Chapter Text
Everything started with a letter from Mom to me.
Maybe I should start from the beginning. I’m Percy Jackson, and I’m six years old.
Gabe, my stepdad, is the one who “takes care” of me since my mom died. I don’t remember much about her or my dad, but from my dad, I recall a warm glow—maybe a smile? And from Mom, I remember a lullaby she used to sing to me.
Back to my dear stepdad. He’s always complaining that I’m nothing but trouble. Why? Well, a year ago, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD.
This means the letters move and make it hard for me to read, and ADHD makes me restless and unable to focus since my mind is always racing.
There’s also the detail that Gabe likes to blame me for everything. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Like that time he knocked over a glass while I was cleaning, and he blamed me, saying that if I hadn’t been annoying him, he wouldn’t have dropped it.
So yeah, I don’t have a great time here—only in those rare moments when Gabe doesn’t pay me any attention, and I can play with my favorite stuffed animal, Sharcy, a dark blue hammerhead shark. It’s a bit big for me, but it’s my favorite.
Cleaning could also count as a peaceful moment. Gabe doesn’t bother me then. He might yell or throw things “accidentally,” but he doesn’t grab me out of nowhere to make me do whatever random thing he wants.
Right now, I’m cleaning Gabe’s room. I grab a pile of clean clothes to fold and put away. After folding all of Gabe’s gigantic clothes, I open the drawer where I usually put them and see it’s full.
(How’s it full? I could’ve sworn it was empty.) I think as I open the bottom drawer. I’ve never opened that one since I always put Gabe’s clothes in the top one.
As soon as I open the drawer, the first thing I see is a light blue envelope sealed with golden wax, with a trident stamped in the center. On the top left corner of the envelope, my full name is written. I was about to open it when I heard Gabe yelling for me to go to him. Quickly, I grabbed the envelope, finished putting away the clothes, and hid the envelope in one of my pockets.
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I went to my room, sore and tired, and sat on my bed.
(Just for a little while, until I can prepare a bath.)
I suddenly remembered the envelope I found. I slowly pulled it out, partly because of the pain and partly because I was so tired.
I turned over onto my back and then sat up. I carefully opened the envelope, trying not to damage the seal. Inside, there was a letter.
I instantly recognized the handwriting. It was Mom’s. It was hard to read, but I finally managed to understand it.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺, 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧-𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘔𝘰𝘮
I stared at the letter, unblinking, as my mind tried to process what I had just read. Demigod? Monsters? Camp Half-Blood? My head was spinning, and the words started to blur together again, as they always do. I shut my eyes, trying to calm everything down.
“This can’t be real… can it?” I murmured softly. But the handwriting was Mom’s.
A lump started forming in my throat. I felt like crying, but I clenched my teeth. I can’t cry. If Gabe hears me, he’ll come in here yelling again, and I really didn’t want another beating from him.
My eyes filled with tears, but I quickly wiped them away with the sleeve of my shirt. There wasn’t time to cry. I looked at the letter again, reading the same phrase over and over:
“That place is Camp Half-Blood.”
“How am I supposed to find it?” I asked out loud, feeling more lost than ever.
I pressed the envelope and letter against my chest, taking a deep breath. I grabbed Sharcy, hugging it tightly.
“Mom… I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’ll find that camp.”
I turned to look around my room, searching for anything that could help me, until I saw a turquoise backpack with a violet shell in the center. The front pocket looked like it had scales in a slightly darker shade of turquoise.
An idea came to me. If I had to go to the camp Mom mentioned in her letter, then there was no better time than now. I left Sharcy on my bed, opened my closet, and pulled out a comfortable pair of pants, a warm hoodie with a shark design on the hood, and two warm shirts. I went to the bathroom as quickly as I could, took a bath, and changed.
I packed my starry pajamas and another set of clothes in the backpack. Besides that, I snuck into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels Gabe had saved for his poker games. I gave Sharcy a big hug and put it in the backpack, too.
I searched my room until I found what I was looking for—a flashlight and a mini first-aid kit. I put them in the backpack and zipped it up.
I left my room and, as stealthily as a six-year-old could manage, sneaked past Gabe, who was snoring on the couch, and slipped out of the house.
Heading to a place I didn’t know, but knowing that anything was better than Gabe.