So, chapter two as promised.

Chapter 2

Dodge ball of DEATH!

Skylah P.O.V

This day started normally. Or as normal it could ever get at Meriwether College Prep.

See, it's this "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan, which means we sit on beanbag chairs instead of at desks, and we don't get grades, and the teachers wear jeans and rock concert T-shirts to work.

That's fine with me. I mean, I'm ADHD and dyslexic, just like most half-bloods, so I'd never done that great in regular schools even before they kicked me out.

The only bad thing about Meriwether was that the teachers always looked on the bright side of things, and the kids weren't always… the sharpest tool in the shed. Take my first class today: English. The whole middle school had read this book called Lord of the Flies, where all these kids get marooned on an island and go psycho.

So for our final exam, our teachers sent us into the break yard to spend an hour with no adult supervision to see what would happen. What happened was a massive wedgie contest between the seventh and eighth graders, two pebble fights, and a full-tackle basketball game.

The school bully, Matt Sloan, led most of those activities. Sloan was far from big or strong, but he acted like he was. He had eyes like a pit bull and shaggy black hair(not like the perfect tussled mess on Percy's head or the semi-neat mop on Jadens), and he always dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he wanted everybody to see how little he cared about his family's money. One of his front teeth was chipped from the time he'd taken his daddy's Porsche for a joyride and run into a PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN sign.

Anyway, Sloan was giving everybody wedgies until he made the mistake of trying it on my friend Tyson.

Tyson was the only homeless kid at Meriwether College Prep. As near as my little trio could figure out, he'd been abandoned by his parents when he was little, probably because he was a little different.

He was six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman, but he cried a lot and was scared of just about everything, including his reflection. His face was kind of misshapen and brutal-looking. I couldn't tell you what color his eyes were, because I never met his eyes for anything(I was scared he'd hit me with some big guy puppy eyes and I would cave to anything he said). His voice was deep, but he talked like a child, maybe he'd never gone to school before coming to Meriwether.

He wore tattered jeans, grimy size-twenty sneakers, and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it. He smelled like a New York City alleyway because that's where he lived, in a cardboard refrigerator box off 72nd Street. Meriwether Prep had adopted him as a community service project so all the students could feel good about themselves.

Unfortunately, most of them couldn't stand Tyson. Once they discovered he was a big softie, despite his massive strength and his scary looks, they made themselves feel good by picking on him.

Percy, Jaden, and I were his only friends, which meant no other friends for us(Not that I'd want to be friends with any of these stupid mortals). Percy's mom had complained to the school a million times that they weren't doing enough to help him. She'd called social services, but nothing ever seemed to happen. The social workers claimed Tyson didn't exist.

They swore up and down that they'd visited the alley we described and couldn't find him, though how you miss a giant kid living in a refrigerator box, I don't know. Although now that I think about it, Jaden always had this suspicious look on his face when Tyson's origin was brought up. He always seemed like a coiled spring around Tyson.

Anyway, Matt Sloan snuck up behind him and tried to give him a wedgie, and Tyson panicked. He swatted Sloan away a little too hard. Sloan flew a good fifteen feet and got tangled in the little kids' tire swing.

"You freak!" Sloan yelled. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"

Tyson started sobbing. He sat down on the jungle gym so hard he bent the bar, and buried his head in his hands.

"Take it back, Sloan!" Percy shouted.

Sloan just sneered at him. "Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have friends if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."

Percy balled his fists. With a red face, he tried to respond. "He's not a freak. He's just…"

I tried to think of something to say, but Sloan wasn't listening. He and his big ugly friends were too busy laughing. I wondered if it were my imagination, or if Sloan had more goons hanging around him than usual. I was used to seeing him with two or three, but today he had like, half a dozen more, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen them before.

"Hey Sloan, I suggest you shut up" Jaden called as he patted Tysons back, his voice laced with ice. "Unless you want to have another run-in with a sign."

Before Sloan could respond, Jaden beat him to the punch. "Unless you want that, I mean it is a common misconception that symmetrical memes better looking. Get you and you're wannabe gangsters out of here before I introduce you to someone with a real bite"

"Just wait till PE, Jackson," Sloan called, his voice wavering a little, and trying his best to ignore Jaden. "You are so dead."

I got ready to let a bird fly when Jaden walked over and placed my hand down. "Not here" He whispered.

When the first period ended, our English teacher, Mr. de Milo, came outside to inspect the carnage. He pronounced that we'd understood Lord of the Flies perfectly. We all passed his course, and we should never, never grow up to be violent people.

Matt Sloan nodded earnestly, then gave me a chip-toothed grin.

I had heard Percy promise to buy Tyson an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch to get him to stop sobbing.

"I…I am a freak?" he asked us.

"No," Percy promised, gritting his teeth. "Matt Sloan is the freak."

"Yeah, and he's special in the head, it matches that freakishly ugly mug of his," I said trying to lighten the mood.

While for the first time in a while, Jaden just hung back, eyes showing the storm of thoughts swirling around his head.

Tyson sniffled. "You are good friends. Miss you next year if…if I can't…" His voice trembled.

It hit me that he didn't know if he'd be invited back next year for the community service project. I wondered if the headmaster had even bothered talking to him about it.

"Don't worry, big guy," Percy managed. "Everything's going to be fine."

"How could it not? We got money and Jaden scaring every bully in a five-mile radius" I joked, Although it was true. Not many had the guts to try anything out of fear of Jaden. First off he has this new vibe he gets that's just so dark, it's scary, second, he immediately picked up hand-to-hand combat when we got to leave camp. He is good enough to handle any of these bullies. In a fight that is.

Jaden beat the soul out of a group of five kids for calling Percy special in the head. Our guardian wasn't the happiest when we brought her their medical bills and the bills for the broken equipment. To be fair, the stuff was getting old, why else would it break so easily when Jaden smashed a kid through it. Low quality much?

Tyson gave us such a grateful look I felt warmed up inside. Although there is no guarantee that Tyson would take the money we give him(Or if our personal bank would agree to this kinda thing), or that if he does well enough that he could stay.

Our next exam was science. Mrs. Tesla told us that we had to mix chemicals until we succeeded in making something explode. Tyson was Percy's lab partner. His hands were way too big for the tiny vials we were supposed to use. He accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals off the counter and made an orange mushroom cloud in the trash can. After Mrs. Tesla evacuated the lab and called the hazardous waste removal squad, she praised Tyson and Percy for being natural chemists. They were the first ones who'd ever aced her exam in under thirty seconds.

Jaden, being the weirdo he was, brought two chemicals and a trash can. He just mixed the two while that was happening next to everyone and violently threw his concoction in the trash can. He then proceeded to kick the trash can away, and a large green burst of smoke shot out of it. We got passing scores that day too.

I was glad the morning went fast because it kept me from thinking too much about my problems. I really couldn't stand the idea that something might be wrong at camp WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ALL THE BEAUTIFUL BOOKS?! Even worse, I couldn't shake the bad dream. I had a terrible feeling that Grover was in danger.

In social studies, while we were drawing latitude/longitude maps, I noticed Percy had opened his notebook and stared at the photo inside—our friend(and my /sister) friend Annabeth on vacation in Washington, D.C.

She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.

Annabeth wants to be an architect when she grows up, so she's always visiting famous monuments and stuff. She's awesome that way. She'd e-mailed all of us pictures after spring break, and every once in a while I'd look and see Percy staring at it. Somebodies down bad. I bet he doesn't even know it. When I'd chat with her, sometimes it was just 'Percy this' and 'Percy that'. Couple goals am I right?

I wished Annabeth were here. She'd know what to make of the dream. Annabeth is the smartest person I know. Jaden takes a close second(HAHA if your definition of close was three states away...wait...I'm even further than that...)

Percy was about to close his notebook when Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.

"Hey!" Percy protested. Sloan checked out the picture and his eyes got wide.

"No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is not your—"

"Give it back!" Protested a red-eared Percy.

Sloan handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered, and out of nowhere, Jaden's hand shot between them and easily pulled it free.

"I don't think this is your is it?" Jaden asked slowly as he passed Percy his picture back.

They were new kids who must've been visiting because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office.

They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB.

No human beings had names like that.

"Who are these guys?" Jaden asked, looking tense once again. He started spinning the black ring on his finger.

"T-these guys are moving here next year," Sloan stuttered out like that was supposed to scare either of them.

"What was that? I-i sorry, I couldn't hear you" Percy smirked, seemingly knowing that Jaden wouldn't let them do anything to him.

"I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend." Sloan said, turning to face Percy with all of his confidence back

"He's not retarded." Percy said back

I had to try really, really hard not to punch Sloan in the face.

"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."

"I know that he's a loser, but what does that make you? Scum of the earth?" Jaden asked coldly. "Threaten my friends again and I won't hesitate to call you an ambulance"

I wanted to pulverize them, but all of us were under strict orders from Chiron never to take anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.

Still, part of me thought, if Sloan only knew who we really were…

The bell rang. As we all left the class together, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"

I looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying Percy any attention. Like any girl at Meriwether would ever be caught dead calling his name.

Before I had time to consider whether or not I'd been imagining things, a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying us along with them. It was time for PE.

Our coach had promised us a free-for-all dodgeball game, Matt Sloan had promised to kill Percy, and Jaden promised that he would take an eye for an eye.

Thankfully I was off doing my own thing.

.

While I was doing yoga peacefully, finding my inner zen, I must focus on-

Whooom!

That- can't be good. I cursed under my breath as I rushed over to the gym where the boys were. "I leave them alone for five seconds!"

"Tyson!" I heard Percy scream, but it was too late. Two large metal flaming balls slammed into him…but no…he'd caught them. Somehow Tyson, who was so clumsy he knocked over lab equipment and broke playground structures regularly, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour. He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests.

I stood staring in from the now open door. Did- I just see that?

The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame—a sure sign they were monsters, all right. Monsters don't die. They just dissipate into smoke and dust, which saves heroes a lot of trouble cleaning up after a fight.

"My brothers!" Joe Bob(I think? He looks like the kid that was wearing the tag earlier) wailed. He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled. "You will pay for their destruction!"

"Tyson!" Percy said. "Look out!"

Another comet hurtled toward us. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM! Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters on the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help.

Sloan himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.

Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine. Surely the whole school could hear the noise.

The headmaster, the police, somebody would come to help us.

"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"

I wanted to tell him he was taking the dodgeball game way too seriously, but before I could, he hefted another ball. The other, not busy giant followed his lead. I knew we were dead. Tyson couldn't deflect all those balls at once. His hands had to be seriously burned from blocking the first volley. Percy must not have any pockets or he would have been fighting and I don't have a weapon available to me of any kind. Great.

Meanwhile, with Jaden, he was struggling to deal with two giants that focused on him. I noticed his eyes flick to his sliver sword and the black ring but then back on his foes.

"Move!" Percy told his teammates. "Away from the door."

Explosions behind him. Tyson had batted two of the balls back toward their owners and blasted one of them to ashes. That left three giants still standing. Make that one, Jaden managed to get the drop(literally) on one of them and backed up to back Tyson up while the last two came together.

A third ball hurtled straight at Percy. He waited and then dove aside as the fiery sphere demolished the locker room door. Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodgeball ignited a huge WHOOOOOOOM!

The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.

I turned back just in time to see Tyson punch Skull Eater in the face. The giant crumpled. But the last giant, Joe Bob, had wisely held on to his ball, waiting for an opportunity.

He threw just as Tyson was turning to face him. "No!" I yelled. The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. I didn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.

"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"

He picked up another ball and aimed it at Tyson. Jaden shot from nowhere and tried to slash the big guy into pieces but his blade got deflected. He watched as the beast slowly turned to face him. "Not bad kid"

"Oh fu-" Jaden started to say but got backhanded into the other wall.

"Stop!" Percy yelled. "It's me you want!"

The giant grinned. "You wish to die first, young hero?"

Percy charged in one direction as the giant laughed. "My lunch approaches."

He raised his arm to throw. I braced myself to die after my brothers and Tyson. Suddenly the giant's body went rigid.

His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should've been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn—no, not a horn—the glowing tip of a blade.

The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knife that had just run him through from behind.

He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset. Standing in the smoke was my friend Annabeth.

Her face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.

Matt Sloan, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth as if he dimly recognized her from my notebook picture.

"That's the girl…That's the girl—"

Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat. "And you," she told him, "lay off my friend."

Atta Girl!

The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.

"Annabeth…" Percy stammered. "How did you…how long have you…"

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" Percy looked a little red. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to—"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.

"Meet me outside," Annabeth told Percy. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall.

Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand.

"You'd better bring him."

"What?"

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!" She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, and instantly vanished.

That left Percy and me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers.

"Percy Jackson? Skylah Sayboune?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What…how…" Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."

Jaden, who was also recovering from his blow, groaned. "I think a broke a riiiiibbbb" He said stretching out the last word, which was unlike him.

Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on Percy with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all! Jaden and Skylah helped too! Right Coach Nunley?!"

Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck—he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."

The other adults turned toward Percy. I knew they would never believe us, even if I could tell them the truth. Percy grabbed Riptide out of his ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building. Jaden Snapped his fingers and the teachers started frantically looking around for us.

"Skylah get over here! I can't move that fast!"

"Coming!" I rushed over to him, avoiding the teachers, in case my touching them would break the mist. I grabbed my brother, dusted him off a bit, and followed Percy as quickly as I could with my brother.