A/N: I really love my plot for this story, and I hope you do to. I know the stories. Hullo, daughter of Athena. But I still love it! Please enjoy!
A Well Kept Secret
Look, I never wanted to be a demigod. Seriously. I just wanted to be a normal twelve year old. But, as the world of demigods works, I couldn't be one. Here's my story.
My name is Destiny Faith Jackson. I'm 12 years old, and up until a few months ago, I attended Social Clarity Institute for Trouble Students, or S.C.I.T.S., in Sarnia, Ontario. It all started in April. Our class was going to the Imperial Theatre for a presentation about Greek mythology done by the college kids. Our Latin teacher, Mrs. Callahan was really nice. She had these days where we were given twenty minutes to write down every Greek and Roman god and their parents. It was kinda fun, but when you have dyslexia, it's hard to spell anything. Our other chaperone, Mrs. Dotson, acted like she hated me. She always wore dresses from the fifties and knee-high white socks with Mary Jane's. Whenever I did something wrong, she'd point her bony finger at me and say "Now, sweetie." In an accent from farther south than Florida, and I knew I was getting after school detention for a month.
Anyway, fourteen mental case students on one bus were going to be disaster. I'm already on probation for adding salt to the staff room coffee the other day, so I prayed nothing bad would happen. Last year, at my old school, we went on a trip to Niagara Falls. I sure hope I hadn't been the one to actually push Toby off the edge, but I got expelled anyway. At my fourth grade school, we went to the CN Tower and I was the one who tried to drop a French fry into the Sky Dome. Expelled. At my third grade school, I didn't mean to knock the head of the Amphitrite statue in Sudbury, but I was expelled anyway. At my second grade school... You get the idea. Bad things seem to follow me. Everywhere.
The school bully, Travis Daly, was pelting Lunchable crackers at the back of my best friend's head. Lacy Silverman was the only friend I had. She must have been held back a few grades because she had acne, fuller cheek bones and longer legs than any other sixth grade girl in my class. Lacy was an easy target. Scrawny, nerdy, cripple. She has crutches and a get-out-of-PE-free-card because of Muscular Dystrophy in her legs. Lucky girl.
Anyway, Travis was pelting her with Lunchable crackers and cheese bits. I was getting really angry, and I even balled up my fists. Lacy must have noticed, because she grabbed my arm and looked me straight in the eye.
"It's alright. I like crackers." She told me with a small, sad smile. I sat back down before I could get death-by-in-school-suspension from Mrs. Dotson. From day one, she loved Travis and decided I was devil spawn or something. We finally made it to the Imperial Theatre by noon. Our seats were the back row of the balcony, so I didn't have to worry about Lacy getting pelted with anything. The performers on stage looked like ants from where we were sitting. The first performance was the battle of the Kronos verses his children, the eldest gods. It was entertaining to watch. After three hours of little skits and songs, it was time for intermission. We were shown to a dressing room up on the second floor where we could eat a snack. The guys in our grade were too busy staring at the mannequin's chests to eat, and the girls were trying to name all the fabrics in the room. Lacy and I were sitting on the floor playing poker and eating blue carrots. Travis, of course, started to antagonize Lacy again, and I got really mad. I don't exactly remember what happened, but I heard a wave rushing through my ear and then Travis was covered in my blue Pepsi, which was odd, since I didn't open it. Mrs. Dotson pointed her finger at me and said "Now, sweetie." I figure she'd make me get Travis a new shirt. As I walked out, I heard some snippets of conversation.
"Did you see the can-"
"-Like it exploded-"
"-she didn't even touch it."
I was as confused as ever by that point, but I still followed Mrs. Dotson to the room across the hall. As I was listening, she must have already made her way over there, because she was sitting in a white chair by the far wall. It must've been part of the ADHD. My brain falls asleep sometimes and when it does, it's like a missing puzzle piece. Before I could speak, Mrs. Dotson growled like a dog. No, not a dog, a wolf, and her eyes began to glow like barbeque coals. Her dress melted into leathery wings, her teeth elongated into fangs and her skin shrivelled until she looked like a bag with wings and a face.
"Where is it!" she hissed.
"What? Where's what?" I yelled back.
"Where is itttttttttttt." She hissed again. By that time, Lacy and Mrs. Callahan were at the door looking extremely worried and agitated. Mrs. Callahan threw me a hair clip with a flower on it, but when it touched my hand, it was a three foot long bronze sword with a leather wrapped grip and a blade studded with small rivets of silver. I swung the sword at the thing flying around the room, and with a lucky shot, I hit her. She exploded into dust like a sand castle in a power fan. The sword turned back into a small, unassuming, sea green flower hair clip with fine, beautiful writing that proclaimed: θάνατος. Somehow, I knew it was Ancient Greek, proclaiming Death. I decided to call it Thánatos, because Death wasn't a cool name for a sword. I looked at Lacy or Mrs. Callahan for an explanation, but they were gone.
I walked back across the hall to find Travis still sticky and blue from my Pepsi.
"I hope Mrs. Kayos kicked your butt!" Travis taunted.
"Who?" I asked.
"Our teacher, duh!" Travis whined.
"Don't you mean Mrs. Dotson?" I asked, confused as hell.
"Who?" he said, his face showing obvious confusion.
"Never mind." I grumbled, heading back to my poker game with Lacy. She looked sheepish, chewing on her shirt nervously.
"Hey Lace, who's Mrs. Kayos?" I asked, since she saw the thing too.
"Our pre-algebra teacher. Haven't you been paying attention?" she answered, pausing for a second to think.
"No, Mrs. Dotson is our pre-algebra teacher!" I exclaimed quietly. Lacy's face lost all colour.
"No, Mrs. Kayos is!" Lacy replied, stopping to hesitate. The rest of the day, Lacy and Travis tried to explain that Mrs. Kayos, a peppy ginger with grey eyes I had never met until she stepped on the bus at the end of the day, was our pre-algebra teacher, not Mrs. Dotson.
The rest of the year went by without any action. Maybe shoving Travis into walls for bugging Lacy, or selling candy 'illegally' out of my dorm, but nothing major. Everyone had forgotten the exploding Pepsi by May. By June, I was ready for finals, even with ADHD. Our last Latin class before the exam was easy.
"Can anyone tell me what Kronos did to his children and why?" Mrs. Callahan asked. I raised my hand high enough for her to see.
"Destiny?" she pointed out.
"Kronos was the Titan Lord of Time and King of the Titans. He believed his children, the six eldest gods, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon and Zeus, were too powerful, so when each one was born, his wife Rhea reluctantly gave them to her husband to eat. When baby Zeus was born, his mother didn't want him to be eaten, so she sent Zeus to the mountains and gave Kronos a rock to eat. Many years later, Zeus fed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, causing him to regurgitate his siblings, who were growing inside him as immortals. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades fought Kronos and sliced him with his own scythe into small pieces and scattered his remains in Tartarus." I explained. Mrs. Callahan smiled politely.
"And how would this help us? I mean, no job application is going to ask us about that!" Travis whined.
"To paraphrase Travis's question, why is this information important to everyday life?" Mrs. Callahan asked.
"I don't know." I whispered. Mrs. Callahan didn't reprimand me, she didn't yell at me. She just smiled and continued the lesson about children of the gods, whether they're gods of half-bloods. The topic of half-bloods almost always made me pay attention. My sea green eyes would almost always be wide in astonishment as I heard stories of Orion, Hercules, Jason and Dionysus, who was a half-blood, turned god of wine. Orion was always my favourite. At the end of class, Mrs. Callahan asked me to stay back and talk.
"Destiny, you need to learn the answer to my question." Mrs. Callahan stated.
"Why Kronos ate his children? 'Cause I thought I was right." I replied.
"You were. I mean my question about how your studies apply to your life." She answered. I blushed slightly at the mix up. I walked out of the room and headed back to my dorm. My mythology and math textbooks lay stranded on the floor and my notebook was in the bathtub. I tried to read the text, but the words started to fly around my head doing pirouettes and jetes. I threw the book against the far wall and screamed. I learn better by hearing than seeing because of my dyslexia. I picked up my textbook and did something I was accustomed to. I walked out of my dorm and down three flights of stairs to the faculty dorms. I approached Mrs. Callahan's room, but stopped when I heard voices. I crouched under a water fountain and listened.
"-solstice deadline. It's in a few weeks. We need to get her to camp. It's getting too dangerous for her in the mortal world." Came Lacy's voice.
"No. Not yet. We need to know she's ready. Zeus only knows why Tisiphone came after her. Hades rarely sends out any Kindly One besides Alecto." Came Mrs. Callahan. Zeus? Tisiphone? Hades? Alecto? I thought.
"She needs to be at camp. If Hades thinks she did something, chances are Zeus is after her brother as well." Lacy stated. Brother? I hadn't seen him in years.
"No. Persus and Destiny must reach camp at the right time. As children of-." Mrs. Callahan started, but stopped when I accidentally dropped my mythology textbook on the ground. I froze up and held my breath as a shadow flickered along the hall. It had short, pixie cut hair, pointed ears and the outline of a bow and quiver. She stood 5'6" tall and held an arrow in her hand. The most curious this was her feet didn't touch the ground. She just floated above it.
"I don't see anything." Mrs. Callahan sighed. The shadow disappeared before I could see who it belonged to. When I was sure no one could see me, I picked up my book and ran. When I made it back to my dorm, I flopped down on my bed. Hundreds of thoughts ran through my mind. How do Mrs. Callahan and Lacy know my brother? Is he alright? Who is our father? What is the solstice deadline? Whose shadow did I see? Were just a few. I fell asleep to my own thoughts that night.
I woke up the next morning I woke up to the sound of Lacy playing her pipes. I opened my eyes slowly and all I could see was my jet-black hair strewn over my eyes haphazardly. I brushed it away with my hand as I tried to get up.
"G'Morning, chicka. How are you today? I found you passed out with a textbook in your lap so I moved it and covered you up." Lacy chuckled.
"W-Wh- Oh. Yeah, I was trying to study." I lied.
"No you weren't. Now what were you doing?" she probed. I finally buckled down and told her everything I heard, except for the part about the shadow. Her face paled so fast she looked like a marshmallow in half a second. She said something like Di immortals, and ran to the door with my wrist in her hand. We reached Mrs. Callahan's classroom fairly quickly.
"Alana, she heard us!" Lacy called. Mrs. Callahan stopped what she was doing and turned white.
"Lacy, take her to camp. Find her brother and Grover. Go there now. No planes. Trains, trains are good." Mrs. Callahan stammered. Before I could respond, Lacy dragged me to my dorm and helped me pack some clothes and the flower clip Thánatos into a suitcase. She packed a bag of stuff, including her pipes and a bag of something that clanged metallically. We headed for the train station on Campbell.
A/N: Whaddya think? Anyway, I am going to ask a PJO, HOO, KC, NCIS, CSI, CM questions in my stories. First is PJO. In 'The Titan's Curse' what is the name of the constellation Lady Artemis turned Zoe Nightshade into? All that answer get a sneak-peek of chapter two!