Every misbehaving kid in the US is being shipped to a special boarding school on an island in the Altlantic. All kids between the ages of 8 and 25 must attend. That means even the kids who dropped out of school have to go. And EVERY half-blood was going.
Not one of us "lucky" children could miss out on such a great oppertunity, because the school used magic to contact you. It wasn't run by mortals: it was run by a few minor gods, some titans (who were apperantly on the Olympian's side), and queen Hera.
Hera really didn't like most half-bloods to begin with. And especially not children of the big three. She was going to be strict on all of us, that was for sure.
"Oh Percy..." my mom sighed. She was driving me to the airport.
"Mom, why do I have to go to this stupid school anyways?" The school session was an entire year long, with six one-week vacations. I was gonna go nuts!
"Your dad said it would be best if you went." she said. Yeah, cause Hera would probably chew his head off if I didn't. "Besides, all your friends from camp will be there. Grover, Annabeth, even Chiron will be teaching some classes. She smiled trying to lighten the mood.
"Really? Chiron will be there?" We arrived at the loading zone at the airport. We both got out of the car and took my bags out of the trunk
"Yes dear. If I read correctly, Chiron will be there." She kissed my forehead, "Everything will be fine," She sounded like she was trying to convice herself of that.
"If you say so. I love you mom,"
"I love you too Percy."
"I'll see you in two months." I hugged her one last time then walked into the airport.
On normal occasions I would NEVER be able to fly on a plane. Zeus would shoot me out of the sky. But this was Hera's school, and she was making me go. There was an exception. I hope.
When I got to the counter the woman behind it said "Hello young man. How may I help you today?" She was being really over enthusiastic.
I said exactly what I was supposed to. Well... more or less. "Uh yeah, I'm here for the uh... School for special kids thing." Not what it was called, but it was close enough.
I'm glad she didn't think I was going to a school for kids with mental conditions. I was going to a school for special people though. "Oh you're here for the H.E.R.O progam. Right this way." she led me away from the counter and another woman took her place.
"You'll be on a low flying jet and you will reach the island in approximately two hours." she said as we walked. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "You're a half-blood... right?"
"Um yeah. I am. Why?" I said lowering my voice too.
"Do you go to camp half-blood?"
"Yea"
"Do you know a kid named Stanley? Stanley Brekkin? From the Hermes cabin?"
I stopped and thought for a moment, "Does he have red hair? Like yours?"
She smiled "Yes."
"Then yes I know him." I didn't talk to him much, but I knew who he was.
She reached in her pocket and pulled out a roundish tin box, "Can you give this to him when you see him? Tell him it's from me. It's from his mom."
"Sure thing." I took the box and smiled. I put it in my bag under everything else so I wouldn't lose it.
"Thank you so much," she said smiling gratefully, "It means alot to me."
"No problem." I'm a pretty nice guy. Nice guys do nice thing for people.
"Oh, and before you go," the lady stopped me, "There's a candy shop just around that corner over there. If you have a sweet tooth like I do, I suggest you stock up on as much candy as you can. But hide it well. They don't allow things from the outside world." She winked at me.
"Thanks," I told her. Now that is advice from a stranger I could take.
When I made it on the plane, I found Annabeth and Clarrise sitting together. A rare thing.
"There you are seaweed brain! You're late!" Annabeth said.
"Late for what?" I asked casually. She just smiled and shook her head. Thalia was sitting across the isle from them, so I decided to sit next to her.
She was covering herself with a big pink blanket, which was wierd. She hated pink. "Hi." she said
"Hi. Are you cold?" I aksed her. It was like a million degrees in here!
She shook her head, "No I'm just..." Her voice trailed off. From across the isle Annabeth mouthed the words Afraid of heights. I started to smile but she looked dead serious. It took all my will power not to laugh.
When we got off the plane we were greeted by a tall woman in a white dress suit. She had long dark hair braided over her shoulder. "Hello and welcome. My name is Lady Hera. I would appreciate if you called me as such." A few people snickered but stopped when she started glaring at them. "The H.E.R.O. Academy is for all children with learning disabilities such as ADHD and Dyslexia. The teachers here are trained to help you with these problems through the courses of learning you would normally have problems in. Classes run from 7 am to 7 pm -" groans "- and you will have a strict curfew. If you have any gum with you, I advice you to throw it out now because gum chewing is strictly prohibited and you will recieve punishment if caught. You will all have your very own dorms to yourselves. Sleep-overs are only allowed when you need to study for tests. As for your behavior," She grinned, "You are expected to act just as you are to act in a normal classroom. I am warning you now: No Throwing, no writing on desks, no shouting out in class, no writing on walls, and no hitting or physical contact. The consiquences are very severe when you break rules. Other than that I hope you have a wonderful time learning here at the h.e.r.o academy. After all, we are all family here." She turned to one of the people standing behind her, another woman with light brown hair. "Please give them thier room numbers and keys now Eumonia." She smiled back at the rest of us, "Dinner starts at 5 O'clock! Get your things unpacked and meet at the dining hall. Don't be late."
Thalia and I met up with Annabeth as we formed a line in front of the other woman. "So what do you think?" I asked her.
She was silent for a long time, "I don't know guys. Everything just seems so perfect. Maybe this is just a school for kids like us. With learning problems."
"No way Hera is going to be this nice to half-bloods," Thalia said, "She hates us. She hates me. Why would she even try to help us like this?"
"Well maybe she just wants us to fit in with the rest of the world. Maybe she really is nice." I said.
"I don't think so..."
I took a room key. "Room 755." I read aloud, "What'd you get Annabeth?"
"Room 781. How about you Thalia?"
"782. Yay that means we can be kinda like room mates!" Hearing Thalia say 'yay' was funny. Shes not really the excitable type.
"Cool! Let's go find Percy's room first. That way if we need to get him we know where he is." Annabeth said.
"Sure," Thalia said raising an eyebrow.
"Whatever! Lets just go find the stupid room." She trudged off. Girls are so wierd.
On the way there we bumped into Grover. "Percy!" he tackled me with a hug.
"Hey Grover! What are you doing here?" That had puzzled me. Grover could read and behave just fine.
He finished hugging Annabeth and Thalia, "Oh, Chiron wanted me to help out with stuff. Just like at Yancy!"
"Yea Yancy..." Yancy hadn't gone so well.
"So where's your room?" Annabeth asked.
"784. How about you guys?"
"We have 781 and 782. That means we're all in the same hall,"
"Except Percy." Annabeth added
"I got 755," I told him
"But thats in the same hall! There are some long halls here. And great furniture!"
"Really, the same hall?"
"Yea I'll show you!" He ran -or trotted- down a few more hallways and down some steps until we came to my room.
"So this is room 755," Thalia said, sizing up the door, "Looks small."
"You haven't seen the inside yet! Go on! open it!" Grover pressed. I took my key and unlocked the door. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone peeking out of the door next to mine, room 756. But as soon as I turned my head to get a better look they shut the door. Probably someone just trying to see who his new neighbor was I guess.
I opened the door and was shocked by how amazing it was. The walls were painted blue, the sheets were sea-green, and the carpet was like sand. "This is awesome!" I said running in.
"A little too awesome..." Thalia said suspiciously.
"Oh stop worrying!" I told her. "If there were any monsters here Grover could smell it right?" He smiled and nodded.
"If you say so..."
"Come on, let me show you your rooms! They're just across the hall." Grover ran out excidedly. Silly goat. I was gonna check out the cool sea-shell dresser when I noticed a door. It looked like it lead into the room next to mine, the one that had a kid peeking out of it.
"Hey Grover what does-" The door slammed shut. "Okay nevermind." I sighed and unpacked my bags. I checked out all of the cool things I had in my room. Hera had really out done herself. The dressers were made of seashells, the pattern on the bed sheets were waves. She even had the same color rugs that were in my cabin at camp. I felt pretty at home. But I kept peeking over my shoulder at that door. It felt like someone on the other side was about to jump out at me or something.
Your being more paranoid than Thalia! I told myself. But what if...
A bell sounded from the speakers in the hall. Someone knocked on the door. "Percy? Are you in there?" Annabeth said from the other side.
I opened the door and grinned "Where else would I be?"
She rolled her eyes, "Grover said its dinner time. Him and Thalia left already. Come on." She started to walk away.
Dinner wasn't that bad. The food tasted pretty good for a school. Queen Hera was nowhere to be found, but i'm sure she was busy or something. It couldn't be easy being a god and running a school at the same time.
There was someone watching us though. I think it was one of the people that had stood behind Hera when we first got here. She had pretty dark green eyes; like emeralds. She looked old though. Not old as in wrinkles and white hair. Old as in ancient; the gods kind of ancient. Something told me she was older then Hera.
She was glaring at a kid in a gray hoodie sitting at the other end of the room. She quickly made her way toward him. I knew from experience that he had done something wrong.
"Excuse me young man," She said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. All talking died down. "Please take off your hood. You're indoors. Show some respect." A lot of people started snickering but she gave us all the death glare and they stopped. The kid took off his hood. He had short sandy hair, but I couldn't see his face. He looked down at his plate as if trying not to attract anymore attention to himself.
"Who is that kid?" Thalia asked.
"I don't know. I think it's that kid in the room next to you Percy. He hardly shows his face. He always hides in his hood."
"What a loner," I laughed. Thalia was still silent. "What's the matter with you?" I asked her. She shook her head.
"Maybe Thalia is right. Maybe there is seriously something wrong with this place. I mean, how could she know exactly what to put in our rooms? It's like she would want us to live here." Annabeth said.
"Well two months is a long time to stay in a room," Grover put in.
"I don't know you guys. I'm sure everyone else is thinking the same thing. Maybe we should just see how it is here." I said
"And definately keep your gaurd up." Thalia added.
"Your last class is canceled today. Everyone go to bed. Curfew will begin in a half-hour. NO ONE is allowed out of thier rooms after curfew. Good night everyone." The speakers anounced when dinner was over.
"Good night you guys." Grover said walking into his room.
"Goog night Thalia. Good night seaweed head."
"Thats seaweed brain to you! Good night."
"'Night." Thalia mumbled.
I changed and layed in my bed. The sheets felt wierd to me, like they had never been used. Or washed!
I layed in bed for hours. It seemed like night would never end. I glanced at the clock on the dresser. It read 11:41.
That door was still bothering me. I couldnt hear any sounds from the other side, but I had no idea what was behind it. My ADHD made me want to find out. But I couldn't just open it. What if there was someone on the other side? That didn't make me feel anymore relaxed.
Finally I decided to go ask Grover. Maybe he wasn't sleeping yet. It couldnt wait til morning! I was too darn impatient. I opened the door and took a step out. I shut the door behind me and took another step. But to my surprise I ran into something. I tried taking a step back; My foot didnt work. Suddenly my arms didn't work either. I squirmed helplessly, barely moving. Stuck in mid air. "Help!" I tried shouting, but only a whisper came out.
A door opened. I moved my eyes around trying to find out who it was. Door 756 opened, and out of the darkness, Luke stepped out.
"Luke!" I said in a strangled voice.
"Percy," He nodded his head. He looked me up and down then said "Stuck huh?"
I wanted to scream some more. I wanted help from anyone but him! But I had no choice. "Can't... breath... help!"
"Didn't you here the speaker?" He teased, "No one is aloud out of thier room." He opened the door to my room and walked in. I immediatly fell to the ground gasping for air. So he wasn't going to kill me.
After regaining my strength I walked back into my room. Luke was sitting on my bed examining my sword. "How did you get this in here?"
I snatched it from him, "It stays in my pocket. Why didn't you kill me? Why do you have everyone here?"
He looked shocked, "You think I brought you here?" I raised my eyebrow. "Not a chance Jackson! I would never do anything as stupid as this! Why would I educate my enemies?" He had a good point.
"Well then... What are you doing here? And how did you stop that thing?"
"Well if I knew the answer to your first question I would tell you. As for the saving your life, Hera uses magic to watch us. Why should she deal with us brats in person? As soon as it detected that you weren't in your room, it stopped you from going any further. Its made to stop escapees. It doesn't care if it kills you."
"Yea, so... Why save me?"
"As you might've guessed I probably would have escaped already if it werent for the magic. I can't do this alone. I need someone else to help me. And you're pretty much the strongest person here. Other than me." Typical Luke.
"So you want me to help you so you can go back to trying to destroy the world?" Yeah right.
"Just think about it: Go back to having a life, or stay here and rot." Why did he have to make such a good point?
"Whatever. How did you get past the magic to save me then?"
He got up and opened the door toward his room. "Just think about it, Okay?" then he disapearred through the door.
~The Monster Under Your Bed