Half-Blood High

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                             Jason

I knew I shouldn't have taken that turn on 8th street.

Jupiter Academy. It rose up before me, tall and imposing, a mountain of marble and stone. The school day was finished, and few students were hanging around outside the school building. Everyone would most likely be in the Dorms, or hanging out in the lounges or something.

I used to go there. I used to sleep in the slightly lumpy beds and sit through the uptight lectures and eat the savory food.

I used to have friends there.

Hazel Levesque. Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano. My best friend and the Student Body President.

They were my only real friends. Most people were nice to me, but not nice in a friend way. Nice in a polite way, like they only wanted to be around me so they could be seen as better.

I hated it.

Not completely. My friends were cool, and the food wasn't half bad. But things were just too serious. Like the military, but without the guns. Or the tanks.

I wondered how Hazel and Reyna were doing now. Hazel's pretty nice, but the other kids treated her differently, just because she hung out with the "loser crowd." I did too, until I transferred. I hoped they weren't giving her a hard time. They being Octavian. Jerk.

Reyna, on the other hand was a different story. She was one of the most popular people at the Academy. Student Body President, winning rider in the Equestrian club, and general all-around-likeable girl.

She and I had a lot in common. We both liked to study ancient philosophers, we both enjoyed playing Warball, our school's own invention of a sport, and we both lost our parents. And I was her Student Body Vice President. We were good friends.

I lingered a little longer, watching a few younger students sip coffee and chat before moving on.

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                              Leo

"LEOOOOOO!"

My Aunt Rosa's yelled for me again. Great. She probably needed me to fix the dishwasher, or the dryer, or whatever else had broken this week.

I tried to tune her out, tried to think of something else. Focus focus focus.

Focus on your work Leo.

Mom's standing behind me, hands on my shoulders. She's looking from my drawing to the tiny model ship clutched in my six-year old hands.

"What are you making?"

"A ship!"

"And what will you call it?"

Her dark eyes shine brightly, black jewels set in her tanned face. I thought long and hard before answering:

"LEO VALDEZ!"

I jumped, Aunt Rosa breaking me out of my reverie. I spun around and saw her in the doorway, hands on her hips. Her nostrils flared, eyes wide, her mouth a thin white line.

In case you didn't catch that, Aunt Rosa was mad.

"What are you doing? I called you three times!" Her accent flared up like fire, which only happened when she's really mad.

This can't be good.

"Leo Valdez." She drew my name out slowly. "Leo Valdez."

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

Aunt Rosa glared at me. Hard. "I feed you, I clothe you, I give your room and board, and this,"  she held up a piece of mangled, melted metal. After a moment, I recognize it as the car's muffler. Or rather, what used to be the car's muffler.

"What did you do to my engine? Take a flamethrower to it?!"

I gulped. This one would be tough to explain. I hadn't taken a flamethrower to it per say, more like I had... melted it.

With my hands.

Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but it's true. I had been trying to fix her car, and I was angry, hungry, and tired. The next thing I knew my hands were on fire, and I had melted the muffler. I had managed to hide it, and had been hoping I could figure out how to get a new one before she found out.

Looked like I was wrong.

Aunt glared at me, waiting for a response. Good luck talking your way out of this one Leo.

I squared my shoulders, and prepared myself to tell her that her nephew was some weird fire-throwing freak, when the phone rang.

Aunt Rosa gave me a look that said, "This isn't over" before going to answer the phone. I let out a sigh of relief.

I was safe.

For now.

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                             Percy

The walk home seemed to take forever.

To be fair, New York's rush hour traffic is terrible at four in the afternoon.

I walked slowly, trying to process the day's events. The school had seemed normal, up until that point.

The chamber.

The Voice.

The sword.

I had like, a million questions, but none of the answers. I just hoped the Voice could tell me some of them.

I climbed the steps to the apartment building and rode the elevator up silently. Paul Blofis, my stepdad, was waiting inside.

"Hey Percy. How was your first day? Pretty good?"

I thought about that for a second. A weird Voice had talked to me, I met a smart blonde, and I'd tried out for the fencing team.

"It was normal, thanks. Hey, where's Mom?"

"She's our getting groceries. She said she'll be back in time for dinner." Paul took a sip from his coffee mug and pointed to the kitchen. "She said she left some cookies in there for you."

"Thanks."

I headed for the fridge and found the plate of blue cookies marked "For Percy After School!" I grabbed a couple and headed for my room.

Munching the cookies, I dropped my bag on my chair and walked out on my balcony. Cars and lemon-yellow taxis wizzed past on the streets below me. I watched a lizard crawl down the railing before pondering the puzzle at hand.

1) Why was the weird chamber in the school?

2) Who's Voice was it that had been speaking to me? It didn't sound like anyone I knew.

3)  Where had Grover gone when he went into the tunnel? I hadn't seen him in the chamber with me, and I hadn't run into him on the way back.

4) What the heck was going on at Half-Blood High?

I didn't know, but I was determined to find out.
. . .
Percy has discovered Riptide! And chapter 2/5, done! Man, editing is easier then I thought. I may cut some chapter down or combine some, to make the book shorter. Overall, we're doing good.

Thoughts?

Peace ✌️

-SilverQuillsandRoses