Look, it wasn't my idea to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. There are just some things that are inevitable. Like hey, if two hairy monkey-monsters riding in Ferraris just happen to be chasing you, things just happen. Kind of like how I didn't choose to be a half-blood. It just happened.
Maybe I should start from the beginning.
My name is Percy Jackson and I'm the son of Poseidon. Or rather a son, if you include Tyson. Up until a few days ago, I was attending Aethandra High School. But of course I managed to mess that one up, too. And now I'm running away from speeding monkeys. Big improvement there.
We were having a field trip to San Francisco to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. Our teacher, Mr. Pasmon, was supervising. Maybe I should have dwelled more on the fact that I saw him stealing chips from a student in the corner of my eye. Or maybe I should have noticed how hairy he was. But he was the teacher. And I learned the hard way that you don't mess with teachers.
It wasn't until the bus was halfway across the bridge when I noticed that Mr. Pasmon glaring at me and was shaking uncontrollably. At first I thought that he really needed to use the restroom, but then the head of a monkey popped out of his chest. By then, I knew something was really wrong. I tried to get up from my seat when I tripped and fell. My shoelaces were knotted together. When did that happen?
"Hello, Percy," Mr. Pasmon said.
"Umm. Hello?" I replied. I probably looked like an idiot. Here I was, a seventeen-year old boy on the floor with his shoelaces tied together.
"Do you know who I am?" he said.
"You're my Language Arts teacher," I said stupidly.
"So it seems," he replied.
Then he turned into two monkeys. Not even one. Two. Two hairy monkeys.
The first monkey said, "I'm Akmon." The other introduced him as Passalos.
Monkeys? I tried to think really hard. Monkeys. Then a picture of Mr. Pasmon stealing flashed in my head. Monkey. Thief. Realization hit me hard.
"You-You're the Cercopes," I managed to stutter.
"Bingo," the monkey called Akmon sang.
"Correct!" followed Passalos.
The Cercopes were a pair of thieves that plagued the land of Lydia and were turned into monkeys by Zeus. This was bad. Really, really bad. How did I not notice it before? Mr. Pasmon was obviously a combination of their names.
"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've gotta go!" I yelped, taking off my shoes and running off the bus.
The Cercopes shrieked in frustration and ran after me. At first their cries were close when they suddenly died out. Feeling safe, I did something that I would probably regret for the rest of my life, which would probably be cut short anyways. I turned around.
There, right behind me were two bright red Ferraris being driven by two monkeys wearing black Ray-Bans.
I did the safe thing. Well, the safe thing for me. I screamed, ran for my life, and jumped off the bridge and into the water.
I wish that I could tell you that by now I was used to the sensation of falling, but I wasn't. I probably yelled something like "Aaaaa-eeee-oooo!"
Then I hit the water. The pressure should have squashed flat a normal person, but I think by now I've established that I'm far from normal. I willed myself to go down deeper so there would be no chance of the monkeys following me. It wasn't until I was far down did I begin to think again.
Exactly what did I do this time? Kronos was already locked up and sliced up into pieces in Tartarus and I was almost positive that I didn't steal anything. Not that I could say the same thing about the Cercopes.
Unless I was framed again. Which was also highly unlikely.
Or maybe the next prophecy was beginning to take place. But if that was true, what would it have anything to do with me? I had enough of prophecies for a lifetime.
Or maybe, just maybe, something else was happening. Something that once seemed like a minor detail was now threatening Olympus and the gods.
I looked up from the water and saw a female figure riding a pegasus.
I would get my answers soon.
