I don't own Percy Jackson.
Chapter 1: Alice.
Wilderness school was a school for thieves. A school for delinquents. A school for runaways. A school for 'bad kids'.
I wasn't a bad kid- I was just a stowaway, an illegal immigrant from Britain who pretended she was a homeless kid so she wouldn't get kicked out of America. Nothing much!
As I walked into class I was told to sit in between two lads, a short, curly-haired, tanned one and a tallish, black-haired, pale one.
Yay.
I took my seat in-between the two, the brown curly-haired one was twisting some wires together under the table whilst the other one was in a world of his own.
"I'm Alice!" I said, a little too loudly. Both the boys looked at me in union.
"I'm Nathan, and that annoying boy next to you is Leo." Nathan introduced himself; he had brown/black eyes, dark blue jeans, a dark blue shirt and a blue hoodie. I assumed he liked the colour blue.
"Ah, but Nathan, my friend, you forgot the 'Smokin' hot, bad boy' part!" Leo put his wires away and leaned on the table.
"You're right, sorry. I'm Nathan, the smokin' hot, bad boy and that annoying boy next to you is Leo." Nathan smirked, I stifled a laugh- these guys were hilarious!
"Oh, you little-" Leo threatened jokingly and just as he was about to grab Nathan, Mr. Campbell the teacher called for silence.
"Okay, class. Today we'll be introducing ourselves and why you're here. Nathan Blake!" Mr. Campbell called as he pulled a chair to the front. I was in the first row. Nathan got up and walked to the front. After he sat down Mr. Campbell began to ask questions. "Alright, Blake what's your name?"
"What, have you got amnesia or something? You've just said it- not two minutes ago!"
The class burst out laughing.
"Funny, you little brat, now, why are you here?"
"Oh, man! You /do/ have amnesia, you told me to sit here- remember?" Nathan said in mock concern. And again the class erupted in laughter while Mr. Campbell's face just got redder.
"Alright, joker- get back to ya damn seat before I give you a detention!"
"Alright, sir but honestly, I think you ought to see the school nurse…" Nathan trailed off as he sat down in his seat beside me.
"He does see the nurse- just not for the reasons you'd think." Leo said, with a big stupid grin on his face. The whole class was basically rolling with laughter (including me) as Nathan and Leo high-fived and Mr. Campbell spluttered nonsense.
He stormed out the class, roared in annoyance then came back in and threatened the entire class with 'Toilet duty'- I didn't ever want to find out what that meant!
"Isabel Down!" Isabel had a face full of make-up and looked like a harlot.
"I didn't know we took tramps!" Leo whispered to me, I tried to disguise my laugh as a cough when Mr. C gave me a weird look.
"I'm Isabel Down, I'm beautiful, popular and I'm here because I stole make-up."
"And so modest." Nathan muttered under his breath while Leo muttered 'Uh oh, we got ourselves a real rebel here!'
Both comments made me laugh, I just couldn't help it!
"Alice Keys!" Oh- great! I slowly stood up and trudged towards the front of the class, pushing my sleeves up and combing my hand through my hair, like I always did when I was nervous.
"Okay, I'm Alice and, uh, I'm here because," What am I supposed to say, I'm an illegal immigrant who came here because monsters were attacking me and killed my mother? "I'm here because I, uh, stole a…Laundry basket." I finished lamely; only two people out the class didn't take me seriously were the two jokers at the front. Nathan and Leo, I smiled weakly at the class and hurried to my seat before Mr. C could tell me otherwise.
"Laundry looter," Nathan joked as I sat down, I laughed and was relieved he didn't ask about my statement or take it seriously.
After a few more people, (Dylan Lamb, Piper McLean, Susan Owen and Jessica Queen) Leo's turn was finally up.
"Leo Valdez!"
Leo stood up and walked to the front, he winked at Nathan and me.
"I'm Leo Valdez, the utterly gorgeous and best looking guy here. Be happy and grateful that I've decided to grace you with my presence!" I laughed at his joke while Nathan stood up to shout across.
"Utterly gorgeous? Best looking? In what universe do those words apply to you?"
"In all of them! That's the point!" Leo called back, I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing and Mr. Campbell grabbed Leo by the scruff of the neck and dragged him back to his seat, his face a furious red.
"Detention, the three of you!" He hissed as Leo sat back down. "I do not appreciate jokes being made in my class!"
Nathan opened his mouth to retort and probably dig the hole a lot deeper, so I stood on his foot rather painfully.
"Understood sir, sorry." I said as Nathan yelped in pain.
"What was that for?" Nathan asked as soon as sir returned to the front, I just glared at him as Mr. Campbell began to explain how to multiply out brackets.
I walked to detention with Leo and Nathan.
It turns out, that they're foster brothers. Lucky them, I wish I had a family to go home to- even if it was a foster home.
It's better than an orphanage, than the streets, isn't it?
"You'll be writing lines." Mr. Campbell told us when we walked through the door, "I will not make jokes and will behave myself at all times, is what you'll write." We sat down and he gave us some paper and a pen each. "You'll write at least four sides, neat, not too large, no blank lines and no funny business."
We began to write, the teachers knew I was dyslexic and apparently so were Leo and Nathan.
"No excuses and it had better be legible!" Mr. C barked then he left class and locked the door.
"I love how he locked the door- as if we'd try to escape!" Nathan joked.
"Exactly, I could just pick the lock!" Leo laughed, I rolled my eyes and looked at the board where Mr. C had written 'I will not make jokes and will behave myself at all times.'
Well, I'm assuming that's what he wrote. To me it looked like the words were doing the Mexican wave.
"So, where do you guys originally come from? I noticed you have different accents…" I was never brilliant at telling two accents apart unless it was really thick. Nathan's sounded almost familiar, not like that helped because Leo's was also familiar.
"What, you mean you can't guess?" Leo asked, almost surprised. I shrank down in my seat and cursed my inability to tell two accents apart.
"I'll give you a hint." Nathan stood up and brandished an imaginary sword, jumped over the desk and started to yell. "Fear not, my fair maiden for I am a noble knight and will save you from this dastardly beast know as a dragon!" Nathan then went to jab the 'dragon'.
"I don't understand how that's a clue." The two boys stared at me, I felt like an idiot.
"Okay, how about this." Leo got up this time; he got into a cowboy-like stance and pretended to fire two pistols. "Howdy partner!" Then he got onto a 'horse' and galloped around the class room. I burst out laughing but wasn't any closer to guessing, cowboys and knights?
"No, sorry. I still don't know- what kind of place has cowboys and knights?"
You know when you have those moments and when you say things so stupid you can't believe it came out of /your/ mouth? I was having one of those.
Leo and Nathan stared at me like I was the thickest person in the world.
That's when I realised. "Oh, I get it now! You're from England and you're from Texas!"
"I can't believe she didn't get that the first time." Nathan shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. "Bloody ridiculous!"
Well, it's been a while since I've heard someone say 'bloody' or 'bloody hell' because apparently, Americans didn't say it.
I don't know how long it had been but the end of detention finally came and our papers were blank.
"What happened to my plant?" We all looked to the plant on Mr. Campbell's desk that was now withered, at first I felt guilty and thought it was my fault until I noticed Nathan look rather uncomfortable and I remembered that of all the strange things that happened around me, withering plants wasn't one of them.
"Well, at least you've written the lines. Did your Dyslexia take a day off?" Mr. Campbell said as he picked up our paper which now had legible writing on and took up four sides. "Get out of my sight."
The three of us rushed out the class and as soon as we were down the corridor and Mr. Campbell was out of earshot Leo spoke up.
"I don't remember writing a thing- do you?" I nervously rolled up my sleeves, this is the sort of weird thing that happened to me but I couldn't let them know. I also couldn't help but feel like it was my fault.
A few weeks went by and half-term finally drew near.
"Do you want to come over for half-term?" Leo asked with vague interest. As if he was asking to be polite and not actually wanting me over. I wasn't sure if I should be offended or not.
"Um, do you actually want me to come over or are you being polite?" Truth have it, I'd love to come over because after all- it's not like I had somewhere to go.
Unless you count the orphanage, which I'd prefer to never see again.
"Yes- we actually want you over!" Nathan threw his arms up and rolled his eyes. Cheeky git.
"Fine, if you're sure." I said easily, hoping they'd fall into the 'she's so modest' trap. I would rather have them think I'm modest than homeless.
"Yeah, we're sure. Check with your parents first though, the last thing we need is to be charged with kidnapping." Leo joked, I stiffened slightly at the 'check with your parents', my dad hates me and my mom- well, who knows where she is.
"Okay, I'll check but I'm sure they'd be glad to be rid of me anyway. Bye!" I didn't wait for a reply as I ran down to my dorm and plopped myself on the bed. It was only 6 o'clock but I didn't want to be asked any more parent questions.
I got my PJ's on and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
"This is the living-room, leading on to the kitchen and dining room." Nathan talked about the layout of his house as he showed me where things were. Leo was close behind playing with his wires again.
"Do you want to go outside? Xbox? Computer? Anything?" Leo asked when Nathan was finished.
"Um, whatever you want…" I hated choosing, it put me on the spot and I always felt stupid. I'd prefer it if they just chose for me.
"How about all of them? Go out for a while, then the Xbox and computer." Nathan picked up on my awkwardness, thankfully.
"Okay." Me and Leo agreed.
We all got our coats on and headed out. There was a park nearby so we all went. It wasn't anything fancy, a few swings, a round-a-bout, a climbing frame with slides and my favourite thing in the world- the Round and Round swing.
We all climbed into the middle of the R&R swing. "So, how long have you two known each other?"
"Me and Leo were fostered at different times. Leo was fostered first and I, about three or four weeks after. So we've known each other since about the middle of summer." Even though Nathan answered the question, his attention was elsewhere.
It was on the figures approaching us.
"Ah, look who it is! The class clowns." Dylan didn't sound very enthusiastic about seeing us. "What are you doing here?" He sneered.
"The very opposite of you, using oxygen for the greater good." Nathan joked, apparently not afraid of Dylan and his muscles.
I was terrified, to be honest.
"Funny, Blake. Want to know what's funnier? The sound of your neck breaking in half." Dylan advanced and Leo stepped up.
"C'mon guys, it's a public park- right? We'll be out of your hair quicker than lice!" Leo tried. At least he tried, I just wanted the earth to swallow me up.
I know, I know. I'm a coward.
"Clear off, Valdez. I'll rip this puny brat apart. Don't worry though, you and your girlfriend's next." Dylan cracked his knuckles and I gulped. Really hoping the earth would hurry up or maybe I could magically turn into an ostrich and stick my head in the ground and wait until this all blows over?
Either option is looking good, especially as Nathan took a swing at Dylan and caught him in the jaw.
Nathan had more balls than I thought.
"Son of a-" Dylan started but was cut off by another blow to the face.
"What, sorry? Son of a what?" Nathan clenched his fists, drawing blood. Leo steeped in front.
"Man, one hit was enough, two is unnecessary!" Nathan unclenched his fists as Dylan got up. They turned around, a signal that we were leaving. Good.
Untill Dylan yelled, "Get them, lads!"
Way to go, Alice! Befriend the troublemakers!
Nathan turned around and ducked under one of Dylan's goons hits as Leo wasn't as fast and took one to the gut. He stumbled back.
Three against five. Well, technically /two/ and five since I had no interest in getting involved.
Leo re-gained his posture and threw several punches and goon #1 while Nathan had just taken out goon #4. Dylan landed a punch in Nathan's side and was about to land a hard one on his back when he saw me sitting awkwardly on the swing.
Oh boy.
He marched up to me and took me by the collar, "Hey girly!" He bared his teeth like some sort of animal and threw me to the ground. I landed with a soft thud. "Don't you want to play?"
He raised a fist in the air and brought it crashing down, I quickly rolled over to my left and jumped to my feet. "No, you're games seem a little too rough for me, thanks."
He roared like a beast and the adrenaline started to kick in as I dodged a hit, two hits but unfortunately Dylan was third time lucky and his balled fist connected to my no-longer straight or blood-clean nose.
Ouch.
Leo came behind me and steadied me as I stumbled back slightly. "Alright Alice?"
I nodded and looked around to see goon #3 holding his privates and #4 backing Dylan up as he advanced on us. Nathan pounced Dylan and Leo repeated the same move on goon #4.
Dylan stood up and the weirdest thing happened.
He flickered.
I mean, actually flickered, as if he was a hologram or something! That's when he backed up and started to run.
"Get up, you idiots! I'll get you next time, Blake, Valdez!" The five goons ran after Dylan and out of the park.
"Well, that was fun." Nathan smiled, Leo laughed.
"Yeah, fun."
I felt pathetic, I had faced /monsters, beasts/ and yet I cower at a mere bully? I looked down towards the ground and noticed something rather peculiar.
The shadows were shrinking, I looked up to see if the others had noticed, Nathan looked slightly uneasy but Leo put his arms around both our shoulders.
"We better get back, eh?"
As we left the park I glanced back. In all the commotion I hadn't noticed the large shadows but now, as they shrink back to normal size, I realized just how large they were before.
What do you think? It's my first Percy Jackson fanfic but I really love the books and I owe a special thanks to my friend who not only got me into books but inspired and helped me to make a fanfiction. I don't own Nathan Blake (he belongs to my friend) but I do own Alice. Please review, I'll always reply and would honestly love your opinions on this. Thanks! Also a big thanks to Coqui's Song for Beta reading for me!