"How are you doing today, my love?" Max sit beside me and gives me a quick peck on the cheek before getting started on his cheeseburger.
I shrug. "Same old, same old." I say, and lean against him with my head on his shoulder as I poke my food. "More science homework, again."
"Well that's always fun." He says. Maxamillion Avila, 18 years old and most popular senior in his year, is the kind of guy that's kind of sarcastic, a bit mischievous, and the kind of boyfriend that pampers his girlfriend like crazy, and goes nuts when I talk to any other guy. And he's also the kind of guy that attracts all the other girls, because let me tell you, he is HOT. He can look at any girl and make them swoon over him with his sunflower eyes, which is why most girls hate me for dating him, they all want a chance to get him for themselves.
But I should probably tell you about myself and stop drooling over my boyfriend. My name is Heather Armendez, I'm 16, and I'm FAR from what you would call perfect. I wear old hoodies and jeans and boots every day, my wavy black hair is always kinda frizzy, and I have stubborn acne on my face. The only good thing about me is my "big, hazel, anime-like" eyes, or as Max calls them. I have not great grades, but acceptable grades. I have ADHD and dyslexia, but I still love to read a whole lot. Oh, and I live with my nurse mom and black lab jay. My dad abandoned my mom and I when I was hardly a month old, and my mom hasn't married since.
That about covers most of me, now back to the story.
"Mr. Kitchen gave us more Mythology homework." Max says, looking at me. "You wanna help with that?" He smiles, knowing that I'll say yes. Mythology is one of my favorite subjects in the whole world.
I look at him smiling. "Of course I'll help you, dummy." I give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Later I'm in the last period of the day, Band. Thank god. Ever since our old band teacher, Mr. Broecker, retired, our new band teacher was downright weird and creepy. Miss Canara looked centuries old, like she would collapse on the ground at any moment. Her skin was hanging off her like huge bags, I'm surprised it wasn't literally falling off her. And she was really rude too, and yelled at everyone as if we were horrible pieces of trash. She reminded me of that angry old grandma with a high pitched voice waving her cane around threatening to whack people with it.
Just as I sat down with the rest of my section with my clarinet in hand, Miss Canara walks into the room with a look that says "I just wanna be done with you idiots."
"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND GET RENEGADE OUT!" she yells, although we're all quiet and have that same piece of music out.
Miss Canara waves her hands, and we begin playing. However, just as we are about to start playing the softest part of the song, my clarinet squeaks so loudly everyone in the band stops and cringes. I can already feel my face go red hot as Canara glares at me with acid dripping from her eyes.
"DID YOU JUST SQUEAK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SONG?!" she screams at me, but this time is different. I glare back at her, not backing down, even though my face is still as red as a red delicious.
"Yes, ma'am." I say calmly. "But it will not happen again, I can promise you."
Somehow, some way, her face goes to one of politeness and caring. "May I speak with alone, dear?" She asks. I'm very tempted to scream HAIL NO LADY, but I nod and set my clarinet down before following her outside the band room and into the large hallway. The band room is on the other side of the school, next to the drama room and the gym, which are both empty right now.
She goes into the drama room, and I follow her inside. Except, she's not there when I go in.
"Miss Canara?" I call out.
"You foolish girl!" A hissing, cold voice sounds above the room like it was amplified by a microphone. My head snaps up to the catwalks, and I see Miss Canara standing on one.
HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET UP THERE?
"Woah, how did you get up there?" I call up.
"You dare disrespect me, a powerful empousa!" She hisses, and walks around the catwalk, her left leg making a clinking sound when it collides with the metal catwalk, like metal hitting metal.
"Empousa?" I repeat. "What the hell are you talking about?!" I exclaim.
"Your kind have been foolish to think the war is over!" She growls. "Gaea's followers are rallying again, and this time we will exact our revenge on you foolish demigods! I have already called for more of my allies to join me in making this place a ruin!" Right after she finishes her sentence, she changes into a pure monster. Her hair turns to flames, her eyes turn blood red, her nails turn to dagger-like claws, and her skin becomes bronze. She leaps down from the catwalk, and lunges at me.
I scream, and leap away from her, running toward the doors. She races after me, and her claws dig into my legs, shredding the jean and skin under it, drawing blood. I scream again, and collapse on the ground.
Miss Canara stares down at me with her blood red eyes, and grins, her teeth tiny daggers in her mouth. She raises her hand, covered in blood, my blood, and cackles. I think of crying, thinking this is the end of me. But I won't. I won't show weakness to this creature.
"Goodbye, foolish demigod!" she says gleefully, and bring her hand down to slit my throat or slash my face, but her hand never reaches me. Instead, a hear a small whizzing, and suddenly her head has an arrow sticking out of her head, and she explodes into yellow dust with a scream.
I look behind me at my rescuer, wondering whether or not they're here to kill me instead of letting Canara do it. But when I see the rescuer, my heart skips a beat.
It was Max.
My boyfriend, holding a bronze bow and a quiver of arrows on his back. I don't even speak, too stunned and my vision blurry from the pain of my leg to even mutter a word.
He slings the bow over his neck and quickly runs to me, kneeling down beside my leg. "Do you have any other injuries?" He asks me.
I snap out of my daze and look at my leg, quickly wishing I hadn't. It was still gushing blood and was turning purple and green on the edges of the gashes, the jean turning dark crimson with the blood. "No." I say, and grit my teeth through the pain. But I need answers. "Max, what's going-"
"Everything will be explained, love." He interupts, still examining my wound. "I promise. But we have to get this cleaned up. I've already sent a message to camp, they're sending argus and a two others as backup in case something else happens-"
"Max, what is going on?" I exclaim. "What was that, what was she talking about, what are you-"
He kisses me, and I shut up. That's about the only thing that does when I'm talking. He pulls away, and looks at me in the eyes with a grim expression. "Heather, I promise you that everything will be explained. But right now we need to get this cleaned and bandaged up." He says. "Ok?"
I don't really agree with anything and I still want my answers now, but I still agree. "Ok." I say.
"Good." he says, and takes my right arm and slings it over his shoulders. Then he hooks his other arm under my leg, and gently lifts me up in his arms. He's more than half a foot taller than me, so no use hopping beside him while he hunches over.
We head to the nurse's station, and making sure no one is there, he opens the door and sets me down on one of the beds.
"Can you at least answer one of my questions?" I ask him while he grabs a cloth and puts water on it.
"Sure." He says, and walks back over to me with the wet cloth and gauze.
"What the hell is going on, and what was that thing?'" I ask as he gently but quickly rolls up my pant leg. I look away from the wound as he cleans it, wincing as the water goes into the wound.
"I'll answer the one about Miss Canara, but the rest I'll have to explain in the van." max says, finishing with the cloth and opening the gauze. "That was a Greek monster, and empousa, and an old one too, I don't think they usually take the form of an old lady." He wraps the gauze around my leg and finishes up. "There. Now we get outside and into the van, they should be here already." He takes my into his arms again, and i have to admit, I kinda enjoy it. Even with the feeling that my leg is being hot ironed.
We head out the back door from the cafeteria, and I see a white van with the words Delphi Strawberries on the side, and two 18 year olds standing beside it. One of them, a guy with messy black hair and sea green eyes, looks at us.
"They're they are." He says, and the other person, a girl with curly blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, looks at us. "We were starting to think they and found you and started to question you both." She says.
Max sets me down and I lean on him with one leg. "Yeah right. They wouldn't be able to get me, I'm too good."
I look at the two new people. "Who are these people?" I ask.
"Heather, meet Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase." Max says. "Two of the most powerful demigods ever."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure Annabeth is the most powerful." Percy says.
"So this is Heather?" Annabeth says. "She's not much."
I glare at her. "Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I can't knock a tooth out." I growl.
"Ok ok, everyone be calm, Heather." Max says, wrapping an arm around me, probably for keeping me from punching this Annabeth girl instead of keeping me supported.
We hear sirens on the road beside the school, and we all file into the car, Max placing me in a seat before getting in himself. I look at the driver, and wish I hadn't. He had bright blue eyes all over his body, a few looked at me and winked.
Trying not to stare, I ask the same question again. "What the heck is going, and what was that lady talking about?"
"Well we should start with the fact that you're a demigod." Percy says. "And by the sound of it, a powerful one."
I stare at him. "Ok seriously, don't joke. This is not a laughing matter, there is a serious crisis going on here and I need serious-"
"Heather, he's telling the truth." Max says. "Unless you didn't see the empousa and saw an old lady clawing at your leg, then yeah. You're a demigod."
I put my hands in my face. A demigod? Me? This was really weird, freaky, and kinda cool at the same time. I mean being half god is cool, which makes me wonder what kind of powers I have, besides being hella good at swimming. But still! It also meant that I had a really high chance of dying at a young age, most likely a really gruesome way. And I really didn't want to die so young. I'm 16 for God's sake!
"I guess you're not lying." I look up from my hands to Max, then Annabeth and Percy.
"Nope." Percy says. "And now we're taking you to Camp Half-Blood, where you'll be safe."
"So, there a lot more demigods, right?" I ask.
"Yeah. Including Max." Annabeth says, and I look at Max.
"So, who's your parents?" I ask them all.
"Mine is Poseidon." Percy says.
"Athena." Annabeth says.
"Son of Apollo." Max says with a raised hand.
"Any idea who mine is?" I ask hopefully. "Whoever is my dad, I hope they're badass and have cool powers."
Max laughs, but he is the only one. I guess the other two aren't much for jokes, or this is kinda serious and Max is the only one that thinks it's funny.
"Honestly it could be anyone." Annabeth says. "You could be the daughter of, say, Ares, and you could be totally horrible with weapons."
"Or you could be a daughter of Zeus and be really nice." Percy says. I don't know why but I laugh, and Annabeth smacks his arm. "You know very well she cannot be a daughter of the Big Three, Seaweed Brain." She says.
"So another question." I say. "She was saying something about Gaea's followers rallying again, what does that mean?"
All of their faces went pale, and I can tell that whoever Gaea was, she was not a friend.
"Are you sure that's what she said?" Max asked me.
"Yeah, positive." I say. "Why? Is that bad?"
"Yeah, that's bad alright." Percy says.
"But who's Gaea?" I ask.
"Gaea is the Earth Mother." Max explains. "I didn't tell you that one yet."
"Ok." I say. "But isn't she supposed to be all nice and loving?"
"She's the exact opposite of that." Percy says. "She's really mean and cruel, and started a full out war about two years ago."
"War?" I look at Max. "How long have you known you've been a demigod?" I ask him.
He rubs the back of his neck and doesn't meet my eyes. "A little over four years…"
"And you were in that war?!" I exclaim.
"Two, actually." Percy says. There was a Titan war about three years ago."
"A Titan…?" I look at Percy, and then Max. "We will discuss this later." I hiss at him. I mean how could he have not told me earlier? He could have DIED! Although that did kind of explain last year how he broke up with me temporarily, saying that he had things he had to do and he might not come back. Then he came back about a few weeks later after going missing from school, and immediately got back with me.
"So, let me get this straight." I say. "Gaea is evil, and you guys defeated her, I take it. And now her followers are pissed at you guys and they're all trying to get back at you guys?"
"That about sums it up." Annabeth says.
I put my face in my hands again. "This is nuts." I say.
"Well, it's about to get even more crazy." Max says, and I feel the van stop. "We're here."
Max, Annabeth, and Percy, jump out of the van and then Max helps me out while I wrap an arm around his waist and hop along with them. We have to go up a hill, so by the time we get to the top, my left leg is burning. But the view is amazing.
A little ways past the hill we were standing on, a huge valley flattens out before me. A little ways past the foot of the hill, a two story house painted blue stands to the left of a volleyball court, and on the right of that, a building that I couldn't see what was inside of, an amphitheater, and a climbing wall that was oozing what I hoped was not lava. Behind that, I could make out a stream that fed into a lake, and behind that, a cluster of cabins in the shape of a U, with another cluster of cabins next to that in the shape of a rectangle(I think that's how they are now, I haven't read the books for a while.). To the right of that was a building with columns instead of regular walls, so you could look right into it and see about a dozen of long tables. To the left of the cabins is what looks like an arena, and another small building beside that one. And finally, to the left of the small building, a stable.
"You guys have horses here?" I ask.
"Pegasi, actually." Max says.
"I love it already." I say. "Can I go ride one? Please please pleeeease!"
"Not with that leg you're not." Percy says. "You're going to the infirmary first, and you can meet Chiron while you're there, he'll want to talk to you."
"Wait, Chiron the centaur?" I ask. "The guy that trained Hercules?"
"That's him." Annabeth says. "But you'll meet him in a bit, we need to get that leg taken care of."
"Yeah I guess so." And with that, we go down the hill, and I hop all the way down.
So I'm not dead. And I know I should be working on my other stories, but I couldn't help it! The idea was calling out to me! And you guys have no idea how long it took me to do that paragraph describing the camp, I had to dig up "The Demigod Files" from my many books and find the map in it, I mean jeez. But I promise I'm working on the other two stories! Idk about the anniversary story though, I just do not seem to have enough time for that, much less three stories at one time. But I will get them all done! HOPE YOU ENJOYED AND PLZ REVIEW!