Hi everybody! This is my first story and I'm really excited for this! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! ;)

And no. This story and characters and everything in it does not belong to me. It belongs to the oh so wonderful...Rick Riordan *applause*.

They were flashes. Swiping past her vision fast enough to make anyone dizzy; she couldn't make out the images at all. There were so many things happening all at once that it took her sometime before she realized what was what they were, it was showing a story in pictures. Well, more like a story full of blurry colors actually.

Her vision seemed sharper, more attentive to detail than usual. Things passed by her eyes, zipping in and out of her mind. Overwhelming her senses to the max. Flashes of green and orange colored her vision. They were all too bright and vibrant to possibly be real, but they were still beautiful and intrigued her none the less. She couldn't comprehend what she was seeing or why, which was very odd for her.

She had gotten used to the patterns and intricate paintings of colors when everything just went still. It went blank and dark at the same time and after a while, she thought it would stay that way forever.

Suddenly everything sharpened and got more lucid, almost like the world was blurry and she finally could see. Now she could make out what she was looking at.

There were large trees, their limbs and leaves moving softly together in sync in the breeze. While the sun rained down, showering its rays on everything in its path and lighting it up. Some patchy clouds floated in the sea-like-sky, making shapes and constantly blowing out of sight. The birds flew along in the air and around the many big buildings and towers, narrowly dodging trees and walls. Down bellow the entire ground was filled with bright, grass, littered with wildflowers and trees. She noticed the familiar way that the small hills dipped and bobbed like a fish jumping out of the water.

Oak trees, Apple trees, shrubs and wild weeds invaded lots of the space along with little animals like the squirrels and rabbits that hopped along. The many people walked or sat along together, clad in bulky jackets and mittens, talking happily away. Hot dog stands lining up the road corners like cars in a parking lot. Each stand crowded by lines that had formed filled with hungry customers waiting to eat

And every last person was completely unaware of her watching.

Though she was pretty sure this wasn't real, she couldn't be sure, everything seemed so out of place and overly bright, but the images seemed to get quite fuzzy at times. It was clearly not her own vision, more like she was looking through someone elses eyes. She did however, catch on pretty quick to her surroundings while racking her brain.

This was Central Park.

Well it was where her mind took her anyway.

She hoped she wasn't going crazy, she was pretty sure this isn't where she was supposed to be she could've sworn she was still at home, studying or doing God knows what, but here? No she shouldn't be here.

She felt a tug in the back of her mind and not in the physical sense, more like mental. It was as if her brain was being yanked in the other direction, forcefully. Something wanted her attention. Turning around, her focus zoned in on a small girl, she was a cute little girl, her rain boots were twice her size and had little swans and clouds on them. She had on some bright gold tights and an over sized purple sweater with a cartoon rabbit on the front. Her long brown hair was in two lopsided pigtails and was holding an ice cream cone in her hand that looked to be on the verge of capsizing as the child jumped from puddle to puddle. She was holding hands with someone, who was looking down at her smiling.

She couldn't tell what had drawn her to the little girl, but she figured it it must have been a mistake so she began to look back around.

That is, until the the girl turned her way.

The little toddler's eyes were glowing.

They shined so bright it looked as if they had grown 3 times their normal size.

They seemed to sear into her mind, reading her every thought and sifting through her brain. She should have been frightened by the intensity or the girls stare, if they weren't so beautiful.

The orbs were an ocean of colors, there were swirls of blues and greens and yellows and blacks. Even through their strangeness, she felt a certain familiar-ness to them. She had seen them before, she knew it, though she wasn't sure it was possible for there to be anything that abnormal and gorgeous all at the same time. But as quickly as she turned to her the first time, the small girl turned back around to the puddles.

And when she eventually caught her eye once more, the luminous that seemed to burn with such bright intensity, had faded into a dark brown.

Just in time for her vision to go dark and her mind drift away.

Annabeth shot up fast, suddenly woken up by the sound of someone calling her. She winced, rubbing her forehead after smacking it on the top bunk of the bed. There was going to be a knot there later on.

Flinging herself back down she stared at the ceiling for a few minutes to catch her breath. She was confused, drenched in sweat and was still trembling as she got up to peel herself out of bed and go stumble into the shower.

Discarding her clothes and getting under the hot spray was comforting, relaxing the muscles that she had no clue were tight, and letting her mind go free to wander.

A dream, she thought.

She had a dream.

A dream that she just couldn't seem to conjure up at all, though it seemed quite important that she did. She tried to bring back something that she could possibly remember from it, but she got nothing, as usual. She shook her head, she couldn't focus on that right now, she pushed that to the back of her mind forcing herself to collect her thoughts and get ready for the rest of the dreadful day. It was the first day of school and she really wasn't looking forward to it. Not that she didn't love learning and all that, she did, it was just all the extras that came with it. High school -senior year to be exact- was like the melting pot, the cut off year, the toilet flusher. It was the end of her life being a teenager and the beginning of her life as an adult. She had come to terms with this a while ago, living life to the fullest and all that crap, and she was fine with it. It was just the in between that got her in a crabby mood on days like this.

Stepping out the shower and into a towel she padded back to her room and headed towards the window. Sighing, she felt all the remaining hope drain out of her body. The least mother nature could do was make it nice outside, that way there could actually be something to make her want to go to that hell hole. "Sunny and bright to make the spirits right, and when the sun goes away, dream that it will come back for another day," her father used sing it to her to make her cheer up when she was young. But that doesn't help much of anything now because her father wasn't here anymore and apparently neither was the sun. It was foggy and damp outside from yesterday's rain and she could practically feel the humidity from inside. Sighing, she knew her hair wouldn't stand a chance.

Dressing, Annabeth made things pretty simple, a white dress and flats, too much walking for heels and she was pretty sure no one cared how she dressed anyway. She fluffed out her hair to the best of her ability -which wasn't much- just to tame it to a less wild look, and grabbed her bag. She didn't even bother with makeup, she just needed to get out of there before her mother saw her and had her go change into something more "presentable".

She slipped out the apartment door just in time for her brothers to start running down the stairs screaming about food. She didn't have time for pleasantries.

Annabeth took the stairs two at a time while going down the three floors that took her to the lobby. The matter of her commute to school in the mornings was always a topic of argument -amongst other things- between Annabeth and her mother. Her mother didn't understand why she would waste her, "precious taxpayer's dollars" by not using the elevators and Annabeth, well she just wished her mother could go to Hades.

Sure most of the reason she does it in the first place is because of her undying love of pissing her mother off, but she actually enjoys walking those steps and plus, elevators make her nauseous.

Walking into the lobby she looked around the familiar space, it was exceptionally warm down here today.

Turning the corner towards the door she was abruptly met by the crinkled, friendly face of Holland, the cheery old bellman who had, over the years, befriended Annabeth. He probably understood her hatred of school and people more than anyone.

Actually... There were a few people in the world that she could never truly hate though, her best friends.

Well technically just one...Thalia. They met in 1st grade after an incident on the play ground left Annabeth partially bald and Thalia suspended from school for a week and they have been best friends ever since.

You see that's actually how she met Jason, the're brother and sister. Twins to be exact, and wherever Thalia went, Jason always followed.

It didn't take long for Annabeth to realize that Jason was always more than just a friend though, even from the moment they met.

She loved him.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Holland spoke, with a heavy accent "Have a nice first day little one, i know yer don't fancy school one bit, but the sooner yer finish, the sooner yer can leave, aye?" He said with a wink.

"Yeah, i guess, thanks," she mumbled with a wave and slipped out the door.

The chilly air ambushed her as soon as she stepped out, she could feel the air changing and trying to hold on to the last seconds of summer, but the cold autumn air had started taking over and pretty soon it would be a winter wonderland down here. She shivered as the goosebumps popped up on her arms and legs and she sped up her walking. Maybe a dress wasn't the best idea.

Walking to school didn't take very long, she got there in about 5 minutes. Of course she did live literally across the street from it.

Stepping into the parking lot of the school, she noticed nothing had changed, the hideous blue paint that covered every inch of the school was still peeling, the long drain pipe was still hanging off the side of the building like a death trap, and one of the o's in Goode High that had fallen off freshman year, had not even been touched.

She looked around the parking lot which didn't help her nerves, there was no one outside. Was everyone so eager for school to start? She thought. She started to get hopeful as she took the front steps two at a time, but walking into the school was not any better.

There was absolutely no soul in sight.

She walked down the halls looking for any form of life, but was just met with rows and rows of bright yellow lockers. She was relieved to come across one person who was leaning against the wall doodling on a textbook, his wild black hair masking his face. He looked approachable enough, but the glare he sent her when he looked up didn't seem very friendly.

She was getting frustrated and tired of walking around, had she gotten the dates mixed up or something? She was pretty sure it was Monday. Glancing at her wrist, she checked to see if she was too early, but her watch wasn't there. She sighed. Glancing up, her face was met by a large electronic clock on one of the lockers, the red numbers glaring back at her and searing into her mind.

"Shit!" She cursed under her breath and broke into a run in

the direction of her class.

Apparently her shower this morning had been a little too long, because it was 9:58, and she had missed the entire 1st period.

Thanks guys :)