H. Les

Hey, whoever is reading this, I have quite the story for you. My name is H. Ulster Les, I never knew what it was short for but I'll start from the beginning. And by the beginning I mean my baby days...

See when I was a baby my mother was always working and left me with the most terrible babysitter ever. Maggie McLapps. She always fell asleep while on the clock, I never understood why, my mother said she was only about 40 years old. One day my mom came home and Maggie had left the window open by accident, two snakes had made their way in. When my mom got home she found me holding them by the neck, one in each hand. I was hitting them on the crib's mattress like drum sticks. Let's just say we didn't see Maggie for a while...

A year later, my mom hired Maggie's daughter, Anna. My mom said I needed to be breast fed for dinner and Anna couldn't do that. She called Maggie down and asked her to do it. Apparently I bit or something because she pulled away. After that my mother said I showed signs of strength no infant should have...

Now, 15 years later, I'm a fine 17 year old kid. It was December 16th, I'd be 18 in on the 21st. Everything was going great, that was until I got a visit from a man with a pen sword...

See, the last few weeks of school before Christmas break are midterms in the Manhattan high schools. I was in the middle of my ancient literature final, trying to figure out which hero killed the Minotaur when a kid came bustling into the room.

"Hey," He said, running up to me. "Are you H. Les?"

"Yeah?" I say, staring at the boy standing before me, it looked as if he had 3 heads.

"Listen, you have to come with me."

"Uh, why?"

"You're in..." Before he could finish a desk hit the kid and he was knocked across the room. I looked in surprise to see my teacher, Professor Griffin, staring at me with a look of pure hatred. I mean, I know he hated me but I don't see why he would throw a desk at a poor kid... and then the air shimmered and Prof. Griffin started to change. His arms started turning into talons, body turning into the body of a lion. He started sprouting wings and his mouth stretched into a beak. Finally a griffin stood before me, I nearly crapped myself.

"You're a... You're a..." I stammered while the rest of the class crawled under their desks, screaming.

"You're a... a... a..." the Griffin mimicked. "I'm a griffin, yes, thank you for getting that out of the way. Now it is time to die."

"Wh-why?"

"Because, you fool, you're..." Just as he was about to finish a sword appeared in his beak. The Griffin exploded into dust. The boy that had come barging in landed in the pile, sword in hand. Or at least I thought it was a sword, for a second it looked like pistol, then a sword, then a pistol again. I shook my head and looked at the kid. He was maybe a head length shorter than me, about 14 maybe 15, and had these green eyes that bore into you...

"We gotta go," He grabbed my arm and dragged me from the room. When we were in the hall we bumped into a kid with crutches.

"Grover," me and the kid said at the same time, we looked at each other.

"Percy," Grover said, looking at the kid. "We gotta get out of here, there are monsters all over!"

"Monsters?" I say, confused.

"Alright, you got a car?" The kid named Percy asked me.

"Uh, yeah," I said, shaking myself out of the funk I was in. "It's outside."

"Alright, you're driving. Grover, any monsters out there?"

Grover sniffed the air. "Nah, there are tons out the main entrance though."

"Lets get out of here then," Percy said...

We got as far as my car when something roared loudly behind us... I turned and saw a bull charging toward us, then I saw it's legs and I gasped. It had human legs...

"Not this guy again..." Percy groaned.

"You know this... thing?" I asked him, still trying to get the door unlocked, figures the one time I lock my doors a huge bull-man comes charging at me.

"Yeah, I had a run in with it a few years ago... Not a fun guy to have to deal with..."

I got the key in and turned the lock. We got in and I started the car, I didn't know how fast a bull could run with puny human legs carrying it but that didn't stop me from speeding down the street and onto the highway. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the bull-man plowing cars aside like they were snowmen...

"So where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level, didn't work too well, my voice cracked more than the thin ice under a fat person.

"Long Island," Percy says, I look at him like I did when he burst into my classroom.

"Long Island? You know how far that is?"

"Yeah, just keep the pedal to the metal, we'll be fine."

Just as he said that the minotaur let out a bloodcurdling roar.

"Besides that, right?" I said to Percy.

"Heh, yeah." Percy said.

We passed a sign that said, "Long Island Exit 3 ½ mile." And just as we got off the highway and onto a back road we thought we lost the Minotaur. After we had traveled a little while, something hits the car and we got toppling onto the side.

"Aw no," I moaned, getting out of the car. "Not my car! It took me three years to save up for this thing you oversized cow!"

The Minotaur towered over us, and then something even stranger happened. When the Minotaur was about to strike, a crack of thunder came from above and struck the monster. It exploded into a cloud of dust before my eyes. I looked back and Percy and Grover were just stirring from being knocked out, the still seemed out of it though.

A voice inside my head said, Do not tell the satyr or the half-blood what you saw. This stays between us.

I was about to ask who said that when Percy grabbed my arm.

"What happened?" He asked me, trying the shake off the confusion.

"Uh, truck hit the Minotaur..." I said.

"That wouldn't kill it though," Percy said, eying me suspiciously.

"Well, are monsters ever really... dead?" I said, hoping to confuse him and I walked away.

Percy look at Grover and Grover shrugged...

We got to this great big hill with a pine tree on the top after and hour's walk. We trudged up the hill, I was exhausted by the time we got to the top. I leaned against the tree for a breather when I heard a strange growling sound. When I looked up a dragon was eying me with a hungry expression, I jumped back from the tree and looked up at it. There, hanging from the branches, was a golden fleece.

"I wouldn't touch the tree unless you want to be barbequed." Percy said, pulling me away from the tree.

"What's going on," I asked.

"This is a camp for demigods, Camp Half-blood."

"I'm not a demigod," I said, shaking my head. "My mother is from Brooklyn, and my dad walked out on us."

"Your dad didn't walk out," Percy said. "He was a god, who he is is yet to be determined."

"Determined, what do you mean?"

"The gods claim their children when they at about 13 years of age. Why your father hasn't claimed you I don't know."

I didn't know what he was talking about. I knew my father, I saw him every once and a while. But I didn't argue.

"See," Percy said, as if he knew I wasn't satisfied. "If you weren't a half-blood then you wouldn't be able to pass through the barrier. The magic keeps mortals and monsters from entering."

That gets my attention... if my father and my mother are gods then what I am I?

We get to this big farm house and Percy calls in.

"Chiron, we got another half-blood!"

For a minute I'm confused, Chiron was a centaur that lived thousands of years ago. He couldn't be in this farm house. My suspicions are put at ease when a simple man in a wheelchair wheels out of the house. He looked at me and his eyes widen.

"By the gods," he said. "It's you."

"Um, what?" I asked.

"Come in, come in." He says gesturing to the door. "Not you two," He says to Percy and Grover, I look back and shrug...

Inside the farm house the man gets out of his wheelchair, but his human legs don't move, instead a horse's body is pulled from the chair.

"What in the world," I said.

"So," the centaur said as if what he did was completely natural. "How old are you?"

"Er," I said, still fixated on the centaur thing. "erm, 17, sir."

"That explains why you do not recognize me." He grabs a gold coin from the table and walks over to a fountain that is spraying water up. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Lord Zeus in Olympus." He threw the coin into the mist and it disappeared. An image appeared with a man in a dark blue pinstriped suit and black hair that ran to his shoulders. His beard was black mixed with marble gray, it kind of looked like a thunder cloud.

The man looked over and saw Chiron. "Chiron, what is the meaning of this Iris message?"

"Lord Zeus, are you alone?" Chiron asked, a certain urgency in his voice.

"Yes," Zeus said, eyes narrowing. "What is wrong?"

Chiron grabbed me and pulled me into view of the god. Zeus' eyes widened, lightning flashing around in them. He waved a hand through the Iris message and broke the connection. Chiron sighed, obviously upset from the lack of communication. Then there was a flash of light and when we turned, there stood Zeus, Lord of the Skies, King of the Gods.

Chiron bowed, I did the same.

"Lord Zeus," Chiron said. "You are aware of who this boy is then?"

"Yes, Chiron. Rise boy, let me look at you."

I stood and looked to the floor. Zeus walked around me three times, he stopped in front of me, and when I looked up, he was smiling.

"By the family," Zeus said, I found it funny how he didn't say "gods", "It is you!"

He pulled me into a hug and I was so surprised I just stood there. He pulled back, and frowned.

"How old are you, son?" He asked me, I heard concern in his voice, which surprised me even more.

"Uh, 17, sir," I said.

"When shall you turn 18?"

"Um, this coming Thursday sir."

"Excellent! That is but 4 days from now!" He boomed with a triumphant laughter.

"Sir, er, Lord Zeus," I say, still confused. "What's going on?"

"Why, my dear boy, you are the reincarnation of my son Hercules!"

Everything went black...

I woke up in a cot much like you would lay in at a hospital, when I sat up I saw a guy with eyes all over his body, all visible eyes on me.

"Morning, Sleepin' Beauty." He said with a smile, he had a surprisingly nice smile for someone with hundreds of eyes.

"Morning," I said. "How long have I been out?"

"Long enough for the gods to hear about you," A voice said from beside me. I looked to find Zeus sitting beside me, his hair was sticking up in the places where his hair had been going through it.

"Zeus," I said stupidly. "You look terrible!" I wished I hadn't said that, he was probably going to blast me to smithereens now.

Instead, he sighed and looked at me. "Well, the other Gods aren't too happy about your existence."

"Good to know," I said. "Everyone in the heavens wants me dead."

"Well, not everyone." Zeus said. "Hades and Poseidon have no problem with you. Ares doesn't mind you, nor does Hephaestus. The only one who is majorly pissed about you is Hera."

I gulped, Hera, the mortal enemy of Hercules... or, immortal enemy I should say. Then I remembered something about my conversation with Zeus and Chiron.

"Zeus," I said, looking at him. "Why did you ask when I would turn 18?"

"Because," Zeus said. "At 18 the reincarnation becomes final, the second you turn 18 you will regain all the lost memories of Hercules."

"Wait, so is that what my name means?" I asked him. "H. Ulster Les. H stands for Herc, right? So my name is Herc U. Les..."

"Damn, you must be a son of Athena if you figured that out," Zeus said, I didn't know if he was being sarcastic or if he was sincere.

"So what do I do?" I asked Zeus.

"Well, you just wait until you get your full memories, it's too dangerous to go out into the mortal world so you'll have to stay here."

"What? What about school, friends, family?"

"I don't know what to tell ya kid, life as a hero isn't as cracked up as it seems to be huh?" And with that, Zeus flashed out in a crack of lightning, leaving me alone with the hundred eyed man...

I walked out of the farm house and had my first real look around camp. There were the normal camp things; cabins, dining area, amphitheater. And then were the Camp Half-blood things; sword practice area, archery area, Pegasus stables, and weapon cache.

Percy and Grover were sitting at the ocean with a girl with blonde curly hair. I walked down to the lake.

"Hey Percy," I said in greeting. "Grover."

They both looked up and waved, the girl looked up and her eyes widened.

"Oh my gods!" She exclaimed. "You're... you're Hercules!"

"Uh, yeah, that's what they tell me," I say awkwardly. "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm Annabeth, Annabeth Chase." She extended a hand and I shook it.

"So Herc," Percy said, standing. "How are you liking the camp?"

"Oh it's great, I just wish I wasn't trapped here."

"Trapped?" Percy seemed concerned.

"Yeah," I said, I told them about my meeting with the King of the Gods.

"Wow," Percy said. "Harsh."

"You're telling me, and even worse, some of the gods wants me dead."

"I know how that feels, trust me," Percy said. He told me about how he is the son of Poseidon and should never have been born and the gods think he is a huge threat.

Annabeth was staring intently at me the whole time we talked, then her eyes flicked behind her and she gasped. When Percy asked what was up all she did was point behind me. When I turned to see who she was pointing at, I saw a boy about my age. He was blonde with short hair, glasses, and the features I had seen in some of the campers, I think they were from the Hermes cabin but I may have been mistaken.

He saw us and waved. Annabeth, Percy, and Grover all ran to him, I followed at a walking pace. It seemed as if the whole camp was coming to meet this guy, whoever he was. When I got there people were shooting questions at him like, "How did you come back?" "What happened?" "How did you escape the Underworld?" Finally Chiron galloped over and stood in awe at the boy.

"My gods," He muttered. "Chris Wall..."