The Mariana Trench (Arc One: The Rise of Aero Jackson)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - The Museum Tour

Percy, well, he would always be a strange kid in everyone's eyes, the twin of the troublemaker Aero who always somehow managed to be at a scene at the wrong time, especially scenes relating to bathrooms or the plumbing in general. Percy was nicer, although he somehow never slipped in puddles, a trait everyone was envious for, or having extremely good tastes in drink combinations that even made the teachers swoon over in delight.

But today was not the day Percy's future mixologist job could come in and flourish, today was the day to go to a museum for a Greek or Roman history project led by Mr Brunner, who was as usual, in a wheelchair, smoothly sailing on the carpeted floor to introduce each exhibit patiently as Percy struggled to read each description on the shown historical sculptures or objects.

An 'ahem' rang out from Mr Brunner, breaking Percy from his torturous cycle of having to read the words and jot them down in his cluttered arms, turning towards the direction of Mr Brunner, Percy instantly realized the problem, well, Mr Brunner always had that face that announced a listen-and-shut-up expression when people interrupted the lesson, and it was directed at Aero, who was sometimes an embarrassment and other times his beloved little brother, born an hour after his birth.

"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"

Aero stuttered in his reply as Percy picked up his pen once more, as the group was standing in front of a carving, which looked, familiar to Percy.

"Ah!" Percy's eyes lit up as he wrote it down on the notebook, chastising himself as he muttered, "of course! That was Kronos, the titan who ate his children, the future Greek gods!"

"Wait, how do you know that Perc?" Ally, a twelve year old who had her hair dyed in bright pink to separate herself from her family that was too curious for her own good asked.

"Well, you see, Kronos was kind of famous for getting tricked by Rhea, his wife I guess? She gave him a rock that looked like Zeus, the only one not eaten by him. Kronos ate the rock, and was handed a drink that was a mixture of..." Percy trailed off as Mr Brunner cut in.

"Half credit, Percy, thank you for filling in a question I was about to ask your brother." Mr Brunner smiled as Percy's ears reddened for not noticing himself speaking loudly, "Zeus was the one who fed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine that made him disgorge the other five children, who of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

Aero reached Percy before they reached the entrance, hoping to get some answers from his strange brother.

"Well, how did you know that?" Aero demanded as he twirled around the capped pen he brought for the field trip, unable to stand still with his adhd.

"It just came to me Aero, you know that my memory is good, it's just my ability to learn that is stunted, right? I'm pretty certain mom mentioned it once back when we were six and you were still an angel," sighed Percy as he scribbled on the pages mercilessly, connecting notes to different pages.

"Right, I'll go to eat with Grover now!" Aero shrugged as he saw Grover, his recent friend who had a disability.

"You friend who walks and trots like a goat? Sure," Percy turned around, not noticing the sharp intake of breath from Mr Brunner or Grover.

"I'll be at the fountain!" Waved Aero as he and Grover moved towards the water fountain nearby.

Sighing, Percy went to sit near the fountain to keep an eye on his brother, seeing that he always got in trouble near anything related to water, especially the day he sent him into the shark tank, and having to be pelted with talkative sharks certainly wasn't worth the satisfaction of the lecture Aero had to hear from the principal.