Prologue

Fighting her unconsciousness, a girl who looked to be twelve or thirteen years old took her first shaky breath in a long time. Her eyes fluttered open for the first time in six years. She was shivering, but ignored the freezing cold. She had heard some anxious shouting. The girl looked around confusedly. Where were the monsters? Her friends, were they safe? For an agonizing moment, she couldn't remember their names. A little girl with blond princess curls… Annabeth. And Grover, their guide. An–and Luke. Her heart, as usual, did a little tap dance when she thought of Luke — they had gone through so much together before, they'd protected and saved each other too many times to count. She knew he'd always be there for her.

And yet… Why wasn't he here among so many people crowding around? Where were the beautiful blue eyes she knew so well? All she saw was a pair of sea-green eyes looking intently at her — alluring green eyes that seemed to glow with power, yet still... warm. Warm with care, for her. His eyebrows were scrunched up with concern, like she was familiar and he was trying to figure out who she was. Now that she thought about it, he looked familiar too.

"Who-"

"I'm Percy," the raven haired boy said. "You're safe now."

These people, they had to be demigods as well. This must have been the Camp that Grover was bringing them to. She remembered fighting off the Kindly Ones (oh, they weren't very kind in her opinion) plus dozens of other monsters before letting loose a piercing war cry and using all her remaining energy to summon the biggest bolt of lightning she could muster.

The next thing she knew, the world had faded and she was in some kind of dreamscape. She had seen Annabeth and Luke living at Camp; training; learning to survive. Sometimes thinking about her, but mostly living their lives like she had wanted them to: normally - at least, as normal as a demigod's life can be. She had seen a preteen boy fighting some kind of bull monster — the Minotaur, she realized with a start — in the rain; an abandoned waterpark. Annabeth and Grover appeared with that same boy – Percy, he said his name was – in some sort of casino/arcade combination, and two other children with dark onyx eyes and raven-black hair watching from the shadows. She had seen a white-walled recording studio; some gloomy place with a lot of ghosts and howling; and for some reason, the Empire State Building.

"Strangest dream … " she muttered.

It was like playing a movie in fast forward, the scenes ran by so quickly. Most recently, she had seen a huge elevator door, so sinister-looking albeit glowing so brightly in the endless darkness, herself being pushed towards it by a searing golden heat that had no source, seemingly forcing her out of that iniquitous darkness… Hmmm… Golden…

That's when it clicked. Why he looked familiar. She had seen him in one of her dreams. On the ship, this had been him.

"It's okay," he comforted her, patting her shoulder consolingly.

This boy, Percy, he had tried to warn her about approaching that sarcophagus. But she still did and… and suddenly she understood why Luke wasn't here.

She wanted to cry, but controlled her emotions. "Dying," internally flinching when she thought of that horrible yellow burst of light.

"No, you're okay," Percy assured her with a sense of calm and confidence she had never seen before in a person. "What's your name?"

She stared into his hypnotic green eyes and instantly got lost in the swirling ocean — even Luke's hadn't been so captivating. Percy's eyes seemed to hold endless power, like unlimited energy was running through him at any one time.

But now… no. Luke wasn't around anymore. He was lying in a golden coffin, surrounded by golden light, emanating a golden glow, and she was pretty sure his beautiful blue eyes had turned golden as well. He wasn't Luke anymore. The Luke she had known was without a doubt dead.

The girl's eyes dropped to the ground.

It was her fault. If she had been strong enough, she could have saved herself and stayed with Luke. It was her fault. If she had been strong enough, she could have been there for him and prevented him from doing anything stupid. It was her fault. If she had been strong enough –

The girl choked back a sob. She felt her eyes start to brim with tears and quickly blinked them back. No, she would stay strong. She couldn't show weakness, she was supposed to be looked up to. She had to stay strong.

The girl managed to get her eyes back to Percy's piquant ones and look a deep breath.

"I am – "

"Thalia," Hera announced, "daughter of Zeus."

The room quietened down instantly as said demigoddess hesitantly limped forward before dropping into a bow, kneeling at the foot of her father's throne.

"Rise, my daughter," Zeus said with a slight smirk.

Hera cast her a distasteful sidelong glance upon hearing those words, her face contorting into a beautiful sneer. Her husband had yet again cheated on her. For over twenty years she had borne with that girl, and that useless drunk of an actress, and eternities longer with her despicable husband who simply couldn't keep his dick in his pants, even after he swore an oath not to sire anymore bastards. The nerve of him.

She was resigned to her title of Goddess of Marriage and Family and could not have any demigod children. She was sure her useless godly children got their incompetence from their father. If she had any demigods, they would take after her qualities. Smart and stunning, graceful and royal, all the things her children were not. She doubted her worthless excuse of a husband would even bother to be offended if she did.

But finally, she had had her revenge. Jason Grace, her champion, her pride, her secret weapon, stolen from that wretch of a woman with whom Zeus had dared to twice sire a child with. In his Roman form, no less! Hera's form flickered slightly as a goatskin cape appeared on her shoulders and then vanished just as quickly. Poseidon's eyes flitted over to where his youngest sister sat. She took in a shaky breath. She had to maintain her composure. The Olympian council did not need even more trouble than it already had.

"A great hero must be rewarded. Is there anyone here who would deny that my daughter is deserving?" Zeus phrased his words like a threat, almost daring someone to argue.

The question was met with silence. Thalia felt her heart in her throat as she realized she would probably have to explain a lot of things now.

"Thalia, the council has decided that you shall be made a goddess!"

Thalia choked on her words. She started coughing in the middle of the throne room. Hearing snickers from the Ares cabin behind her, she spun her head around and shot them an electric glare. They shut up immediately.

A goddess? Her mind racing, Thalia noticed that Zeus had already 'decided' for her – it hadn't been an offer.

"My-my lord, if I may so humbly decline your generous offer," Thalia chose her next words carefully. The council would not take well to being made a fool of at this occasion. Zeus' eyes were already widening and he was about to speak when she cut in, "I do, however, have a wish, instead of being made a goddess, and I would ask that you, um, grant it?" Thalia tried as formerly as she could.

"If it is within our power, it shall be granted to you," Hera announced since Zeus was currently still sitting in stunned silence at his daughter's rejection. Although she despised the little brat, the Queen of the gods could not help but admire the first of her stepchildren to have an ego smaller than Zeus' big head. That fact that she turned down godhood itself was already a wondrous surprise, she would've expected the girl to jump at the first opportunity of immortality like that arrogant bastard Heracles. Jason took after his sister, that much was obvious, although they looked nothing alike. She was starting to see why Poseidon was so fond of his niece. But she would reserve comment for after the girl stated her wish.

"It is within your power! And it's not even hard!"

"Speak, child, and we will see to it that we do what we can," Hera probed her on.

"First swear it on the Styx. Swear you'll grant me my wish!" Thalia seemed to get more agitated as she kept her gaze on Zeus and Zeus only. Ares suddenly burst out laughing, "You've got spunk kid, I like it." He didn't meet demigods that would demand anything with such ferocity, much less to Zeus, not to say the whole council. "I'm for it, whatever it is. I swear on the Styx."

That got the ball rolling. Poseidon was next, and Hera, and soon all the gods were staring expectantly at Zeus, waiting for him to stop stammering and get on with it.

Curse the war god, curse his brother, his wife, curse all of them. Zeus had no choice but to follow along with almost a hundred pairs of eyes trained on him.

"I want peace. I want the gods to stop using heroes. You go around having kids with just about anyone, and then when they're old enough you just make use of them to do your bidding. This war wouldn't have been able to start if so many demigods felt unwanted and abandoned. Seriously, at least claim your kids! Even if your stupid Ancient Laws mean you can't be there for them, you can show them that you actually know they exist. Especially the minor gods. Probably half of the demigods on Kronos' side were kids of minor gods who never bothered to claim them. And you wanna know why they weren't claimed? Because it would't have made a difference. They'd be stuffed in Cabin 11 anyway." Oooooh, snap, Apollo chuckled. He always claimed his kids. They were way too cool to be stuck in Eleven.

"Which brings me to my next point. Now that the war's over, camp needs some rebuilding. The attack from the labyrinth almost destroyed the camp. We need better protection. Some magic defenses and stuff. But we also need to build cabins for the minor gods. You gods need to be less selfish, really. There are so many kids that don't have a place in camp, or rather the Hermes cabin. Can't you guys open up your cabins for some of them? Hermes is bursting!" Hermes looked uneasy. He didn't want to burst.

"Can't you be more involved in the lives of the campers? It's not difficult. I hold you to your promise." Hera rose her eyebrows and looked at Poseidon. Her brother's eyes twinkled with a look that said I told you so. She slowly nodded and turned to face Zeus. "Well, as your daughter has clearly pointed out, all of you have been doing… horrible jobs as parents. I think it's time to make a change around here. Poseidon, if you would?"

The sea god smiled before he rose from his throne and pointed his trident towards the young daughter of the sky. Hera sent her husband a smirk as a bright ethereal blue light shot towards Thalia.

"NO!" Zeus shouted, but it was too late. As the ocean steam cleared, Thalia Grace was gone.

Hi it's my first story, I'm new to this so.. hope you guys liked it. I know it's short, and you might think it's just one of those "Poseidon overthrows Zeus" stories, it's not. I have a lot of plans in my head right now and I'm trying to fit them together so they can coalesce into a proper story. Gimme some time, I wanna make sure I've got at least the next 2 chapters written out and the plotline roughly set before continuing to update. I'll be a lot freer after December, so hang on!