I was having a great day. Fantastic day. A kid with braces gave me his entire pack of gum. I got to enjoy some of the cafeteria's special pancakes at breakfast. And my teacher called me an "extraordinarily intelligent child when I have the will to be one." I have zero clue what it means, but it sounded like a compliment.

But of course, since I am the unlucky Atalanta Jackson, my beautiful day had to be ruined. I guess it started when my brother and I got attacked by his teacher/a hideous monster wanting us both dead.

Percy and I were sat with our friend, Grover, on the dirty, graffiti filled school bus. Being in between the two of them wasn't very pleasant, especially when Nancy Bobofit was throwing little pieces of a peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich at Grover that also landed on me. I swiped a chunk of bread off my shoulder and looked next to me at my brother. I could tell Percy was mad. His eyes were squinted, his eyebrows furrowed. His mouth always puckered a little when he got frustrated or angry and his leg was bouncing up and down as he was trying to contain himself from starting an argument. Percy was on probation from starting any "funny business" on the field trip, which meant he couldn't tell the annoying twat behind us to stop throwing her sandwich at our friend. And I was trying not to get on probation for the third time, so I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming at the red-haired bully.

"I'm going to kill her." Percy mumbled as he leaned over me.

"It's okay, I like peanut butter." Grover replied.

"Yeah, in a sandwich, Grover, not in your hair." I told him as she threw another piece.

"That's it." Percy started to get up but Grover and I pulled him back down to his seat.

"You're already on probation. You know who will get blamed if anything happens." Grover reminded him.

"I'm going to say it won't be Freckles sitting behind us." I remarked. Percy smirked a little at me, but I could tell it was taking a lot to refrain from slapping Nancy across the face. I put a hand on his bouncing leg and looked into his sea green eyes that matched mine. I whispered softly so Grover couldn't hear us, "Just calm down."

Percy took a deep breath and nodded his head. "Thanks, Atty."

Later, the bus stopped at the museum and we all got off the bus. Percy told me goodbye as he walked towards his class while I went to mine. I absolutely hate being a year younger than Percy. At least he could be with Grover in his classes, I had nobody. And I didn't want to be friends with anybody else. All I needed was my brother and I was good to go. And Grover was nice to be around too. But we had to be separated since I was a grade below him. It also doesn't help that he constantly teases me for being shorter and only 11 years old. So with a sigh, I joined the rest of my classmates.

We followed our teacher, Ms. Fitch, around the museum as she explained to us what some of the artifacts and paintings meant and some more crap about history. I think Ms. Fitch is a descendant of Satan himself. She wears a mask of makeup that cakes up on her face until it is so thick it looks like an actual mask. She wears the same shade of bright red lipstick every day that always gets on her front teeth. She ties her thin, tangled blonde hair into a messy ponytail with some red clips to pin back the hairs that falls in front of her face. And her nasally voice is constantly shouting my name and telling me that I am doing something wrong. I usually call her Ms. Bitc-well you get what I'm saying. One time I accidentally called her that in class, and I honestly thought she was going to kill me. Her pencil broke in half between her fingers and she practically broke my arm while she walked me to the principal's office. I only got a referral. But even before that incident she has hated me with everything inside of her. I don't know why; I think I'm a very likable person. I have a great personality, I'm fun to be around, I make better grades than my brother. But the devil teacher doesn't care one bit.

I wasn't paying attention to her as she told everybody about a plain marble statue we were in front of. A tall, big painting had caught my eye in the middle of the wall. I walked away from the group and towards the painting. The scenery was on an island or on the shore of a city. People were gathered on the sand, some holding what looked like musical instruments, others huddled by their family. In the dark, blue-green water a horrendous monster laid. It was painted brown, red, and gold that blended perfectly together. It had a serpents tail with tusks coming from its mouth. Its feet were webbed and its was very close to a woman with a hungry look in its eyes. The woman was practically naked and was chained to a rock. A very muscular man was on top of the monster with a sword raised, ready to strike the beast. I looked at the silver plaque next to it that's said "Perseus Rescuing Andromeda." I snickered to myself when I read my brother's name. We were both named after a famous Greek hero and heroine. We hated how formal our names sounded, so we both went by nicknames. The only time we got called by our full names was when our mom was yelling at us or if we were making fun of each other.

"Ms. Jackson?" A nasally, feminine voice said behind me. My smirk faded and I turned around. Ms. Fitch was standing very close to me, her arms crossed, eyes squinted.

"Ma'am?" I asked politely, knowing I was probably going to get in trouble.

"What do you think you're doing wondering from the group, young lady? This is a very large museum and we don't have time to search for you if you get lost. Now go back and join your classmates." She said a low, terrifying voice. I nodded my head quickly and walked fast to my class. God, I hated her.

The tour started again and Ms. Fitch continued to point and talk about the least interesting items in the rooms. Finally, we were released for lunch and we walked outside. I immediately found Percy and Grover sat on the fountain away from the rest of our classmates.

"Hi, Atty." Grover said with a small wave.

"Hey kiddo." Percy messed up my hair and I playfully slapped his arm. He pointed to the sky as he said, "You notice the big storm brewing?" I looked up and saw the black storm clouds swirling in the sky, blocking out any sunlight.

"Not very surprised with all of the freaky weather we've been getting. I'm actually hoping it's a tornado or something so the school can get destroyed." I said. Percy laughed and told me he agreed.

"Detention?" Grover asked Percy.

"Nah, not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off my sometimes. I mean I'm not a genius."

"That's for sure." I remarked. Percy rolled his eyes at me with a small smile on his lips. All of us were silent for a few moments, watching the yellow cabs zoom through the streets as busy people flooding the sidewalks, talking on their phones and sipping coffee. Grover interrupted the silence when he asked Percy for his apple. He let Grover have it then stared back at the streets. I saw that he was deep in thought, probably thinking about mom. I missed her so much. We hadn't seen her since Christmas. The two of us has actually talked about running away and seeing her. I squeezed Percy's hand kindly and without looking at me he squeezed mine back, a little way to signal he was okay.

Just then Nancy Bobofit and her idiotic friends came up to us. She "accidentally" spilled some of her lunch on Grover's lap.

"Oops." She said with a mischievous smile on her face. I was so angry. For months Nancy had been picking on the three of us. She decided that teasing us would be her life's mission. She called us names, blamed things on us, threw things at us, you name it. Both Percy and I had tried to tell her off on many occasions. Once during gym, she tripped Percy on the track then ran away giggling like she was having the time of her life. I then sprinted after her and kicked her so hard in the shin, she had a bruise for a month. That didn't end very well for me.

But no matter what we did she didn't stop. And I was starting to get fed up with it. I tried to tell myself to calm down, take deep breaths. I told myself to not let her see she affected me. I told myself to just forget about her. But I couldn't. All of a sudden Nancy was inside of the fountain crying, "Percy and Atty pushed me!"

We both heard kids around us whispering something about the water and that it grabbed her. I had no clue what they were talking about and judging by the look on my brother's face, he didn't either. Percy's teacher Mrs. Dodds, who was basically Ms. Fitch's doppelgänger, appeared next to us. I knew that we were in huge trouble. She started saying, "Now honey," but Percy interrupted her. "I know. A month erasing workbooks."

That didn't help at all. The menacing look in her eyes only got worse as she said, "You two. Come with me."

"Wait! It was me. I pushed her." Grover attempted to cover for us.

"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood" she growled.

"But-"

"You will stay here." Grover looked like he was panicking really badly. I patted his shoulder.

"It's okay, Grover. You don't need to take the blame for us."

"Yeah, it's okay man. Thanks for trying."

Mrs. Dodds tapped her foot impatiently. "Honeys. Now."

I heard Nancy snicker from behind us. I spun around and gave her a death stare. I turned back to see Mrs. Dodds already standing by the museum entrance. What the heck? I tugged on Percy's arm and saw that he was staring in confusion at Mrs. Dodds as well.

"How did she get there so quickly? She was right behind us." I whispered in my brother's ear as we walked towards her.

"I have no clue, At."

I looked at Percy's teacher, Mr. Brunner, who usually got Percy and I out of trouble. But he was engulfed in his novel, not even paying attention to Grover's terrified face. What was he so worried about? Percy and I got in trouble almost on a daily basis. So why was this different? Percy patted my shoulder and I turned around to see Ms. Dodds up the stairs and standing by the gift shop.

"She's probably just going to make us buy Nancy a new shirt." Percy said quietly in my ear.

But she continued to walk farther into the museum.

"I don't think so." I told him. We walked fast to catch up to her speedy pace until we stopped in room that was completely empty aside from the three of us and a statue. Ms. Dodds stood with her arms crossed over her chest, a hateful look in her eyes as she stared at the marble statue of a Greek god. A low growling noise, sounding almost like a dog, came from her throat. She looked like she could tear the marble statue to shreds. I was unaware that my hand was shaking until Percy slowly grabbed it. I knew Ms. Dodds was strict and mean, but she looked like she was ready to murder. Plus, we were all alone in the room, nobody to come and help us.

"You've been giving us problems, honeys."

Percy and I replied at the same time. "Yes, ma'am."

"Did you two really think you could get away with it?" The murderous look in her eyes increased.

"We're very so-sorry." I stuttered.

"We'll-We'll try harder, ma'am." I could feel Percy's hand start to tremble in mine. Loud, strong thunder shook the museum's walls.

"We are not fools, Percy and Atty Jackson. It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain." At the word pain I felt queasy. What had we done? Did she find out about Percy and I's late night trip to the cafeteria for midnight chocolate pudding? Did she know that I was the one who accidentally broke the window in our library? I mean the worst she could do is suspend or expel me, it's not like she could hurt me. Right?

"Well?" she asked us.

"Ma'am, I don't…" Percy started, but was interrupted when she said, "Your time is up." And that's when this scary conversation got even scarier. Her fingers turned into sharp, golden talons. The black leather jacket she was wearing transformed into huge, wrinkled wings. Her mouth snarled and showed off the gross, yellow fangs she had. She looked like something straight out of a horror novel. She wasn't Ms. Dodds, Percy's rude teacher anymore. She was a thing of nightmares. Right when I thought I was a goner, Mr. Brunner wheeled himself to the entrance of the room, a blue capped ballpoint pen in his hand.

"What ho, Percy!" He yelled and threw the pen at Percy. Oh, gee thanks Mr. Brunner. A pen is really going to help us against this big, demon bat thing. I appreciate your help. Ms. Dodds swiped with her talons and cut my shoulder. "Atty!" Percy screamed in concern. I winced and hissed in pain as I grabbed my shoulder. Her strong hit had thrown me to the ground and I rolled away as I saw her talons came straight for my face. She struck the ground where I had laid a few moments ago. When I dizzily looked up, I thought for sure I was hallucinating.

When the simple ballpoint pen touched Percy's fingers it morphed into a glowing, bronze sword. "Percy! Behind you!" I shouted as Ms. Dodds turned around and ran towards my brother. Percy spun around and gripped his sword tightly. His eyes were wide in fear. All I wanted to do was throw myself in between that monster and Percy. But it was like my body was superglued to the tiled floor. She growled maliciously and yelled, "Die, honey!"

At that moment she soared through the air, claws extended, a deep bellow escaping her throat. And Percy did something incredible. He struck the sword into her shoulder and she exploded into yellow powder. But a second later, in the blink of an eye, Mr. Brunner was gone, the yellow powder had disappeared and the bronze sword was a ballpoint pen once more. Percy and I starred at the spot in the floor where Ms. Dodds had been a moment before then looked at each with the same shocked expression on our faces. We stayed like that for a short-time before Percy shook his head and snapped out of his daze. He looked at my shoulder and gasped. He ran over and slid to his knees where I was still sitting. My hand was still over the wound trying to somehow stop some of the bleeding. Percy gently put a hand over mine and another on my elbow.

"Can I see it?" He asked in the sweet voice he used whenever I got hurt. I nodded my head and took a shaky breath as I removed my hand. I looked away from the scratches and stared at a spot on the ground. "What the heck?" I looked back at him, confused.

"What? What is it?" I stared back at the scratches on my shoulder to find that there were none. There was no blood, not bruise, not a sign that a monster had just clawed my shoulder.

"How are they gone? I know I got scratched, I felt it."

"I-I don't know." We both looked at my perfectly fine shoulder in shock. "C'mon," He squeezed my elbow and helped me up. He put an arm around my shoulders as we started to walk out of the room. "Let's go talk to Mr. Brunner about what the heck just happened. I'm sure he can tell us everything." He said calmly. I could tell he was trying to act composed and not show how shaken up he actually was for my benefit. I looked up at him and smiled a little. "Yeah, defiantly." I said reassuringly.

When we got outside again it had begun to rain. We walked over to Grover who held a museum map over his head to shield himself from the downpour. Nancy had her arms crossed as she whined to her friends. Percy took his arm off my shoulder when Nancy noticed us.

"I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butts."

"Who?" Percy asked.

"Our teacher. Duh!" She said as if it was the most obvious thing. Who the heck was Mrs. Kerr? Was Nancy losing it? It wouldn't surprise me if she was. Percy asked her what she was talking about but she scoffed and turned away.

"Grover, who is Mrs. Dodds?"

"Who?" He said with a pause. He hadn't made eye contact with either of us. His hands were fidgeting. Why was he messing with us?

"Not funny, man. This is serious."

"Grover, loose the joke. Tell us." I told him. Thunder echoed loudly above us. Grover finally looked at me and said, "What joke?" I was going to answer him but I saw Percy walk over to Mr. Brunner. I quickly caught up to my brother and stood next to Mr. Brunner who looked like nothing just happened. He was situated in his wheelchair with his novel back in his hands. A red umbrella was opened above his head. He looked up from his book and saw the pen in Percy's hand.

"Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."

"Sir, who is Mrs. Dodds?" Percy asked.

Mr. Brunner looked at the both of us perplexed. "Who?"

"Percy's teacher. With the black, leather jacket? She has been teaching him all year, sir." I said politely.

"She's the other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

Mr. Brunner furrowed his eyebrows and looked deeply into our eyes.

"Percy, Atty, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you both feeling alright?"

I looked at Percy bewilderingly and I could see we both had the same thought in our heads. Were we going insane?