chapter one who am I

why is it always me? I am always the one getting blamed for things. like last week they blamed me for completely trashing the classroom even though there were eye witnesses that I was in the cafeteria. plus i'm not strong enough to rip the door off its hinges. and now they blame me for making a giant hole in the gym wall even though I was in class when it happened. you can look at the attendance sheet and ask the teacher questions ya know.

"now don't get all riled up Casey. we all know these strange things only started happening when you started coming to this school therefore we will have to expel you in order to keep everyone safe." said the principal. this wasn't a new experience for me, in fact I had only just started going to this school because I was kicked out of her other school for the same reasons. this was actually my 9th school in the seven years I have been going to school.

"as I've told everyone else I couldn't have caused the hole in the gym wall, for one thing I am no where near strong enough and for another what reason would I have to do it?" I said as the teacher got a yellow piece of paper out of his desk drawer and began to fill it out.

"I don't know why you would do it, or why anyone would do it to get you in trouble. you're a good kid and most everyone likes you."

"truly, hardly anyone likes me"

"well most of the kids do, there are the occasional arguments though."

"exactly, and they just keep getting worse. the other kids just won't stop."

As we were talking the principle finished filling out the yellow piece of paper and stamped it with his signature. "here is your…"

"I know what it is" I interrupted impatiently, "I've done this several times before.

"than just as a reminder this must be signed by your parent or guardian and turned in before tomorrow at noon."

-o0O0o-

"hey mom, I'm home." I yelled as I walked in the apartment.

I look almost nothing like my mom, my mom, Mrs. Morton, has perfectly blond hair and really big beautiful brown eyes; whereas, I have black hair and bright green eyes, but you could tell we were related because we had the same smile.

"oh, Casey. I am glad you are home, I have someone I'd like you to meet." exclaimed Mrs. Morton. she always acted like this. whenever I came home there was always a new boyfriend she wanted me to meet, and they all stunk to high heaven.

"ok, but I need to tell you something first" I cut in. "I have been expelled again, I need you to sign this so I can turn it in tomorrow."

"ok, I can get that done later tonight. but for right now I need you to meet someone." I sighed giving in. It was always about her new boyfriend, never about me, everything changed on the way back from a trip to the beach one day, ever since then it was never about me, always about her boyfriends. while I was thinking, my mom walked to the wall and knocked on it, this was how we tell our friends next door we wanted to hangout and they could come over. The only thing weird about this time was that I couldn't smell that awful stench that all her boyfriends seemed to have. they I smelled it, as soon as she heard the door next door slam that disgusting smell hit me like a brick wall. that smell always made me sick but this was ten times worse.

"hey mom, all the sudden I don't feel so good. I am gonna go lay down in my room."

"oh, please wait just one minute."

"but first I think I will visit the bathroom." I exclaimed putting a hand over my mouth.

"alright but please get well soon, I really do want you to meet Cristofer." my mom said, I feel sorry for her but I just couldn't take the smell this time.

Just then Cristofer walked in the apartment so I ran. I slammed the door and shoved blankets in the holes just in time to not get hit by another wave of stench.

I can't believe my rotten luck today. first I was expelled, then my mom brought home her stinkiest boyfriend yet.

I flopped on her bed moaning "could my life get much worse?" little did I know this was only the beginning.

I woke up to find my mom and Christopher passed out on the couch with the TV still on. I made all of them omelets for breakfast and got ready to go drop of the paper at school which I found signed on the table. When I was ready and about to leave I noticed my mom eating her omelet. "morning mom."

"morning Casey" and that was it, no thank you for the omelet, not even a goodbye.

"I will be stopping by the store before I come home tonight." and with that I was gone. little did we know they wouldn't be seeing each other for the longest time.

-o0O0o-

after I dropped off the expelled notice parchment I went to go tell my friends goodbye, but before I could found my friends the other new kid walked up to me.

his name is Taylor Woodall, he has shaggy brown hair that almost covers his brown eyes. and he walked with a very bad limp. "Casey! Casey! can we talk for a minute?" called Taylor.

"sure, but can we do it on the way to my friends classroom? I have to be off campus in an hour." I replied pausing to let him catch up.

"I heard you were expelled. did they tell you why?"

"you heard they blamed me for causing a hole in the gym wall right? will their reason was they had to keep everyone 'safe'. ridiculous right."

"oh…"

"I can't stand it wh…" just then a loud crash came from one of the vacant school rooms "...what was that?"

"let's go this way, whatever it is doesn't sound friendly." Taylor said gesturing in the opposite direction. I just ignored him, and when Taylor realized that he just followed me. We quickly walked in the direction the sound came from, but before we could tell exactly where it was coming from a door was ripped off it's hinges! the thing that came out of the room was the ugliest thing I had ever seen, which is saying something. It had blood red eyes, three, no four heads that all looked like they had less sense than a squirrel with rabies, which I didn't think was possible, and it looked a bit like a dragon.

"What are you doing in this classroom? actually not just this classroom but this school?" I demanded. She was about to say something else but the monster let out a big rarh that practically knocked me off my feet. "Where do you get off raring at me like that?" I couldn't help but saying before I lost my nerve and ran.

"Where are you going" asked Taylor as if there was no better place in the world to be. But he ran alongside me which was odd because he always limps so badly, but there was no time to think about that right now, the monster was chasing us now and it was fast for having stubby dragon legs. just then we went through an EXIT door, which probably turned on the fire alarm, and ran outside.

"where did those clouds come from?" I know, that is not important right now but when I'm nervous my ADHD acts up and I notice little things like that.

"oh no, oh no, oh no. this isn't good. No this is bad, very bad, very bad." was Taylor's answer.

"well that is very helpful." just then Taylor took a solid gold coin the size of my fist, muttered something under his breath, and dropped the coin. I waited for the sound of it hitting the concrete below but it never came, finally I had to look down and when I did it wasn't there anymore. then something that looked like a taxi metalized right in front of us. there were three old ladies in the front seat. "if you want to live get in" said Taylor in a very serious tone.

"I'm not arguing with that." I rattled off as I climbed in the car. As soon as the door was closed the old lady in the driver seat slammed on the throttle and the car shot ahead like a rocket.

After I sat back up in my seat I asked Taylor "now that we aren't being chased by monsters or storm clouds tell me where are we going, who are these old ladies, what was that monster, and why were you saying 'this is not good'?" I couldn't help it, I sometimes ramble when I get nervous.

"we are going to camp half-flood, they are the Graeae, that monster was a hydra, and I was saying 'this is not good' because this is not good, if the hydra and anemoi are after you then you must be a very powerful half-blood…" Taylor practically shouted.

"wait… WHAT!?"

"let Chiron explain everything when we get to camp"

"fine" I didn't' like waiting, but everyone made me wait. just then the car came to a screeching stop which once again through me from my seat. when I finally got up, for the second time, I saw a large hill with a large beautiful pine tree that practically radiated life on top.

"move it Casey, we have no time to lose" said Taylor. "thanks for the ride, see y'all later" he added looking at the three old ladies in the front that he called Graeae.

"oh, we will see you sooner than that" they responded turning their heads so we could see their faces. when I saw them they only had one eye. literally, only one between the three of them. that sent shivers down my spine but before I could say or do anything else the ground started shaking and a piercing rarh came out of nowhere. "well that is our cue" the old ladies said and drove off.

we started running towards that top of the hill as fast as our legs could take us. then, out of nowhere, I got exceedingly mad. this monster had wrecked my life. I wasn't able to say goodbye to my friends, mom was probably wondering where I was about now, and on top of all that she was in a place she had never even heard of very far away from home. I stood up vary slow, then one foot in front of the other I walked up to the hydra. My in-stinks had taken over. before I new what was happening the hydra gathered fire in its tallest head. I knew it was about to let go of that fire in my direction. Then I felt it, a slight tug in my gut and there was a rush in my ears. I had no idea what I was doing. just as the hydra let loose its fire there was a wall of water in front of me. then Taylor jumped on the hydras back and started riding it like a wild horse with multiple heads.

"run, get to the other side of the hill, you will be safe there. I will follow, just go." exclaimed Taylor with some difficulty. so I ran.

A/N

Hey everyone, thanks for reading my story. Just a heads up, I am very busy, all year round (thanks to being home-schooled), so I most likely wont post very often. Any way I'd love to hear from y'all so please comment, even if it is just to say I like your story or this is your best chapter yet!

P.S. this is my first story so I hope you all like it!