My life is weird. Don't get me wrong, I was used to an occasional strange experience. For example, some really tall kid asked me out in school a few months ago. I told my dad, but he didn't believe the part about the kid having one big eye in the middle of his forehead.

Still, nothing was like this.

I kept asking people what had happened to Agnes, even though it was almost more than a week since it had happened. I still got the same response- "After you screamed in her face and pushed down her books, she ran out of the room crying. Don't you remember?"

I almost believed it. That I really just bullied Agnes until she ran out of the locker room.

But whenever I brought it up around Portia, I asked her what she thought had happened… and she hesitated before saying the same things everybody else had told be. I knew she was lying. I could tell that something was up.

I would try to get it off my mind, but it seemed as if Medusa's face was branded into the back of my brain. It made it harder to concentrate in school, and to do homework. At night, during whatever dream I'm having, the snakes crawl up from the floor, covering me in them, waking me up. This affected my grades, too. My B's and C's turned to D's. It also messed with my mood. Being tired made me get angry much more easily, so I would snap at people quickly and I even got into a few fights. I stopped doing homework altogether, since I wasn't able to concentrate on anything. Trying to study was a bust- if my dyslexia and ADHD made it hard to read out of my textbooks before, imagine what it was like when you have the memory of killing somebody stuck in your head. If you guessed impossible, you are correct.

I spoke to the principal at my school. Because of my failing grades and multiple rule infractions, I would not be coming back to Dalton Valley Junior High next year. It didn't bother me. Maybe since I had been moving around schools a lot, the next one I went to would be the one I stayed at for good.

Since I was leaving school, I stopped caring about my grades. They could have only gotten so much worse since I had stopped doing my homework and studying. It didn't matter to me that we had exams coming up.

The only thing I didn't stop doing was finding out what really happened the day I saw Medusa.

Luckily, I know one more person who might have seen Medusa, too- our gym teacher Miss Rosi. Being on the softball team at school helped me get closer to her, and she is the only teacher I can really talk to about things- like how it bothered me that my dad would try to bribe people to get me out of trouble (only to have it ultimately fail and embarrass me to no end), and how Agnes would always act like a creep around me, but she was friendly to everyone else. Miss Rosi also gives really good advice, and not just for softball, but for family or friend problems, too. It's also almost impossible to fail gym class, so at least I'm on her good side. I knew I could count on her to help me out.

After gym class- the last period of the day, I grabbed my books, clumsily shoved them in my backpack, waited until everyone cleared out, and I went up to Miss Rosi's office. The door was slightly ajar, and light shone through. I was just about to go in when I heard a voice. Portia?

"… Scared for Effie." I froze. Why would Portia be scared for me?

I leaned closer to the door.

"…at home this summer. I mean, a Kindly One posing as one of our students! Now that we know, they might be aware too…."

"We shouldn't rush her into things, Portia. We need to wait until she is stronger."

"But, the deadline-"

"Can – and will – be resolved without Effie."

"She did see her, Ma'am. Effie saw Medusa that day."

"It was her imagination. The Mist over the students should be enough to be able to convince her." Miss Rosi insisted.

There was a slight pause before Portia spoke again.

"Ma'am… I cannot fail in my duties again." Portia sniffled. Her voice caught, as if she was on the brink of tears. "You know what it would mean."

"And you won't fail, Portia. I should have seen Agnes for who she really was. Now, we must focus on keeping Effie alive."

I dropped my backpack, resulting in a large crash.

I saw a large shadow, much too large to be Miss Rosi's. The wheelchair-bound gym teacher - if you think she can't be a gym teacher because she's in a wheelchair, just wait until you see her be our class' handball team captain and we beat your team by three times your score – casts a way smaller shadow than the one I just saw.

Grabbing my backpack, I ran behind one of the sets of lockers and waited. A few seconds later, a sound, much like the sound of, echoed through the locker room.

I sucked in a deep breath and waited.

"There's nothing out there, Portia."

"Oh. I could have sworn…"

"Why don't you go call your parents and go home, Portia.

I heard footsteps and a door closing. Miss Rosi's door closed, and I heard it lock. I creeped out of the locker room, careful not to make any sound. I ran straight home.

Once I got home, I slumped down on my bed. My dad walked by my room and quietly muttered "Hello," and "how are you?"

"Tired. How are you?" I replied. But by the time I finished speaking, he was long gone.

I shrugged it off, and pulled my backpack off the floor. I grabbed my homework, although I never bothered to do it. My brain was cluttered with everything that had happened.

One thing was clear. Portia and Miss Rosi thought I was in some kind of danger.

On my last day, as I walked out of softball practice, Miss Rosi said I should stay a little longer after practice. I obliged, since she was the only teacher that still had an ounce of respect for me. Everybody cleared out, and she turned to face me.

"Effie, I heard about your leaving Dalton Valley."

I blushed and looked down at the floor.

"It's not something that should discourage you. It's…. for the best." She spoke kindly, although her words were still slightly embarrassing.

"Alright." I muttered.

"This… this just isn't the right school for you. It was only a matter of time."

Great. My favorite teacher, the one I trusted, the one who still respected me and believed in me, was telling me that I couldn't handle all of this. That I was destined to be kicked out.

"Okay." Tears threated to spill over.

"I'm sorry Effie. It's just… what I meant to say was that you- you aren't normal, Effie. There isn't anyth-"

"Thank you. Thank you Miss Rosi, for reminding me." I blurted out.

She tried to speak, but I had already left the locker room.

On the last day of the semester, I had told my friends I was moving and I said goodbye to all of them.

I didn't say goodbye to Portia- not yet, anyways, Portia and I rode the same bus. We sat next to each other the whole ride home, although we didn't talk much. We didn't really have anything to say to each other, and a plain 'goodbye' was not enough.

During the better part of the ride, in between awkward silences and unfinished sentences, Portia's eyes were sweeping the aisle and watching all of the other students.

She was acting strange, and she was really tense. It was sort of creeping me out, so I broke the ice.

"Are you looking for Kindly Ones?"

She turned around in her seat, eyes wide open and her jaw slightly dropped.

"Um… I was… just… uhh, what do you mean?" she stuttered.

I confessed to Portia about eavesdropping on her and Miss Rosi.

"How much of that conversation did you hear, Effie?"

"Not much of it. What was that deadline you were talking about?"

"It's …. Nothing. Look Effie, I'm just worried for you is all. I mean, you been hallucinating about girl with snake hair and…" Portia rambled on.

I glared at her, and she nodded a bit and started to wrap things up.

"I was just talking to Miss Rosi that I was nervous because you wouldn't accept the fact that you were rude to Agnes…"

"Portia, you are a terrible liar."

She blushed. Portia reached down to her jeans pocket and pulled out an old, dirty business card. "Here," she said, handing the card to me. "Take this, in case you ever need me."

The small, cursive print on the card was killing my eyes. The letters kept shuffling around in my head, until I could finally make sense of what the card said:

Portia Kazan

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"Portia, what's Half-Bl-"

"Don't say it, Effie." She warned. "It's my… summer home."

"Alright... so this way, I can come visit your mansion or whatever."

"Or… or if you need me over the summer."

"Why would I need you, Portia?"

Alright, that came out ruder than I wanted it to sound.

Portia blushed. "Effie, you see, I kind of have to… protect you."

In all of the fights I have been in with Portia (there were a lot more than you think), I have protected her. I've saved her butt in gym class, and have stood up for her when she was picked on. How was I supposed to believe that she was supposed to protect me?

I stared at her for a while. "If you're supposed to protect me, what exactly are you supposed to protect me from? I'm not in danger or anything, am I?"

Just then, one of the bus wheels started creating sparks on the road, and the bus driver pulled us over. He hopped out the door and went to investigate the situation.

"Flat tire!" He called from outside the bus doors. "Everyone out."

Students groaned as they all filed out of the bus, backpacks in tow. Portia and I went out last.

The bus stopped near a park, with lots of trees, flowers and grass. It seemed boring at first, but something (or should I say some people) caught my eye.

There were 3 young ladies sitting under a tree. They all had short, black hair and charcoal-colored dresses. The dresses weren't just gray though. They were splattered with blood. The ladies nails were long and sharp like talons. I leaned forward a little bit to get a better look at them. I guess they all saw me staring at them, because they turned their heads toward me and smiled, baring their teeth- but not just any teeth. These ladies had fangs.

I found Portia and told her about the women under the tree.

"Effie, we need to get on the bus, now!" She grabbed my wrist and tried to drag me over to the bus, but I wasn't going anywhere. That bus has got to be a million degrees. Portia saw the look on my face that said I'm not moving! So she sighed, and stayed behind with me.

After a while, the bus driver had managed to fix the tire, and we all got back on board. I was feeling pretty bad, but Portia looked as if she might pass out. She kept looking down the aisle,

"Portia," I asked "What are you not telling me? What wrong with what I saw?"

She started to calm down a bit. Portia took a deep breath and looked down at her hands.

"Effie, can you please tell me what you saw again?"

"Three young ladies, with blood-stained gowns, short black hair, and nails that looked like they hadn't trimmed them in centuries stared at me and smiled. I'm pretty sure they had fangs, too."

Portia nodded, and started making strange signs with her hands. It seemed like she was crossing herself, but the signs looked almost ancient.

"Hey, Portia, who were those ladies, anyway?"

She ignored me.

"Portia, those ladies, when you see them… does that mean someone is going to die?"

Portia looked over and stared mournfully… as if she were looking at my grave.

A.N- This story will be sort of following the Percy Jackson books, but it will start to differ from the books soon.

Thank you so much for reading and giving me feedback on my first chapter! It really means a lot! Please keep reading, reviewing, alerting, and favorite-ing!