I stood blinking at the top of the steps utterly confused. I spun around, waiting for the teachers to freak out or the other kids to be running around screaming but everyone was eating lunch like nothing happened. I turned back to the pile of bullies but the vaporized powder of them was also gone. Disappearing into thin air. Even more confused I looked back around.

I caught sight of the blond beach babe boy from earlier, he was sitting on a bench at the very bottom of the steps. He sat leaning lazily back, his blue eyes fixated on me. I had a weird shiver run down my spine and a hot tingling in my hands. Knowing something was going on I grabbed my backpack and raced down the steps towards this guy.

Now I normally don't chase after boys. Actually scratch that. I never chase after boys. Ever. So me running towards a guy was new. I felt eyes on my back, but I didn't turn around to see who was watching. I skidded to a stop.

"You!"

"Hello Ellie. Long time no see."

"What the heck is going on?"

"That's a loaded question. Lots of things going on today. There's a parade on the other side of town. There's a new movie coming to theatres I'm quite excited about. Brad Pit, ya know. Did you know he was the demi god-"

"Okay enough. I mean you just show up like you appeared out if no where! And then disappeared and then ...I swear you saw what just happened."

"And what happened, my dear ray of sunshine?"

"Dude stop, your like 17. Gross. But you saw me vaporize those girls!"

"Is that what you did?" He asked, his eyes going wide in wonder.

"I don't know what I did! Something weird happened!"

"I'm so glad you think I'm 17! It was the look I was going for! And as far as why I'm here? I like to check in."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Check in, you know come see how you an-"

"Eleonora, honey!"

"Dammit!' I cursed, Ms Black called me honey, I know I was in trouble now.

"Advice." The guy said, "stay away from that one. She's evil. And no more Empousa. They don't take lightly to being vaporized. Jackson did that one time I think. Or maybe will in the future. Sometimes I can't keep the present from the fixture.

"What in the actual Tartarus is going on?"
I cried.

"Come in now Honey!"

I turned to the teacher, she had such an evil twisted look on her face, her eyes were so dark they looked black. I stepped back in fear. I felt a warm beam of sun on my back, and it gave me a burst of energy and calm. There was a tingling in my body, and like a whisper in my head.

"Chin up my ray of sunshine."

Ms Black was storming towards me, down the steps.

"Eleanora." I turned my head and saw Mr Miles was limping towards me quickly. "Please come with me, the bus is waiting to take us back."

"But..." I fround. "What about Becky and Vicky and the others?"

"The who?" He asked.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, and frowned. "Becky...? The girls who have been bullying me since I came to the school?"

"Again, who? I know I'm an old teacher, but we don't have any student named Becky. Or Vicky. Are you feeling all right?"

"What the heck?!" I cried. "please tell me you saw the guy I was just talking to!"

"Eleanora..." He frowned at me, his dark eyes full of worry. "Come on ...we need to leave."

He glanced at Ms Black, she stood half way down the stone steps of the museum, her arms folded tight, and she was glaring down her beak like nose, her dark eyes full of a hatred. They glared at each other. Mr Miles held an arm open and guided me towards the bus. My heart was racing, my chest hurt and my head felt dizzy. I sat at the back of the bus hunched in the corner trying to process what the heck just happened. I went over everything that happened today at the museum, and everything that this beach guy said.

Finally feeling agitated enough, I got up and flopped down into the seat beside Mr Miles.

"Tell me about Empousa." I demanded.

He glanced at me with wide eyes, his shock clear on his dark face and then he blinked and then it was gone.

"Ahh, Mr Brunner mentioned them during the tour. Well, they are quite the mythical monster. They are a shape-shifting female being in Greek mythology, said to possess a single leg of copper and one of goat, flaming hair and is commanded by Hecate, who created them. They are known to have Seduction powers, Charmspeak, Shapeshifting, and combat prowess amongst other things."

"I knew it!" I whispered.

"Hmm?" He hummed. 

"Becky and the girls, they were Empousa's and that dude mentioned them." I answered before I stopped to think.

"What guy?" HE asked sharply. 

"The...the guy from earlier? I told Mr Brunner about him. He was asking about art and the pottery right before we went for lunch. I saw him again on the bench by the steps." 

He frowned even deeper, "I would advise you to not to talk to strangers." 

I scrunched my face, "That's the thing, the second time I talked to him, sure half the things didn't make sense, but I felt...like I knew him!" 

"I think you need to see the school nurse when we get back, you're looking a bit pale and feeling a bit warm. Why don't you go back and lay your head down on the window." 

Feeling rather hurt with the dismissal, I got back up and went back to my seat at the back, much to the annoyance of the bus driver. It was so weird, the entire class acted like Becky and the group of girls weren't just blown up, no one seemed to be upset or look at me weird. I was invisible to them again. A few of the kids gave me looks like my mere presence annoyed them, but that was normal. My brain hurt. 

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the week, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that the group of popular girls who bullied me all year never went to the school. They all looked at me like I was completely nuts. 

It got so I almost believed them- Becky and Vicky and the girls had never existed.

Almost.

But Mr Miles couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Becky to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. Or when i brought up the suffer guy from the museum, Mr Brunner had a weird look on his face. But I knew they were lying.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.

I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Becky with wild fire hair and long sharp fangs and the weird donkey leg would wake me up in a cold sweat. I woke again in a cold sweat, knowing I was finally seeing dad it helped calm my fried nerves. He was finally going to introduce me to his new girlfriend. I groaned and rolled out of bed. The day was long. I had an uneasy feeling. My anxiety was through the rough. I didn't even bother going to math, Ms Black was just going to make it worse. Instead I sat outside in the sun drawing my headphones on and the music turned up so loud I couldn't her anything.

Which was my mistake. 

I didn't see Ms Black until she was standing right over top of me. She ripped the paper from my hands. 

"Hey!" 

Scrambling to my feet I pulled my headphones down and tried to snatch the paper back. She looked at the paper and clucked her tongue. 

"Oh honey." She smiled in her sickly sweet way, and my blood ran cold, I knew I was in trouble. "Suns? Arrows? Ravens? How stupid must you be? I don't understand his interest in you! There's nothing special about you!"

My brain was spinning. I could feel my hands shaking, I had no idea what was going on, this old woman was making no sense. I felt that tingling again, like things around me were shutting off, the sounds and my vision, my mind focused on her pulse, her breathing was extra loud in my ears, and right now, I knew she was 62 and 4 months, I knew she had arthritis in her right knee, I knew her heart was beating 80-136 bpm. I knew her lungs were older, but she still could run for quite some time. I could also sense the overwhelming anger from this woman. 

"What?"

It was the only thing my brain could properly come up with. 

"He has cabins full of kids, I was unclaimed for years, living with the other unclaimed. Why are the claimed ones special! What makes you so special? He even comes to see you!" The woman spat at me. 

I took a step backwards, this woman was loosing it. I had no idea what was going on, and I felt my own fear rising. She took a menacing step towards me. I tripped over my backpack, landing hard on my back just as she lunged at me. She rolled over me. I grabbed my backpack and rolled. Mr Black got up and snarled. I blinked  few times, but she didn't turn into a monster like Becky. She was human. But she was fast and she was agile. Before I could do anything, I heard the sounds of motorcycle engine revving. Mr Miles squealed into the school lawn, leaving wild tire tracks. 

"Get on!" He yelled at me. His tires spun, making big davits in the fresh cut grass. Without thinking too much about the fact I had my math teacher attacking me, and now my Art teacher yelling at me to get on the back of his bike in the middle of the school lawn...I followed my gut and scrambled on. 

"Hold on!" He yelled. 

I peeled out, the engine loud and obnoxious. I twisted around, Ms Black had something in her hands and threw it. It would have been accurate, except I swung my backpack, whatever she threw stuck in my backpack. 

"Throw something back!" Mr Miles yelled over the noise. 

The only thing I had were the headphones around my neck. 

"But..."

"Just do it! She's trying to kill you! I'll buy you new headphones!" 

Without arguing further, I yanked them off swung them by the cord and released them. I had no idea what I was doing. I was on the back of my Art teacher's motor bike, using my headphones blasting Back in Black by AC/DC. But they somehow flew through the air like a javelin, and it slammed into Ms Black's forehead, knocking her out. I saw her body drop, just as we turned a corner. 

Mr Miles didn't slow down until we were a few blocks from the school. Only then did he slow down, yank his helmet off and passed it back to me. 

"Put it on." 

"What?" 

"Safety first. Put the helmet on." 

"I was just attacked by my math teacher, pretty sure safety is not the issue here." Put I slapped the helmet on anyways. "I also think there's more t this then what your letting on!" 

"Just...hold on until I get you home." 

"You're taking me home?" 

"Yes." 

Mr Miles weaved through traffic easily. Even on the back of the bike there was something weird going on. The people around us didn't seem to notice us cutting them off or sliding through a red light. I blinked a few times as we paced a park. And whipped my head back. There were a few woman who just emerged from the trees. 

"Were those...dd I just see woman coming from trees?" 

"Probably. Nymphs are everywhere. Which reminds me...I gotta say hi to my mom." 

"There better be a good explanation or I really am loosing it!" 

I clamped my eyes closed my head was pounding and my stomach felt completely sick. I didn't even bother asking if Mr Miles knew where I lived. He apparently knew everything. It didn't take us long and he was pulling up to the apartment building. I got off and felt really shaky. It took me a while to get my key out and open the front door. I walked in and Mr Miles followed. 

"Sally?" A voice called from the kitchen, "That you?" 

"No. It's me dad...and Mr Miles." I called back.

There was a clatter and my dad appeared in the hall. The moment I saw him I felt like crying, I felt safe finally, like everything was going to be okay. 

"Dad." I just about whimpered. I dropped my bag and flung myself into his arms. He hugged me back tight. He didn't ask what happened, didn't demand answers, or why I was home early from school, didn't ask why my art teacher was here, he just held me tight. 

"Are you okay? Nora, are you hurt?" He finally asked, pulling away slightly to look at me. I nod, though I know I'm probably pretty pale and I feel slightly shaky. He just nods and then turns to look at Mr Miles. 

"Sorry Sir, name is Miles. I teach art part time at Renders High." He held a hand out for my dad to shake. 

"Paul." He held a hand out and they shook. "Okay, I need the story. Come into the Kitchen, I was just expecting Sally though, so I'm sorry." 

Just as dad had us sitting down at the table the door opened again, there was some footsteps and two people showed up in my kitchen. 

"Sally, Percy! You guys are here early."

A pretty middle aged woman, with brown hair pulled into a pony and a kind gentle blue eyes walked in, I had seen her in pictures and heard all about this woman, but never actually met her. "Paul, everything aright?" She asked, stepping into the kitchen placing the bags of groceries down on the counter. Right behind her was a boy with messy black hair and bright green eyes. I watched as he dumped some more groceries on the counter and then walked up to my dad and slapped his back in a one armed hug. "Paul!"

The boy then turned to me and Mr Miles. "Miles?" his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped.

"Percy?" Mr Miles gasped.

"What's going on?" I cried, I was so confused and frustrated. I leapt to my feet. "My math teacher just about killed me just a few minutes ago-"

"Hey same! Did she turn into a giant ugly bat?" the kid named Percy asked.

"No. Human..."

"Oh. That's too bad, but math dies just about kill me." 

"Fact. Next question. How in the hades do ya'll know each other?" 

"Camp half blood." The kid said. 

"What?" 

"Camp half blood. Its a place for demi gods, for children who have Greek godly parents." 

"I know what a demi god is." 

"But I'm not a demi god!" I cried. 

"Uhhh....I'd try that again." the kid said, blinking at something above my head. 

I looked up, and the moment I looked up, the room glowed with bright golden light. Everyone held up hands, shielding their eyes. The light got brighter and brighter, but the light was coming from me. It was shinning from every pore in my body, my hair was shinning bright like spun gold, it was like I was made of pure golden sunshine. 

"Dad!" I cried, looking at him. He looked just as confused as I felt. Sally, Percy and Mr Miles didn't look shocked at all. In fact, Mr Miles especially, looked like his suspicions were correct. "What in the hades is happening to me?" 

"You were just claimed by your father." 

I gaped at the guy in absolute confusion.