I don't own Percy Jackson

You rarely hear of a girl being the hero, typically in today's society whenever someone hear the word hero they instantly thought of a guy, but that's just how it's always been. I'm not saying that there are no female heroes, there are, but thanks to the stories we heard growing up it's only natural for us to think of some muscular guy running around and saving people. However for every stereotype there is always someone who breaks expectations.

Although now that I think about, I may sound like I'm a little bitter. Or perhaps think way too highly of myself. However I would like to point out that I was told that if I wrote my story down I'd feel better about all that happened, almost like therapy. So I decided to give it go, and I'll promise that I will try not to hold back on the details.

I guess I should start by saying I never wanted any of this to happen. I was very much content in going from school to school every year, being treated differently because I'm dyslexic and have ADHD. Although at the time I would have wished to be like all the other kids my age, and not get kicked out of each school that accepted me. Despite being labelled as a "Troubled Child" by nearly every adult I met.

However, looking back now I probably should have paid more attention to the saying be careful what you wish for. Don't get me wrong, if given the option now to be "normal" I wouldn't take it. I've grown to love my life the way it has played out, of course I have regrets but so does everyone else.

But despite having no regrets I still feel as though I should warn you. If you feel as though you recognize yourself in this story, or if you've seen or done something strange, something almost inhuman, I'm begging you, stop reading immediately. Because the moment you realise it…. The moment you think you have it all figured out They'll know.

And once they do, they will find you, and they will not hesitate to kill you. Please don't think I'm exaggerating for entertainment purposes. I'm not. But if you decide to carry on reading and find yourself recognising yourself in these pages, the find help immediately. There are people like me everywhere, and once you've identified them they will protect you and get you to safety.

But if you think this is some elaborate piece of fiction, written for your own enjoyment. Then great! Read on. I hope you find my story entertaining.

But please, don't take my warning lightly.

My name is Sophia Jackson. And up until recently, I was just an average 12 year old girl stuck at Yancy Academy for troubled kids. Am I a troubled kid? Sort of. It's not like I can say my school record is spotless, but then again it's not as though I purposely misbehaved. Somehow I've managed to get myself expelled six schools. Which is apparently a lot easier than it sounds.

But again, I'd like to remind you that it wasn't because I tried to get into trouble. Trouble just likes to find me at the most in-opportune moments.

For example, during my fifth-grade field trip to the Saratoga battlefield I had a little accident with a war cannon. But in my defence I wasn't exactly, aiming towards the school bus, and I didn't know it was going to blow up like it did. It just happened despite what the teachers say. Honest!

Then before that in fourth-grade, my class took a behind the scenes tour of marine world and I accidentally leant on the wrong lever. To make a long story short, the class ended up taking an unexpected swimming lesson. But no one was hurt, so really I think my teachers were being a little unreasonable.

Then before that…. You've probably gotten the point by now. But as I said earlier, none of it was done on purpose.

Anyway, back to the story.

At the moment I was stuck in a yellow bus filled with 20 or so mental case kids, heading towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan to look at the Greek and Roman exhibits. I know it doesn't sound like it would be interesting or fun, but my Latin teacher Mr. Brunner was leading the trip, so I had hopes.

Mr. Brunner didn't look like someone you would call cool, in fact he looked exactly how you would imagine a Latin teacher to look like.He had matted brown hair and wore a frayed tweed jacket that smelt highly of coffee. When he was younger he had been in an accident that left him paralysed from the waist down, so he had to navigate everywhere in a wheel chair.

But he was the only teacher in the school whose lessons didn't put me in a boredom induced coma. On multiple occasions he had us running up to the blackboard to write as many Greek and Roman names we could think of, while he swung a ruler around his head like a mad man threatening to give us detention if we weren't able to complete the task. Of course he never did give us detention, but his teaching methods seemed to help us remember a lot more than if we were stuck reading from some dusty old textbooks.

Plus he had the epic collection of Greek swords and armour that he often brought into class to let us try out. Without the principle knowing of course. I doubt he'd like the idea of the mild looking Latin teacher bringing in weapons for a class of hyperactive delinquents to wave around.

So you can probably see why I was looking forward to this trip.

But despite my excitement that my favourite teacher would be leading this trip. There was one thing – person – that could damped my spirits no matter how good a day could seem to be going. And that was Mrs. Dodds. She had been the first to volunteer to help Mr. Brunner look after us kids when the trip had first been announced. However I couldn't help feeling there was a different reason behind her coming along. There was no way she was coming along for the goodness of her heart (that's if she even had one).

Mrs. Dodds was the worst teacher I have ever had, and that's coming from someone who's had a lot. She constantly wore her hair up in a tight bun that seemed almost glued to her head, not a single hair was ever out of place, and she permanently wore a leather jacket with matching trousers that looked like second skin on her. Making her seem like some kind of biker wannabe.

She had instantly fallen in love with the school's freckled faced, red haired kleptomaniac Nancy Bobofit, who she caught sticking chewing gum to the back of my friend Grover's coat. Instead of yelling at Nancy like any other sane teacher would, she found a way to blame me instead. Which ended up being one of the many reasons why I hated her so much.

Nancy and I on the other hand, had been enemies since the first time we met. I'm not exactly sure what I did to her, but it was enough for her to hate my guts from meeting me on the first day of school. She made it her job to make mine and Grover's lives a living hell. As if being stuck at a boarding school for criminals in training.

On a lighter note however was Grover Underwood, my best friend. He was a scrawny looking kid, who despite being in the sixth grade looked as though he had been held back a few years. He was the only one in our class with bad acne and looked as though he had the start of a beard coming along. He was also unlucky enough to be stuck with some kind of muscle disease in his legs, which, thanks to a note at the beginning of the year, had him excused from P.E for life. But this unfortunately made him an easy target for Nancy's bullying.

Which brings us back to the bus, where I had to watch Nancy pelt Grover with chunks of her peanut butter sandwiches.

'I'm going kill her!' I growled, already halfway out of my seat, ready to tackle the red head into the aisle.

'Don't Sophia.' Grover hissed, grabbing onto my arm and trying to pull me back onto my seat. 'You're already on probation. Besides I like peanut butter.'

He started to pick out pieces of the sandwich from his curly brown hair, trying to keep as much dignity as he could with peanut butter in his hair. I didn't like it, but I did what he wanted me to do, and sat as quietly and as calmly as a kid with ADHD could. All the while trying not to attack the frizzy haired klepto.

Mr. Brunner rolled at a leisurely pace through the museum as the rest of delinquents followed behind dutifully, listening as he talked with enthusiasm about all the artefacts on display. The vast majority of museum patrons kept a wide gap between themselves and our troupe, glancing wearily at us as the majority of the group continued to loudly talk amongst themselves.

I on the other hand found it really interesting to learn about all of these things, but it was getting harder to understand what he was saying from the amount of giggling coming from Nancy and her idiot friends. I tried to ignore them, and even pushed myself to the front of the group, but it was quickly becoming an impossible task to understand Mr. Brunner.

'There are twelve Olympian Gods. With the big three, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades at the top of the hierarchy,' Mr. Brunner stated as he pointed to the statues meant to represent the Gods. 'While the gods were known for the immense amount of power they held, they were also known for their rivalry. It is said that they were always fighting, always threatening war.'

The rest of Mr. Brunner's speech was drowned out by the annoying, nasal laugh of Nancy Bobofit which was quickly backed up by her cronies. I tried ignoring them and continued to listen to Mr. Brunner, but Nancy's constant giggling about the statues of naked men drowned out the lecture.

'Will you shut up?' All eyes shot towards me as my frustration reached its peak and I ended up shouting at Nancy, which wasn't completely intentional.

'Miss. Jackson, if you have your own opinion I'm sure the class will be glad to hear it.' My eyes shot towards my feet in embarrassment, I was pretty sure my face resembled a tomato.

'Sorry sir,' He nodded at me before moving away to face an image showing a man eating his kids.

'Since you are so keen to participate in this tour, then maybe you could tell us what this represents,' I felt relief flood me when I realised I actually recognised the picture.

'That's Kronos, the king god-'

'God?' I paused for a second before correcting myself.

'Titan, sorry, he was given a prophecy when his wife was pregnant that said something about one of his kids overthrowing him, so to stop that from happening he decided to eat his kids. He almost successfully managed to eat all of his, but his wife caught on to what he was doing and gave him a rock when baby Zeus was born, the hid Zeus in the hills on the island furthest away from their home.

Then Zeus was old enough, he disguised himself as Kronos' servant and his father to barf up his brothers and sisters,' Collective groans came from most of the girls in the class, whilst the boys starting whispering to their friends about how 'wicked' or 'cool' that was.

'Quite down please, Miss. Jackson, is there anything else you'd like to add.' I bit my lip in thought before sighing and deciding to continue my explanation.

'A massive war erupted between the Titans and Kronos' kids, who decided to name themselves Gods. Eventually the Gods won, and the Titans who didn't side with them during the war were punished in various ways. After the war Zeus, Poseidon and Hades ended up splitting the three main realms between them. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the Underworld.' I raised my eyebrows at Mr. Brunner when I finished wondering if I said enough.

'Well done, Miss. Jackson,' Mr. Brunner was about to continue speaking when Nancy scoffed to her friends.

'Know it all,' her friends giggled loudly as if she had just said the most amazing joke. 'Why do we need to know this anyway? It's not like we're going to need to know why some crazy, made up guy ate his kids!'

'Excellent question Miss. Bobofit,' Grover and I shared a smirk at Nancy's expense, Mr. Brunner was perhaps one of the only teachers at Yancy who actually treated people equally. That meant that even Nancy got into trouble during his lessons.'Miss. Jackson, could you please explain to Miss. Bobofit why you'll need to know this.'

I shook my head at Mr. Brunner, not sure of the answer myself. I felt slightly disgruntled that Mr. Brunner would single me out, out of the thirty other people in my class, especially since I gave him a pretty good answer for an out of the blue question.

'I don't know' despite looking slightly disappointed, he didn't seem all that surprised by my answer.

'Well, half credit Miss. Jackson. Yes, Zeus did in fact feed his father a mixture of mustard and wine which caused him to throw up his children, who, being immortal had become fully grown whilst in his stomach. Speaking of stomachs, I can hear some of yours growling so I suggest we all make our ways back to the entrance to have our lunches. You all have an hour before we meet back here, then we'll make a start on the great heroes, specifically Hercules.'

Grover and I followed everyone else as they hurried out to the front steps, making sure we wouldn't get in the way of the guy who kept messing around trying to push their friends into the way of anyone who was unlucky enough to be in the museum at the same time as us.

'Miss. Jackson please stay behind, I'd like a word,' I looked at Grover apologetically, but he just shrugged off any attempts of me apologising.

'Don't worry about me. I'll save you a seat.' I smiled in thanks and turned to face Mr. Brunner.

'If this is about me shouting at Nancy when you were still speaking, I'm really, really sorry. Nancy had been –' Mr. Brunner just held up a hand to stop me from carrying on what would have been a very long rant on my part.

'I am aware of Miss. Bobofit's actions, and I assure once we return to the school I will be having words with her. But that is not the reason why I asked you to stay behind.'

'Then what's the reason?'

He smiled at me warmly as he began telling me how much he wanted to see me succeed this year, and how disappointed he would be if I had to leave the school because of bad grades. And that he didn't want to see me missing out on a bright and successful future because I let my "disadvantages" hold me back.

Even though he had said this to me multiple times before, I still thought it was a little unfair.

I was working hard, and I was getting extra help from my teachers (except Mrs. Dodds, because let's face it that would be a disaster), but I was still struggling in class and with homework. I could barely read whatever I was given, and thanks to my ADHD I couldn't concentrate long enough to try and decipher the jumbled up letters. But still Mr. Brunner liked to pay close attention to me, and kept reminding me of how much he wanted me to do well this year. And while I appreciated the support outside of Grover and my mother, it still got a little irritating.

But, like always, I promised to try my hardest, even though I knew that my hardest, was probably still not good enough. My words seemed to please Mr. Brunner and he nodded proudly.

'Why don't you head outside and make the most of your lunch hour. I'm sure Grover is waiting for you. Besides, it looks like it'll rain soon, best make the most out of the sunshine while it lasts.'

It looked as though Mr. Brunner's prediction about it going to rain seemed like it may come true. Whilst we had been inside, dark clouds had rolled over head blocking out the sun that had been shining down on us for the entire ride into Manhattan. What was weird though, no one else seemed to notice. Pedestrians kept walking through the busy streets as though the sudden change in weather was perfectly normal.

Grover and I were sat on the edge of the fountain that stood outside the museum, far away from the other kids as possible without having to leave Manhattan. Mainly because we didn't want to be associated with our classmates who were currently wreaking havoc on the steps of the museum. Some were attempting to hang upside down on railings, and those who failed were instantly cheered and laughed at. Some were attempting to throw pieces of their lunch at pigeons that attempted to settle down on the steps. And of course Nancy was trying to pickpocket an old lady's bag near the museum entrance, and as usual Mrs. Dodds pretended she couldn't see anything happening.

I had barely sat down when Grover turned to me and asked,

'Detention?'

'From Mr. Brunner? No. He just wanted to talk,' I shrugged, opening my lunch and pulling out an apple.

''bout what?'

'Not much, he just told me he wanted me to do well this year and that her can see me becoming successful as long as I don't give up too easily,' I took a big bight of my apple as Grover nodded absentmindedly. He had this weird glint in his eye that made me think he knew something I didn't.

Shrugging that thought off I concentrated on eating my apple when Grover spoke up, sounding completely lost in thought.

'Do you want this? I'm not really hungry.' I looked at him weirdly as he held up his apple.

Looking back to the apple in my hand I gave it a pointed look, but when Grover didn't realise my point I sighed and took his apple anyway. We sat in silence for a while and I stared down the busy streets of Manhattan, thinking about how close I was to home. It would have been so easy to take off running down the street and make my way home, mom would be happy to see me.

But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that one; while my mom would have been ecstatic to see me she would have been disappointed that I had left school without permission. And two, I would feel guilty for leaving Grover alone, he was the only real friend I had ever had so running away so that I could have some source of comfort went against my very nature.

A red blur streaked past me, bringing out of my thoughts.

'Oops,' a nasal like voice mocked, as half a packed lunch was tipped into Grover lap.

I looked up and glared at Nancy Bobofit who had her hands on her hips, and was shaking her head at Grover in mock disappointment.

'You should really be more careful Grover,' She tutted, a nasty smirk growing on her face. 'You're too clumsy for your own good. You never know what you might run into.'

I exhaled angrily as I tried to keep calm. I tried to remember what the school's councillor had told me to do whenever I got mad, but my mind went blank. I started to shake from as I tried to hold back my anger but the more Nancy carried on giggling, the angrier I became.

Then for a second, everything went red.

I can't remember what happened next. All I knew was that one second Nancy was in front of us, laughing and making fun of Grover, then the next she was on her butt sitting in the ice cold fountain behind us.

I looked around in confusion trying to understand what had just happened. But all I could concentrate on was Nancy screaming at the top of her lungs that I had pushed her, and the rest of my classmates gossiping and pointing towards with looks of wonderment and disbelief.

'Did you guy's see-?'

'The water it just-'

'- Water grabbed her-'

'How did she do that?'

My brain couldn't make sense of what was being said, but it seemed like everyone but me had seen what had just happened and even they were confused by it. They made it seem like the water had just grabbed her and pulled her into the fountain, and it seemed like everyone was linking me the occurrence. But that wasn't possible. Right?

Mrs. Dodds the materialised out of nowhere, going straight towards Nancy (who could now be considered hysterical) and help her out of the fountain. She was only to calm the screaming girl down on the promise that she would buy her a new pair of trousers from the museum gift shop.

After seeing Nancy off with her friends, she turned to me. Her eyes narrowing into slits and her nostrils flared dangerously, reminding me of the theory I came up with a couple months back that she wasn't human.

'Now honey,' I swallowed thickly, knowing that I was in big trouble now. 'Follow me.'

Her sickly sweet voice left no room for argument. Slowly and shakily I got to my feet, only for a hand to shoot out and grab the back of my jacket pulling me away from the teacher.

'Sophia didn't push Nancy, I did. She had noth-'

'Enough!' I jumped in shock at the loudness of her words, not expecting her to shout at that moment. Poor Grover looked as though he might wet his pants. But surprisingly Grover still persisted.

'But she didn't-'

'You will not say another word, and you will remain here until I return. Is that clear Mr. Underwood?' He paled and nodded rapidly, sitting back down quickly. I smiled as reassuring as I could at Grover.

'Grover its fine,' I leant in close to him and whispered 'Besides, the only thing she can do is give me detention.' Grover looked like he was about to protest, but couldn't say anything as Mrs. Dodds shrieked. And I mean literally shrieked. She sounded like someone had just dragged their nails down a chalk board.

'Today Miss. Jackson,' Looking up I expected to see Miss. Dodds perhaps only a few feet away from me, but found her staring down at me from the top of the stairs, near the museum entrance.

I blinked. How had she gotten there so fast?

Sharing one last worried look with Grover, I jogged as quickly as I could towards the entrance. My mind working impossibly fast as I tried to figure out how she had gotten to the entrance so quickly, but just came up blank.

Looking back at it, I now realized that how she got to the top of the stairs was the least of my worries.

Reaching the top of the stairs I found that Mrs. Dodds had disappeared once more. Deciding that she had already gone inside the museum, I didn't hesitate stepping through the glass doors and into the auditorium. Not seeing her anywhere in the entrance hall I risked calling out to her.

'Mrs. Dodds?'

'Did you really think you'd get away with it?' I looked around in confusion, trying to find my maths teacher but came up short.

Figuring I would probably have more luck finding her by looking in a different part of the museum, I began to head in the direction of the Greek and Roman display room.

'It was an accident; I don't even remember pus-'

'Don't play dumb with me honey,' I spun in a circle as her voice echoed around the room, but still couldn't see her. I couldn't help but feel like I was in some kind of low budget horror film. 'It doesn't suit you.'

'I seriously don't know what you're talking about,' I insisted, finally entering the Greek and Roman wing. Mrs. Dodds stood looking up at a stele with her hands clasped behind her back.

'Drop the act honey, I know it was you,' She continued, not bothering to turn around to look at me. 'I had my suspicions when I first met you, but your performance at the fountain just confirmed it.'

'Mrs. Dodds, I don't know what you're talking about!' She appeared directly in front of me, her mouth turned up into a snarl. I took a step back in surprise.

'Where is it?' Her voice changed to a horrifying growl, something completely different to anything I had ever heard her sound like before.

'What are you talking about?' I squeaked. My palms started to sweat as I started to panic. Something was defiantly wrong here.

'Tell me where it is and I promise to kill you quickly, but if you lie," She trailed off as she looked me up and down in hunger. I quickly started to back away from her.

'Kill me? Is this some kind of sick joke?' I looked around desperately hoping to see people laughing my expense. Only, we were the only ones here.

'Where is it?' She insisted, her voice growing more and more animal like every time she opened her mouth.

'I don't know what you are talking about!' Mrs. Dodds hunched forward into a predatory stance and gave me a bone chilling grin, before jumping high into the air and exploding into this huge leathery human like bird.

'Holy –' Mrs. Dodds dove towards me, curled claws aimed directly for me. I turned around and dove for the ground.

Only getting to my feet when she had flown straight past me. I tried running for the only other exit in the room, only to find my way blocked by Mrs. Dodds. I still couldn't understand how she was so fast.

'Just leave me alone!' I turned around again and tried to reach the other exit. But once again, I found my way blocked by the weird creature that had once been Mrs. Dodds. 'Whatever you think I have I don't have it!

'Sophia!' Both me and the creature started at the sudden appearance of my Latin teacher wheeling himself through the other entrance.

Once realising that he had my attention he threw something at me, and it was only as it got closer to me I realized it was a pen. Out of instinct, I raised my hands to catch it. But when I brought my hands down, what I had thought was a pen was actually a three foot long bronze sword. The same one I remembered Mr. Brunner using in class.

'No!' Came the loud growl behind me.

I turned around in time to see Mrs. Dodds diving bombing towards me once more.

I fell to the floor automatically, and felt the air shift as her long talons barely missed ripping my back to shreds. Stumbling to my feet, I was just in time to Mrs. Dodds turning mid-air and fly straight towards me. Fangs bared and talons reaching towards me she shrieked, just like she had at the fountain.

Somehow in that moment I knew exactly what to do, lifting the sword and bracing myself I waited for the right moment. When she was in reach, I fell to my knees. Spinning out of the way of her talons and raised the sword, slashing right through her leathery skin.

She shrieked in pain and in outrage, and only had a second to turn and glare at me before exploding in a shower of bronze dust.

I stayed were I was kneeling, paralyzed. Staring at the pile of bronze dust that had once been my maths teacher. I stood shakily and ran my hand over my forehead, collecting the beads of sweat that had grown there.

After a few moments I finally tore my eyes away from the pile of dust, and looked down at the sword in my hand hoping it held some kind of clue as to how I managed to do what I had just done. Only instead of a sword, I now held a pen. I looked up expecting Mr. Brunner to still be at the entrance but he was gone as well.

'Did that really just happen?' I said to myself and pinched my leg hoping to find that this was in fact a dream. 'Ah!'

I flinched and rubbed my now sore skin. I looked back at the pile of dust in disbelief, hoping with every fibre of my being that if I looked at it long enough it would disappear.

'That couldn't have been real. Things like that don't happen,' I nodded my head, not actually believing in what I said. 'It was just a dream. That's all. It was just a dream.'

Even as I said that I knew that I was just lying to myself. I didn't imagine Mrs. Dodds turn into a leathery human-like bird. I didn't imagine Mr. Brunner throwing me a pen that turned into a sword then back into a pen. I didn't imaging Mrs. Dodds exploding into a cloud of bronze dust.

But for the sake of my sanity, I pretended that I did.

I turned abruptly and made my way back outside. Intending on giving the pen back to Mr. Brunner and enjoying the rest of my lunch with Grover, all the while pretending that what happened in the Greek and Roman wing of the museum didn't happen.