
Chapter 1 - My Dreams Come True
"Blaze! Wake up!"
I groaned as I rolled out of bed, landing on the carpeted floor. I groaned again.
"I don't want to get up!" I shouted back at my mother, who was no doubt in the kitchen. I closed my eyes, wanting to return to my dream.
"I'm making blueberry waffles!" She called back.
That woke me up completely. I don't mess around when it comes to my mom's waffles. Blinking furiously, I sat up on the floor and looked around for my backpack. I grabbed it, and eagerly ran out of my room to get waffles.
I sat on one of the two bar stools we have in the kitchen. A plate of hot, syrupy, blueberry-y waffles were set in front of me. I grabbed my fork and dug in instantly.
"Woah Blaze. Breath." My mom said, laughing softly, sitting down next to me on the other stool.
"Mkay," I told her through a mouthful of waffles.
I finished my breakfast off by downing an entire glass of orange juice before returning to my room to get dressed.
I chose my normal outfit of "charcoal" colored jeans, a t-shirt, and my Nike running shoes.
I laced up my shoelaces and then hurried into the bathroom, checking my IPod as I entered. I had six minutes to get to the bus stop.
Grabbing a comb off the sink counter, I tore out of the bathroom.
"Bye mom!" I said, giving her a big hug. "Gonna be late!" I said cheerfully.
I grabbed my backpack, which I had set by the door, and I speed walked out into the hallway of the apartment building my mom and I lived in, hurriedly running the comb through my hair. I tripped going down the stairs, but it was actually faster than taking them normally.
I picked myself up, brushed myself off, and then took a right and ran to the bike rack, where I had my bike parked. There was no way I was going to make it to the bus stop, even if I ran.
The combination on my bike lock normally liked to be stubborn, but today it came open as I laid my hand on it. I hesitated slightly, but I wasn't going to complain. I needed to get to school. It was the second to last day of the sixth grade, and I didn't plan on being late.
Cars and taxis drove up and down the streets as I pedaled my bike across intersections and down sidewalks. When I arrived at one particular stop light, I laid my hand on the pole to rest for a moment when the walk sign turned green instantly. Cars stopped abruptly as the stoplights flashed from green to red. Even with that stroke of luck, it still took me twenty minutes to arrive at school, and I was still cutting it close.
I rounded the final corner when I smacked right into the person I least wanted to see at the moment.
Slade. Slade Andrews. The school bully. He scared the kids. He scared the teachers. He scared me, although I'd never show it.
Slade was a broad shouldered, muscular male, about six-feet zero, and he seemed to enjoy making my life suck. He of course wasn't the only one, but he was the most persistent.
I looked up and down the road, wondering if I could make a breakaway and use the back entrance to the school building, but Slade had me up against a wall with his hands outstretched.
"Get out of my way!" I said exasperated. It wasn't the first time that had happened, but it had definitely been getting old.
"Should of taken the long route," Slade mocked in his low, raspy voice. He and I both knew that the long route would've made me late. That must've been why he was waiting for me where he was.
I tried to turn and just ride past him, but Slade stuck out his arm farther, just to block my way.
"In a hurry?" Slade asked, trying to sound dangerous. "Nerd?" He stepped closer to me, millimeters away from my front bike tire. I was tempted to ran it into the soft spot, but he wouldn't be happy with me if I did.
"It's funny that's all you can say to me. I could come up with quite a lot of words to describe you right now."
Slades face reddened. "Say that again."
"It's funny that's all you can--"
Slade pushed my bike over, and I fell with it. I landed on my side, and my bike trapped my left leg under it, my right arm pushed against the wall of the brick building behind me. I managed to free it and my leg, but Slade had advanced upon me when I was down.
"I'm gonna mess up your face. Emma Redmyer won't be to impressed by that, will she?"
It was my turn to blush. Emma was the girl I've had a crush on since I arrived at the school. I looked around to see if anyone was watching the ordeal. A small crowd seemed to have gathered at the front doors.
"No," I said, standing warily. "But no one is going to be impressed with you beating me up. You might even lose some friends, if you had any!"
"That's it!" Slade lunged at me, but I stayed where I was, raised my hand, and waved, saying, "Hello Principal Mitchell!" That stopped Slade dead in his tracks. He turned, giving me an opportunity to duck under his arm and start to run to the school.
I heard Slade shout after me as I retreated. "Turner!"
I pushed through the group of kids massed by the front of the building and entered through the large double doors.
In case Slade tried to come after me, I decided to go to the library. Slade would never be caught in there. It would ruin his "rep."
I sat down at one of the tables in the library, and pulled a book out of my backpack. I sat there for a few minutes, not really reading, but looking out for anyone who might cause me grief. I only actually looked up though when someone walked over to the table I was sitting at and sat down across from me.
Tiffany McAllister. She smiled at me with her blinding white teeth. I blinked the spots out of my eyes. Let me tell you about Tiffany. Man I hated her. Not because she was mean like Slade, but she was so annoying! I mean, you thought Nyan Cat hurt your ears, try listening to her sing in chorus class. She seemed to follow me from school to school, no matter how much I was kicked out.
She has short black hair and blue eyes eyes like me, but they were cold, not sparkling. She was a brat and acted like she was the prettiest thing ever created, yet she had absolutely no curves whatsoever. I looked back at my book, not wanting her to know I was paying attention to anything she was doing.
"Hey Blaze," She said, leaning towards me on an elbow, trying to look impressive as I inwardly cringed. She tapped her 2 inch nails on the side of her cheek, waiting for me to look up. I chose to deny her that luxury.
She decided it wasn't worth waiting. "Would you like to go and see that new movie you wanted to see?" She asked, leaning closer.
"Yes," I replied, scooting my chair farther from the table. "I would like to go and see that movie I want to see."
"Great!" She squealed, sitting up quickly. "When will we go? I can buy the popcorn if you buy the drinks!"
"Oh," I said, faking surprise, finally looking up. "You meant with you? Yeah, I'm actually busy the whole summer. I've got to binge watch the Flash and Arrow before the new seasons come out in the fall.
"Then we could go next school year!" She suggested excitedly.
"But I'm probably going to own in by then," I told her. "I'm so sorry. I don't think I can."
She opened her mouth to speak, right as the bell rang for first period.
"Sorry, gotta go!" I said quickly, getting up and grabbing my backpack off the table. I slung it over my shoulder and walked out of the library with the rest of the crowd.
She called after me, "What about the sequel? That's all Hollywood does nowadays anyway!" I didn't look back, but continued to my locker and the start of the day.
That day was the second to last day of the school year, so we didn't do much in class. We watched this awful movie in Latin class: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It was nothing like the books, which I absolutely love. I had always dreamed that the stories they told were real, but I knew they weren't. How wrong I was.
In math, our teacher had us do an "educational" sudoku puzzle that most of the class turned into paper airplanes.
During lunch I sat alone at a table in the corner eating Ravioli. The disgusting food served in the cafeteria would make Russian gulag slop look like a feast.
I looked around the large room when I saw Emma coming out of the lunch line. For a moment it actually looked like she was walking in my direction. I straightened up in my seat, but then a tall, strong, letterman jacket wearing sixteen year-old stood up and hooked his arm around her waist.
Tim Moharen was a very popular child, even though he'd failed eighth grade twice. I wouldn't be caught anywhere near him. Emma seemed slightly irritated, but she let Tim drag her to a table where she sat down with her friends--and Tim.
I slumped back down and continued to eat my ravioli.
It was in the hallway after the lunch period that the day started to go down hill. I had opened my locker and pulled my backpack out of it, ready for the last class of the day, when the door of the locker slammed shut, nearly smashing my fingers in it.
Slade stood there, leering over me.
"When was the last time I beat you up?" He asked me, grinning crookedly.
"Not this morning," I said, turning to leave.
"But now you'll get what's coming!" Slade pulled on my arm, spinning me back around to face him, and he punched me right in the eye. I could feel it immediately start to swell. The one minute bell rang. People began to crowd the hallways even more than before. I was swept off in the tide of students, away from Slade.
When the final bell of the school day rang, I hurried out of class with my bag. The swelling of my eye had gone down, but it had turned purple and blue and black.
I was standing in the courtyard, looking around, wondering what Slade had done with my bike that morning, when someone walked up to me.
I flinched, not wanting to turn around. Thankfully, it wasn't Tiffany. It was Emma.
Emma Redmyer is a blonde, but definitely not the dumb kind. Her hair's long and clean, not greasy like Tiffany's. The ugly is definitely strong with that one.
Emma has bright and beautiful grey eyes that can instantly turn stormy and cold if you make her mad. She's also an inch or so shorted than me, but that doesn't matter (yes, it totally does).
She was the nicest girl in the whole school, but could be set off. I don't think anyone on the receiving end of her anger ever recovered properly. She was also the prettiest.
So, anyway, she walked up to me and sat down at a bench.
As I said earlier, I have a huge crush on this girl. I'm practically in love with her. Imagine this: the girl you like the most in the world other than your mother walks up to you and sits down right next to you.
That's how I felt right there. Then she talked to me!
"Hey Blaze. I heard about what happened with Slade." Her voice sounded like bells, with a hint of pity.
"Um, hey, uh, Emma," I replied. "I didn't know you knew I existed."
She laughed hesitantly, like she wasn't sure if I was joking or not.
"Well--" She was cut off as the ground started to shake violently. There was a rumbling noise from the direction of the gym. A roar was heard from behind it. All the windows on campus shattered in harmony.
It's like the day itself was trying to be awful, but some of the pain inflicted may have been my fault. But it was mostly to myself. At that moment I decided to do what I do best. Make stupid decisions. I ran towards the gym, stupidly.
"Blaze!" Emma shouted. I turned around to face her. "Just come on!" I called to her, turning away. She hesitated but then tore after me. As we passed the cafeteria kids began pouring out of the main school building, clamoring amount earthquakes interrupting the end of the day. Slade was one of them.
"Hey idiot!" He mocked at me as I ran past. "What are you running from?" I ignored him, not having time to turn and shout back.
Emma and I were almost to the gym building when a huge red scaly clawed hand reached around the corner and dug into the concrete building. We stopped in our tracks, and screams were heard from behind us.
The arm wrenched the side off of the gym--exposing students inside packing up, and a giant spotlight sized eye of the monster.
The kids in the gym began screaming their heads off as they ran for cover in the locker rooms. The eye blinked, and then the head began to poke out from behind the rubbled remains of the wall, coming closer.
"Oh my god!" Emma screamed. "What's that?"
"I think it's a Drakon," I called back.
"How do you know?" She asked, sounding terrified as the Drakon revealed more of its body as it lumbered closer.
"The Last Olympian. Book five in the Percy Jackson and the--"
"That's right! I loved that book!"
"You've read it?"
"I've read all Rick's books. But look out!"
We stopped our conversation to return to the matter at hand. The Greek myth that was terrorizing the school, and on the second to last day. What the heck was it thinking?
The Drakon advanced more slowly, as if savoring the looks of terror on everyone's faces. It was that moment that Slade decided to hurry up to me.
"What's that?" He asked, seemingly frightened enough to forget the fact that we hated each other.
"A Drakon."
"A what?"
"Never mind, but look out, they can spit poison." And on that happy note, the Drakon decided to start spitting poison. It reared, opening its mouth (which would of comfortably fit a school bus) revealing bright white teeth as wide as my neck and as long as my arm.
Green liquid sprayed out of it's maw. The Drakon poison melted a hole in the asphalt as large as a minivan.
With a failed attempt at dissolving us, the Drakon went straight for Slade. It snapped it's head forward, ready to gobble the bully up, but I stepped in.
Now, I would like to tell you that I heroically shoved Slade out of harms way, diving in front of the Drakon. I rolled upon impact and turned to face the beast head on.
But, that's not what happened. I know what you're thinking. What? Blaze? You didn't heroically save him? What's up with you man?
The truth however, is that I got eaten. Swallowed. Gulped down. Had an adventure through a Drakon's trachea, if that is the correct term. I don't know.
I did heroically throw myself at Slade, pushing him to the ground, out of the monster's path, yet the landing was not as cool as I wish it was.
I just flopped there on the ground, aching, the breath knocked out of me. About a second later, I heard a scream, and all the light seemed to be gone. I was in some slimy tube. Gravity (and neck muscles) pulled me down into the belly of the beast.
I layed there, covered in Drakon saliva, stomach acid, and half digested food.
Looking around, I couldn't see anything. From what seemed like a long way off, I could feel vibrations and shaking from the direction of the head. Weird, right?
"Hello?" I asked to the stomach at large. "Anyone?" No one answered. Huh. In retrospect I should have realized that in the moment. But, back to the story.
Not being able to see, I decided to light up the room. I burst into flames. The acid, salvia, and other disgusting things all over me evaporated and/or melted off immediately.
I bet you're thinking: Silly Blaze, you're just pulling my leg. People don't catch on fire and not get burned!
But I didn't. I'd been able to do it since I was younger, but, I'd rather just tell you how I escaped, how I'm writing this now.
Well, now that I could see, I realized there was absolutely no exit. I could of built something to cut the stomach open (hopefully), but I had forgot my jacket in my locker. I kept all kinds of things in it. Mostly just things to mess with, as I'm ADHD. Have I already mentioned that? One sec.
So, I just went back and read what I wrote, and no, I haven't told you this before. So yeah. I'm an ADHD child. I can't sit still, I have work extra hard to keep my current GPA, and I love fidget spinners.
But again, getting off track. I need to continue the story, which is what you're here for.
I sloshed over to the one side of the stomach when the whole think rocked to one side. The Drakon must still be trying to eat my friends. And Slade. I thought. It was all I could do to pay attention to the matter at hand, and not the fact that a Greek myth had eaten me whole.
The violent movements of the creature I was inside of caused me to fall into the side of it's stomach. The skin, flesh, organs, stomach sack, take your pick, it began to blister slightly before my flaming hand. I then had an idea.
I lessened the heat around all of my body, except for my right hand. I burned it hotter and hotter until my hand was more that an inch deeper into the slimy mass of stomach.
I heard a roar from far away and I was jostled around more and more, but I held my ground as best I could (which wasn't very well. Try standing up on a high speed roller coaster in the rain sometime, with no seatbelt). A few minutes later I heard an awful scream as my hand broke through the skin, just leaving scales. I tried to punch through with all my might, but the I might as well have punched a brick.
I intensified the heat around my hand even hotter as I tried to burn through. I was becoming lightheaded. Finally, my hand shot through the newly created hole and out to the other side of the Drakon. I heated up the rest of my body as hot as I could make it and pushed into the fleshy wall.
It took a while, what with the tough hide and the jostling but I had finally made a Blaze sized hole in the Drakon's side and I fell out into the sunlight, faint from a lack of oxygen. I was more than one-hundred feet from the point that I had been eaten at, and I was still flaming.
The Drakon seemed even more mad, seeing as I had burned a hole through it's hide, and it was crushing both students and campus alike. I did the only thing I could think of at the time: I gave the Drakon a hug.
Flames lept from my body and began to run along the Drakon, both on the outside and the inside. Ouch. It's shiny red scales swam with fire as the heat spread along all two-hundred feet of the Greek monster. As the flames reached its head, it roared the loudest roar I'd heard from it, and shriveled in on its self until there was only a little hide left, and a gigantic mound of yellow/gold sand.
I let the fire fade from my body, exhausted as I was. What a great way to end the year. The screams grew louder as I took in my surroundings. Emma and Slade were both running towards me. People were screaming my name. I could hear sirens in the distance, but none of that mattered. The only thing I focused on was the chariot descending from the sky as I fell backwards and passed out.
Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω
Oh my gosh guys! That was the first chapter of my Percy Jackson fan fiction, which is going to be entered in the Watty Awards (TheWattys), and is entered in the PJO Watty Awards (PJO_WattyAwards) so please vote and comment so much. I read every single comment I get and I love your guys' support and suggestions. Thanks so much for reading this! Now, check out my profile to see the updates my schedule, and while you're there, go ahead and follow me. Thanks again!
~ Jared_o_saurus
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