Half-Blood High

I

Percy

A pair of black marble doors stood before me. I couldn't remember how I had gotten there, or where I had come from, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was what was on the other side of the doors.

I grabbed the handle of the one on the right and pulled. It was heavy, but eventually gave way to...

A chamber.

I stepped inside, and the door swung shut behind me. I highly doubted that it would open again. It was only when I turned back around that I saw it.

A sword. A shimmering, bronze sword. It floated on a pedestal in the center of the chamber, a single beam of light illuminating it.

It seemed to call me. I walked toward it, and realized that I was traversing a narrow walkway surrounded on all sides by water. I peered over the edge to discern how deep it was, when a voice startled me.

"Careful. If you fall in, the naiads won't let you out. Well, perhaps not you, but..." The mysterious voice trailed off and ended with a chuckle.

"Who are you?" I shouted. "What do you want?"

Silence. Whoever had spoken seemed to be pondering my question. At last, there came an answer.

"Those are two very good questions, Percy Jackson." A cold fear ran through me at the mention of my name. "But alas, do any of us know what we want? Does anyone know who they really are?"

"Just answer the questions." I snapped. I didn't have time for a dream philosophy.

"Very well. I cannot tell who I am now, for that would spoil all the fun. But as for what I want? Well, I want you, Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon."

"Son of who?"

"Don't play the idiot. You know who I am referring to. Poseidon, Greek god of the sea. You are his son."

"What?!"

Then, a different voice spoke:

"Percy wake up! You don't need to be late!"

A bright light blinded me. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I wasn't in a dark chamber. I was in my bedroom, with my mom opening my blinds. The early morning sun poured into my room. My messy room.

"Percy, get dressed. We can't have you be late on your first day." She said. She stepped over a pile of dirty clothes. "And be quick young man."

"Do I have to go? No one really cares if you miss the first day." I slid out of bed. "And anyway, I'll probably get kicked out, just like all the other schools."

Mom shook her head. "It's a new year Percy. And I think you'll like this school. Now get dressed. You need to leave early to get there on time." She closed the door behind her as I grabbed some clothes off my dresser.

Hi, I'm Percy Jackson. And I really don't want to go to school.

Sorry. But it's true. Every year it's the same old spiel; I go to school, I meet people, I do something stupid on accident (most of the time) and I get kicked out. Then, I try again with a new school. This goes on about two or three times a year.

Most of the time, the stupid stuff isn't my fault. No one believes me when I try to tell them what really happened though.

Like the time I was on a school field trip to the Metropolitan Art Museum. I tried to explain that a guy with wings was trying to repaint an Ancient Greek vase, but they said I was the one who had been messing with it. Then there was the other time that I-.

Wait, sorry. I get off track sometimes. I'm ADHD, it happens. I can go on and on for hours about the most random stuff and...

I'm doing it again. Sorry.

Anyways, it's my first day as a Junior at Half-Blood High here in New York. Yeah. High school, the supposed "Best years of my life." Sure.

I threw on black jeans, a blue hoodie, and sneakers. Pretty basic, but I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Just trying to blend in, and be as normal as possible.

I glanced in the mirror one more time, then left my room for the kitchen.

My stepdad, Paul Blofis, had already left for work. Mom was sitting at the table, trying to get my younger half-sister, Estelle, to eat some mashed bananas. Or carrots, I don't know. It was mashed something.

Estelle giggled at me, and I grinned at her. She's adorable, always giggling and smiling. Mom says her teenage years will be easier then mine.

I grabbed a blue blueberry muffin, and a glass of milk. Yeah. A blue blueberry muffin. You read that right. My mom and I love blue food. It's sort of an addiction, I guess. Sometimes, it was the only good thing we had.

See, when I was about twelve, Mom was married to this horrible guy, my first stepfather, Gabe. He never took a bath, and had an addiction to poker, and was generally a disgusting person. I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe.

The worst part was, he had been hurting my mom.

I didn't find out about that until later. When I did, I wanted to beat him to pieces. No one messes with my mom.

Luckily, Smelly Gabe hadn't paid his taxes in a long time. And by a long time, I mean a little more than four years. Yeah, his poker habit took quite a bit from his pocket.

Smelly Gabe got carted off to jail. Then, two years later, Mom met Paul Blofis. He was a professor in a writing seminar that she took, and I guess they had some sort of connection or something? I don't know. Anyways, the two of them got married, and a year later, along came Estelle.

Mom's happy now, and I'm glad. I never knew what made her like Smelly Gabe, and to be honest, I kind of don't want to know. But she and Paul are great, and he's a pretty good stepdad. And hey, we got Estelle out of all this, so it's not a bad deal.

I finished my muffin, and grabbed my bag. "Bye guys. Percy out!" I waved to Mom and Estelle on my way out.

"Love you. And try not to get detention!"

. . .

Hey fans,

So, I'd already published this story about a year ago, but it wasn't very well-planned out, and I didn't have a great publishing schedule. So for the next few weeks, I'm going to be doing some heavy editing in the hopes that I can fix this book. The story line will be better thought-out, more precise, and will have way more detail.

Any thoughts, opinions, etc. for this chapter? I'd like to know what y'all thought.

Peace ✌️

-SilverQuillsandRoses