Y/n Pov:
"Hold up," said Grayson, "what do you mean by gods? I thought there was only one."
We were now walking across the streets of New York. Annabeth insisted we walked because she needed to save our cab money to get to Camp Half-Blood. We were explaining to Grayson what were demigods and what did they do.
"I mean Greek gods," explained Annabeth. "They're real."
Grayson stayed silent as if trying to process everything.
"No," he finally spoke. "That's impossible. Classical Greece ended in 146 BC."
"But it isn't," I said. " Annabeth and I are both demigods, children of both a mortal and a god."
"Goddess, in our case," finished Annabeth.
I nodded.
"Which goddess?" Grayson asked.
Annabeth said, "My mom's Athena."
"Mine's Artemis," I said.
Grayson stayed quiet for a little longer. I checked the time by looking through a store's window. It read 14:37/2:37 PM.
"So if the stories we learned in history about the Greek gods are real," Grayson said. " And I'm a demigod. Who's my godly parent?"
"Well..." spoke Annabeth. "You speak French, right?"
Grayson nodded.
"And you don't know your mom."
Grayson nodded again. Annabeth inspected him.
"Hmm... Say, did someone ever try to ask you out?"
"Yes, sometimes," Grayson said, blushing.
"I'd say he's a son of Aphrodite."
My eyes widened.
"Yeah!" I said. "That seems right."
"The goddess of love and beauty? Yeah, right," Grayson scoffed.
"It could be."
He shrugged.
*the next day*
We were finally getting close to our destination. Grayson still had trouble believing Greek gods were real, but he was adapting.
I was glad the morning went fast because it kept me from thinking too much about my problems. I couldn't stand the idea that something might be wrong at camp.
After about a day of walking, we finally reached Meriwether College Prep.
According to Percy, it's this "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan, which means they sit on beanbag chairs instead of at desks, and they don't get grades, and the teachers wear jeans and rock concert T-shirts to work. The only bad thing about Meriwether was that the teachers always looked on the bright side of things, and the kids weren't always...well, bright.
We entered the class, disguise mode on - meaning Annabeth used her invisibility cap and Grayson and I held both of her hands, making us invisible too. I saw Percy looking at a picture in a notebook, and a group of guys getting closer to him. I signalled Annabeth to get us closer.
Percy was about to close the notebook when a guy reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.
"Hey!" Percy protested.
The guy checked out the picture and his eyes got wide. So did mine. It was the picture I sent Percy of me in front of Atlantic High, taken by Grayson. My face felt hot. Annabeth nudged me and moved her eyebrows, smirking. I stuck my tongue out at her.
"No way, Jackson," said the guy. "Who is that? She is not your—"
"Give it back!"
Percy was blushing, his ears were pink.
The guy handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. They were new kids who must've been visiting because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humour, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, andJOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.
"These guys are moving here next year," the guy bragged."I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."
"He's not retarded."
"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."
His huge buddies chewed up my photo. I wanted to pulverize them, but I was under strict orders from Chiron never to take my anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.
The bell rang.
Percy was about to leave, so I took my chance.
"Percy!" I whispered-shouted.
He turned around, but he didn't see me. I forgot I had the invisibility magic.
Before I could try calling him again, a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying Percy and another guy along with them.
~
The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts.
We decided not to join Percy in the changing room. That was a sight I hoped to never see.
When we got into the gym, the Coach was sitting at his little desk reading SportsIllustrated. He looked about a million years old, with bifocals and no teeth and a greasy wave of grey hair. He reminded me of the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood.
The guy who was teasing Percy before said, "Coach, can I be captain?"
"Eh?" the Coach looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Mm-hmm."
The guy grinned and took charge of the picking. He made Percy the other team's captain but it didn't matter who Percy picked, because all the jocks and the popular kids moved over to the guy's side. So did the big group of visitors.
The guy spilt a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.
A horrible feeling formed in my gut and I winced, this wasn't going to end well.
"Scared," a big guy in Percy's team mumbled. "Smell funny."
Percy looked at him. "What smells funny?"
"Them." he pointed at the visitors. "Smell funny."
They were cracking their knuckles, eyeing Percy's team like it was slaughter time.
I wonder where they're from.
Someplace where they fed kids raw meat and beat them with sticks, probably.
The guy blew the coach's whistle and the game began. His team ran for the centre line. On Percy's side, one guy yelled something in Urdu and ran for the exit. Another guy tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. The rest of Percy's team did their best to cower in fear and not look like targets.
"Tyson," Percy said. "Let's g—"
A ball slammed into his gut. Percy sat down hard in the middle of the gym floor. The other team exploded in laughter.
I tried to run after him, but Annabeth squeezed my hand and shook her head.
The big guy in Percy's team yelled, "Percy, duck!"
Percy rolled as another dodgeball whistled past his ear. It hit the wall mat, and the guy who was hiding there yelped.
"Hey!" Percy yelled at the other team. "You could kill somebody!"
"That's probably what they're trying to do," whispered Grayson.
"What?" Annabeth whispered back.
"Those guys," he pointed at the visitors. "They don't look so human."
The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at Percy evilly. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now...even taller than the big guy in Percy's team. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt.
"I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!" he said.
I looked at Grayson, worry on my face.
Monsters.
The visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine's hearts.
Percy's bully dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who..."
The other kids on his team started screaming and backing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past a guy in Percy's team just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. He and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.
"Let them go!" Percy yelled at the giants.
The one called Joe Bob growled at Percy. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said: JB luvsBabycakes.
"And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"
Oh, mierda.
He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the centre line—but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannonballs, perforated like Wiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.
"Coach!" Percy yelled.
The coach looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. That's the problem with mortals.
"Yeah. Mm-hmm," The coach muttered. "Play nice."
And he went back to his magazine.
The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. Percy dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past his shoulder.
"Corey!" Percy screamed.
The big guy pulled a guy out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.
"Run!" Percy told his teammates. "The other exit!"
They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut.
"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"
He launched his fireball. My teammates scattered as it blasted a crater on the gym floor. Percy reached for Riptide, only to find out, he had no pockets. He was completely defenceless.
"We have to help him!" I whisper-shouted.
Annabeth tapped her foot on the ground. "Not just yet."
I looked at her questioningly, yet half-panicking.
Another fireball came streaking toward Percy. The big guy pushed him out of the way, but the explosion still blew Percy head over heels. He was sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, his tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the centre line, two hungry giants were glaring down at him.
"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!"
They both aimed.
"Percy needs help!" The big guy yelled, and he jumped in front of Percy just as they threw their balls.
"Tyson!" Percy screamed, but it was too late.
Both balls slammed into him...but no...he'd caught them. Somehow The bi- Tyson had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour. He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests.
I couldn't take it anymore and I let go of Annabeth's hand, making me visible again. Luckily, the giant didn't notice.
"Toxótis," I whispered.
My silver, re-fillable bow and arrow filled my hand. I aimed my first one at the giant closest to me, and shot, making him turn to dust. I did the same for the other one.
"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed.
He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled. He looked around everywhere until he found me.
"You will pay for their destruction!" he screamed.
I ran and reached for my pocket, hoping to find my pocket knife, only to realize Grayson had taken it from me.
"Y/n!" Percy said. "Look out!"
A comet hurdled towards me. I quickly dodged it, making it fly straight over the coach's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM! I never felt more grateful for my ADHD.
Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters on the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. Percy's bully himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.
The coach still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine.
Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The headmaster, the police, somebody would come to help us. I ran over to where Percy and his friend, Tyson were.
"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"
I wanted to tell him he was taking the dodgeball game way too seriously, but before I could, he hefted another ball. The other three giants followed his lead.
I knew we were dead. Tyson couldn't deflect all those balls at once. His hands had to be seriously burned from blocking the first volley. I aimed at the giants and shot, but apparently, they weren't that easy to kill. The blast from the fiery metal balls had made them weaker and I had shot just in time. It was like a video game.
Percy ran to the locker room.
Seriously? Do you need to pee right now?!
"Move!" he told his teammates. "Away from the door."
Tyson had batted two of the balls back toward their owners and I shot them to ashes. We high-fived.
That left two giants still standing.
A third ball hurdled straight at Percy. He laid still, then moved aside as it hit the locker room door, breaking it.
Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodgeball ignited a huge WHOOOOOOOM!
The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.
Tyson was punching Skull Eater in the face. I shot an arrow right up his nose and Skull Eater disintegrated.
The last giant, Joe Bob, had wisely held on to his ball, waiting for an opportunity. He threw just as Tyson was turning to face him.
"No!" Percy and I yelled.
The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. I didn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.
"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bringBabycakes a doggie bag!"
He picked up another ball and aimed it at me. I got my shooting position on.
"Stop!" Percy yelled. "It's me you want!"
The giant grinned. "You wish to die first, young hero?"
"Percy!" I said. "What on Gaea do you think you're doing?!"
He smiled at me.
"Oh," said the Joe Bob. "I get it. You don't want your girlfriend to die, do you?"
My face felt hot. Percy turned beet red.
"I'm not his girlfriend!/She's not my girlfriend!" we both said at the same time.
Percy charged. I shot an arrow at the giant's right ear, distracting him just a little.
The giant laughed. "My lunch approaches." He raised his arm to throw.
Suddenly the giant's body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should've been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn—no, not a horn—the glowing tip of a blade. No wait, two blades.
Annabeth and Grayson.
The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knives that had just run him through from behind.
He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset.
Standing in the smoke were Annabeth and Grayson.
"What were you thinking!" she yelled at me.
"Sorry," I said smiling.
Percy's bully, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at me as if he dimly recognized me from Percy's notebook picture. I angrily walked over in his direction.
"That's the girl...That's the girl—"
I punched him in the nose and knocked him flat.
"You," I told him, "lay off my friend."
Percy smiled at me and Annabeth and Grayson just shouted at his knocked out form, "That's my best friend!"
The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.
"Y/n, Annabeth..." Percy stammered. "How did you...how long have you..."
"Pretty much all morning," I said.
Annabeth sheathed her bronze knife and I turned my bow and arrow back into a ring.
"I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."
"The shadow I saw this morning—that was—"
Percy blushed.
"Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"
"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though my face felt hot. "I just didn't want to—"
"There!" a woman screamed.
The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.
"Meet us outside," Annabeth told Percy. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand. "You'd better bring him."
"What?"
"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"
She put on her Yankees cap, grabbed Grayson and my hand and we ran out.
Once we were out, Grayson said, "Mon Dieu, c'était génial!"
"Sorry, I don't speak french," said Annabeth.
"I said, 'my goodness, that was awesome!'"
"Mmm-hmm," I hummed.
"You train to do stuff like this?" he asked, astonished.
Annabeth and I nodded.
"I want to do stuff like this every day," he said, extending out his arms.
Annabeth tiled her head in approval.
"I like him already."
A/N: Hello everyone! How are you?
I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while I travelled to Thailand with my family for my winter break. By the way, if you want to visit Thailand - I went to Phuket - totally recommend it.
Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Have a lovely day/night!
Emi Riddle