The New Immortals

Percy dreams about waffles

DYLAN

'Dude!' I whisper yelled into my phone.

'What is it, Dylan.' My friend's voice was weary.

'Did you just see the news? The Greek gods are real! Like Zeus and Poseidon and Hera and all that jazz! And there have been wars! And a really cool group of kids who, like, saved the world or something! And they've been attending school since the beginning of the semester! Dude, we might know one! Zeus's son sounds so cool! And Poseidon's, I think he's done more, but-'

'Dylan. Chill. Yes, I know. It seems awesome. Too good to be true. But it's almost midnight, and I'm exhausted. Could we maybe have this conversation tomorrow?'

'Sure, Perce.' I said, deflating slightly.

'Epic. Thanks, bro. See you tomorrow.' And with that, he hung up.

TWO WEEKS LATER

As with every morning, since Percy re-started at Goode, he met me outside the school, and we walked through the gates together. Almost instantly, Samantha ran over as fast as her spray-tanned barbie legs could carry her.

'Percy, baby, where were you? I texted you like half an hour ago!' She simpered, her voice sickly as syrup.

'Samantha, I blocked you last week. And for the last time, I have a girlfriend!'

'Even if this imaginary girlfriend did exist, she wouldn't be a daughter of Aphrodite like me!' Samantha purred. Percy ignored her and continued towards the main school building, but I think I heard him mutter 'No, she certainly wouldn't.' under his breath.

I guess I should explain. Since Percy rejoined Goode a month ago, with his windswept ebony hair, sea-green eyes, and athletic build, most of the girls in the school, and some guys, have asked him out. Add on to that the fact that he excelled in PE, and the new subjects Ancient Greek, Latin, and Ancient mythology, and he was more or less batting suitors away with a baseball bat. It had been really getting on his nerves, and if it hadn't been for me, he probably would've had a mental breakdown by this point.

Our first lesson was Greek mythology, and as always, Percy was pretty bored.

'Percy Jackson, are you paying attention?' Our evil teacher, Miss Nazyalensky, snarled.

'Yes, miss.' Percy replied, his head flying off the desk.

'Oh really? Who is the Greek goddess of victory?'

'Nike.'

'And who is the Greek god of death?'

'People think it's Hades, but it's actually Thanatos.'

'Who is Poseidon's firstborn merchild?'

'Prince Triton.' Percy smirked.

'What-' She was interrupted by the tannoy going off.

'All students, please report to the theatre room immediately. I repeat, can all students please report to the theatre room immediately.'

Our teacher's harried comments were lost in the scuffle of bags and chairs and shoes, as we all rushed to the theatre. Strangely, the curtains were drawn across the stage, and I made note of such as we filed in.

'Wake me up if anything interesting happens, k?' Percy yawned when we got to our seats, setting his backpack up as a pillow and laying his head on it. By the time I got to my own seat, his breathing was regular, and a tiny string of drool was crawling out of his mouth. I shook my head at him in amazement. How could he just nod off like that?

Suddenly, all the lights in the theatre, except for the ones pointing at the stage, went out, and the curtains opened dramatically to show thirteen people of various ages, and behind them, a semicircle of fifteen plain marble thrones. Chatter broke out until a blue-eyed man in a sharp suit stepped forwards out of the lineup.