1

I really had no idea. To begin, I didn't even think I was anything. Just a fashion plate with a huge temper. I even thought maybe I was just a half blood. But no, I had to be even weirder, and maybe even important.

You're lost, aren't you? I'll start from the beginning.

My name is Caro Daysum. I am fifteen years old. I was adopted when I was not even a week old. My parents ran off and left me at the first house they saw. My adoptive parents are always trying to be supportive, but I want nothing to do with them. They annoy me. They pretty much leave me alone, because when I get mad, I get MAD. They sent me off to Fairfield Boarding School in New Jersey because they said I would "disrupt" the household if I stayed. Now I only see them on holidays.

I have to be careful about my temper at school, because my "parents" don't want me to get kicked out of school again. It's hard to find school for a girl who can't control her sass. But the weird thing is, one moment I'll be all nice and flirty, and if you say one thing that sets me off, good luck. I'm very moody.

My best friend at Fairfield is Maci Sanchez. She's sixteen. Basically, she drives me everywhere. The weird thing about Maci is she believes in Greek gods and goddesses. Don't ask me why, but she's pretty eccentric. I don't think anyone in this day in age believes that stuff. I think she's just trying to prove she's different. We've been friends ever since my arrival at Fairfield last year. It's March now. We're planning to brake out of this place one of these days and drive to Long Island.

Another weird thing is people are kind of drawn to me. I guess I'm pretty popular. Everybody tells me their secrets, and even if they don't, I kind of get a weird feeling in my gut as if I already know.

I was sitting in English one day, bored. My teacher is cruel. She acts as if keeping up with your makeup isn't important. Trust me, you can so tell. What's the big deal if she's talking about perfect tenses and I want to fix my lipstick?

"DAYSUM! This is not beauty hour!" she screeched.

"Shut up," I mumbled, my voice getting louder. "Just shut up! You know, you could use a beauty hour yourself!" A strong wind blew into the classroom, knocking all her papers off the desk. Outside loud thunder crackled and I could see the bright lightning flashing outside. It was intense, just like my mood. But I didn't think it was supposed to rain today...

"I'm not scared of you, you Temperamental Beauty Guru," she said slyly, and slipped away to slam the window shut. She just made me angrier. Temperamental Beauty Guru? Really?

Then something caught my eye. She couldn't close the window. The wind was getting very strong—so strong that it picked Ms. Pfeiffer right off her feet and carried her away. No joke.

I was shocked. As soon as I had gotten happier, the sun came back out. My teacher was nowhere to be found. The school wannabes slipped past me as they ditched class. Everybody hated them because they were just jealous of me whereas I was down to earth and had a vintage freak like Maci for a best friend.

"Even makeup can't hide your ugliness, Caro," the blonde one said to me.

"But she's actually really pretty," the dumb one whispered in her ear.

"Shut up!" the blonde one screeched at the dumb one. Then they all started fighting.

"See you later, girls," I said and walked out of the classroom to find Maci.

I found Maci in the bathroom writing on the walls with fire engine red lipstick.

"Rest in Tartarus, Amelia Pfeiffer," it read.

"Maci," I said. "You're gonna get in trouble."

She turned around swiftly and was obviously surprised. She had bright green eyes and brown hair, which was swept up in a messy bun. She wore a vintage dress, jean jacket, and combat boots.

"Who cares, Caro, if we're leaving tonight?"

"It's March—wait a minute, Maci, you mean?"

"Yeah, I mean!" she squealed.

Maci threw her keys up into the air and grabbed them with a quick swipe of her hand. I couldn't believe it. We were escaping tonight!

Maci and I shared a room. We were packing in it to get ready for our drive to Long Island. It took us about an hour, but then we finally finished. As we walked out of our room, our friend Kyle Charleston gave us big thumbs up.

After carefully weaving our way through long corridors, we finally reached Maci's Ford Fiesta. She was just about to put her bronze keys in the ignition when a hand swiped them away. I looked up and Ms. Pfeiffer was glaring down at us.

"Hello girls, going somewhere?"

"You nonhuman creature, you... go back to Hades!" Maci shrieked. Then she screamed all these ancient Greek curses at our teacher. I had no idea what was going on.

"Don't you know better than to threaten a daughter of Echidna?" Ms. Pfeiffer said.

I hadn't known much about Greek myths until Maci. Now, it was all I heard about. As I recalled, Echidna was the mother of all monsters, and apparently that was her daughter. I personally thought everyone was crazy.

But then Ms. Pfeiffer's skirt ripped in half and out came a serpent tail. No joke. I tried to run away but the tail grabbed me and hung me up in the sky, poisoning me from the constriction.

"I don't want you, Sanchez. I want the demigod!"

I looked at Maci desperately, confused as ever.

In the process of capturing me, Ms. Pfeiffer had dropped Maci's keys. Just then, Maci ran over to grab them. I hoped with all my heart she wasn't going to drive away.

"Go on," the teacher taunted. "Drive away so I can eat your friend."

I was getting weaker by the second. Maci hesitated and then threw me the keys.

"STAB!" she screeched.

So I stabbed my teacher. Then she turned to dust. All I remember was collapsing and blacking out on the hard pavement.