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jazzy---j · 2 years

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Daughter of Poseidon: The Lightning Thief

“even the gods have to bow to fate”

Chapter Summary: In the search for answers, Cassie and Percy may find that they have gotten more than they bargained for. And the ride back home only serves to show them that at least one of their fates has been sealed.

Masterlist >>> Read on ao3 (2/23)

Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

I would love to say that the final few weeks of school just went back to normal. I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually, they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven fever dream was way more than I could handle. I did not sign up for this much mind-bending.

For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on Percy and I. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr- a perky blond woman (whom I swear I’ve never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip, by the way)-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 the usual response would be to stare at me like I was the psycho.

I wasn’t the one who seemed to forget an entire person.

I got so frustrated that I almost gave up and believed them. For the sake of my sanity, I would believe Mrs. Dodds had never existed. Almost.

For one, the bracelet on my wrist made it hard to forget what happened that day. It appeared like a bronze snake coiled around my wrist with a scale design running down the length of it. It was pretty if you're into jewelry like that, but the main problem was that it would not come off. I tried to pull it off and used forks to try and wedge it off. I even tried butter for godsakes, but nothing worked.

If that wasn’t proof enough, Grover was a dead giveaway and wasn’t fooling anybody. When Percy mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. I knew there was something he wasn’t telling us. Plus, he is just a terrible liar.

I begged Percy to let me try to talk to Grover to see if I could trip him up, but he refused. Hey, I got it he didn’t wanna lose his best and only friend by freaking him out with my crackpot theories. So I dropped it. But I’m sure Percy had his own suspicions as well.

I thought about it every day. Something was going on, something had happened at the museum. And I was gonna find out what.

I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and red demon eyes would wake me up screaming.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help Percy’s mood. I tried to be there for him, but even I was having trouble keeping it together. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in his 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.

I started feeling moody and angsty (like a real teen) most of the time. My grades slipped from Cs to Ds. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. Percy was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked Percy for the millionth time why he was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I sat back and watched the show as my brother snapped.

Percy called him an old sot, an old drunk. I bet my life that he didn’t even know what that meant.

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

Me, not to be outdone by my older brother, spray-painted a few not-so-nice words on Ms. Kerr’s chalkboard. Sort of payback for making me feel like a complete and utter psycho in the final semester. The headmaster sent the letter the same day.

Fine, I told myself. Just fine. I was homesick. I hated this school.

I wanted to be with my mom and Percy in our little apartment on the Upper East Side. I missed the dance studio on 5th Avenue where I spent so many weekends, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.

And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, and the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Mr. Brunner and his ideas that me and Percy could do better in class than everyone else and his expectation that we would be better. I would especially miss tournament days in his class.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test Percy I even tried to study for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told us about this subject being life and death for us. I wasn't sure why, but I'd believed him.

The evening before our final, I went to Percy’s dorm to study. Percy got so frustrated he threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. I opted for the more common sense choice of throwing it in the bathtub full of water.

Percy paced the room, which was starting to annoy me, as I lay on his bed staring at the ceiling with tears of frustration running down my face.

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

”Dude, can you please stop pacing your gonna run a hole in the carpet,” I muttered as I pulled my head up to look at him.

“Plus, it is getting on my nerves.”

Percy stopped his pacing, “Sorry.”

He took a deep breath. He went to the bathroom, and when he came out, he had my textbook in his hand. He set it out on the windowsill to dry and picked up his mythology book.

“Come on,” he said and started for the door.

”Where are we going?” I asked as I scrambled to put on my shoes.

Percy paused with his hand on the doorknob and sighed, "I was thinking that maybe if we talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give us some pointers.”

He turned to me as he opened the door,” I-I don’t want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking we hadn't tried.”

My lips turned up into a smile. Despite everything said about my brother, he was really a good kid, just trying to do the best that he could.

”Well then,” I said, walking out the door, “let’s make sure he doesn’t.”

We walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

We were three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said, "... worried about Percy and Cassie, sir."

Percy froze. I bumped into his back.

He inched closer.

“Percy, what are you doing?” I whisper-yelled while tugging on his shirt. He simply shrugged me off and put a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

Something else about myself... I don’t like to be shushed!

"Did you just shush me?!" I continued. He ignored me.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing them," Mr. Brunner said. "We need them both to mature more."

"But them may not have time. The summer solstice deadline- "

"Will have to be resolved without them, Grover. Let them enjoy their ignorance while they still can."

"Sir, they both saw her... ."

"Their imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince them of that."

So it was real? We weren’t crazy?

I should have felt relieved, but only dread settled into me.

We weren’t crazy...

"Sir, I... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy and Cassie alive until next fall-"

The mythology book dropped out of my brother’s hand and hit the floor with a thud.

Oh. My. God.

I facepalmed.

HE DROPPED THE GODDAMN BOOK!

I couldn’t believe it.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

My heart hammering, I picked up the book, grabbed Percy’s shirt, and we both began to back down the hall.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.

Percy opened the nearest door, grabbed me, and slipped us inside.

A few seconds later, I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled woodblocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside the door. A large, dark shape paused right in front of the glass, then moved on.

My heart pounded so loud I was afraid everyone could hear it. I looked at Percy, and he was as still as a statue. A look of panic plastered across his face.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn..."

“Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me,” Grover groaned.

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.

We waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.

Finally, we slipped out into the hallway and made our way back up to the dorms.

Overwhelmed with the fact what happened at the museum was real and both Grover and Mr. Brunner knew something about it, I told Percy goodnight and trudged up to my dorm, praying that whatever was going on, Percy and I would find a way out of it.

The next afternoon, as Percy and I were leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called us back inside.

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about our impromptu eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy, Cassie,” he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's... it's for the best."

His tone was kind, but the words were still embarrassing. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. I glared hard enough at her that she promptly went back to looking at her test.

Percy mumbled, "Okay, sir,” as he gripped my hand tightly.

"I mean..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

My head was down, and a curtain of hair covered my face as my eyes stung from trying to hold back tears. I wanted to say something, but there was a lump in my throat. Percy just stared Brunner in the eyes.

Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. That my brother couldn’t handle it. After saying he believed in us all year, he was now telling us we were destined to get kicked out.

"Right," Percy said, voice trembling.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say... you're not normal, you two. That's nothing to be"

"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding us.

"Percy, Cassie-"

But we were already gone.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other girls were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were pretty and rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody from a family of nobodies.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer, and I told them I was going back to the city.

What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job babysitting, trying to catch up on all the dance skills I missed and lost over the semester, and spend my free time worrying about where Percy and I’d go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the girls said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

Grover booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound that Percy and I had, so there we were, together for one last time, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore, but Percy beat me to it.

He said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"

Percy confessed about us eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh... not much,” I said as I fiddled with the strings on my hoodie, trying to play it cool.

“What's the summer solstice deadline?" I blurted, looking Grover dead in the eye.

He winced. "Look, guys... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers..."

"Grover-"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and..."

"Grover, you’re a really, really bad liar,” I deadpanned.

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.

I looked over Percy’s shoulder at the card. It was in fancy script, which was murder for my dyslexia, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York (800) 009-0009

"What's Half-"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um... summer address."

"Okay," Percy said glumly. "So, like, if we want to come to visit your mansion."

Grover nodded. "Or... or if you need me."

"Why would we need you?"

I glared at him with a look that said, “Dude, come on.” My big brother, ever so articulate.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, guys, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."

I stared at him. Now that was hard to believe. Between demon math teachers and everyone thinking I was crazy, Grover protecting us was throwing me for a loop.

All year long, Percy’d gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd even lost a little sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without us. And here he was, acting like he was the one who defended us.

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting us from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard, and the whole bus filled with the smell of rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes of clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover, Percy, and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway were nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with the afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.

I mean, these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, and bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at Percy. Not at me, not at Grover, only at Percy. Percy started back.

I looked over at Grover to comment on their intense gaze and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, dude-"

"Tell me they're not looking at Percy. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?" Percy said.

I laughed nervously. I was starting to get a weird feeling, my body only telling me one thing “leave.”

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."

"What?" Percy said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside. I grabbed Percy’s arm because I was really starting to freak out. Everything about this felt wrong, dangerous.

”Percy, we should get on the bus with Grover, “ I said, trying to gently tug him along. But Percy stayed put.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching us. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends began to ball up the electric-blue socks.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started to feel a strange sort of guilt, as if something just happened that I should have stopped.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering, and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling us?" Percy said.

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He pushed, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn,” I said.

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost older.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?" But even as nonchalant as Percy said it, I knew it was a big deal.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"Grover," Percy said, gripping my hand because he knew Grover was freaking me out, and I was starting to get scared. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Percy, promise me."

This seemed like a strange request to me, but Percy promised he could.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

He looked at me mournfully, and the guilt only grew.

chapter 3 >>>

5 notes · View notes

msclaritea · 2 years

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"More than 130 people, including Gloria Steinem, and organizations in the field of women’s rights advocacy and domestic violence and sexual assault awareness have signed an open letter to support Amber Heard, who lost a defamation suit this year brought by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, for an op-ed in which she said she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”

The letter, which was exclusively shared with NBC News ahead of its public release Wednesday, was signed by groups like the National Organization for Women, the National Women’s Law Center, Equality Now and the Women’s March Foundation. It was written by a group of people who identify as domestic violence survivors and supporters of Heard."

ORGANIZATIONS

Aidileys • Associazione Iroko Onlus • Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) • CCChat Magazine • Custody Peace • Cyber Civil Rights Initiative • Center for Safety and Change • Clearinghouse on Women's Issues Crumiller • The Feminist Litigation Firm • Democratic Activists for Women Now • Engendered Collective • EnoughIsEnough Voter Project • Equal Rights Advocates • Equality Now • Esperanza United (formerly Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network) • Every Voice Coalition • Fearless! Hudson Valley, Inc. • Female Filmaker Fuse • Feminist Majority Foundation • Futures Without Violence • C.A. Goldberg, PLLC, Victims' Rights Law Firm • Hope's Door • Know Your IX • LIFT: Living in Freedom Together, Worcester • Ms. Magazine •The National Organization for Women • The National Organization for Women: Virginia Chapter • National Women’s Law Center • Refuge: for Women & Children. Against Domestic Violence. • Réseau International des Mères en Lutte • Sakhi for South Asian Women • Sanctuary for Families • Sexual Violence Prevention Association • The Asian Feminist • The Mary Sue • The Safe Center LI • UltraViolet • Victim Focus • Violence Free Minnesota • WeSpoke • Women's March Action • Women's March Foundation • Women’s Equal Justice Project •

INDIVIDUALS

Renée B. Adams,

Professor, University of Oxford

Dr. Esohe Aghatise,

Executive Director, Associazione Iroko Onlus

Cheryl A. Alexander,

L.I.C.S.W., RMT

Aisha Ali-Khan,

British Women’s Rights Campaigner, Women United Organisation

Sara Ahmed,

Independent Scholar, Author, “Complaint!”

Kate Amber,

PgCert, Founder, End Coercive Control USA

Dr. Adrienne Barnett,

Reader in Law, Brunel Law School, Brunel University London

Dr. Nicole Bedera,

Sociologist

Nicole Bell,

Founder and CEO, LIFT Living in Freedom Together

Panayiota Bertzikis,

CEO/Founder Military Rape Crisis Center

Amy Betts,

Founder of Aidileys - Rights, Family Court Information Services

Antoinette Bonsignore, J.D.,

Legal and Prosecutorial Analyst, Case Systems Training Review Program, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission

Anna Boucher,

Associate Professor in Public Policy and Political Science (LSE) and admitted Solicitor, Supreme Court NSW, Australia

Lindsey Boylan,

Women’s Rights Activist

Dr. Stephanie Ann Brandt MD,

Faculty and Chairman, Ethics Committee, New York Psychoanalytic Institute New York, NY, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, Experienced Forensic Evaluation and Testimony in Family, Supreme and Federal ( EDNY + SDNY ) Child focused Litigation

Susan J. Brison,

Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values, Dartmouth College

Professor Ann Bartow,

University of New Hampshire School of Law.

Laura S Brown, Ph.D.

ABPP, psychologist in private practice, past President, APA Division of Trauma Psychology and Society for The Psychology of Women

Dr. Kari Brozowski

Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University

Twiss Butler,

Feminist

Rachel Camp,

Professor from Practice and Co-Director, Georgetown University Domestic Violence Clinic (title for identification purposes only)

Nancy Chi Cantalupo,

Associate Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School (title and institution provided for identification purposes only)

Kali Casab,

The Voices and Faces Project

Lauren B. Cattaneo,

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, George Mason University

Gillian Chadwick,

Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law

Debra Chopp,

Clinical Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

Seo-Young Chu

Associate Professor Queens College, CUNY

Andrew Thomas Cicchetti,

Ph.D. LCSW-R

Dr. Christine Marie Cocchiola,

DSW, LCSW Coercive Control Advocate, Educator, Researcher & Survivor

J.V. Connors

Ph.D. New Mexico licensed psychologist

Dr. Elizabeth Dalgarno,

SHERA Research Group

Michele Landis Dauber,

Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law, Stanford Law School (title and institution for identification purposes only)

Ella Dawson,

Author

Drew Dixon,

Producer, Activist

Margaret B. Drew,

Associate Professor of Law, UMass Law School

Prof. Dr. Jennifer Drobac

Danielle Pelfrey Duryea

Boston University School of Law (institution for identification purposes only)

Erin Dwyer-Frazier,

Attorney and Domestic Violence Advocate

Heidi Eilers, Ph.D.,

BCBA-D, CCTP, Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional

Aliaa Magda Elmahdy,

Egyptian internet activist and women's rights advocate

Deborah Epstein,

Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Gender, Violence, and Law, Georgetown Law University Center

Ray Epstein,

President/Founder of Student Activists Against Sexual Assault at Temple University

Heidi Li Feldman,

Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Bill Flack,

Professor of Psychology, Bucknell University

Professor Michael Flood

Queensland University of Technology

Terry Forliti,

Communication Coordinator for Upside Sex Trafficking Initiative, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Jaclyn Friedman,

editor of “Yes Means Yes” and “Believe Me”

Professor Aisha K. Gill, Ph.D.

CBE | Professor of Criminology

Professor Leigh Gilmore,

Ohio State University, Author, “The #MeToo Effect: What Happens When We Believe Women”

Lisa Goodman,

Ph.D., Professor, Boston College

Leigh Goodmark,

Marjorie Cook Professor of Law and Co-Director, Clinical Law Program

Cynthia A. Graham,

PhD, C. Psychol, Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health

Gretchen Grappone,

LICSW PTSD Clinician & Trainer

Julie Green,

Research Assistant, Violence Against Women and Children team, Department of Social Work, The University of Melbourne

Min Grob,

Founder CCChat Magazine

Kit Gruelle,

Advocate, Survivor, Film Subject for HBO Documentary Private Violence

Emiliana Guereca,

Founder and Executive Director Women's March Action and Women's March Foundation

Kayla Harder

Founder, Survivors Righting Wrongs

Yasmeen Hassan,

Global Executive Director, Equality Now

Tirion Havard,

Associate Professor, England UK

Judith L. Herman, M.D.,

Professor of Psychiatry (Part Time), Harvard Medical School

CarlLa Horton, M.P.A.,

Executive Director, Hope’s Door

Emily Mia Hughes-Smith,

MBACP. BSc(hons) dip. Sup

Doreen Hunter,

Co-Founder, Americas Conference to End Coercive Control (ACECC)

Holly Jacobs, PhD

Founder, Board Member, Cyber Civil Rights Initiative

Hans Johnson,

President, East Area Progressive Democrats

Sheherezade Kara

International Human Rights Jurist and Consultant, human-writes.org

Dr. Emma Katz, Ph.D.,

Senior Lecturer, Liverpool Hope University, UK

Mara Keire

Senior Research Fellow, Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, UK

Dr. Margaret Kertesz,

Senior Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

Farrah Khan,

CEO Possibility Seeds

Amanda Kippert,

Editor-in-Chief, DomesticShelters.org, Co-Host, Toxic the Podcast

Judge Judy Harris Kluger,

Executive Director, Sanctuary for Families

Dean Laurie Kohn,

George Washington Law School

Kellyann Kostyal-Larrier,

Executive Director, Fearless! Hudson Valley, Inc.

Dr. Ingeborg Kraus,

Clinical Psychologist, Psychotraumatologist

Lauren Krouse,

Writer & Survivor-Victim Advocate

Afsana Lachaux,

Activist & British Women’s Rights Campaigner.

Dr Rhiannon Lane,

Research Fellow in Sociology, Cardiff University

Julianna Lee,

Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

Geraldine Lee-Treweek ,

Professor of Social Justice at Birmingham City University, UK, specialist in Abuse Studies and Psychotherapist.

Dorchen A. Leidholdt, Esq.,

Director, Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services at Sanctuary for Families

Edward Lloyd,

Evan M. Frankel Clinical Professor Emeritus in Environmental Law, Columbia University School of Law

Dr. Laura E. Ludtke,

Independent Scholar

Linda MacDonald,

Persons Against Non-State Torture, co-author "Women Unsilenced Our Refusal To Let Torturer-Traffickers Win"

Catharine A. MacKinnon,

Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at Michigan Law, and the long-term James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (all titles for identification purposes only)

David Mandel,

Executive Director, Safe and Together Institute

Jane Manning,

Director, Women’s Equal Justice Project

Omny Miranda Martone,

Founder & CEO of Sexual Violence Provention Association

Joan Meier,

National Family Violence Law Center, Professor of Clinical Law, George Washington University Law School

Carolyn Modeen,

Sun Cities West Valley NOW

Amy Myers,

Acting Director, Gender Justice Clinic, Washington College of Law (for identification purposes only)

Natalie Nanasi,

Associate Professor, SMU Dedman School of Law, Director, Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Center for Victims of Crimes Against Women

Laura Beth Nielsen, JD, Ph.D.,

Professor & Chair, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Research Professor, American Bar Foundation, President, Law and Society Association, Author, “License to Harass: Law, Hierarchy, and Offensive Public Speech” (titles for identification purposes only)

Emer O'Toole, Ph.D.,

Professor, Concordia University

Natalie Page,

#TheCourtSaid Founder, Survivor Family Network Director

David Palumbo-Liu,

Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford University

Reena Parikh,

Director of Civil Rights Clinic, Boston College Law School (title for identification purposes only)

Moira Penza,

Attorney, Former federal prosecutor, Eastern District of New York; led NXIVM investigation and trial

Jaime Cabeza Pereiro,

Professor of Labor and Social Security Law, University of Vigo

Mary Peterson,

PhD candidate & Activist Specialising in Fighting Sexual Harassment in Academia

Alison Phipps,

Professor of Sociology, Newcastle University

Christie Pitts

Alexa Polar,

Writer, Producer, Director & Founder of Female Filmakers Fuse

Nicole Prause, Ph.D.,

Senior Statistician, University of California, Los Angeles (title for identification purposes only)

Dr. Charlotte Proudman,

Barrister and Academic

Dr Shivaun Quinlivan

Associate Professor, University of Galway

Professor Tracey Raney,

Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada

Anne K. Ream,

Activist and Founder of The Voices and Faces Project

Laura Richards

BSc, MSc, MBPsS, Criminal Behavioural Analyst

Jennifer Robinson,

Australian human rights lawyer and barrister at Doughty St Chambers, U.K. counsel to Amber Heard, author of How Many More Women?

Diane Rosenfeld,

Lecturer on Law, Director, Gender Violence Program, Harvard Law School

Lily Kay Ross, MDiv, Ph.D.

Feminism and Ethics Research Fellow, Psymposia

David A. Santacroce,

Clinical Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

Jeanne Sarson,

co-author, “Women Unsilenced Our Refusal To Let Torturer-Traffickers Win,” Co-Founder Persons Against Non-State Torture.

Purna Sen,

Ph.D. Visiting Professor, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, LMU Special Advisor to the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court

Dr. John Simister,

Ph.D., Domestic Violence and Economics Researcher, Senior Lecturer, Business School Manchester Metropolitan University

Ann Simonton,

Founder Director of Media Watch: For Improving image of Women in Media

Rita Smith,

National Expert on Violence Against Women, Former Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)

Rachel Louise Snyder,

Professor, American University, Author, “No Visible Bruises”

Evan Stark, Ph.D., MSW,

Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University

Gloria Steinem,

Writer, Activist

Leslie Morgan Steiner,

Advocate, Author, “Crazy Love”

Ruth Silver Taube,

Adjunct Professor of Law, Santa Clara University, Legal Services Co-Chair, South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking, Delegate, Santa Clara County’s Human Trafficking Commission (all titles for identification purposes only)

Dr. Jessica Taylor,

Chartered Psychologist, CEO of Victim Focus

Alison Turkos,

Survivor + Advocate

Vanessa Tyson,

Associate Professor of Politics, Scripps College

Robin West, J.D.,

Professor of Law, Georgetown Law School

Merle Weiner, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law, University of Oregon (title for identification purposes only)

Constance Wu,

Actor and author

Sophia Yen, M.D.,

Adolescent Medicine Specialist, CEO/Founder of Pandia Health

Amy Ziering,

Filmmaker

SO MANY ORGANIZATIONS ARE MERELY FRONTS FOR VARIOUS AGENDAS OR TAX SCAMS. AT LEAST NOW I KNOW WHY WRITERS FROM THE MARY SUE HAVE JOINED IN HARASSING BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH. AMBER HEARD IS A TRAINED PROSTITUTE/KOMPROMAT COLLECTOR.

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goalhofer · 1 month

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2024 olympics Great Britain roster

Archery

Conor Hall (Belfast)

Tom Hall (London)

Alex Wise (Newcastle Upon Tyne)

Megan Havers (Markfield)

Penny Healey (Telford)

Bryony Pitman (Shoreham-By-Sea)

Athletics

Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff)

Louie Hinchliffe (Crosspool)

Zharnel Hughes (The Valley, Anguilla)

Charlie Dobson (Colchester)

Matthew Hudson-Smith (Wolverhampton)

Max Burgin (Halifax)

Elliot Giles (Birmingham)

Ben Pattison (Frimley)

Neil Gourley (Glasgow)

Josh Kerr (Edinburgh)

George Mills (Harrogate)

Sam Atkin (Grimsby)

Patrick Dever (Preston)

Tade Ojora (London)

Alastair Chalmers (Guernsey, Channel Islands)

Richard Kilty (Middlesborough)

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (London)

Lewis Davey (Grantham)

Toby Harries (Brighton)

Alex Haydock-Wilson (London)

Sam Reardon (Beckenham)

Emile Cairess (Saltaire)

Mahamed Mahamed (Southampton)

Philip Sesemann (Bromley)

Callum Wilkinson (Moulton)

Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Harrogate)

Scott Lincoln (Northallerton)

Lawrence Okoye (London)

Nick Percy (Glasgow)

Dina Asher-Smith (London)

Imani-Lara Lansiquot (London)

Daryll Neita (London)

Bianca Williams (London)

Amber Anning (Hove)

Laviai Nielsen (London)

Lina Nielsen (London)

Victoria Ohuruogu (London)

Phoebe Gill (St. Albans)

Keely Hodgkinson (Atherton)

Jemma Reekie (Beith)

Georgia Bell (London)

Laura Muir (Milnathort)

Revée Walcott-Nolan (Luton)

Megan Keith (Inverness)

Eilish McColgan (Dundee)

Cynthia Sember (Ypsilanti, Michigan)

Jessie Knight (Epsom)

Lizzie Bird (St. Albans)

Aimee Pratt (Stockport)

Desirèe Henry (London)

Amy Hunt (Nottingham)

Yemi John (London)

Hannah Kelly (Bury)

Jodie Williams (Welwyn Garden City)

Nicole Yeargin (Bowie, Maryland)

Clara Evans (Hereford)

Rose Harvey (London)

Calli Yauger-Thackeray (Flagstaff, Arizona)

Morgan Lake (Reading)

Holly Bradshaw (Preston)

Molly Caudery (Truro)

Katharina Johnson-Thompson (Liverpool)

Jade O'Dowda (Oxford)

Badminton

Ben Lane (Milton Keynes)

Sean Vendy (Milton Keynes)

Kirsty Gilmour (Glasgow)

Boxing

Lewis Richardson (Colchester)

Patrick Brown (Sale)

Delicious Orie (Wolverhampton)

Charley Davison (Lowestoft)

Rosie Eccles (Newport)

Chantelle Reid (Allenton)

Canoeing

Adam Burgess (Stoke-On-Trent)

Joe Clarke (Stoke-On-Trent)

Mallory Franklin (Windsor)

Kimberley Woods (Rugby)

Climbing

Hamish McArthur (York)

Toby Roberts (Elstead)

Erin McNeice (Rodmersham)

Molly Thompson-Smith (London)

Cycling

Tom Pidcock (Leeds)

Josh Tarling (Aberaeron)

Stephen Williams (Aberysthwyth)

Fred Wright (Manchester)

Jack Carlin (Paisley)

Ed Lowe (Stamford)

William Turnbull (Morpeth)

Joe Truman (Petersfield)

Dan Bigham (Newcastle-Under-Lyme)

Ethan Hayter (London)

Ethan Vernon (Bedford)

Oli Wood (Wakefield)

Charlie Tanfield (Great Ayton)

Mark Stewart (Dundee)

Charlie Aldridge (Crieff)

Kieran Reilly (Newcastle Upon Tyne)

Kye Whyte (London)

Ross Cullen (Preston)

Lizzie Deignan (Otley)

Pfeiffer Georgi (Castle Combe)

Anna Henderson (Edlesborough)

Anna Morris (Cardiff)

Sophie Capewell (Lichfield)

Emma Finucane (Carmarthen)

Katy Marchant (Manchester)

Lowri Thomas (Abergavenny)

Elinor Barker (Cardiff)

Neah Evans (Langbank)

Josie Knight (Dingle, Ireland)

Jess Roberts (Carmarthen)

Ella MacLean-Howell (Llantrisant)

Evie Richards (Malvern)

Charlotte Worthington (Chorlton-Cum-Hardy)

Beth Shriever (Braintree)

Emily Hutt (London)

Diving

Jack Laugher (Ripon)

Jordan Houldon (Sheffield)

Noah Williams (London)

Kyle Kothari (London)

Anthony Harding (Ashton-Under-Lyne)

Tom Daley (Plymouth)

Yasmin Harper (Sheffield)

Grace Reid (Edinburgh)

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix (London)

Lois Toulson (Cleckheaton)

Scarlett Mew-Jensen (London)

Equestrian

Carl Hester (Sark, Channel Islands)

Tom McEwen (London)

Scott Brash (Peebles)

Harry Charles (Alton)

Ben Maher (London)

Lottie Fry (Den Hout, The Netherlands)

Becky Moody (Gunthwaite)

Ros Canter (Louth)

Laura Collett (Royal Leamington Spa)

Field hockey

Tim Nurse (London)

Nick Park (Reading)

Jack Waller (London)

David Ames (Cookstown)

Jacob Draper (Cwmbran)

Zachary Wallace (Kingston-Upon-Thames)

Rupert Shipperley (London)

Sam Ward (Leicester)

James Albery (Cambridge)

Phil Roper (Chester)

David Goodfield (Shrewsbury)

Ollie Payne (Totnes)

Liam Sanford (Wegberg, Germany)

Lee Morton (Glasgow)

Thomas Sorsby (Sheffield)

Conor Williamson (London)

Will Calnan (London)

Gareth Furlong (London)

Laura Unsworth (Sutton Coldfield)

Anna Toman (Derby)

Hannah French (Ipswich)

Sarah Jones (Cardiff)

Amy Costello (Edinburgh)

Sarah Robertson (Melrose)

Charlotte Watson (Dundee)

Tessa Howard (Durham)

Isabelle Petter (Loughborough)

Giselle Ansley (Brixham)

Hollie Pearne-Webb (Duffield)

Fiona Crackles (Kirkby Lonsdale)

Sophie Hamilton (Bruton)

Lily Owsley (Bristol)

Flora Peel (Cheltenham)

Miriam Pritchard (Loughborough)

Golf

Matt Fitzpatrick (Sheffield)

Tommy Fleetwood (Dubai, U.A.E.)

Charley Hull (Kettering)

Georgia Hall (Bournemouth)

Gymnastics

Joe Fraser (Birmingham)

Harry Hepworth (Leeds)

Jake Jarman (Peterborough)

Luke Whitehouse (Halifax)

Max Whitlock (Hemel Hempstead)

Zak Perzamanos (Liverpool)

Becky Downie (Nottingham)

Ruby Evans (Cardiff)

Georgia-Mae Fenton (Gravesend)

Alice Kinsella (Sutton Coldfield)

Abi Martin (Paignton)

Bryony Page (Sheffield)

Isabelle Songhurst (Poole)

Judo

Chelsie Giles (Coventry)

Lele Naire (Weston-Super-Mare)

Lucy Renshall (St. Helens)

Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown (Pembury)

Emma Reid (Royston)

Pentathlon

Charlie Brown (Kidderminster)

Joe Choong (London)

Kerenza Bryson (Plymouth)

Kate French (Chapmanslade)

Rowing

James Robson (Oundle)

Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Guildford)

Tom George (Cheltenham)

Oli Wilkes (Matlock)

David Ambler (London)

Matt Aldridge (Christchurch)

Freddie Davidson (London)

Tom Barras (Staines-Upon-Thames)

Callum Dixon (London)

Matt Haywood (Burton Upon Trent)

Graeme Thomas (Burton)

Sholto Carnegie (Oxford)

Rory Gibbs (Street)

Morgan Bolding (Weybridge)

Jacob Dawson (Portsmouth)

Charlie Elwes (Radley)

Tom Digby (Henley-On-Thames)

James Rudkin (Northampton)

Tom Ford (Holmes Chapel)

Harry Brightmore (Chester)

Henry Fieldman (Barnes)

Liv Bates (Nottingham)

Chloe Brew (Plymouth)

Rebecca Edwards (Aughnacloy)

Becky Wilde (Taunton)

Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (London)

Emily Craig (Pembury)

Imogen Grant (Cambridge)

Helen Backshall (Truro)

Esme Booth (Stratford-Apon-Avon)

Samantha Redgrave (Frinton)

Rebecca Shorten (Belfast)

Lauren Henry (Lutterworth)

Hannah Scott (Coleraine)

Lola Anderson (London)

Georgina Brayshaw (Leeds)

Heidi Long (London)

Rowan McKellar (Glasgow)

Holly Dunford (Tadworth)

Emily Ford (Holmes Chapel)

Lauren Irwin (Peterlee)

Eve Stewart (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Harriet Taylor (Chertsey)

Annie Campbell-Orde (Wells)

Lucy Glover (Warrington)

Rugby

Abi Burton (Wakefield)

Kayleigh Powell (Llantrisant)

Amy Wilson-Hardy (Poole)

Ellie Boatman (Camberley)

Ellie KIldunne (Keighley)

Emma Uren (London)

Grace Crompton (Epsom)

Heather Cowell (Isleworth)

Isla Norman-Bell (Gillingham)

Jade Shekells (Hartpury)

Jasmine Joyce-Butchers (St. Davids)

Lauren Torley (Flackwell Heath)

Lisa Thomson (Hawick)

Megan Jones (Cardiff)

Sailing

Connor Bainbridge (Halifax)

James Peters (Tunbridge Wells)

Fynn Sterritt (Inverness)

Sam Sills (Launceston)

Micky Beckett (Solva)

Chris Grube (Chester)

John Grimson (Leicester)

Emma Wilson (Christchurch)

Ellie Aldridge (Parkstone)

Hannah Snellgrove (Lymington)

Freya Black (Redhill)

Saskia Tidey (Dublin, Ireland)

Vita Heathcote (Southampton)

Anna Burnet (London)

Shooting

Mike Bargeron (Bromley)

Matthew Coward-Holley (Chelmsford)

Nathan Hales (Chatham)

Seonaid McIntosh (Edinburgh)

Lucy Hall (York)

Amber Rutter (Windsor)

Skateboarding

Andy Macdonald (Newton, Massachusetts)

Sky Brown (Takanabe, Japan)

Lola Tambling (Saltash)

Swimming

Ben Proud (London)

Alex Cahoon (Fairford)

Matt Richards (Droitwich Spa)

Jacob Whittle (Alfreton)

Duncan Scott (Glasgow)

Kieran Bird (Street)

Daniel Jervis (Resolven)

Oliver Morgan (Bishops Castle)

Jonathon Marshall (Southend-On-Sea)

Luke Greenbank (Crewe)

Adam Peaty (Uttoxeter)

James Wilby (Glasgow)

Jimmy Guy (Timperley)

Tom Dean (Maidenhead)

Max Litchfield (Chesterfield)

Joe Litchfield (Chesterfield)

Jack McMillan (Belfast)

Hector Pardoe (Wrexham)

Toby Robinson (Wolverhampton)

Kate Shortman (Clifton)

Isabelle Thorpe (Clifton)

Anna Hopkin (Chorley)

Kathleen Dawson (Kirkcaldy)

Medi Harris (Porthmadog)

Honey Osrin (Portsmouth)

Katie Shanahan (Glasgow)

Angharad Evans (Cambridge)

Keanna Macinnes (Edinburgh)

Laura Stephens (London)

Abbie Wood (Buxton)

Freya Colbert (Grantham)

Eva Okaro (Sevenoaks)

Lucy Hope (Melrose)

Freya Anderson (Birkenhead)

Leah Crisp (Wakefield)

Table tennis

Liam Pitchford (Chesterfield)

Anna Hursey (Tianjin, China)

Taekwondo

Bradly Sinden (Doncaster)

Caden Cunningham (Huddersfield)

Jade Jones (Bodelwyddan)

Rebecca McGowan (Dumbarton)

Tennis

Jack Draper (London)

Dan Evans (Dubai, U.A.E.)

Joe Salisbury (London)

Neal Skupski (Liverpool)

Sir Andy Murray (Leatherhead)

Katie Boulter (Woodhouse Eaves)

Heather Watson (St. Peter Port, Channel Islands)

Triathlon

Sam Dickinson (York)

Alex Yee (London)

Beth Potter (Bearsden)

Georgia Taylor-Brown (Leeds)

Kate Waugh (Newcastle Upon Tyne)

Weightlifting

Emily Campbell (Bulwell)

#Sports #National Teams #U.K.#Celebrities #Races #Michigan #Maryland #Fights #Boxing #Boats #Ireland #Animals #The Netherlands #Hockey #Germany #Golf #U.A.E.#Massachusetts #Tennis

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lemonkiwibread · 1 year

Text

Snapshots

Photos from college members of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee’s education and labor panel, receives the 2023 National Education Service Award from the Association of Community College Trustees and the American Association of Community Colleges. Connecticut community college leaders, including John Maduko (right of DeLauro), president of Connecticut State Community College, and Manchester Community College CEO Nicole Esposito (left of DeLauro), presented the award to her this week. (Photo: ACCT)

Cuyahoga Community College President Michael Baston visits a warehouse of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, which helps the college keep the student food pantries on its campuses stocked. (Photo: Tri-C)

Firefighters who just finished taking a nine-chapter test at the Shumaker Public Safety Training Center at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, chat about the experience with each other and HACC President John J. “Ski” Sygielski (right). (Photo: HACC)

Central Ohio Technical College President John Berry takes an icy lake dip as part of the United Way of Fairfield County’s 2023 Polar Plunge. The event raised more than $11,000. (Photo: COTC)

The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) has launched its Senior Leadership Academy, a professional development program designed to promote career advancement within TCSG and its 22 colleges across Georgia. The first cohort of 25 participants recently met at TCSG’s system office for a two-day session. (Photo: TCSG)

Virginia’s Democrat Sens. Tim Kaine (left) and Mark Warner visit Germanna Community College’s James R. Clapper Center for Innovation in Cybersecurity at what is to become its Barbara J. Fried Center. The lawmakers secured $870,000 in federal funding for the center. (Photo: GCC)

Student trustees from College of DuPage (Illinois) and Hudson Valley Community College (New York) shared their community college story — and promoted #CCMonth — during the 2023 National Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Kim Villanueva/Illinois Community College Trustees Association)

Louis Bass, CEO of RMC, watches as Sarah Serra signs her employment agreement with the healthcare company at Gadsden State Community College’s registered nurse apprenticeship signing ceremony this week. The Alabama college recognized 12 students who signed contracts with three local employers through the program. (Photo: Gadsden State)

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Michigan) toured Grand Rapids Community College’s Tassell MTEC and discussed federal funding for the new GRCC Center for Automation. (Photo: GRCC/Steve Jessmore)

Jefferson Vasquez-Reyes (center left), a student at Montgomery College (MC), was recognized by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (center) during his State of the State address. The son of immigrant parents whose family came to the U.S. from El Salvador, the 18-year-old plans on becoming a doctor. He is joined by MC officials, including President Jermaine Williams (top left). (Photo: MC)

Katie Lynch, Rockland Community College’s officer in charge of academic affairs, visits with New York high school to outline the college’s Automotive Career Exploration (ACE) program, a joint effort between RCC, Ford Motor Company, and Sound Business, Inc. that promotes career opportunities in the automotive industry for underserved high school students. (Photo: RCC)

Read more here https://ccsmart.org/

#community college #workforce resources #workforce training

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ajgulinka · 1 year

Text

Snapshots

Photos from college members of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Central Ohio Technical College President John Berry takes an icy lake dip as part of the United Way of Fairfield County’s 2023 Polar Plunge. The event raised more than $11,000. (Photo: COTC)

Read more here https://ccsmart.org/

#community college #community college insights

0 notes

tulezaraki · 1 year

Text

Snapshots

Photos from college members of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Central Ohio Technical College President John Berry takes an icy lake dip as part of the United Way of Fairfield County’s 2023 Polar Plunge. The event raised more than $11,000. (Photo: COTC)

Read more here https://ccsmart.org/

#workforce resources #workforce development

1 note · View note

pokemontalksback · 1 year

Text

Snapshots

Photos from college members of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Central Ohio Technical College President John Berry takes an icy lake dip as part of the United Way of Fairfield County’s 2023 Polar Plunge. The event raised more than $11,000. (Photo: COTC)

Read more here https://ccsmart.org/

#community college insights #workforce training

0 notes

dinahsbarbara · 2 years

Text

Snapshots

Photos from college members of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Central Ohio Technical College President John Berry takes an icy lake dip as part of the United Way of Fairfield County’s 2023 Polar Plunge. The event raised more than $11,000. (Photo: COTC)

Read more here https://ccsmart.org/

#workforce education #workforce development

1 note · View note

naturecoaster · 2 years

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Pasco County Issues Local State of Emergency and Opens Shelter

Tropical Storm Nicole expected to bring Wind and Rain The Pasco Board of County Commissioners has issued a Local State of Emergency for Pasco County ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole, allowing the County Administrator and Emergency Management Director to take necessary action to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our community. The Local State of Emergency is in effect for seven days unless renewed or rescinded. Pasco County is opening a hurricane shelter for anyone seeking shelter from the storm. We encourage you to first consider staying with family or friends, but if that’s not an option, you can self-evacuate to the Mike Fasano Regional Hurricane Shelter, located at 11161 Denton Avenue in Hudson. The shelter will open today, Wednesday, November 9, at 7 p.m. Keep in mind, Pasco County is not accepting new special needs registrations, and due to the possibility of high winds, the county is not providing transportation to the shelter. Heavy rain and storm surge is expected to impact our area, and Pasco County is reminding you to avoid walking, driving or playing in floodwaters, which can be much deeper than they look. Driving or walking through flooded roads can put you at serious risk of drowning. Pasco County Issues Local State of Emergency and Opens Shelter To help protect your property from floodwaters, Pasco County has two, self-serve sandbag locations: - Magnolia Valley Golf Course: 7223 Massachusetts Avenue, New Port Richey - Pasco County Public Works (C-Barn): 30908 Warder Road, San Antonio Sandbag sites are self-serve and open 24/7. Sandbags are provided, but you must bring your own shovels to fill the bags. Please monitor MyPasco.net and our social media platforms for county updates. Pasco County Customer Service is available to answer your questions. Please call 727.847.2411 or chat with us online at MyPasco.net. Call 911 if you need emergency assistance. Read the full article

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bride-of-freddy-krueger · 5 years

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THIS IS NOT A DRILL. MARK RUFFALO IS FILMING A MOVIE IN MY HOMETOWN AND HE'S IN MY HOOD!

There's a helicopter circling around for the filming and it's so close, I can see it off my side porch 😭😭😭

If it wasn't so hot and disgusting out, I'd go check it out. But this side of town had a LOT of hills and I have a pacemaker.

THIS IS ALMOST AS EXCITING AS WHEN THEY FILMED The Dead Don't Die WITH BILL MURRAY, ADAM DRIVER AND SELENA GOMEZ ON ROUTE 28 IN CATSKILL. THAT WAS ONLY A HALF HOUR AWAY FROM ME! l

Oh, and Nicole Kidman is in it too, but I'm not a huge fan of her.

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racheletnicole · 6 years

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Troutbeck, NY

November 2018

#nyc #troutbeck #upstate #hudson #hudson valley #rachel et nicole

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doubleattitude · 4 years

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NUVO Dance Convention, Houston, TX: RESULTS

High Scores by Age:

NUbie Solo

1st: Navy Forrest-’Imagine’

2nd: Harper Schwalb-’Do What I Do’

3rd: Haddie Templet-’Do What I Do’

4th: Rose Ramirez-’Into the Unknown’

4th: Lucia Ruiz-’Popular’

5th: Anika Argueta-’Hallelujah’

6th: Alegria Jilpas-’Pure Imagination’

7th: Sloane Harris-’Never Enough’

8th: Maria Rosales-’Despacito’

8th: MJ Mackey-’I Don’t Want To Show Off’

9th: Mackenzie Griffin-’Small World’

Mini Solo

1st: Alexis Alvarez-’Welcome Home’

2nd: Landry Silas-’Cheek to Cheek’

2nd: Winter Eberts-’Dreamlike’

2nd: Diana Kouznetsova-’It’s In His Kiss’

3rd: Kylie Lawrence-’Breathe In’

3rd: Naiya Abalos-’Forces’

3rd: Tessa Ohran-’Knock 1-2-3′

3rd: Ava Grace Olson-’Tides of Time’

3rd: Isabella Kouznetsova-’Trouble’

4th: Claire Hansen-’By The Roses’

4th: Joli Vernon-’Joy’

5th: Ava Morford-’17 Hours’

5th: Faith Crain-’Notes of the Nymph’

5th: Harper Hammes-’Tu Quieres Volver’

5th: Justin Nguyen-’You Caused It’

6th: Lyla Terry-’Rescue’

6th: Jenesis Jackson-’Single Ladies’

7th: Rory Frye-’Amen’

7th: Brynlee Fitzgerald-’Can’t Get It Out’

7th: Hadlee Heriford-’Unbroken’

8th: Camille Foreman-’Boogie Woogie’

8th: London Smith-’Feel My Love’

9th: Natalie Gerami-’Evil Twin’

9th: Neve Colyn-?

10th: Hadley Richard-’Applause’

10th: Ella Williamson-’Experience’

10th: Khloe Kramer-’Giants’

Junior Solo

1st: Colby Rich-’I Lie’

2nd: Maya Ordonez-’For All That’s Lost’

2nd: Nyah Jackson-’Slow Meadows’

2nd: Kynadi Crain-’So Close, So Far’

3rd: Brooke Toro-’As The Dust Settles’

3rd: Brooke Vorst-’Girl From Ipanema’

3rd: Kinley Bertrand-’Rock With You’

3rd: Stella Vince-’Steep Turn’

4th: Taylor Harrison-’Dawn Chorus’

4th: Beyli Shah-’Heavy Hand’

4th: Anya Inger-’Quiet Thoughts’

4th: Bella Fernandez-’She Was Running’

5th: Brooke Dubbs-’I Know’

5th: Kara Yuan-’Petite Fleur’

5th: Elyse Tompkins-’Power of Love’

5th: Ellie Randolph-’Swan Song’

5th: Baileigh McKenzie-’Take Me’

5th: Emma Fontenot-’The Gate’

6th: Jaelynn Gatchett-’A Place of Peace’

6th: Haiden Neuville-’Before You Go’

6th: Campbell Thurow-’Can’t Touch This’

6th: Elyse Armstrong-’Hard to Love’

7th: Lena Hirsch-’Forsaken’

7th: Jocelyn Nguyen-’I Am Not Myself’

8th: Maegan Abadie-’Infinite’

8th: Juliana Reyes-’She Leads’

8th: Ava Grace Craig-’Sophie’s Choice’

8th: Madelyn McCauley-’Weightless’

9th: Julia Jacob-’Emotional Conclusions’

9th: Keira Kingsmore-’Medora Variation’

9th: Ansley Harris-’The Absence of Time’

9th: Jisselle Garza-’Waiting Game’

10th: Va’Shira Newborne-’Heat’

10th: Ava Grace Gallagher-’The Greatest’

Teen Solo

1st: Mariella Saunders-’Until We Break’

2nd: Chloe Slone-’As The Dust Settles’

2nd: Kate Abernathy-’Doomed’

2nd: Gianna Garwacki-’Epiphany’

2nd: Brecklyn Brown-’Fall On Me’

2nd: Cambry Bethke-’Sacred Space’

3rd: Hudson Pletcher-’Forged Imitation’

3rd: Madison Morita-’Lily of the Valley’

3rd: Paroma Pillay-’You’re Gonna Be Okay’

4th: Sarah Linn-’Under the Skin’

4th: Audrey Berg-’Schim’

4th: Ellie Tostenrude-’Mirror of the Mind’

4th: Grace Lundbom-’Filter’

4th: Hallie Hanes-’Escalate’

5th: William Huguet-’Sinister Heart’

5th: Sofia Ulloa-’Rainy Days and Mondays’

5th: Trista Brackin-’Marathon’

5th: Laila McGuire-’Albatross’

6th: Isabella Ferrara-’The Choir’

6th: Kieran Holmes-’Hear The Bells’

6th: Camille Reynolds-’Breakout’

7th: Nicole Larson-’Absence of Light’

7th: Fayeth Tippett-’Initiate’

7th: Gracie Booth-’Nature of Life’

7th: Jenna Laurent-’Regenerative’

8th: Arden Peterson-’To This Day’

8th: Avery Pesson-’Make My Cry’

8th: Rylie Rios-’Lost Without You’

8th: Rhylan Robicheaux-’An Evening I Will Not Forget’

9th: Kendall Wenmohs-’Carry You’

9th: Braden Ward-’Drilling An Ocean’

9th: Tessa Horsley-’Reflections’

9th: Reagan Wright-’Unearth’

10th: Libby Jo Parsons-’Free’

10th: Mason Ward-’Stones’

10th: Trent Grappe-’White’

Senior Solo

1st: Sarah Bratby-’Paracosm’

1st: Onye Stevenson-’Sleep’

2nd: Sophia Seymour-’Broken’

2nd: Elizabeth Perry-’Still Standing’

2nd: Damaris Salazar-’Unraveling’

3rd: Charlee Fagan-’Veils’

3rd: Selena Hamilton-’Keep An Eye Out’

3rd: Morgan Manning-’Change Gonna Come’

4th: Natalie Wong-’Tributary’

4th: Jaycee Mya Piper-’Happiness’

4th: Madi Autry-’A Face I Used to Know’

5th: Olivia Abadie-’Drawn To You’

5th: Alexa Williams-’Lost’

5th: Lainey Myers-’You Are The Reason’

6th: Camry Blackhurst-’Airstrike’

6th: Amelia Bradford-’Weightless’

7th: Carissa Dowling-’Lonely’

7th: Kaylie Wood-’The Shift’

8th: Camryn Guarino-’Shout’

8th: Presley Gouge-’Shadow Self’

8th: Isabel Ulloa-’Rose In Flames’

8th: Nyla Staes-’Let Go’

9th: Taelynn Ritchie-’If You Could Do It Again’

9th: Hayden Folse-’Particles’

9th: Sarah Hladky-’Swim’

9th: McKenzie Shaffer-’Whispers’

10th: Caroline Cottrell-’Let Him Go’

10th: Sophia Burns-’Rewind’

10th: Madison Morris-’She Used To Be Mine’

NUbie Duo/Trio

1st: Main Street Dance-’Glow’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: Project 21-’I Am The Cute One’

2nd: Machita Dance Company-’Let’s Do It’

3rd: The Dance Kollective-’Reflection’

Junior Duo/Trio

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Both of Us’

2nd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Pace of Change’

3rd: Modern Conceptions of Dance-’Deuterium’

3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Spies’

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’At Least For Now’

1st: Dance Institute-’Comme Les Anges Volent’

2nd: Main Street Dance-’Destinations’

2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Alter Ego’

3rd: The Dance Kollective-’Ascending’

3rd: Dance Du Coeur-’Hiding Place’

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Exhumed’

1st: Artistic Soul Dance Company-’Sunder’

2nd: The Dance Kollective-’I Don’t Believe In Us’

3rd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Wild Love’

NUbie Group

1st: Machita Dance Company-’Land of 1000 Dances’

2nd: Dance Graphics-’Boogie Fever’

3rd: Main Street Dance-’Mom’

Mini Group

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We Love to Bebop’

2nd: Lancaster Dance Academy-’Want You Back’

3rd: Lancaster Dance Academy-’A Children’s Dream’

Junior Group

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Dreaming’

1st: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Give Me More’

2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Like Lovers Do’

2nd: Dance Du Coeur-’Scapegoat’

3rd: Dance Du Coeur-’Wind It Up!’

Teen Group

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Tap Is Life’

2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Killing Me Softly’

2nd: The Dance Kollective-’The Heaven Complex’

2nd: Dance Du Coeur-’Truth’

3rd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Hymne a l’amour’

Senior Group

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Before I Go’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Letting Go’

3rd: The Dance Kollective-’Give Me Love’

NUbie Line

1st: The Movement Dance Academy-’Crazy In Love’

2nd: Rios Dance-’Anaconda’

Mini Line

1st: Machita Dance Company-’In The Convent’

2nd: Dance Graphics-’Cover Girl’

3rd: Dance Graphics-’Like Jesus’

Junior Line

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Handful of Keys’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Bright Horses’

2nd: Dance Du Coeur-’Small Hours’

3rd: The Movement Dance Academy-’War Child’

Teen Line

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’

2nd: Dance Du Coeur-’Leave Me My Name’

2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Sing It Back’

2nd: Dance Du Coeur-’Somewhere’

3rd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Trust Me Again’

NUbie Extended Line

1st: The Movement Dance Academy-’Strut’

Mini Extended Line

1st: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Blow, Gabriel, Blow’

2nd: Main Street Dance-’Bom Bom Bom’

Junior Extended Line

1st: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Reasonable Doubt’

2nd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Knock On Wood’

3rd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Mean Girls’

Teen Extended Line

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Can’t Pretend’

2nd: Dance De Coeur-’Takeoff’

3rd: The Dance Kollective-’Goliath’

3rd: Tari’s School of Dance-’The Hive’

Senior Extended Line

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Knocking On Heavens Door’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’GO!’

Teen Production

1st: Dance Institute-’Valse Romantique’

2nd: Dance Graphics-’What’s Poppin’

3rd: Main Street Dance-’Work Me Down’

High Scores by Performance Division:

NUbie Jazz

1st: Machita Dance Company-’Land of 1000 Dances’ 2nd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Crazy In Love’ 2nd: Dance Graphics-’Boogie Fever’ 3rd: Main Street Dance-’Mom’

NUbie Hip-Hop

1st: The Movement Dance Academy-’Strut’ 2nd: Rios Dance-’Anaconda’

NUbie Lyrical

1st: Modern Conceptions of Dance-’Ashes’

Mini Jazz

1st: Lancaster Dance Academy-’Want You Back’ 2nd: Machita Dance Company-’Shake; 3rd: Dance Graphics-’Glamorous Life’

Mini Hip-Hop

1st: Avant Dance LLC-’Bad to the Bone’ 2nd: Main Street Dance-’Cruising Cuties’

Mini Tap

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We Love to Bebop’ 2nd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Blow, Gabriel, Blow’ 3rd: Main Street Dance-’All Aboard’

Mini Contemporary

1st: Lancaster Dance Academy-’A Children’s Dream’ 2nd: Avant Dance LLC-’La Vie En Rose’ 3rd: Dance Institute-’And So It Begins’

Mini Lyrical

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Happiness’ 2nd: Lancaster Dance Academy-’Sparrow’ 3rd: Dance Graphics-’Salvation’

Mini Musical Theatre

1st: Machita Dance Company-’In The Convent’ 2nd: Dance Graphics-’It’s Party Time’ 3rd: Dance Graphics-’Stupid Cupid’

Junior Jazz

1st: Dance Du Coeur-’Wind It Up!’ 2nd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Knock On Wood’ 3rd: Dance Graphics-’Tip Toe’

Junior Ballet

1st: Collective Dance Artistry-’Promenade’ 2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Marco Polo’

Junior Tap

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Handful of Keys’ 2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Finesse’ 3rd: Avant Dance LLC-’Seville’

Junior Contemporary

1st: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Give Me More’ 1st: The Dance Kollective-’Dreaming’ 2nd: Dance Du Coeur-’Scapegoat’ 3rd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Unraveling’

Junior Lyrical

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Bright Horses’ 1st: Dance Du Coeur-’Small Hours’ 2nd: The Movement Dance Academy-’War Child’ 3rd: Dance Graphics-’The Light That Never Fails’

Junior Musical Theatre

1st: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Reasonable Doubt’ 2nd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Mean Girls’

Junior Specialty

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Like Lovers Do’ 2nd: Main Street Dance-’1977′ 3rd: Paloma Limas & Company-’My Way’

Teen Jazz

1st: Dance Du Coeur-’Last Dance’ 2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Bringing It Back’ 3rd: The Movement Dance Academy-’Vibeology’

Teen Ballet

1st: Dance Institute-’Valse Romantique’ 2nd: Dance Institute-’Amore Argentine’ 3rd: Collective Dance Artistry-’Sylvia’

Teen Hip-Hop

1st: Dance Graphics-’What’s Poppin’ 2nd: Tari’s School of Dance-’Fame and Fortune’ 3rd: Main Street Dance-’Pinky Ring’

Teen Tap

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Tap Is Life’ 2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Killing Me Softly’ 3rd: Palm Valley Gymnastics and Dance-’Juice’

Teen Contemporary

1st: Dance Du Coeur-’Truth’ 1st: Dance Du Coeur-’Leave Me My Name’ 2nd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Hymne a l’amour’ 3rd: Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’The Path’

Teen Lyrical

1st: Dance Du Coeur-’Somewhere’ 2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Remember Her’ 3rd: Creative Dance Studio-’Memory’ 3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Journey’

Teen Musical Theatre

1st: Modern Conceptions of Dance-’Don’t Rain On My Parade’ 2nd: Avant Dance LLC-’C’mon Everybody’

Teen Ballroom

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Boss’ 2nd: Rios Dance-’Azucar’

Teen Specialty

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’ 2nd: The Dance Kollective-’The Heaven Complex’ 2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Sing It Back’ 3rd: Collective Dance Artistry-’The One Who Goes Astray’

Senior Jazz

1st: Lancaster Dance Academy-’Gimmie Dat’ 2nd: Pivotal Academy of Dance-’Born This Way’

Senior Hip-Hop

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’GO!’

Senior Tap

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’I Wanna Dance’

Senior Contemporary

1st: The Dance Kollective-’Before I Go’ 2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Mother’ 3rd: Main Street Dance-’9 Crimes’

Senior Lyrical

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Letting Go’ 2nd: The Dance Kollective-’Give Me Love’ 3rd: Dance Graphics-’Let You Know’

Senior Specialty

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Knocking On Heavens Door’ 2nd: Texas Academy of Dance Arts-’You Always Hurt The One You Love’

Best NU Groups:

NUbie

The Movement Dance Academy-’Crazy In Love’

Machita Dance Company-’Land of 1000 Dances’

Dance Graphics-’Boogie Fever’

Mini

Dance Graphics-’Salvation’

Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Blow, Gabriel, Blow’

Machita Dance Company-’In The Convent’

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Happiness’

Lancaster Dance Academy-’Want You Back’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We Love to Bebop’

Junior

Dance Du Coeur-’Scapegoat’

Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Give Me More’

The Dance Kollective-’Dreaming’

Artistic Dance Project-’Bright Horses’

The Movement Dance Academy-’Unraveling’

Dance Du Coeur-’Small Hours’

Teen

Jean Leigh Academy of Dance-’Hymne a l’amour’

Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’

The Dance Kollective-’Tap Is Life’

Modern Conceptions of Dance-’Distortion’

Collective Dance Artistry-’The One Who Goes Astray’

Dance Du Coeur-’Somewhere’

Machita Dance Company-’Holding On’

Creative Dance Studio-’Memory’

Main Street Dance-’Crash Test Dummies’

Tari’s School of Dance-’The Hive’

Dance Institute-’Valse Romantique’

The Movement Dance Academy-’Trust Me Again’

Dance Graphics-’What’s Poppin’

Senior

Lancaster Dance Academy-’Humanity’

Texas Academy of Dance Arts-’Love Lost’

Main Street Dance-’9 Crimes’

The Dance Kollective-’Before I Go’

Artistic Dance Project-’Letting Go’

Studio Pick:

Dance Graphics-’What’s Poppin’

Lancaster Dance Academy-’Humanity’

Dance Institute-’Valse Romantique’

Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’

Collective Dance Artistry-’The One Who Goes Astray’

Avant Dance LLC-’Clap, Clap’

Modern Conceptions of Dance-’Distortion’

Dance Du Coeur-’Somewhere’

West Austin Dance Academy-’Missionary Man’

The Movement Dance Academy-’Trust Me Again’

The Dance Kollective-’Tap Is Life’

Main Street Dance-’Crash Test Dummies’

Machita Dance Company-’Holding On’

#nuvo #dance #houston #texas #2021

23 notes · View notes

percysaysfuck · 3 years

Text

THREE OLD BITCHES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my 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 I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.

It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

Almost.

But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was fucking lying.

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

I 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 me up in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my 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.

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her shit faced friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.

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

Fine, I told myself. Just fine.

I was homesick.

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

And yet. . . there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. Id miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little fucked up. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.

I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied 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'd started to believe him.

The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Fucking forget it.

I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.

I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.

I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. 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 from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said ". . . worried about Percy, sir. "

I froze.

Shit.

I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking shit about you to an adult.

I inched closer.

". . . alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. "

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can. "

"Sir, he saw her. . . . "

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. "

"Sir, I . . . I can't fail in my duties again. " Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean. "

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now lets just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"

The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

Fuck.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archers bow.

I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.

A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound 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.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn . . . "

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "

"Don't remind me. "

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 the dorm.

Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.

"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"

I didn't answer.

"You look awful. " He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just. . . tired. "

I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.

I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.

But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's . . . it's for the best. "

His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit fucking smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.

I mumbled, "Okay, sir. "

"I mean . . . " Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "

My eyes stung.

Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.

"Right," I said, trembling.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say . . . you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"

"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for fucking reminding me. "

"Percy—"

But I was already gone.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of fucking nobodies.

They asked me what Id be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.

What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool. "

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

Finally I couldn't fucking stand it anymore.

I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"

I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh . . . not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

He winced. "Look, Percy . . . I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers . . . "

"Grover—"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and . . . "

"Grover, you're a really, really bad fucking liar. "

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."

The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half—"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um . . . summer address. "

My heart sank. Grover had a fucking summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "

He nodded. "Or . . . or if you need me. "

"Why the fuck would I need you?"

It came out harsher than I meant it to.

Grover blushed right down to his Adams apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you. "

I stared at him.

All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who fucking defended me.

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really fucking good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks Id ever seen.

I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right fucking at me.

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all. "

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

"Were getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on. "

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "

"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the fucking flu.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not fucking telling me?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like . . . Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw. "

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she fucking cut the yarn. "

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "

"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time. "

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "

"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to fucking scare me. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me. "

This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to fucking die?"

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.

Fuck.

#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson and the lightning thief #percy jackson and the olympians #PJO #Percy says fuck

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