Author's Note: Hey! I previously had a story like this, but I took it down. Now I'm starting over, cleaning it up a little bit and giving it a better plot. Hope you like it!

Chapter 1: I Get in Trouble at School (Again)

"Last day of school!" I shouted as I walked into my classroom. I'd actually gotten through my second year at Goode High School, and that was a first for me, since I'd never made it anywhere without being kicked out. And the best part was, that afternoon I'd be off to my favorite place in the world, the only safe place in the world for a Son of Poseidon like me—Camp Half-Blood. I was ecstatic.

Unfortunately, teachers never seem as happy as the students on the last day of school, which I don't understand because most jobs don't take entire summers off. Go figure, but my homeroom teacher, Mr. Price, glared at me icily. "Jackson, this will not be your last day of school if you don't sit in your seat right now. And fix your uniform," he added.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I straightened my uniform. Mr. Price seemed to have had it in for me all year. My gut feeling was: monster. But when I thought about it, he'd never given me a reason to think he was a monster. If he'd wanted to have me for lunch, he would've done it already. At least, he would've tried. Last summer, before fighting the Titan Lord Kronos, I'd bathed in the River Styx and gained the invulnerability of Achilles. So I thought I was okay, unless they touched my weak spot.

My mind was all over the place until I felt Mr. Price's cold glare on me again. "Jackson!" he hissed.

"Yes?"

"Can you join us down here on Earth for two seconds?"

Suddenly the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees, even though it was the middle of June. I felt goose bumps on my arms. "Yes, sir."

"That's better," he said.

I took a deep breath, opening my notebook. I smiled when I saw the picture Chiron had taken of Annabeth and me last summer. We were arm-in-arm, grinning from ear-to-ear in our camp T-shirts and necklaces. Annabeth's hair was pulled back in a perfect ponytail, her gray eyes shining. I really did miss her. Even though she was going to school in New York this year, she was at a boarding school, so I still didn't really get to see her much. But this year at camp, it was going to be great: no Titans, no traitors, no wars, and no prophecies. I couldn't wait.

"Jackson!"

I jumped. Then I realized that I had been staring into space.

"You care to share what you were thinking about just now, since it wasn't my class?" he asked. Maybe it was the light, but I could swear that his eyes turned a really icy shade of blue. "Well?" he prompted when I didn't answer.

I glared back at him. One thing I hate about ADHD is the fact that I can't keep my mouth shut. "Why do my thoughts matter so much to you?" I asked, unable to keep my annoyance out of my voice.

"You'd better watch your temper, Mr. Jackson," he shot back.

"Or what?" I asked. "You're going to give me detention?"

Stupid question, I know. But hey, again, you can blame my ADHD.

My teacher looked amused, like he's waited the entire school year for me to slip up, and I'd finally given him the opportunity to torture me. "Very good idea, Jackson," he whispered, and the temperature dropped another ten degrees. I could see my breath fogging up. "See me right here after school and we'll discuss your…punishment."

Something in his voice made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I got the feeling that his "punishment" was going to be much worse than I could possibly imagine.

The bell rang. Everyone gathered up their stuff and left the classroom. As I walked past the teacher's desk, I felt colder than ever inside.

Classes moved slowly for the rest of the day. It was as if time itself was too lazy to keep going. Either that or time was mocking me, dragging out my classes so the day would never end.

Dang, life sure sucks sometimes.

I sat in art class, working on the finishing touches of my painting, when a girl with silvery-blond hair and blue eyes walked in. She looked about fourteen or fifteen, and she had a slip of paper in her hand. "Excuse me?" she said.

My art teacher replied, "Yes? What is your name, miss?"

"Avery Cypes," the girl replied. "I have a message from Mr. Price for a Perseus Jackson." My eyes widened. My cheeks burned. My heart skipped about three beats. How in Tartarus did Mr. Price know my name? I was suspicious before, but now I was really starting to worry. Only those who knew my true identity knew my real name. That gave me definite reasons to freak out, but I tried to keep my cool.

The class snickered when they heard my name. The girl who'd called herself Avery scanned the room, and her eyes settled on me. "Ah, there you are, Perseus," she said, handing me the slip of paper.

"It's Percy," I corrected her.

"Okay, Percy," she agreed. Her eyes seemed to linger on my face for longer than I would've expected, but then she just smiled and left, turning back just once to look at me again, almost like she recognized me. Which was crazy, because there was no way I'd ever met anyone named Avery Cypes.

Holding the detention slip in my fingers, I realized that they were still covered in acrylic paint. I excused myself to the restroom.

While I was trying to get the paint off, my girlfriend Annabeth's face appeared in front of me. "Percy?" she called.

I jumped about twenty feet in the air. When I steadied my breathing, I realized she was an Iris-message. "Annabeth?" I stammered. "Um…could I get back to you? I'm kind of in the restroom."

Her cheeks turned pink. "You look like your washing your hands, Seaweed Brain," she replied. "And besides, this is super important. Are you alone?"

I frowned. "Yeah, but I might not be for long. Why? What's wrong? Where are you?"

"One question at a time," she told me. Then her face turned deadly serious. "Percy, there's something wrong at camp."

My heart sank. There goes my carefree summer break. "Like what?"

"I don't know," she said, frustrated. I knew that had to be Annabeth's least favorite sentence in the entire world. "But Chiron contacted me this morning and told me to come to camp as soon as possible, and to tell you the same thing."

I sighed, pulling a paper towel to dry my hands. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to camp 'as soon as possible'," I admitted. I explained to her how I got detention.

When I finished, Annabeth looked ready to smack me. "What's the matter with you, Percy? Who gets detention on the last day of school, anyway? I mean, come on now!"

"I'm sorry," I said defensively.

Suddenly Annabeth's gray eyes lit up, like she'd gotten an idea. "I've got it!" she said. "I'll come get you. Be ready at the end of the day, and I'll come pick you up."

"But how—"

"Just be ready to go, Seaweed Brain," she said. "And don't forget," she added. "There are a bunch of new demigods waiting to be claimed, remember?"

I smiled. I remembered my wish to the gods last summer when I made them swear on the River Styx to claim all their demigod children by age thirteen. "How could I forget? I made that rule up, Wise Girl."

I gave me a grudging half-smile. "See you later, Percy. Love you."

"Love you, too." I waved away the image as another guy walked in, and I left, trying not to look like anything weird had just happened. Just another normal day as a demigod.

The end of the day came quicker than I expected. As I stopped by my locker for the last time, I saw Paul Blofis, my stepdad and English teacher.

"Percy?" He walked over to me. When he saw my face, he frowned. "What's wrong? You look down."

I was reluctant to say anything at all. But then again, Paul was a pretty cool mortal. Last summer he took down a bunch of monsters with a bronze sword, and then was completely humble about it. He knew I was the son of Poseidon. He's seen me in action. I trusted him. So I explained everything: how Mr. Price had given me detention, how the camp was in danger, and how Annabeth was planning to come get me.

When I was done, Paul nodded. "Well, you shouldn't have gotten detention," he started, "but I think you need to get to camp. Come into my classroom."