Chapter 1: My Teacher Falls Asleep After Class

Just because you think the world is coming to an end doesn't mean it actually is. Just because you're helping it along doesn't mean you will succeed. I found that out the hard way.

In school, I do my best. Being dyslexic makes things difficult, but not impossible. I just have to work harder than most kids. It would be easier if I had private tutor or something awesome like that, but no. But then again, it's not as if I'm the only kid in the world that's dyslexic. My teachers all think that I don't try, but that's only part-way true. I mean, it's not as if I fall asleep in class. Hey, is it not my fault if every time we go on a field trip something goes wrong? Take, for example, the time in 4th grade when we went to see some dinosaur exhibit. Is it really my fault if the sign that says Do Not Touch fell over so I couldn't see it, so I climb on T-Rex and pull the whole thing down? Well, the teachers thought so. It wasn't even a real T-Rex, just some life-size plastic copy. Still, I got expelled. And then in 5th grade my class went to an opera, and I tripped down the steps. When I stood up, I didn't mean to hit the fire alarm. The little glass thing had fallen down somehow, and somebody pushed me into the the wall, and the end result was the sprinkler system going off and ruining the show. But the day things got really weird, it was just a normal day at school. I was on the bus, butterflies fluttering in my stomach; the school Math Bee was going to be that day. I'm great at math, but terrible at spelling. All I had to do was make sure I did not switch my numbers. It took me a while to learn to read, but my mom home-schooled me for the first few grades so I could learn at my own pace. Anyway, I was on my way to school, staring out the window.

"Kira Sorrel, are you paying attention to me?" Jazzel snapped. "I asked twice if you had anything planned for Saturday."

"Oh, yes, no, sorry," I replied, gathering my thoughts as rapidly as I could. "Saturday? No, why?"

Jazzel answered, "I was wondering if you could come up to my house. On Saturday."

"I don't see why not, but I'll have to check with my mom first," I said.

"Alright. Tell me tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure."

The bus pulled up to the school, cutting our conversation short. We got off and raced inside, just like we always do. I lost by a long shot, just as I always do.

"You cheated!" I called after her.

"I did not," she replied indignantly.

"I'll beat you in gymnastics," I decided. "I've been practicing."

Jazzel rolled her eyes and smiled. "Whatever you say," she said lightly, her voice full of sarcasm.

Side note: Jazzel is awesome at gymnastics. I can do most physical activities without much problem, but Jazzel is amazing at anything that has to do with speed or grace. However, both she and I have trouble with reading and writing. You will not believe how many times I have written 'A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' to get it right. I still usually don't. Just for the record, I hate that sentence.

Jazzel and I went right to our first classroom, which was math, but a bunch of kids didn't. It was fairly close to the entrance/exit, which is probably why practically all my classmates think they can just hope on in after the last second. Personally I hate being late for anything, so I'm usually in class as soon as possible. I have been known to show up for a class a half hour early simple so that I would not be late. Jazzel calls me crazy, but she comes with me anyway.

A few seconds after the bell rang, all the kids who weren't on time rushed in. It was like a herd of stampeding elephants. Rather frightening. The teacher frowned at the late children, but there were far too many of them to properly punish. She smiled tightly at Jazzel and I, then addressed the whole class.

"Please take your seats, class," she ordered. One of the boys raised his hand. "Yes, John?"

"Take our seat where? To the cafeteria?" he asked innocently. Half the class burst out laughing, but the teacher did not look amused.

"No, John, it can stay where it is, though you may take it to the Principal's office if you keep up your attitude or are late again," she said, barely suppressed anger in her voice. "Today is the Math Bee," she continued in a clear voice. "I want everyone in this room by one o'clock p.m. If you are late, I will deduct ten points from your final score." Another reason I like to be early. "Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Mrs. Adderson." We all chorused.

"Good. Everyone please turn to page 392 in you text book. No, Michel, I do not mean your cell phone."

Everyone turned to look at Michel, who was casting mortified glances around and hastily putting his phone back I into his pocket. A few people giggled, and his face was bright red. I pulled out my math book and turned to the assigned page, which was filled with triangles and A's, B's and C's, all of which were squared.

The rest of the day up to lunch went pretty normal: the rest of math class, science class, and then history. I am awful at history. Probably the best grade I ever received in it was a C-, and that was quite a while ago. The problem is that I can never remember if Columbus sailed the ocean in 1492 or 1942 and things like that. On the tests I always write everything down backward. Plus, the teacher has this awful monotone voice and I often get distracted. I try to stay on focus, I really do, but I just can't.

When finally the bell rang for lunch I heaved a great sigh of relief. No more discovering America! For some reason, our teacher is obsessed with discovering America. I ran down the hall until I reached the cafeteria, where Jazzel was waiting for me. You see, she has a different history class, which is way better. Then again, anything would be better than my history class. Well, almost anything.

At lunch everyone was talking about the Math Bee, and about one thing in particular: who was going to win.

"Lisa Megans will win, of course." Everyone agreed. Lisa was the most popular girl in school and was good in every subject. Also, she was the most bratty, snobbish, annoying girl ever to exist on the face of the earth. Oh, and she thinks I am so worthless it is beneath her even to hate me. So nice, wouldn't you say?

"I think you will win," Jazzel whispered to me encouragingly.

"Thank-you. It's at the same time as gymnastics usually are, so you won't get to beat me." I laughed.

"I'll beat you to the lunch line," she pointed out. "And we still have school tomorrow, so I can beat you then. We will see just how much you have been practicing."

We laughed, then I said, "We should probably go get to the Math Room so we won't be late."

As it turned out, about half the class was late. Lisa showed up shortly after Jazzel and I, making sure to tell me that I had no chance of winning. I took some deep breaths and ignored her. I have a tendency to yell at people when they make me mad, but I'm working on not doing that so much.

"Class, I believe I told you to be on time. Please do as I tell you from now on. John, Peter, Anne, Christine, Paul, Mark, Susan, and Robert, you were all late." Mrs. Adderson wrote their names on the chalkboard. "At the end, I will subtract 10 points from each of your scores."

Several of the kids groaned. The Math Bee was the most important and fun thing in math class (which really isn't saying much).

"There is a prize for whoever wins the Math Bee, but it is a surprise. You will all find out what it is at the end of the competition." As if we all didn't know that. Mrs. Adderson announced the categories. "The first challenge is Mental Speed Math. The first problems will be easy and they shall get harder and harder as we go further along. if you get a question wrong in this part of the Bee you are not out, but you don't get points for that question. Does everyone understand?" When everyone said they did, Mrs. Adderson continued, "Lisa, you are first. Please come forward."

Lisa obeyed. She smiled, clearly comfortable standing in front of class. I suppose it didn't hurt her confidence any to know that everyone knew she was going to win.

Mrs. Adderson smiled benevolently at Lisa, then held up the timer in her hand. "Lisa, I am going to give you your equation. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Mrs. Adderson."

I sat on the edge of my seat, hoping desperately that she would mess up and get one wrong.

"What is 12 squared plus 6?"

"150," Lisa replied without hesitation.

"What is the value of x if 21 plus x is equal to 12?"

Lisa gave her answer without even having to think about it. "Negative 9."

After five questions, Lisa sat back down. Mark went. He had a good deal more trouble and took way too long. Sara, Kate, Lily, Grace, Sam, Joe and Paul all went, with no improvement. Lisa was still in the lead by far. Then it was my turn. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I looked at the teacher, ready for my questions. It was probably just my imagination, but she seemed to look at me as if she wanted me to fail miserably. I pushed away the thought and prepared for my mental math.

"What is the cubed root of 64?"

Easy. "4," I replied.

"What is the value of x if 2 times x is equal to negative 2?"

Really easy. I had seriously expected the problems to be harder than this. "Negative 1."

"If a right triangle has a hypotenuse of 10cm and a leg of 6cm, what is the length of the other leg?"

Pythagoras Theorem. Also a three-four-five triangle. "8cm."

The teacher asked, "What is 10 squared plus 21?"

"121," I answered.

Before I knew it I was on my last question. "What is the radius of a circle if the area is 256pi cm squared?

Equation for area of a circle: Pi r Squared. "16."

I went back to my seat, tremendously relieved. The rest of the class answered their questions, but I barely heard them. When the last person sat down, Mrs. Adderson announced the current placements.

"So far, Lisa is in the lead. She got all of her questions correct and had the best time. Kira is in second place. She also got all of her questions correct, but her time was slightly longer." Everyone cheered, though I doubt it was for me. Lisa smiled broadly. "Now we shall move on to harder problems."

After answering a total of 50 questions each, the Mental Speed Math was over. My brain hurt, even before we went on to the written test. It was hard for me, because I often write down numbers backwards. I was really careful though (and it was mostly multiple choice), so I didn't do too badly.

"Come back in one hour and I will have the results for you. Off to Chem. Lab you go now!"

Let me tell you, after all that math I could only think about math, which was not the most useful thing. In Chem. Lab I nearly blew up my experiment— which contained a good deal of acid— but luckily my lab partner saved it.

"Careful!" she exclaimed hotly. "We already put in Baking Soda, so don't add vinegar! What were you thinking?"

I blinked, realizing she was right. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking at all," I replied guiltily. "Thanks for saving the experiment, Lilieth."

"You're welcome. I suppose you did do a lot of thinking in the 6th grade Math Bee." Lilieth relented. She's in 7th grade, so she didn't participate in the Bee.

"Yeah. My brain hurts so much now. Lisa probably won, but I don't care."

"Of course you care! But you should; everyone in 6th grade cares about the 6th grade Math Bee. I'm sure you did just fine," Lilieth said optimistically.

I smiled at her gratefully, glad that she understood. Suddenly our Chem. teacher walked in. Lilieth stood in front of the semi-ruined experiment so that he couldn't see.

"All 6th grade students are dismissed to go receive their results," the teacher informed us, then exited.

I looked at Lilieth. She smiled knowingly and said, "Go on. I can clean this up and get it going on the right track again."

I thanked and practically ran to the math room, and I wasn't the only one. The hall was filled with excited and nervous 6th-graders, more than I had even realized were in my class.

"Everyone settle down please," Mrs. Adderson ordered. She has this weird habit of saying 'please' when we don't have a choice. We all more-or-less quieted, though murmurs still ran through the group.

As I waited for the results I fingered my gold ring, feeling with my fingertips the tiny diamond hourglass. It had been a gift from my father, whom I had never met. Mom had told me that he was absolutely wonderful, but had had to go away. Other than that, I did not really know much about him.

"Now, for the winners. I will announce first, second and third places here in class, and the places lower than that will be posted on the door after class," Mrs. Adderson announced. She paused dramatically, then continued in the voice the guy uses on America's Got Talent, "In third place, David Adderson!" In case you didn't guess, he's her son. The class applauded as he stepped forward to receive his certificate and the great mystery prize, which was a trophy with a math equation on it. I solved it for no particular reason. The answer was 25i. When the measly cheering died down, the teacher went on. "In second place, Kira Sorrel!" I was so shocked I didn't take any notice of the bitter annoyance in her voice. I had thought that I would be in fourth place at best, but second? It was unbelievable! Part of me was disappointed, but I tried to suppress it. I walked up to the front of the classroom and received my own certificate and math-problem trophy, ignoring the fact that the class was not exactly wild. Lisa got first, naturally. She walked up like a movie star, pride and happiness flowing off of her. The applause she received was actually genuine, not to mention quite lengthy. I wasn't surprised, but I was a bit envious.

"Congratulations to everyone, you all did very well and I am proud of everyone. Please do not forget to do you homework," Mrs. Adderson said, sounding somewhat like a computer program. I doubted she meant the part about being proud of everyone. The bell rang and everyone rushed to the door, myself nowhere near the back of the crowd. An icy voice cut through the sudden jabber that accompanied the end of school. "Ms. Sorrel, please see me in my office." I froze. What had I done wrong? Surely she didn't think I had cheated. I had never cheated before, as proven by my overall terrible grades. I glanced around for Jazzel, who gave me a look of sympathy,and cautiously I went into Mrs. Adderson's office.

"Please have a seat, Ms. Sorrel," she said when the door closed behind me. It may have just been a trick of the strange red lighting, but her eyes seemed less brown and more crimson.

"Yes?" I asked tentatively, slowly lowering myself into a chair. I have no doubt that my gold-flecked green eyes were huge as I waited to hear what she had to say.

"Ms. Sorrel, it seems to me you are special." That was not necessarily bad, but it wasn't necessarily good either. "You are special in a very interesting way. But, despite what makes you special, we have found you."

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"We have found you!" Mrs. Adderson repeated triumphantly. Her fingernails began to grow, and her teeth seemed sharper. I sat stone still as she advanced.

"Sleep!" a voice from behind me suddenly commanded.

I spun my chair around (it was one of those spinning ones) to look at the speaker. To my surprise, it was my mom. She looked absolutely furious. I turned back around and was stunned to see Mrs. Adderson laying on the floor, fast asleep.

"Mom, what's going on?" I inquired uneasily, looking back and forth between my mom and my sleeping teacher.

"Come with me. I will explain everything when we get home," she ordered sharply. "I'll drive you home. No bus."

"But I didn't say goodbye to Jazzel!" I protested.

"You can apologize tomorrow. We have to get you home," my mom said. "Your life may depend upon it."

"But—" I began, then the 'your life may depend upon it' part registered in my brain and I fell silent.

"We must get home. I will explain everything later." She gave me a look that silenced any other protests I might have had and we left the teacher's office. I expected to make a mad dash to the car, but Mom walked calmly over, stopping to throw away her gum on the way. When we were in the car she drove at her regular speed, just under the speed limit. What seemed like hours later we went into the house and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Now will you tell me what on earth happened back there?" I asked desperately.

My mom nodded, then took a deep breath. "What I am about to tell you may be very difficult for you to understand, but I feel that it is vitally important that you know and believe. Previously I protected you, and so did your ring, but you have been found anyway, as I am sure your teacher told you."

"What is it?" I demanded, getting impatient. "What happened? Why did it happen? Who is Mrs. Adderson?"

"I will answer all of your questions soon, or you will answer them yourself," Mom promised. She forced a smile and then took another deep breath. "You see, Kira, your father is Kronos, Titan King on the Gods."