"Arista, where are you? WAKE UP!" my mom screamed.
"Ugghhhh, it's SO early!" I groaned, getting out of bed. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
I walked downstairs to find my mom fighting a bunch of monsters. I ran for cover, while quickly trying to find out what was happening. I pinched myself once, twice, but nothing happened.
After realizing I wasn't asleep, I quickly tried to come up with a plan to help my mom. A half second later, my dad burst through the door, and started fighting the monsters.
About 5 minutes later, there was only one monster left, and it faced my weary parents and got ready to pounce.
I desperately grabbed a ballpoint pen, the closest thing I could find, and opened the cap. To my shock, it turned into a huge sword. I flung it at the monster. The monster burst into dust, like all the others did.
"What was that, mom?" I asked, still shocked that I might have witnessed my own parents' death.
"Just some pests. Don't worry about it." She replied, flinching about how bad that sounded when she said it outloud. She gave Dad a look.
My dad looked confused for a while, but then seemed to get the idea.
My parents started cleaning things, but I wasn't fooled. I stared at them, giving them the look that I wasn't fooled.
"And where did you get those swords? HOW did that pen turn into a weapon?!" I demanded, frustrated that they wouldn't tell me.
I can proudly say that the rest of the day went splendid. NOT! My parents were still acting as strange and distracted as my classmate, Jimmy, when he didn't know the answer to a math problem.
My dad at some point started writing a letter that he threw into a nearby lake. The only words I caught were "Arista" and "help escorting to camp". Weird. My dad sometimes did strange things, but this was super weird.
That evening, my parents came to talk to me, before leaving my room. They told me everything I had wondered about. All the strange things that had happened to me. I finally fell into a fitful sleep.
"And so, the itty bitty baby falls asleep."
Who said that? Creepy.
"She's as ugly as a blobfish."
"Of course. Itty bitty baby says that."
I tried to find out who was saying these rude things. When I saw who was talking I wanted to scream, but I found I couldn't scream, as if it were just me seeing it.
It was a lady, and she had skin as pale as a ghost. Her hair was all mangly and orange, as if she dyed it with dust and added water to my favorite goldfish crackers, and she was beautiful but really ugly if you know what I mean. She smelled like roses freshly picked and dirt. Then I saw the other person who spoke.
His skin was black and red and had big crackles as if he were made from lava and rock. He was large and ugly, but then I looked at him in a different way and I saw a young man. He had a scar across his cheek, and he had blond hair and pale skin. He was handsome but tired looking, and as mean as the meanest bully in school. I so badly wanted to punch him in the face. Is this a dream? I thought to myself.
"WAKE UP!" I screamed to myself.
"Arista, wake up," the lady said, but then I realized it was my mom, trying to get me out of bed.
I dragged myself out of bed and downstairs, only to see a boy showing up at our doorstep, with a… PEGASUS. I immediately hid behind my mom.
"It's ok, Arista" she soothingly, stroking my hair. Then I remembered. Last night, my parents had told me that all the Greek myths, gods and goddesses, were all true. I was half immortal. My mom, Annabeth, is the daughter of Athena. My dad, Percy, is the son of Poseidon. Even though my parents had told me about it the night before, it still felt strange to me that all of those greek myths were real.
Even stranger, now I knew that two of my grandparents were immortal. I mean, I should have known my parents were hiding something. Especially when I said that the gods could sometimes be crazy, HA! They stiffened like crazy. Anyways, my parents started talking about a camp. Well, I liked camp, but they looked very serious, not like I was going to a normal camp. Then they looked at me. I hate when parents do that...
"Arista, we have something to tell you." my mom said. I got really nervous. Whenever she said it like that, I knew it was serious.
"Arista, you're, well, getting older, and…" my dad trailed off. I just hoped it wasn't the Talk. Anything but the Talk, please, Dad!
He continued. "Um, Arista, now that you've realized who you are, the monsters are going to be able to… smell you even more. So, we need to send you to camp. For kids like you. Camp Half-Blood." he bit his lip.
Wow. Just wow, Dad. While I say anything but the Talk, I didn't exactly want to hear I was being shipped off to some Fraction Blood boot camp. Ugh. I guess this is what happens, huh? Ironic. I didn't know why I was so restless and why I couldn't read, and then it was shoved into my face last night. And before I could have time to think about it, I was being shipped off to boot camp. Wow. Just. Wow.
"We'll miss you so much, and we don't want to leave you alone, but we have to. For- for your safety." my mom said quietly.
I am NOT going to some camp, without my parents! " Are you coming with me?" I questioned, daring them to tell the truth. "Arista, honey, I know you're angry but..." My mom trailed off looking for a kind-enough way to say no without hurting my feelings. "What your mom means to say, is that even though you won't be with us, you'll make friends, and you'll meet Chiron, the nicest centaur in the world." My dad continued "Please Arista, for your safety." I took a second to think about it, but then grudgingly mumbled okay.