The Hero Gone Wrong

Chapter 1

THE FIRST PART OF THIS IS FROM THE LIGHTNING THIEF BY RICK RIORDAN. THIS WRITING BELONGS TO HIM, NOT ME.

  Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.

  If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth and try to lead a normal life.

  Being a half-blood is dangerous.  It's scary. Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

  If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.

  But if you recognize yourself in these pages - if you feel something stirring inside - stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.

  Don't say I didn't warn you.

END OF RICK'S WRITING, THOUGH IT IS REFERENCED AND WORDED SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT COMING UP. I WILL USE SOME OF THE SAME DETAILS AND CHARACTERS HE USED, BUT THE WRITING IS MINE. I AM NOT NEARLY AS GOOD AS RICK, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND

  My name is Percy Jackson. I'm seventeen years old. A few years ago I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a school for troubled kids in upstate New York.

  Am I a troubled kid?

  Yeah, you could say that.

I could start at any point in my life to prove it, but it got bad my 6th grade year at Yancy Academy. I was 12 years old. It was during May, and we were going on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at some Greek and Roman stuff.

  If only I knew how this stuff would connect the the life I never knew, but was about to have.

  I tried to pay attention as Mr. Brunner (our Latin teacher) talked. But it was hard. I have ADHD, so it was hard to stand still and listen, and my Dislexya makes reading a pain.

  Not to mention kids snickering in the back of the group, and Mrs. Dodds  (the pre-algebra teacher) giving me the evil eye. I mean, I hadn't even done anything...yet.

  My best friend, Grover, stood beside me.

  I'm not exactly sure how to explain him. Grover has curly reddish brown hair, acne, and crutches. Apparently he had a doctor's note excusing him from PE, due to some muscular disease or something.

  Mr. Brunner rolled his wheelchair over to another statue.  This one showed a huge guy, maybe 15 feet tall, wielding a large scythe. It was a stone statue, but they must've painted his eyes or something. They were a eerie golden color.

  "Can anyone tell me who this is?" Mr. Brunner asked. His expression was different. Instead his normally warm brown eyes were angry. Next to me, Grover stiffened.

  No one raised their hands, so naturally he called on me.

  "Mr. Jackson."

  "Uhh..." I tried to recall the things Mr. Brunner had taught us.

  "Is that Kronos?" I asked, receiving a nod from Mr. Brunner. "And?"

  "And...he was the king...god? No titan." Kids snickered behind me, Mr. Brunner glared at them.

  "And uh, he ate his kids, the gods." I continued. "And when he tried to eat Zeus, Rhea gave him a rock and made him throw up his kids. Then there was a huge war and the gods won."

  Mr. Brunner chuckled slightly, "The war was much more complex than that. Half credit I suppose."

  Finally it was lunchtime. I sat next to Grover.

  A girl by the name of Nancy Bobofit decided to be annoying  (what a surprise) and throw some food at Grover and I, though Grover got hut by most of it.

  "I'm going to kill her." I muttered, standing up.

  "No Percy. Mrs. Dodds is giving you the evil eye again. Besides, if you kill someone you're gonna get suspended and go to jail. Just relax dude."

  Of course she was. Mrs. Dodds only ever notices when I something wrong. Nancy could be murdering innocent civilians, and Mrs. Dodds would get onto me for talking to Grover.

  "Too weak to do anything, wimps? Why don't you go cry to your mommy? Or your daddy? Oh that's right!" She looked at me, "Percy doesn't have one!"

  Grover said something,  but I didn't hear him. I was mad. Water roared in my ears, and the next thing I knew, Nancy was in the fountain.

  Grover was frozen next to me. He was staring at me, shocked.

  I caught small snippets of conversation from the other kids.

  "Did you see that?"

  "The water..."

  "It grabbed her!"

  "How is that possible?"

  I didn't understand what was happening, but when Mrs. Dodds came over, I knew I was in trouble.

  "Perseus Jackson."

  I flinched, "Yes Ma'am?"

  "Come with me."

  I followed her into the Gift Shop. I figured she wanted me to buy Nancy a new shirt, which wouldn't have been a problem of I had money.

  "We've been watching you, honey." She snarled. Her eyes seemed to glow.

  "Yes Ma'am." I tried to stay safe.

  "And we know you have it. Just give it up and you will suffer less."

  "Give what to you?"

  "You know what, Son of Poseidon. Just give it to us."

  Son of Poseidon? My thoughts were spinning.

  She advanced, her form slowly shifting.

"Die honey!" Mrs. Dodds leapt at me, flapping her leathery wings as her talons extended to slice me in half.