I opened my eyes, which wasn't easy. I'll tell you that much. I freaking hate waking up so early in the morning, even after spending three years of Yancy Academy's schedule, my body still isn't used to it. Though I should probably get up regardless, on the bright side, today is a school trip. I yawned as I sat off and moved away reluctantly from my bed, moving to the other side of the room where another boy was sleeping peacefully.
His black hair was wild and unkept; then again, he never really did take care of it.
"Percy, get up," I say, shaking him.
All I got, though, was a groan from him. "Five more minutes."
I sighed; my roommate Percy Jackson always did enjoy his beauty sleep. I didn't want to argue with him at...actually, what time is it? I looked at the clock on the desk. 6 PM it says. Huh, I woke up earlier than usual, oh well, whatever.
My eyes trailed to the closed curtain. I figured I should open the curtain since it's nearly going to be morning; maybe the sun will hit Percy so he can snap himself awake without having to rely on me and our friend Grover. In about thirty minutes, he would knock and check up on us; he pretty much does that every time. What a worrywart, I walked and pulled open the curtain, seeing the sun slowly rise. The buildings of New York barely obscure the view of the celestial star.
I was admiring the sight until my eyes caught something flying around the buildings, and it wasn't a bird or a plane. Well, it is a bird sort of, think of an eagle and a lion, and let's say somehow that they both have a kid together. Well, whatever this thing is would be the result of the union. A creature having the body of a lion and yet having the head and wings of an eagle.
The creature landed on top of a building, seemingly trying to search for something, but then snapped its head in the direction of Yancy Academy, specifically at my window. I blinked before yawning. I then let go of the blinds and entered the bathroom. Yancy Academy may be the boarding school equivalent of Gotham City, but I gotta say, they have pretty great showers. Thinking about homework and stuff, you know, normal 12-year-old boy things.
I got out and put on my clothes. Yancy Academy doesn't exactly have uniforms, but they still have a strict dress code you need to adhere to. Which means no flashy clothes or colours, they have to be formal and clean to represent Yancy Academy's school spirit. But trust me when I say if the students here actually show their 'Spirit', the entire city of New York will look even worse than a superhero movie's climactic battle settings.
I shake my head, putting on my clothes, which consist of a dark blue polo shirt and sandy pants. I tried to fix my light brown hair, which looks blonde in certain lighting. At first, I sliced it back, then not a second later, just a slight tilt to my head caused it to be my usual messy style. I sighed. Why do I even bother?
I exited the shower to find Percy still asleep. I looked at the alarm clock, just an hour and thirty minutes before class started. I moved to wake up, until I stopped myself, a devious smile forming on my lip. I sat at my bed, grabbing a novel to read about the story of Odysseus. We were going to a museum about Greek myth, so I feel like it would be best for me to get a head start.
After a bit over than an half-an-hour, Percy stirs. I quickly put my book down on my desk and struck a smug pose, putting my fist to my cheek with the most annoying grin I could muster. Percy groans, getting up, still half-asleep, before turning his head to me. His eyes were green like mine, though mine were forest green, while I would describe his as sea-green in colour.
"Clay?" He asked, in a drowsy voice.
"Heyyyy, sleeping beauty."
He gives me a confused look before turning his eyes to the clock, showing he has less than an hour to get ready. Percy makes a confused look for several seconds before his eyes shoot open and he gets out of bed.
"What the-Clay!?" He glares at me.
"Why didn't you wake me up!?"
"And disturb little Percy's beauty sleep? No way."
Percy gives me a death glare as he strips his shirt off and runs to the washroom. I heard him rustling around his clothes, I grabbed my bag and put on before knocking playfully at the door. "I'm going to head out first and check in with Grover. Try to keep up, Jackson."
I giggled manically as I walked towards the door.
"Brandon...you better pray Grover stops me from kicking your-" I didn't get the chance to hear the rest as I shut the door, shaking my head, trying not to burst out laughing to not catch anybody's attention.
I cleared my throat, putting on my poker face. Not even a couple of minutes, I can hear people snickering behind me. Some don't even have the decency to give me a malicious grin behind my back; they just chuckle with their friends while pointing at me like I'm some kind of animal from the zoo.
"Hey, Cray-Cray, see anything new yet!?" Called out a girl.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Do you remember what I described as Yancy Academy being the school equivalent of Gotham City? Actually, it would be better to be accurate to describe it as the school equivalent of Arkham Asylum because I swear every kid here, aside from me and my friends, literally acts like super villains in a comic book. Everyone is actually horrible. Here are some things they've done to me in my three years in this nightmare of a school.
First, they knock books out of my hands for some reason. Called me a loser or deranged whenever the teacher is out of earshot. Percy and Grover just enrolled in school, and they are already talking smack. For context, Percy was kicked out of multiple schools, mostly unfairly. But the thing is, Percy has dyslexia and ADHD, and Grover is a normal dude using crutches.
Overall, just normal doesn't stop the entire school from ganging up on us. I can sort of understand me being picked on, after all, I have a history of causing trouble; in fact, it's a miracle I haven't been expelled yet. In my first year, I saw a freaking dragon flying around the city, which caused me to scream in surprise in the middle of a lesson and other embarrassing stuff. There were numerous other incidents that I really don't want to go into depth.
Either way, I have history here. Percy and Grover, as soon as they spawned here, immediately got bullied. I ignored the jeers, keeping a blank face, and their moving out of a teacher's office was Grover. He had brown hair like mine, but darker and curlier. He looks older than he seemed; he was decently tall and already sporting a goatee.
Percy assumed he got held back by a couple of years, while I assumed that Grover must have some crazy genes for puberty to hit him like a truck. We don't really know his full story. Grover wasn't comfortable talking about his past, and it's fine. Percy and I respected it. He was wearing a green shirt and brown cargo pants, and thick boots. And then lastly, a maroon beanie he always keeps. Like, I literally never saw him without it.
His brown eyes moved to meet my emerald ones. A smile formed in his mouth.
"Hey, Clay!"
"What's-ahem. Hey, Grover."
I straightened up as Mr.Brunner, my Latin teacher, rolled behind Grover. Mr. Brunner is a middle-aged man with brown hair and eyes. Unlike most teachers in this dump, Mr. Brunner uses a wheelchair and, most importantly, is probably the kindest and coolest teacher I've had the pleasure of meeting. Granted, it's not hard to become a good teacher in a place where you see three students getting bullied, only for a 'teacher' to walk away, acting like nothing happened. I lost count of the number of times that happened to me.
But even though there were multiple good teachers in Yancy Academy, none would top Mr. Brunner. He's just a really good teacher; he makes lectures make me so invested. And he was patient with me and Percy. I may not have dyslexia like Percy, but we both have ADHD. We struggle more than others with paying attention or doing homework.
Mr. Brunner flashes a warm smile at me. "Good morning, Mr. Brandon."
I nodded and smiled politely. "Morning, Mr. Brunner."
His head turns to look behind me. "And I see Mr. Jackson isn't with you?"
I saw Grover's face transform to a nervous one, and I could see him tighten his grip on his crutches. I raised a brow, but I shook my head. Grover has always been the caring type.
"Percy is coming; he just needs to shower and change," I said.
I can see Grover visibly relax.
"I see, well, I shall see all of you in class. I must be off."
Mr. Brunner gives us one final wave before presumably going to the classroom. I looked at Grover to speak to him, only to pause; he looked nervous and worried, like something foreboding is coming. I tried to ask him what was wrong, but he forced a smile and told me not to worry about it, and naturally, I did worry. But I didn't pressure him to talk; I didn't want to do that to Grover. Percy came a second later, punching me in the shoulder. I snorted while Grover shook his head, but was smiling.
Later on, we find ourselves riding a bus heading to the museum. Grover seemed excited for this trip, and Percy is just trying to make it this year since we're pretty close to summer break. While I was just happy that I was able to hang out with the two of them. I frowned, though, watching the passing cars. Occasionally, I would see something...weird. Like a guy that way too big to be human, and I could have sworn it had only a single eye.
Then another creature that was lurking in the alleyway, this time it was big or even bigger than a hippo. It looked like a rooster or an ostrich, but it had scales and bat-like wings. I rolled my eyes and leaned to my seat. Nearly an hour later (Because New York traffic is designed by Lucifer himself), we were at the museum. Which was great, I was always fascinated with Greek Myth.
What's not so great and deserves a smack in the face is Nancy Bobofit annoying us by throwing pieces of bread at our hair like she was in the NBA. Nancy Bobofit, or as I like to call her, Hobofit, because let's be honest, jerks like her are going to get thrown at her home, not to mention her fashion sense is questionable. But I kept my mouth shut. I may hate the way they are treating us; however, fighting back will do nothing.
Percy(Bless his soul) would defend us, but every time he did, he would get sent to the Headmaster's office, even when Grover and I vouched for him. Because in school, or rather this school, the adults don't care who is in the wrong, the kid showing the most emotion and bawling like a baby would be treated as the victim. Even when they dumped milk on my hair, Percy immediately tackled the kid. Speaking of Percy, he clenches his jaw and fist, absolutely ready to land a haymaker.
Grover and I look at each other with worried expressions. I bumped his shoulder and told him to relax, after all, he's already in hot water with the teachers. Just a little more, and he's going to get expelled.
"This is the first time I'm tempted to hit a woman," Percy grumbles quietly.
"First of all, calling her a woman is questionable, and secondly, it's not worth it."
I say, but I too was praying for downfall. Hobofit is already pulling this crap back on the bus, and no one is saying anything, even when she is making the museum look like the average New York park.
"Yeah, besides, I like peanut butter-" Grover tries to say before tilting his head to dodge another bread.
Percy looked ready to explode, but me and Grover gave him the look to calm down before all of us got in trouble. Eventually, Hobofit ran out of bread, which allowed us to relax and enjoy the tour of the museum. There was a lot of stuff like swords and other ancient pieces. Thank the lord above that Mr. Bruner is giving the tour and not some bum otherwise, my mind would be drifting off again and replaying that damned Burger King song ad again.
Anyway, Mr. Brunner is doing a pretty good job, even though some people thought of this free period and started talking. I was silent, though, knowing I couldn't do anything. Percy, to his credit, glared and told them to be quiet, but of course it didn't work. The only attention Percy received was from our Pre-Algebra teacher, Mrs. Dodds, who gave Percy the stink eye. I have no clue why she has it out for Percy out of all people.
Sure, she glares at me occasionally, but it is Percy who seems to be her favourite victim. I rolled my eyes internally. How mature of a teacher to pick fights with students. Like, I swear, who does that? You'd have to be Satan's goons to commit crap like this! Percy told Nancy to shut up, but he did louder than he meant to.
"Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "did you have a comment?"
Percy's face flushed, and he muttered a no. Mr. Brunner pointed at one of the steles depicting a large male figure eating a tiny, smaller one. According to the legend, the male figure is Kronos, the Titan King, who was eating one of his children. I'm not exactly sure the reason why, but if I got my history right, Kronos is scared that one of his children would dethrone him or something like that. Also, Greek Myth is weird and sounds like it came from a fever dream.
Mr. Brunner asked Percy a question, which he answered correctly. Then Hobofit opens her fat mouth. "Like we're going to use this in real life." She mumbles to one of her cronies.
"Yes, Miss Bobofit makes an excellent question, how will learning Greek Myth be useful to you in real life, Mr. Jackson?"
Grover smirked at her. "Busted." I pressed my lip and closed my eyes, but I couldn't hide my smile.
"Shut it..." Hobofit growled.
I opened my eyes and looked curiously at Percy and Mr. Brunner. It was a rather odd question, and it seemed to be directed at Percy specifically. Like he was asking Percy the question, and could not pick anyone else to answer the question other than him. Percy shifted uncomfortably.
"I don't know, sir." This made Hobofit and the other Arkham Asylum inmates dressed as children giggle, making Percy even more flushed.
After a couple of minutes, we were released from our tour, and the students went outside and sat on the stairway leading to the inside of the museum. Grover and I sat at the edge of the fountain, Percy coming later after Mr. Brunner asked him to stay. He sighs as he sits down between us.
"Detention?" Asked Grover while Percy shook his head.
"Nah, I'm good. But I wish he would back off a little, like I have two disabilities that make it hard for me to learn. Sorry, I'm not Einstein or something."
Yeah, now that I think about it. Mr. Brunner does push Percy, but instead of the usual maliciousness, it's more like a teacher pushing to become better. I do understand Percy's side more. Like I already have difficulties with ADHD, combine that with dyslexia, I don't envy Percy in that part of his life. The three of us are oddly quiet when we would be speaking more. I don't know why, I guess nobody was in a talking mood right now. I looked at the sky.
Over in the distance, there were massive dark thunderclouds. Yeah, we've been getting freakish weather, until last Christmas. I've heard even scientists couldn't explain what's causing the phenomenon. It wasn't just the clouds acting up; apparently, the sea is also causing a ruckus, which caused a few problems for the fishing industry. Well, I hope it resolves soon. I actually like going outside.
It was peaceful, the three of us eating our lunch quietly until, in the corner of my vision, my heart dropped. Hobofit, along with some of her posse, whose names I honestly can't remember. Before we could do anything, she dumped her half-eaten sandwich on my lap. I blinked before my hand instinctively grabbed Percy before he could do anything.
"Relax, Percy, not a big deal."
Percy clenches his jaw and glares at Hobofit. Grover's eyes shifted to Mr. Brunner and back to me. I nodded, I didn't want to bring the teachers involved, especially since something that wasn't that bad. Though I do feel a little grossed seeing her soggy sandwich messing up my pants. Hobofit smirked like she just won an award, with her extras giggling behind her.
"Yeah, listen to your husband, Jackson. Touch me and you're expelled." She said in that annoying voice that makes people question the point of being alive. I held Percy tighter, and Grover stood up, ready to go to Mr. Brunner for help.
"Well, you know what? He's right, I shouldn't want to be close to someone who looks like they could audition for a live-action movie about blowfish!"
Almost immediately, Hobofit turned red like a tomato, and even her friends let out some 'oooohs,' and I couldn't help but giggle too. However, this leads to gaining her attention. I cleared my throat and tried to look normal, but I couldn't force down my grin. Hobofit game the stink eye,
"You know you freaks deserve each other-" Hobofit went into a tirade about how much of a freak we are while Grover was already moving his to Mr. Brunner, who I'm surprised is unaware of the situation since Hobofit is screaming like a banshee.
"-And you, Brandon." I point to myself, bewildered at why she's mad at me. "You guys really do deserve each other, freaks of nature! No wonder your parents abandoned you, they know you're trouble." I paused, stunned and actually hurt.
I got used to insults, but whenever they brought my parents, my mouth just quivered. In the corner of my vision, Percy's face was a look of shock, which was quickly replaced by anger. I was so stunned by what Hobofit said that my grip on Percy loosened, and, making up, stood straight up and walked menacingly. I mentally slapped myself. If I don't do something, Percy is going to get expelled. I blinked once, and my brain told my body to get up, but in that small amount of time, I heard a splash behind me.
I got up, the gross sandwich fell to the floor as I turned around, back away to find Nancy Bobofit, her butt planted on the fountain, completely soaked.
"Percy pushed me!"
I flinched at this harpy's loud voice. What just happened? Did Percy push her? That was way too quick. I turned to look at Percy, who looked at his palms in bewilderment.
We both looked at each other, neither of us had any idea what had just happened. But I got spooked because somehow Mrs. Dodds instantly was there as if she teleported or something and went to help a bawling Hobofit. After helping her, she turned to us, specifically to Percy. She had an odd look to her face; she was happy and smiling, but it felt malicious. I froze, and chill crawled to my spine as I could have sworn for just a moment her eyes pulsed red, before returning to normal.
"Now, honey. Come with me." She said that fake nice tone she enjoys using to mess with Percy.
Percy already looks resigned to his fate. But for some reason, something is telling me that I should stop this or cover for Percy. I would have done so anyway, but it felt as if I didn't, Percy would get hurt. I moved forward to try to talk to Mrs. Dodds, but Grover came back pale as a sheet. "It was me!"
We turned to look at him. "It was me, I-"
"Now, Mr. Underwood, do not take me like a fool..."
"But-"
"Stay...here." Then to Percy. "Now, come along, honey."
Without saying anything, she gestured for Percy to follow her. Before leaving, Percy tried to make us relax by saying he was okay. And with that, he jogged to join Mrs. Dodds, who entered the museum. I sighed, scratching my head, annoyed by the entire situation. I was about to talk to Grover, but then I noticed he was shaking.
Not like when you get a cold, but when something bad is about to happen. He gulped, and sweat covered his face. And my bad feeling returned even stronger. I look at the entrance where Percy and Mrs. Dodds entered. I took a deep breath.
"I'll be back."
"Huh? Wait-Clay, no!" Grover shouts in alarm, but it's too late. I was already jogging and entered inside, trying to find them.
I don't know what I am doing. But my gut tells me that Percy is in danger. Eventually, I found the two of them in the Greek and Roman section.
"Did you really think you could get away with it?" Mrs. Dodds accused, using a voice that sounds like a judge would use against a despicable criminal.
I frowned. Even if he did push Hobofit in the water, this tone is not right. They hadn't noticed me, so I crouched down to avoid getting detected. "We are not fools, Percy Jackson. Return what you have stolen, and I'm willing to end you painlessly."
I blinked. What did she just say?
"Excuse me?" Percy asked, taking a couple of steps back.
"Still feigning ignorance? Very well, then..."
A dark smile crept up to her face as she 'Changes'. At first she had glowing red eyes, but then, I merely blinked to make sure I'm things right. Then Mrs. Dodds wasn't there anymore; instead, some kind of horrific creature. Some kind of demonic witch with dark black hair, reddish or pinkish skin.
But the large bat-like wings on her back gained most of my attention. I looked at the scene before sighing, ruffling my hair. I was about to call out to Percy since, clearly, he wasn't here. Mrs. Dodds or whatever this thing approached Percy with a snarl.
"Where is it!?" She brought her sharp, long talons up as a warning. "I-I!" Percy was too stunned to speak. I watched with boredom on my face, but inside my heart beat rapidly.
This is just one of my hallucinations, right? Just another illusion conjured by my messed-up brain, Percy is probably getting a tongue lashing from Mrs. Dodds, not whatever is going on here. I know that, but for some reason, I felt tense and afraid. I bit my lip as I watched the monster take a step forward, which made Percy instantly turn tail, but Mrs. Dodds was fast, grabbing the back of his shirt and throwing him across the floor.
"Where is it, you accursed godling? Where!?" She snarled.
Percy gets up, his face full of horror and confusion. She takes a menacing step but stops. They both take a look at me, running towards them. I removed my backpack and was grabbing the strap with my arm, I spun around and spun before letting go. The bag flew and crashed into Mrs. Dodd's face, who wasn't hurt but squealed in surprise.
I immediately used this momentary distraction to grab Percy's arm.
"Clay! What the-!"
"Come with me if you want to live!" I said, accidentally quoting a certain movie.
We both dashed for the exit, while I was mentally beating myself up. Clay Brandon, what in the world did you just do? You're clearly having an episode where Mrs. Dodds is a she-demon, which she is already in human form. Regardless, if I did just hit the real Mrs. Dodds, then I'm getting expelled, no doubt about it. Still, it felt good throwing my bag at her.
I looked back, expecting her to chase us, which I was right about, but what I got wrong was how close she was. We got at least a three-second head start! We weren't the fastest things alive, but I'm pretty sure we could outrun a woman in her 40s. But Mrs. Dodds is literally a breath away and swipes her talons at us. I grabbed Percy's head and made both of us drop down, which made us successfully dodge the talons.
Though I felt a sharp pain in my arm, making me yelp as Percy and I tumbled to the ground, groaning. But we immediately turned around to see Mrs. Dodds stomping towards us, one of her talons dripping with something red. I flinched when her glowing demonic eyes landed on me.
"How are you able to see me?" I didn't say anything, only wide-eyed, praying this was all just a dream. "No matter."
She chuckles. "I'll gut you first, blame the thief for letting you get involved!" Percy gets back up and glares at her.
"Leave him alone!"
With a yell, Percy threw a punch, expecting the monster to catch his fist like a supervillain, but Mrs. Dodds must have been surprised that Percy threw a punch at her. What I didn't expect was that the demon would go flying as if hit by a car and only recovered in the air, flying with her wings.
"As I expected, you are no average half-blood. You're definitely one of their children!"
I backed up. What nonsense is she saying!? Percy looks confused but raises his arms to fight. Then all of a sudden, we heard a familiar voice.
"What ho, Percy!" Mr Brunner came out of nowhere, dragging our attention. He rolled up a few feet away from us and tossed something to Percy.
I can see it was a pen. But when Percy grabbed it, it was no longer a pen. Rather, it was a sword, like an actual sword, not made out of foam or plastic. Like ones that can cut!
"Die, honey!"
Before I could get the chance to look at the sword, Mrs. Dodds flew right at us, screaming like a banshee. Percy yelled and swung the sword. As soon as the blade made contact with her, slicing through her in half, she exploded. Her form got reduced to something like sand. No, whatever this is, it wasn't sand; it's like dust made out of gold. Then the gold-dust thing blew away, as if it was never there.
Percy and I panted, just looking at the spot where Percy had just vaporized our pre-algebra teacher. I looked at his sword and blinked. It was just a pen? I got up with shaking legs, and I grabbed his shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
He shook his head. I couldn't blame him. I turned around to speak to Mr. Brunner, but only to find him gone, too. "Let's get out of here." He suddenly said, and I agreed.
We didn't run out of there, but we weren't walking in our casual stroll; we moved our legs quickly without running. As soon as we exited the building, we both took a deep breath. Percy was shaking while walking back and forth as I exploded with thoughts and feelings, which served nothing but to make me feel stressed out and overwhelmed. Another lovely side effect of having ADHD. What was that!?
What just happened!? Did I imagine all that? But it feels so real, and it's the first time my hallucinations ever acknowledged me; usually, they would have just ignored me. But Mrs. Dodds or whatever the thing is looking and threatening me. My heart beat faster and I tried to calm my breathing, but before I could, Hobofit, with the worst timing as usual, marched towards us with a smug grin.
"I hope Mrs. Kerr whooped your butt!" Hobofit said, directly to Percy.
I blinked and looked at Percy, who also looked back at me, both of us sharing a confused look. Percy turned to Hobofit with squinted eyes. "Who?"
"Our algebra teacher, you big dummy!" She hissed before huffing away, leaving Percy and me absolutely bewildered at what just happened.
Who in the world is Mrs. Kerr? Maybe it's my ADHD brain going into overdrive and giving me a brain fart, but her name doesn't ring any bells. Grover and Mr. Brunner walked up to us.
"Are you all right, boys? You both seemed rattled?" Mr. Brunner said, with his usual kind voice.
"Yeah, you're not in trouble, are you?" Added Grover.
Before we have the chance to say anything. Mr Brunner eyes Percy's hand here; he still grips the pen.
"Ah, that would be my pen." He says, taking it from Percy. "Please remember to bring your own utensils."
Wait, you mean he doesn't remember what happened? Or maybe it never happened at all. That made me sigh in relief, but Percy still seems rattled.
"Where's Mrs. Dodds?"
"Who?"
"Our pre-algebra teacher."
Mr. Brunner's face scrunched up with confusion, and I was too. Had I imagined Mrs. Dodds all along? Great, I guess I do need to take my pills. I shake my head, grabbing my face. I really do hate having schizophrenia.
"Are you all right, Mr. Jackson-And you as well, are you all right, Mr. Brandon!?" He says in alarm.
"Huh, I'm fine."
Grover gently grabbed my hand and lifted it. My eyes widened as I saw a nasty gash on my arm, and it was bleeding. As soon as I saw the wound, I bit my lip so as not to yelp in pain. Grover, Percy and Mr. Brunner looked at me with concern.
"What happened?"