Chapter 1: Keep Calm and Scream
My day started off just like any other boring stupid day. Yeah, I know, you probably heard this a dozen other times. Some kid starts off his story with "it began like any other normal day" and you expect some kind of crazy plot twist coming like, oh say, a unisheep falling out of the sky…. Except there was no plot twist and that's kid's story really was just a typical day. But that's not what happened with me. No, my day just couldn't get any crazier than it did that Thursday afternoon.
Now, I know you're expecting me to hit things off with the action and such but, first, let me tell you how ordinary my day was before… well, before that happened. Let's see, I woke up late (what can I say? I'm a Junior), barely made it in time for my chemistry class which I had second period. That class was okay; if you enjoyed stoichiometry or finding the POH of a chemical. Oh, by the way, when a highschool student uses the word "okay", it's essentially downgraded to "ugh" by default.
Anyways, next was "Psych-hahaha-cology" before I had break. Notice how I added that "hahaha" in there? Yeah, I thought it was appropriate considering the fact that all I can remember doing in Psych is doing laughing yoga and meditation. No joke. Not that I was complaining. For my fourth period class I had Pre-Calc. Mind you, it was only fun that day because I could get away with computing flower graphs on my calculator without a care in the world. Yeah, life was good—for 45 minutes.
All right, now here is the part where—like I said—things get a little… weird. I was sitting in my Spanish class, just acting like the zombie I always was. My teacher's voice was faintly buzzing in the back of my head as she droned on and on about something-Dixie. From the corner of my eye, the girl beside me was applying lip gloss (MAC; her favorite) or lip-something. I don't know, I mean, for all I know, she could've been rubbing bacon on her lips and I wouldn't have even noticed. Like I said, I was a zombie just minding it's own business and daydreaming. And then that's when it happened.
A scream.
Ha ha, no I'm just pulling your leg. It was a siren. No, not the mythological monster—whoops, now I'm getting too far ahead. Let's back up a bit. The appropriate word is 'alarm'.
SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH!
The awful noise pulled me out of La La Land and back to reality and continued screaming. You know, I always thought that they should play Beethoven's 3rd movement during an emergency. Seriously, they expect students to remain calm and composed under that kind of alarm?
The PDA system came on and a woman announced a Code Blue. We were instructed to stay put in our classrooms and take in any stray students from outside. I almost laughed right aloud then and there. You see, our classroom was actually a portable. It had these huge windows on either side of the room so that if there was a shooter then they could just knock our brains out with a clear view of our pretty big heads as we sat in organized rows. I guess out teacher was concerned enough to herd us into a dark corner by the door. Even so, it wasn't exactly the best kind of cover.
Now, a Code Blue was one of the most uncommon emergencies we'd experienced. I was willing to bet that plenty of my classmates were unsure as to what, exactly, a Code Blue was. Usually, we'd prepare for Reds, or just fire drills. Sometimes there was even some practice for Code Rainbow…. Nah, I'm kidding; there's no such thing as Rainbow. I just thought it amusing.
So there I was in my tight little corner. My breathing was shallow as I didn't want to take deep breaths and smell the sweat and cheap perfume—or people in general, basically. Honestly, what's the point of showering if you're going to smell either way? This girl next to me was talking about having a panic attack because she felt uncomfortable about having no means of escape since we'd locked the door. Another guy half-jokingly replied by telling her she could escape through the windows (and thus risk getting shot). I didn't really have any close friends in my Spanish class to converse with and, besides, I wasn't really in the mood to talk at all. To keep myself occupied, I began prodding my little toe which was poking out through a hole in the corner of my shoe.
A few minutes passed, and I was starting to doze off in the dimness of the room. Actually, I tried to but the class was starting to talk louder and louder as time went on and there seemed to be no sign of danger at all. Taking a moment to glance around, I noticed people had their phones out texting their buddies or taking selfies.
And then I heard something.
A screech.
At first, I thought I was mishearing things but then a few others heard it too the second time it happened.
"What was that?" A boy frowned.
"Probably the alarm." My teacher said with a bored look on her face. "Maybe they're trying to fix it."
But deep down, I knew it wasn't the alarm system this time. Because that screech was more… animalistic; it sounded furious.
I thought things just couldn't get any freakier. But, oh-ho-ho, yes it did.
Freaky was the sound of glass shattering as something big and ugly crashed through it. Freaky was super hairy with its coarse and patchy hair that reeked a million times more worse than the people around me. Big had wed-like wings and extra large talons that could butcher a pig with a flick of it's… leg? Ugly had the face of a sneering hyena combined with blue reptile scales and bright yellow eyes.
The first thing the class (including myself) did when the beast crashed through our window was scream at the top of our lungs. The second thing the class did when said beastie made eye contact with us was scream at the top of our lungs and then faint. Well, ok, only a few girls and one or two boys fainted.
The hyenaster ( because 'monster' just couldn't begin to describe its horrendous appearance) stared at us for a moment before its face twisted into a grin as if it was laughing at us. Just as quick, its grin transformed into a snarl and then a roar that blew breath reeking of death and other unspeakable horrors.
I gagged.
My classmates scrambled from our 'safe corner'.
And my teacher fell off her chair and onto her butt. Her phone she was playing with earlier had tumbled and fell beside me. I saw that she was playing this popular game called 'Flappy Bird'. Her high score was 12.
Then it was chaos.
As I was the only one still sitting on the floor, Ugly let out a mean squawk and then dove at me. My heart leaped up to my throat as I flipped onto my side and continued rolling right as the monster gnashed his teeth where my butt had just been sitting at.
Quickly, I got onto my feet and grabbed the closest item. A Spanish textbook. Oh goodie. The hyena hybrid swerved to me and I tossed the book into its gaping mouth. Pages ripped and flew as Ugly struggled to get the material down his throat. Well, at least the item was actually use for once.
But that wasn't enough to stop it as it set its yolk-like eyes on me once more. This time I grabbed a chair. I guess it didn't like have little chair legs poking at its face though, because the next thing I knew, the chair was in shreds after an angry swipe of its talons.
I was pressed back into the 'safe corner' and with nowhere to go. All of my classmates were on the other side of the room too shocked and frightened to understand that they could be taking advantage of the situation and be escaping through the other window by now.
"This is so not my day." I muttered to myself just as my eye caught sight of an orange blur to my right.
A boy about my age, maybe even older, had jumped through the broken window and onto the back of the beast. A sword the color of dirty bronze was held in his hand as he gripped the scratchy fur with his other.
"Whoa there! Easy now…." The lean boy grunted as he rode the monster like he was taking part in a rodeo show. I saw sea green eyes, jet black hair with an odd streak of grey, and a crooked grin on the 16 year old's face. He wore washed out jeans that look like they'd been through The Washing Machine of Hell and an orange T-shirt—slightly ripped—that read "Camp Half-Blood". A colorful necklace of beads dangled around his neck as the monster tried to shake him off its back.
"Relax." The boy raised his sword high into the air, the hilt almost kissing the ceiling. "I'm just trying to… uh—send you back to the pits of Tartarus!"
The sound of a stab devoid of hesitance or weakness echoed in my ears as I shut my eyes tight. A few seconds later, I peered up and into the face of the Hyenaster. But it wasn't sneering or laughing anymore. I scrambled backwards as it fell forward with the boy still hanging onto its back.
The hero got up and brushed his hands off as if he had just finished doing a daily chore.
"Whoo!" He swiped the back of his hand across his brow. "That one was pretty nasty, yeah?"
It took me a moment to realize that he had just spoken to me. But before I could sputter out a response, he was already walking towards the broken window.
"Uh, sorry about the mess…" He said with a sheepish grin. And then he stopped and frowned like he had said something wrong.
"Oh my god! What the hell just happened?!" One of my classmates asked. "What is that thing?! Like, is this a late April Fool's prank?"
"What?" The boy stepped back in confusion. "They can see? This isn't right. I thought the Mist…."
"Who is he?" Everyone started muttering. "Where did he come from? What's going on?"
Someone said, "I don't care who he is. He's hot! …. …. Oh, and he saved my life!"
"Today's been really weird." The hero mumbled and shook his head. "I should talk to Chiron or Rachel when we finish up here."
"You said it." I whispered with a slight nod of my head. Then again, California was where all the excitement occurred.
"Hey, listen up everyone!" The boy shouted suddenly. Authority and confidence rang in his clear and loud voice. I could tell he was a natural leader. He pointed at the phones we were still clutching in our hands with a death grip. "Those electronics—your phones—I'm going to need them. Now."
Still in disbelief of the recent even that had just transpired, all of us only stared at him with dumbfounded expressions.
"They're attracting these Hy—erm, monsters, here at your school. If you don't want to bump into another one of these things then I suggest you do as I say.
He must have misinterpreted our unresponsive state because the next thing I knew, he was giving a pouty face and his suddenly looked like a baby seal begging. "Please?"
He held out a backpack I didn't even know he'd been wearing and, after a few seconds, the class began dropping in their phones one by one. Some were hesitant and others looked suspicious or distrustful but considering what had just happened and this dude had saved us from getting our sorry butts chewed, I guess their confusion won out and so they surrendered. I mean, who the hell couldn't resist this guy's pouty face?
After collecting all electronics, the class hero turned and made his way to the window. Something told me that I should follow him though. Why the hell? That would be stupid; I could get myself killed. Or worse, what if there were more of those monsters? And then a very small voice asked from the back of my mind: why the hell not?
And before I realized what I was doing, I ran to the window and yelled for him to wait just as he finished stepping back outside. He perked up and turned to give me a questioning but patient look.
I took a deep breath. What the hell was I doing? I could die. I could be eaten by whatever that was. I could—ah, screw it! This is it; this is my chance!
No more boring school days for me, no-siree!
Hell yeah!
"Can I come with you?" Offering my hand out, I asked almost in a challenging manner.
He stared at me for a moment. In his sea-green eyes, I could see him make the calculations in his head. Who is this kid? Would I be a liability to him? I could practically read the countless questions running in his head. Then his eyes crinkled as an enthusiastic grin broke out on his handsome face.
Taking my hand firmly in his, he pulled me out the window and into the open. "I'm Percy Jackson. And if you want to survive then follow my lead."
