CHAPTER 1
I guess I should have seen it coming, considering my life was already screwed up as it is. One second I'm hating my life in the most boring tourist attraction on Earth, pretending to pay attention to the crap flooding out of my teacher's mouth, and then I'm being pushed out of a twentieth story window. But I suppose your already lost at this point, so I'll just have to start at the beginning.
I woke up to the tolling of bells in the distance, the same stupid, annoying, bells I heard every morning. It was always the same in Columbus, the most pathetic town in the whole of Colorado. Despite all the places and destinations I could have lived in, somehow I got stuck into living there.
Saying Columbus was the boringest town on Earth was an understatment. The most excitement that ever ripped through here was the crappy old observation tower that tourists just couldn't get enough of. As you can see, I'm not so impressed considering I've been there about eight million times. Sadly, this was the place that pretty much every school field trip brought us to.
I sighed as I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed. By now, I was almost late for school at St. Christopher's Collage for The Gifted and Creative. Now, I know the place sounds horrible, and the truth is, it is. I would know after all, I've lived here for like 5 years. I walked down the stairs, silently fuming about having to get up when I saw the last person I wanted to see, my mom. Look, I don't know what your mom is like, but it can't be worse that what I've had to deal with for basically the whole of my 14 years of life. She always was muttering things under her shallow breaths and held a cold, distant stare at every moment of every day.
As I walked past her she met my eyes with a disgusted look on her face like I'd just shoved a worm up my nose. Her icy blue eyes were the exact opposite of my mud brown ones, and her perfectly straight blonde hair was nothing like the constant mess of brown locks that sat on my head and constantly blew into my eyes. Even her sleek, small body was nothing like the muscular build that had seemed to come naturally to me, even when I sat around for weeks on end during summer break eating Doritos and Sour Patch Kids.
She studied me for a second, the gaze stopping me dead in my tracks. She grimaced briefly, as if remembering a bad memory.
"Um... I'll see you after school, mom." my deep voice echoed in the uneasy silence. She didn't respond, just stood there, her eyes stabbing me like daggers. Slowly, I walked off, barely remembering to grab my backpack, sighing in relief as I finally closed the front door behind me.
I scanned the streets of Columbus, hoping something was different, something was new, but it was still the drab old town it had always been. I sighed and walked down the street without another thought. At least I could look forward to being with my friends, even if everything else sucked. It took about half a minute to walk to the old schoolhouse with the crumbling sign that labeled the Collage for the Gifted and Creative. I tried to read the sign, but the words swarmed around into something like:
hcorst Porslol aegor ffitor degad ncrae vit.
Oh, the joys of being dislexic. Even worse, I also had ADHD so I couldn't stand focusing on one thing or sitting down for too long, and when I say "too long", I mean a few minutes.
I heard the crunching of leaves off to my left, and my head instinctively jerked towards the sound. I caught a faint glimpse of a shadowy figure before coming to the conclusion that whatever it was was gone.
I gulped hard before walking hesitantly to the door and walking in. The schoolhouse was an old fashioned one room building that still had an ancient looking chalkboard at the head of the class. I walked awkwardly past the others who already sat in all their seats before sitting in my own, uncomfotably close to my teacher, Mr. Thorp's, desk.
He glared at me as if waiting for me to do something stupid, like do the Macarena in my underpants. I eyed him back suspiciously, one of the many things he hated so much about me.
"Glad you decided to drop by, Theseus Jones." his voice was scraggly and cruel and definitely showed he was not glad to see me. My fists clenched as he said it. He had used my full name, Theseus Jones. I was fine with my last name, but I had always hated when people called me Theseus, and Mr. Thorp knew that all to well.
"Just Theo is fine, sir." I said, trying to hold in the rage burning inside me as he replied.
"Ah, still loathing your name I see, what a shame, it is one with an excellent history behind it." he croaked out in his disgusting voice. What was that supposed to mean?! My mind filled to the brim with possible ideas of how to kill that guy, which would normally be unhealthy, but no one knows how much I've put up with this tool.
"Well, now that we are all present, I believe it is time for our annual field trip." he said it in a way as if he expected us to all leap for joy and blast party music in happiness. Instead, we all just sat there and groaned in horror. You can probably imagine how many times we've all been on the "amazing" school field trips. Basically, they were all to the same place, so nobody could really see the purpose of it.
"Everone line up in an orderly fashion-" my 'favorite' teacher was interrupted as every student in the room, including me, stood up and packed outside with their friends. I held back, looking for Chloe and Bryce, but they were nowhere to be found.
Great, I thought, I get to enjoy the wonders of the World's Wonder View Tower all by myself!
Thats when I heard his disgusting voice only inches from my face. His uneven breath smelling like he had eaten horse crap for breakfast. I cringed at his sudden presence.
"Give it up, half blood. I know who you are!" he sneered like he had just been told he had won the Crapface Olympics.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, positively puzzeled. What on Earth was a half blood?
He snarled in hatred and disgust. "You should watch your back, little half blood." pushing me aside as he walked out of the room to meet the rest of the class. Watch my back? I didn't like the sound of that. After having a quick argument with myself, I walked hesitantly outside.
"Theo!" Chloe ran up out of nowhere, suddenly huging me so hard it was like she would never let go. She eventually separated to show her gleeful, green eyes and curly, blonde hair. I looked past her to see Bryce, his calm grey eyes looking down at his feet as if he was ashamed about something, as always. His collected black hair combed perfectly to the side.
"Bryce, Chloe, where were you guys?" my voice wavered slightly, my incident with Mr. Throp still fresh in my mind.
"I was about to ask you the same question!" Chloe beamed at me with an expectant look and gave me a little shove. I just raised an eyebrow, not even budged by the push. I looked up at Bryce.
"We looked all over for you, but it was like you disappeared after your little chat with Mr. Thorp." Bryce said plainly with a quizzical look in his eyes.
I just stared at them, my mind reliving what my teacher had said to me. I shivered as I realized something that I hadn't thought of before. Mr. Thorp had snarled at me. And it hadn't sounded human. I felt the fear grip my heart. No, this was insane, how could my teacher not be human? I pushed the thought away, but it still stuck in the back of my mind, like a scratch you couldn't reach.
"Theo, are you okay?" Chloe's worry laced voice snapped me back to reality.
"Yeah, yeah...I-I'm fine." I could hardly get the words out, and when I looked at Chloe, she still looked upset about how I was acting. It was both annoying and amazing that she always knew how I was feeling no matter what I said.
I looked over to see the class heading towards the tower, it was time to go. Chloe and Bryce followed my gaze and seemed to get the memo. We headed off together as I tried to calm down, but I couldn't help but think something was...wrong. I was practicly having a match of tug a war happening in my chest as we got closer and closer to the tower.
You should watch your back, little half blood.
I broke out in a cold sweat even though it was late in winter, and I felt like I was about ready to catch on fire from the fever burning inside me. It took all my will not to go sprinting off like some lunatic. I clamped my jaw shut to stop myself from screaming. Next to me, Chloe looked as worried as ever, and if Bryce was the same way, he hid it well, but I could still see the anxious look in his eyes. I guess they had a right to be worried, I hadn't looked and felt this horrible since I was on my first date with Alexis Augustine in the fifth grade. It had gone okay though, that is if you enjoy having vomit sprayed all over you.
We entered the tower soon enough and I felt chills tumble down my body. Then, a memory flashed before me. It was a flash, a fragment, but it sent ripples of fear through my body. I remembered watching Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom a few summers ago where the stylish and amazing hero is poisoned by the disturbed and sinister villain. I remembered how he had acted, and I knew how I felt. The resemblance sent another wave of chills through me. No, what was I thinking? Who would want to poison me?
The tower looked just like it always did. The old plaster peeling off the rotten wood walls. The carpets worn down so much that the crude wood underneath even showed in some places. The air smelt rotten like sulfur and tobacco as if some creep was lighting cigarettes in a corner someplace. My fever got worse as we entered, the sweat pouring down me. We scaled a cramped staircase that smelt like B.O. to get to the observation deck. I counted the levels we covered. One, two, three...twenty in all.
I felt like I was going to puke, right there, right then. The pain flowing through me burned even more as we exited the staircase onto the observation deck.
"Theo..." Chloe looked at me with a pained expression. She could tell something wasn't right too. Then there was Bryce, walking calmly by me, completely oblivious as usual.
"I'm fine," I lied,"Just a cold or s-something, maybe." the words sprang uncomfortably out of my throat. Oh God! I could hardly speak! I stumbled forward as we approached the window ringing the circular observation deck. I looked out for about one second before turning around. Mr. Thorp was off to the right saying something about the 1930's and construction, being a boring teacher as always. Other than our class, there was one dude standing a few yards back in a trenchcoat and a black floppy hat.
I turned around to see Chloe looking at me with an annoyed face as if I wasn't allowed to turn around. I gave a nervous laugh and tried to take my mind off things for a while. I mean, while I was here I might as well enjoy the scenery of dead plants and dirt that stretched on for miles out.
Suddenly, pain burst into my back as something hit it, something big. I flew forward from the momentum and slamed face first into the observation window. It cracked as I collided with it, spreading spiderwebs across the once smooth surface. I turned instinctively and pushed off the window. I landed a few feet in front of the man in the trenchcoat who proceeded to snicker wistfully.
"You should have run when you had the chance, half blood." his voice boomed even though he hadn't yelled. What is a half blood!? I was burning with rage and curiosity so much that the pain and sickness was swept aside. Time to do something really stupid.
I charged before he had finished the word half blood. I slammed into him and he stumbled back in surprise more than from my blow. I punched his nose, which was practically, along with his mouth, the only thing showing on his face.
Now, I'm no expert on fights, but I'm pretty sure when you punch someone as hard and painfully as I did, you would at least show some kind of reaction. But my punch hadn't even fazed him at all. He just stood there, watching me, and gave another snicker. Wow, that was getting annoying.
"You couldn't hide forever Theseus Jones," he hissed, spittle spraying from his now foaming mouth,"my Lord has been waiting too long for your death!". I felt the anger burn inside me, strength flooding through my body. It had been too long since I felt confident about anything, and now confidence was radiating out of me.
I charged, not sure exactly what I was thinking. I slammed into him, pushing him to the floor under me. Finally, I had gained the upper hand. Too bad I spoke too soon. He pushed me off so hard I could feel the air displacing around me. That's when I hit the window, hard. I heard a faint shatter through the bewilderment that gripped my mind, and then I was falling.
BTW...I DONT ON PJO OR HoO
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