Chapter 1:
Hello, my name is Percisis (per-sis-is) Jackson, but most people call me Perci. I have sea-green eyes and black hair my mom often compared to my dad. He had died at sea shortly after my birth. For a little over a year now my mom, Sally Jackson, had been living with this real pig called Gabe, (or as I called him, 'smelly Gabe'). He would always hit me when my mon wasn't around and say things like, "who would want to love a brat like you" or, "no wonder why your father left you." that all stopped when I came home to a silent apartment.
It was eerily cold and felt as if something terrible had happened. I didn't have to go far to see my mother slumped on the ground, dead. Her eyes a glossy white with a haunting look. Blood pooled around her body and a knife sticking out of her chest. Gabe was nowhere to be found. I stood there in shock not knowing what to do, a single tear tracing my cheek. I don't know how long I had stood there; it could have been a couple seconds or several hours. One word finally croaked out of my mouth, "mom?" that was all it took before I started running, crying my heart out as I did so.
~Timeskip~
I wandered the streets of New York City for the next couple weeks often encountering creepy one-eyed men and huge dogs that looked like they were made of lava. They always gave chase until I was cornered by a 7ft tall cyclops, my back to a river (the Hudson I believe). As he made a move to snatch me, I prayed for a painless death and jumped. It only took a second for me to hit the river, the bubbles cushioning my fall. Wait what!?
I looked around for a second until I realized I could see, hear, smell, feel, and sense everything in the water around me. As I took this information in, I realized I had been underwater for nearly a full 3 minutes, except that shouldn't be possible. I started swimming downriver observing how filthy the river appeared to be. I mean seriously, this was disgusting.
As I swam something caught my eye. A simple black wallet covered in silt. As I picked it up it became dry almost instantly. I let it go and it became soaked again, cool! I looked through the wallet and found a couple hundred dollars in it but nothing else of interest. As I put the money in my pocket, I felt my clothes. They appeared to be dry as well. I kept on swimming until I felt a tingle in my spine and an urge to go to... a strawberry field? That can't be right, can it? I had a feeling something was watching me so I called out, "h-hello? Is anyone there? Could you take me there?" as soon as I said that I felt myself being propelled at hundreds of miles an hour until I was near a beach.
I, having no clue where I was stepped out of the ocean and started to walk along the beach. After what seemed like an eternity of endless waves and sand, I saw a jogger in the distance. He appeared to be male with a slight hook in his nose and shifting eyes one might have if they were a thief. "ummm.. Excuse me?" the man stopped and looked at me, "yes Perci?" he replied. I took an involuntary step backwards.
"how do you know my name" I demanded. He had that look that adults always gave me that seemed to say 'how precious'. He replied, "let's take a walk." I took another look at him and reluctantly said, "o-ok". Little did I know how naïve I had been back then. He explained to me everything about the Greek gods and goddesses and how I was a child of one, when I asked him which one all he said was "think about it".
Alright, breathing underwater, feeling stronger in water, enhanced senses in water, all the similarities being water. I thought about all the gods and goddesses he had told me about. There were the 3 popular ones of course, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Zeus ruling the sky, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the ocea- "POSEIDON IS MY FATHER!" I yelled. Now it all makes sense with the water abilities and feeling at home in the water.
I looked at the man and he seemed amused, chuckling slightly. "yep, you're a daughter of old seaweed brain alright" he replied with a grin. Then I noticed something, something about the way his skin seemed to glow and he looked powerful. As I noticed this, I asked him his name to which he responded "Hermes, god of messengers at your service" with a short bow. I quickly dropped to my knees and gasped "l-lord Hermes". He frowned at this and said, "none of that Perci, call my Hermes". He then handed me several hundred dollars, a pen, and a letter.
I quickly put the money away after thanking him and asked the purpose of these items. He grinned again and said, "uncap the pen" but not before he stepped back. Eyeing the pen suspiciously I held it away from me and uncapped it. The pen quickly grew into a shimmering bronze sword, my demeanor fast changed from suspicious to awed.
He then said, "read the letter once you get a moment of privacy". As I put the pen in my pocket, I worriedly kept patting it making sure it was still there. After all I wasn't the best known for keeping track of things. He looked at me before saying, "you can't lose the pen it will always return to your pocket". I took it back out of my pocket and threw it as far as I could into the ocean before reaching into my pocket a couple seconds later a pulling out the very same pen I just threw. Shocked, I simply said my thanks before asking him where I go now. All he did was point in the direction I had previously been traveling, and say "once night falls look for campfires".
I looked but there was nothing I could see for a long time. As I turned to thank him, I realized he was gone and I was alone. I took this as a sign and started the long walk to 'campfires', at least I would have to wait long as the sun was already setting. I took a moment to regain my bearings before starting my trek towards my new life.
~a\n~
This is my first story and I hope you enjoyed it; I look forward to reading your reviews. I plan on updating anywhere from once a week to once a month and don't plan on writing anymore new stories as of February of 2020. Once again, thank you for supporting me.