AUthor's note:

I'm working on two stories right now, and I was tired of them. I mean, I still wanted to finish them, but I needed a break for a second. So I drifted off into my wonderful daydreams...

and thought about what it would be like if Percy had a half-sister one year younger than him.

Meet Tessa. Girl that can shish-kebab anyone, anytime.

Tessa had been running away from monsters as long as she could remember.

At first, it had been her and a boy named Ted, who was six years older than her. But then Ted had married and she was all alone. Of course, Ted had offered to adopt her like a child, but she preferred roaming the woods. Even if she was alone.

So she roamed the woods with only a celestial bronze dagger that she had picked up one day. It seemed to be one of the only things that could kill the monsters that stalked her daily, and she used it to defend herself. Of course, she had a small pocket knife for cutting food off the trees. As she roamed, she found a falcon with a broken wing.

"Oh you poor thing!" she said. She was twelve back then. Three years ago. So Tessa had nursed the falcon, which slowly became devoted to her and followed her around with only the feet. Even when his wing healed, he still followed her around, and even hunted for both of them. So Tessa called him Frightsome. She, of course, had read My Side of the Mountain, and Frightful seemed a bit feminine. She called him Fright for short, which he seemed to like.

One day, Tessa was wandering the woods with Fright at her side when she encountered a hellhound.

"Drat, I hate you guys," Tessa grumbled. "I either fight nobly and die, which I shalt not do, or I could run."

She ran.

But for some reason, the hellhound was giving a playful growl. Tessa stopped running and looked at it. The hellhound was now rolling on the floor, so Tessa hesitantly walked forward and rubbed it's belly. If it was a cat, Tessa could imagine it purring.

Then the hellhound jumped up and cleverly navigated so Tessa was on it's back. It raced around the woods with Tessa holding on for dear life.

"Whoa! Slow down!" she yelled, with Fright flying next to them. But the hellhound didn't stop until it reached the edge of the woods, where it stopped abruptly, pitching Tessa forward. She curled up into a ball and hit the ground at the feet of someone clothed in the same metal as her dagger.

The boy was staring at her and she sat up, groaning and wondering how hard she hit her head.

"Holy crap, where am I?" Tessa asked, and winced. The boy outstretched his hand and she took it, pulling herself up. "Who are you?"

"I'm Percy Jackson. You are?" Percy asked. He had bright green eyes and dark hair and was cute in an odd way, and was probably older than her, but not by much.

"I'm Tessa."

"Tessa what?" Percy asked.

"Just Tessa. I have no idea what my last name is," Tessa said, shrugging. She brushed a strand of her reddish brown hair from her blue eyes. "And on to my first question: where am I?"

"Camp Half-blood. Are you a human?" Percy asked.

"Yes, I am a human. Clearly, you are too."

"Have you been chased by monsters?"

"Have you been stalking me? Yes, I have."

"How did you get here? Did a satyr guide you?"

"No, a big hellhound dumped me here."

"Mrs. O'Leary?"

"Is she the big hellhound? Then yes. She's surprisingly nice."

"Of course she is. She's been here for two years."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen. You?"

"Fifteen. Have you been sent here to interrogate me?"

"No, I haven't, thank you very much."

"I'm not thanking you."

A pretty girl with curly, yellow hair and a tan came up. She looked like a California girl, Tessa thought, other than the fact that she had stormy gray eyes. "Hey, Seaweed Brain, bother to introduce me to your little friend here?"

"I'm not little," Tessa said. "I'm just not gigantically tall."

"I can see that," the girl said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Annabeth, Tessa. Tessa, Annabeth," Percy said. "Tessa, you're going to the Hermes cabin."

"You mean as in god Hermes?"

"Yes, I mean as in god Hermes," Percy said impatiently. "Are you going to go or shall Annabeth have to guide you."

"Please do, Annabeth," Tessa said. A smile was on her face.

Annabeth glared at (Seaweed Brain? What was that all about?) Percy and started to march away. She went to the Hermes Cabin and dragged out a guy with sandy blond hair and a mischievous smile. "Coby, show Tessa around."

"Who's Tessa?" Coby asked.

"Hi," Tessa said, unimpressed.

"Is she a Hermes?" Coby asked, squinting at Tessa. "She doesn't look like one."

"I know, but you just have to wait. Sooner or later, she'll get out of your cabin," Annabeth said soothingly.

"Hello!" Tessa said angrily. "Still here!"

"Should we dump her in the water? Maybe she should try Clarisse's electric spear," Coby said, completely ignoring Tessa. "Nico could talk to her."

"I'm not sure that she's one of the big three," Annabeth said.

Tessa snapped her teeth shut with an audible click. "Ugh. Fright!" she called, and Fright came out of the sky, landing on her arm. "Come on. We're leaving."

"You can't leave yet," someone said.

Tessa whirled around. "Oh yeah? Give me one good reason!" She searched for the person who said it.

A girl about her age, with dark hair and gray eyes tugged at her sleeve. "Remember me Tessa?"

Tessa felt like she might faint, cry, or leap in happiness. She settled for gasping in joy.

"Elle? Why are you here?"