Almost a Half-blood Hero

Gym class almost killed me

I was 16 when my mom finally told me about the camp. I had been sitting at the dining room table eating dinner while she read a book. As I chomped down another piece of bacon, she looked up at me, looking distant, as if deep in though.

"It's called Camp Half-blood, and it's a place for people like you." She paused, as if she was thinking on how to say something delicately. "You're a demigod. Your father is a god."

I'd be lying if I told you that I believed her. My mom had always been a little... well, unreliable. She was a good mother, and did the best she could, worked hard to take care of us but she wasn't all there at times. Because of this, I humored her.

"Who was he? What do you mean a god? There's multiple?"

She looked at me dead serious, and when I looked in her eyes I could tell she truly believed it. Maybe this wasn't a moment, maybe this explained things.

"I... I don't know, I used to but... it's been so long. I know who it is but I can't bring it to the front of my mind. He's a Greek god, one of many. They have children with mortals sometimes. You are the result, you and Ollie."

There was an uncomfortable silence at the mention of Ollie. Of course there was, we hadn't seen him in months. I wasn't sure if I completely believed my mom, but I figured that at the very least I should listen, maybe I'd learn something. Of course at that moment, the clock chimed the hour, it was 8:00. This meant I had to leave for school, and quickly. I took my last bite of toast before running to my room and grabbing my backpack. Thankfully it took almost no time. We live in an apartment, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, but pretty small overall. Not many big apartments for cheap in New York.

I ran out of the door and immediately ran into trouble, some bullies at my school. This wasn't exactly the issue, as I was an amateur boxer in my spare time, I could take pretty much any one of them. The issue was when the one in front, Archie Read, pulled a switchblade on me. I was still pretty sure I could take him, but I'd rather now get stabbed.

"What do you want Archie?" I asked with a sigh, he had been giving me trouble ever since he thought it would be a good idea to fight me. I beat the hell out of him (and got 2 weeks of detention for defending myself) and ever since he's had an issue with me, along with a switchblade with my name on it.

"I want all the money in your wallet loser."

I pat my pockets, trying to remember where I kept my wallet, and as I felt it in my back pocket, I saw my friend Ed walking up behind them, carrying his baseball bat and glove. I forgot that the team had a game today but it looked like that was going to work out for me just fine. I pretended to pull out my wallet, with my hand closed I lifted it and flipped off Archie.

He sneered at me before taking a step towards me. By this time Ed had gotten right up behind him and his goons, and swung the bat hard into the back of Archie's leg. He fell to his knees and his friends scattered. He also dropped the switchblade, which I immediately picked up. 

"Eat it loser!" I shouted behind me as Ed and I ran off towards the school. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all I thought. 

I was wrong.

My entire day was relatively normal, except for gym class. We were going to play dodgeball, which I love, I'm a beast at it. The issue was when I had just finished getting changed, another kid came up to me, one I didn't recognise.

"Hey man, what's up? Haven't seen you before."

He looked at me with a smirk, before pulling out a bronze-ish dagger, plunging it into my stomach, and running off. Ed shouted, and ran over to me, grabbing me as I fell.

"God damnit, of course it happens now." He muttered, dragging me out of the change room to the outside.

"Woah, what are you doing man? Get a teacher? Call 911!" I shouted, confused and dizzy.

He looked down at me confused, as he hailed a cab.

"Alright listen, crash course. Your dad is a god, you just got stabbed, by a bad guy who hates the gods. I'm taking you to camp ASAP so that you'll live, and so that we can actually do something about this"

He shoved me into the cab, wrapping his jacket around my mid-section to stop the bleeding. I passed out while he argued with the cab driver, screaming at him to drive.