Mr. Know-it-All Saves My Life
I walked into class on what I thought was going to be an average day. I was a sixth grader at Martin Luther Middle School in Lansing, Michigan, and had been doing kind of bad in school because of my ADHD and dyslexia. This was my third school, and I was trying super hard not to get booted out for some sort of incident I managed to cause. I won't bore you with details on what kind of accidents... Anyhow, I was in Science, my first class of the day, and things started out fine. We were learning about cell structure and all that stuff when the fire alarm rang. Okay, I thought, probably just a fire drill. Our teacher, Mrs. Stutz, filed us out of the classroom and to the nearest exit.
As I was assembling with the students outside, Mrs. Stutz came over to me with her your-in-huge-trouble smile. She was the ugliest, strangest teacher I ever knew, and had a kind of evil air.
"Jordyn Ariella," she said, "you have failed to take correct action during the fire drill. Please come with me." What? I was shocked. How could you flunk a fire drill? I came with her knowing that she had made up an excuse to see me, though later realized that was a stupid decision.
She took me back inside the school and into an empty room. I got really uncomfortable when she shut the door behind her. Then she looked hard at me, and suddenly her hair became longer, her teeth became fangs, and she sprouted a funny scorpion tail. Former Mrs. Stutz bared her teeth at me, and I nearly died of fright. Then she lunged. I dodged her a few times, but it was difficult because she moved like lightning. I was also part shocked, so my reflexes were slightly slowed. She fired spikes out of her tail, and one caught me in the arm. When she lunged again I wasn't as fast dodging because of the small spike protruding from my arm, and she caught me by my shoe in mid-run. She pulled me back to her, and I prepared for certain death. But something whizzed through the air in that instant, and suddenly Mrs. Stutz was howling in agony with an arrow sticking out of her arm. She fell, and behind her was a student about my age. He had flowing dark hair, and I remembered seeing him a few times before in school. He held a bow in one hand and three arrows in the other. I didn't get a very good look at him before Mrs. Stutz recovered, though. He pounced out of her way as she lunged at him and fired more spikes. Mrs. Stutz was even angrier now.
"Run!" He yelled to me. I was too shocked. I stood there frozen, staring at them fighting. The boy was to busy to notice I wasn't gone. Even though his only weapon was meant for long distance, he fought incredibly, and soon managed to stab one of his arrows into the monster's heart. In a puff of smoke, Mrs. Stutz was gone. Left standing there was the boy who had saved me, panting. When he caught his breath, he looked over at me.
"You're not deaf, right?" He asked me.
"Um... No," I said, still shocked and pondering the strange question.
"Than when I say 'run' you run!" I snapped out of things at the change of his voice.
"Who do you think you are?" I asked. Even though I was just attacked by a monster, I wasn't about to let some kid snap at me. He looked at me closely.
"I need to get you to camp," he said, "and fast."
"What do you mean 'Camp'? I'm fine right here, thanks," I snapped. I wasn't warming up to this guy at all. Some sort of aggressive aura surrounded him, and I didn't like it one bit. He looked at me with distaste, then grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the room. I struggled, but this guy was tough. He murmured something about more monsters coming soon as he dragged me down the halls.
"What are you doing?" I screamed at him, but his grip didn't loosen, and he didn't reply. I kicked and flailed, but with no avail. This kid had super strength. He picked up the pace as soon as we were outside and hailed a cab.
"Nearest train station," he said as he got in the cab with a voice so commanding that the driver dare not question his age.
"Can you at least tell me what's going on? You know, this could be called kidnapping," I said, hoping to squeeze a few answers out of him.
"Listen, kid," he said, and I winced at being called "kid", "You need help, and I'm taking you there. We're going to Long Island, New York"
"Okay," I replied, stunned at how far away that was, "I'm calling it kidnapping." I was about to tell the driver to stop the car, but my abductor put his hand over my mouth.
"I'm doing this for your own good. Monsters will flood to you if you don't let me help you. Ones far worse than the Manticore back there. You come with me, and you live. You stay, you die. No doubt about it. Capiche?" I nodded, eyes wide, and his hand fell from my mouth.
"We have to hurry," he said, glancing behind the car as if the feds were after him. I looked at him curiously.
"Listen," I said, "I'm not coming with you until I get a name and you tell me what's going on." I was hoping to sound as authoritive as him, but no luck. I was terrified. He looked at me as if I was some kind of joke.
"You don't have a choice about coming with me, but I suppose you'll run faster if you understand what's going on. I'm not sure by whom, but you're a half-blood. My name's Damon, and I'm taking you to a camp for half-bloods. That's all you should know, because the more you know about who you are the more monsters will come to attack. They go by scent, and if you know more about yourself your scent gets stronger. Understand?" I shook my head no, but somehow I knew Damon could only say that much. What was a half-blood?
"What about my Mom?" I asked, now realizing that in going with this Damon kid I might never see her again. Damon shook his head, thinking.
"You can't see her again; it's just too risky. Monsters can track calls, too, so I would recommend writing her a goodbye letter. You can't see her again until it's safe. Even a letter might be dangerous," he said, dampening my mood. Great - I'm leaving my mom without a trace, but don't worry - I'm leaving a goodbye letter with her. Nevertheless, I pulled a crumbled candy wrapper out of my pocket and jotted down the basics - i.e. I'm going to some camp with a kid I don't know , but don't worry, he'll keep me safe from some monsters that want to kill me! love, Jordyn.
"Michigan Train Station, here we are," the cab driver said, stopping at the entrance, "That's ten bucks." I looked at Damon.
"I have zero dollars on me. You?" I asked. He looked at me like I was crazy. He snapped his fingers, and the atmosphere changed.
"Thanks, sir. We'll be on our way," he said, and the driver nodded. Damon dragged me out of the cab and pulled me away from the car. I was stunned as the driver pulled away.
"What did you do?" I asked Damon. He didn't respond, but instead dragged me to a train bound for New York. He pushed me in, and we sat down toward the front, which Damon said would make it easier to jump off if any monsters got on the train . When the train started, Damon looked at the small spike in my arm from the Manticore encounter.
"Here, let me get that out for you," he said, reaching for my arm. I didn't resist: it had been bugging me. He clasped the spike and gave it a tug.
"Ouch!" I said, withdrawing from him. Damon held the spike in his hand.
"Want to keep it? You know, as a memento of your first monster," he asked. In response, I opened the train window, grabbed the spike, and chucked it out. Damon stood with his hand out, as if he still held the spike. He pulled his hand back.
"I take that as a no," he said, and I glared at him. Suddenly I didn't even understand what I was doing with this stuck-up brat. Before, I'd been too scared to argue with him, but now I considered the fact that none of this monster-mojo could be real, and that Damon was trying to kidnap me. Then there was the finger snap thing, and not paying for the cab ride. And the Manticore, of course. That was pretty real, but something was up. I decided I couldn't trust him and would make my escape. He could be dangerous. I still didn't understand a thing that happened to me that day, but I had to escape. I got up and walked to the back of the train . Damon didn't seem to care. I looked at the emergency brake. It was my only hope. Before anyone could get up from their seats and stop me, I pulled the brake, opened the door, and jumped.