Warning: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Magical Labyrinth' as well as the one shots 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Stolen Chariot' The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Sword of Hades', 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Bronze Dragon' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Last Olympian' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Staff of Hermes' before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.
A/N: Sorry if this CHAPTER is too much like the Lost Hero book but in first person's POV, but give it time since the original characters from 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' series haven't shown up yet. When the main characters from the main series shows up, it will start to shape up the changes. I don't own any Percy Jackson characters or the stories.
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero
I. Jason's POV
Even before I got electrocuted, I was having a rotten day.
I woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where I was, holding hands with a girl I didn't know. That wasn't necessarily the rotten part. The girl was cute, but I couldn't figure out who she was or what I was doing here. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to think.
A few dozen kids sprawled in the seats in front of me, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around my age… fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. I didn't know my own age.
The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under the bright blue sky. I'm pretty sure I didn't live in the desert. I tried to think back… the last thing I remembered…
The girl squeezed my hand. "Jason, you okay?"
Jason. Is that my name? I guess it must be. Does the girl know me? Do I know her? Can't I remember?
The girl wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup like she was trying to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope—brown, blue, and green.
Yet, I can't remember her and I had this strange feeling I don't even really know her.
I let go of her hand. "Um, I don't—"
In front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"
The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap had pulled low over his hair, so you could just see his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face, like he'd eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would've looked scary if he hadn't been five feet zero. When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"
"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on me, and his scowl deepened.
A jolt went down my spine. I was sure the coach didn't think I belonged there, and to be honest, I'm starting to think the same thing even if I can't remember. What's worse, I was worried that the coach would call me out and demand what I was doing on the bus—and I wouldn't know what to say.
But thankfully Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."
He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.
I looked at the girl next to me. "Can he talk to us that way?"
She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'"
She said it like it was a joke we'd shared before.
"This is some kind of mistake," I said. "I'm not supposed to be here."
The boy in front of me turned and laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."
Again the boy talked as if he knew me just like the girl—who from what I guess is named Piper—and again I don't remember him and yet don't think I even really know him.
Piper blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"
"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? 'You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" The boy name Leo raised his eyebrows at me like, Can you believe her?
Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told me right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving—drumming the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket. Either Leo was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.
"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?"
"I don't you," I said.
Leo gave me a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."
"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there?"
Leo winked at me as if he was up to something. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"
Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"
The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"
Piper stifled a laugh. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?"
Leo slipped a tiny Phillips screw driver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."
Scratch that earlier about how he shouldn't be trusted with matches. Leo Valdez shouldn't be trusted with tools.
"Guys, seriously," I pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"
Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, are you joking?"
"No! I have no idea—"
"Aw, yeah, he's joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?"
I stared at him blankly.
"No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to take my hand again, but I pulled it away.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't—I can't—"
"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"
The rest of the kids cheered.
"There's a shocker," Leo muttered. I guess it wasn't the first time this happened.
But Piper kept her eyes on me, like she couldn't decide whether to be hurt or worried. It made me feel bad that I couldn't remember her even if I'm not sure if I did know her. "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"
I shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."
…
The bus dropped us off in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere.
Maybe that's what it was: the National Museum of Nowhere, I thought.
A cold wind blew across the desert. I hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: jeans and sneakers, a purple T-shirt, and a thin black windbreaker.
"So, a crash course for the amnesiac," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made me think this was not going to be helpful. "We go to the 'Wilderness School'"—Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids.' Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison—sorry, 'boarding school'—in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"
"No," I glanced apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty guys, half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals, but I wondered what they' all done to get sentence to a school for delinquents, and I wondered why I belonged with them, if I belong here at all.
Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores—"
"Leo!" Piper snapped.
"Fine. Ignore that last part. But we are friends. Well, Piper's a little more than your friend, the last few weeks—"
"Leo, stop it!" Piper's face turned red. I could feel my face burning too. If I did belong here, I thought I would remember if I'd been going out with a girl like Piper. Then again, I can't remember anything right now.
"He's got amnesia or something," Piper said. "We've got to tell somebody."
Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix Jason by whacking him upside the head."
The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he'd glanced at me and scowl. I'm starting to wonder if he would help me even if we asked.
"Leo, Jason needs help," Piper insisted. "He's got a concussion or—"
"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join us as the class was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Piper and me and knocked Leo down. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"
The new guy had dark hair cut Superman style, a deep tan, and teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: do not stare directly at teeth. Permanent blindness may occur. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. I hated the guy instantly.
"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I didn't ask to work with you."
"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder like, 911.
Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered me his arm, like we should go skipping inside together. "I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!"
"Leo," I said looking at him like he lost it, "you're weird."
"Yeah, you tell me that a lot," Leo grinned at me. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse my old jokes. Come on!"
I figured that if Leo truly was my best friend, my life must be pretty messed up. Then again, if I truly am dating a girl like Piper, it must not be that bad either. So I followed Leo into the museum.
…
We walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture us with his megaphone, which alternately made him sound like a Sith Lord or blare out random comments like "The pig says oink."
Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners from the pockets of his army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands bust at all times.
I was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibit, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which owned the museum.
Some of the girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan—mainly at Piper—and started snickering. I figured these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party.
One of them said, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"
The other girls laughed. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper's snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands, but I got the feeling she was clenching her fists.
"My dad's Cherokee," she said. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."
Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked like an owl with a makeup addiction. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."
Piper charged her, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"
The group shuffled on the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper.
"Good to be back on the rez?"
"Dad's probably too drunk to work. That's why she turned klepto."
Piper ignored them, but I wanted to punch them. I might not remember Piper, or even who I was, but I knew I hated mean kids.
Leo caught my arm. "Be cool. Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd be all bowing down to her and screaming, 'We're not worthy!'"
"Why? What about her dad?"
Leo laughed in disbelief. "You're not kidding? You really don't remember that your girlfriend's dad—"
"Look, I wish I did, but I don't even remember her, much less her dad."
Leo whistled. "Whatever. We have to talk when we get back to the dorm."
We reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.
"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."
The coach opened the doors and all of us stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before us, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.
"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked."
I have to agree. Despite my amnesia and the feeling that I didn't belong here, I couldn't help but be impressed.
The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from pictures. We were up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked around the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while we'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as I could see in any direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to it.
A sudden pain pierced behind my eyes. Crazy gods… How did I come up with that idea? I felt like I'd gotten close to something important—something I should know about. I also got the unmistakable feeling I was in danger, as if my senses woke up and went into a sudden alertness of my surrounding area.
"You all right?" Leo asked. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you? 'Cause I should've brought my camera."
I grabbed the railing. I was shivering and sweaty, but it had nothing to do with heights. I blinked as the pain behind my eyes subsided.
"I'm fine," I managed. "Just a headache."
Thunder rumbled overhead. A cold wind almost knocked him sideways.
"This can't be safe." Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"
I looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. I had a bad feeling about that.
"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"
The storm rumbled, and my head started to hurt again. Not knowing why he did it, he reached into my jeans pocket and brought out a coin—a circle of gold the size of a half-dollar, but thicker and more uneven. Stamped on one said was a picture of a battle-ax. On the other was some guy's face wreathed in laurels. The inscription sad something like ivlivs.
"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked. "You been holding out on me!"
I put the coin away, wondering how I'd come to have it, and why I had the feeling I was to need it soon.
"It's nothing," I said. "Just a coin."
Leo shrugged. Maybe his mind had to keep moving as much as his hands. "Come on," he said. "Dare you to spit over the edge."
…
We didn't try very hard on the worksheet. I was too distracted by the storm and my own mixed up feelings. Not to mention I didn't have any idea how to "name three sedimentary strata you observe" or "describe two examples of erosion."
Leo was no help. He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.
"Check it out." He launched the copter. I figured it would plummet, but the pipe-cleaner blades actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.
"How'd you do that?" I asked.
Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."
"Seriously," I said, "Are we friends?"
"Last I checked."
"You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?" I don't know how, but those questions seemed to right, as if it's proper to find out if I really belonged here and to see if I really do know Leo and Piper.
"It was…" Leo frowned. "I don't really recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."
"But I don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if
—"
"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you just appeared here this morning, and we've all got fake memories of you?"
A little voice in my head said, That's exactly what I think.
But it did sound crazy. Everybody here took me for granted. Everyone acted like I was one of their classmates—except for Coach Hedge.
"Take the worksheet." I handed Leo the paper. "I'll be right back."
Before Leo could protested, I headed across the skywalk.
Our school group had the place to ourselves. Maybe it was too early in the day for tourist, or maybe the weird weather had scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys were dropping pennies over the side. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting him away, and when she saw me and gave me a look like, Throttle this guy for me.
I motioned for her to hang on. I walked up to Coach Hedge who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.
"Did you do this?" the coach asked me.
I took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked if I made the thunderstorm.
Coach Hedge glared at me, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"
"You mean… you don't know me?" I asked. "I'm not one of your students?"
Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today."
I was so relieved I almost wanted to cry. At least I wasn't going insane. I was in the wrong place. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."
"Got that right," Hedge gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You've got a powerful way with the Mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster. You smell like a half-blood. So—who are you, and where'd you come from?"
Most of what the coach said didn't make sense to me, but I decided to answer honestly. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories. You've got to help me."
Coach Hedge studied me like he was trying to read my thoughts.
"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."
"Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"
Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of me wondered if the guy was just nuts. But the other part of me knew better.
"Look, kid," Hedge said. "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect three of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"
"What are you talking about?"
Hedge looked at the storm. Clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.
"This morning," Hedge said. "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. So I figured they were special cases of half-bloods since they were older than most, and that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"
The pain behind my eyes got worse than ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters. I still didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave me a massive brain freeze—like my mind was trying to access information that should've been there but wasn't.
I stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught me. For a short guy, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."
"What director?" I said. "What camp?"
"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before—"
Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.
"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"
"I thought you said this thing was stable!" I shouted over the wind.
"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"
