My disclaimer for all my stories is on my profile.

Running. Running. That's all I can focus on. Faster. I have to go faster! I have to get away. Why was I running, you ask? Well that's a bit complicated. Let's start with a little about me, as you'll need to know about the girl you're about to put in the loony bin.

Hi! My name is Paiten Grace Noland, but call me anything but Grace and I'll skewer you. I have curly golden blonde hair and blue/silver eyes. Well, mom says they're blue/gray, but I've always thought silver was prettier than gray, so I call them blue/silver. Anyway, I wear glasses and I love pink to the point it's the only thing I will wear. As normal as I sound, I'm not, but I didn't find out the truth about my family tree until I was 14. However, my life was complicated long before that.

My life began outside of Denver, Colorado where I was born to Lee and Marie Noland. My parents' marriage didn't last long, and by the time I turned five, they had divorced. When I was six, Mom moved me to Tennessee. She said it was to go back to where she grew up, but I always had a vague memory of a man in a trench coat following me on the playground. The teachers wouldn't believe that he only had one eye. I never told mom, but the next week she announced we were moving.

I started the second half of my first grade year in a small Christian school an hour away from Nashville. I made a couple of friends my age, but some strange occurrences and the quickly growing city made mom move us to a tiny town on the Cumberland Plateau. I wasn't kicked out, per say, but the mysteriously exploding school bus pretty much got rid of my friends. My third grade year found me in a two-grade class of fifteen at the church school I attended. I grew up in this small town, spending four years at that private school before transferring to public. Mom wanted me to make some friends, but I told her she was crazy. The students in my class were mean. Looking back, I have to wonder how many of those students weren't really students. However, nothing made us move again, and I started high school at fourteen.

I found the Percy Jackson books my sixth grade year; right after Sea of Monsters was released. Being a very strong Christian, I never believed they were real, but I did prefer living in fantasy rather than reality. Reality was full of bullies, but in books, I could be myself. I could be the hero I hoped was inside me.

Ever since Mom divorced Dad, it seemed to me that she always had a boyfriend. I only knew three, but after one left, it was never long (in my mind) before she had another. The first two I met didn't matter much. They were jerks, but they were human. The third, however, was not human and was really good with the Mist.

Mom married Cecil right before my freshman year, and by then I was well versed in my faith and in the fantasy world of gods and monsters. Cecil decided that knowing about them was enough, and, at the end of my freshman year, I found out that my faith was not the only faith.

"Bye, Mom!" I set off on my bike towards school. Since I didn't want to ride the bus, I carpooled with mom to her work and rode my bike from there. After fifteen minutes of hard pedaling, I parked my bike behind the JROTC building and walked down to the training course. I worked out a little every morning, even though this was the last week of school. After training, I walked to the other side of campus for my first block and opened my book to wait for class. Reading was one of the very few things my ADHD let me focus on for more than a few minutes. Thirty minutes later, the bell rang, and the boring end-of-the-year classes began.

Finally, the weekend! And only one more day until summer! I walked out of fourth block to my bike. On the way there, I passed another of the loners at school, Aaron. I had noticed several months ago that he displayed an unusual limp. It reminded me of my books. Grover the satyr had a limp. But I blew it off. There are no Greek gods.

A fifteen-minute ride brought me into town, where mom was waiting to go. She tried to get me talking about school, but gave up after some one-word answers. She seemed more nervous than usual. I had refined my awareness after reading the books, pretending I was a demigod, and I knew something was up. I found out what it was when we reached the house—kind of. Cecil was waiting on the couch. I plopped down in front of my computer as I always do and started reading online. I was just getting to a good part when I sensed danger.

Glancing around, I saw Cecil gone, and in his place was something I recognized from my favorite series. But Laistrygonian giants couldn't be real! Obviously, this was. My dreams are never this crazy. Deciding to follow my instinct, I turned and ran. Faster. I have to go faster! I have to get away, I kept telling myself. I reached the top of the driveway faster than I thought possible, but I didn't have time to think about that. I ran around to the area that had the least number of houses, and hid. I had no idea what to do. Greek mythology was apparently real, so I knew how to kill this monster, but I didn't have a weapon.

I had fired a bow before, so I looked around for resources to make a slingshot. However, when I reached out to grab a stick, a silver bow appeared in my hand. My eyes widened. This was a Hunter's bow! Thanking Artemis, I pulled the string back, and an arrow appeared. Right as the giant caught up to me, I fired, and was promptly covered in dust. Dropping the bow, I ran back to the house trying to figure out what just happened.

"Grace? Grace, where did you go?" Mom apparently noticed I left the house. Darn.

"Just went for a walk, Mom." I decided to test her. "Where's Cecil?"

A puzzled look crossed her face. "You know what happened to Cecil. He stole all that money and scuba gear, so I kicked him out."

She can't see through the Mist. I shook my head as if to clear it. "Oh. Right."

She walked off and I shut down my computer. I don't feel like attracting any more monsters for now. Mom stayed at her computer, and I decided to go to my room to think things over.

Okay, I'm a demigod. That giant wouldn't have attacked if I wasn't. But how could this be true? Christ is the one true God. But then I remembered a verse of Scripture. "God is the Lord of lords." That could explain this.

So Christ is real. He is Lord above all. God created the earth in seven days as the Bible says. Then the Greeks created their gods, and they rule humans under the King of kings. Like servants? Don't mention that. They may not be omniscient, but they do know a lot. Anyway, that means camp exists too. I have two options. I could either try to find the satyr assigned to me, or I can make a run for camp. Make that three. I could ask Artemis to help me again. I wonder who my parent is. The major god/goddess I'm most like is Athena. Or maybe—darn ADHD. Back to the topic. What to do. There's only one day of school left. I'll see if I can find a satyr. If I can't I'll make a run for it.

With my need to plan settled (really thinking Athena. Then again, it could be anyone. I do have both parents), I anxiously waited for Monday. I didn't have to worry too much about mom finding anything. She and I weren't close, so I didn't really tell her much.

Here's the first chapter of my newest story! This chapter is more of a character build, so the next one should be a bit better. I plan to update every week, but reviews make updates come faster! Constructive criticism is welcome but flames are for making s'mores! Btw, I am a Christian. And I find it necessary to make it very clear that in NO WAY do I believe Greek mythology is real. God is the one true God and I serve Him. This story is purely fiction.