CHAPTER 1

I MEET JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

My name is Zinnia. At first glance I appear to be a normal sixteen year-old. But if you think that you're wrong, dead wrong, I'm about as far from normal as you can get . . .

It was Saturday at midnight. I was in the ruins of the Parthenon, piles of marble rose around me. Now most people would think of that as scary or creepy, but to me it felt like home. I was in the middle of praying to Athena, one of my mothers, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, when I heard the sound of pounding feet on marble. I turned around and saw seven people running towards me. A tall boy with black hair and green eyes, a tall girl with blond hair and grey eyes. Behind them a boy with blond hair and pale blue eyes, a girl with choppy brown hair and, a muscular boy with a toddler's face. Trailing after was a girl with cocoa brown hair and eyes that looked like 24 carrot gold, and a hyper looking boy that looked like he was just doused in oil. I could tell immediately that they where demigods. The aura surrounding them was overwhelmingly powerful. And what was worse, they where being chased by three monsters: the Minotaur, the Neiman Lion, and the Chimera. I could tell they where tired. They might have been able to fight them but I didn't wait to find out. I charged the monsters.

I headed straight for the Chimera, it was the most dangerous and hardest to defeat. It had a lion's body and had a goat head on its back and a snake for a tail. The lion breathed fire and the snake was deadly poisonous. I'm not sure what the goat does. I think it's just there to make it look weirder. While I was fighting, out of the corner of my eye I saw the black haired guy go up to the Minotaur and slice through his axe and stab him in the chest in one stroke of his sword. The blond girl runs up to him and they start fighting the Lion. I don't know what happened after that because at that moment the snake almost bit me. "Vulcas!" (idiot in Greek)I cursed myself for letting my guard down. "ZARA!"I shouted. My pet wolf(yeah, I said wolf!) obediently trotted over to me, "Help me with this guy, will ya!" immediately she attacked. A few more minutes and bye, bye Chimera. I turned around the black haired guy stabbed the Lion in the mouth. All that was left of our enemies was monster dust.
All seven demigods walked towards me. The black haired guy said "Who are you?"
"I am Zinnia," I announced "and this," I indicated pointing to my wolf "is Zara." He looked at me warily "In case you're wondering, I won't harm you, I wouldn't harm my own family." I said gently, "That's good." He said "I would hate to have to kill you when you helped us." "You know my name, what's all of yours?" I asked genuinely curious. He said "I'm Percy, the crazy looking one's Leo, the blonde's Annabeth, the girl with choppy hair is Piper, the other blonde's Jason, the wrestler with a baby's face is Frank, and the one with eyes like gold's Hazel." "How old are all of you?" I asked "We're all 13-17 years old which I'm guessing is about the same age as you," was the reply. "I may not look it but I'm actually 2,227 years old." I laughed. They're shocked faces where funny. "How did you become immortal?" asked Annabeth "Who is your godly parent?" I was about to reply when Jason interrupted "Guys why don't we talk on Argo II?" He looked around warily "Good idea," Piper replied. "Okay, let's go" Percy quickly said "Lead the way." I invited. Jason set a fast pace but I didn't mind. I was used to being on the run. That was the story of my life after all. Always running, never saying in one place for too long. I was used to hiding. "So what is The Argo II ?" I asked "Argo II is a flying Greek trireme" Jason replied. "So," I asked "You're Jason and you guys are the Argonauts?" He laughed "I guess you could say that." He was still grinning. Leo was shaking with laughter. "I like this girl, she's funny!" I replied amused "Well I'm glad you find me amusing." "We're here." Annabeth interrupted. My jaw dropped. "Behold, the mighty Argo II !" Leo announced. "Oh my gods!" I breathed "It's amazing!" I stared in wonder. Wondering how such a thing could exist. It was beautiful. It was maroon red with bronze plating. It had a bronze dragon masthead on the bow and water cannons and flaming crossbows on the port and starboard sides. It was by far the most amazing ship I've seen in all my 2,227 years. "Come on," Annabeth complained "quickly, quickly!" We climbed up the stairs into the Argo. I was still in awe, the inside was as nice as the outside. "Come on let's go to the meeting room," hurried Annabeth. The seven of us followed. Once we were all seated Annabeth turned to look at me. "Well," she demanded, "are you going to answer my questions?" "Jeez chill out for a sec," I said annoyed, "Of course I will calm down." I sighed "I guess I'll start from when I was born." Zara climbed up on my lap and curled up.

. . .

"It was 216 AD. All of the Greek gods got together on the summer solstice. You see there was a plan, a plan to create a being out of the immortal power of the gods. So each god and goddess, minor and major, combined their powers and was transferred into a mortal woman's baby before it began to develop in the womb. The child would have all the powers of all the gods. Because the baby was so powerful it took a year to reach maturity. The baby was born midnight on the summer solstice June 21st 215 AD. The woman died upon giving birth. But she lived long enough to name the baby girl. As her last thought she summoned the last of her strength and breathed the name of her baby girl "ZINNIA.""

. . .

Zinnia ended her story. She could feel the tears in her eyes.
"After I was born the gods raised me, nobody else knew I existed. I received personal training from all the gods and on my 14th birthday I received my necklace. The gods were satisfied with my training and I was let out on my own into the world and I've been here ever since. I have all I've ever needed like Zara. She has stayed by me all these years."