I had spent the better part of 10 years believing I was not normal, that I was insane. Everywhere I went things went wrong — lightning struck buildings, fire arms went off, and my teacher’s muffins disappeared (maybe I had something to do with that one). Animals seemed scared of me, skirting around like I radiated an aura of death (or smelled like it).

  It was why I had few friends. Rumors stuck easily to the unlucky kid, or the "troubled youth," as my counselor liked to put it.In truth, I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I even looked up my symptoms once and found "paranoid schizophrenic" to be the closest match... which did wonders for my self-esteem.So when my whole life flipped upside down with a single revetion, I was almost relieved. Finally, a reason for all my misgivings.

  It was a normal, boring Friday afternoon — until the air changed.

  I was sitting at my desk, blinking at the cursor on my essay for Ms. Charles (worth 30% of my grade — no pressure) when the lights flickered overhead.Once.Twice.The hair on my arms stood up. A low hum seemed to vibrate through the floorboards, rising through my shoes, into my chest.

  I spun around, heart hammering, just in time to hear the loudest crack of my life.

  Then my wall exploded.Yeah. Literally exploded.

  Chunks of drywall and insution rained around me as I hurled myself toward the bed — and smmed my forehead right into the post.

  "I’m gonna die," I whimpered, the words scraping out of my throat.

  "No, you are not," a voice answered, deep and calm and impossibly powerful.

  I blinked rapidly, convinced I'd officially snapped. Too much caffeine, not enough sleep — now I was hallucinating earthquakes and men who sounded like thunderstorms.

  "I didn’t incinerate you, did I?" the voice asked again, this time amused.

  I whimpered something real impressive, like "Please don’t kill me," before the spinning world tilted and everything went bck.

  "He’s dead," a musical female voice said, ughing lightly."He’ll live," another voice whispered, hot against my ear.

  "Nuh-uh," I mumbled.

  SMACK.

  The sharp sting snapped me awake — my head jerked up and smmed into the desk — but what really jolted me was the man kneeling in front of me.

  He was huge — even kneeling, he towered over me like a living skyscraper, at least 6'7".A sharp Italian silk suit clung to his powerful frame, the dark navy tie brushing against a chest that looked carved from stone.His shoes gleamed like polished armor, the air around him humming with a pressure that made breathing harder.He smelled of ozone and rain, like the moment before a thunderstorm breaks.

  But it was his eyes that locked me in pce.Piercing ice-blue, too bright, too alive — staring into them was like being dragged into a blizzard.And for a second, I could swear clouds shifted behind them.

  "Jason," he said, voice deep enough to rattle my bones.

  "You broke my wall," I croaked, brilliant as ever.

  He ughed — a low, rolling sound that seemed to shake the shattered remains of my room.

  "Yes. I'll have H patch it up."

  "H?" I croaked, dazed.

  He waved it off. "Later. For now — we talk."

  "We're te," snapped the female voice — richer, closer now.

  The man sighed and checked a sleek watch. "Quite right. Come, Jason. Follow me."

  That’s when I saw her.And forgot how to breathe.

  She was unreal.Dark hair fell in glossy rivers down her back, ending just above the kind of ass sculptors probably fought wars over, the kind you couldn't resist the urge to hump— high, full, and hypnotic in a skintight red two-piece dress.Every step made her hips sway in slow, deliberate ripples that my brain immediately filed under Danger: Do Not Stare.

  Her legs — golden, long, wickedly toned — ended in dazzling white heels that made her calves flex with each impatient shift of her weight.The dress rode high enough to show off a taut stomach, but it was the upper half of the dress that sent my blood pressure to critical levels.

  Huge, gravity-defying breasts strained against the thin fabric, bouncing slightly with every breath she took.And her face — god, her face — was a masterpiece: high cheekbones, full lips designed for cock sucking, and eyes like melted chocote.

  She gred at me like I was a roach she might graciously decide not to crush.And somehow, I still wanted to bend her over my bed and fuck her brains out.

  This — this was clearly not a normal girl.This was someone dangerous.

  The man — the living mountain — stepped forward again, his presence pressing down on the room.

  "Jason," he said, each sylble sharp and commanding."I am Lord Zeus."

  I just stared at him.No words. No thoughts.Just static.

  Finally, I managed to croak out: "No. Nope. I hit my head. This is a coma. This is a weirdly sexual coma dream. I refuse to believe this is happening."

  The man — Zeus — smiled, faint and sharp.

  "I assure you, this is real."He leaned closer, and the air itself seemed to crackle around him."They are coming for you, Jason. And the Academy..."He gnced out the shattered wall into the darkening sky."...is three days away."