A Hint of Nightshade
Chapter One
New Beginnings
When I was twelve-years-old, I watched as a man named Gabe Ugliano struck my mother. Gabe was my step-father, a notion that I never could quite wrap my head around. He was an unpleasant man, but I'd never seen him lay a hand on her. This was the first and last time. What happened next was a blurry memory. I remember feeling a pull in my stomach, an unbelievably intense pain that brought me to my knees. And yet, at the same time, I'd never felt stronger. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I knew it was far beyond the realm of normal. The next thing I remember was getting to my feet and looking around at our sopping wet living room. It was as if the entire apartment had been underwater less than a minute ago. And Gabe Ugliano was nowhere to be found.
I'd find out later that I'd killed Gabe that day, but I'd harbored no guilt over the event since. Death was a merciful punishment for a man like that and we could finally start our lives without him. Clearly, in the wake of that night, there were many questions that needed to be answered. Fortunately, my mother was there to provide them. She told me everything. She told me that the Gods of Olympus were real. She told me about how she'd fallen in love with one of them and that I was demigod. She told me about the camp of legend that was put in place to protect kids like me. She told me everything that she knew and more. When we'd finished our conversation, there was a decision to be made. Go to Camp Half-blood and accept my destiny of hiding behind the camp's protective barrier, likely to never quest outside the walls again. Or risk my life to stay with my mother. I chose the latter. Well, at least for some time.
We agreed that I would only be forced to go to camp when my life was in legitimate danger. Funny thing though, that never really happened. When I'd discovered that I was different than the others, a powerful son of a sea god and a member of the big three, learning to control my powers was just a matter of time and practice. I focused all my free time on controlling my abilities. I'd stay after school and practice at the pool until the swim team came to kick me out. So, I joined the swim team and had unlimited time to practice. Not to mention complete domination of the sport. I tried everything that I could think of in terms of manipulating water and learned some pretty cool tricks. I even started taking elective classes at a nearby college. Amateur sword fighting, mixed martial arts, survival skills, anything that seemed important. My mother, Sally Jackson, was right by my side the entire time.
Eventually, we became desperate for money. She couldn't afford to keep the apartment all by herself and I couldn't juggle a job on top of school and my real training. But then, I got an idea.
You see, ever since I learned about the world of demigods, I was starting to see them everywhere. I learned to pick up on the signs. Anyone with ADHD was instantly on my radar. If I was lucky, I could fairly quickly pick up on a satyr that was sniffing around as well. I got pretty good at this and discovered there were a lot of them out there. Monsters, demigods, satyrs, they were everywhere. The mist is a truly powerful thing. It just no longer was keeping me from seeing the truth.
I kept a list and monitored them routinely throughout my school day. I never interfered with any of the others unless it was to dispatch a monster, something that had become as frequent and easy as brushing my teeth. But one day, I had to break my rule.
It was the final period of the day, one like any other. I was sitting in English class and more focused on a pair of my classmates than the actual lesson. There names were Trevor and Terra Tinker, twin preteens with an absentee mother and hyperactive as Hades. They were terrible students, mostly opting to goof off with one of their friends than focus on the teacher's words. The friend's name was Grover Underwood. He was a satyr. I was positive. Mostly, because I'd seen him sniffing around me and I had to make it quite clear that he was to keep his distance. I'm sure I'd have plenty of satyrs to deal with, but this one seemed content watching over the pair of twin demigods. I didn't know who their godly parent was. My guess was Demeter, for what it's worth. The important thing was that they were approaching their final days away from camp.
We had a janitor that spent far too long emptying the garbage cans outside this room every day. I wasn't positive if the satyr was aware of this, but the man was definitely a cyclops. And he wanted blood.
"Percy Jackson?" The teacher's voice asked. All eyes turned to me. "Would you be willing to share your thoughts on the end of Act II with the class?" I heard some snickering from my classmates who knew damn well I wasn't paying attention.
"I'd be more than willing." I replied. "But there's someone at the door that I think wants to talk to you first." My educational guide gave me a skeptical look, but went over to the door nonetheless. She seemed surprised to find the janitor actually standing there and peering through the glass. She opened it, much to the surprise of the man.
"I'm sorry." She spoke. "May I help you with something?" Apparently, the monster's faux backstory did not supply an answer to that question. The cyclops let out a horrifying roar and tossed the teacher out the door like she weighed nothing. The students scrambled for the room's only other exit while the satyr jumped into action, putting himself between the demigods and the monster. Soon, the room was evacuated with the exception of the satyr and us demigods. The cyclops threw the teacher's desk, blocking off the exit which the student's ran out of. The only escape now was through the door that he was guarding. Trevor and Terra cowered behind Grover, who was now in full satyr form. He looked at me.
"Percy, get behind me!" He pleaded. I remained seated.
"Oh, yeah? How are you going to protect three demigods from a cyclops, Grover?" Grover looked startled, probably trying to figure out how I was so unfazed by the situation.
"Percy?" I almost laughed.
"Why don't you just leave this one to me?" I announced. The trio was now watching me curiously, their quest for answers beating out their fear. I looked around for something that I could use as a weapon. The flagpole could be used as a spear, but it wasn't very sturdy or reliable. What I really needed was water. I spotted a bottle of water on the ground by Terra's feet. Terra and I locked eyes.
"What is it?" She asked desperately. I eyed the monster, who was breathing heavily and licking his lips at the buffet before him.
"Toss me that water bottle, Terra!" I ordered. She did as was told and threw the bottle across the room. As the bottle hit my palm, and with a slight pull in my gut, the water transformed and hardened into a six-foot-long icicle. The trio cowering in the corner looked on in astonishment, but the cyclops was unwavering in its bloodlust. I didn't give it time to make the first move. I jumped onto my desk and used it to propel myself at the beast. The cyclops prepared to catch me for an easy meal, but I used the roof of the classroom to launch myself downward. The monster barely had time to react as I went into a slide between its legs and drove my makeshift spear into its midsection. The beast bellowed in anguish and doubled over in pain. I got to my feet effortlessly and willed the ice to shatter within the cyclops' body, shooting off into all different directions like shrapnel. The monster let out one more cry of pain and vaporized into a cloud of yellow powder. Amidst the debris rested the monster's eye, a spoil of war from our "battle". I had no desire to possess it. This wasn't the first cyclops that I'd slain, and nowhere near the largest. In fact, it was practically a dwarf in comparison to others that I'd encountered. I rolled the eye with my foot like a soccer ball toward Grover and the demigods. The trio looked at the eye incredulously and then turned their attention back to me, speechless and in awe. I studied them, as I'd been doing for months. They had no chance of making it to camp on their own. It was perfect.
"Hey, Terra?" I asked. The girl looked at me, her chestnut hair was matted to her face. It was like she'd just run a marathon, but hadn't moved from the corner of the room. Her emerald eyes were filled with a mix of emotions. Relief, surprise, gratitude, fear, too many to pinpoint.
"Yeah, Percy?" I flashed a mischievous grin.
"You're dad's a doctor, right?" She seemed confused, but nodded.
"Um, yeah, why?"
"How much do you think he'd pay to make sure you didn't get eaten alive on your way to Camp Half-blood?"