Last Hero Read online

  CHAPTER 10

  MR. SILEN HAS A TAIL

  DANNY SAT in home room and stared at the blackboard. He didn’t sleep last night and the whole morning was a blur. His mom had told him that he was different from everyone else and didn’t have to come to school today but he knew he had to go somewhere to help make sense of his life.

  “What’s the answer, man?”

  Danny looked to his right to see Mr. Silen standing over him. He was a big man who always wore jeans and a tie-dye t-shirt with a leather vest over it. His vintage teashade glasses were round with a mirror reflection. Danny looked at his own blank expression staring back at him.

  “See me after class, Mr. Neumann,” Mr. Silen said. He strode back to the front of the room and turned to face the class. “Don’t forget about the Fall Festival tonight. Hay rides, corn maze, games, and lots of candy. It should be super fun.”

  Danny’s eyes widened when he saw Mr. Silen’s lower body. It looked like he had a tail and horse legs. Danny rubbed his eyes and laughed. The image was gone. He definitely needed to get some sleep.

  Someone tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “Thirteen.”

  Danny turned and raised his eyebrows at William Sherman. He was the smartest kid in school with a 4.1 GPA. He had already scored in the 99th percentile on the SATs. He wore beige slacks and a white polo shirt.

  “What?”

  William smirked and crossed his arms. “It depends on who you ask. Technically there are eight planets and five dwarf planets in our solar system. But that wasn’t really the question.” He shook his head and laughed.

  Danny nodded and laughed with him. He had no idea what William was talking about. “What was the question?”

  “Mr. Silen asked you how many planets there are. Most people think there are nine but Pluto has not been considered a planet since 2006. Regardless, to accurately answer the question we have to consider our solar system and all others. Last time I checked, there were four thousand and seventy-one planets and more are discovered every day.”

  “Sorry I asked.” Danny turned back around when the bell rang and chuckled. William was the smartest person he knew, but he was also annoying. No wonder he didn’t have any friends.

  Danny waited for the room to clear out then snagged his backpack and went to Mr. Silen’s desk. The desk was covered in a mess of unorganized papers. “You wanted to see me?”

  Mr. Silen leaned back in his chair and sipped out of a thermos he had behind his desk. There were rumors that he was an alcoholic. Danny figured they were probably true because Mr. Silen was always happy and spoke in a slurred retro language that most of the kids found cool.

  “Yeah, man. How’s life treating you?”

  “Okay, I guess.”

  “Awesome!” Mr. Silen jumped out of his chair and walked to the class door then closed it. He took his glasses off for the first time and Danny saw his bright green eyes. “You saw me, didn’t you, Alexandros Helen?”

  “How did you know—”

  “Listen carefully if you want to walk out of this school alive.”

  DANNY’S HEART raced and beat against his chest like a hammer. This was the third time someone called him Alexandros Helen. What did this man have in common with Ty? Danny widened his stance and prepared to protect himself.

  “I didn’t think it was true,” Mr. Silen said in a rush.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Mr. Silen sat back down and took a big gulp from his thermos. He wiped his wet lips on his forearm. “Sixteen years ago something drove us to this city. We didn’t know what it was, but the magnetism was undeniable.”

  He set his thermos back on the floor and leaned back in his chair. “Last night we all felt the power when you used it. It was like being on Olympus again.” He looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

  Danny set his backpack down. “Olympus? Isn’t that where the Greek Gods live?” He sensed the hippie teacher had the answers he needed. “Who is Ty?”

  “Typhon is the father of all monsters. He escaped from Tartarus sixteen years ago and waged war against the gods.” He shook his head and sighed. “With help from the monsters, he destroyed Olympus and imprisoned Zeus and all the gods in Tartarus.”

  After last night, Danny believed all of this. But something didn’t make sense. He had seen the man who called himself Ty, but nothing about him suggested he was capable of destroying gods.

  “Before Olympus was destroyed, Zeus stripped all monsters of their powers,” Mr. Silen continued like he could read Danny’s mind. “They walk among us as humans now.”

  “Like you?” Danny remembered the image of horse legs and a tail on the hippie.

  Mr. Silen nodded. “I am a teacher and companion to the gods.”

  “What does he want with me?”

  He stood and looked into Danny’s eyes. “Typhon wants to destroy this world and rebuild it as his own Olympus. Earthquakes, floods, tornados, hurricanes, famine. The rules have changed, and he can only do that in his true form as a monster. He must destroy the last descendant of Zeus before any of that can happen.”

  Danny laughed and ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m just a kid.”

  Mr. Silen stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You were born for this, Alexandros. If you run into trouble, find Mr. Griffin.”

  Danny huffed. “The janitor?”

  “He’s so much more than that. Meet me after lunch. I have much to teach you.”

  Danny grabbed his backpack and headed for the door. He thought about calling his mom and getting a ride home. This was too much to handle. “I didn’t choose any of this,” he said as he unlocked the door.

  “You were chosen by the gods. You are our last hope, Alexandros.”

  CHAPTER 11

  SHAKESPEARE WASN’T AMERICAN

  KEVIN SAT across from Danny at the same table in American History. He couldn’t help but stare at Danny and try to figure out how to get him to trust him. He tried to prove his friendship by helping him outside, but Danny didn’t fall for it at all. Danny was smart, but still pathetic.

  “What are your thoughts on Shakespeare, Mr. Skinner?” Kevin looked toward the front of the room at Mr. Joyner. The teacher always wore a bowtie and had his hair greased back. He was young, maybe 20 years old, and always looked like he was on his way to his first prom. His mom probably still dressed him. How sad.

  “He was the greatest writer of all time,” Kevin said.

  Mr. Joyner furrowed his eyebrows. “Care to expand on that?”

  Kevin sighed. He didn’t have time to waste on something so trivial. “He was a playwright, right? There are so many other forms of writing. I wonder if anyone would notice his work if he were alive today.”

  Bianca leaned across the table toward Kevin. She sat next to Danny and was tucked in close to him. “He also wrote sonnets and narrative poems.”

  “Good point, Miss Miller,” the teacher said. “He wasn’t a one hit wonder.” Mr. Joyner chuckled to himself like a little girl, the way he always did when he thought he said something clever.

  “Get away from me,” Kevin hissed at Bianca. She thought she was so smart because she was a writer, too. The only thing she ever wrote were those stupid stories for the school newsletter.

  “Anyone else care to weigh in?” Mr. Joyner asked.

  Kevin chuckled and said, “Why are we even discussing this? I thought the name of this class was American History. Shakespeare was born and died in England.”

  Danny raised his hand. “It’s because Shakespeare’s work has been here as long as America has. He was widely read and his plays seen by Washington, Lincoln, and Adams.”

  “Kind of like the Beatles,” Bianca said, slapping Danny on the back and laughing. She cleared her throat and looked up at Mr. Joyner with conviction in her eyes. “They had a lot more than one hit wonders, too.”

  The room burst out in laughter.

  “Everyone calm down
,” Mr. Joyner said. “Now, Mr. Skinner, do you find anything unusual about Shakespeare’s plays?”

  “Other than the fact that they’re boring?”

  Mr. Joyner put a hand on his forehead. “Yes, other than that.”

  Kevin thought about it for a second. It didn’t deserve any more time than that. He shrugged, crossed his arms, and leaned back.

  Mr. Joyner straightened his bowtie like it somehow relieved tension. “How about you, Mr. Neumann?”

  Danny tapped his fingers on the table then said, “Nothing unusual but he did use boys as female actors.”

  “Yes,” the teacher said. “Can you tell me why?” He stood in front of Danny, leaned down, and placed a hand on the table.

  Danny stared at the hand. Kevin thought he saw fear in Danny’s eyes.

  Becky raised her hand. “In Shakespeare’s day it wasn’t accepted for women to be actors.”

  Mr. Joyner stood back up and walked to the front of the class. “Thank you, Miss Miller. It wasn’t a law, just society’s acceptance at the time.”

  “So boys dressed up like girls?” Kevin said. He shivered like he was disgusted. “Cross-dressers scare me.”

  “Be that as it may,” Mr. Joyner said, “it was what worked at the time. I find it rather interesting that anyone can disguise themselves to look like someone else completely.”

  The class bell rang and everyone gathered their books. Kevin sat and watched as Mr. Joyner stood in front of Danny again.

  “Anyone can change the way they look, Danny,” Mr. Joyner said. “They can wear different clothes, get a different haircut, or put on makeup. But don’t forget that no one can hide the ugliness inside them.”

  Danny seemed to walk out of the room in a daze. Kevin couldn’t make any sense out of it as he watched Mr. Joyner clean the dry erase board. Kevin stood and prepared to walk out. He laughed when he noticed a puny tattoo on the teacher’s hand.

  It was a blue oval, like a saucer.

  CHAPTER 12

  FROG LADY MAKES MEATLOAF

  DANNY STARED ahead, eyes widened. A green monster waited for him at the front of the lunch line. It stood behind the cash register taking money and punching holes in lunch cards from starving teenagers. Its body was moist and covered in scales. Its eyes were narrow with yellow pupils that bulged out of its head.

  “Do you see that?” Danny asked everyone around him.

  Kevin stood next to him and looked ahead. “Ms. Lam? The lunch lady?”

  Danny looked again at the green monster. “You don’t see anything unusual about her?” As soon as he asked the question he knew the answer. He was the only one who could see and hear her as the monster she truly was.

  Now he could see it was Ms. Lam. She was a nice old lady with wrinkles who always smiled at the kids.

  Kevin shook his head and pushed Danny forward. “The only unusual thing I see is you, Freak.”

  Danny almost dropped his lunch tray full of meatloaf when he fell forward. He should have known better than to ask Kevin anything.

  “$2.50,” the green monster said when Danny stood in front of her. Danny thought he would be scared but the creature disgusted him. He reached into his jeans pocket, pulled out his lunch card and handed it to her.

  Her eyes widened and her tongue shot out of her mouth like a frog’s. Her tongue wrapped around the lunch card and pulled it back into her mouth. She chewed on it then spit it back out into Danny’s face. He pulled the slimy mess off his forehead and stepped back, bumping into Kevin.

  “No food for you, Danny Neumann,” the monster hissed.

  Kevin pushed him forward again. “Get off me, Freak.”

  Danny set his lunch tray on the counter and looked up at the monster. He had no idea how it knew his name. “Keep the food.” He turned to walk away.

  “Wait a minute,” Kevin said. “Don’t you want your lunch?”

  Danny shook his head. “I don’t have any money. It doesn’t matter, though. I’m not hungry anymore.”

  Kevin stepped up to the monster who looked like a nice old lady again. “Ms. Lam, I’ll pay for his lunch and mine.” He nodded at Danny.

  Danny couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Kevin hadn’t done anything nice all year. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Maybe they were still best friends.

  “You’re such a good boy,” the lunch lady said to Kevin.

  Kevin balanced Danny’s tray in one hand and his in the other, and stepped out of the line. “Here you go, buddy,” he said to Danny, handing his tray to him.

  Danny reached for it but Kevin pulled it away at the last second.

  “Fat chance, Freak,” Kevin said. “I’m really gonna enjoy eating your lunch.” He laughed and walked away to the table of jocks. He turned when he got to the table and shouted back, “Maybe you should get a job! I’ll pay you to wipe my ass!” The jocks laughed and high-fived him.

  Danny took a deep breath and looked around the lunch room for a place to sit. The jocks were at one table and the cheerleaders next to them. The band and chorus had their own tables. Even the nerd table was full. There was only one table left with a few seats.

  Danny stood next to William Sherman and asked if he could sit at the table. William was the only one there.

  William looked up from his laptop and motioned for Danny to take a seat. Danny sat across the table from him and stared at him.

  “Hey William,” Danny said, “can I ask you something?”

  William closed his laptop and studied Danny’s face. “I don’t know. Can you?”

  Danny wasn’t sure what he meant. “Huh?”

  William sighed. “The proper way to ask such a question is, ‘May I ask you something?’—not, ‘Can I ask you something?’” He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “It’s basic grammar, really.”

  Danny huffed. “You don’t have many friends, do you?”

  William’s expression dropped. He opened his laptop back up and disappeared behind it.

  Danny cracked his neck. “I’m sorry, William. You’re the smartest guy I know, and I need your help.”

  William stuck his head up over his laptop.

  “What do you see when you look at the lunch lady?” Danny asked.

  William turned his head and looked at the green monster. “I see an elderly woman trapped in a lower middle class lifestyle serving crap to malnourished adolescents.”

  Danny’s heart dropped. Aunt Ethel had gone to the nut house a few years ago. She saw things and people that no one else could.

  “What do you see?” William asked.

  Danny thought about it and decided he didn’t have anything to lose by telling William. Nobody listened to him anyway. “I see a green monster.”

  William smirked. “That’s why I don’t read fiction.”

  Danny ignored him and looked down at the table. “She has scales over her body and yellow eyes. Her tongue comes out of her mouth like a frog’s.” He laughed at how it all sounded and looked back up at William. “Crazy, right?”

  William looked at the green monster again. “Maybe not.”

  Danny sat up in his chair. “You believe me?”

  William disappeared behind his laptop again. Danny could hear him typing. William looked up over his laptop and said, “Something like this?” He turned the laptop to face him.

  Danny couldn’t breathe. The laptop screen showed the image of the green monster. She did exist! “That’s her!”

  William turned the laptop back around. “This is not good.” He typed furiously.

  Danny jumped out of his seat and took the one next to William. “What is it?”

  William stopped typing and stared ahead. “In fifth grade I did a paper on Greek mythology. It’s nothing but fantasy fiction, circa 900 BC.” He rested his hands on the table. “But some people believe it’s all true.”

  “What is that thing?” Danny pointed at the green monster.

  William looked at the monster again. “The person you’re pointing at is Ms. Lam, wh
ich is an unusual coincidence because the creature in the picture I showed you is Lamia.”

  Danny cleared his throat. “Tell me about Lamia.”

  William turned to face him. His face lit up like he was excited to share his knowledge. “Lamia was a queen of Libya. Her beauty was unsurpassed.” He looked over at the lunch lady and coughed. “The Greek god Zeus fell in love with her, and they had an affair. Zeus’s wife Hera found out about it and killed her children.”

  Danny put his hands in the air. “That doesn’t explain the green monster.”

  William put a finger over his lips. “This is the best part.” He scooted in close. “Killing Lamia’s children wasn’t enough. Zeus’s wife also turned Lamia into a monster that eats children.”

  Danny swallowed hard. He had not expected to hear this. If Lamia wanted to eat children, she was in the right place. This school had over a thousand students. But why would she be here centuries later?

  William closed the laptop and sat back in his chair. “I’m not saying I believe any of it. It’s all fantasy.” He rubbed his chin. “If that’s really Lamia over there…” He crossed his arms and looked straight up at the ceiling.

  Danny shrugged. “What?”

  “Then we’re all in big trouble.”

  “SHE LOOKS like a frog,” Danny said. “I’m going to call her Frog Lady.”

  William shook his head. “She’s serpentine.”

  Danny stared across the room at the jocks’ table. Becky was sitting next to Kevin now. Danny could hear Kevin burp from here. How in the world did Becky end up as Kevin’s girlfriend?

  “Maybe it’s your destiny to save her,” William whispered.

  Danny had no idea what William was talking about. “How do I stop Frog Lady?”

  “The more important question may be how would you kill her?” William put a hand on his chin. “Lamia would kill every kid here—if she really existed.”

  “No,” Danny said. “That’s not an option. There has to be another way.”