Ahaha, hello again~ = w=
I'm back with another story when I really should be finishing my other ones first~
Ah, whatever. I started this one a while ago, four months ago maybe, and just picked it back up. I'm re-reading the Keys to the Kindgom series but only the first volume of Percy Jackson so sorry if I get something wrong. Enjoy~

With every person that passed by, I flinched. I really hated being the new kid at school. I hadn't even been at the school in England for a whole day before I got sent away again. After the East Area Hospital got nuked, everyone had moved out. That was a month and a half ago. Now, I live in New York City with my father. It was my first day of school and I hoped there would be no trouble. I was sure that Art and my good friend Suzy had already re-made some of the Denizens that resided in the House. As I wondered about it, I bumped into someone.

"Ah! Sorry," I said quickly. He turned around and I flinched under his brilliant aura. His hair looked like it was made of spun gold and his skin was a perfect bronzed color. He was wearing dark sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes. He had on a black leather jacket with dark blue jeans. His shirt was a simple gray and he was wearing black Nike shoes. It took me a moment to actually realize who it was.

"Art?" I hissed. Denizens weren't supposed to mingle with the Second Realm. Of course, He wasn't exactly a Denizen, nor was He at all human. He cocked his head and frowned.

"Sorry, kid. I think you've got the wrong person," he said in a silky smooth voice that could make your heart melt. On further examination, he really didn't have Art's looks. His hair was considerably darker than Art's and his skin was more tan than bronze. I flushed a bright red and stepped back.

"O-oh. Sorry, sir," I mumbled, feeling more embarrassed than the time I had to undress in front of Suzy. Well... maybe this wasn't as embarrassing. He smiled and his teeth glowed with the brilliance of the sun.

"No problem, kiddo. You going to school?" he asked me. I nodded. "Well, be careful. Nasty characters here, don't want to get caught." I nodded my head in thanks. He looked as if he had more to say but I rushed off to avoid more embarrassment. As the school came into sight, I slowed my pace. It was already well after eight o' clock and the school grounds were empty. I felt a bit weird going to school without a uniform as I was so used to in England. As my mind began drifting, I thought about when the next time I would be able to see my House friends.

"Dr. Scamandros, Sunscorch, Suzy, Art... oh, there's- no, he's dead... um... oh, Fred. I wonder if he's still the Lieutenant Keeper of the Door. Who else was there? All of the Morrow Days are gone, I'm sure. I wonder if there will still be a Dawn, Noon, and Dusk. Er... well, there was also Giac, though I didn't know him very well. Shame he got swallowed up." I stopped in the middle of my musings. It scared me to hear how I could talk about this so nonchalantly even though the events that took place in the House would have killed someone mentally. Not to mention physically. As I walked, I absent-mindedly fiddled with the silver crocodile ring I received from Dr. Scamandros a while back. I slipped it off of my finger and rolled it between my thumb and forefinger.

"Hey, boy!" someone called. I looked up and saw a man in a gray t-shirt and a janitor's suit. The top half of it hung around his waist. "Come help me with this, will ya?" He was standing next to a big picture frame that was leaning on his knee. As I got closer, I realized how much he looked like a younger and non-scavenger Sunscorch. I thought about what Sunscorch had said when I first met him. I had called him and his crew pirates and he got all offended. I couldn't remember the name of them however, so I'll just call them scavengers for now. I jogged over to him, something that I wouldn't have been able to do before the House. The man had shaggy red-brown hair that reached the tops of his shoulders and a bristly chin. Despite his barbarian demeanor, he was really quite handsome.

"How strong are ye?" he asked in a gruff voice. I shrugged. "Well then, let's see. This is heavier than it looks. You just grab that side and when I say lift, you lift." I nodded. I tucked my hands around the underside of it. "One... two... three... lift!" I hefted it up off the ground and realized how right he was. It felt like it was made of lead. I must've had quite an expression on my face because he suddenly laughed.

"Heavy, ain't it? Well, we don't have to carry it too far. Just through those doors over there," he grunted, gesturing with his head. It also occurred to me that he might've been getting his hair out of his face. As we passed through the front doors, the man laughed again. "Yep, this here is made of one hundred percent... heavy material. Valuable stuff it's protecting. Prays be to God that the hooks can support it." His booming laugh echoed about the empty space, bouncing off the linoleum tiles and white walls. We moved over to a blank spot on the wall that looked quite out of place next to the trophy case and picture frames showing classes of the past.

"Watch your fingers now," he said. I set it down and slipped my fingers out. My left hand was a tad bit too slow and the tip of my pointer finger got scraped. I swore quietly and stuck my finger in my mouth, though I doubted that would help much. The man, who I now presumed was the janitor, chuckled. "Hurts, don't it?" Despite his striking similarity to Sunscorch outside, his teeth were perfect, like two rows of pearls all perfectly aligned, unlike Sunscorch's mouth of rotting teeth and gaps. It took a second or two for his words to register in my brain and I looked down at his hands. His left hand was covered from the tips of his fingers to the middle of his forearm.

"Holy Architect!" I exclaimed. I swore inside my head. The House really rubbed off on me. Of course, since I was the ruler of it before it was destroyed and my human and Denizen parts were separated, I suppose I could call it something along the lines of my second home. "Er, what happened? You couldn't have crushed your entire hand." The janitor laughed.

"Foreigner, eh?" he said. Canadian, eh? I muttered in my head. "Nope, I didn't crush my entire hand. Just caught the tips. Man, that's a nasty little cinder block." I was about to tell him that it wasn't a cinder block, but then again, I wasn't exactly sure what it was made of. "The rest of my hand was burned." I just stood there and nodded a bit, unsure of what to say. "You're a new student, ain't ya? Why don't we go get you checked in?" As we walked, I looked around the lobby. It was pretty simple. Linoleum tiles and white brick walls, which reminded me eerily of the hospital, back home. The office was just to the right of the entrance and a display case was on the left just before the beginning of the hallway leading to the classrooms.

"Hey, office missies! How are ye today?" the janitor boomed. An elderly woman with a hawk-like complexion and gray-streaked hair that was tied back in an extremely tight bun giving her the look of a permanently surprised person glared at him.

"Mr. Scorch! Quiet down! This is an office, not a playground," she scolded. Her voice was that of a 5-year-old on drugs or something. I wasn't that surprised when I heard that his last name was Scorch. I had a couple guesses about his first name, too. The woman glanced at me and she stopped glaring but gave me a look of disapproval. I wondered if it was because of the way I dressed; an orange t-shirt with blue jeans and white sneakers splattered with orange paint from when I was helping my dad paint our apartment. I had a thin navy sweatshirt tied around my waist and I hadn't brushed my hair that morning.

"You must be the new student the principal was telling us about. Arthur Penhaligon, correct?" I nodded. She pushed her half-moon glasses farther up her nose and began shuffling through some papers before pulling out a manila folder. She handed it to me and said quickly, "Inside that folder is your schedule, locker number, and some papers for your parents. I trust that you have all of your supplies. Now, hurry to class. Show this to your teachers. Have a good day." She scribbled something on an uneven piece of green paper and handed it to me. I uttered a small "thank you" and quickly left the office. Mr. Scorch followed me out.

"Arthur Penhaligon, eh?" This guy was so Canadian. "Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Sunny Scorch. Odd name ain't it?" he laughed. I shook my head and smiled at how much he reminded me of Sunscorch.

"No, not at all. You actually remind me of someone I knew a while ago," I told him in a soft voice. He clapped me hard on the back and I almost fell on my face from the force of the impact.

"I like you, kiddo! If you couldn't already tell, I'm the janitor here. If you need any help, you can just come to me office. Just ask someone, they'll probably know where it is. I'll be seeing' ye then." With that, he left me in the hallway, striding away. I stood there feeling a bit helpless and alone. I opened the folder and took out my schedule. At the top it showed my locker number and combination.

"D108..." I murmured. I felt even more helpless when I realized I had no idea where to go. I searched the folder again but found no map. I began walking forwards and glanced around. It felt like I was in an asylum of sorts. As I passed a large window, I my reflection out of the corner of my eye. I gasped and turned to face the window. It was Art, the Denizen form of me. He was in full-Denizen form with hair spun of gold and bronze-like skin. The whites of his eyes, or what should have been white, glowed with a gold color. His pupils were a beautiful onyx. He smiled at me and I glanced around to see if anyone was there.

"A... Art?" I said shakily. He nodded. Then, He pointed to His mouth and shook His head. "You can't... talk?" Art nodded again. A hand came into view and He mouthed what I think was "thanks." He began writing quickly with the Sixth Key, which was the shape of a quill, and then held the paper out. I looked at it then back up at Art. "Do... am I supposed to take that?" Art just smiled. I reached out and to my surprise, my hand went through the glass. I put my fingers around the paper but quickly pulled them back when a shot of what felt like electricity shot up my arm and down my spine. Art laughed a laugh that I couldn't hear and pushed the letter forth again. I slowly reached out and took it. There was no electricity this time.

"What was that?" I asked him. He held up the Sixth Key and pointed at it. I looked down at the crocodile ring and saw that some of the first bar had filled up, but not by much. I sighed. "Well, thanks, Art." He waved and I waved back as his figure began wavering. As it was replaced by my own reflection, I let my hand drop and briskly turned and walked down the hallway. I looked at my watch and sighed again. After the House incidents, I had tried resetting it but it just kept going counter-clockwise. Eventually, I got a new watch but I kept my broken one as well, though I have no idea why. As I passed a hallway, I noticed a laminated beige paper that read, "Hallway C-D." I looked down at my schedule then back at the sign. I turned down the hallway and classrooms began appearing.

"Ms. Prime, social studies... Ms. Blue, math... Dr. Salamander, science... Mr. Gold, language arts. What peculiar names," I murmured. As I reached the end of the hallway, I saw two more signs. The one on the right had a big C on it and the other a D. I turned left and began counting off lockers. I didn't have to go that far before I reached locker D108. I looked down at my paper and read my combination. Let's see... 31, turn right until you pass your first number again, 11, turn left until it stops... I said inside my head. I did what it said and the locked opened with a metallic noise that sounded extremely loud in the empty hallway. I slipped my backpack off and began taking my supplies out. I had five binders, one for each core class plus one for Spanish. I put them all at the bottom of my locker and my backpack on a hook in the back of it. I glanced at my schedule and saw the times. It was only about half-way through second hour.

"So... Mr. Gold then," I said to no one in particular. I picked my binder up off of the floor of the locker, grabbed my L.A. folder and a pencil then closed my locker as quietly as possible. I backtracked back to Mr. Gold's classroom. I stopped in front of it, my heart beating a mile a minute. I hated this feeling even though I had experienced it so many times in the House. I reached out and opened the door. It opened with a small click. As the door opened, I knew that every single pair of eyes turned to look at the door. I stepped quickly inside and closed the door softly behind me. To my surprise, the room was dark and there was no one there. The kids' things were there, but not a single person was there. I looked at the whiteboard at the front of the room. At the right-hand side it showed the agenda.

"They're in the library," I stated simply. I didn't know what to do then. I didn't want to leave the classroom in fear of getting lost, but it felt weird just standing there. Just as I thought this, the door opened again. I whipped around and saw kids filing in. I felt my face turn red as the all went to their seats, their eyes on me. Soon after they came in, Mr. Gold followed. He didn't notice me until he had closed the door and walked straight past me. He had black hair and had very dark skin. He wore a metallic-blue dress-up shirt with a silver tie and black slacks with sleek black dress shoes.

"Hm? Oh. Are you the new student the principal told me about?" he asked. I nodded. He grinned, his white teeth a great contrast against his dark skin. It looked rather silly. He held out his hand and I shook it. Or rather, he shook it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Gold. Why don't you introduce yourself?" I turned and looked down at the ground not meeting the gaze of my new peers.

"Um... I'm Arthur Penhaligon. Nice to meet you," I said quietly. A girl near the back raised her hand. Without waiting to be called on, she blurted, "Hey, will you speak up? I can't hear you." She sounded rather snooty. I looked up. She had long brown hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in pink and fluff. Literally. She wore a pink sweater that looked like it should be on a Chihuahua from Legally Blonde. There was fluff around the ends of the sleeves and the collar. Under that she wore a light pink shirt. In her hair was a pink hair band with a magenta ribbon on the side. She had on a lot of mascara and she was chomping noisily on gum.

"Class, this is Arthur Penhaligon. Why don't you tell them where you're from and why you moved? Louder, if you please," Mr. Gold said politely. I nodded and swallowed nervously. I never was good with crowds, especially when all of their eyes were on me. If I still had my asthma, I probably would've been dead by now.

"Er... I'm from England. There was just a recent outbreak of a disease they called Grayspot but they got a vaccine for it but it was a bit too late because the army had already planned on nuking the hospital where it started so they went through with it and my friend Leaf told me about it because I actually wasn't there when it happened but there was a big fuss and everyone started moving away so my dad sent my brothers and sisters to stay with other relatives in England and took me here but I don't really know why." The way I heard it, it was just a jumbled mess of words. Mr. Gold scratched his chin.

"Hm. Well, all I heard was that you were from England and the army nuked a hospital." A group of boys in the middle of the rows of desks snickered. Americans were so barbaric. Only they would laugh at something like that. As I thought about what I said, tears began welling up in my eyes. I cursed my subconscious. The thought of my siblings in England sent a stab of pain through my heart. "What about your mom?" I looked down.

"... She's gone." The whole room fell silent. Mr. Gold looked down as well. "Ah... I'm very sorry for your loss." I shook my head saying, "Don't be. It wasn't your fault." I had officially decided that Saturday was my least favorite day of the week. "Er... why don't we get you a seat? So... you can sit in the desk back there." He pointed to a desk in the corner of the room by a window. I nodded and walked slowly towards the desks. There were six rows of desks with six desks in each row. I had the seat farthest from the door.

"Oops... sorry, kids. I forgot to print something. I'll be right back," Mr. Gold said before rushing out the door. As I walked through the aisle, one of the boys who had laughed at the part about the nukes stuck his foot out. I stumbled and Art's letter slipped away. One of the other boys swiped it up.

"No! Give it back!" I yelled, making a grab for it. He held it just out of my reach and snickered. He crumpled it into a ball and said, "You want it that bad?" From the moment I saw him I knew he was going to be trouble. Suddenly, there was a flash of brightness and the boy dropped the letter to shield his eyes. I snatched it off his desk and ran to the back of the room. It appeared that I was the only one who wasn't affected by the light. I examined the letter. The power of the Key had revived it and it was now wrinkle-free as if it had never been touched. I ran my hand over the seal and smiled at the rush of energy that made my fingertips tingle.

"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed. He jumped up and made his way to my desk. I turned my head and looked at my reflection in the window again. Art was there again. The only difference was that Suzy, Dr. Scamandros, and Sunscorch stood behind him in the same way that the desks were arranged. They all smiled at me and I just stared back, not doing anything. The boy came up behind me and as he did, a looming figure of the woodchopper puppet appeared. I grimaced and drew my head back a little. Suzy slapped her leg and laughed. Art gave her a look and she just held her hands up.

"Hey! What the fuck just happened?" the boy asked. I didn't answer and instead keep looking at Art, hoping he could offer some sort of advice. He didn't. His mouth moved, but of course, I couldn't hear him. I tried to read his lips and came up with tree rave, bee rape, pee wave, and a couple others. Then it finally hit me along with a punch in the face from the boy. I held my cheek and mulled over Art's words in my head, trying to ignore the pain. As I wondered what it was supposed to mean, Mr. Gold came back in. The boy must have had a small voice in the back of his head that told him when teachers were coming because he sat down just as Mr. Gold entered the room. I sat holding my cheek. I felt something warm drip into my hand and took it away. Blood dripped down my chin and made a small pool in my hand. I frowned and felt my teeth. Luckily, none of them had fallen out, but he had split my lip.

"Arthur? Is something wrong?" Mr. Gold asked when he saw me looking down. I stood up and walked over to him.

"No, I'm fine... kind of. I just tripped," I answered. "Can I go to the office?" Mr. Gold saw the blood pooling in my hand and nodded quickly.

"Do you need help getting there?" he asked me. I shook my head and trudged to the door. As I opened it, I looked back at the boy. He wouldn't meet my gaze. I snickered and exited the room. I held a hand over my lip, the blood in my hand dripping down and staining my shoes and the floor. I looked back. Not too much of it had gotten on the floor, but it still didn't look good. I turned forwards again but did a sudden double take and walked quickly back to my trail of blood. Despite the fact that it was mostly red, there was the smallest hint of blue in it. I looked at my ring again. Part of it was still gold. I stood up and saw Sunny strutting my way. He smiled and waved. I raised a bloodied hand and his eyes widened as he rushed over to me.

"Whoa! What happened, kiddo?" he asked, quickly taking out a rag and dabbing my face with it. I was quiet for a bit before almost whispering, "I fell." Sunny frowned and asked, "Fell on what, a fist?" I chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, I suppose you could say that." Sunny sighed and grabbed my hand bringing it up and putting it over the rag.

"Here, you just keep that over your lip." He began walking and I followed him. As we were walking to the office, I saw that it really wasn't so confusing after all. From the lobby, the hallway went straight only branching off when a new grade's hallway began. The seventh grade hallway was second so I presumed that the first was sixth. I didn't know how many hallways there were after that, but I was sure there was at least eighth grade as well. As we exited into the lobby, I saw a young man with silky brown hair and peachy skin walk into the office. Sunny became excited suddenly and quickened his pace. He burst through the office door and the young man turned around.

"Ah! Sunny!" he exclaimed. Sunny grinned widely and strode over to him. Taking him in a close embrace, Sunny planted a light kiss on his lips. "What's up, babe? Didja miss me?" The brunette flushed a bright red and adjusted his glasses.

"Er... um... y-yes, I do suppose I did..." He smiled shyly up at Sunny and in turn the janitor threw in arm around his shoulder. Turning to me, Sunny said, "This is Aaron. If you can't already tell, he's my baby." Sunny kissed Aaron lightly on the cheek. Aaron nodded his head at me.

"N-nice to meet you. I'm Aaron Fletcher, a junior at a local college. I, ah... I take a course with Sunny. He never had the chance to go to college when he was younger so he's going now," Aaron told me in a small voice. I nodded. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Arthur Penhaligon." I took the rag away from my mouth and saw it was coated with my blood and shone with a metallic blue. I glanced back down at my ring. A third of it was gold and my eyes widened ever so slightly. Another third of the first segment was turning blue. Aaron must have had quite good eyesight despite the fact that he wore glasses because he noticed my alarm and asked timidly, "Arthur is something wrong?"

"What? Oh, no. My lip's just bothering me a bit," I answered. Sunny nodded.

"Yeah, we should probably take care of that. I'll catch ye later, babe," Sunny said to Aaron giving the college student a swift slap on the butt before retreating to the infirmary. Aaron blushed and coughed, pushing his horn-rimmed glasses farther up his nose and fleeing to the back offices. I gave a slight grimace and followed Sunny into the infirmary. It was like a hospital ward. Linoleum tiles, much like the rest of the school, and white-washed walls. There were seven beds lining each side of the room with a medicine cabinet just to the right of the door.

"Doc? You in here?" Sunny called. There was no answer. "Hm. Guess he's not in. A'ight, whatever. Go sit over there. I'll be over in a sec." I walked over to the bed and sat down staring down at my hands. The only sound in the room was the shuffle of bottles in the medicine cabinet. This school was so bleak. They really needed to do something about it. I let my mind wander about what had happened mere minutes ago. Although I may have gotten rid of my sickness, my luck sure hadn't changed. First, I was supposed to die. Second, I almost got killed. Third, my mom is gone. Now I have a boring-ass school and an idiotic, stereotypical enemy you only see in those cheesy movies. It's official; my life sucks.

"A'ight, hold still, kiddo. This might sting." Sunny obviously didn't care about whether it hurt or not because he practically jammed the tweezers and the cotton ball down my throat. I could feel the stench of the rubbing alcohol burning my nostrils and my throat.

"Gah! Be careful!" I snapped. Sunny shrugged. He dabbed more lightly on my lip but that didn't take away the pain. "Hey... are you supposed to use this stuff on people's mouths?" I asked suddenly. Sunny shrugged. Reaching down, I picked the bottle up off of the floor. Reading the label, it said in bolded and painfully obvious letters, "WARNING: KEEP SUBSTANCE AWAY FROM MOUTH." I face-palmed. Grabbing a tissue from the bedside table, I rubbed my mouth with it and gave Sunny a look. He grinned sheepishly and picked up a fresh cotton ball.

"Sorry. I should probably check the inside of your mouth to make sure you didn't bump any teeth," Sunny told me. I pushed his hand away.

"Are you kidding? I'm not letting you near my mouth with anything. Especially cotton balls. Who knows what shit you put on it that might kill me or cause internal bleeding?" I grumbled crossly. He wagged a finger at me disapprovingly.

"Watch your language, mister." I sighed and sat back. Would this day ever end? Sunny glanced at the clock on the wall. "Hey, what do you have for third hour?" I shrugged. "Well, you should probably get going. If it's Ms. Primus, you'll get your ass whooped. Believe me, I know." I sighed.

"Alright. Thanks for your help." I stood up and left the infirmary making my way back to the seventh grade wing. It was quite uneventful on the way there. Of course, it's not like anything would happen, such as an ancient Greek monster suddenly bursting through the window and trying to attack me. Nope, that kind of thing doesn't just happen. As I passed a window, I was aware that someone- or something was watching me. I glanced to the right but saw no movement. I quickened my pace and soon came to the point where the window cut off and turned into lockers. When I turned into my hallway, it was like entering a zoo full of hormonal and out of control teenagers. The sound of loud and obnoxious voices suddenly attacked and massacred my ears.

I cringed and maneuvered my way to my locker. When I got there, the boy and his crew were there. I stopped just around the corner and watched. They appeared to be picking on a boy with dark brown hair and sea green eyes. He wore a blue shirt with a black zip-up sweatshirt over it. His jeans were well-worn and ripped at the knees and heels. Despite his somewhat plain appearance, a strange aura hung around him. He gave me a strange sense of power... or something.

"Mr. Penhaligon!" someone called. I whipped around and saw Mr. Gold coming towards me. He stopped in front of me and asked, "How's your lip?" I smiled.

"It's fine. Don't worry." He smiled back.

"Oh, okay. That's good to know. Oh, here's your stuff back," he handed my binder, folder, and pencil to me.

"Thanks," I said quietly. He nodded a silent 'you're welcome' before turning on his heel and walking back to his classroom. I looked back around the corner and saw the boy and his crew coming back my way. I frowned and ducked behind a group of students. Luckily, they didn't notice and paid me no attention. Even more luckily, the boy passed right by me. I walked quickly to my locker and nearly plowed into the boy from earlier.

"S-sorry," I muttered. He paid me no mind and kept walking. Truthfully, I liked it better that way. I opened my locker and took the schedule from the top of my locker. Let's see... looks like I have Ms. Primus next. I put my L.A. folder back in my backpack and my binder in the bottom of my locker. Taking out my social studies supplies, I headed to her room. As I entered, I saw that there were only about five or six people there, one of them including the green-eyed boy who had the locker next to mine. Ms. Primus was sitting at her desk. She looked up upon my arrival and stood up briskly. I gaped at her amazing height. She was at least six foot five, even in flats. She wore a sea-foam skirt with a ruffled hem and a blue shirt. Her silver hair was tied in a neat braid that hung down to her waist.

"You are Mr. Arthur Penhaligon, yes?" she asked in a lilting voice, without the cheery part. I nodded. "Alright then. You can take the seat next to Percy." She gestured to the seat next to the brunette from before. I swallowed and sat down next to him. It was the same arrangement as Mr. Gold's room but the desks were facing a different direction. I sat there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Hey," a strong and serious voice said. I jumped and looked over at the boy. He was looking straight at me. "Er... I'm Percy. Percy Jackson. You are?" I fidgeted with my mechanical pencil, pressing the end until the lead was at its limit before pushing it all back in. I wanted to play dumb and pretend he wasn't talking to me but it was kind of hard when I was the only one around him and he was looking straight at me, practically drilling holes into the side of my head with his green gaze. Sighing internally in defeat, I turned and said, "Arthur Penhaligon. I'm a new transfer student from England."

"Oh, cool. I didn't think I'd seen you around before," he said back. There was an awkward silence before I cleared my throat.

"So, um... I, ah... do you have locker D107?" I asked. He nodded slowly. It didn't take a stalker to hear how creepy that sounded. "Oh, no! Sorry, I saw that kid and his crew where my locker was and you were there too and I..." Percy smiled and I flushed bright red.

"It's cool," he said. "So I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot from now on." I nodded. Turning to face him, I asked, "Who were they?" Percy shrugged.

"I dunno. I never pay attention to people I don't care about," he answered nonchalantly, tossing his head to get his hair out of his face. I laughed lightly, something I hadn't since I moved a month ago. As we were talking, more kids filed in and took their seats. After a little bit, the girl in pink came over to my desk chewing gum loudly and yelled, "Move it dweeb, that's my seat!" Pushing my stuff off of the desk, she grabbed my by the scruff of my shirt and tossed me on the ground. I stood up and rubbed my neck, glaring at her.

"Jeez, you have the strength of a fucking bear," I muttered. She leaned over and smiled at Percy who was picking my binder up. He handed them to me and I thanked him. Mrs. Primus didn't seem like the type of teacher who would tolerate that kind of behavior in her classroom but when I looked around she wasn't there. The pink girl examined me from head to toe and turned back to Percy.

"Why waste your energy on this slob? C'mon, just hang out with me. It'll be fun." Percy ignored her and continued staring forwards as if she didn't exist. When she kept pestering him, he turned and asked, "Do I know you?" I hid a smile and heard several kids around them go, "Oooh, burn." The girl's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"Percy, are you serious? We've been in the same class since third grade!" she exclaimed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. It looked like it was shaved off of a stray dog. Percy glared at her and growled, "Move. Now." She made a strange sound in the back of her throat that sounded like a cross between a vomiting dog and Sunscorch trying to get phlegm out of his throat. She stood and stormed off but not before slapping Percy across the face and leaving three bright red marks across his face.

"Oh my God!" I cried. "A-are you okay?" Percy reached up and swept his fingers across the cuts. Nodding, he said, "Yeah, I just got clawed across the face by a fake bitch and I'm totally fine. No biggie." Alright, I'll admit, that was a stupid question.

"Um, alright, I admit that was a pretty stupid question. S-should we go to the office?" I sputtered. Why was I stuttering? Percy shrugged.

"Dunno. I don't think it's that bad. But, if you insist, then sure why not." Standing up, he began walking out of the classroom. I just stood by my desk looking like an idiot. He stopped in front of the door and turned to say to me, "You coming?" I snapped out of my idiotic stupor and nodded, walking quickly over to him. Just as we exited the room the bell rang and students disappeared into the classrooms. Within moments the hallways were quiet. Percy and I walked down the hallway, an awkward silence settling in.

"So um... who was that girl?" I asked in an effort to break the silence. Percy didn't answer for a moment before saying, "I don't know." And that was that. As we passed by the window again, I got the odd sense that some... thing was watching me again. I stopped in my tracks and stared intently out the window, searching for any signs of movement. Percy didn't realize I stopped until he was about eight paces ahead. He looked around then saw me staring out the window.

"Arthur? Something wrong?" he asked, walking back to where I stood. I didn't answer. He turned his head and started looking out the window as well. Suddenly, a bush rustled and there was a low rumbling noise. I jumped and backed away from the window.

"Percy? Please tell me that's your stomach and not some ancient Greek monster about to jump out of the bushes and attack us," I squeaked. He put his hands in his pockets and said with a flip of his hair, "That's my stomach rumbling and now some ancient Greek monster about to jump out of the bushes and attack us." The rumbling continued until it was practically shaking the window. I shot him a look and asked, "Did you just say that because I asked you to?" He nodded. Then, a girl appeared around the corner of the hallway. She was kind of pretty with blond hair and gray eyes like storm clouds on a rainy day. Percy turned and waved at her.

"Hey, Annabeth," he greeted. She frowned and walked over to us to poke Percy's cheek. He flinched and slapped her hand away. "Hey, cut it out. That hurt." She threw her hands up in exasperation and rolled her eyes yelling, "Percy, you're bleeding! Don't you know what that means?" He shook his head then a look of realization appeared on his face.

"Oh shit." Annabeth nodded and grabbed his arm saying, "Yeah, stupid! We gotta go!" As she dragged him down the hallway, I stood by the window not knowing what to do. As I looked back towards the window, a scream suddenly ripped through the air, breaking the still silence. It took me a moment to realize that it was actually me that screamed like a little girl that just fell off of her bicycle and was kicked by a horse into the path of a tank. A monster had pressed its face against the window and was clawing at the glass. I stumbled and fell backwards, continuing to scream. Annabeth and Percy ran back to see what was going on when the monster burst through the window.

"What the fuck is that?" I heard one of them scream. I couldn't really tell who it was over the noise of my screaming combined with the roaring of the monster. It looked like an alien from one of those clichéd movies where the army has to protect the human race dying out only this thing was worse. It looked kind of like a komodo dragon with burnt skin. Its face was by far the worst though. It had the head of a komodo dragon without eyes and teeth that were too big for its mouth, some of them as long as my arm. Spit flew everywhere as it flung its eyeless head about.

"Arthur! Are you okay?" Percy yelled. I had finally stopped screaming and was now frozen in horror. Its face looked kind of scarred only these were long, gaping scars that wouldn't ever heal. Words can't explain how terrifying it is (mostly because the author can't describe it). I scrambled up, cutting my hands and arms in the process. I could see Percy and Annabeth now. Percy had a long, bronze sword in his hand and a shield on the opposite hand.

"Get over here you stupid kid!" she yelled at me. I began running towards them but a tentacle suddenly shot out of a tube on the monster's neck and grabbed my ankle. I fell and cut up my knees and hands even more than they already were. I'm pretty sure I got some shards of glass stuck in my face too. I was lifted into the air and held right in front of the monster's face. My eyes were as wide as saucers, almost literally, as the monster sniffed me. It suddenly roared, blowing my hair back and getting spit all over me. As soon as it stopped I began falling. I screamed again as I fell... right into Percy's arms.

"C'mon, Annabeth, just leave it! We have to go!" he yelled at her. Reluctantly, she sheathed her sword that she didn't have before and began running towards the lobby. Percy followed and I unconsciously wrapped my arms around Percy's neck so I wouldn't fall. As I looked back, I saw the monster coming after us. I threw itself around the hallway and I got a glimpse behind it. The tentacle it had used to grab me was wriggling about on the ground and I gagged.

"Arthur, are you okay?" he asked. I nodded and answered, "Well, aside from the fact that I think my heart just stopped and I nearly got killed, I'm just fucking dandy." Percy sighed and chuckled saying, "Alright, that was a pretty stupid question." When we got outside, a blue Prius sat waiting. A man was in the driver's seat. Annabeth practically threw herself into the front seat while Percy gingerly climbed into the back seat with me. As soon as his door was closed, the little car sped away. It was going pretty fast for a Prius.

"Percy, are you alright?" the man in the front asked. Percy let out a breath and nodded.

"Yeah, kind of. Arthur, on the other hand..." he mumbled. Looking down at myself, I gasped when I realized how bad it was. Blood coated my pants and shirt. It rolled down my arms in little rivelts. As I tried to move my left ankle, I grunted and flinched. Percy frowned. "Arthur... what's that in your blood?" I looked up at him.

"What are you..." Looking back down, I saw what he was talking about. Throwing my head back, I groaned and covered my face with my hands. Now, instead of just specks, long strips of blue rested in my blood. I let my hands fall to my lap and answered, "It's a condition I have. It went away for a while but I guess it's back now." Nice cover up, Arthur. "So, uh, now I have a question. Just what the fuck was that thing?" Percy shrugged and leaned back.

"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like it. But I can ask Chiron when we get there," he answered. I tilted my head.

"What? Who? Where are we going?" Percy looked at me with a charming smile and said, "Camp Half-Blood."

When he said nothing more, I decided not to press to hard on the subject. I could tell sooner or later I was going to find out. As I watched the scenery roll past the window, I wondered what the fuck just happened and what might happen from here on out.

IT- IT'S SO LONG. o Ao Sorry about the abrupt ending. I meant to end it with the monster crashing through the window, but it kind of just took a life of its own and um... yeah. I just felt I really needed to just end it because it was dredging on, and on, and on, and on, and... yeah. Arthur, you kind of ruined that ending by saying fuck...

R&R, my loves! Believe it or not, they motivate me a little bit.