nor rich and poor.
What was considered sacred and pure became smoke, dissipating into the sky.
This lasted only a moment before his eyes returned to normal.
After realizing that thinking about this recent event was getting him nowhere, Ikki stopped thinking about it and simply enjoyed the ride. He looked at the part of New York City visible from the taxi window.