Mortals meet demigods

Liz Marks

One day was especially weird. A few weeks before that, I would have thought I was crazy. Not just silly, but need-help crazy. I'm Liz Marks and I am typically off the walls because of my ADHD. But that day? My God. Maybe I should be saying gods, the Greek gods are apparently real, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. To say the least, I was attacked and here's what happened:

I was on a coffee run for my dad and myself. Not mom, don't ask. Yeah, I'm a 13 year old ADHD kid who gets caffeine on a daily basis. That specific day, I was wearing a flower print dress and my long,brown hair was braided off to one side. My tri-colored eyes were especially blue and I was wearing pearl-colored flats because I'm too tall for heels. I don't care, I still look great!

As I walked up to the register, I thought of my usual order. A caramel frappuccino and a large latte. You see, I also have dyslexia so I just memorize stuff. "One short caramel frappuccino and a gran-" I was cut off by a crash behind me. I turned around quickly and saw a... I don't even know what it was. The monster had 2 legs and 6 arms. It was towering over me, probably around 8 feet tall and had 1 eye. The thing stopped and looked around Starbucks. Its eye stopped on me and I gulped before sliding over the counter. The cashier and I shared glances and then I crawled into the kitchen. I grabbed a few pointy and sharp things, like knives and graters, then headed back over quietly. With a growing stash of stuff (the cashier helped and I grabbed stuff on the way over,) I did the dumbest thing ever. I threw steel at the giant monster.

In hindsight, the only stupider thing I could have done was charged the damn thing,but that was already taken. Out of the ashes of the explosion, came a girl with brown hair and piercing green eyes.

"The Had- Move! What are you doing? You're just making it angrier! ηλίθιοι θνητοί, δεν ξέρουν τίποτα!" (Stupid mortals, don't know a thing.) She whipped out a packet and threw it on the monster. The girl moved to block me because I was in shock. She's fighting that thing, she's fighting that thing with SEEDS, oh, and I understood that other language. Anyways, the girl threw her arms up and it looked like she was controlling the rose bush that was wrapping itself around the thing in the middle of Starbucks.

I saw a bronze stick. Joking. It was a sword so I ran up and grabbed it from the sheath on the girl's hip. It had "Katie G." carved into the hilt. I guessed that was her name. Since I was crap with a sword, I attempted to stab the monster but it batted me away. That was when adrenaline FINALLY kicked in and I rolled instead of slamming into the wall.

I guess ADHD really is good for something because I jumped up instantly. This time I was the idiot and charged the monster with Katie's sword. It was holding some of the kitchen appliances I had used earlier and was blocking my blade. Right as it gave a final blow that would have killed me, even though I was nowhere near death, Katie pulled her biggest trick yet. She lunged and threw a vine-lasso around one of the many arms. Katie threw enough force into yanking it backwards that they both slammed into the wall. Scared that the monster would get up, I sprinted over and stabbed it with the sword. As it disintegrated into glitter, I rushed over to its latest victim.

I helped Katie sit up. "Ziploc in backpack. Looks like lemon squares," she told me. I must admit, that was a confusing statement, but oh well. The backpack was on the other side of the store so I wasted no time in retrieving it. I slid on the ground and handed her a lemon square. Katie quickly ate it and began to stand up.

"Katie, right? It was engraved on your sword. 2 questions. What the heck was that thing and what is going on?!" I demanded.

She cocked her head, "you're a demigod, I bet. That was an earthborn-cyclops mix which is new. We need to get to camp and I suggest you call your parent."

How did she know I only had 1 parent? Screw it. I pulled out my phone and called my dad. I told him what just happened and he swore. FYI, my dad does not swear. He said to go with Katie. To go to Camp Half-Blood. He gave me the worst news ever and then told me he loves me. Who does that? I does not make it okay. Even more annoying, I have to miss class photos which is always the best time of the year.

Now it has been 3 weeks and I Iris-messaged my dad on my first day here. Turns out my mom is Aphrodite and I have taken up bow and arrows with my boyfriend. He's hot and a son of Apollo and I love him so much! The cafe was on the news and the cashier said I was a rookie but brave. I really don't know how to take that. Katie Gardener and I are now good friends and TRATIE IS MY OTP!! Cue squealing!