A/N: Ahhh hello!

I'm nervous about posting this. XD But yeah, this is a new story I'm working on! This is an AU where Thalia does not turn into a pine tree. ;p I'm going to try and do all 5 PJO books, if I don't lose interest. Hopefully I won't.

I won't be discontinuing my other PJO fanfic, so don't fret if you're reading it. Updates may be slower though...

Well, enough talking. I hope you like the first chapter!

...

Look, you don't want to be a half-blood.

Yeah, it may sound cool being half-god, but it's not. Your chance of death increases by a ton. Wherever you go, monsters will be right behind, trying to kill you. There's only one safe place for you in the entire world. If anything in here sounds like you, or resonates something inside you, close this story right now. Believe whatever lies your parents told you. You really don't want this life. Trust me. Keep your innocence, okay? You have no idea how important it is.

My name is Thalia. I'm 12 years old. I'm a demigod, daughter of Zeus. Yep, the Greek gods are real. I'd known that since I was a young kid; my mom would never shut up about my dad being King of the Gods. Anyway. My friends and I had just been chased by a gazillion monsters and I almost died, and my friend went into a coma. That probably sounds really messed up for you mortals out there. Let me backup a bit.

2 years ago, I ran away from home, where I used to live with my mother and my dead little brother. Long story short, my mom was a crazy alcoholic that kept doing stupid stunts to keep herself in the tabloids. We never got on well; she abandoned me. After Jason died, I'd had enough and I ran away.

I kept getting attacked by monsters, but trust me, it was a lot better than living with my crazy mother. During my travels, I ran into this guy named Luke Castellan, who was also getting attacked by monsters. He was a demigod, too, by the way. We agreed to work together, and travelled across the country. On the way, we also ran into a plucky, blonde, seven year-old named Annabeth Chase, who was, yep, also a demigod. And the three of us were a team. No.

We were a family.

We had a lot of good memories, running around together. And some bad ones as well. Like almost dying. A lot. And... Luke started acting differently after we visited his mother's house. He wasn't as sweet anymore; he acted like he had something to prove. He never talked to me about it, though, no matter how much I nagged him. Annabeth didn't seem to think anything was wrong. Then again, she looked up to Luke like a big brother. Annabeth was childish, but she was smart and she was tough. Once, we would've got killed by a Cyclops if it weren't for Annabeth stabbing its foot. So yeah, don't mess with Annabeth. Or any of us.

After a lot of travelling, a satyr (they're real too) named Grover Underwood found us. He led us to a place called Camp Half Blood, the only safe place for demigods. I wish I could say 'we got there safely'. Nope! We were chased by a bunch of monsters that looked like they came straight from the Underworld. They probably did. Oh yeah. Underworld's real too. Fun.

The monsters chased us up a hill. There were tons of them, including the Furies. They were especially after me, for some reason. I was holding out my shield, Aegis (which has Medusa's face on it, so it scares all my enemies) and my spear. I wasn't really doing a good job of surviving. Everywhere hurt, and my vision was blurry. It hurt to breathe. But I sat up. If I was going to die, I wasn't going to die lying around.

"Thalia!" Annabeth screamed, trying to get out of Luke's grasp. I gave her a reassuring smile, telling her to keep going. I didn't want to see my friends get hurt, either. I'd never forgive myself if they died.

A monster appeared above me. I gave it a determined look. It raised its claws.

Then, suddenly, Annabeth managed to get out of Luke's grasp. Time seemed to slow down. She ran in front of me, taking the blow.

My heart stopped.

"ANNABETH!" I screamed. She fell to the ground, twitching. Rage made blood pound through my ears. I wanted to tear those monsters to pieces, but I could barely stand up. Luke grabbed my arm and pulled me away, while I kept screaming Annabeth's name. Lightning filled the sky, and I reached out my hand to Annabeth. My vision was getting darker.

"Annabeth..." I muttered. There was a sign above her head. An owl.

"A sign of Athena," a voice said. It belonged to a centaur, a half-horse, half-human. He trotted over to us. I couldn't think of his name, but he looked familiar.

"Welcome, demigods," he said, with a bit of sadness, "to Camp Half-Blood."

And then I passed out.