The Rise of Night

Chapter 1:RACHAEL

RACHAEL

Chapter 1

I thought I was safe.

I admit, almost an entire year with no monsters when you’re a demigod is pretty lucky. Especially when you’re my kind of demigod.

The classroom was in chaos, by normal standards, but this was just a normal MACC day. It was almost shameful. Usually I was on guard, watching for any ripples in the system, anything suggesting monsters. But one year in a normal classroom with no warnings from Chiron had kept me relaxed for too long.

What a stupid mistake.

I was simply reading one of my books, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Once in a while, it was nice to read about fiction that was actually fiction. I was sitting next to Leah, who was working on one of our many crazy projects. Probably something about organizing a tour for rich people, or designing a new hotel. You never knew.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rachael Stone, and yes, I am a half-blood.

Anyway, I was just minding my own business when Ms. Harper strolled in. This wasn’t weird. So many teachers came into our classroom for coffee that I had lost track of them. Ms. Harper was in for Mr. Brown today. She had been a TOC in our school a few times, and after the first I lost interest.

An even more stupid mistake.

As soon as my head was down, she attacked. I didn’t see her until Leah screamed.

I hadn’t seen an arai in a long time. I almost screamed myself as she got ready to lunge…. Oh, sorry. Back up. An arai is a curse monster. Straight from the depths of Tartarus, their hate toward demigods runs deeper than any other monster I’ve known. So basically, when a demigod kills a monster the monster gets mad, it plants a curse. Then if you happen to run into an arai and harm it the arai plants one of those curses on you. In other words, they are evil she-demons who hunt you in hope of planting curses from already-dead monsters.

Confused? Welcome to my world.

I thought back to every monster I’ve ever faced, and my head hurt. I looked to my left. Leah was still gaping. I didn’t really blame her, and tried my best to calm her down, until I realized that for her to be screaming, she must be able to see the truth.

She could see through the Mist.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, when the satyrs had started to spread thin because of sudden demigods popping up all over the place, I was actually here to help out.

But, honestly, right now I had enough to deal with.

I looked around. Everyone else was continuing his or her work, absolutely oblivious to the life and death situation. I spotted my best friend Savannah, or Savvy, as I called her, across the room, and saw her not attending to her work, but staring wide-eyed at the aria completely rooted to the spot.

Just wonderful.

Two mortals who could see through the Mist? Did this mean they were both demigods? I shook my head. First things first: I had to get everyone out.  I racked my brain for ideas. The arai was pacing around the room now, glaring into everyone’s eyes. I looked around and spotted a fire alarm near the entrance to the classroom. It was risky, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t very well just sit here. I started to work my way to the alarm, sincerely hoping that the arai wouldn’t notice me.