Chapter One: A Hero With Stage Fright

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"More wine for Polyphemus!" I shouted towards the cardboard set in front of me. Then I ran back to the makeshift hole where my friends and I were pretending to make wine for a giant one-eyed freak-a-zoid. We were doing the Odyssey for our freshman year play at high school.

My friends and I had just been there a few months, and we were doing pretty well, considering we were at the bottom of the food chain. We all tried to make our time in high school memorable and didn't try to make a big deal about getting picked on by our student superiors.

One senior had come up to me and asked if I wanted to be in this play. I thought it was odd that a senior was actually coming in contact with a freshman, but I though, hey, what the heck? So I convinced my friends Kyle and Jason to join up, we auditioned, and we each got a part. I, surprisingly, got the part of Odysseus, Jason got the part of Telemachos, and Kyle got Hermes.

It turned out that the senior that had suggested my involvement in the play was the student director. Her name was Guinevere, and she was one of the most egotistical, popular, snobby girls in the school with the weird singsong voice that all the popular cliquey girls had.

The play ranged all over the school, in the gym, the auditorium, and some of the classrooms. During the performance, the audience was supposed to move around when the acts were over. Any scenes that took place on the sea would be acted out on a small boat-set on the school's pool. All the scenes from Odysseus' house we done in the classrooms, and all the other scenes were to be done in the auditorium.

This was kind of an on going joke between my friends and I. Last year, Kyle and Jason and I found out that we were demigods, half human, and half Greek god. That summer, we had gone on a quest that almost got us killed more than fifteen times, at least.

Jason was the son of Zeus, lord of the skies. Kyle was the son of Hades, lord of the dead. And I was the daughter of Poseidon, lord of the seas. Those skills that came from our fathers helped us out in more ways than not.

Eventually, we got through without any of us loosing our lives, but the villain, who turned out to be Prometheus, had delivered a rather ominous message to me before he ran away.

"You know, I have information on more than just the Titans…" He had said. "Something about your poor, hopeless sibling." That statement had chilled me to the bone ever since he uttered those words. I informed my friends and siblings about it but not much more than that. And we've been fine ever since, with no monster attacks.

So, the play was going well. Jason was doing the part of Telemachos better than I expected at his part. He put emotion into every outburst in the story, which made the heated arguments between his character and the suitors more believable.

Kyle was an amazing actor, and since he was such a great helper on the quest, it was almost required for him to get that part. But enough about all of the casting ironies; let's get on to the play.

We finished the Polyphemus scene without any of the cast forgetting their lines. Though, I didn't think it was fair about the actor playing Polyphemus. Since he wasn't technically on the stage, he got to read off his script behind the curtains.

"Come along, men!" I projected to the crowd, "Let us continue to Ithaca!" The other actors that were playing Odysseus' sailors mumbled their lines. I didn't think they were too happy with the female freshman playing Odysseus. As much as I liked playing Odysseus I found it odd that Guinevere had assigned me that part. She was in the play too, so I figured that we were low on people to play parts. But I wasn't entirely sure.

The scene shifted to Odysseus' house, so the sailors and I had time to get ready for the Siren scene. We went onto the boat set, and made sure all the props were ready and in place. The student director walked in, wearing a blue bathing suit.

"Five minutes until curtain, people!" Guinevere called. She jumped into the pool and swam up to the set near me. "You ready for this scene?" She asked me.

I nodded, "Are you sure we should actually have the other actors stop up their ears with real wax?" Guinevere smiled, not exactly answering my question, and dove back into the water and swam around. Four minutes later, people came in the gym, so we acted like we were actually on the open sea.

"Odysseus," One of the actors said to me, "We are approaching the island of the Sirens." I smiled, as per the script.

"Good!" I said, and turned to the other actors on the 'boat', "Stop up all your ears with this wax!" I pointed to the barrel of premade wax earplugs, "You over there! Tie me to the mast!"

"What?" One actor said. "You want to hear them?" I tossed a rope towards him and put my back to the pole. The actor, I think his name was Lance, awkwardly wrapped the rope around me. A few of the jocks that were seeing the play whistled suggestively, and I rolled my eyes.

The actors all had waxed ears, and so did the crowd for some reason. Thanks to the jocks in the crowd I forgot one of my lines. I wanted to kick myself, but the ropes were too tight. The Sirens were supposed to start singing, and they did, and it wasn't part of the script.

Guinevere poked her head above the water, but there was something weird about her. She looked like a vulture. But it had a human head, not Guinevere's. It was my brother, Percy's head! And its teeth were caked with a bunch of mystery meat. I thought I was imagining it, but I wasn't! It was real! What the-?

She started singing, a horrible song. And no one could hear it but me. And it chilled me to the bone.

"Your friends are never going to help you. Your stubbornness will be your downfall. You'll never be able to save your friends in their times of need. The sibling you failed to save is now dying in the ocean. YOU ARE NOTHING."

I screamed, trying to get out of the ropes, but they wouldn't budge. I yelled to the juniors and seniors on the boat with me to tell them to untie me, but they couldn't hear me! I dug into my pockets and pulled out my iPod, which transformed into a sword when I pressed the menu button. I used the sword to cut the ropes and I dropped to the floor. I shook off the ropes and dove into the pool, trying to find an escape from the singing.

The vulture thing kept switching faces, from my parents, my siblings, and my friends. I swam towards them, trying to get to them. I blinked and I saw my father, and my mother, holding out their arms to embrace me. I wanted to get close to them, so I swam like crazy. They both looked like they couldn't wait to see me.

Tears were streaming down my cheeks, and I was even getting wet, which wasn't supposed to be happening, but in that instant, I couldn't care less. All that I cared about was getting to my mom and dad. I was so close to them, it was ridiculous, but no matter how much I swam, I couldn't get to them. At one point, I must've just lost my entire grip on the world, because I went under the water, and mentally shut off my powers over water, and attempted to drown. But, for some reason, it wasn't working.

I screamed, and plunged into the bottom of the pool. I sat there, trying to block out the song, but it was still pounding in my ears. Finally the part of my brain that was actually still functioning came up with an idea, and forced my body to swim up the surface. My head burst from the water and the singing started to burn in my ears again.

I retrieved my sword and headed towards the barrel of earplugs. I shoved a pair in my ears. The song stopped. I rubbed the tears from my face roughly. The other actors looked at me quizzically, like they had no clue what happened. I always wondered how mortals couldn't see all the monsters that showed up, but at the time, I didn't think it was important.

The thing that used to be Guinevere, which must've been a Siren, snapped at me in irritation, as if saying, "Curse you and your waxy earplugs!" It flew up into the air, and I didn't even hesitate when it flew in to peck me… I slashed it across the gut, and it exploded into golden dust. But it had the last laugh. It cried out a last singsong phrase. "You will never succeed…"

After I defeated the monster, I took one look at everyone in the gym, and I knew the play was over. I nodded at my fellow actors and saluted them goodbye as they stared at me in horror. I ran out of the building and into the middle school grounds that were right next to the high school. I rocked on my heels biting my lips to keep from sobbing, which worked for a whopping five seconds.

I cried for a long time. The Siren attack had really shaken me up. After a while, some deer from the surrounding forest preserve wandered out and came to investigate the weird noises. One doe came up to me and looked at me quizzically as if to say, "What's the matter?" I didn't know why the doe had come, but I appreciated her company.

I hesitantly put a hand on her nose. All of a sudden, I heard flapping noises coming from above my head. The deer took off, totally freaked out.

Half a minute later, a pitch black Pegasus came into view, and landed in front of me. Riding on his back was one of my closest friends, and my older brother; Percy Jackson.

"Hey." He said in an urgent tone. "Emma, you okay?" I unsteadily got to my feet. Percy looked at my face, and then at my arms. "What the Tartarus happened to your arms? Why are you crying? What happened?" I stumbled and Percy caught me.

I hugged him, and he did too. It's a sibling thing. If you're an only child, think of how your friends comfort you. That's kind of how it is with Percy and me. I'd learn to appreciate things like that… before they're gone that is.