{Bella- 11 years, Percy- 13 years}
BPOV:
All these years I had lived with my mother Sally, and my elder brother Percy Jackson in a tiny town called Forks, WA. We had a simple life. My mother worked in a candy shop chain, called 'Sweet on America.' We were provided with all the basic stuff, got awesome gifts on our birthdays, hung out with our school friends, played football and basketball the whole time. Percy and I had never seen our father, apparently he was 'Lost in Sea.' The way my mother said it, it felt as if she were insinuating something else, some hidden clue. Overall, our lives were pretty good.
Today was our first day of school after the summer vacations. Percy had entered the 8th grade, while I had entered the 6th grade. In the town of forks, there was a single elementary school, where all the kids of the town went. The school was normal, however Percy and I were not. Both of us were diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD early in our childhood. It made us stand out in the school as if we were some freaks. However mom used to tell us that being different was good. But in a town like forks, being different was not quite 'that good.' It made us stand out. Percy and I were very different than the other kids. Though we had spent most our life in the rainy and sunless town of Forks, we both were perfectly tanned. We had athletic and fit bodies. We had sea green eyes, which were not common at all. I even had chocolate brown speckles in my eyes. Percy's hair was raven-black, while I had mahogany hair with red and blonde streaks, which were natural. We were also quite tall for our age.
All of these made us stand out. And eventually led us to be considered freaks.
"Percy, Bella, come down! You guys need to have breakfast and then I'll drop you guys at school on my way to work." Our mother yelled from the hall below. I came out of my room, dressed in some form fitting jeans and a comfortable sweatshirt. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I grabbed my backpack from the hook, and headed to the kitchen. On the dining table were plates stacked neatly with blue pancakes and blue waffles. In our family, everyone was obsessed with blue color food.
I grabbed a plate, put a pancake, and began eating. Soon Percy came down, dressed in some jeans and a t-shirt. After finishing our food, I took the plates, rinsed them, and left them in the dishwasher. Percy took our bags and went outside. After cleaning up, I wore my converse, and ran outside, locking the door behind me. Mom was already seated in the car, with Percy in the shotgun seat.
Soon we reached school. Both of us grabbed our bags, and headed to the office to collect our new schedules.
After viewing each other's schedules, we decided to wait in the parking lot for our best friend, Grover.
Grover was a very sweet guy, who was in Percy's grade. I loved him like a brother. Unfortunately, Grover was handicapped, and hence couldn't join us on our basketball evenings. He always came to school along with Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher.
For a teacher, Mr. Brunner was a pretty awesome person. He always gave us very simple homework. Latin, or more precisely ancient Greek was the only language which was unaffected by our dyslexia. We always aced in this subject.
Mr. Brunner would always tell us these amazing mythological stories. He would also allow us to play games in the class, and also talk to one another during free time. The latter was not really helpful for Percy and me, because we were loners.
After the first four lectures, Grover, Percy and I headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Luckily we all had lunch at the same time. We took our trays, paid for our stuff, and sat at a table away from the popular kids.
"I just hope we have a good year." Grover commented.
"Yeah man, I just hope Percy doesn't do anything which might get us expelled. Last year, we were nearly expelled when he set fire to the chemistry lab." I said.
"Hey! I didn't know that Phosphorus burnt at room temperature!" Percy defended himself.
After some nonsensical bickering, I reminded him that we both had a free period after break, and we had to go to the library to do our respective projects. Soon we finished our lunch, disposed our trays and bid goodbye to Grover. With his arm slung around my shoulders, Percy and I went to the library.
I had a history project on The Cold War, while Percy had a Chemistry Project on Petroleum products. We headed to the respective aisles after giving a short nod of greeting to Mrs. Dodds, the temporary Librarian.
When I couldn't locate the required books, I decided to go to the librarian. Maybe she could help me out. On my way, I saw Mr. Brunner seated in the teacher's lounge.
"Excuse me Mrs. Dodds, could you help me find a book related to The Cold War, please?" I asked her.
"Sure, follow me."
She rose from her seat and began walking towards the storage room. I followed after her. She took a set of keys from her pocket, opened the lock, and directed me to enter the room. I stepped into the dusty room, which appeared to have not been used for ages. My eyes swept over the length of the room to find for shelves where we could find the books, but all the room contained was old furniture covered with white sheets.
"Um… Mrs. Dodds, I don't think we'll find anything here." I told her.
"Mrs. Dodds?" I didn't receive any answer.
"Hello-o!" Still no reply. Weird.
I turned around, searching for her, only to find some weird creature flying towards me. I immediately ducked down to save myself. The creature had leathery wings like bats, claws, a mouth full of yellow fangs and glowing eyes. It also had whips that danced with flames every time it flicked them. Immediately it again lunged for me.
I didn't have any weapon with me, so I decided to call for help.
"Percy! Help me! Come to the storage room!" I yelled loudly. I tried to get away from the monster. I ran towards the exit door, only to find it locked. I began to panic. Was this monster really there, or was my silly over-imaginative brain giving me hallucinations? What if it really wasn't there, and Percy would think I had gone mad?
I suddenly remembered that I couldn't see Mrs. Dodds anywhere. Where was she? She couldn't have gone out of the room. Was she all right?
In a blink of an eye, I was air-borne.
"Ahhhhh! Percy! Mrs. Dodds, Mr. Brunner! Somebody help me!" I screamed once again. Immediately I heard someone pounding the door.
"Open the door Bella!" I heard the muffled voice of Percy and Mr. Brunner.
"Quiet, child! Else I will eat you now. It has been long since I ate a demigod, you pest!"
All of a sudden, the door flew open, and I saw Percy, Mr. Brunner and Grover standing outside.
"Leave her alone, Arai!" Mr. Brunner yelled. Arai?
The creature's claws began to dig deeper into my skin, and I again yelled out in pain.
"Mrs. Dodds. I knew something was up with her. Grover…" Mr. Brunner turned towards Grover and began muttering. Grover nodded after a few seconds. Mr. Brunner then turned towards Percy, and gave him some metallic object. I looked closer. A pen.
"Take this Percy! This is very important and valuable!" he told Percy.
"What? This is only a p-" when all of a sudden the pen morphed into a three-foot long bronze sword. At the sight of it, the monster screamed, and let go of me, making me fall down on the floor with a snap-like sound. Oh no, not a bone! I clenched my teeth to prevent me from screaming in pain.
The monster flew towards Percy, trying to grab him. Percy flung the sword aimlessly, trying to injure the monster. After a few aimless thrusts in its direction, he grabbed the hilt tightly and plunged the sword right into the middle of its chest. The monster screamed, and then slowly turned into a pile of golden-dust, which slowly sunk into the floor, leaving no indication of its presence. We all stood still for some time, unable to conjure a sentence. Mr. Brunner and Grover stood next to each other with worried expressions, while Percy and I sported identical expressions of shock and disbelief.
"Now we have no other option but to take them to camp. Grover, first take them to Sally, tell her what happened. She'll understand." Mr. Brunner told Grover.
"As you say Chiron." He replied. Wasn't he Mr. Brunner? Maybe his first name was Chiron.
Percy walked towards me, and kneeled down besides me.
"Perce, are you okay?" I whispered.
"No worries, sis. Are YOU all right?" he asked, pointing towards my now rapidly swelling ankle.
"No wound that Ambrosia can't heal. Give her a cube, Grover." Mr. Brunner ordered Grover, who immediately pulled out a golden-yellow cube from his backpack. He walked towards me, knelt down, and handed me the cube.
"Have a bite Bella, it should help you."
I took the weird thing, wondering what it could do. I plopped the entire cube into my mouth. It tasted warm, like butter popcorn, hot chocolate… you get the idea. It felt heavenly. Slowly a warm feeling spread throughout my body. The pain in my ankle subsided, and the swelling reduced, till it looked normal. I grabbed Percy's hand as support to get up. After gaining the feeling in both my legs, I grabbed Percy and walked up to Mr. Brunner.
"Care to explain what happened just now, Mr. Brunner?" I demanded.
"You mean to say, what I just saw was REAL?" Percy asked, awestruck. To speak the truth, I was no better.
"Percy, Bella, first we must immediately talk to your mother. This may seem very confusing and unrealistic in the beginning, but you'll understand in due time. Now do as I say, if you value your lives." Mr. Brunner told us.
"Guys, lets go to Sally's. We need to talk." Grover told.
"You don't say." Percy told sarcastically.
We grabbed out backpacks, and followed Grover to our house. At the reception, Grover produced a note signed by Mr. Brunner out of the blue, which excused us from school for the rest of the day. We crossed the streets, and walked to the nearby candy shop where mom worked.
When we spotted her packing some strawberry flavored candy behind the counter, we rushed towards her. The store owner waved at us, since we visited mum at work frequently.
"Hey babies! What are you doing here so early?" she asked us, oblivious to our serious demeanor.
"Sally, the thing we feared about the most happened." Grover told her.
At once, our mother's smile fell off. She cleaned her hands, and removed her apron.
"Amanda, I'll call it a day for now." She told the store owner on our way out. We all sat in the car and drove in silence. Occasionally, Percy would look over at me to check if I was all right. Surprisingly, the weird food that I had eaten cured me very easily. It was definitely helpful for people like me.
When we reached home, we rushed to the hall, and sat in the comfy sofa. Mom went to the kitchen, and returned with four mugs of blue hot chocolate. While we drank, Grover told her all that happened.
"Perce, Bell, its time I told you the truth. Your father-" she paused.
Percy and I both leaned closer, excited to know more about our father.
"He is a God."
We just stared at her, while Grover sat, chewing his fingernails nervously.
Suddenly, Percy laughed hysterically, while I simply sat still, processing the information.
"What the hell is going on? I mean this is Crazy. I see a monster attacking my baby-sis in school, and now you say that our father is a God! Is this some World Weird Day or something?" Percy said.
"I know you will not believe me, so that is the reason you have to go with Grover now."
"Go where?"
"Camp Half-Blood."
"Camp what?"
"Half-blood. That is what you both are."