The Scourge of the Titans, a New Hope

Chapter 1

Enter: Allison Cleak

Beep, beep, beep. I woke with a start as I silently cursed my alarm clock and stood to turn it off. "Its always the best part too…" I said through a yawn as I stretched and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. As I went to get into the shower I thought about the dream I was having before the alarm clock interrupted it. I was in a palace of sorts, and I was kneeling before my mother, who was smiling at me.

Or at least I thought it was my mother; she looked like I had always envisioned she would; she had my eyes, or rather I had hers. They were the same warm, milk chocolate brown with flecks of gold in them. Our hair color was similar, not quite honey blond, but with tones reminiscent of it in our light brown hair; but our styling was almost as different as you could get, with mine being just above my shoulders and paper-straight. She however, wore hers down just past her waist with intricate curls (this made me just the slightest bit angry, as I'd always wanted curly hair). Our complexions were the same, not completely translucent, but certainly not tan in any sense.

I never knew my mother. My father told me that she was in a car accident just months after I was born. The only memory I have of her is her smile. That's why I thought the woman from my dream was my mother; her smile made every thing feel like it was going to be okay. It didn't matter that I was a complete screw-up, or that I'd been expelled from every school I'd enrolled in since Kindergarten. None of that mattered, because my mom would make everything ok.

I stopped thinking about the dream once I'd gotten out of the shower. Instead, I turned my attention to the day ahead. It was the last day of school, and I hadn't gotten expelled yet. I muttered under my breath something similar to 'New high score!' As I dried off, I thought about the previous year, and the friends that I'd made. It was too bad I'd never see them again; most of them were really nice…

I like school; I just can't seem to get anywhere; high D's are rare for me. Its probably due to my dyslexia and attention deficit disorder- although I don't use them as excuses. I know that I have them, and I make due with them. I thought more about school as I got dressed and left my room to get some breakfast.

As I walked into the kitchen I saw my dad. I stepped on a squeaky board in the floor and he looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading. "Good morning, sunshine! Last day of school, and you've made it this year! I'm so proud of you." He was beaming from head to toe with excitement- and a little bit of apprehension. After all, it's never too late to be expelled, right?

Theodore Cleak was an almost gangly man, in his early thirties with a crinkly smile and warm features. He's easily flustered, but you could never catch him without a smile- that's what I love about him. He'd never lose hope. Especially when it came to me; every year when I'd been expelled or been involved in some major freak accident; such as, last year when my English teacher, Ms. Dodds, suddenly and quite painfully (it sounded painful, at least) spontaneously combusted in front of me and two other students. He'd always just say: "Ok, we'll just have to try again next year!" That was what he did, he made me have hope- otherwise, I would have lost hope a long time ago.

As I continued to mull over my father's better qualities, I glanced at the clock and consequently freaked out. "Holy crap, its time to go! Love you, Dad! I'll see you after school!" I hurriedly rushed out the words, along with bits of the toast I'd been gnawing on earlier as I pecked my father on the cheek and ran out to catch the subway.

"Ok, I love you too Allison. Have a great day! Don't start any fires or anything!" My father yelled after me, thinking that I was already out of earshot.

Ha ha Dad, very funny. I thought as I ran through thick nets of bodies on a crowded Lower East Side sidewalk. Yes that's right, I have a very real, very irrational fear of fire. What's it to you? So what if every time I see a fire my knees shake worse than San Francisco during a good earthquake. So what if I break into a cold sweat that would put arctic waters to shame. So what if one time I actually forgot my name as I stared at a person on fire; a person who I had secretly been wishing- not just wishing, hoping would catch fire, one who was three feet away from me and was screaming the most horrible screech ever as she was burned alive. Ms. Dodds.

I had an eerie feeling as I bought my subway ticket and proceeded to walk into the car. It was almost like I was being watched… But why would someone be watching me? Then I saw him. I didn't get a good look; he saw me and turned away, but I'd seen his eyes, one was blue and the other was brown. He had chiseled features and a crew cut to match; his clothes didn't fit his appearance, though. It looked like he was acting a part, a soldier cast as a business executive. "Oh well, like he matters, what's he gonna do to me on the subway?" I mumbled to myself as I sat down in the car, trying to put the man out of my mind.

Four stops and a little walk later, and I was standing in front of Travers High School. It was an inconspicuous building with a supermarket on one side and the subway station on the other (I did say it was a little walk). As I walked up the stairs, I searched the crowd that had accumulated on them for anyone that I knew. What I got in return for my curiosity were several startled glares from people who had glanced away from their previous activity, only to find a very average, very timid girl looking back at them. Not everyone glared though, one person looked like I'd just told him that I loved him or something.

He had a wispy beard and several splotches of acne across his face. He was taller than everyone else and had a very lanky look to him. He was wearing a green Rasta cap over his dark curly hair, a plain white t-shirt, and blue jeans that went down over his black converse high-tops. I didn't notice it, but I must've stopped moving because he suddenly smiled a small crooked smile and started walking towards me with a curious gait, that almost looked like a limp.

As he got closer, I lowered my face and blushed, then started walking forward again. I was trying to ignore him; but to no avail; as he persisted and changed course to intercept me just before the door to the school. When we had both reached the door, he stood in front of me, blocking my way. "Hey, how's it going? I'm Grover. We haven't talked at all this year, have we?" Grover, his name was Grover… I like it. I smiled at him and said, "No, I don't believe we have… Grover." I held out my hand, "I'm Allison, Allison Cleak." He took my hand in his and we shook.

"I don't know why we haven't, we were in almost all the same classes. But it's nice to meet you all the same, Miss Cleak." He smiled his crooked smile again.

I flushed a bit at his smile, "Now that you mention it, I have seen you before, but I promise, it was nothing personal- me not talking to you that is. I don't talk to anyone really." I took my hand from his and wrapped it around my other arm, an old nervous habit of mine.

"Oh, I know, I've been watching you," at this revelation, the look on my face must have been positively scandalous, because he quickly corrected himself. "B-but not like that! I swear! Just watching you at lunch and stuff. During art, when you paint." He hung his head in defeat, and moved out of the doorway just as the bell rang. "I'm sorry, I know it sounds weird…"

"It's okay, I'll talk to you later, and you're not weird, or at least not that weird. Ok?" I smiled at him as I walked past him into the school; and I swear he had the stupidest grin on his face. The more I thought about it, the more I regretted it. What if he was entertaining thoughts of the two of us! Together! As I walked to my locker, I suppressed a shiver. Sure, he looked nice enough, but still…

I decided not to think about her encounter with Grover for now; and it worked for the most part… although, it didn't help that he would try to strike up a conversation every time he saw me, or the fact that he was right in saying that we had almost all of our classes together. So, I tried my best to keep up the chitchat between Grover and myself, only listening when I had to (which might be why I missed all the Greek analogies), and before long, the bell was signaling lunchtime. As I stooped to pick up my stuff, I heard my geometry teacher, Mrs. Edison ask if she could have a word with me. "Sure Mrs. Edison, What is it?" I inquired to the teacher, as I straightened up to watch the elderly lady walk to her desk and open her pet Chihuahua's cage, lift the small dog out, and begin scratching it behind the ears.

"Miss Cleak, what do you know about Greek mythology?" The exquisite elderly lady inquired sweetly, with a cock of her head and a scratch to the dog's belly.

"Only what I've been taught in school, Mrs. Edison," I answered back cautiously. I hadn't cared much for Mrs. Edison, and it hadn't been a secret that I wasn't her favorite student, either; so I was really wondering where the elderly lady was going with this.

"So, would you happen to know who the mother of the Chimera was?" The elderly lady's voice was so sweet; you could almost taste the syrup that dripped off of her tongue, although, there was something wrong with it. There was a tinge of bitterness to it… almost like poison.

"Umm… The Chimera's mother was Echidna, right?" I involuntarily took a step back as she noticed the Chihuahua start to grow. Wait- why was a Chihuahua growing?

"Ha! Ha ha ha! You are correct Miss Cleak, I am the mother of the Chimera!" The Chihuahua jumped out of Echidna's arms, seamlessly morphing into a giant lion-headed, goat-bodied, serpent-tailed, fire-breathing, poisonous Chimera. Right in front of me; and I had no idea what to do.

Even though I was scared beyond any fear that I'd ever known. Even though I was too scared to think, my body acted anyway. I turned on my heel and ran for the doorway, and as I did so Echidna let out a terrifying scream of rage and I heard the Chimera loose a great stream of fire; when I felt the heat coming, I dived forward. At the end of the dive I rolled to my feet, and fearing that the Chimera would be right above me, I sprung forward with such force that only terror and adrenaline combined can create.

As I ran for my life, I couldn't help but wonder what just happened, or when I was going to wake up, because this was obviously a dream. As I rounded a corner, someone burst out of a classroom, and it was then that my thoughts were interrupted, not by the continuous screeching of Echidna or the roaring of the Chimera; but by the sudden bleating of a goat. It was from the person that had just arrived on the scene that the sound had come from, and as I ran past this goat-sounding person, I looked back at them; then I looked back at them again. It was Grover; I was sure of it. Grover was baa-ing like there was no tomorrow.

"Grover? What are you doing! Run! Now!" I yelled after him without stopping, but he must have heard me, because he had stopped bleating and had already begun to overtake me.

"Allison! Thank the Gods you're all right! Who's after you? Do you know?" He looked back at me to make sure I was still there and I could see the worry on his face.

"Grover, what's happening? Why- what- who was it?" I was in near hysterics; I buried my face in my hands, but continued to run.

"Listen to me, Allison, it's going to be okay; they won't attack us in public, we just have to get to camp. Everything's going to be alright Allison, who's chasing us?"

Through sobs and laughter, I managed to tell him that it was Echidna and the Chimera chasing us. "Ok, it could be worse, then." He said with a hint of a smile as we ran out of the school and back into the subway station from whence I'd came this morning.

As we went to get tickets, I asked Grover where we were going. "We're going to Camp Half-Blood. It's our only option. You get the tickets; I've got to use the bathroom. Ok?"

"Whoa, wait up, what's Camp Half-Blood? And what about my Dad? He doesn't know what's happening." I said as I scrunched my face up, thinking about where I'd heard that before, but I was talking to myself, he'd already left me for the bathroom. "I don't know what's happening," I added as an afterthought as I went to get the tickets.

Grover sighed as he as he sat down in the train and began to explain, "Allison, the Gods are real, all of them, including your mother. That means that all the monsters are real, too. So, since you're a half-blood, you'd never be safe out here in the real world, monsters would try to attack you, like today- why Echidna would come after you is beyond me, though. Camp Half-Blood is a sanctuary for half-bloods, you get training to fight back against the monsters." just then, a major revelation hit me. "Hold on, Grover, back at school- you were bleating like a goat, weren't you; and my mom? My mom died in a car accident when I was a baby, my dad told me so. "

He just kind of frowned at me and said, "Yeah, I did, I'm a Satyr, and of course he did. A half-blood's scent isn't as strong when they don't know; now that you do, even more monsters will be coming after you. They must like your scent, I've never smelled a demigod like you before…."

"Of course, that makes sense, and are you saying that I smell funny?" I blushed slightly as I realized how silly I was being.

. With all the adrenaline in my system being shot; I just leaned my head on Grover, told him thanks, and passed out.

A terrible screeching filled my ears, as I started awake. I jumped up, disoriented at first, and then I heard Grover. "Hey, sit down, everything's ok."

"Oh, sorry…" I mumbled, as I went to sit down again. "So, how much longer till we get there?"

"Actually, I think I was wrong to tell you to sit down," He smiled his little smile, "This is our stop." He stretched languidly as he stood, and I momentarily forgot that his legs were those of a goat. As he walked from the subway car, I followed close behind. We continued out of the station and back into the sunny New York afternoon, Grover talked a cabbie into taking us out to Long Island. So we settled in for the ride, with Grover smoothing some of the edges about this whole situation some as we went.