chapter 1
penelope
i started the day by painting. hi, my name is penelope greene. i'm very shy with long brown hair. my dad died when i was young, my mom always told me. i had adhd and was dyslexic, but that didnt stop me from writing and painting. you see, i always wanted to be a author and a artist. my mom and i live in a small town in north carolina. my mom said it was safe here, even though she loves the south. i always had a normal life, til my birthday.
but let me show you the day before my birthday:
my mom shook me awake on june 3.
"penny." she said
"what?" i groaned
she plomped down a box wrapped in wrapping paper onto my bed, i sat up
"happy day before your birthday!"
"mom, i'm only turning 13." but i hid a smile
"so? todays monday, and i was thinking of making you stay home for your birthday from school." she pushed the present towards me.
"no, i want to go to school today. that way i can see serenity." serenity was my best friend who had the same problems that i did, but she had both parents who were very nice.
"fine." she said glumly
i laughed. i liked it when mom acted like a kid. i opened the present to see an art set filled with paints, beads, penils, brushes, and more.
"than you, mom!!" i was happy with my present, really.
she smiled and got up "get ready for school, sweety." then she walked out of the room.
i got ready and had thirty minutes to go, so i painted. i dropped the box of beads.
"shoot." i bent down, and picked them all up, and it was dark carpet. my mom said that she named me penelope, which means 'eye'. she named me because i could see things a mile away, and that i could notice things.
i looked at the clock and ran for the door.
i met up with serenity in the hall
"hey."
she closed her locker "hey, almost-birthday-girl!"
"shh!!" i looked around. "i dont like attention, ok?"
serenity rolled her eyes "whatever."
and we walked to english. serenity had wavy black hair and had a little black make-up on, but she was really nice. our other friend was jesse. he had honey-blonde hair and he was leaner than the other guys, but he was small. sometimes he limped and made sounds when he was nervous.
i hated english, but loved the teacher. mr. black was nice to me, unlike any other teachers. well there was mr. smith that helped us with history and geographry.
we were the last ones in english, of course.
"i would advise you to be on time ms. greene and ms. janeson." we hurried to our seets and a few boys snickered. jack jones and some of his goons were the school bullies.
"ok," mr. black rolled in his wheel chair "today we are learning about greece." he passed out worksheets. i couldnt read it, so i didnt bother. i already knew some things about greece.
"pop quiz! serenity, who gave up their seet on the olympian council for a certain god?"
everyone turned to serenity
"um, hestia, goddess of the home and hearth, gave up her seat up for dionysus, god of wine?" she answered
"correct! mr. jones, who threw hepheastus off olympus and why?"
jack stop snickering "zeus, because the fire dude did something bad?"
mr. black glared at jack "wrong, penelope?"
"um, hera threw hepheastus off of olympus because she loved perfect families and he didnt exactly fit in?" i geussed, i knew because my mom told me about these myths
mr. black smiled "correct!" and he went on, telling us about greek myths, and how they were important. but i just tuned everything out, looking around. i caught was caught in jacks 'you're dead' stare. then his eyes glowed red. the bell rang, and me and serenity ran out. but mr. black called us.
he rolled around to the front in his wheel chair
"sorry to keep you back, but one question: how does learning this stuff effect real life?" he asked
me and serenity looked at each other
"we dont know." i said
mr. black looked down "you may go, but try to answer my question."
we walked to geography. mr. smith was a funny teacher with short black hair and he had one of those stick things with two fake snakes around it like you see on a hospital sign, or something.
geography was, like, really boring so i draw on my paper. i like to close my eyes and see what i draw because its all weird. i opened my eyes and saw a bird-monster-thing on a soccer feild. there was a girl fighting it.
mr. smith came over "i would advise you not to draw in class, penny."
mr. smith was the only teacher who called me by my nickname.
he picked up my drawing and looked at it. worry flashed across his eyes.
"you can have this after lunch. class dismissed!"
and i ran out the door, not waiting for serenity.
i met up with jesse and serenity in the hall, when everyone was gone for lunch.
"mr. black is acting weird." serenit said
"so is mr. smith." jesse agreed
"yo, losers." jack came around a corner and into the empty hall, where we were.
"looks like i caught you sneaking into all the classrooms."
"we didnt do that." jesse said, worry in his eyes
"thats not what the princaple will think when i destroy you."
"what the heck are you talking about?" i asked
serenity was quiet, as if she sensed something was wrong
"i knew there was something special about you," he continued "and now you shall be destroyed."
"not if i have anything to do about." jesse said, kicking off his shoes. how can he fight jack? what is jack talking about? i knew i had about five seconds to run when jack turned into a flesh eating monster
it was a sort of silly looking hybrid goat-lion-dragon hybrid-monster-thing. no wonder jack was so ugly as a human.
mr. black appeared. he threw me a knife and a sword to serenity. then i noticed that jesse had hooves. wait, hooves? the jack-monster-thing lunged at us with his sharp teeth. serenity rolled to the side and tried to stab him. it started blowing, hard. people got back from lunch and watched in horror.
jesse played his piccolo from band class
"this is no time for music!" i yelled over the wind. some parts were on fire from the dragon-goat-lion-thing.
i stabbed the thing in the eye and it howled. it stumbled back and lightning flashed. there was moisture in the air and as we fought the winds grew warmer and stronger.
serenity tripped and the thing was getting ready for another breath of fire, me and jesse were too far away
"no!" i shouted. mr. black was nowhere to be seen.
a wind grabbed her back, and i realised it was me.
jesse kept playing and vines shot up from the ground and wrapped around the hybrids legs. he got tangeled in them and tripped. i stabbed him and he disappeared, leaving a shower of gold dust to fall on our heads.
the students were still in the quiet hallway. jesse didnt notiice, he grabbed our hands and we jumped out of a hole the hybrid made and we ran into a alley. jesse looked around to see if we were followed.
"whats going on?" serenity asked
"what was that?" i asked
"it was a chaos monster." jesse answered "and i'll explain later, right now we need to get out of here!"
we looked out of the alley to see cop cars at the school. we turned to each other
"good idea."
penelope
i started the day by painting. hi, my name is penelope greene. i'm very shy with long brown hair. my dad died when i was young, my mom always told me. i had adhd and was dyslexic, but that didnt stop me from writing and painting. you see, i always wanted to be a author and a artist. my mom and i live in a small town in north carolina. my mom said it was safe here, even though she loves the south. i always had a normal life, til my birthday.
but let me show you the day before my birthday:
my mom shook me awake on june 3.
"penny." she said
"what?" i groaned
she plomped down a box wrapped in wrapping paper onto my bed, i sat up
"happy day before your birthday!"
"mom, i'm only turning 13." but i hid a smile
"so? todays monday, and i was thinking of making you stay home for your birthday from school." she pushed the present towards me.
"no, i want to go to school today. that way i can see serenity." serenity was my best friend who had the same problems that i did, but she had both parents who were very nice.
"fine." she said glumly
i laughed. i liked it when mom acted like a kid. i opened the present to see an art set filled with paints, beads, penils, brushes, and more.
"than you, mom!!" i was happy with my present, really.
she smiled and got up "get ready for school, sweety." then she walked out of the room.
i got ready and had thirty minutes to go, so i painted. i dropped the box of beads.
"shoot." i bent down, and picked them all up, and it was dark carpet. my mom said that she named me penelope, which means 'eye'. she named me because i could see things a mile away, and that i could notice things.
i looked at the clock and ran for the door.
i met up with serenity in the hall
"hey."
she closed her locker "hey, almost-birthday-girl!"
"shh!!" i looked around. "i dont like attention, ok?"
serenity rolled her eyes "whatever."
and we walked to english. serenity had wavy black hair and had a little black make-up on, but she was really nice. our other friend was jesse. he had honey-blonde hair and he was leaner than the other guys, but he was small. sometimes he limped and made sounds when he was nervous.
i hated english, but loved the teacher. mr. black was nice to me, unlike any other teachers. well there was mr. smith that helped us with history and geographry.
we were the last ones in english, of course.
"i would advise you to be on time ms. greene and ms. janeson." we hurried to our seets and a few boys snickered. jack jones and some of his goons were the school bullies.
"ok," mr. black rolled in his wheel chair "today we are learning about greece." he passed out worksheets. i couldnt read it, so i didnt bother. i already knew some things about greece.
"pop quiz! serenity, who gave up their seet on the olympian council for a certain god?"
everyone turned to serenity
"um, hestia, goddess of the home and hearth, gave up her seat up for dionysus, god of wine?" she answered
"correct! mr. jones, who threw hepheastus off olympus and why?"
jack stop snickering "zeus, because the fire dude did something bad?"
mr. black glared at jack "wrong, penelope?"
"um, hera threw hepheastus off of olympus because she loved perfect families and he didnt exactly fit in?" i geussed, i knew because my mom told me about these myths
mr. black smiled "correct!" and he went on, telling us about greek myths, and how they were important. but i just tuned everything out, looking around. i caught was caught in jacks 'you're dead' stare. then his eyes glowed red. the bell rang, and me and serenity ran out. but mr. black called us.
he rolled around to the front in his wheel chair
"sorry to keep you back, but one question: how does learning this stuff effect real life?" he asked
me and serenity looked at each other
"we dont know." i said
mr. black looked down "you may go, but try to answer my question."
we walked to geography. mr. smith was a funny teacher with short black hair and he had one of those stick things with two fake snakes around it like you see on a hospital sign, or something.
geography was, like, really boring so i draw on my paper. i like to close my eyes and see what i draw because its all weird. i opened my eyes and saw a bird-monster-thing on a soccer feild. there was a girl fighting it.
mr. smith came over "i would advise you not to draw in class, penny."
mr. smith was the only teacher who called me by my nickname.
he picked up my drawing and looked at it. worry flashed across his eyes.
"you can have this after lunch. class dismissed!"
and i ran out the door, not waiting for serenity.
i met up with jesse and serenity in the hall, when everyone was gone for lunch.
"mr. black is acting weird." serenit said
"so is mr. smith." jesse agreed
"yo, losers." jack came around a corner and into the empty hall, where we were.
"looks like i caught you sneaking into all the classrooms."
"we didnt do that." jesse said, worry in his eyes
"thats not what the princaple will think when i destroy you."
"what the heck are you talking about?" i asked
serenity was quiet, as if she sensed something was wrong
"i knew there was something special about you," he continued "and now you shall be destroyed."
"not if i have anything to do about." jesse said, kicking off his shoes. how can he fight jack? what is jack talking about? i knew i had about five seconds to run when jack turned into a flesh eating monster
it was a sort of silly looking hybrid goat-lion-dragon hybrid-monster-thing. no wonder jack was so ugly as a human.
mr. black appeared. he threw me a knife and a sword to serenity. then i noticed that jesse had hooves. wait, hooves? the jack-monster-thing lunged at us with his sharp teeth. serenity rolled to the side and tried to stab him. it started blowing, hard. people got back from lunch and watched in horror.
jesse played his piccolo from band class
"this is no time for music!" i yelled over the wind. some parts were on fire from the dragon-goat-lion-thing.
i stabbed the thing in the eye and it howled. it stumbled back and lightning flashed. there was moisture in the air and as we fought the winds grew warmer and stronger.
serenity tripped and the thing was getting ready for another breath of fire, me and jesse were too far away
"no!" i shouted. mr. black was nowhere to be seen.
a wind grabbed her back, and i realised it was me.
jesse kept playing and vines shot up from the ground and wrapped around the hybrids legs. he got tangeled in them and tripped. i stabbed him and he disappeared, leaving a shower of gold dust to fall on our heads.
the students were still in the quiet hallway. jesse didnt notiice, he grabbed our hands and we jumped out of a hole the hybrid made and we ran into a alley. jesse looked around to see if we were followed.
"whats going on?" serenity asked
"what was that?" i asked
"it was a chaos monster." jesse answered "and i'll explain later, right now we need to get out of here!"
we looked out of the alley to see cop cars at the school. we turned to each other
"good idea."