"I will, father" Athena said. Zeus who still had the book passed it to her.

"Chapter One: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-algebra Teacher" Athena read.

"Right it was an accident" Hermes said.

"Hermes, do you have to interrupt after the very first line?" Artemis asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do" Hermes said. Athena started reading before they started fighting.

"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood." Athena read.

"So he's a half-blood" Apollo said.

"So does this have anything to do with my punishment?" Dionysus asked, but he was ignored.

"If he wasn't, then why would Destiny send this book to us?" Artemis asked Apollo. He didn't answer her.

"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."

"Would that work?" Eros asked.

"No, I don't think so" Athena answered then started reading again.

"Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's Scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways."

"True, true and true" said most of the gods and goddess.

"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 recognized yourself in these pages–if you feel something stirring inside–stop reading immediately."

"Does that mean we need to stop reading?" Apollo asked.

"No, it doesn't, Apollo" Artemis replied, and then she waved her hand for Athena to keep reading.

"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."

"You didn't warn us" Hermes said. Apollo who doesn't like people lying in front of him glared at Hermes.

"My name is Percy Jackson. (Again Poseidon's eyes got wide at the name.)

I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York."

"That's where Chiron is now" Dionysus said

"Really?" Athena asked.

"Yes, a satyr called him in on very powerful smelling half-blood" Dionysus answered.

"Then this must be that half-blood' Athena said, then continued.

"Am I a troubled kid?"

"Yes" said Hera. Everyone looked at her like they forgot she was there.

"Yeah. You could say that."

"See? Even he agrees!" Hera pointed out.

"I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan–twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff."

"Who would want to do that?" Hephaestus asked.

"Chiron would" Dionysus answered.

"Why?" asked Psyche.

"It's Greek and Roman stuff" Hestia replied, and then waved for Athena to go on.

"I know–it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.

But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.

Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged gay 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 armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep."

"Sounds like Chiron" Demeter said.

"I told you he was at this school and that he would be the only one to take 28 mental-case kids on a field trip" Dionysus said.

"Yes, you were right" said Morpheus and Apollo together.

"Athena, look to see if he's right" Zeus said. Normally Athena would say no, but not to her father, the king of the gods. So Athena flipped ahead.

"The pages are blank" Athena said.

"What?" Poseidon asked.

"What's happing in the book is going on now, so it will only go to where it is right now," said Apollo, "or we might try and change something and that can't happen."

"So this is going on right now?" Hades asked Apollo.

"That's right" Apollo and Morpheus said together, again. Athena wanted them to shut up, so she kept reading.

"I hoped the trip would be okay. At least I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.

Boy was I wrong.

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."

Everyone started laughing.

"I wonder what he was aiming for then" Ares said still laughing.

"I don't know but if I ever meet him I'm going to ask" Psyche said, with her husband nodding in agreement. Finally when everyone stopped laughing Athena started reading again.

"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."

Again laughter broke out in the room.

"I like this kid" Apollo said.

"Whose kid is he anyway?" Dionysus asked.

"That's a good question," Zeus said, "If this book is about him, he must be important." All the gods and goddess just looked at each other.

"No one's going to say anything?" Athena asked, "Fine the book will tell us at some point, I sure."

"Let's have a bet on whose kid it is" Hermes said.

"Yeah let's do it. Everyone has to bet at least 2, but no more then 10 drachmas for each bet they make" said Apollo.

"I bet 10 drachmas it's Poseidon's kid" said Hades.

"I think he's Apollo's, so I'll put down 3" Artemis said.

"I bet 5 that he's Zeus" Hera said. Zeus glared at her but said nothing.

"I bet 5 he's Hades" Demeter said

"Mother!" Persephone said, "I bet 3 he's Demeter's."

"I'm with Hades on this, so 10 for Poseidon's kid" Apollo said.

"I'm going to say 5 for Poseidon's kid, too" Morpheus.

"6 says he's Athena's" Ares said.

"10 says he's Ares" Athena said.

"5 he's Dionysus's" Hermes said.

"I bet 3 that he's Hephaestus" Aphrodite said. The rest didn't want to make a bet because Poseidon knew it was his kid. Eros and Psyche agreed with Hades, Apollo and Morpheus but felt bad for Poseidon having so many people against him. Dionysus and Hephaestus didn't really care. Hestia didn't really like betting, but she had a guess on his parent. Aeolus didn't have all the pieces he needed to make a bet yet. Zeus just didn't feel like betting and lastly Iris thought he was Zeus, but didn't think it best to say that.

"Ok, it's 3 on Hephaestus, Demeter, and Apollo. There are 5 on Dionysus, Hades, and Zeus. 6 on Athena, 10 for Ares and finally 25 on Poseidon" Hermes said.

"Ok to make it fair, everyone put the money you're betting on the table" Apollo said. Then he snapped his fingers and made a table appear. "The winner or winners will split the money as evenly as they can."

"This is your last chance to make a bet before we start reading" Hermes called.