Chapter one: Dodgeball is a 'fire' game

Here's how the dream started:

I was standing at a beach in Florida (not sure how I knew that since I'd never been there)

Then I heard hooves clattering against pavement, and turned to see Grover running for his life.

A growl cut through the storm. Behind him, something swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks.

Grover stumbled and whimpered

"Have to get away. Have to warn them"

'Warn us about what?' I asked, but clearly, he couldn't hear me.

Grover dashed around a corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead-end courtyard full of shops.

He dashed into 'ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE' (the door was blown open by the storm) and dove behind a rack of wedding dresses.

The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. (Somehow, I could smell it, not nice, needed deodorant).

Then lightning flashed, the store exploded and a monstrous sound "MIIIIINNEEEEE!"

I sat bolt upright, a water dagger already in my hand.

It was still dark out, but it looked like sunrise would come soon.

I sighed as I got out of bed to turn off the morning alarm, and started my workout.

About 1 and half hour later, I heard a knock on my door while I tried to balance myself on my hands.

"Percy, time for school"

"Yes mom" I yelled through the door before flipping back to my legs when…

My eyes shifted to the sudden shadow I saw there for a second and leaped at it, before my nose hit the window.

"Forgot that was there" I muttered to myself before opening it and leaping through it onto the fire escape outside and shouting out

"Lose the cap, Annabeth"

As if by magic (which it technically was), My blonde-haired friend appeared on the stairs.

"How'd you notice?" she asked with a frown.

"I think a better question would be 'what are you stalking me for?' I said with a raised eyebrow.

She stuttered for a second with a slight blush before changing the topic "That doesn't matter, I've been having dreams about-"

She was interrupted when I crossed my hands in an X.

"One:" I said "that does matter"

"And Two?"

"Two, I'm not getting involved with the whole demigod stuff until tomorrow at the earliest. You have got no idea how hard I've worked to have a clean record in my new school, and I refuse to let that be ruined."

She looked annoyed now.

"I can tell that it's urgent" I said with a sigh "and from those circles under your eyes, I can tell that you've been on the run for a while, so you can crash on my bed for a while and come to my school later. We'll talk then."

She opened her mouth to argue, but her stomach growled.

I snickered. "You can grab some food while you're at it too"

"Shut up" she grumbled as she walked past me and climbed through the window.

My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast (how do you even turn eggs blue?)

The waffles tasted amazing as always, but I guess she saw something was off when I didn't inhale them all like a vacuum cleaner.

She looked over and frowned "Percy, are you all right?"

"Demigod stuff" I said, and she just nodded.

"I'm sure if there was a problem we would've heard from..camp…." she looked tense now.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like."

My shoulders slumped. "While that is tempting, I don't think so mom. I need to get to camp ASAP."

She twisted the dishrag "About that dear….. I got a message from Chiron last night."

"What did he say?"

"He thinks…it might not be safe for you to go to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

I shook my head "How could it not be safe? The whole point of camp is safety!"

"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having-"

"Mom, I'm sorry but no matter what the problems are, it'd be safer there than here."

"Percy … I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.

My mom looked almost relieved. "Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

"But—"

"Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school."

"I-fine"

Small note about Meriwether College prep.

It's a "progressive" school, meaning studying is the last thing which happens.

Exactly my kind of place.

First class, English: The whole school read 'Lord of the Flies'. So, for our finals they unleashed us all into the break yard for an hour. WITHOUT SUPERVISION.

I naturally led everyone into first a tournament of basketball ( I don't miss. Even when I want to), tag etc. for most of it.

Some kid called Matt Sloan kept on trying to take over to start a wedgie contest, but had to retreat with his cronies after trying to wedgie Tyson.

"You freak-" Sloan couldn't finish his sentence due to a 'missed' basketball shot courtesy of me, but the damage was done.

Tyson immediately started crying and sat on the jungle gym so hard the bar bent.

"Well then Sloan" I said, cracking my knuckles, "looks like we have a problem don't we"

"I-I'm sorry" he shouted out.

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to" I said, pointing to Tyson.

He turned and apologized to Tyson and scampered off.

When the class ended, the English teacher came back and said that we had understood Lord of the Flies perfectly.

Once the teacher left, Sloan walked up to me with 6 or 7 plus sized goons beside him.

"Wait till PE Jackson, you are so dead"

"You must really want to save money if you need me to fix your nose"

I had to buy Tyson extra food for him to stop crying.

"I…I am a freak?"

"No, you're not Tyson, I've seen kids our age who are much…big boned than you. Don't worry about Sloan dude, you saw how he ran. Clearly, he's not someone who says smart things"

Tyson wiped his nose" You are a good friend. Miss you next year if you're not in this school."

He hadn't originally known if he'd be invited back next year for the community service project. Of course, I changed that. Not using my Sharingan or anything (it would have been so much easier if I had, but I'm nice) but through achievements in the school, mainly sports and also convincing the principal that Tyson would be great for football in high school.

It limited Tyson to a more sports-oriented future, but seeing his grades it felt like the right call to me.

Skip to PE Class

When we got into the gym, Coach Nunley was sitting at his desk reading Sports Illustrated.

Sloan asked "Coach can I be captain?"

"Huh?" Coach Nunley "Yeah ok"

"In that case" I said " Can I be captain of the other team?"

That made him look up.

"Jackson?" He said "Alright. Should be interesting."

Sloan's team consisted of the team of goons and a few jocks.

Most of the popular kids and the rest of the jocks were on my team.

Some of the kids, like Corey Bailer and Raj Mandali were on the side, as 'substitutes.'

Sloan let a cage full of ball spill in the middle of the gym.

"Scared" Tyson mumbled "Smell funny"

"What?"

"Them" he pointed at Sloan's friends "Smell funny"

The 'them' in question were cracking their knuckles, eyeing us like its slaughter time. Like they were going to beat us up and eat us alive.

'Eat us alive'

' Smell funny'

Monsters.

I turned to the nearest person, a boy named Patrick, with wide eyes.

"There's a fire!" I shouted, my Sharingan flaring as I put literally everyone in the gymnasium under a genjutsu: that the wall near the window was on fire.

Immediately, everyone rushed towards the locker room, with Coach Nunley yelling at people to be calm before joining the crowd.

Now it was just me and the monsters.

And Tyson.

"What are you still here for?" I asked him frantically, while looking at the 'goons' from across the gym, "Run from the fire!"

"There is no fire Percy" he said with a very lost look.

'He can see through my genjutsu? I mean he was the one who smelled them out so I guess it makes sense it didn't work on him. What does that me-OH SHIT A BOULDER'

I leaped, throwing myself and Tyson out of the trajectory of a flaming boulder, which I now realized was a flaming dodgeball.

I looked at the now obvious giants.

A giant with the nametag of Joe Bob growled at me "You made us lose lunch, son of the sea god."

"You really ought to eat less, build some muscle"

He yelled out in anger before swiping the air, and more flaming bronze dodgeballs came out.

"Man, what is their budget- DODGE TYSON!"

Tyson caught it in his hand.

"How the hell?"

"It's not that scary" he said and threw it back at them.

Immediately one of them turned into a column of fire.

"Here's the plan Tyson, I'm going to get close, you catch the balls aimed at me and throw it back"

I thought I might have to explain in simpler terms, but he nodded.

I ducked under a couple of flaming bronze balls and jumped at a giant and launched water knives at its eyes.

'I can't technically beat them with water, I need a celestial bronze weapon'

I dodged another volley of balls and saw Tyson kill a couple of Giants with just one throw.

'That'll do'

I hit grabbed a comet with a whip of water and smacked the giant with it.

"My brothers" Joe Bob wailed "You will pay for their death"

He suddenly went rigid.

Where his belly button should have been was the tip of a bronze dagger.