Chapter 1- I murder my demonic maths teacher

"If you don't like the road you are walking, start paving another one"

Dolly Parton

I'm going to be honest. Being a half-blood sounds cool. But trust me, it's dangerous, terrifying and often leaves you on Hades' doorstep.

If you're just a normal kid, let me say a part of me does envy you. You can just read this, believe it to be nothing more than a story and carry on with your life.

Anyways I'll get started

My name is Percy Jackson

I am twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student in Yancy Academy which was basically a private school for troubled kids in Upstate New York.

Am I a problem child?

Yeah, you could say that.

My entire life has basically been filled with crazy experiences. See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea

This time I actually wanted to try and be good.

Hahahaha. If you figured out that it didn't go well, you get a cookie!

It didn't start off too bad. I enjoyed it because Mr Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading it this time. He 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 jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.

But there was something off about the guy. As much as I liked him, my instincts told me something wasn't right about him. And I trusted them more than anything else. Every single time something weird had happened, I'd have some feeling in my pit warning me. I'm guessing that's what saved me when I was younger.

Oh I forgot to mention, when I was 2 years old, I somehow managed to kill a snake in my cradle and was playing with it till my mum realised. She has an unexpected heart attack that day.

So, on our way to the city, I had to constantly put up with my class nemesis, Nancy Bobofit, a freckled, redheaded kleptomaniac and all around lunatic. She was bullying my best friend Grover.

Grover was an easy kid to bully. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you.
You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. He would've put Usain Bolt to shame.

I don't sound to mean too paranoid, but Grover gives me the same weird vibe that Mr Brunner does. When he thinks I'm not watching him, he observes me in a sort of creepy way, like he's interested in me about something. Of course, I could just be paranoid, but considering everything I've been through, I have a right to be.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.

Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."

He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.

"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.

"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."

Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into. And believe me, that mess was something that would not have been cleaned up so easily.

As we walked through, I was quite interested in all the different displays around me. It genuinely blew my mind the fact that these things had been around for 2 to 3 millennia. And plus the way Mr Brunner talked about them, it wasn't as boring as one would expect it to be.

The only problem was an uneasy feeling I had. The other teacher, Mrs Dodds, was giving me an evil eye. And let me just put it now, that woman made every cell in my body ring in alarm. I know people say that teachers act mean but they do it for your benefit.

Mrs Dodds did not do anything because it was to benefit me. She was a demon teacher who just wanted to put misery on me. Oh if only I knew how right I was back then.

When I told Grover this, he looked at me deadly serious and said,

"You're absolutely right,"

That wasn't freaky at all.

As I tried listening to Mr Brunner, Nancy kept making dumb remarks till I had enough.

"Will you shut your damn mouth for a moment,"

It came out slightly louder than I meant but I was frustrated.

Everyone turned to us in slight shock, some snickering to themselves and Mr Brunner looked at me.

"Mr Jackson, do you have something to say?" he asked as I lowered my head in embarrassment.

"No sir,"

Mr Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the wall, "Perhaps you'd like to tell us what this represents?"

I looked at it for a moment before understanding what it was. You see, since at a young age, my mum had gotten me interested in Greek Mythology and had me learn as much as I could, telling me it was important to know this. I didn't understand what she meant but it was fun to read nonetheless.

And of course, I actually paid attention to Mr Brunner's lessons so I understood quite a lot, despite my ADHD.

"That is the depiction of Kronos eating his children, right?"

Mr Brunner nodded, motioning for me to carry on.

"Well Kronos was the king Go-, Titan," I stopped myself before continuing, "And due to a prophecy and curse by his father, he didn't trust his children. So he ate 5 of them. But his wife, Rhea, took the sixth one, Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock instead to eat. And as Zeus grew up, he fooled his father and had him barf out his siblings-"

"Ugh," gagged one of the girls behind me as I gave her a glare

"And hence there was a long war between the gods and the titans and after a successful assault, the gods won the war,"

Behind me, Nancy muttered,

"Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair, which was an achievement if you ask me.

At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.

I knew the answer to this. I had a feeling that's why my mum had me learn this stuff.

"It's to teach us lessons that we can apply to our own lives and morality. That even beings such as gods and heroes are capable of making mistakes and falling to their flaws and that we should learn from their errors and try to be better as humans ourselves," I replied back

Mr Brunner looked at me for a moment before nodding, a smile on his face showing he was proud of my answer.

"Well, full credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

"Happy note?" I thought to myself incredulously as we went outside for lunch.

I looked back to see Mr Brunner just looking longingly at one of the steeles, almost like he had been to that girl's funeral.

The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I thought maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas but generally it'd be hotter all across if it was from global warming.

We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. To me, it felt as though something else was causing me.

I was half right.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.

"Can I have your apple?" Grover's voice shook me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I said as I focused back on him

"Can I have your apple?" he asked again. I gave it to him, not feeling too hungry.

I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little way uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad 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, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able stand the look of disappointment she'd give me but there wasn't much I could do. Life just seemed to be against me.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.

I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.

I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears and I felt a tug in my gut, just focusing my rage on Nancy.

I didn't even touch her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"

Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. I am telling you, she has demon powers. Witch!

Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"

"—the water—"

"—like it grabbed her—"

"The water grabbed her. What the hell," I thought to myself. "These lot are more deranged than me,"

I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again, for something I didn't do.

Again.

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, blah, blah, blah, Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"

"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."

That wasn't the right thing to say, but I was just so angry I didn't care at that moment.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.

"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."

I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death, even more so than me. I had to admit, that was brave for him

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.

"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.

"But—"

"You—will—stay—here."

"Alright, leave Grover alone," I interrupted focusing the attention on me.
"Let's go,"

Her smile as I said that was beyond insane

Grover looked at me desperately.

"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare causing her to flinch slightly. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.

How'd she get there so fast?

I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.

I didn't that was the case

I went after Mrs. Dodds, my impeding death just waiting around the corner.

Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.

I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.

Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.

If you guessed that wasn't what was going to happen, here's another cookie

I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.

Except for us, the gallery was empty. Now I was suspicious. I looked around, my mind making little notes of exit areas and things I could use to escape.

Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.

Ok what the hell.

Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.

I rolled my eyes. I said, "Yes, ma'am."

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"

The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.

And there's no such thing as a bad teacher, I thought nervously. I'm definitely dying here

I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."

Thunder shook the building.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

I didn't know what she was talking about. Pain? For what exactly?

All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.

If only that was the case. There seem to be quite a lot of these.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, I don't..."

"Your time is up," she hissed.

Then the weirdest thing happened. 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 shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.

"Ah ha," I thought to myself despite the shock running through my body. "She is a demon"

Then things got even stranger.

I know I know. How can it get stranger?

I lunged back underneath, behind a statue as she narrowed her eyes at me

Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.

"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.

With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I jumped upwards, using one of the displays to launch myself, snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.

Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.

I took a deep breath. My mum had put me in taekwondo and karate training since I was 6 years old so I had some idea on how to defend myself.

She snarled, "Die, honey!"

"Honey, really?" I thought to myself as she flew straight at me.

My body thought for me and I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!

Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulphur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.

I was alone.

There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.

Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. Great, another crazy experience for me

My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.

There was no way I had imagined the whole thing. I looked around, still seeing my footprints from earlier due to the mud.

I went back outside.

It had started to rain.

Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I said, "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!"

I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.

She just rolled her eyes and turned away.

I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "Who?"

But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.

"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."

Thunder boomed overhead. I wasn't sure if everyone was just playing a joke at me. There was no way everything I had just seen was just a hallucination. For 6 months as well. Something was up. And this was more than just a normal crazy experience.

I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

I went over to him.

He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."

I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.

"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"

He stared at me blankly. "Who?"

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

I looked at him with narrow eyes. He sounded genuine but my instincts told me something else. Something had happened. Something that he didn't want me to know. And if I remembered correctly, I hadn't taken his pen from him at all.

Author's Note: So I have begun one of my next story ideas. If Percy was a smarter version of himself. I am sorry to others but this will be Percabeth otherwise my plotline will not make sense at all. But regardless of that, I do hope you guys enjoy this. Of course, my main priority if my Roman Percy story but on the side I'll be updating this.

Also look out, my Perlia story of Percy in Ancient Greece will be coming out soon. Can't be too sure when, but should begin soon enough, just need to plan it out a bit more. Just so people know, these stories will update, but not as frequently as my Roman Percy one because that's one I've been working on the most and I plan on that being one of my greatest stories.

Anyways leave a review, let me know what you think so far and if you enjoy it.

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Hope you liked the chapter

That's all from me for now

SpiritsOfTheWorld