"What's your name, little girl?"
I tried to draw myself up to full height. "Macy." I said defiantly.
The police woman bent toward me a little more. "And your last name, sweetie?"
I crossed my name over my chest. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"But I'm here to help you. I'm a police officer." She said gently.
"I don't need help." I said. "I live just down the street. I came to find my ball when it flew out the window." I lied. Okay, that was a lame excuse.
Suddenly there was a scream down the street, and the Police woman's walkie-talkie buzzed. I took that opportunity to dart past her and down the street. She was yelling at me to come back, but I soon lost her in the crowd of people. I turned left into an alley and climbed up onto a fire escape.
I watched her run past, and let out a sigh of belief.
I'm Macy Benson, and I've been on my own for three years. I'm eleven years old. I like being by myself. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. I've been everywhere.
Later that day I was sitting in an empty box of a train, going back to my hometown, Chicago, from New York. For some reason I ran into the most monsters there…and I wasn't planning to go back.
Monsters? Yeah, I know I sound crazy. Many people have told me that. I run into mythical creatures I've only seen in movies. Eventually I learned how to fight them. They just burst into a cloud of smoke…and then I run like mad in case they brought any buddies. People don't seem to see them, either. Once while I was on a train I saw a bunch of horse-people. Centaurs, I think they're called. Nobody else seemed to see them, and when I shouted and pointed some kids said, 'What, are you afraid of horses?'
The train came to a screeching stop, suddenly, and the doors to my cart began to open. I rolled behind a bale of hay.
"Annabeth, I promised Hermes I'd find all his kids." A boy's voice said as he climbed into the cart. "The first one is an eleven year old girl that lives in Chicago. Then Wisconsin…Austin, Texas…and Los Angeles."
"I don't see why you can't send a Satyr." Complained his companion…a girl, by the sound of it.
"There aren't any left, and we owe it to Hermes to find these kids and take them back to camp." The boy replied flatly.
"Whatever, Seaweed Brain…what's the first girl's name, again?"
"Macy Benson."
I nearly gasped in shock. Why were they looking for me? I peeked around the hay.
A boy and a girl, both about sixteen, were sitting across the cart. The boy was holding a bronze sword that glittered faintly in the darkness, illuminating their faces.
I stood up, brandishing my own sword, trying to look braver than I felt. "How do you know my name?" I asked, trying to sound brave.
They looked at each other, and then the girl stood up slowly. "You're Macy Benson?"
"Yes. Who are you?" I pointed my weapon at them. "You aren't one of those monsters, are you?"
"No, Macy…my name is Annabeth and this is Percy. We're here to help you."
I hesitated. How could I be sure they weren't trying to hurt me? Who was Hermes? I didn't put down my sword. "Prove it."
The boy's sword shrunk into a pen and he put it in his pocket. The girl let her dagger clatter to the floor.
I shifted. "Fine. But what were you talking about…Hermes? Who's that? Why did you say I'm his daughter?"
They exchanged looks again. "Come here, Macy." Annabeth said gently. Something about this girl struck me as too nice to be a monster, so I inched closer to her. "Where are you going?"
"Chicago." I said, "But you didn't answer my question. Who's Hermes? That's a weird name."
"Have you ever heard of Greek mythology?" Annabeth asked.
"Like Zeus and Poseidon?" Suddenly my eyes grew wide. "Hermes is the Messenger of the Gods…the one with the winged shoes!"
"Exactly." Annabeth said.
"But what does that have to do with anything?" I asked.
"What would you say if I told you the Greek gods still existed…and all the 'myths' were actually real?"
Was this girl crazy? "That's ridiculous."
"Then how else do you explain the monsters that have been chasing you?" Percy said.
Okay, I was stumped. I tried to think of a retort, but nothing came. Finally I slumped a little and shuffled over to them. "Let's say I believe you. What does this have to do with me?"
"You're like us. Your father is Hermes…and your mom is mortal. You're a demigod, a Half-Blood...half god."
This interested me. My dad was a god? It seemed impossible, yet in the back of my head I knew she was right.
"Who are you parents…the god ones?" I was curious.
Annabeth smiled. "My mother is Athena…goddess of wisdom."
"My father is Poseidon, god of the sea." Percy said.
"So this is real? My dad is Hermes?"
Annabeth nodded. "Yes…and we've been sent to find you and your half-brothers and sisters."
Half-brothers and sisters....well, okay, then.
"Can I go with?" I asked immediately. "You're not going to send me back to my mom, are you?"
My mother wasn't the worst mother in the world…but she was pretty darn close. She worked way too much. I remember when I was really little, about three or four, having her around. And then her business took off and she began leaving me with nannies and babysitters. Finally it got to the point where she forgot my birthday...and never came to any of my school events. In her spare time she started seeing other guys, and last year she married this rich billionaire and we moved from our nice house with a big garden just outside of Chicago to a mansion in the city.
"No, Macy." Annabeth said with a sad smile. "And of course you can go with."
I spent the rest of the trip listening to Annabeth and Percy tell me everything I'd need to know about the veiled Greek world.
We got off the train in Chicago and took a taxi to the lake. "I can get us a ride, from here." Percy explained as Annabeth paid the driver and we walked out onto the dark, deserted beach.
"Hippocampi don't live in lakes, though, do they?" Annabeth questioned.
"No, but we can rent a boat, and I can get us to Sheboygan in no time." Percy said, pointing to a little shack.
We all started toward the shack, and when we got there…it was empty. "Oh no, we're going to have to wait until they get back, tomorrow morning!" I complained.
Percy laughed, as if that concept was funny to him. He walked up to the door and examined the padlock. He pulled out his pen, clicked it, and it grew into a sword. He slashed the lock like it was butter, and yanked the door open.
"What is he doing?" I asked Annabeth nervously.
"Getting a boat." She looked down at me and saw my expression. "Don't worry, he'll leave money for the owner, and we'll get it back to them."
I relaxed a little bit, at that. Percy dragged a big wooden boat big enough for the three of us out of the shack and pulled it to the water. "Hop in." he told us.
We climbed into the boat (a pathetic thing with no benches or anything…just a hollowed bottom) and Percy used a paddle to push us into the water… then pulled it on board. I was just about to ask how we were going to get all the way to Sheboygan, Wisconsin without using the paddle…or even if we used the paddle, for that matter, when forms began to materialize in the dark water.
Heads seemed to come from the water itself, and they giggled and greeted Percy.
"Hey…can you get us to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, guys?" he asked them. They nodded and the boat rocked, then shot forward.
"What was that?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Naiads…water spirits." Percy said, and settled back with his head against his backpack. "Why don't I take first watch, Annabeth?"
She didn't protest. "Macy, you should get some sleep, because this may be our last chance for a while."
Annabeth moved over next to Percy and I curled up on the bottom of the boat and used my own backpack as a pillow. I listened to the waves slop up against the sides of the boat, and the disconnected giggling.
It seemed weird, now, that I was in a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan with two teenagers telling me that the Greek myths…well, weren't myths. I couldn't shy away from the evidence, though. The naiads…the monsters that had been hunting me down since I had ran away from home.
Maybe I was just going to have to face the fact that I was the daughter of Hermes.