Leo- Chapter One

I stood in the classroom, waiting for the clock to hit nine. That was when we left for our field trip to the beach. All the ninth graders were supposed to go down to the beach in Santa Cruz and pick up garbage all day. I wasn't really looking forward to the garbage, but at least I'd be by the ocean. It was a place I felt calm, and for me, that was a task.

I tapped my feet as Mr. Trot counted us and paired us up for the bus ride. I was really hoping I didn't have to be stuck with anybody who didn't like me. I was fine with everybody in the class, but there was one girl who just couldn't stand me. Her name was Megan Dirk. She was truly beautiful, she had perfect grades, she was fashionable, and boys were always flocked around her. She was, to my knowledge, perfect. She'd actually been my friend once. We were inseparable, until she decided to become one of them. I was friends with the real Megan Dirk, not what she'd become. She'd thrown away her ideas, beliefs, and morals, just to be popular. To be loved by all.

I wasn't like that. I was never like that. From an early age, I knew who I was. I knew I was different. People called me crazy for it, but strangely enough, I liked that. I was one of those people who always stood out, no matter what the crowd was like. I usually wore neon green skinny jeans, neon Converse high- tops, a jacket with a print, and a hat. I liked standing out. It made me even more unique. Even if my beliefs stayed crazy, people had nothing to compare them to with me. My whole being was crazy. I guess I just didn't care what people thought.

My name is Cassidy Hilden. I'm different, to say the least. I have ADHD, so sitting still or paying attention are out of the question. I have brown eyes and light brown hair. My parents and I look nothing alike, but that could just be about the fact that I was adopted at birth. I've never really had the motivation to go looking for my real parents, even though I'd been told they were still alive. Anyone who would give up their baby just because they didn't want it wasn't worth my time, and I certainly wasn't going to waste any effort trying to find them. I was fourteen when all this first started, and it was the last week of ninth grade. I was still just a kid, and not at all prepared for the amazing story that would soon unfold and become my life.

If you think myths are cool, think again. If you think they're fake, you're wrong. My advice is to stay far away from them. They'll always get you hurt in the end. A word to the wise, just forget all about them. Like, if you have an odd obsession with big foot and decided to hang pictures all over your wall, take them down, burn them, shred them, flush them down the toilet. I don't really care what you do with them, as long as they're gone. Make sure they're out of sight and out of mind, because this is something you do not want to get involved with.

I learned the hard way that mythology is indeed very real. I'm not saying every myth and legend is real. Most of them are actually garbage, because people don't always see the truth. Especially mortals. Everyone has a story. To be honest, the only stories I know to be true, for the most part, come from Greek mythology. At first, I didn't really care for the Greek gods, or monsters, or any of it, but these things would soon become my life.

Luckily, Mr. Trot paired me with my only friend in the school, Kendall Sampson. I usually called him Kenny, but did his family. He didn't have many friends either, so his brother, Levi was usually the only one that hung out with us. Kenny had black hair that, for some reason, always covered his sky- blue eyes. And he always had on pastel- colored clothes and a black jacket, which actually went well together. The combination always worked well for him.

Kenny met my eyes and smiled, acknowledging that he approved of his bus buddy, at which time I looked over at the clock. It was time for the bus to be here. Why weren't we on it? I turned my attention on Mr. Trot. Apparently, he noticed.

"Children," he said with no response from the students. "Please settle down." I sighed as the noise in the class roared on.

"Shut up! Seriously, you guys sound like s bunch of idiots!" I got a few glares and comments at that, but I didn't care. Mr. Trot seemed pleased with me. He smiled and carried on.

"Now, I just found out the bus is going to be a little late." Everyone in the class grumbled impatiently. "Please take your seats. The bus should be here in about five minutes. Until then, I'd like to quiz you on a bit of Greek mythology. Can anyone name the twelve Olympian gods, and the others, and what they are the patrons of?"

For some reason, I raised my hand. And for some reason, he chose me. I took a second to think." There are the brothers Zeus, god of the sky, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the underworld. Hades isn't actually an Olympian, but he's still very important as gods go. There's Hera, Zeus's wife, goddess of marriage, and Zeus's children: Ares, god of war, Athena, goddess of wisdom, the twins, Apollo, god of the sun, and Artemis, goddess of the moon, Aphrodite goddess of love, Hephaestus, god of fire, and Hermes, god of messengers." I tapped my head, trying to remember the last two.

"You've got ten out of twelve. That's pretty impress-"

"Wait! There's Demeter, goddess of agriculture, and Dionysus, who was made an honorary god for inventing wine, and given the place as and Olympian by Hestia, goddess of the hearth."

"Fascinating. Can anyone name any minor gods?"

"Janus, god of choices!" said one voice.

"Nike, goddess of victory!" said an athletic boy.

"Erebus, god of darkness." said Kenny calmly.

"Hecate, goddess of magic," said Megan Dirk with a smirk on her face.

"Eros, god of sex!" said a tall boy rather spiritedly.

"Alright. That'll do, Matthew." He let his eyes roam the room, scanning every student thoroughly. "Has anyone heard of the goddess, Mania?"

My head perked up. Mania was my favorite goddess. For some reason, I seemed to be attached to her. "Goddess of insanity," I mumbled. Mr. Trot looked up, surprised that I knew all this.

"Yes, my students. Mania, the goddess of insanity. Quite a thing to behold. You see, thirteen years ago, on July the twenty-third, I saw this goddess with my own eyes." He waited for a response.

Kenny looked disturbed. "That's a bunch of crap. Gods and goddesses in their divine form will vaporize you if you look at them."

"Well, had you taken time to think, young man, you might have realized that I did not see her in her true form. Well, not entirely. You see, I was at a session, an appointment for my mental well-being, and she was my...She was my therapist. She was beautiful. The event is difficult to remember, but I saw her eyes. They were white light. Quite pretty. I do think that was part of her true-"

"Help," I mumbled as a burning sensation went through my wrist. I felt as if the life was being drained from me through a small hole in my wrist. As if my insides would be pulled out, but then it stopped.

"We're done, class." Mr. Trot came up beside me and picked up my wrist. He turned it over so my palm was facing up and examined it closely. "Did you do this to yourself?" At the shake of my head, his face became concerned. He let go of my wrist and stood up, facing the class again. I looked at my wrist and saw something very out of the ordinary. I had a deep, semi-circular line that looked almost like a wrinkle on the part of my body that was supposed to stay tight. I looked up again at Mr. Trot, who looked like he'd been reminded of something he'd been trying to forget.

Just then, the bus pulled up. The sound caused some people to turn their heads. "Class dismissed." The students flooded through the door and outside to the bus. All the students except Kenny and me. He slowly came up to my desk and looked at me. His face had concern all over it.
"Cassidy, do you know how you got this?" I shook my head. "Let me ask you something. Do you intend to tell anyone the truth?"

"Mr. Trot, please. I don't know what happened. I was just listening to you, and this-- thing appeared on my wrist. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but I don't want to create anything out of nothing."

Mr. Trot sighed. "Old Aelus is trying to tell me something, or as you've probably heard the phrase, 'I feel a change in the wind'" Kenny turned his head toward me, hoping I would know what he was talking about. I didn't.

"What do you mean," Kenny asked.

"You should probably get on the bus." He looked older than he had a few minutes ago. I got up out of my seat and walked to the door with Kenny at my side. Mr. Trot stopped us by talking again. "I fear something is coming- Something that will change everything." He began walking with us out of the room and down the hall until we were outside in the warm June sunshine."I just hope I'm wrong."