THE FLIGHT OF OLYMPUS
BOOK ONE,
REVELATION
This story was meant to be based around the amazing story Rick Riordan has given to us. I typed this up attempting to make it seem as if it was written with the style that made Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus what it was. This is all fan-fiction, but I take no credit for the story/characters created by Rick Riordan, but only the character I've created.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy.
CHAPTER 1
I Turn Dogs Into Dust
My morning was probably the same morning just about any regular kid from Virginia would have... too bad it would be the last time I'd be able to cherish such a crappy, normal 7:00AM. I jolted upright as the old, blue and silver alarm clock I kept on my bedside table began to beep. I groaned, slamming my fist down on the clock to shut it up as if I were the main character of some movie or book. Since I'm the kind of guy that always has bad luck, I naturally completely missed the alarm clock and ended up whacking the corner of the table. Yeah, I was awake now.
After I recollected myself, getting over the pain pulsing through my hand, I realized that it was September 5th. The first day of school. Groaning, I got ready for the first day of what I thought was the worst day of my life. I mean, it's not like I blow anything up... but for some reason, my presence just sends out some kind of subconscious message saying something like hey, I'm a new kid, come punch me! So far, my charming personality has gotten me kicked out of five schools. My name is Alex Smiths, I'm fifteen years old and I live in a normal house with my normal mom, and visit my normal dad every other weekend. Just a normal teenage life with divorced parents, I'm just the same as everyone else. Yeah, that's what I thought at least.
I pretty much crawled into my bathroom, and began to brush my teeth as fast as I could while half asleep. I began looking at myself in the mirror, and I only realized now that I never actually took a second to just look at myself before. I had dark brown hair, with streaks of black. My eyes were dark brown as well. And my skin was a bit pale from staying inside all Summer. As I finished brushing my teeth, I spat out the paste in my mouth, gargled with some water and ran out the bathroom door.
I looked back at my clock as I pulled on my clothes, twenty minutes had passed. Guess I was zoning out a lot more than I thought I was. I wore a grey v-neck shirt, dark blue jeans, and a light zip up hoodie. I had five minutes to get to my bus stop. I sighed, and walked out the door. I would've said goodbye to my mom, but usually she sleeps during this time, and she doesn't wake up until noon. Then she starts smoking her cigarettes in the garage with some coffee. She's a nice lady though, as long as you don't get on her nerves. Anyways, I got to the bus stop and I found myself awkwardly standing next to a guy that looked like he was a Senior, maybe even a bit older, as if he failed a grade and had to repeat. What was more awkward was that we were the only ones there. I guess it was to be expected, my neighborhood is mostly for the retired elderly people, or just rich people. The guy had medium length hair (which sort of reminded me of some teen popstar) and sea blue eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt that had faded white text on it. The only thing I could make out was "Ca Hald", was this guy's name Ca Hald or something? Anyways... aside from his weird shirt, he wore faded, dark blue jeans and some torn up grey Vans. He turned to me, and I froze. I'll be honest, I thought I was in for another fist fight right before school even started. Instead, he grinned and began to speak.
"Hey, name's Percy. Percy Jackson." He finished his sentence still grinning.
"Uh, hey. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you."
Percy nodded, giving a small smile. His faced looked darker than it did before though. I could've sworn that the iris of his eyes began to shimmer as well, sort of like the ocean. Was it something I said? Was it my voice? And, in case you didn't know, my voice is really deep for my age. I sound about five years older than I should, maybe more. Sometimes it's an asset, other times it gets me attention I don't want. After what felt like thirty, awkward minutes (when it was only two) the bus finally pulled up next to the sidewalk. I walked in first, I only got a short glimpse at the bus driver before I continued walking. I mean, usually you don't stop to stare like an idiot. But I swore I saw that the bus driver had an eye on his hand... no, maybe I just need glasses. I really didn't do anything this summer except play video games (cause I just moved and made no friends). When I sat down, I saw Percy nod at the bus driver. He walked quickly towards me, his hand was in his pocket. I could tell he was grasping something, a makeshift weapon maybe? I knew because I'd always keep a small nail in my pocket incase I got into a random fight... and trust me, it's saved my life a few times. At this point I was getting nervous, I thought he was going to gut me. Again, he surprised me by asking if he could sit down next to me. While I was calming down, I just nodded. I didn't want to give any emotion that I was weak, I guess it's just a personal problem. I hate looking weak.
I found myself talking with Percy more than I wanted to during the ride (I also found myself sneaking glances at the bus driver while Percy wasn't looking). We compared how many schools we've been kicked out of, how many fights we had gotten into, and so much more. I mean, if he looked like me, I think we could've been twins. After our conversation ended, I looked outside the window and watched as we passed various gas stations and apartment complexes. I was really close to falling asleep as well, I was so terrified of the first day of school that I barely got any rest. The bus finally slowed to a stop in a huge parking spot between dozens of other buses outside of an average sized public school.
The school had a huge glass structure built onto it, which extended outwards about twenty meters. It was held up by silver, metal columns. The glass was flat, but it was angled diagonally going upwards that made it look like one of those expensive pent houses. From the outside the glass was tinted blue, making the whole building look like more of a mansion than a school. There was an entrance right under the huge glass structure that had about a dozen more panes of glass around three glass doors. The whole structure itself was on a modern styled portico. Could they have used any more glass? Between two metal columns was a brick billboard with a few messages on it in big black letters, I could barely make out the words Welcome to Freedom High School! Sorry, in case I haven't explained this already, I have minor dyslexia and ADHD. Whenever I try to read or write, the words and letters start to mix up and float around my head. Percy glanced over at me while I was examining the school through the bus window. As soon as I noticed his glance, the bus driver let us all off. Percy got out of the seat and allowed me to go first. I hurried to go first, trying to get another look at the bus driver. I was right! He did have an eye on his hand, in fact, he had eyes all over his body. I didn't want to say anything, Percy might think I'm crazy. As we stepped out of the bus Percy nudged me with his elbow.
"Come on, follow me. I need to go find my girlfriend." He said.
"Your girlfriend? Why do I have to come?"
He began to get a bit anxious "Just come on, dude. It's... sort of important."
Reluctantly, I followed. He lead me around crowds of students that were looking for their friends. I walked past a lot of groups I've always seen during high school years, I wasn't as nervous because this was my Sophomore year, so I knew what to do and what not to do. As we walked under the massive glass box that was held up my metal support beams, I examined the crowd to see what I had to put up with. I saw groups of nervous Freshmen who I could tell went shopping for a new look, something about how they looked down at their outfit gave away their new found appearance. I saw other groups of Freshmen hugging each other and acting like they just came out of an episode of Glee. It seemed like Freshmen were the only ones who cared to even see each other, the upper classmen just shuffled their way to their new lockers. Oh, and for those of you who don't attend high schools, Freshman is codename for ninth grader, Sophomore for tenth grader, Junior for eleventh grader, and Senior for twelfth.
Percy finally stopped in front of me, but I was so busy thinking about how desperately the Freshmen were trying to fit in that I bumped into Percy. I awkwardly mumbled an apology, looking down.
"Hey, Percy!" A female's voice called out.
I looked up to see a blond haired girl with stormy gray eyes who tackled Percy with a bear hug, which I assumed immediately was his girlfriend... and man, she was hot! Of course I didn't say that out loud, Percy was the first friend I had this year... I would prefer not to lose him for some stupid reason. She wore the same faded orange t-shirt, which I thought was strange. I found myself thinking are they dressing the same for the first day of school? I knew that couldn't be it though, cause she was wearing a completely different outfit aside from the shirt. She had kaki short shorts on, a light blue backpack and some flip flops that looked like they were from Holister or some other over-priced preppy clothes manufacturer. At least, I liked to call it that. She also looked like she was a Senior that failed a grade. I guess they met that way.
He smiled. "Hey Annabeth. You look good for your first day of school."
They both began laughing as if it was some inside joke. It had to be an inside joke, anyways. That or Annabeth and Percy were the easiest people to tell jokes to. After their burst of random laughter died down, Percy turned towards me.
"Oh, right. This is Alex." He pointed at me with his thumb, as if giving a sideways thumbs up. "We met on the bus ride here, it made things a bit easier."
"He's the one?" Her face darkened, just like Percy's did when I told him my name. "He looks a lot older than thirteen, why hasn't he been claimed yet?"
"I don't know, but he matches the exact description Chiron gave--" Percy replied half way before I interrupted him.
"What do you mean I'm the one? Who is Chiron? And what do you mean 'I haven't been claimed?'" I blurted out. I really hoped my face didn't look as red as I felt it was. I immediately felt like an idiot and a jerk for interrupting him. I felt like Percy was going to give me a nice punch to the jaw when he turned around, but instead he just looked at me with what looked like empathy.
"Follow us... we'll explain everything." He then said.
Just as I was about to reluctantly agree, I heard a scream. Then two, then dozens. Then before I knew it, everybody that was outside began to scream. Before I could ask why, I looked towards the direction everybody was screaming towards and saw the reason. A pack of wolves were prowling down the sidewalks onto the schools portico, snarling and drooling. My initial reaction was somewhere around okay, I've officially gone insane. Wolves in the streets of Virginia? Then I realized that these weren't your average wolves. They were the size of tanks, with dark red and black fur. Their eyes glowed with the color of blood as well. But I knew I wasn't the only one seeing these things when I looked back to see Percy and Annabeth's reactions. They weren't exactly screaming in horror like I expected, I saw Percy holding a long glimmering sword that came out of nowhere, and Annabeth was drawing a dagger with the same gleaming material from her backpack.
As soon as I could actually register what was going on, they began to charge at the wolves with strange battle cries. What made it even more weird was that I could understand what it was - it was ancient Greek cuss words. It really didn't seem to frighten the wolves either, it only made them angry. I could see Percy going towards the biggest hound, most likely the leader. Annabeth was right behind him, giving him support and protecting his blind spots. They worked as a perfect team, I thought. But as soon as the thought popped into my head, a smaller wolf (don't get me wrong, it was still pretty big) leaped over the pack leader and landed next to Annabeth. The wolf wrapped its jaw around her leg, and she yelped in agony. Percy turned, attempting to help her. I could tell the wolves somehow had this planned out, as soon as Percy turned to help Annabeth, the same wolf had bit his hip, rendering him incapacitated.
At this point, I was getting angry. Between all of the students being knocked out and trampled on, and my newest friends being dog chow, I felt like I could take on an army. I did something so stupid, something I'd never do. My instincts began to take control, and I ran toward the pack of wolves. I picked up Percy's weapon in my right hand, and scooped up Annabeth's dagger in my left hand and began to hack and slash each wolf that confronted me. Each of them turning to dust before my eyes. I felt so powerful, as if no one could stop me. And I realized only a few seconds later that literally nothing could stop me, wolves tried to slash and bite me, but their attacks were just deflected by a faint red aura glowing around my skin. I laughed, and continued fighting until all that was left was mounds of ash and the leader of the pack glaring at me. I pulled another stupid move, and almost wished I kept my mouth shut afterwards.
"Yeah, big guy. That's right! All your friends are just bits of dust now. What're you going to do about it?" I used Percy's sword to point at the wolf.
It howled, and charged at me. I gasped, a bit surprised at the speed it could travel at... is this what Percy had to face? I let my instincts take control of my body. I ran towards it, yelling back at it. Everything began to go in slow motion, it felt like I was in the movie the Matrix or something. Just before it pounced on me, I dropped to the side of my body and slid under it. All of the dust from the previously dead hounds got in my mouth in slow motion as I yelled, but I didn't care. Even though this was probably the most traumatic thing someone could go through, I was having the time of my life. Still moving in slow motion, I found myself under the chest of the pack leader. I smirked, and drove the sword upwards. I felt the blade pierce through the torso of the wolf, and I heard it howl in pain. I looked to my left, and I instinctively used Annabeth's dagger to slash the oversized wolf's front leg. I continued to slide under the hound, creating a long gash down its belly as I slid, continuing to slice the wolf's hind leg nearly in half. I stood up as I came to a stop a few feet away from the wolf and turned around to examine the kill I made, but before I could take a look the massive hound began to dematerialize and disintegrate into a huge mound of dust. I looked around, and I noticed the only students left outside the school building now were the ones that were laying down under dust, heavily injured by the hounds. The rest must have fled while I was fighting. I don't know what I did, or how I did it... but I knew one thing was for sure, I felt good.
The red aura that was surrounding me was gone now, but something else was illuminating my body and the surroundings around me with a red light. Annabeth and Percy were sitting on a bench feeding each other squares of what looked like butter. They were being patched up by the bus driver, who now had no shirt on. Just some shorts and flip flops. He looked sort of like a surfer, except he had eyes everywhere on his legs and torso. They stopped what they were doing as soon as they saw the same red glow as I did and looked up above my head, they seemed shocked. I didn't realize why they looked so surprised until I saw a glowing red insignia above my head, I didn't even bother to move. I just stared at it, completely bewildered by the concept of a glowing symbol floating in midair above my head.
"That's the symbol of Ares, Alex... y-you're a son of Ares." Annabeth blurted out, her mouth half filled with that weird square of butter.
Oh man, do I have a lot of questions.
CHAPTER 2
My Life Is A Lie
I froze for a moment. Part of me wanted to believe I always had some kind of special edge to me that helped me get out of fights... but the part of me that was still attached to reality kept me grounded to the thought that one, Ares (or any other Greek god) couldn't exist. Second, I already have a dad... how could Ares be my father? I looked at Annabeth, then to Percy. From head toe they were covered in monster dust... the white substance made it look like they had just came out of a room full of flour, dust, and dirt. Occasionally they had a few cuts and bruises around their arms and legs. I continued to stare at the two of them, and I could tell they weren't joking by the looks on their faces.
"What do you mean, son of Ares?" I asked. Before they could answer, I blurted out more words. "I already have two parents, and I'm just... I'm just me! How could I be some son of a god?"
Annabeth stood up, she walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. "Listen, we know this might sound crazy... but the gods and goddesses of Olympus are still around today, they just follow something called the Western Civilization. Right now... um, Olympus is sort of floating over the Empire State Building in New York." She looked a bit anxious, as if expecting me to call her crazy.
The truth was, I did believe this. Some people might start going berserk over news like this, and be hard with what they hear... but for some reason I always wanted to believe there was some supernatural powers in the world. I promised myself a long time ago that I would always try my best to believe what someone says, no matter how crazy it might sound. I guess it was just my fantasy to become someone with super powers. I mean, I would've settled for something a bit closer to Spider-Man or Superman... but I guess knowing how to use everything I touch as a weapon is good enough.
I took a deep breath. "So, Ares is my father... I'm guessing Poseidon is Percy's father, but who's your fa--" Before I finished my sentence, I realized Athena must've been her mother. "--wait, it's Athena isn't it? That's your godly parent?"
Even though I hated school, there was one class I really enjoyed in my freshman year. It was world History, and the guy who taught it was a mixture of cool and crazy. Mr. Brunner. He was an old guy in a wheel chair, and he had brown eyes and hair. He would always teach us more about Greek mythology than he would about actual world history. Even though I found it odd, I was alright with it -- but he'd always ask me the hard questions as if he expected me to know it all. Sometimes I even thought he hated me for it, but he'd always call for me after class and tell me I did a good job, warning me that I needed to know what he taught. I guess his teachings are finally paying off.
Annabeth seemed taken aback by my sudden knowledge of her parent. "H-how did you know?"
"Just a guess, your eyes sort of gave it away." I smiled at her, shrugging. "But I'm confused, I already have a dad. I mean, my family is divorced, but he's still my dad. I don't get how Ares could be my father."
Percy began to stand up as well, a bandage wrapped around his hip where his cut use to be. "Alex, there is something called the Mist. It's sort of this magical barrier that hides what mortals, and even some Demigods like us can really see. For instance, when the hellhounds appeared, they gave off some of the Mist to mask themselves from the mortals. Who knows what the kids here saw." He began to chuckle softly. "Maybe they saw giant, red, fur tanks storming the streets of Virginia, and three kids blowing them up with baseball bats."
I have to admit, even though this was the craziest day of my life, that was a pretty funny thought. We all began to laugh hysterically. When we finally wiped the tears from laughing from our eyes, he continued his little explanation of how my real dad is Ares.
"Anyways, the Mist can do a lot more than just mask what mortals and demigods see. It can also change the memories of us. It happened to me a few years ago." Percy's face turned grim. "But, back to the point, can you even tell me your dad's first name? Or how old he was? Now that you've realized that Ares is your father, the mist that someone was casting on you has probably faded away."
I was shocked. I couldn't remember him at all, not even what he looked like! "What, but I don't understand? I had so many memories of him. How could they all just be fake?"
Annabeth frowned. "This has happened a lot within the last few years, Alex. The Mist has power even gods have trouble controlling. Someone was using the Mist to change your memory, for better or worse."
Just as I was about to ask another question, a white minivan screeched to a stop on the sidewalk. The window rolled down, revealing a kid that looked around my age in the driver's side window. He seemed like an average teenager... if you looked passed a set of small horns sticking out of his curly hair. I instantly knew what he was, remembering Mr. Brunner's class - he a Satyr, and I decided that as long as he didn't attack me, he couldn't be that bad. I continued to examine him, he wore the same orange t-shirt that Annabeth and Percy wore, except this time it wasn't faded. I saw what it said, "Camp Half-Blood."
"Camp Half-Blood? That's a pretty cheesy name." We all snickered, I guess that we agreed on it. "Is that where we're headed to?"
Before they could reply, the Satyr honked the horn on the van. "Come on, you guys! I got a mad cow-bull chasing us! You guys are giving off a massive odor!"
None of us argued, none of us wanted to get into another fight. The door of the car slid open as the Satyr pressed a button on the dashboard. Argus picked up all of his medic materials, and waited for us to climb into the van first. As soon as all of us were situated into the car, the Satyr immediately began to accelerate. He turned his head around the chair, looking at me and then back to the road.
"Hey, glad you're still alive. My name's Grover... you already know them." He looked over at Percy and Annabeth. "Oh, gods. You two look terrible, did you do all of the fighting or something?"
Percy made a face at Grover. "No, man. He saved our backsides! You should've seen him, the way he took down the pack leader... and you should've seen how all of the attacks just bounced off of him." Percy began to laugh. "Remember Clarisse's fight with that Drakon? He started glowing red like that!"
After my shower of compliments were over, the rest of the drive was a bit quiet aside from a few awkward, forced conversations. I looked out of the window, watch as the streets of the suburban Virginia began to melt away into forests and hillsides. Grover explained that we were heading up north to Long Island Sound, New York. I assumed that was where this camp was. We were in the car for a little more than two hours when I realized that my mom was probably worried sick about me. I reached for my phone to call my mom, but then Argus put a hand on my wrist before I began to dial. I could tell he wasn't trying to be rude, but he didn't say anything either.
Percy frowned. "Sorry, but calls can't be made unless we want to send out a flare declaring our location to monsters. We already give out a scent as it is."
Grover cut into the conversation. "Yeah, you bet your hindquarters you guys do. I could smell you from Maryland!"
I reluctantly put my phone away after Annabeth told me that they'd send something called an Iris message to my mom when we arrived at camp. They explained the Iris message to be some sort of rainbow powered webcam chat... something like that, I kept zoning out due to my ADHD. It was hard enough to sit in one spot for a whole four hour drive.
I was about to fall asleep when Grover slammed on the breaks. We all groaned, and he apologized with some excuse about not being use to driving with fake feet. I looked out of the window and saw a massive tree with a golden mat of fur on its lowest branch. I took a guess that it was the golden fleece, but how was it here? I thought it was lost since, well, forever.
"Percy and I went on a quest to find it a long time ago because the tree was dying after being poisoned by a traitor named Luke. The tree use to be the spirit of a friend of ours, Thalia." She knitted her brow. "Thalia was turned into a tree by Zues, her father, after he took pity on her for risking her life to make sure her... friends made it back into camp. But when we put the fleece on the branch, its power was so strong that it healed the whole valley and brought Thalia back as well."
I looked at her, thankful for the information, but also cautious. "Um, thanks for the info... but being the daughter of Athena and all -- do you like, read minds or something?"
She began to burst out laughing, which made me blush a little bit. I really hope no one saw how red my face was. She was really cute, even though she was a good four or five years older. "No, no, no. That's pretty much what every new camper here thinks or asks about if they know what it is. You were just looking at it pretty close, so I only assumed you were wondering what it was, or if it was real."
As we continued walking, we finally passed two giant stone columns, with an edifice that read "Camp Half-Blood" in ancient Greek characters. I couldn't really tell you how I knew what it said, but this time the words didn't mix up and float around like it would with regular English words. We all passed through the two columns, and we were finally here - Camp Half-Blood. I scanned across the landscape, the whole place was so lush. Further down the valley was a huge wooden cabin with a porch that spanned across it, and a few yards away was a huge old fashioned volley ball pit. There were demigods talking, dueling, training and flirting with one another. Satyrs were either shooting at archery targets or chasing wood nymphs around the lake. Even further down the valley was a huge rink that looked like a Greek-made football stadium. It was made completely out of stone, with a dirt track in the middle. I inhaled, and usually I don't like the outdoors due to pollen, but here it seemed like all the ailments a regular human would get just disappear.
Percy grinned at me, pulling off his torn up backpack. "Here, take this. You might need it if you ever get lost." He handed me a scroll that looked like some old parchment. "I made myself two copies, so you can take it."
I unraveled the folded paper, and inside was a map of the whole camp. It looked pretty accurate too, even though Percy was a pretty bad drawer. I didn't say anything though, I was honestly grateful to have found new friends. I guess it wasn't so bad finding out that part of my life was all a fake, because now I realize that I'm home.
(Picture of map)
link
I thanked Percy, and he gave me a friendly nod. "Come on, I think you'll want to meet Chiron." The whole group began walking towards what the map said was the big house.
THANKS FOR READING SO FAR! I'LL BE UPLOADING CHAPTERS REGULARLY, SO STAY TUNED!
BOOK ONE,
REVELATION
This story was meant to be based around the amazing story Rick Riordan has given to us. I typed this up attempting to make it seem as if it was written with the style that made Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus what it was. This is all fan-fiction, but I take no credit for the story/characters created by Rick Riordan, but only the character I've created.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy.
CHAPTER 1
I Turn Dogs Into Dust
My morning was probably the same morning just about any regular kid from Virginia would have... too bad it would be the last time I'd be able to cherish such a crappy, normal 7:00AM. I jolted upright as the old, blue and silver alarm clock I kept on my bedside table began to beep. I groaned, slamming my fist down on the clock to shut it up as if I were the main character of some movie or book. Since I'm the kind of guy that always has bad luck, I naturally completely missed the alarm clock and ended up whacking the corner of the table. Yeah, I was awake now.
After I recollected myself, getting over the pain pulsing through my hand, I realized that it was September 5th. The first day of school. Groaning, I got ready for the first day of what I thought was the worst day of my life. I mean, it's not like I blow anything up... but for some reason, my presence just sends out some kind of subconscious message saying something like hey, I'm a new kid, come punch me! So far, my charming personality has gotten me kicked out of five schools. My name is Alex Smiths, I'm fifteen years old and I live in a normal house with my normal mom, and visit my normal dad every other weekend. Just a normal teenage life with divorced parents, I'm just the same as everyone else. Yeah, that's what I thought at least.
I pretty much crawled into my bathroom, and began to brush my teeth as fast as I could while half asleep. I began looking at myself in the mirror, and I only realized now that I never actually took a second to just look at myself before. I had dark brown hair, with streaks of black. My eyes were dark brown as well. And my skin was a bit pale from staying inside all Summer. As I finished brushing my teeth, I spat out the paste in my mouth, gargled with some water and ran out the bathroom door.
I looked back at my clock as I pulled on my clothes, twenty minutes had passed. Guess I was zoning out a lot more than I thought I was. I wore a grey v-neck shirt, dark blue jeans, and a light zip up hoodie. I had five minutes to get to my bus stop. I sighed, and walked out the door. I would've said goodbye to my mom, but usually she sleeps during this time, and she doesn't wake up until noon. Then she starts smoking her cigarettes in the garage with some coffee. She's a nice lady though, as long as you don't get on her nerves. Anyways, I got to the bus stop and I found myself awkwardly standing next to a guy that looked like he was a Senior, maybe even a bit older, as if he failed a grade and had to repeat. What was more awkward was that we were the only ones there. I guess it was to be expected, my neighborhood is mostly for the retired elderly people, or just rich people. The guy had medium length hair (which sort of reminded me of some teen popstar) and sea blue eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt that had faded white text on it. The only thing I could make out was "Ca Hald", was this guy's name Ca Hald or something? Anyways... aside from his weird shirt, he wore faded, dark blue jeans and some torn up grey Vans. He turned to me, and I froze. I'll be honest, I thought I was in for another fist fight right before school even started. Instead, he grinned and began to speak.
"Hey, name's Percy. Percy Jackson." He finished his sentence still grinning.
"Uh, hey. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you."
Percy nodded, giving a small smile. His faced looked darker than it did before though. I could've sworn that the iris of his eyes began to shimmer as well, sort of like the ocean. Was it something I said? Was it my voice? And, in case you didn't know, my voice is really deep for my age. I sound about five years older than I should, maybe more. Sometimes it's an asset, other times it gets me attention I don't want. After what felt like thirty, awkward minutes (when it was only two) the bus finally pulled up next to the sidewalk. I walked in first, I only got a short glimpse at the bus driver before I continued walking. I mean, usually you don't stop to stare like an idiot. But I swore I saw that the bus driver had an eye on his hand... no, maybe I just need glasses. I really didn't do anything this summer except play video games (cause I just moved and made no friends). When I sat down, I saw Percy nod at the bus driver. He walked quickly towards me, his hand was in his pocket. I could tell he was grasping something, a makeshift weapon maybe? I knew because I'd always keep a small nail in my pocket incase I got into a random fight... and trust me, it's saved my life a few times. At this point I was getting nervous, I thought he was going to gut me. Again, he surprised me by asking if he could sit down next to me. While I was calming down, I just nodded. I didn't want to give any emotion that I was weak, I guess it's just a personal problem. I hate looking weak.
I found myself talking with Percy more than I wanted to during the ride (I also found myself sneaking glances at the bus driver while Percy wasn't looking). We compared how many schools we've been kicked out of, how many fights we had gotten into, and so much more. I mean, if he looked like me, I think we could've been twins. After our conversation ended, I looked outside the window and watched as we passed various gas stations and apartment complexes. I was really close to falling asleep as well, I was so terrified of the first day of school that I barely got any rest. The bus finally slowed to a stop in a huge parking spot between dozens of other buses outside of an average sized public school.
The school had a huge glass structure built onto it, which extended outwards about twenty meters. It was held up by silver, metal columns. The glass was flat, but it was angled diagonally going upwards that made it look like one of those expensive pent houses. From the outside the glass was tinted blue, making the whole building look like more of a mansion than a school. There was an entrance right under the huge glass structure that had about a dozen more panes of glass around three glass doors. The whole structure itself was on a modern styled portico. Could they have used any more glass? Between two metal columns was a brick billboard with a few messages on it in big black letters, I could barely make out the words Welcome to Freedom High School! Sorry, in case I haven't explained this already, I have minor dyslexia and ADHD. Whenever I try to read or write, the words and letters start to mix up and float around my head. Percy glanced over at me while I was examining the school through the bus window. As soon as I noticed his glance, the bus driver let us all off. Percy got out of the seat and allowed me to go first. I hurried to go first, trying to get another look at the bus driver. I was right! He did have an eye on his hand, in fact, he had eyes all over his body. I didn't want to say anything, Percy might think I'm crazy. As we stepped out of the bus Percy nudged me with his elbow.
"Come on, follow me. I need to go find my girlfriend." He said.
"Your girlfriend? Why do I have to come?"
He began to get a bit anxious "Just come on, dude. It's... sort of important."
Reluctantly, I followed. He lead me around crowds of students that were looking for their friends. I walked past a lot of groups I've always seen during high school years, I wasn't as nervous because this was my Sophomore year, so I knew what to do and what not to do. As we walked under the massive glass box that was held up my metal support beams, I examined the crowd to see what I had to put up with. I saw groups of nervous Freshmen who I could tell went shopping for a new look, something about how they looked down at their outfit gave away their new found appearance. I saw other groups of Freshmen hugging each other and acting like they just came out of an episode of Glee. It seemed like Freshmen were the only ones who cared to even see each other, the upper classmen just shuffled their way to their new lockers. Oh, and for those of you who don't attend high schools, Freshman is codename for ninth grader, Sophomore for tenth grader, Junior for eleventh grader, and Senior for twelfth.
Percy finally stopped in front of me, but I was so busy thinking about how desperately the Freshmen were trying to fit in that I bumped into Percy. I awkwardly mumbled an apology, looking down.
"Hey, Percy!" A female's voice called out.
I looked up to see a blond haired girl with stormy gray eyes who tackled Percy with a bear hug, which I assumed immediately was his girlfriend... and man, she was hot! Of course I didn't say that out loud, Percy was the first friend I had this year... I would prefer not to lose him for some stupid reason. She wore the same faded orange t-shirt, which I thought was strange. I found myself thinking are they dressing the same for the first day of school? I knew that couldn't be it though, cause she was wearing a completely different outfit aside from the shirt. She had kaki short shorts on, a light blue backpack and some flip flops that looked like they were from Holister or some other over-priced preppy clothes manufacturer. At least, I liked to call it that. She also looked like she was a Senior that failed a grade. I guess they met that way.
He smiled. "Hey Annabeth. You look good for your first day of school."
They both began laughing as if it was some inside joke. It had to be an inside joke, anyways. That or Annabeth and Percy were the easiest people to tell jokes to. After their burst of random laughter died down, Percy turned towards me.
"Oh, right. This is Alex." He pointed at me with his thumb, as if giving a sideways thumbs up. "We met on the bus ride here, it made things a bit easier."
"He's the one?" Her face darkened, just like Percy's did when I told him my name. "He looks a lot older than thirteen, why hasn't he been claimed yet?"
"I don't know, but he matches the exact description Chiron gave--" Percy replied half way before I interrupted him.
"What do you mean I'm the one? Who is Chiron? And what do you mean 'I haven't been claimed?'" I blurted out. I really hoped my face didn't look as red as I felt it was. I immediately felt like an idiot and a jerk for interrupting him. I felt like Percy was going to give me a nice punch to the jaw when he turned around, but instead he just looked at me with what looked like empathy.
"Follow us... we'll explain everything." He then said.
Just as I was about to reluctantly agree, I heard a scream. Then two, then dozens. Then before I knew it, everybody that was outside began to scream. Before I could ask why, I looked towards the direction everybody was screaming towards and saw the reason. A pack of wolves were prowling down the sidewalks onto the schools portico, snarling and drooling. My initial reaction was somewhere around okay, I've officially gone insane. Wolves in the streets of Virginia? Then I realized that these weren't your average wolves. They were the size of tanks, with dark red and black fur. Their eyes glowed with the color of blood as well. But I knew I wasn't the only one seeing these things when I looked back to see Percy and Annabeth's reactions. They weren't exactly screaming in horror like I expected, I saw Percy holding a long glimmering sword that came out of nowhere, and Annabeth was drawing a dagger with the same gleaming material from her backpack.
As soon as I could actually register what was going on, they began to charge at the wolves with strange battle cries. What made it even more weird was that I could understand what it was - it was ancient Greek cuss words. It really didn't seem to frighten the wolves either, it only made them angry. I could see Percy going towards the biggest hound, most likely the leader. Annabeth was right behind him, giving him support and protecting his blind spots. They worked as a perfect team, I thought. But as soon as the thought popped into my head, a smaller wolf (don't get me wrong, it was still pretty big) leaped over the pack leader and landed next to Annabeth. The wolf wrapped its jaw around her leg, and she yelped in agony. Percy turned, attempting to help her. I could tell the wolves somehow had this planned out, as soon as Percy turned to help Annabeth, the same wolf had bit his hip, rendering him incapacitated.
At this point, I was getting angry. Between all of the students being knocked out and trampled on, and my newest friends being dog chow, I felt like I could take on an army. I did something so stupid, something I'd never do. My instincts began to take control, and I ran toward the pack of wolves. I picked up Percy's weapon in my right hand, and scooped up Annabeth's dagger in my left hand and began to hack and slash each wolf that confronted me. Each of them turning to dust before my eyes. I felt so powerful, as if no one could stop me. And I realized only a few seconds later that literally nothing could stop me, wolves tried to slash and bite me, but their attacks were just deflected by a faint red aura glowing around my skin. I laughed, and continued fighting until all that was left was mounds of ash and the leader of the pack glaring at me. I pulled another stupid move, and almost wished I kept my mouth shut afterwards.
"Yeah, big guy. That's right! All your friends are just bits of dust now. What're you going to do about it?" I used Percy's sword to point at the wolf.
It howled, and charged at me. I gasped, a bit surprised at the speed it could travel at... is this what Percy had to face? I let my instincts take control of my body. I ran towards it, yelling back at it. Everything began to go in slow motion, it felt like I was in the movie the Matrix or something. Just before it pounced on me, I dropped to the side of my body and slid under it. All of the dust from the previously dead hounds got in my mouth in slow motion as I yelled, but I didn't care. Even though this was probably the most traumatic thing someone could go through, I was having the time of my life. Still moving in slow motion, I found myself under the chest of the pack leader. I smirked, and drove the sword upwards. I felt the blade pierce through the torso of the wolf, and I heard it howl in pain. I looked to my left, and I instinctively used Annabeth's dagger to slash the oversized wolf's front leg. I continued to slide under the hound, creating a long gash down its belly as I slid, continuing to slice the wolf's hind leg nearly in half. I stood up as I came to a stop a few feet away from the wolf and turned around to examine the kill I made, but before I could take a look the massive hound began to dematerialize and disintegrate into a huge mound of dust. I looked around, and I noticed the only students left outside the school building now were the ones that were laying down under dust, heavily injured by the hounds. The rest must have fled while I was fighting. I don't know what I did, or how I did it... but I knew one thing was for sure, I felt good.
The red aura that was surrounding me was gone now, but something else was illuminating my body and the surroundings around me with a red light. Annabeth and Percy were sitting on a bench feeding each other squares of what looked like butter. They were being patched up by the bus driver, who now had no shirt on. Just some shorts and flip flops. He looked sort of like a surfer, except he had eyes everywhere on his legs and torso. They stopped what they were doing as soon as they saw the same red glow as I did and looked up above my head, they seemed shocked. I didn't realize why they looked so surprised until I saw a glowing red insignia above my head, I didn't even bother to move. I just stared at it, completely bewildered by the concept of a glowing symbol floating in midair above my head.
"That's the symbol of Ares, Alex... y-you're a son of Ares." Annabeth blurted out, her mouth half filled with that weird square of butter.
Oh man, do I have a lot of questions.
CHAPTER 2
My Life Is A Lie
I froze for a moment. Part of me wanted to believe I always had some kind of special edge to me that helped me get out of fights... but the part of me that was still attached to reality kept me grounded to the thought that one, Ares (or any other Greek god) couldn't exist. Second, I already have a dad... how could Ares be my father? I looked at Annabeth, then to Percy. From head toe they were covered in monster dust... the white substance made it look like they had just came out of a room full of flour, dust, and dirt. Occasionally they had a few cuts and bruises around their arms and legs. I continued to stare at the two of them, and I could tell they weren't joking by the looks on their faces.
"What do you mean, son of Ares?" I asked. Before they could answer, I blurted out more words. "I already have two parents, and I'm just... I'm just me! How could I be some son of a god?"
Annabeth stood up, she walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. "Listen, we know this might sound crazy... but the gods and goddesses of Olympus are still around today, they just follow something called the Western Civilization. Right now... um, Olympus is sort of floating over the Empire State Building in New York." She looked a bit anxious, as if expecting me to call her crazy.
The truth was, I did believe this. Some people might start going berserk over news like this, and be hard with what they hear... but for some reason I always wanted to believe there was some supernatural powers in the world. I promised myself a long time ago that I would always try my best to believe what someone says, no matter how crazy it might sound. I guess it was just my fantasy to become someone with super powers. I mean, I would've settled for something a bit closer to Spider-Man or Superman... but I guess knowing how to use everything I touch as a weapon is good enough.
I took a deep breath. "So, Ares is my father... I'm guessing Poseidon is Percy's father, but who's your fa--" Before I finished my sentence, I realized Athena must've been her mother. "--wait, it's Athena isn't it? That's your godly parent?"
Even though I hated school, there was one class I really enjoyed in my freshman year. It was world History, and the guy who taught it was a mixture of cool and crazy. Mr. Brunner. He was an old guy in a wheel chair, and he had brown eyes and hair. He would always teach us more about Greek mythology than he would about actual world history. Even though I found it odd, I was alright with it -- but he'd always ask me the hard questions as if he expected me to know it all. Sometimes I even thought he hated me for it, but he'd always call for me after class and tell me I did a good job, warning me that I needed to know what he taught. I guess his teachings are finally paying off.
Annabeth seemed taken aback by my sudden knowledge of her parent. "H-how did you know?"
"Just a guess, your eyes sort of gave it away." I smiled at her, shrugging. "But I'm confused, I already have a dad. I mean, my family is divorced, but he's still my dad. I don't get how Ares could be my father."
Percy began to stand up as well, a bandage wrapped around his hip where his cut use to be. "Alex, there is something called the Mist. It's sort of this magical barrier that hides what mortals, and even some Demigods like us can really see. For instance, when the hellhounds appeared, they gave off some of the Mist to mask themselves from the mortals. Who knows what the kids here saw." He began to chuckle softly. "Maybe they saw giant, red, fur tanks storming the streets of Virginia, and three kids blowing them up with baseball bats."
I have to admit, even though this was the craziest day of my life, that was a pretty funny thought. We all began to laugh hysterically. When we finally wiped the tears from laughing from our eyes, he continued his little explanation of how my real dad is Ares.
"Anyways, the Mist can do a lot more than just mask what mortals and demigods see. It can also change the memories of us. It happened to me a few years ago." Percy's face turned grim. "But, back to the point, can you even tell me your dad's first name? Or how old he was? Now that you've realized that Ares is your father, the mist that someone was casting on you has probably faded away."
I was shocked. I couldn't remember him at all, not even what he looked like! "What, but I don't understand? I had so many memories of him. How could they all just be fake?"
Annabeth frowned. "This has happened a lot within the last few years, Alex. The Mist has power even gods have trouble controlling. Someone was using the Mist to change your memory, for better or worse."
Just as I was about to ask another question, a white minivan screeched to a stop on the sidewalk. The window rolled down, revealing a kid that looked around my age in the driver's side window. He seemed like an average teenager... if you looked passed a set of small horns sticking out of his curly hair. I instantly knew what he was, remembering Mr. Brunner's class - he a Satyr, and I decided that as long as he didn't attack me, he couldn't be that bad. I continued to examine him, he wore the same orange t-shirt that Annabeth and Percy wore, except this time it wasn't faded. I saw what it said, "Camp Half-Blood."
"Camp Half-Blood? That's a pretty cheesy name." We all snickered, I guess that we agreed on it. "Is that where we're headed to?"
Before they could reply, the Satyr honked the horn on the van. "Come on, you guys! I got a mad cow-bull chasing us! You guys are giving off a massive odor!"
None of us argued, none of us wanted to get into another fight. The door of the car slid open as the Satyr pressed a button on the dashboard. Argus picked up all of his medic materials, and waited for us to climb into the van first. As soon as all of us were situated into the car, the Satyr immediately began to accelerate. He turned his head around the chair, looking at me and then back to the road.
"Hey, glad you're still alive. My name's Grover... you already know them." He looked over at Percy and Annabeth. "Oh, gods. You two look terrible, did you do all of the fighting or something?"
Percy made a face at Grover. "No, man. He saved our backsides! You should've seen him, the way he took down the pack leader... and you should've seen how all of the attacks just bounced off of him." Percy began to laugh. "Remember Clarisse's fight with that Drakon? He started glowing red like that!"
After my shower of compliments were over, the rest of the drive was a bit quiet aside from a few awkward, forced conversations. I looked out of the window, watch as the streets of the suburban Virginia began to melt away into forests and hillsides. Grover explained that we were heading up north to Long Island Sound, New York. I assumed that was where this camp was. We were in the car for a little more than two hours when I realized that my mom was probably worried sick about me. I reached for my phone to call my mom, but then Argus put a hand on my wrist before I began to dial. I could tell he wasn't trying to be rude, but he didn't say anything either.
Percy frowned. "Sorry, but calls can't be made unless we want to send out a flare declaring our location to monsters. We already give out a scent as it is."
Grover cut into the conversation. "Yeah, you bet your hindquarters you guys do. I could smell you from Maryland!"
I reluctantly put my phone away after Annabeth told me that they'd send something called an Iris message to my mom when we arrived at camp. They explained the Iris message to be some sort of rainbow powered webcam chat... something like that, I kept zoning out due to my ADHD. It was hard enough to sit in one spot for a whole four hour drive.
I was about to fall asleep when Grover slammed on the breaks. We all groaned, and he apologized with some excuse about not being use to driving with fake feet. I looked out of the window and saw a massive tree with a golden mat of fur on its lowest branch. I took a guess that it was the golden fleece, but how was it here? I thought it was lost since, well, forever.
"Percy and I went on a quest to find it a long time ago because the tree was dying after being poisoned by a traitor named Luke. The tree use to be the spirit of a friend of ours, Thalia." She knitted her brow. "Thalia was turned into a tree by Zues, her father, after he took pity on her for risking her life to make sure her... friends made it back into camp. But when we put the fleece on the branch, its power was so strong that it healed the whole valley and brought Thalia back as well."
I looked at her, thankful for the information, but also cautious. "Um, thanks for the info... but being the daughter of Athena and all -- do you like, read minds or something?"
She began to burst out laughing, which made me blush a little bit. I really hope no one saw how red my face was. She was really cute, even though she was a good four or five years older. "No, no, no. That's pretty much what every new camper here thinks or asks about if they know what it is. You were just looking at it pretty close, so I only assumed you were wondering what it was, or if it was real."
As we continued walking, we finally passed two giant stone columns, with an edifice that read "Camp Half-Blood" in ancient Greek characters. I couldn't really tell you how I knew what it said, but this time the words didn't mix up and float around like it would with regular English words. We all passed through the two columns, and we were finally here - Camp Half-Blood. I scanned across the landscape, the whole place was so lush. Further down the valley was a huge wooden cabin with a porch that spanned across it, and a few yards away was a huge old fashioned volley ball pit. There were demigods talking, dueling, training and flirting with one another. Satyrs were either shooting at archery targets or chasing wood nymphs around the lake. Even further down the valley was a huge rink that looked like a Greek-made football stadium. It was made completely out of stone, with a dirt track in the middle. I inhaled, and usually I don't like the outdoors due to pollen, but here it seemed like all the ailments a regular human would get just disappear.
Percy grinned at me, pulling off his torn up backpack. "Here, take this. You might need it if you ever get lost." He handed me a scroll that looked like some old parchment. "I made myself two copies, so you can take it."
I unraveled the folded paper, and inside was a map of the whole camp. It looked pretty accurate too, even though Percy was a pretty bad drawer. I didn't say anything though, I was honestly grateful to have found new friends. I guess it wasn't so bad finding out that part of my life was all a fake, because now I realize that I'm home.
(Picture of map)
link
I thanked Percy, and he gave me a friendly nod. "Come on, I think you'll want to meet Chiron." The whole group began walking towards what the map said was the big house.
THANKS FOR READING SO FAR! I'LL BE UPLOADING CHAPTERS REGULARLY, SO STAY TUNED!
