I will admit, I didn't see this coming. I was sitting in my small apartment unit in Manhattan, minding my own business by completing my English literature homework while listening to music. I had my headphones on, and the music was quite loud. I didn't even hear the doorbell ringing, but when I heard, I took off my headphones and headed to the door. I peered through the doorhole, and guess who I saw?
A guy, about my age with brown hair, hazel eyes in casual clothes looking impatient. He looked like he was going to kick down my door when I unlocked it and opened it up half.
"May I help you?" I asked, in my usual deep, rough voice of mine. It was morning; my voice gotten even more gruff. I sounded like some fifty year-old man.
"Hey." He then said something that I did not see coming, "You have to follow me now."
My first reaction was one of doubt. Who was he? How would I know whether he is a member of a street gang hanging around my apartment, that as soon as I stepped out his buddies would assault me? And what's the reason to follow him?
"Who are you?" I snapped. "I want clear ID, pal."
His first reaction was annoyance. His hand jerked towards his jeans pocket, just hovering in mid-air. He relaxed his hand. "Fine," he grumbled. "I'm Roy Curtis. You don't know me, but you will soon know me. Look, the deal is I need you to pack up and follow me, because its not safe for you here."
"Why is it not safe?" I said, exasperated.
"You are not who you think you are," he said, those famous eight words.
I arched an eyebrow. "Then what am I, Roy?"
Roy looked around, and he said, "Can I come in? It's not safe for me to talk outside."
"Sure." I let him in, and told him to settle down at the table. He glanced at the mess i had on the table; books, pens, my iPod and headphones and just at the side near the study light, my black fedora hat that I was given my mom before she died. She told me that it could 'save my life', and now I'm starting to see the connection. I don't know how the fedora is going to save my life, because I couldn't smack some crook in the face with the soft-hard fabric. They wouldn't even be bruised, or momentarily stunned. WHenever I left it somewhere, it would appear right in front of me. Even when I went out without it, the fedora would always be on my head after a while. I gotten used to wearing it.
"English?" he asked, raising an eyebrow now.
"Hey don't judge," I yelled from the kitchen. "Anything to drink?"
"I don't really have time to drink," he answered. "But if you can get me some Coke, that would be nice."
I took out two cans of Coke and brought it to the living room. I placed one in front of him and another in front of me, not squishing my papers. We snapped the cans open and sipped for a few moments. Finally he cleared his throat.
"What's your name?" he asked. "You know mine, so I should know yours."
"Dante Ezio," I answered, reaching over to shake hands with him. "Nice to meet you, Roy. So now can you tell me what's going on, and why I should pack up and follow you?"
Roy was suddenly serious. He explained.
"Do you know Greek mythology? If you do, the names Zeus, Poseidon and Hades would ring a bell."
"Oh yeah," I said. "They do ring a bell. So, what do they have to do with me having to follow you?"
"The gods have children with mortals," he said. "You are one of them. You are a demigod." He waited for realization to strike my brain.
But still, I was cool. I received it like this was every day news. I was excited though. Very excited. Probably hyper. One more thing, I'm ADHD, and also I have dyslexia in reading thick, long paragraphs that have small fonts. Just too boring. Being ADHD, I was sipping my Coke every ten seconds.
"Okay," I smiled. "So, and are you one too?"
"Yes," Roy nodded. "i'm a son of Ares, the war god."
"Ah, Ares..." I mused. If you played God of War, you would know that Kratos was taking revenge against Ares, who manipulated him into killing his own family. I don't know whether Ares is like that in real-life, but I guess I'm about to find out.
"Okay," I said. "Where are we going?"
"To Camp Half-Blood," he said. "where the other demigods are. Camp Half-Blood is the safest place on earth for us demigods, so I must bring you there. Have you been claimed yet?"
"Claimed?" I frowned slightly. "Do you mean, do I know whose my godly parent yet? No, nada."
Roy gave a small smile. "Okay, you'll find out soon. Anyways, you gotta get packing. C'mon. Your're gonna stay at Camp Half-Blood the entire summer holiday." He stood up, waiting for me to get up, go to my room and pack all my stuff for a few months stay. Being ADHD, I got hyper easily, and I was full of energy that i just zoomed right into my room, got out my only luggage bag and started filling it with clothes, shoes, toilet essentials and etc.
"Do you need help?" he asked. I was packing so fast that I couldn't stop to answer him. I just left the qestion hanging, and soon I was done packing my luggage bag. I then got out my backpack and started filling it with my iPod and headphones, my tablet and the charger, then I took the charger for my handphone. I packed in some books that I will read and that are thick and interesting, and I didn't forget about my electric guitar.
I stood, staring at the guitar case.
"I gotta take that," I said, pointing towards it.
Roy glanced. "What is inside? A guitar?"
"An electric guitar," I corrected him. "I'll bring it, is that okay?"
Roy shrugged. "Do you need the amplifier too?"
"I don't have one," I said. "I just bought this electric guitar a few months ago, and I had to save up serious money for eight months. I'll show you the guitar when we get to Camp Half-Blood."
"It's okay, you can get one for cheap from the Hermes cabin."
"They sell amplifiers?" I was assuming Hermes cabin means the place where the Hermes kids stayed in Camp Half-Blood.
"Yeap."
I did a double check, before I forgotten my Ray Ban sunglasses and my jungle binoculars which were resting nicely in its own slingbag. I looked at myself in the mirror.
I was a sixteen year-old guy, with jet black hair and also black eyes. My eyebrows were thin and slightly arched, while my lips were thin as well. I was wearing my purple polo shirt and jeans, toegether with my Converse shoes. Honestly, I was good-looking, not to pat on myself on the back but not to the extent that girls chased after me continously and they would bang on my door. Nope, but I was still good-looking. I had medium height, same as the other boys my age and I had an athletic build. I played sports. I estimated Roy to be sixteen too, but he looked even more mature and serious.
I got everything I wanted to bring, and then I got back into the living room.
"I'm done," I said to Roy, patting the back of my jeans where my wallet was. I took my fedora and put it on my head, tilting it slightly to the right.
"Okay," he smiled. "We have to get going. You wanna say something to your apartment before we go off?"
I looked all around my apartment. It was small, but yet I had slaved for this apartment unit for a few months before I could manage to get out of the orphanage. One more thing, I was an orphan ever since my mother died when I was eight. She died in a suspicious accident. The police told me she was involved in an accident, but I found out that she had two holes in her chest, like the ones you get from a bull when it impales you. And they told me it was a hit-and-run accident. Sure it was, the liars!
"Take care of yourself, old girl," I said, smiling. I turned to Roy. "Okay, I'm done."
"Let's go," he said, opening the door and stepping out of my apartment. He was helping me pull my medium-sized luggage bag. I locked the door behind me, and made sure everything was locked, because I would be back only in a few months.
He had already pressed the lift button, and was waiting for me.
"How are we going to get there?" I asked.
Roy gave me a grin.
"We're gonna take the Taxi of Damnation."