Chapter one
"Are you ready for tomorrow, Perseus?" My mother asks me.
"Yes." I lie. I've gotten use to the idea of lying. Being honest just isn't for me. Candor is not for me. I live in a faction where I have to pretend to be someone else. The only other faction that is probably more boring than ours is Abnegation.
I turned sixteen three days ago, and now I'm ready to have my test, to see faction is best for me and my personality. I'm not smart enough for Erudite, I'm not a firm believer in peace so Amity won't work, and I lie at least ten times a day when I live in Candor and supposed to be honest 24/7, and I am self-less sometimes, but I never want to live the way the Abnegation do. That leaves Dauntless. I like the way they live, fearless and daring. I'm pretty good with a sword for my minimum amount of experience.
I have one friend, her name is Annabeth. She's the only person in my faction that I can be completely open with. But I know I won't see her again for a very long time. She was born for Candor, I've never heard her say a fib in my life.
I'm not the most interesting person on the planet. I have ADHD and dyslexia. The one sport that I like is swimming, though I would never join a team. I live with my mom in a small dirty house that we can just afford. My mom works hard and long hours as a janitor. She struggles just to get food on the table. I have the lowest grades in school, and get beat up or made fun of at least once a week. Annabeth tries to stick up for me, but nobody listens to a nobody.
"Mom, I going to meet Annabeth!" I yell upstairs before I walk out the front door.
. . .
Annabeth is waiting for me at our secret spot. It's an old construction zone. Half of the building was built, but then they couldn't afford to build the rest so they abandoned it. Annabeth is sitting on a huge rock, several feet above me. Her long wavy blonde hair is tied up in a ponytail and a hat on top.
"You're late." She says staring down at me. I grin up as I being to climb. She helps me up so that were sitting side by side.
"Are you nervous?" She asks watching the sunset.
"Yes. Are you?" She shrugs her shoulders at my question. She beings to play with her necklace, and I know she's think about her mother. Annabeth and I share the same tragic story. My father left me when I was three, and Annabeth's mom left when she was three as well. I try not to think of my father. I can't remember much, green eyes and dark hair. My mom says I look just like him. I know Annabeth looks like her mom, to. Her dad has brown hair and brown eyes, while she has gray eyes and blonde hair.
"I can't image going anywhere else." She says softly. "But I can't imagine staying either."
"I'm not staying." I say boldly. "I can't stay here a second longer." An image pops into my head, of me running free in a field of tall grass. No one chasing me, the wind at my back. Free.
"I know." She says grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "I have a feeling that we're not going to end up in the same faction." I don't respond to this, she already knows the answer.
"Persecus?" She asks.
"Yeah?"
"I want you to promise me one thing." Annabeth says looking down at her knotted hands.
"Anything." I whisper. She pulls out a black and red bracelet and ties it around my wrist. "Just don't forget me." I nod down at her.
We spend the rest of the evenings sharing funny stories and playing games.
"Why don't we go to the pond?" I nod back at the small pool of brown water behind us.
"Why? Because it's filthy and gross and we don't have bathing suites." Annabeth says giving me a look of disgust.
"I'll race you." I say lifting one eyebrow. I know Annabeth can't turn down a competition.
"Alright, Jackson, bring it on." We both climb down the rock as fast as we can and sprint to the other side of the construction zone. Every minute I find myself stumbling over a piece of metal or a rock. When we reach the fence I climb over with no problem. I reach the pond while Annabeth finished getting over the fence.
"I was close behind." She says out of breath.
"Aren't you always?" I smile at her. I begin to take off my clothes until I'm left in my boxers. I jump in the pond and look back at Annabeth.
"Coming?" I ask. "I'll turn around even, if you want me to."
"Shut up Persecus, I'm coming." She says throwing a rock at me.
"You better be in here when I come up for air." I swim down to the very bottom of the pond. It's about nine feet deep. I sit down and cross my legs. I open my eyes and look around me. The dirt is floating everywhere and small strands of green weeds surface to the top.
The test tomorrow scares me. Well, any test scares me but this one most of all. I don't want to stay, I need to leave to another faction. I know leaving behind my mom will be hard. We've been through so much together. We moved several times in our faction, trying to find a home to live in. We finally settled for an old abandoned house. It's not much but at least there's doors and windows. Annabeth is another problem. I never want to leave her. I feel protective of her, like a big brother. We understand each other, and have the same problems…
I look up and see Annabeth's legs. I swim to the top to meet her.
"Wow, Persecus you were under there for a while. I was starting to get scared." I smile at her. I'm going to miss Annabeth most of all.
. . .
I stare at the long building in front of me. Lots of people my age are here, getting ready for our test. I see lots of people from my faction, all looking confident. I sit down at a table with Annabeth. People are being called into rooms, one by one. I see people coming out of the test doors, some smiling, and some crying.
"Stop shaking your leg, Persecus." Annabeth says to me. I look down my trembling leg. I grab Annabeth's hand and squeeze it tight. I need to know she's here.
You will be fine, Persecus. A male voice says in my head. I've gotten used to the voice since I was five. Any time I feel uncertain or scared a voice pops in my head. I like to think it's my father. Secretly looking over me. But I know it's just my sub-conscious giving me more confidence.
"Persecus Jackson." I hear a women call my name. Annabeth nudges me from my side.
"Time to go." she whispers. I slowly walk out of the crowd and into a small room with white walls and a white chair. There are two computers on a desk, one has a picture of me and my faction up on it.
"Please, take a seat, Persecus." She motions to the chair. "How are you feeling today?"
"Okay." I say truthfully.
"My name is Tori." Tori attaches three electrodes to my forehead. She attaches them to a cord and into the machine behind her. She pulls out a vial of clear liquid. "Drink this." I do as I'm told, and in a slip second my eyes are closed.
. . .
I'm standing in a school cafeteria. There is no one else there, and the light is dimmed. In front of me a basket contains a hunk of cheese and a long knife.
"Choose." I voice says above me, I look around, trying to locate the voice, but no one is there.
"Choose." She says again. Quickly I pick up the knife and stand ready for something to jump my way. Slowly a large dog comes out of the door across from me. It is tall and black with drool oozing out of the side of it mouth. I hold up my sword to protect myself, when I hear a crying sound the far corner. I slowly turn my gaze and see a little girl balled up and crying. The dog notices her, too. While I'm still looking at the girl, the dog jumps up on me and tackles me to the ground and knocks the knife out my hand.
I lay there for a moment with my eyes closed and the dog on top. I look back at the little girl in the corner still crying. Out of instinct I lift my hand towards the water fountain. The water slowly rushes up into a ball at the top. I move my hand fast to the dog and it's forced off of me. I hold my hand there long enough until I don't hear any more whimpering form the dog. The water slowly goes back to the water fountain and disappears.
"Whoa." I say stunned. I run over to the little girl and cradle her in my arms. I slowly begin to rock back and forth.
"Are you okay?" I ask. She nods, and suddenly the scene changes again. I'm now standing on a bus. It's raining outside, and almost all the seats are taken now. I stare at my hands in amazement. I controlled the water. I didn't know anything like this would happen.
"Excuse me," The man beside me says. Holding up a newspaper he points to a picture on the front page with the headline 'murderer still not found.' I stare at him.
"Do you know who he is?" The man asks. The word murderer running through my head a thousand times. I look at the young boy with dark hair in the picture. I know him, I know I know him. I get a strange feeling in my gut. I shouldn't tell this man, why does he want to know anyway?
"Well?" He asks. "Do you?" He says. I look around me, nobody seems to notice us. I can feel my heart beating rapidly through my body. My hands are shaking and I try really hard not to look the man in the eyes.
"Do you?" He repeats. I take a deep breath and concentrate on my voice.
"No." I lie bravely. I feel my heart skip a bet and pump faster. I look around me nervously.
"You're lying! You're lying!" He bursts in outrage. "I can see it in your eyes!" Without thinking I raise my hands and the entire bus explodes. I turn to run away but instead I fall into a deep black hole.
. . .
"Persecus?" I hear a women's voice. I open my eyes and see Tori standing over me, a confused expression on her face.
"Well," I said sitting up. "How'd I do?" Tori sits down opposite of me.
"Persecus, do you know what a Divergent is?" she asks.
"Um, no."
"A Divergent is someone who cannot be divided into a faction. When you grabbed the sword, you were about to be classified as Dauntless, but then you helped the little girl out of selfless-ness, which would be Abnegation. And on the bus, you lied to the man which takes Candor out of the picture. Divergent people usually have more than one faction listed. But do you know what you did differently in these tests than most people, even divergents, Persecus?" I nod my head.
"I had… Powers." I say testing out the word.
"Exactly. So while you were asleep, I took a blood sample. There are people in our world, who are different." Different, I think. Different.
All the blood drains from my face. What is she talking about? "What kind of different?"
"Do you know the Greek Gods, Percus?"
"Yes."
"Well, they are real." She says. I sit there with my mouth open, but then I close it again.
"Sometimes, a God will come to earth and have a child with a human. This child would be a demi-god. May I ask Percus, do you only have one parent?"
"My dad left when I was three." I add quietly.
"That is because your dad is a God. And showing how you manipulated the water in your test, and from the blood sample, your father is Poseidon, God of the seas." Tori says.
This explains a lot. The male voice I find talking in my head at random times. How I can hold my breath under water longer than a normal person. How my mom doesn't have any pictures of my father.
"There are very few demi-gods left on the earth. And if anyone fines out that you are a demi-god, you will be killed, Persecus." I look over to her in shock.
"What do you mean?"
"It's the same for people who are Divergent, you pose a threat. But you are far more powerful than a Divergent."
"What am I supposed to do?" I ask.
"I recommend that you choose a safe faction, like Abnegation. Try to lay low, and don't play the hero."
Abnegation? Lay low? Don't play the hero? This is my whole life, these are what I'm good at! What I like, and no way in hell am I going to Abnegation. I get up. Ready to leave but Tori says one last thing.
"Persecus, do not tell anyone about your condition. I am one of the few who will support your kind, but others will not hesitate to kill you, understand?" I nod my head without look at her, and leave the room. The last thing that was on mind was Annabeth.
. . .
"Demi-god." I say quietly in my room. How can I be a demi-god?
You're one of a kind, Persecus. Be proud of who you are. I hear that voice again.
"Are you my dad?" I ask. There's a brief moment of silence.
Yes. I lay down on my bed staring up at the ceiling. Somewhere up there my Dad, my real Dad is talking to me. But then I remember all of the pain my mother has been through. He hurt her. He might be a God but he hurt my mom.
"Why did you leave?" I ask angry.
Because I'm not allowed to see you. It's a rule. It's a rule? No damn rule should stop you from doing what you want.
"Persecus, may I come in?" My mom knocks on the door.
"Yes." I say. She walks in and sits down on the bed opposite of me. She opens her mouth to speak but I cut her off.
"My dad is a God, isn't he? Poseidon." My mom stares at me with her mouth open a little bit.
"Yes. He is." I look at her for a moment longer.
"Persecus, it is very important that you do not let anyone know of this information. Even if they ask I need you to lie." She says lie as if it's a dirty word.
"Why would I need to lie?" I snap back.
"Well, if you stay in Candor." I tell by the look on her face that I hurt her feelings. She gets up and leaves, closing the door behind her. My entire life was normal until today. Why does it have to change to this? I didn't want a boring life but I didn't want people to kill me if they know what I am. I let out a deep sigh and grab my drawing pad and pencil. I don't draw anything. Just sit there, and stare at the blank sheet of paper.
Nope, I think. No.