The Children of Olympus

Chapter 1-Zoe

Today is officially the worst day of my life. It started out like any normal day. Wake up in the morning, get dressed, etc. But when I got to school, I found out that there was a new kid in my class. That meant that Mrs. Morris would make me show him around. Then, at lunch, I dropped my food, but I didn't have enough money to buy something else. But that's not the worst part. At the end of the day, my math teacher gave us back our math tests. I got a C-. So here I am, walking home from school, wondering how I explain to my mom my grade.

"Mom! I'm home" In case you were wondering, my mom is really nice. She always helps me with my homework and gives me extra cookies at dessert. I just hope she doesn't get mad at me when I show her my grade. Then I found a note in the kitchen. It said "Zoe, I have to stay at work late. There's pasta in the fridge. Just warm it up for dinner. Love, Mom."

There's one problem solved. Mom is usually too tired to ask me about school when she works late. I went upstairs and plopped down on my bed. I was just opening my book when-

"Ding Dong!" Ugh! Can't a girl ever get some peace around here? I went to open the door. It was probably one of our neighbors looking for Mom.

"Hi, Mom's not-" I cut off. It was the new boy from school! What was he doing here?

"Um, hi. My name is Jake. I was wondering if you could help me with my homework. I don't know who else to ask, and since you live right across the street, so, can you help?" He looked at me nervously. Since I'm so nice, I said yes.

"Come on in." I said, going inside. I told him to go down to the basement while I went upstairs to grab my backpack. It took me forever to drag it downstairs since it was so heavy.

"So what exactly do you need help with?" I asked.

"I'm not sure how to do the math. Mrs. Morris makes the problems so hard." He said, holding out his math sheet.

"I know, right! It drives my mom nuts when I keep asking her for help. How about we do it together, since I'm not so great either?" Maybe now I would finally have a chance to get a good grade in math.

"Good idea! That way we can both help each other!" he smiled.

After we finished our homework, which took a while, I let him stay a bit longer. I went to the attic to see if there was some old board games we could play.

"Be right back!" I raced upstairs. I grabbed a flashlight and went in. Suddenly, I saw a glow at the end of the room. I went closer. It was coming from something that looked strange. It was purple and had swirls all around. I stepped closer, as if in a trance. I tried to back up, but it was too late. The thing started pulling me in. The last thing I saw was a bright light, so bright it made my eyes hurt, before everything went black.