Yeah, this just came to me. I'm meant to be studying... oops?

:D

This is set after The Last Olympian.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer : I don't own the Percy Jackson Series. But I do own Riley.

I never did have a normal life. And that was before I met him and was dragged into all the drama.

Okay, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. I'll start with a warning.

If you ever see a teenager locked in battle with a bunch of slithering snake creatures, keep your eyes straight in front of you. Don't stare at the boy. Don't attempt to help the boy. Don't run around screaming your head off. Just keep walking until the boy is out of sight.

Believe me, don't try to interact with the boy. It's for your own good.

I guess it's too bad I never listened to my own warning. But if I could go back in time, I would have, no doubt, done the same. After all, it was how I met him.

My name is Riley Walkers, and I'm fourteen years old. I have short, dark brown hair streaked with light gold from time spent under the sun and wild, coffee colored eyes. My skin is strangely pale, despite the hours I spent under the sun. They just never seemed to tan.

I spent a quarter of my life living on the streets. I had almost forgot how having a home felt like, though I do remember snippets of my old life. The chicken-noodle soup, the homemade brownies, and the karate disks that my mom and I would just end up laughing over.

It's funny how fast things can change, eh?

7 years ago, my whole life was turned upside down.

It was just a normal weekend. My mom and I were curled up lazily on the sofa, eating icecream and laughing as we watched the athletes getting knocked over on tv. But there was something off. My mom kept glancing at the clock, and her fingernails were tapping agitatedly on the tabletop - a habit she had when she was nervous.

That should've been my first clue.

Around three in the afternoon, my mom stood up abruptly. She told me to go into the wardrobe and hide there for a while. I haven't hidden in the wardrobe since I was five.

That should've been my second clue.

"Mom!" I had complained. "I don't think I even fit anymore!"

But I crammed myself in the tiny space anyways, because I noticed the desperate and slightly panicked look in her eyes. A few moments passed, and my mom poked her head in.

Her eyes were shining. "Riley," She had whispered. "No matter what happens, don't come out okay? Hide in here, it's not safe outside."

I didn't understand what she meant exactly by 'not safe', but I understood from her expression and stance that it was serious.

"You know my bag of weapons that you love?" My mom had asked. I just nodded, waiting for her to go on. "The combination is 3, 6, 10. The day I met your dad. And if you need cash, it'll be in my workbag in my bedroom."

I was shocked. My mom never let me near her weapons, not since the day I almost impaled the girl next door's pet hamster. And she definitely didn't let me near her money, not after I tried to set fire to the notes.

That was my third clue.

Right after my mom gave me one last smile and an 'I love you' (Shocking. My mom usually didn't show her inner sappiness), there was a deafening crash. I could hear people talking, and being my idiotic, headstrong seven years old self (I apparently inherited my impulsive nature and stubbornness from dad, even though I wouldn't know since I never met him), I creaked open the door a little. What I saw shocked me.

There was a giant guy standing in the middle of the room. Every time he moved, lightning would crackle around him. Don't ask me why, but I thought it was cool then.

The giant didn't notice me, but my mom did. Her eyes got wide and she made frantic gestures for me to go.

I didn't, of course, and by that time the giant was sensing something wrong by my mom's expressions. So my mom tried to distract him.

"What do you want, Zeus?" Standing next to the giant, my mom had looked tiny, but her voice was steady. She locked her gaze with the giant and lifted her tiny head defiantly, her red curls bouncing on her shoulders.

The 'Zeus' guy growled. "She's still alive."

"I will not sacrifice her." My mom's voice was quiet, but firm.

"Then you will die."

"So be it."

With a roar of fury, the giant rounded up on my mom. I was tiny then, and I wasn't sure what I could do. I doubt my karate skills would've been any help.

But seeing the giant towering over my mom's small frame made me mad. Really mad.

"HEY, YOU SMELLY SKUNK-BAG!" I had screamed as loud as I could.

Okay, not the best insult. But hey, I was seven. It was good enough to catch Zeus's attention anyways, and that was what I was aiming for.

Beside Zeus, my mom was shaking her head frantically, but I ignored her. "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH MOMMY!" I shrieked.

Zeus turned to me. His body crackled with electricity again, but instead of feeling the awe I had been feeling a moment ago, I was filled with pure fury.

"YOU!" Zeus boomed. "HOW DARE-"

He shot a crackle of something blue at me, but I managed to dodge it for some reason. I guess those running trails paid off.

The fact that I managed to dodge the streak made him even madder. He let out a roar and sent another streak at me.

This time I wasn't so lucky. The streak had cornered me, and just when the streak came close and I was sure I was going to turn into dust-

BAM!

Something flew over my head. I followed the object to find mom, smoking and laying on the floor. She coughed, and a trickle of blood trailed down her chin.

Zeus had also stopped, stunned.

"MOMMY!" I shrieked, running towards her. I turned my head to glare up at Zeus.

"Riley." My mom choked out, her voice a whisper. I turned to look down at her, tears blurring my vision.

"Run." She gave me one last, tiny smile. Then the light faded from her eyes and she stared blankly up at the ceiling. I shook her a few times, but she lay limp in my arms.

"YOU KILLED MOMMY!" I turned to Zeus. My small chest constricted, but I wouldn't let myself grieve. Not just yet. "I HATE YOU! I HOPE YOU DIE!"

Zeus seemed to have recovered from his shock. He turned to me. "FOOLISH CHILD-"

He sent a streak at me, but once again something blocked my way.

I glanced upwards to find that it was another giant.

"Zeus." The giant said. His voice was calmer, and I felt myself slowly lowering my hand that was clutched around a pocketknife. "You can't control Fate."

"Brother." Zeus growled. "What do you want?"

"Leave the girl be." The giant said, his voice like a breeze. "Let what was meant to be happen."

I couldn't see the giant's face, because his back was facing me, but he seemed kinder. I relaxed my stance a little.

"Brother-" Zeus had said again. "Why are you interfering?"

"You can't control everything. Let it go, Zeus. You killed her mother. You've done enough."

At the mention of my mother, my stance tightened again. I gave a howl and charged at Zeus.

He glared at me, ready to vaporize me, but once again the other giant stopped him. "Child." He said warningly, though he didn't look at me. "Calm down."

Calm down? My tiny brain was whirling with anger. He was telling me to calm down?

Nevertheless, I stepped backwards reluctantly as I watched the two giants argue.

Finally, Zeus gave a grumble. He stepped backwards. "Whatever you say, brother." He spat the last word out.

"Are you okay?" the other giant turned to me, but I was already unconscious and smoking as I lay on the ground.

Someone really should've told me not to look at the golden light.

Back to the present :

Okay, so that was basically what happened. I'm not really sure what happened after I snuck a peek at Zeus's true form, but the next time I regained consciousness, it was two years later and I was on the side of the street with my mom's wad of cash and bag of weapons laying innocently on the ground next to me.

As I said before, two years had passed. I was older, a nine years old. My mind wasn't exactly coordinated to my body, but I wasn't given time to get used to it. I was confused, and I had no idea what those giants were about.

I soon discovered that people tend to think your crazy if you randomly walk up to them in the street and start telling 'imaginary tales' about huge giants, (I knew I didn't imagine them) especially if you can't even speak the language clearly and only have a limited vocabulary. I spent the next few weeks hanging around the local school and eavesdropping on the lessons (thank the gods for my ability to sneak past the guards). I used the money to buy food and water, and I would practice with the weapons every day.

I knew something was coming, and sure enough, by the time I turned ten, I got my first attack. It was by a huge, three headed dog thing that people around me cooed at and offered treats at. It pounced at me one afternoon out of nowhere, and I had scrabbled to find my dagger before I clumsily stabbed it into the dog's coat, and even after that, it showered me with sparkles.

Sparkles. Really?

Anyways, from then on, the attacks became more frequent. Snake ladies, big bulky icy giant things, random old grandmas. Yeah, you get the idea.

What's more, is that I found that most people don't see the monsters the way I do. Snake ladies are preppy girls, ice giant things are just innocent bystanders. And old grandmas were just plain old grandmas, not ones trying to kill me.

I was forced to flee from one place to another. In all, it was kind of nightmarish. I learnt how to sleep lightly with my dagger always clutched in a hand, and I learnt how to extend my senses so that the I would be able to hear every tiny sound. I learnt how to survive. It was simple. Wake up, find food, train, stab monsters, run, and sleep. That was my daily routine.

Of course, simple went over the hill when I wandered into Manhattan.

So, how was it? I know this chapter was a bit messy with the tenses, but I had to explain a bit about Riley's past.

Anyways, tell me what you think!

Rock on! xoxo, xx-Don't-Let-Me-In-xx

(And yes, I did change my username, if anyone's wondering. It used to be Dizzy-Birdy66. Anyways, Cya!)