My name is Rhode Mcdonald.

Yeah, yeah. Rhode Mcdonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o. I get it.

Apparently, I'm not just Rhode Mcdonald, the fourteen-year-old loser.

I'm Rhode Mcdonald, the fourteen-year-old demigod loser.

Yes, you read it right. I'm a demigod. Meaning, I'm half-human, half-god. Not half-God (God with a capital G is a different matter altogether), but half-god, like those gods and goddesses you probably studied in your Greek mythology classes.

Now, you're probably thinking, This kid is crazy. Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you. Maybe I am crazy. But you have to know, I never chose to have a godly parent.

None of us have.

If you think you're part of the 'us' I'm referring to, stop reading. I've been told that it's more dangerous for demigods to know what they are. When you know too much, they'll find you.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

The madness truly started when I stabbed a Cyclops in the eye with an umbrella.

I was on my way back home from the store, carrying a paper bag filled with groceries in my right arm and my grandma's favorite pink Hello Kitty umbrella in my left hand, when the Cyclops jumped in my way.

At first, I thought I was hallucinating. Maybe I was just imagining the fact that this big dude in front of me only had one eye. But when he stomped his feet on the ground, yelled, "I am Brontes, best Cyclops of all!" and grinned wickedly at me like he wanted to eat me for dinner, I decided that I wasn't crazy.

I was just unlucky.

Weird things had been happening to me ever since I was little. Once, when my mom had taken me horseback riding, I had thought that I was hearing things, since the horse I was riding was talking to me.

Donuts, my horse had whinnied in my head. Do you have donuts?

I looked at my mom, who was strapping me in. I had asked her if she heard the horse, but my mom had just smiled and told me that the horse just neighed which probably meant that it liked me.

Another time, when I had gone to an aquatic park for a field trip in school, I had been staring at a huge rock in one of the aquariums. I swore there was a woman in there so I didn't leave until she came out. When the woman finally showed herself, I was surprised to see that she had a serpent's tail instead of legs. I had heard her hissing in my head, so I backed away from the aquarium. When I had distanced myself from the snake woman, I heard her voice in my head. She had said, your time will come.

As I looked at the Cyclops, I thought that it was probably the worst weird thing I'd ever come to face. Not just because he wasn't very pleasing to look at, but also because he was probably already imagining how good I would taste with clam chowder or something.

Brontes, as he said his name was, advanced on me. When he was inches away from me, I did the only thing my brain could come up with at that exact moment-I threw the bag of groceries at him.

Unfortunately, my brilliant move only managed to annoy him. He swatted the bag out of the way and pushed me on my back in the process. At that point, I didn't know what else to do.

When Brontes towered over me, he grinned. "Dinner is served."

He made a move to grab me with his big, meaty hands, but before he could, I thrust my girly umbrella upward, and right into his eye.

"Ow!" He growled. "You're dead meat, half-blood!"

Half-blood?

While he was rubbing his eye, I started to scoot away from him. I knew that the only way to save myself was to blind him (at the very least), but I had no weapon at my disposal-until I saw a shard of glass sitting a few meters away from me. I stood up and ran to get the glass piece. It was the size of a phone, with jagged lines running on the sides, and a pointed tip. It wasn't the most impressive weapon out there, but it would have to do.

When Brontes recovered, he ran toward me, but I was ready for him. But before I could stab him in the eye again, a sword pierced through his chest, and golden-not red, golden-blood poured out of him. Someone pulled the sword out and rolled in front of Brontes. I couldn't see the person's face, because he was facing the Cyclops. Before Brontes could even yell in pain, the sword guy stabbed his eye with the tip of his sword.

Everything happened so fast, even Brontes was in shock. It wasn't long before he dissolved into nothingness.

The guy who had just saved me from Brontes' clutches faced me with a small grin on his face. He was probably a little older than me, maybe sixteen. He had messy, black, windblown hair, and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. He was tall and a little lean; it was like he worked out for a few months then stopped because he was too lazy to continue. He smelled like the ocean, which made me think of home, but I didn't know why. He was pretty cute, with the smile on his face that made him look like he just put a whoopee cushion on his least favorite teacher's seat instead of him taking out a Cyclops twice his size.

"Hey," he said to me, "you okay?"

I could've played it all cool and said, "Yeah, I had it under control," but all that came out was, "Uhuh."

He laughed as he put his hand out for me to shake. "I'm Percy."

"Uh." I shook my head and told myself to get it together. When my brain finally processed everything that had just happened, my body went into defense mode. I held the glass shard in front of my face, pointing the tip of the glass at 'Percy'. "What are you?"

"Woah," Percy said, holding up his hands. "I need to get you to safety before I can explain everything."

"Safety?" I said. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you have a family?" He asked, ignoring my question. "A mom? Dad? Who do you live with?"

"Now, wait just a moment-"

Suddenly, I heard bat wings flapping closely behind me. Percy's eyes widened in alarm. I looked behind me and saw a hideous old lady with bat-like wings glaring at Percy and me. The old lady was even scarier than the cyclops. My legs trembled from under me.

"You have to come with me," Percy said. When I didn't respond, he grabbed my arm and yelled, "Now!"

I scrambled after him, not knowing what we were going to do or where we were going to go. The old lady flew behind us and hissed, "Percy Jackson and Rhode Mcdonald, ssstop!"

As we ran, Percy asked, "Your name is Rhode Mcdonald?"

"Shut up!"

When the old lady gained on us, Percy pushed me in front of him and swung his sword. I heard the old demon lady screech and the sound of disintegrating behind me, and I knew that she was gone.

"What," I gasped for air, "was that?"

"Ms. Dodds," Percy said seriously.

"Who?"

"She's a Kindly One," Percy said. "Better known as one of the Furies."

"Fury?" I said. I scratched my head, trying to comprehend what had just happened. "This is crazy."

"You have to come with me," Percy said. "You're obviously a demigod. Two monsters in a row, though? You must be a powerful one."

"Wait," I said, "a demigod? I'm a demigod?"

Percy nodded. "I know it sounds crazy. The first time someone told me my father was a Greek god, I couldn't believe it either. But trust me, those gods and goddesses-those tales you call 'myths'? They're all real."

Even though what Percy was saying sounded impossible, I believed him. I mean, I saw the cyclops and the Fury that tried to kill me all in one day. They were real. And if Greek mythological creatures were real, then the gods and goddesses I had read about for my English class were real too.

"I-I believe you," I said, "but I still have so many questions."

"It'll all be clearer to you once I get you to camp," Percy said.

"Wait, camp?" I asked. "What camp? Like...a summer camp?"

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy said. "It's the only safe place for you and me-the only safe place for demigods."

"How do I know this isn't a trap?"

Percy grinned. "Maybe you can introduce me to your family."