CHAPTER 1
I DETERMINE THAT ALL TEACHERS ARE EVIL
No. Yes. The answer was C. No D. No way. It had to be A. Or could it be B? I had no idea. I marked A, thinking of Annabeth and her brilliance and prayed I got it right. Reading was my worst subject in the entire world due to my dyslexia. The words seemed to just lift off the page and dance around. It was hard to concentrate. Mr. Bearman's reading class was stuffy and hot. The teacher was a boring stiff. He was a stout man with a bald head and wore the ugliest brown suit I'd ever seen. He was walking up and down the rows making sure no one was cheating on his oh-so-exclusive test.
Three rows away and two seats up sat my good friend, Sarissa Greenhouse. I'd met her for the first time last year. She's a fellow demigod and a daughter of Demeter. She helped me on my quest last year and got me into a lot of hot water with Annabeth, but that's all over now and we're real good friends. And unfortunately, she was actually good in this subject and probably flying through this test. Unless my eyes were playing tricks, her pencil was going down the test rapidly.
The bell ran ten minutes later.
"Hand we your test." said Mr. Bearman at the front of the class. He came by everyone's desk and picked up their test. He got mine last and Sarissa waited for me at the door.
"Thank-you, Mr. Jackson." said Mr. Bearman, snatching my test. I winced at him and left the classroom with Sarissa.
"That test was brilliant!" said Sarissa. "But I think I got number fifty-seven wrong. What did you think? I put D."
In my brain, I had remembered I put A for number fifty-seven and it's most likely Sarissa was right.
"I can't remember," I mumbled.
"Well, at least that was the last test of the year." said Sarissa, exhaling. "The summer can finally start."
"The summer has already started!" I said with a grin. Back during the school year, we had a massive snow storm, that closed down the school for three weeks. Therefore, we had to do an extra month of school in July. So unfair.
Sarissa giggled.
"Yeah," said Sarissa, "with your sixteenth birthday coming up the rest of the summer should be interesting."
"Yeah," I said. My sixteenth birthday was soon approaching and with it a war that would go down in history.
"Mr. Jackson and Ms. Greenhouse!" said an excited voice from behind us. My math teacher, Ms. Moree, was hurrying toward us.
"Hi Ms. Moree," said Sarissa, brightly.
"Since the school year is coming to a close, a few teachers are throwing an annual teacher-student survey get together tomorrow after school. I'd love it if you two would come." said Ms. Moree, putting on a pitiful expression.
"Well, actually, my mom was coming to pick me up after----" Sarissa stumped on my foot and shut me up.
"We'd love too," she said, putting on an enormous grin.
"Super!" said Ms. Moree, walking off.
My toe throbbed all day.
We sat by the lake in the tall grass away from the school. The sun was setting slowly and Sarissa was making a flower grow, bloom, and retract into the ground. I watched her for a few minutes and looked off into the lake. It gave me that nice calm peaceful feeling. I came down here a lot during the school year to think. I thought about Annabeth, Camp, my destiny, and my friends. It was getting close and I had to be ready to make the right choice.
"Are we doing the right thing?" asked Sarissa, suddenly in the middle of making a flower bloom.
I didn't answer her right away.
"Yeah," I said. "Having second thoughts?"
"Of course not," said Sarissa, beginning to smile. "My mom gave me the most amazing gift. She made me special and different. And I get cool powers over nature too. How awesome is that?"
"Yeah, I guess." I said.
The horizon was turning red and orange.
"Their out there." said Sarissa as the wind blew.
"Yeah and we better get ready for when they come." I said, uncapping Riptide.
I went through school the next day, clacking my pen against the desk waiting for the day to be over with. I had called my mom earlier and told her to not come pick me up and that I'll find another way to get to Camp. She told me to be careful and that she loved me. Then, something real strange happened. She began to talk in Greek and said she'll see me soon. It was pretty weird, but not as weird as I have seen before.
I went back up to my room before lunch and began to pack up some clothes into a nice duffle bag. My roommate, Zach O'Bryan, was chewing on a Sneaker and listening to his Ipod.
"Leavin' already, Perce?" he asked.
"No," I answered. "Just getting ready. I got this weird feeling that I won't be coming back anytime soon."
"Well, good luck man." he said. He took my hand and shook it. "See you next year."
"You too man." I said. The feeling that I wouldn't be back to my room stayed with me all the way down to the teacher's lunchroom.
Sarissa was standing outside of the door when I arrived.
"Has it started?" I asked.
"No," said Sarissa. She placed with her hair a little and said, "How do I look?"
"Fine," I said.
"Do you give Annabeth those type of answers?" she asked.
"Sometimes," I said.
"Never mind," said Sarissa, at a lost for what to say.
She knocked on the door three times.
Mr. Bearman opened it and said, "Ms. Greenhouse, how lovely to see you. Mr. Jackson." He said my name with pure disgust.
"Hi Mr. Bearman!" said Sarissa, stepping into the room. I followed, giving a small grin to Mr. Bearman.
The teacher's lunchroom was decked out nicely with cozy chairs and couches, with a nice mahogany table in the middle. There were only four other people in here; Ms. Moree, who beamed on our approach, a male and female teacher I had seen only twice, and a man who was in need of a tan.
"Welcome," said Ms. Moree.
"Hello, beautiful." said the man to Sarissa. She giggled flirtatiously. I elbowed her and she stumbled a little at the sudden attack.
"Finally, the guest of honors have arrived." said the female teacher.
I heard a click and turned around; Mr. Bearman had just locked the door.
"What's going on here?" I asked.
"The death of two half-bloods." said the male teacher.
"What?" said Sarissa, sharply.
At that moment, the entire tension in the room shifted. Ms. Moree began to change. Bat wings sprouted from her back and her nails extended about three inches. She smiled wickedly. The man opened his mouth, revealing several sharp teeth and two long fangs----a Lamia. I felt Sarissa shuffle a bit next to me at the sight of him. Mr. Bearman also changed. He grew taller and bigger. His face stretched outward, turning into a snout and sharp teeth come downward from his gums. His fingers vanished and were released by three sharp talons. Hair exploded from all over his body turning him into an actual bear man! The female teacher pulled out a shotgun and aimed it at us. The male teacher picked up a suitcase from behind the table, opened it, and pulled out a rocker launcher.
"Time to fight for your lives." growled Mr. Bearman.
I pulled out my ballpoint pen and uncapped my sword, Riptide. It grew in my hands, turning into a 3 foot sword with a celestial bronze blade.
"Sarissa," I said.
"I know," she said, understanding me at once.
The battle had begun.