Freaking sunlight, I thought to myself as I rolled over in bed. I grabbed a pillow and put in on the top of my head to try to block out the annoying light beams, but it was practically useless. Once I was awake, there was almost no chance of getting back to sleep. I glared angrily from underneath my suffocating- yet fluffy- pillow at the blindingly bright window across my room.
Grumbling, I swung my bare feet over the side of my light blue and definitely messy bed and rose to stand.
While I rubbed my eyes and stretched to try to get rid of the last remaining bit of sleepiness, I glanced over to my alarm clock perched on my short, pearly-white nightstand.
It was 7:52.
School started at 8:00.
Oh no. I thought. Crap-freaking-ola.
I made a mad dash to my bathroom, took quite possibly the quickest shower in history, and threw on some mismatched clothes that were probably not even clean.
I know, I'm such a classy act.
Practically sprinting to the kitchen to grab some grub for breakfast, I almost had yet another panic attack when I thought I had forgot to do my homework.
Oh wait a second... My new school doesn't start till Friday.
Face palming at my absolutely idiotic forgetfulness, I almost laughed out loud as I entered my seemingly bleak and very dull kitchen. I glanced around, expecting to see my mom or step-dad cooking up breakfast. But no one was there.
That's kinda weird.
Shaking my head, I scanned the top of the black countertops for a note saying to make my own breakfast or that my mom and dad had to go to a meeting.
Since my mom is a teacher and Alex- my step dad- is a principal, they were always out at some kind of staff meeting. They would almost always give me a heads-up, though. Even when I eventually ran my hand over the smooth, sanded edges of the granite countertops, I didn't see a single note written out to me.
They must have forgot to write me a note this morning when they went out to a meeting.
I nabbed some plain old two-percent milk from the top shelf of my fridge, and of course some honey-flavored Cheerios from my lightly-stocked pantry.
Pouring the delicious mix all into a small, shallow bowl, I quietly slurped down a bit.
A shiver ran down my back. A cold draft, like a sudden burst of a winter wind, crawled up and down my spine. Goosebumps erupted through my ice-cold skin. I couldn't shake that stupid feeling like someone was staring daggers into the back of my head.
Shifting uncomfortably in my seat, I couldn't help but notice how loud and out of place the sounds of me slurping down my leftover milk at the bottom of my bowl and the sharp clink-clank of my silver spoon against the glass bowl were.
Not hungry anymore, I grabbed my bowl and started cleaning it off in the sink. I scrubbed loudly to fill the absence of noise in the room, and couldn't help but whirl around every so often to see if someone was standing in the hallway of my parent's room.
Maybe a crazy axe- murderer had crept into the house last night and was planning to make me his next victim. Or a ghost had arisen from the dead, seeking revenge on the people who dare disturb his peaceful slumber.
Shut it, brain.
Despite my scoldings, my ADHD kept coming up with outlandish ideas to explain why my parents weren't up yet. Jake and Fi always claimed I had a pretty over active imagination. And that I was paranoid.
I'll just go see if my parents are awake, I planned.
That'll make me feel better.
I turned off the sink, dried the soapy solution from my hands, and silently made my way to my parent's bedroom.
I don't know why, but I crept noiselessly down the hardwood floor, clinging to the white walls of the seemingly never-ending hallway.
My footsteps let out the occasional creak as I stepped across the floor, and I flinched every time it did so.
When my hand finally came to a rest against the metallic knob of my parents' door, I felt sick with apprehension.
Just as I was about to open the door, a muffled noise escaped through.
A voice.
I couldn't make sense of what it said, but it sounded scratchy and reptilian, as if a lizard had gained the power to talk. Okay... I thought. Open the door and talk to your parents. Jeesh. Their voices are probably just a little sore from not drinking or something.
I ducked my head inside, and almost had a small heart-attack from what I saw.
Two things, leathery creatures with tattered wings stuck to their backs, stood by parent's bed.
I stifled a very unmanly scream.
I stood there, paralyzed with fear. The monsters hissed at each other in some kind of unknown language.
No, wait. I've heard that before. Somewhere.
I strained my ears to listen.
"That boy, his powers grow stronger everyday." One snarled. This one was somehow even more hideous than the other, and his face contorted like a Halloween mask.
"The charm is starting to wear off. What will we do if he discovers his own abilities?"
"We'll kill him." Ugly responded.
I did a double-take.
Kill me?!? No thank you. I'm outta here.
I pivoted around, sprinting out of my house.Okay, two humongous monsters are threatening to kill me, I don't know where my parents are, and I only got one bite of cereal for breakfast. I guess things could probably be worse.
Wait, wait, wait. Those things, those creatures, are they my parents? I thought back. They were about the same size, and I hadn't seen my parents cowering in the corner of the room. Awesome. I have winged and oversized handbags for parents.
With my feet slapping against the cold, damp sidewalk, I pondered where I should go.
The bus stop? To another state? Or possibly Canada?
I made myself go down to a more realistic level.
Jake's house. Definetly Jake's house.

Jake

As soon as we got home from school, Fi and I raided the pantry and fridge for some snacks. I heard my mom's footsteps from upstairs, and she welcomed my best friend and I with a smile.
"Hi kids! How's your day?" She asked.
"Absolutely, positively amazing." Fi responded with a sarcastic tone.
"Nice to hear, Fiona." My mom paused for a second. "When are you two starting your homework?"
"Soon, we were just going to eat some and then Iris-message Cassie." I stated.
"Mhm. Just start on it eventually, okay?" Mom winked at me.
"Gotcha."
Fi and I nibbled on some Goldfish, and cracked open a Dr. Pepper. Fiona and I went way back. She was the satyr that discovered I was a demigod, all those years ago. Ever since she rescued me from a creepy cyclops outside the playground in fourth grade, we had been fairly good friends. Cassie was another one of my friends, and just happened to be a year-rounder at Camp. She had been one of my first friends when I had arrived at Camp Halfblood, and had always been at least semi-forgiving whenever Fi and I pulled a prank on her.
Taking a big swig of her soda, Fi told me,
"I'll pay for this call. You did last time."
She nabbed a cheap little spray bottle from the pantry, and flipped a golden drachma out from her pocket.
Fiona muttered a few prayers to the goddess Iris, and we ended up staring at the back of Cassie's blonde head.
"Hi Cassie! Whatcha doing?" I yelled, trying just a teeny bit to startle her. It worked.
She pivoted around from her seemingly cozy position on her bed, and gave an evil glare to both of us.
"Gods, you two. I find it hard to believe that you're a son of Apollo and not Hermes, Jake." Cassie said with a slight smirk.
"I know, I find it hard to believe myself."
We chit-chatted for a couple minutes longer, with Fiona and I telling Cassie about Jr. High and Cass telling us about the possibility of a quest.
"So, you'll take me with you when you get a quest, right?" Fiona asked.
"Duh. Not sure about Light Boy over there, though." Cassie grinned, sticking her tongue out at me.
"Absolutely hilarious, Cass." I muttered, barely able to not laugh.
"I'm kidding, Sunny Boy." Before we could talk any further, though, a loud knock came at the door.
And multiple doorbell rings.
Fiona and I looked at each other, kinda confused.
A familar voice rang out.
"Jake? Dude, I'm freakin' out. My parents just threatened to kill me."
What? Kill him?
I immediately shut off the Iris-message, leaving a pretty confused Cassadee.
"Coming!" Fiona and I shouted simultaneously.
We both rushed to the door, and discovered a panting Lukas at my doorstep.
Fairly out of breath, Luke stepped inside.
"I forgot...how far your house is...from mine." He huffed.
"Did you just say your parents might kill you?" Fiona inquired.
"I know this is going to sound completely insane, but somehow my parents changed into these... creatures. They had wings, and claws, and teeth. Aww, man. You should've seen their teeth. They need some serious dentist therapy."
I grabbed him a cold drink from my fridge, and he chugged it like it was nectar from the Gods.
He wiped some soda from his mouth.
"Okay, so I was eating some breakfast, right?" Then I got this really weird feeling..." Luke went on to explain his story, including how his parents had completely transformed and how they had threatened to kill him.
Fiona and I cast worried looks at each other.
"Hey, we'll be right back." Fiona dragged me to another room. She slammed the laundry room door shut, and said through clenched teeth,"Did you hear that? Leathery wings? Teeth? Claws? Luke's parents have to be Furies."
"I-I don't know. What if he just hallucinated it?" I brainstormed.
"No, he's got to be a demigod." Fiona argued. A brief pause was filled in by the noises of the running washing machine.
"But, you haven't said anything about him smelling like demigod-blood."
"So? Maybe I'm losing my sense of smell." She paused to rub her nose. " Are we really going to take that chance? What if Luke really is a demigod? He'd be screwed if we sent him back to his house."
"Okay, okay. You're right." I surrendered. I thought for a moment, trying to scrounge up a plan. "What if I showed him my sword? If he sees a sword, we know he's a demigod. If not, we can just throw him into a loony bin somewhere."
Grumbling, Fiona said," Fair enough. Let's go."
With my hand resting heavily on the hilt of my Celestial bronze double-sided sword, we made our way back to the kitchen.
When we got to Lukas, we saw him pacing around- picking his nails and running his hand through his hair like he always did before he took a test.
This would be a much more different test than normal, though.
"Hey Luke? I'm just going to try something, okay? Don't freak out or anything."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked, his head tipping to the side like a loyal dog.
I took a breath.
Moment of truth.
I whipped out my sword, letting it glint in the sun like a star in the moonlight.
"Woah! Jake, that thing is sick!" Luke pranced up to it, running his palm up and down the blade.
"So, what do you see?" Fiona questioned excitedly.
"An awesome flipping sword, that's for sure!" Luke responded with a childish tone.
He flicked his grey-green eyes up to me and asked,"Are you a ninja, Jake? Do you have any of those throwing star thingies?" Before I could explain that I was in no way shape or form a ninja, he babbled on about some ninja factoids. He had a habit of spouting of random facts whenever he felt the need to. "Did you know ninjas actually might of worn grey or a dark brown instead of black? Or that about 67% of ninjas were chicks? Ninja's also had a main diet of katayaki. They're kinda like cookies, but-"
Fiona stopped him.
"Deep breaths, Luke. Listen there's something Jake wants to tell you."
Oh thanks, bestie.
"Luke, this is going to sound even more insane than your stupid ninja facts. You're a demigod."

Notes

YAY A CLIFF HANGER! Well, kind of. Hello everyone! SeaWeedBrainAllTheWay is back from a very long and extended writing vacation! I've been pretty neglectful of you guys lately, so I made a longer than normal chapter to make up for it :D I've had a crappy past couple of weeks, and when I'm in a bad mood, my writing is in a bad mood. You know what I mean? Anyways, is anyone else excited about Blood of Olympus coming out? Only a little more than a week!!! Woot Woot! I'm so insanely excited about it. Oh, and you're probably wondering why I post stuff kinda late at night most of the time. For some reason, I always write better the later I stay up. I'm a night owl all the way. Ooooo, I'm gonna tell you guys another story. So we have to write a story in English, right? It has to follow the Hero Archetype and all that fun junk, and my teacher put a limit of 10 pages on it. Me, being my dialogue-orientated and imagery-focused self, happened to write a 22 page long story :D I really don't know how I did it, but it was 6:00 P.M and I was like," Oh, I'll just start drafting now, won't take me too long." *6 and 1/2 hours later* "Oh, would you look at that. My story is already 12 pages long and I'm not even to the Climax yet." So, onto the tasks at hand, does anybody have any ideas to make my writing better? Slow down the pace, include more sensory-details, cut out the random thoughts? Leave some ratings, comments or hate below! Adios, amigos and compadres!
*edit*
Aaaannnndddd I remembered what I was supposed to put down in here when I first wrote it xD I'm going to California next week for Fall Break, and I'll be driving there. Do you know what this means?!? At least 14+ hours of writing time in the car. Yay! You guys will be getting plenty of stories next week! And I was thinking, would you peeps be okay with it if I made a one-shot series based off this series when I finished this one? I mean, I'm not going to finish this series for a long, long time. I just want to know what you guys would like for me to do after this series so I can start planning. Cause I have lots of ideas :D Alright, my lovely readers, be sure to tell all the PJO fans you know about this amazing site and my work! Bye!