Hello everyone! So this is my first story I'm publishing on fanfiction. I've been reading fanfiction for a while, and I've always had ideas for stories, and now I'm getting around to actually writing them down. I actually came up with the concept for this story a few years ago, and I've thought about this idea ever since. It involves and mainly follows the story of an OC. The beginning will follow some of the events in The Lightning Thief, but will stray more away from the books after that. It will be canon for the most part and the general plot of the series itself will not change, this is just the events of the series told from a different perspective. (Hopefully that gives everyone an idea of what to expect.) Reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson Series. Anything you recognize is from Rick Riordan's novels.

When we finally arrived at the St. Louis Arch, I was not in a good mood, to say the least.

My mom and my step-dad, who she recently married, thought that it would be a great idea to take me and my eight-year-old step brother, Matthew on a roadtrip to "grow closer as a family" and "celebrate the end of the school year". Don't get me wrong- I was ecstatic when I had found out that we would be going on vacation. Before my mom married Chris, I had never gone on an actual vacation, or travelled all that far from Cleveland, where I'm from. But now, about two weeks into the trip, I was absolutely done and wanted nothing more than to go home, see my friends, and sleep in my own bed. First of all, I was stuck in our car for endless hours everyday, travelling to our next destination. We started our trip by going out East, then through the South, and then we drove to St. Louis. Eventually we would travel to Chicago, then through Indiana, until finally we would arrive back home. I wouldn't have minded the long car rides, but my step dad insisted that since the four of us had vastly different tastes in music, we listen to audiobooks or talk shows on the radio, which never failed to give me a headache. And to promote "family discussions", my mom insisted that I not ignore everyone and listen to my iPod.

In addition to that, I was struggling to get along with Matthew. Because of the four years between us, we had very little in common, and despite the insistence of our respective parents, we really weren't making any progress in our relationship. I just wanted to get home and see my two best friends, Lucy and Justin, again. I couldn't even talk to them while I was gone because my mom insisted that I didn't need a cell phone, which was totally unfair. I mean, Lucy and Justin didn't have phones either, and a lot of my classmates didn't, but still, I really wanted one.

Thirdly, I was exhausted, because the night before I'd had a really unsettling dream. I tended to remember a lot of my dreams, but most of the time they were just the really odd dreams that you tell your friends and laugh about the next day. In the dream, I was alone in a dark wasteland, and it was almost like I was in a huge cave. Right in front of me was a dark crevasse that appeared to stretch for miles and have no visible bottom. I couldn't see much of my surroundings, as they were surrounded by a dense fog. Then I heard a deep voice which seemed to rise out of the abyss. In a few short hours you will find the trio sent on a quest. Bring their leader to me, and you will be rewarded greatly. What really freaked me out about the dream was that it was so vivid and that I could clearly feel a voice speaking to me. Though the voice offered rewards to me, which would be nice I guess, there was something evil about it as well, and I had a gut feeling that I should not follow the voice's orders.

"Meghan, get in the elevator already." Matthew's voice takes me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, coming." I started to walk into the elevator.

"Sorry, this elevator is full," the attendant told me as I tried to join my family. "You'll have to take the next one up. The elevators can only seat five people."

My mom started to step out of the elevator. "Meghan, I can ride with you-"

"It's ok, mom. I can go by myself. I'll be up there a few minutes after you. I'll just take the next elevator."

After a few minutes, the elevator came back, and I was the first to step on. I was accompanied by three people that looked to be about my age: two boys and one girl, all wearing matching orange shirts, and a large woman with her pet chihuahua. I wasn't exactly sure if animals were allowed in the Arch, but I wasn't about to question this lady, as she kind of creeped me out. The elevator left, and for about a minute we sat in silence, until the lady said, "No parents?"

I looked up as the girl, who had curly blonde hair and piercing gray eyes said, "They're below, scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor dears," the lady replied. Then she looked at me, sensing that I was not with the others. "Where are your parents, dear?"

"They took the elevator before this one. It was full though, so it didn't have room for me," I replied quickly. This lady was really starting to give me a really bad feeling, almost a sense of impending doom.

Then her chihuahua began to bark, and the lady told it, "Now, now sonny, behave."

One of the boys then asked her, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

At that moment, I decided to more closely observe the three. Aside from the blonde girl, there were two guys: one scrawny, with reddish, curly hair; the other had black hair and deep green eyes. Suddenly, my stomach dropped. The trio sent on a quest. Could this be the trio mentioned in my dream? I tried to shake it off, as it was only a dream, but for some reason I just couldn't.

Before I could freak myself out any further, the lady replied to the boy with a "No" and smiled very creepily.

The elevator continued to move, and suddenly I felt like I was being watched. I looked up to see the scrawny boy sniffing the air, or at least that's what it looked like, with a look of dread on his face. The girl next to him was staring at me as well, as if she was trying to figure me out. The black haired boy, however, seem pretty oblivious to the situation.

When the elevator reached the top of the Arch at last, I ran out to meet up with my family, thoroughly startled by that entire ride. I tried to focus on my surroundings, but it was really difficult with everything that was on my mind. I wanted to tell my mom that I just wanted to leave, but that would worry her. She's always been a very cautious person, and was pretty reluctant to even letting us go on this trip. Telling her about what happened in the elevator might scare her and spoil the trip. I was probably overreacting anyways.

Strange things, things I could never explain, happened to me fairly often anyways. There was one incident, when I was about eight, where there were two stray dogs stalking the outside of my neighborhood, only a few houses away from my own. I was playing with Lucy and Justin in my front yard, and we hadn't even noticed until my mom came running outside and forced us to come in, and she made us stay there for the next six hours. Despite all the questions my curious eight-year-old self had, my mom would never give a proper explanation as to why she was so worried. She simply told me that one of our neighbors must have let their dogs loose, and that she didn't want the dogs to attack me or my friends.

More recently, on the first day of sixth grade, my school went on lockdown for two hours. We were never told why, but rumors went around that there was an armed robbery at a nearby jewelry store, and that the car with the involved suspects drove through the school parking lot. I told my mom about this, and to my surprise, she totally freaked out. All that evening, she was on the phone, and all I could hear her talking about was something about danger and a camp. Later, she assured me that nothing was wrong, and that I would be fine.

We stayed in the Arch for a while, so I had a lot of time to think and process all the weird things about my life, and before I knew it, the Park Rangers were announcing that the observation deck would be closing shortly. I slowly made my way to the elevator line, and I was about to join my family when some of the people behind us gave me really nasty looks for cutting the line. "You know what, mom? I think I'll just get in the back of the line. I don't want to annoy the people behind us, and I'd like to spend more time up here," I told her.

"Meghan, I'd really prefer it if you stayed with us," she replied, looking anxious.

"Mom, I rode up here by myself. I'll just meet you guys at the bottom."

Then my stepdad cut into the conversation. "I think Meghan will be fine staying up here. We can just wait for her." I think he sensed the people behind us not being too happy about me cutting ahead.

My mom sighed and let me stay, so I made my way to the back of the line. Eventually, the only people left in the Arch were me, the black-haired boy, the creepy chihuahua lady, one of the park rangers, and a little boy with his family. Suddenly, the chihuahua started to bark really loudly.

"Doggie! Look, a doggie!" exclaimed the little boy. His parents immediately pulled him away from the dog.

Then the chihuahua turned to the boy, and then to me, and started to growl at us. "Well, son," the lady said, "if you insist."

I guess the boy was just as freaked out as I was, because he asked, "Um, did you just call that chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," she said, "not a chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make." She then proceeded to roll her sleeves up, revealing nasty, green, scaly skin. I figured I should either run, because she appeared to be some sort of monster, or maybe offer her some lotion.

"You should really get that checked out by a doctor," I said without thinking, probably because I was majorly freaked out.

The lady simply laughed. "I must say, I was not expecting to find another half-blood here. But I will not object- it is only so often that I have the opportunity to test them." Then she flicked her forked tongue, and her eyes became slits.

Then her chimera, or whatever she said it was, started to bark even more loudly, and each time it barked, it grew, eventually becoming so tall that its back hit the ceiling of the room. Its appearance changed too, now having the head of a lion, body and hooves of a goat, and its tail was a ten foot long snake. I screamed and ran to the corner of the observation deck in fear. Then the psycho monster lady said to the boy, "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood, as I mentioned before. For I am the mother of monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

I tried to process everything that she had just said. Zeus? As in Greek mythology lightning bolt guy Zeus? And what was all this talk about half-bloods and heros?

Then the Percy kid said, "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

That made Echidna so angry that she started to rant about Australia and how they named an animal after her. Had I not been in a life or death scenario, I would have laughed. It was a little concerning, however, because then she said that she was going to destroy Percy.

The chimera charged at Percy, but he managed to dodge the monster. Meanwhile, the others in the room were trying to open the emergency exit across from where I was. So even if I wanted to take that exit, I would have to walk right through where Percy and the Chimera were fighting.

Then, Percy ran to the other side of the deck and took out a pen. I blinked, and suddenly he was holding a sword. Percy then yelled, "Hey chihuahua!" and it spun around, opened its mouth, and shot flames towards him. He was able to avoid the flames, but there was now a huge hole in the side of the Arch. Whoops.

Percy slashed his sword at the monster's neck, but the sword must have bounced off the dog's collar. Before I could process that, the Chimera whipped its snake tail around and bit Percy in the leg. He attempted to hit the Chimera with the sword, but the Chimera knocked it out of his hand and through the hole in the Arch. Percy was surrounded, and we were all screwed. Echidna cackled, "They don't make heros like they used to, eh, son?" It looked like this was the end for Percy. "If you are the son of Poseidon, you should not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."

Son of Poseidon? I thought. Again, what's with all the Greek mythology references? They're just myths, right?

I didn't know what to do. I had no way to fight Echidna or the Chimera, Percy was going to jump out of the Arch and probably die, and things weren't looking good for me either. Echidna had singled me out as a half-blood, along with Percy. She had also said that he was a son of Poseidon. Did that mean…

All of a sudden, the air around me began to sort of shimmer, and a golden bow appeared in my hands, along with two golden arrows. Even though I had never shot a bow in my life, I knew what I had to do.

"You have no faith. You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."

Percy seemed to think for a moment. I put one of the arrows in the bow and pulled it back, just as I had seen in movies.

"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent flames towards Percy.

Percy jumped.

Now was the time. I tried to aim for the Chimera, and I let the arrow go, hoping for the best.

The shot was perfect apparently, as it hit the Chimera and the Chimera exploded into dust. Before Echidna could react, I sent another arrow right at her chest. It was right on target, and Echidna was vaporized. Upon the defeat of both monsters, the bow and arrows disappeared.

Before I could process what happened, I decided that I had to get out of the Arch immediately, but I didn't have the time to wait for an elevator if they were even running. And if I did wait, I could easily be questioned, and what would I say? A giant monster attacked I spotted a door that said "Stairs: Maintenance Personnel Only", and immediately darted towards it, and it was thankfully unlocked. I opened it, then slammed the door shut again, and started to carefully run down the stairs, hoping that no one would follow me. A thousand different thoughts were going through my mind as I ran down the stairs. Everything that just happened kept replaying in my head, and this made me think of question had no rational answer. Though all of this, however, I somehow knew one thing for certain: Percy Jackson was not dead, and I had to find him immediately.

Ok, so that was the first chapter! Please review if you want me to continue, it would be really encouraging! Tell me what you think as well! Also, if you notice any errors, please review or PM me! A lot of this chapter was written a couple years ago, I just finally had the motivation to continue with this idea, and although I did a lot of editing and changes, I may have missed something! I'll try to upload again soon!