Look, I didn't ask to be like this.

I didn't walk into Wal-Mart and buy what kind of life I wanted. I wish it worked like that.

It doesn't.

If you're reading this because you think it's some fantasy world made up in the mind of an author: good. Don't believe in a word I say.

But, if you feel something inside you wake up… Run.

Run far away from this book and don't turn back. Believe whatever your mom or dad told you about your birth. Believe them when they say your other parent, the one you never met, is dead or left. It's only a matter of time before they feel it too, and then you are a fugitive, on the run forever.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Ȣ

My name is Percy Jackson, and my life is an absolute trainwreck.

Sure, I could start anywhere in my life to prove it: the fact my father had left me and my mom behind to fend for ourselves, the bottomless list of school's I've been to, the weird things that happen in my life…

But, it all went downhill a few months before I turned 13, back at Yancy Academy for Troubled Students.

Am I troubled?

Apparently so.

In all honesty, most things that happen to me wasn't all my fault, but of course the blame gets put on me, so…

It was a cool May morning, which would have looked nice if I wasn't on a neon yellow school bus with 50 other kids that were also troubled. And, above it all, I was sitting right behind my arch nemesis – Nancy Bobofit.

Bobofit was this midget of a girl with a temper as fiery as her hair. She had bright orange freckles dotting her cheekbones and nose, papery-white skin, crooked yellow-and-brown teeth, and the sickliest green-brown eyes to ever exist. On top of that, she was a kleptomaniac girl who adored picking on my best friend Grover.

At that moment, Nancy decided that she was going to throw pieces of cauliflower and ketchup peanut-butter sandwich at Grover's hair, where it got stuck in his chocolate locks.

"I'm going to kill her." I grumbled and went to get up, but Grover pushed me back down with his crutch.

"Perce, it's okay. I like peanut butter." Without looking back, he dodged another piece of flying doomsday sandwich.

"That's it." I went to turn around, but Grover put his hand on my shoulder.

"Percy, you know what'll happen if anything goes wrong on this trip."

This 'trip' was the school's idea to get us out of the halls of the boarding school by sending us 50 miles away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, New York.

Brilliant idea, I know.

Of course, I'm infamous for things going wrong on field trips. In 5th grade, last year, I had accidentally blown up our school bus at Saratoga Battlefield. I wasn't aiming at the bus, but with my luck I hit it anyways. And the year before that, in 4th grade, I accidentally leaned against the lever of the catwalk at Marine World's shark tank. Needless to say, we all went swimming with some very shocked sharks.

And the year before that… Well, you get my point by now.

But still, Grover was the most picked on kid at school (other than me, of course). He was a crippled kid who constantly limped when he walked (but don't let that fool you. He can put up quite a run when it came down to enchiladas for lunch). He always wore jeans that were two sizes too big, and shoes that obviously were too loose. His face was littered with acne, which hinted he must have been held back a few times. A mustache and beard was creeping onto his face in patches, but the school didn't allow razors so there was nothing he could do about it. He had this weird nervous laugh, almost like bleating if you cup your hands around your ears enough, and he cried easily.

Naturally, I was his only friend.

Because of this, everyone picked on me too. I was fine with being picked on – I looked strange in the first place. My hair was pitch black with a deep red hue to it when it was in the light, odd eyes that weren't quite green, but also not quite blue – almost a sweet-green with hints of mint. I was tiny for my age, under the 'Recommended BMI scale', whatever that means. I also had both Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, ADHD for short, and Dyslexia. I spoke with a slight British accent – though I've never left New England. I barely made a 'decent' score in almost any give class. I didn't even have a father for the sake of sanity.

'Lost at sea' my mom told me every-time. 'Left before you were born.'

I love my mom, really, but I never believed her when she said that. But I never had the heart to ask any further because she'd get all misty eyed and stare off into the distance.

"That still doesn't mean she can pick on you like that." I sighed. "It's not fair that the headmaster threatened me with detention if anything happened on this trip. Nancy should be getting detention for this."

"Percy, I'm fine, really. It's just a sandwich."

"You'll have food stuck in your hair all day." I gingerly picked a piece of white-brown-and-red goop out of his curls and wrinkled my nose. "Who even likes this combination?"

Grover laughed and shrugged in response, another piece making its way into his hair. I was about to get up to punch Nancy in the face, when the bus screeched to a halt in front of the museum.

The bus driver announced we had arrived, and that we all must calmly leave the bus.

Nancy stuck her tongue out at me and got up, leaving in the crowd.

Looking back on it, I wish I had decked her in her crooked teeth. It was much better than the mess I was about to get myself into.

ȣ

My Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner, led the tour.

He didn't seem like much, at least for a guy in a wheelchair – thinning brown hair the shade of coffee beans, a thin brown jacket 3 shades lighter than his hair, white undershirt, a fedora that matched his brown eyes, all complete with an African tribal blanket over his legs. He had Middle-Eastern toned skin, much like a creamy mocha colour, and he looked around 45. He smelled like sweet cinnamon and hot chocolate, though I've never seen him around either of those things. He was a very strange man.

You'd also wouldn't expect him to own a ton of Roman and Greek style weapons and armour hanging up in a classroom filled with trouble-makers.

He was the only teacher I enjoyed. He had tournament days where he carried around this glowing bronze sword and said, "What Ho!" while he waved it around. It's rather silly, a man in a wheelchair the same length as his sword, but he was always so happy and content with it.

He guided us through the maze of a museum, discussing each display in the Greek exhibit. It blew my mind that this stuff had lasted 2 thousand - 3 thousand years, just to be put in a Pine-Sol smelling museum. The orange and black pots, or what's left of them, collecting dust while the modern world learned little of its rich history.

Gosh, am I really that depressing?

Right now, Brunner was going on about the images on the grave marker, a stele, which typically told the stories of Greek myths. The stele was dedicated to a girl around our age who had died giving birth to a child.

It was quite interesting to learn about, but I could barely hear what he was saying over the snickering crowd of fifty 12-to-13 year olds.

Every time I snapped at them to 'shut up', I'd get a glare from the other chaperone and math teacher, Mrs. Dodds.

Mrs. Dodds was a 50 year old widow from Georgia who looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She wasn't tall, maybe 5 feet max, but her black eyes were those of a hungry wolf – devilish and ready to strike out at a moment's notice. She always had her thinning blonde hair in corn rows or in weaves, even though her scalp was littered with peeling white skin. She always wore black-hued, brown leather jackets and beige jeans (even when those two things do not match at all), and she had this tendency to call anyone in trouble, "Sweetheart".

There were times I doubted she was even human. It all began at the beginning of the term, when our old teacher, Miss Reatherite, had a seizure and was forced into full time medical care. Mrs. Dodds was her newest replacement, and assumed Nancy was a pure angel whilst I was the spawn of Satan himself.

She'd point a crooked, pale white finger at me and say "Now, Sweetheart," anytime I spoke in class, and I knew I was going to be up all night with detention.

The worst I ever had was erasing answers written in workbooks by the thousands of other student who had previously used the books. I told Grover right then and there: "I don't think Mrs. Dodds is even human."

"You're absolutely right," was his reply.

Instead, I tried to listen to what Mr. Brunner was explaining, until Nancy snickered something about the naked guy on the stone, which was when my patience popped like a bubble.

"Will you just shut up?"

That came out louder than I thought it would.

Silence rained down thickly amongst the group and Mr. Brunner wheeled around to face us.

"Is there something you'd like to say, Mr. Jackson?"

I felt flushed, my cheeks probably bright red.

"No sir." I grumbled. Mr. Brunner smiled softly.

"Could you humour me by telling me what this picture is?" My heart fell.

He gestured with his pen to a carving that was dead centre on the stele.

I blinked, my mind filled with lottery-sounds. I actually knew what this one was

"That's Kronos. The titan who ate his children." I stood up a little straighter.

Mr. Brunner nodded. If he wasn't paralyzed from the waist down, he would probably of been tapping his foot in impatience for a longer answer.

"And why did he eat his children?"

I frowned and wracked my brain for the answer. "Well, he was king god-"

"God?"

I cursed myself silently, then corrected, "Titan, not god."

Mr Brunner nodded in approval.

"He was king titan, after overthrowing his father for the throne… His father told him that one day he would fall at the hands of his own children. Kronos became paranoid and ate his children to prevent this from happening. When his wife, Rhea, gave birth to baby Zeus, she gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. Zeus was, like, her 6th child and she wasn't too happy about her husband eating her children."

Snickers had arisen in the group, but I was on a roll. "When Zeus grew up, he decided his father was ruling unfairly and that he should be overthrown. He fed Kronos a mixture of mustard and grape juice, which caused him to throw up-"

"Ewwwww." The girls cringed and scooted away from me.

"-the other 5 children in order from youngest to oldest. A big fight between the titans and gods erupted, the gods won and casted the titans to Tartarus. They sliced Kronos into a million pieces with his own weapon as punishment for the unfair judgement of his children."

"Oh please, as if we'd ever need to know all that in real life." Nancy whispered to her friend. "No one's going to put 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids' on a job application."

"And to answer Ms. Bobofit's excellent question, Percy, why would we need to know something like this is real life?"

His voice got deeper, the way it does when he asked the most serious question of the day.

"Busted." Grover glared at the red-head, who was also red-faced from sheer embarrassment. At least Mr. Brunner got onto Nancy too, it made life a little more bearable.

"Um…" I bit down on my lip. "Maybe to explain the phrase 'what goes around comes back around'?"

Mr. Brunner nodded in approval. "You get 10 points extra credit on your next test. Zeus did, indeed, overthrow his father with the help of his five siblings. This is a perfect example of karma, since Kronos and the 4 titans of the compass rose also overthrew their own father. He regurgitated his 5 other children, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hades, and Hestia in this exact order, with using a mixture of mustard and wine. On this happy note, it's off to lunch we go. Mrs. Dodds, could you please lead us out to the front?"

So with the girls holding their stomachs and the boys making bets that they wouldn't puke if they were fed mustard and wine, we filed out to the front.

Almost all of us.

"Percy?" Mr. Brunner called out to me. Grover smiled at me and trudged his way outside, his crutches grinding together in a 'chickeeek, chickeeek' sound.

"Yes sir?" I turn around and look down at my Latin teacher.

"You did well, though, I expect better, especially from you." His brown eyes looked like they had lived a thousand years longer than his body had.

"Sir, I thought you sai-" I stopped. Mr. Brunner raised his hand up.

"What I teach you is very important. You might disregard it as just a lesson, but I need you to realize that everything I teach you, everything I expect of you… I do only because it is a matter of life and death."

I wanted to get mad. Mr. Brunner has been expecting me to do 100% perfect 100% of the time. 'Go write down the 100 most worshipped gods of Greece, starting with number 100 and leading up to number 1'. 'Go list the names of the monsters Perseus and Heracles fought'. God forbid if I got one question wrong on a test – he'd give me a long, sad look that made me want to ask for extra credit. It infuriated me that I couldn't read because the words kept floating off the page, or the fact I couldn't sit down to read in the first place because I had a nasty habit of pacing rooms.

But I couldn't get mad, not at Mr. Brunner.

"Yes sir." I mumbled. He took one last look at the stele, as if he knew the girl personally, then guided me outside to join the rest of the group.

ȣ

"Hey." Grover looked up at me from the ledge of the fountain. The glops from Nancy's sandwich were long gone from his hair, and it was wet as if he had washed it off in the fountain.

"Hey." I plopped down next to him.

"Detention or something?" Grover murmured.

I shook my head. "Never from Mr. Brunner. Just a pep talk about how I needed to take all this seriously. I wish he would lay off my sometimes. I'm just a kid, I can't be perfect 24/7."

I put my head in my hands, propping up my elbows with my thighs.

Nancy was over near a group of adults, slipping money out of their wallets without anyone ever noticing a thing (seriously, how blind were those people, not noticing a red-head orange-freckled girl right next to them). Some boys were traumatizing some pigeons with the 'cheese' from their Lunchable packets, pelting them at the birds where the neon orange pieces would stick to their feathers. It was rather sad, that those pigeons were being treated so badly, but if I ever told them to stop, Mrs. Dodds would give me a look that said 'I will wring all the blood out of you like you wring water out of a towel.'

After what seemed like an eternity in silence, Grover looked back at me.

"Can I have your apple?"

I blinked in shock. I thought he was going to say something deep and philosophical to bring me up from the mental hell I just dragged myself into. Instead, I just nodded and he took the apple, then he happily munched on it. I watched the storm advance on us in the distance, lightning grumbling impatiently, as if the clouds were stuck in end-of-workday traffic.

The weather all around America had been fritz-y since the New Year's Eve. Everything from 100 degree weather in the Dakotas in the middle of January to below 0 in April at Miami. A 5.0 earthquake rippled its way through Oklahoma just last month, then the next day there was a series of tornado outbreaks in the same exact spot. It was almost as if the ground, sea, and sky were having an epic battle to-the-death and we, humanity, were stuck in the middle.

Seeing all the weird weather made my stomach churn. I felt more sick more often and no one knew why. I would get aggravated on days where huge disasters would happen (even before they actually happened), almost as if I had a third eye that predicted the future.

That day I felt like the world just turned itself upside down, and something really bad was going to happen.

Never had I been so right in my life.

Just as I decided to try to eat something from my lunch, Nancy decided that she wanted to torment me and not those poor adults she just robbed. She strutted over to the fountain, which Grover and I were at because we really didn't want to be seen by the other visitors as a part of that school, and dumped the rest of her satan sandwich into Grover's lap.

"Ooops, so sorry." the amount of sarcasm in her voice made my blood boil. "Didn't see you there, my bad."

I blew my casket right then and there. Screw what the counselor tells you, taking 3 deep breaths and counting to 10 won't help anyone's anger. In fact, release it, it's not healthy to hold in emotions.

"Why don't you just go drown yourself in the fountain, Nancy. Save both of us the trouble of seeing your disgusting face." I snap at her, forcing all my emotions into my voice. I don't know why I did, but it just felt right to.

Big mistake.

Nancy's face went completely slack and she fell forward, face-planting directly into the waters behind me. People gasped in shock, then ran forward to see if she was still alive after a few seconds. Grover scrambled to get up, away from Nancy.

I couldn't register what just happened. All I saw was the horror on people's faces.

"What just happened?"

"Did she just listen to him!?"
"Is she okay?"

Someone pulled Nancy out of the water.

Mrs. Dodds materialized in front of me, her eyes glittered with complete glee. The grin on her face was devilious, as if she had been waiting for this moment to happen all semester. Nancy gasped out, water pouring out of her mouth.

"Percy… Percy pushed me!?" She sounded like she wasn't sure what just happened, and that was the only thing that her pea-sized brain could've thought of.

Mrs. Dodds hurried over to Nancy and made sure she was okay. Promised her new clothes from the gift shop, making one of the boys give her his jacket to wear for warmth, etc. etc.

Then she turned on her kitten heel to smirk at me.

"Now sweetheart-"

"I know, detention for a month." I grumbled, and looked down at my shoes.

Gasps rippled through the crowd of 50 that had pooled around me and Nancy.

"You never guess your punishment." I heard someone hiss in crowd. "He's doomed, I tell you. Doomed."

"Sweetheart. Come with me, now."

"Mrs. Dodds, I pulled her in." Grover's chin trembled with fear, making his voice shaky, but he limped to my side. I couldn't believe it. Mrs. Dodds scared the living heaven out of Grover, and yet there he was, taking the blame for me. "She dumped her food in my lap and I got mad. Percy didn't do an-"

"Grover, sweetheart, you didn't pull her into the fountain. Percy pushed her. You'll be staying here."

"But-"

Mrs. Dodds glared at him and he shrunk away from both of us. He glanced at Mr. Brunner, who had parked himself on a ramp with a red umbrella and a Charles Dickens novel. Naturally, he wasn't seeing anything, much less acknowledging the fact something had happened at all.

"Thanks man, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Sweetheart, now." Mrs. Dodds snapped, then she turned and made her way up the steps. I followed her, glancing back one last time at the group when I got halfway up the steps. Some people were holding up three fingers and whistling, the way they did in the Hunger Games. Whether or not it was a joke, I couldn't help but feel dread pooling in my chest, like I was walking to my death. When I glanced back at Mrs. Dodds (who I swore I was right behind), she was waiting impatiently at the entrance, as if she had been standing there for a full 5 minutes.

How did she get there so fast?

'Maybe your ADHD is acting up again,' a little voice of uncertainty whispered in the back of my mind.

My counselor had told me recently that it was common for people like me to 'fall asleep', when we zone out and next thing we know, we missed something important. Like a puzzle piece of the universe had fallen out of place and I was left staring into a void of nothingness.

I didn't think that was it though.

I rushed up the stairs, assuming that Mrs. Dodds was going to make me buy Nancy something nice and expensive at the gift shop.

I should have turned and ran to Mr. Brunner, since both teachers should have been involved in this.

Only, I literally had no idea what was going to happen, all I knew was I was in big trouble, probably expulsion-worthy trouble. 6 schools, 6 years, and going on 7.

Lucky me.

When I got to the top of the stair, Mrs. Dodds wasn't there. She was all the way at the end of the corridor, easily 100 feet away from me.

How…?

I didn't think. I just followed silently.

When I had finally caught up to my math teacher, we were back in the Greek Exhibit. It was completely deserted of everyone, excluding Dodds and I. It was the worst feeling in the world - being alone in a room with a teacher. The way she looked overall would be enough to give me heart-failure.

She's a teacher, she can't hurt me… Right?

But something pulled at the back of my mind. The way she glared at the statues of the greek goddess at the edges of the room, the growl forming in the back of her throat…

"You've been giving up a lot of problems, Sweetheart." she purred, keeping her hungry gaze set on the King God, Zeus.

"Y-yes ma'am." I shifted nervously. I felt like an animal trapped in a cage, looking for a way out. I was safe, but still… something told me to run.

"Did you really think you could get away with it?"

"No- no ma'am… I shouldn't have pushed Nancy."

She turned around slowly to face me.

"Oh sweetheart, I don't care about that. Tell me where it is, and you can live."

Wait… live?

"Miss… what are you-"

"Time's up."

I should have ran, but my legs weren't working. Her face morphed into that of a fig - wrinkled, dried, and glistening with a purple hue. Her leather jacket melted away and wings grew out of her back, looking like the jacket was just scraped to make it. Her clothes turned into layers of black cloaks, tattered and covered in dried, cracking blood. A whip curled onto the floor, appearing in her right hand. She looked like she was just pulled out of a horror film, complete with cornrows of hair beaded with glowing blue spikes.

I stumbled backwards, unable to believe my eyes. She bared her fangs.

"Where is it!" She screeched. Her voice sounded like millions of tortured souls were speaking at once, wailing for freedom. Yellow fangs flashed in the light, black blood oozing out of her mouth like a stream after a storm.

Then something even more strange happened. Mr. Brunner, who had just been sitting outside happily indulging in his book, was at the entrance behind Mrs. Dodds (or whoever she was).

"What Ho, Percy!" a gold and purple object flashed through the air - a gold capped purple ballpoint pen.

Only, when I caught it, it wasn't a pen. It was a glowing bronze sword - the one Mr. Brunner used every testing day (aka tournament days).

"Die, Sweetie." The creature who had use to be my teacher flashed her whip towards me. Out of sheer fear, I shifted the sword to my left hand and swung it with all my might.

TSSHHhhhhhh.

She was a sand castle in a power fan. The minute the sword connected with her torso, she erupted into a cloud of white dust. A wail of defeat echoed through the halls, and Mrs. Dodds was no more.

There was a gold and purple pen in my hand.

I was all alone in a museum exhibit.

There was white powder all over me.

Did I… did I just hallucinate?

I took a deep breath in, holding back a sob.

What was going on with me?

It felt like forever, but I slowly made my way back outside and down the steps.

It had started raining, fat droplets of icy-cold water pelting everyone outside. Mr. Brunner was still on his ramp, engrossed in his book. Grover was over by the fountain still, holding a map over his head in attempt to keep his hair dry. Nancy was still soaking wet from her swim in the fountain, grumbling with her friends. When she saw me, she sneered.

"I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I blinked and stopped walking, pivoting my body to face her. "Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "Mrs. Kerr, our teacher, you idiot."

"I've never met a Mrs. Kerr in my life." She just glared at me and turned away. I stumbled back to Grover.

"Hey… Have you seen Mrs. Dodds anywhere?"

"Who?"

Grover looked at me, his head tilted to the right.

"Mrs. Dodds. Our math teacher. About 5 foot tall, cornrows. Leather jackets…"

"Percy, I- I don't know who you're talking about."

He hesitated. I felt angry again. My best friend was lying point blank to my face.

"Dude, this isn't funny. Where is she?" I pushed the anger down. Last time I got angry, Nancy almost drowned herself. I couldn't loose my best friend to that.

Grover shook his head and I stormed off towards Mr. Brunner.

What was going on with me?

"Awh Percy." Mr. Brunner looked up at me when I was within 5 feet away from him. "How may I help you?"

"Sir, where is Mrs. Dodds?" I steadied my voice.

Brunner bookmarked his page with a blue and pink metal bookmarker that said 'Never a day wasted when a good book is involved' "Percy, my dear boy, I haven't heard of a Mrs. Dodds before."

"But sir-"

"Percy, maybe we need to get you back to the nurse's office when we get back to school. And please, next time bring your own writing utensils."

He held his hand out expectantly and I looked at it, confused. My eyes flickered down to the pen I had forgotten I was holding. Slowly I hand him the strange pen.

"Sorry sir." I mumbled, then turned back around to walk back towards Grover.

Was it really just some weird hallucination?