I do not own any of the original Percy Jackson characters (and yes, I borrowed the beginning portion of this chapter from Rick Riordan's-I couldn't resist), they all belong to Rick Riordan and his genius.
One: I Talk to Some Horses…And They Talk Back
Look, I never asked to be different, much less a half-blood.
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is simple: stop reading this fan fiction right now! Believe whatever lie your mom or dad have told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
Being a half-blood is dangerous, not to mention a pain in the as-butt! Usually half-bloods do not live very long, killed in various painful, gruesome ways.
If you're a regular kid reading this because you think it's simply fiction, I really envy you right now. Keep reading then. I truly do envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.
However, if you DO recognize yourself in this fan fiction, if you feel like it all makes sense—stop reading. If you're a half-blood and you realize what you REALLY are, it's only a matter of time before you're found since they sense it too, and they'll come, trust me, they will.
Are you still reading? All right…don't say I didn't warn you.
My name is Alex Ashwood.
I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago I was a student at an ordinary private school for troubled students in New York called Hale Academy.
Am I a troubled kid? I honestly don't think so. Trouble just seems to find me…
My short, miserable life was bad from the beginning. I never knew my real father and my mother treats me like the Black Plague. She married recently to a Peter Simpson, making our pathetic family of two go to being a family of five. My step father has two daughters: Stephanie and Rachel (aka: Spoiled Rotten Brats).
Moving on, while the princesses get everything and anything they want, any time the want things, ergo, all the time; I'm lucky to have three t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt, two pairs of shorts, and several small necessities.
Now, don't get me wrong, my step-father tries to get/give me things and to show me some of the affection that he shows to his own daughters, but my mother always appears out of nowhere, as if summoned, and she'd shout at me…she'd strike me too when my step father wasn't around…
Onward we plunge through my history so you will understand my life. I've been to a lot of private schools, but so far Hale was the best! I finely had a friend for the first time named Aias.
Aias looks like he's been held back a few grades since he has acne already and he's taller than all of the other students (or maybe the rest of us are just short), and he even has a bit of a goatee on his chin. He has reddish brown hair that he always keeps hidden under a black baseball cap and the teachers never mind, since they don't mind what we students wear, so long as we pay attention in class. Aias is a prime target for bullies since he walks with a limp and he's really jumpy. You must understand that I'm very protective of my friends, so when the bullies pick on Aias, I usually get into a fight with them…and I usually lost; but this fact never seemed to bother Aias, he was just always glad to see me in one, bruised, banged up, piece. He acted like I was bound to die each time I faced the bullies.
Aias was one of the few great things about Hale. The teachers…well they were teachers, there was nothing really special about them and they all had their favorites (which I was not one of them). I stand corrected, there were two teachers who seemed to really like me, and they made life at Hale bearable.
There was Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher. He was middle aged and in a motorized wheelchair. Mr. Brunner had thinning hair and a scruffy beard, and he usually wore a frayed tweed jacket. Not to mention that he loved to have fun in class. He thought using old Roman armor and weapons he had was a good way to get us to learn, and he would sometimes challenge us to duels to see if we knew our Latin. His only flaw, in my eyes, was that he always seemed to think that I couldn't fail. I really don't think he checked his students' histories, otherwise, he'd know that I was lucky to get a C!
Okay, so I lied. There is one class that I'm getting an A in by some stroke of luck…Literature. This is also the class that my favorite teacher teaches.
Mr. Jackson is the youngest teacher at Hale. He has black hair that has a streak of grey in it, though it's only in one spot; along with green eyes that kind of resemble mine. He also had a lanky build, and was of average height. His teaching style is similar to Mr. Brunner's, especially when he challenges us to a Greek mythology (our current subject of study) quiz, waving a bronze sword. The only difference between the two, apart from their looks, is that he expects me to give my best in his class, now what he thought was my best.
Which brings us to the Hale library where I was diligently working on a paper…more like trying to find a typed mythology paper I thought I had saved; of course, I was randomly pressing different combinations of buttons on the keyboard, muttering to myself as I did so, "Let's try control F4…" Suddenly a view of the outside faculty parking lot came onto the screen, while I struggled to read the words at the bottom. Did I forget to mention that I was dyslexic? "Security cam…escape!" I jabbed the escape several times to get out of the security camera footage.
"Okay," I muttered, "Let's try control F3…" A list appeared on the computer in a font that was easy for me to read, "Cool! The teachers' list! I wonder what Mr. Jackson's first name is?" I should also mention at this time that I also have ADHD. Scanning the screen, I found that where Mr. Jackson's first name should have been, there was simply a blank space.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked from behind me.
Escape! Escape! Escape! I repeatedly hit the Escape key, recognizing Mr. Brunner's voice, as he rolled up next to me in his wheelchair. He gazed at me searchingly, probably wondering why I had such a guilty look on my face.
I sighed in defeat, knowing I'd have to tell him part of the truth, "I was trying to bring up a paper I THOUGHT I saved… Scratch that. I KNOW I saved it." What? Did you really think I would tell him that I got distracted and had been looking at the teachers' list? I don't think so.
"Who's class is it for?" Mr. Brunner questioned.
"Mr. Jackson's," I answered. "But he won't understand…"
I'm sure he will," a voice that definitely didn't belong to Mr. Brunner said in a light tone.
Turning around in the chair, I spotted Mr. Jackson leaning casually against the library doors. He continued as he grabbed a pen from his pocket and started to spin it around with one hand, "I will allow you an extension on the paper. I expect it on my desk by Wednesday."
"Thank you," I said, blushing as Mr. Jackson glanced meaningfully at Mr. Brunner, before heading back out of the library. Mr. Brunner gave me a small smile, before he followed Mr. Jackson out.
Sighing in relief, I grabbed my flash drive out of the computer and shut it down, glad to be able to head to my dorm room for the night so I could get some sleep before the field trip to Belmont Park race track tomorrow.
As I walked down the hallway and up the stairs to my dorm room, which was on the fifth floor, I spotted Aias sitting next to my door, looking worried. His expression quickly changed to relief as I got closer. That's the weird thing about Aias, he always has to know where I am, otherwise he gets panic stricken. You would think I was going to get killed if I was out of his sight.
"Where have you been?" Aias asked, in his usual way of greeting me when I've been out of his sight.
"At the library," I answered, pulling out my dorm key.
Aias sighed, "So you weren't outside?"
"No…" Now I was suspicious. "Why? What happened outside?"
"N-nothing!" He stuttered. "So…what were you doing in the library," Aias questioned, changing the subject.
"Trying to get my paper to come up," I muttered, still a bit peeved that I hadn't managed to bring it up.
Aias nodded distractedly, glancing down the hallway at the window, as he shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. I followed his gaze, but I didn't see anything that could have caused alarm.
"I'm going to hit the hay," I stated as I unlocked my door, trying to give him the hint to leave.
Aias nodded, and started to head down the hall towards the stairs. He paused as he reached the first step, "Alex…do me a favor?"
"What?" I asked, wondering what was up.
"Don't open your bedroom window tonight," and with that happy good night, he walked down the stairs.
To say the least…I didn't sleep well that night.
I dreamt of a man with black hair and wearing a toga that was splattered with blood, which I noticed was dripping from the bag in his hand as he flew over the ocean, his winged sandals apparently keeping him in the air. As the blood from the bag hit the waves below, the water became frothy as the waves seemed to condense on that spot. The man with the bloody bag noticed this and spotted, wary of what was going on as he pulled out a sword, watching the spot intently. From the ocean calmed for a second before something pure white erupted out of the water with a trumpeting whinny. A spectacular, white stallion with white wings to match rose out of the ocean, keeping itself aloft with each down stroke of its wings.
Now, I bet you're thinking, "that dream doesn't sound too bad" but that was just the first part of the dream.
The man with the bloody bag disappeared as the dream turned dark, I mean literally, everything went black, and only the white, winged stallion remained, looking older than it had when it first appeared, but more wary of its surroundings, and it now wore a golden bridle on its majestic head and a pack was on its back containing, I don't know what. The shadows of the dream condensed around the stallion, and it cried out in pain as one of its wings was crippled by a massive hand-like shadow grabbing it, before it was dragged, by its bridle into the shadows, and a cold, cruel voice laughed as the stallion disappeared, just as lightning flashed in my dream.
I sat bolt upright in bed, sweat trickling down my neck as lightning flashed outside my window, throwing a silhouette across my window for a brief second. I rubbed my eyes, hoping I'd imagined the "angel of death" type silhouette. Lightning flashed again, and there was no such silhouette, so I assumed my brain had simply found a new way to scar the crap out of me when I wasn't asleep. (No, it would not be the first time this has happened, but we'll go into those later.)
I didn't sleep the rest of the night though, as I was too busy keeping an eye on my window every time lightning flashed. I did finally manage to get a couple winks of shut eye around three in the morning when the storm finally stopped.
The next morning, the teachers managed to get us all loaded onto two school buses and within fifteen minutes, we were on our way to Belmont Park. In case you were wondering Hale trips are usually just as boring as any other school field trip, but this end of the trip was a bit different, since it was purely recreational. The only things we would be learning is which teachers were lucky and which weren't when it came to betting.
Until we got to the park, Aias and I had to deal with being pelted by spit wads and God knows what else. Aias was taking it the way he usually did, ignoring them, while he watched me seethe in my seat, my temper threatening to break through my self control.
Something wet and slimy hit the back of my head, and I started to rise out of my seat, but Aias kept me in my seat by placing a hand on my shoulder, "Don't! You'll get kicked out of school!"
This was enough to keep me in my seat. I really liked Hale, and I was determined not to get kicked out of it. However, I was already walking a fine line as it was considering I'd somehow managed to flood the girls, and strangely, the boys' bathroom when some bullies had been threatening to give Aias and I a swirly, and had been trying to force us through the bathroom door. I still had no idea how the toilets flooded, but I got blamed since the headmaster believed the bullies, not Aias or myself. There were other strange occurrences like that as well, but that was the strangest, and so I was now on probation.
Still seething I stayed in my seat, noticing that Aias kept shooting me anxious glances, probably thinking that I'd lose my temper at any second…he wasn't wrong either.
Once we were at Belmont Park, the bullies eased up a bit (probably because they now had to figure out how they could place bets on the horses without getting caught), so that allowed Aias and I time to explore the stables on our own (with Mr. Brunner keeping an eye on us) while Mr. Jackson and the other teachers led a group to the stands so they could get good seats for the races that day.
Aias and Mr. Brunner really didn't like the stables, and they hurried through them, while I stopped at and looked at each stall (no, we were not allowed to get close to the horses, but we could still look at them).
As I gazed at one horse, a pretty chestnut mare, with a star on her forehead. I said, "You're a pretty one, aren't you?"
Thank you, milady, I heard in my head. I jumped, glancing around warily. Aias and Mr. Brunner were near the end of the stables, and no one else was around.
I'm right here, milady, the voice said again, and I glanced at the mare, "You're talking…and I can hear you?"
The mare tossed her head, of course you can.
"No offense, but I'm very confused…" I found the mare's name plate above her stall, "Blessed Ruby."
The mare snorted, what is there to be confused about, milady?
Everything… "Nothing…I guess," I muttered.
Good, Blessed Ruby tossed her head again, if I may suggest, if you are of betting age that you bet on me during the sixth race? I'm a sure win.
Don't listen to her, another voice said, as a black stallion put his head over his stall door, she's the long shot, I'M the favorite of the sixth race.
Blessed Ruby bared her teeth at the black, I can run circles around you any day!
We'll see, the black stallion said, pulling his head back into his stall.
"Well, pleasant as this has been, I'd better go," I said, wanting to leave this insane stable.
A taunting voice got my attention, "Talking to horses? How lame!"
I whipped around to see the bullies, Arnold, Trevor, and Dillon; they were triplets with red hair, freckles across their noses, and egos the size of Manhattan. I glared at them while I watched the black stallion stick his head out of his stall again, ears laid back, and Blessed Ruby did the same, her eyes on the bullies.
Arnold continued, "So your friend dumped you and now you're talking to horses." He snorted with laughter at his own, lame taunt. "Too bad even the horses don't like you!" This got Trevor and Dillon laughing stupidly as well.
The black stallion bared his teeth now at Arnold, Trevor, and Dillon, Maneuver them this way, Milady, and I'll take them down a peg! He clacked his teeth together menacingly, causing Arnold, Trevor, and Dillon, who were within a few feet of the stall to back against the stall across the way, casting the black stallion wary glances.
"You're the lame ones," I said, feeling bold. "Are you really scared of a few horses?"
They glared at me and started to move forward, when a groom, leading an old, dappled grey stallion said, "Hey! Move out of the way, boys, Truman here needs to get in his stall." The bullies reluctantly moved out of the way, and as the grey passed me I heard a new voice in my head (as if I didn't have enough), I'll get rid of them, Milady. I now had a headache, but I watched as the grey, Truman, passed the bullies, stopped, lifted his tail, and released a jet stream of pee, managing to hit all three bullies as he relieved himself. This set me to snickering, while the bullies screamed (like little girls I might add) and the groom started to apologize as he dragged Truman into his stall. Blessed Ruby and the black stallion neighed right along with Truman in laughter as the bullies were led out of the stables, the groom keeping his distance from the pee soaked bullies.
I was now laughing openly as I followed them out, keeping a safe distance between myself and them. Mr. Brunner frowned as I walked out behind them, "What happened?"
"A horse peed on them," I managed to say as I gasped for breath. Aias was even started to snicker as well, while Mr. Brunner continued to frown after the bullies. He seemed to be lost in thought for a bit, but he soon said, "Let's go find the others in the stands, the first race will be starting within the hour.
I will say this, that was the best field trip EVER! The races were awesome with Blessed Ruby and the black stallion from before finishing in a dead heat for first place, much to Blessed Ruby's displeasure and the black stallion's pleasure. (Yes, they still managed to talk to me), and when they did, Mr. Jackson glanced my way, but when I caught his eye, he looked away, frowning.
Aias asked, "What's up with Mr. Jackson?"
"No clue," I answered, feeling a bit perplexed. Mr. Jackson never frowned, especially not on a day he was winning bets (you guessed it, Mr. Jackson was one of the only teachers that had any luck with betting). I watched as he leaned over in his seat and whispered something to Mr. Brunner, who cast a quick glance my way, before he looked away hurriedly, before he muttered something to Mr. Jackson.
"Whatever it is," I said quietly to Aias. "I don't like it…let's head back to the bus now before I get in trouble for something or other."
Aias looked worried, "What did you do?"
"Nothing…that I know of," I answered honestly. I mean, they couldn't blame me for a horse peeing on someone…could they? We stood up and moved down the row to the end of the aisle, when Mr. Jackson called out, "Where are you two going?"
"Bathroom," I answered quickly.
Mr. Jackson gave us a skeptical look, "Both of you?"
"Buddy system?" I suggested.
Aias said at the same time, "I was actually just seeing where she was going…I'll sit back down." As Aias sat back down I noticed that Mr. Jackson was frowning even more, but I really wanted to get away, not wanting my day to be ruined by anything worse than Mr. Jackson frowning and a couple of horses talking to me.
I wish I could say now that a couple of talking horses had been the worst part of my day.
I entered the ladies' room, followed by an old woman…at least I thought it was an old woman, it was hard to see her face under her hood, which she had up even though it was the middle of May and it was close to ninety degrees outside.
Since I said I was using the bathroom, the least I could do was hide out in a bathroom stall until everyone was ready to leave. At least I wouldn't get in trouble for not being where I said I would be.
While sitting in the stall, I tried to figure out what I could have possibly done to displease my favorite teacher. It was highly doubtful that he'd heard the horses talking, because I still assumed that I had completely lost my mind.
"Where is he?" I creepy voice asked from the next stall. I remained silent, hoping whoever was in the stall was merely talking to themselves. It turned out they weren't, "Where is he?" The voice demanded, and I had enough common sense to get out of the stall, just as something smashed the left side in.
The little, old lady stood there, her hood now down, "Where is he?"
"I have no idea who you're talking about!" I answered, wary of this little old lady with the strength of a bulldozer.
"You're fooling no one," the old lady snapped. "Percy would not have dared take it since we know of him, but you…!" I was still perplexed, and my confusion quickly changed to terror as the old lady changed shape, leathery wings growing out of her back, and her hands becoming talons. I didn't stick around to find out what she planned to do, darting out of the bathroom, I collided with Mr. Brunner and his wheelchair, and I ended up tipping the poor guy over as I tumbled right over him.
"Alex?" Aias questioned, as he helped me right Mr. Brunner.
Mr. Brunner wasn't upset, to my surprise (not that an old lady changing into an overgrown bat didn't surprise me), "Alex, what's wrong?"
To answer his question, the hag came out of the bathroom with a terrible screech of fury and annoyance.
Aias paled, while Mr. Brunner said something in a different language, which I later realized I understood. (I wouldn't dare repeat what he said though.)
"We could really use some help now," I said to myself, not expecting an answer.
We'll help, Milady, a voice said in my head with a chorus of agreement from many other voices. That's when we heard grooms and other people shouting in alarm along with the neighing and angry squeals of horses, and the thunder of their hooves as they charged the hag, ears flattened and teeth bared. The hag shrieked in rage as she was trampled (I hoped) by the horses.
"Get her to the bus," Mr. Brunner said suddenly, shoving me towards Aias, who grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the school bus. As he dragged me away, I spotted Mr. Jackson as he ran up to Mr. Brunner, his pen in his hand. Aias forced me into the seat and then sat there as if nothing had happened as the other kids and teachers boarded as well…though Mr. Jackson and Mr. Brunner were missing, but they arrived after five minutes.
Aias was facing the window, apparently determined not to look at me.
I wasn't going to accept that though, not after what had just happened. I asked him, "What just happened out there?"
"Hmm?" Aias glanced at me, "You mean that stampede? I don't know. It was weird though."
"That's not what I meant," I snapped, starting to get angry. "What was that hag?"
"That's not a nice thing to say about that old lady that got hit by the horses," Aias said, glancing nervously at the seat next to us where I realized that Mr. Jackson was sitting.
"Aias is right," Mr. Jackson said. "That was a freak accident back there and you're lucky you weren't trampled."
"But," by now I was stammering. "Didn't you see that she had talons and leathery wings?"
Mr. Jackson gave me a pitying look, "I think you've had too much sun, Alex. Why don't you try to sleep on the ride home?"
I felt very confused now, I know Mr. Jackson had to have seen the hag; she had still been visible when Aias had started to drag me away. "But…" I tried to argue.
Mr. Brunner said from his seat in front of us, "Enough, Alex. You've had a rough day. Nearly getting trampled by horses can do that."
I couldn't look at Aias, Mr. Brunner, or Mr. Jackson the entire bus ride back to the school. I knew what had seen, and I knew that they HAD to have seen it to…so why weren't they admitting that they had seen a hag with talons and leathery wings? Something told me that I was being kept in the dark about something, and I didn't like it one bit.