Nathan Cruz and the Gods of Olympus: The Curse of Hephaestus

I Fight A Metal Lion

I never asked to be a hero.
I was fine with my old life in the orphanage.
But nooo, I have to save the world at the age of 11.
Anyways, Hi! My name is Nathan Cruz, and I am a demigod. You may be asking, "Mr. Super-handsome-hero, what is a demigod?"
Well a demigod is a half human half godly being. But I don't know who my god parent is or even their gender because I live in an orphanage.
Anyways, this is my story.
June 4, 2030,
Harrison Middle School, New York
"Hey little Natey, I love your outfit, did your mom pick it out for you? Oh wait, you don't have a mom! Ha!"
These words boiled inside of Nate.
I wanted to do so many things to Derrick Grant, but I didn't. I just muttered "shut up" under my breath.
But I muttered a little too loud.
"What was that?" Derrick snickered .
"Nothing" I said carefully, trying to keep my head down.
"No, I'm pretty sure I heard you say something."
Derrick said.
Then he pushed me to the ground.
I was done.
Derrick was never going to bully another kid again.
I got up.
And I punched Derrick right in the nose. I
He flew back.
His big fat body dented the lockers I hit him so hard.
By now there was a really big crowd around us.
He got up.
"You shouldn't have done that."
He transformed.
From that ugly bully, to an even uglier cat.
Then the cat became a big cat.
Then it was a lion.
"Oh my god" I muttered
I pulled the only thing I had out of my pocket.
A transformer.
My transformer/transporter. I had built it from some scraps of a teleportation machine I stole.
I was pretty good with my hands.
I loved to build and I always played with the things in my hands since I was ADHD.
I pressed the button on my transporter. It became a sword.
"Woah."
I pressed it again.
It was a bow and arrow now.
I pressed the button one more time,
It was a battle spear.
"Okay,"I figured "let's go through these options later, because this lion is charging at me.
I stabbed the lion.
My spear broke.
This thing was not made of flesh and fur.
It was metal.
"Minor setback" I told myself,
Deep inside knowing I was about to become lunch for this thing.
What should I do? I asked myself.
It was charging at me again. I dodged it and the lion slammed into the lockers, breaking them.
"Aha. Found your weakness."
So I ran straight towards the lockers.
It was 5, 4, 3, feet behind me.
I ran straight into the lockers, or at least that is what it thought.
Right as a I was about to hit the wall, I transported five feet behind the lion and watched it slam headfirst into the wall of steel lockers.
"Ha!" I yelled to it!
It did not like my comment.
The beast turned around, and I saw the scariest thing I would ever see.
The bloody, barren face of a lion made of metal, and its eyes were pointed straight at me.
This time, I charged.
You may be thinking, "what dummy would do that?"
This dummy would.
But I had a plan.
I jumped as I was about to hit the lion,
And I jumped over it.
It rammed into a wall, and it's head became stuck.
This was my chance.
I had noticed that the lions fur became soft after a big blow.
So he needed a big blow to get the fur soft, then he needed an even bigger blow to kill this stupid thing.
I pressed the button about a million times, until I found the perfect weapon.
A grenade.
This was going to be fun.
I uncapped the grenade, then threw it right next to this soon-to-be lion milkshake.
Then I pressed the button once, to get my weapon to kill this lion.
A bronze baseball bat. With bronze nails sticking out.
Perfect.
BOOM!
The grenade went, and I ran.
Not away. No, I ran straight to this thing and practically knocked its head off. I swear that was a grand slam right there.
The lion turned to dust with a mighty roar.

"CRUZ! HERE! NOW!"
"Uhh, Okay. Sorry Mrs. Stoll."
Mrs. Stoll was my biology teacher.
She taught about plants and animals and stuff.
She was nice to me usually.
So I followed her, expecting to be brought straight to the principal and expelled immediately.
We were walking towards the office, then we passed it.
"Excuse me?"
"We passed the principals office."
"I Know." She said, sounding annoyed.
We came to a side door of the school.
Then she stopped, and said "come with me"
I followed.
Then we got to Mrs stolls car, and I don't know why I was stupid enough To do this, but I got in.
It just seemed like the right thing to do.
And we started to drive.
I asked a few questions about where I was going and why we left the school, but she did not answer.

We drove for over an hour,
then we stopped.
I didn't understand why we stopped.
I really didn't understand anything.
I fought a lion made of metal,
I got in the car with my teacher,
I am in the middle of the woods,
I just fought a real life monster,
And I am still alive.

We got out of the car, and Mrs. Stoll started walking up a hill.
I had no choice really.
I followed.
Once we got up the hill, she stopped right in front of a big tree.
She put her hand on the tree, and said
"Katie Stoll, daughter of Demeter"
"Code D E M I G O D"
And the tree lit up, and Mrs. Stoll said
"Nate, Welcome to Camp Half Blood."