Chapter 1: The Museum

"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood." If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: "close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth and try to lead a normal life." "Being a half-blood is dangerous." It's scary. "Most of the time, it gets you killed!"

"If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great!" Read on. "I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened." But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. "You might be one of us."

"And once you know that it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you, don't say I didn't warn you." My name is Percy Jackson, I'm thirteen years old and I'm not like normal kids though I suppose that would be obvious if you saw me.

But lets start at the beginning. How did this story start you may ask? I suppose it all started with a theft as for what was stolen well…that's what started this whole thing.

Dark clouds rolled across the new York city skyline waves crashed against the shore. The weather had been like this for weeks now. Sure it rained and snowed a lot in New York but it almost seemed to be getting worse.

An old man sat alone on a pier a fishing pole in his hand. He hadn't caught a bite yet not that he wasn't surprised with this storm going on the fish had probably all swam away. Suddenly the water began to bubble and to the old mans surprise a spout of water shot out of the water taking the form of a large man

The man had tan skin and black hair and sea-green eyes his beard was neatly trimmed he wore bronze armor and carried a large trident the old man stared at the large man in shock as he walked down the street.

Instantly the man shrunk to the size of a normal man now dressed in a black jacket and a white shirt and jeans. To the ordinary eye this man would seem like any random homeless person however this was no ordinary man.

The man made his way to the empire state building as soon as he entered the building people turned to look at him but ignored him. The man stepped into the elevator taking it to the observation deck.

When the doors opened he noticed there was already a man there. He stepped out of the elevator and approached the man. "Zeus." The god turned to regard his brother. Poseidon. "It's been many years." Yes it has said Zeus avoiding his gaze.

"Why did you call me here, brother?" The god sighed. "What do you see?" Poseidon looked out at the dark sky. "Thunderclouds." Zeus turned to face him his eyes cold. "But no lightning." My bolt…Was stolen.

What? "You think I took it?" Zeus said nothing. "Omnipotence has blinded you, brother." We are forbidden from stealing each other's powers. Zeus turned to glare at him his voice becoming grave.

"But our children aren't." Poseidon looked enraged. "You're accusing my son?" I haven't seen him since he was a baby. "He doesn't know me or even know who he is because of you!" He growled.

"If your son is the thief, I will send him to the depths of Tartarus." Poseidon grabbed his brother by the collar of his shirt his eyes glowing with rage. "If you touch him…you will have the fight of your life."

Zeus broke free of his brothers grip walking towards the secret door that led to Olympus. "He must return the bolt to me in 14 days, by midnight on the summer solstice, or there will be war." He used his godly power to break the door into pieces as he walked through the doorway to Olympus.

ONE WEEK LATER…...

Silence. Complete silence. A red-haired teen sat at the bottom of a pool the world a mix of different shades of blue and green. A normal person would have come up for air by now but not him. He'd been underwater for a while now. He wasn't sure how long.

He wasn't exactly normal. He'd been born different then most kids. For starters he'd been born deformed his twisted feature usually scared people off, so he didn't have many friends he was also a hunchback, so it made things even more difficult for him.

He had never really known his father either. His mom told him he'd left when he was born. He didn't look anything like his mom really. His mom said he looked more like his aunt. He'd never met her though she'd died in a car crash when he was four. But he'd seen pictures of her and hair was almost as red as his own. However, his eyes as his mother always said were his father's.

He didn't remember his father that much not that it mattered. He really hated the man though for leaving them alone. His mother had remarried twice. The first guy had been Claude he was a horrible guy he had treated them both horribly. He barely remembered the guy except for the horrible nickname he'd given him.

Quasimodo. You know that hunchback guy from that one book. Not that I could blame him I kind of look like him, I guess and I can kind of relate to him seeing as we both have similar problems. My mom eventually divorced the guy but only ended up marrying someone worse! But...ill get to that in a minute.

Like I said I'm not like normal kids despite my physical disability I'm actually pretty strong I work out and stuff, but I really love to swim! I don't know why though. Ever since I can remember my whole life has been spent in the water.

It's like I'm obsessed! I don't know why but...whenever I'm in the water whether it's a pool or at the beach.

I feel calm at ease. Its like the whole world disappears and I can be myself for once without people calling me a freak. Not that their entirely wrong. I've always felt there was something...Different about me.

Besides my physical disabilities on top of that, I had ADHD and really bad dyslexia I couldn't read to save my life. Its pretty bad, but I'm obviously not stupid. But still that doesn't stop me from getting bullied a lot. I've gotten kicked out of most of my schools just for starting fights. Though most of them I didn't even start! Not that anyone cared !

But besides the fact that I'm a total loser! I'm not without friends. Well one friend in particular. Grover was my best friend and probably my only friend and I know that seems kind of pathetic it's true we've known each other for a long time we've been best friends since we were kids. Grover's actually sixteen so he's three years older than me but we've always been really close. The sound of the school bell echoed above him, and the teen looked up at the surface. "Oh great, class is going to be starting soon." I better get out. The teen swam up to the surface gasping for air as he swam over to the edge of the pool.

"And he's alive!" Said Grover clapping his hands. The teen walked over to his friend on his crutches. "That was insane man!" He said helping his friend out of the pool a grin on his face. - How long was that? The teen asked. Seven minutes. Grover said handing him a towel.

"Seven minutes?" He said impressed. It had felt longer than that. "That's crazy, man. That's ridiculous." How do you do it? The teen just shrugged drying his hair red hair with the towel.

"I just like being in water." It's the one place I can think. "Yeah well, we better go or we'll be late." Percy got changed and followed Grover his hair still somewhat damp. "I wish I could spend all day underwater instead of this place." He said as they walked down the hall.

Right. "It's like high school without the musical." He chuckled at his friend's dumb joke he wasn't entirely wrong. "Like I said I've been kicked out most of my schools, and to be honest most of my schools are boarding schools. Why? I'll explain later.

"The school I went to was called Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York." Am I a troubled kid? Yeah. You could say that. "I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but today was when things really started to go from bad to worse!

I suppose it all started when my class took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. Must sound boring right? If only it had been unfortunately that day changed everything.

Percy stepped off the bus with the rest of his classmates. The sophomore looked up at the grey sky. He hadn't been looking forward to this trip, but it was either this or spending all day in a classroom.

Mr. Brunner his Latin teacher was the only thing that made the class interesting. He sighed looking up at the Greek letters near the base of the roof and for an instant he swore he could read the letters. He shook his head. Was he going crazy?

"Be prepared." He froze he had heard that voice before but in a dream once. He turned around across the street stood a man in a black jacket. "Everything is about to change, Percy." A bus passed in front of the man and when the bus pulled away he was gone.

"Hey perce, Yo Percy!" Percy turned to look at his friend. Uh, what? "You alright man?" He turned to look at the spot where the strange man had been and shook his head. He shook his head. Yeah, I'm fine, lets just get this over with.

Percy stood at the back of the group he wasn't to interested with this stuff but the Greek myths he'd learned in class were kind of interesting he wasn't going to lie. He saw a few girls whispering and staring at him and he looked away trying to focus on Mr. Brunner's lecture.

Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and made jokes he was a pretty nice guy unlike most teachers at the school and he treated him like all of the other students despite his disabilities.

He followed the rest of his class as they walked into a room with three large statues representing Greek gods. "There are twelve Olympian gods." Said Mr. Brunner continuing his lecture.

"The big three are the brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades." They attained power by overthrowing their father, Kronos, chopping him into little pieces. Eww. One of the girls said making a disgusted face.

"The three gods have been rivals ever since, always arguing, always threatening war." For an instant he glanced at Percy before continuing his lecture. "On several occasions, they would come down to Earth and...How shall I put this?"

"Hook up?" Said Grover much to the rest of the class's amusement. The teen blushed. He may be fourteen, but he'd soon be turning fifteen and he'd never had a girlfriend. Most girls hated him because of how he looked.

Mr. Brunner chuckled. Yes, correct Mr. Underwood correct. "They would hook up with mortals." "The children of these unions were half-god, half-human." Can anyone tell me what they were called? Mr. Brunner's eyes locked onto the hunchback teen standing at the back of the group.

Percy. The teen didn't answer. Percy. The distracted teen looked up. I'm sorry. What? "What, Mr. Brunner?" A few girls giggled and the teen turned red with embarrassment. "What is the proper name of the offspring of a human and a god?" Mr. Brunner asked repeating his question.

Demigod. Mr. Brunner grinned. Exactly. "And many became great heroes, like Hercules and Achilles." Can you name another? "I'll give you a hint, you have something in common." The teen instantly drew a blank.

Then his eyes landed on a picture of the Greek hero Perseus fighting medusa. Perseus? He said out loud. Correct. "Now, over here, we have a depiction of Hercules defeating the Nemean lion." Hercules killed the beast with his bare hands and took the skin as a trophy.

He followed the tour group for an hour before they took a lunch break. However, Mr. Brunner stopped him. Mr. Jackson may I speak to you for a moment. He turned to Grover. Go on without me I'll be there in a minute. The teen shrugged as he walked off.

Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Your doing well in my class boy, but soon things are going to get much harder. What do you mean? He sighed. "What you learn from me, is vitally important, I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."

He sighed. He wanted to be mad at the guy, but he couldn't. Even though he pushed him harder than any of his teachers ever had at least he cared unlike the rest of his teachers what he wasn't sure about was why. The old man sighed and told him to go join the rest of the class outside. I was barely hungry as I joined Grover outside.

"Did he give you detention or something?" No, I just wish he'd stop pressuring me sometimes. "Hey, I get it, but he just wants you to succeed like everyone else." I know and I try but I'm not perfect obviously.

Yeah that's ok, besides, you'd be really boring if you where perfect. Yeah, I guess your right he said laughing. However, he became sad as watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue. He began to think about His mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where he sat.

"It's been a long time since I've seen mom." He thought to himself. "I haven't seen her since Christmas." There was part of me that wanted to jump in a taxi and head home. "She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too."

"She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder." Not that it mattered eventually I'd end up getting kicked out...again. "I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me."

He shook his head. It wasn't worth it. He sighed. Suddenly a shadow fell over him. "Percy, may I have a word with you?" The teen froze his math teacher miss Dodds towered above him. U-um sure, Mrs. Dodds.

Grover looked at him worriedly as if begging him not to go but it wasn't like he had a choice. He followed her into the museum and down a narrow hallway into an empty room in the museum.

However as he walked into the room Mrs. Dodds seemed to disappear. "So, did I do something wrong?" He looked around realizing she was gone. Mrs. Dodds? "Where did she- Where is it?!" He whirled around to find her standing on the scaffolding behind him.

I stared at her shocked. I started to feel slightly uneasy. Something was wrong. I needed to get out of here now! But I couldn't move I was completely frozen. H-How did you get- She let out a ferocious roar and then she began to change before my eyes. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals.

Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs.

She leapt from the scaffolding lifting him off the ground before he could even move her glowing eyes glaring at him. "You stole the lightning bolt!" She growled. " I don't know what you're talking about!" The teen shouted trying to free his jacket from her claws.

Give it to me! She snarled. "Give it to me! Now! Or I will bite your heart out!" She growled. Suddenly the door burst open, and Mr. Brunner rolled in on his wheelchair, Grover following behind him. Percy!

"Release him!" Mr. Brunner shouted. You! She hissed. "Release him or I swear I'll tear you to pieces!" She hissed throwing him to the ground but as soon he got up she lunged at him her claws ready to tear him apart.

Mr. Brunner tossed him a pen. Percy catch! The teen yelped and dogged as he felt sharp talons next to his ear. He grabbed the pen however when it hit his hand it wasn't a pen anymore but a bronze sword. He'd seen this sword hanging in Mr. Brunner's classroom.

The creature lunged at him talons outstretched. "DIE!" His eye widened in shock. What do I do?! He thought panicking. He did the only thing he could do: He swung the sword! The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.

With a loud hiss she exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.

I looked around only to realize that I was alone. There was a ballpoint pen in my hand. Mr. Brunner and were gone. Nobody was there but me. My hands were still trembling. Had I been imagining things? I still felt somewhat uneasy as I headed back outside.

Grover still sat at the fountain giving me an odd look. Hey perce there you are, Where've you been? You ok? I decided not to mention what I'd seen and played it off as if everything was fine. I-I'm fine.

Eventually I realized that everyone had completely forgotten about Mrs. Dodds its as if she'd never existed in the first place however I had the sneaking suspicion that Mr. Brunner and Grover where hiding something from me however I'd soon find out what.