Chapter 33: kicked out of Yancy Academy.
We were used to the occasional
Weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than we could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on us. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-----a perky blond woman whom we'd never seen in our 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 we would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if we could trip them up, but they would stare at us like we were psycho.
It got so that we almost believed them------ Mrs. Dodds had never existed.
Almost.
But Grover couldn't fool us. When we mentioned the name Mrs. Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But we knew he was lying.
Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.
We 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 us up in a cold sweat.
The freak weather continued, which didn't help Percy's and James's moods. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in our dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. 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.
We started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. Our grades slipped from Ds to Fs. We got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. We were sent out into the hallway in almost every class.
Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked us for the millionth time why we were too lazy to study for spelling tests, We snapped. We called him an old sot. We wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.
The headmaster sent our mom a letter the following week, making it official: we would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.
Fine, We told ourselves. Just fine.
We were homesick.
We wanted to be with our mom in our little apartment on Upper East Side, even if we had to go to public school and put up with our obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.
And yet . . . there were things that we'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out of our dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. We'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. We both worried how he'd survive next year without us.
We'd miss Latin class, too-----Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that we could do well. I use my Yin-Yang six paths power to cure my younger brother's dyslexia.
As exam week got closer, Latin was the only class we studied for. We hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told us about this subject being life-and-death for us. We wasn't sure why, but we believed him.
Chapter 34: The Latin test.
The next afternoon, as Percy was leaving the three-hour exam, that he passed because somehow his dyslexia was gone, Mr. Brunner called Percy back inside.
"Percy," he said. Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's . . . it's for the best."
His tone was kind, but his words still embarrassed Percy.
Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at him and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.
Percy mumbled, "Okay, sir."
I mean . . ." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "Camp halfblood is the right place for you. Percy moved towards Nancy Bobofit and kissed her so passionately that she was putty in his hands.
"He tells her to stay golden, and that he always knew that she liked him. Then he leaves with his friend Grover and his older brother James out of Yancy.