CHAPTER ONE: MY LIFE IS SAVED MY LIQUID DISH SOAP

In the few years I had gotten to live out of the orphanage, my life pretty much sucked. The weirdoes who adopted me knew absolutely nothing about taking care of a 7-year-old. They just assumed I could everything myself. They assumed I didn't need money to pay for my school lunches, that they didn't need to sign any permission slips for anything, and that they didn't need to cook me dinner. I had grown on this, and now lived on it. I was used to being totally ignored. That's when things started to get a little bit… weird. These weird… things started appearing. I wasn't entirely sure what they were, but, they were really scary. And every time they would show up at school, everyone but me would run. Honestly, I felt no huge reason to run. They were scary, and they always went for me, but I always knew that somehow, they wouldn't be able to get me. But, just a few days before my 8th birthday were worse than anything in the past.

It was the last day of school before Spring Break, and a few days before my 8th birthday. I was walking to school like any other day. I didn't have many friends, just one. Her name was Anna. She was 13, and was kind of my guardian. I'm pretty sure her name was short for something, but I had never thought to ask. She said that everybody liked me, but never really got the chance to talk. And I was okay with that. On that morning, I decided to take a quick shortcut to school. If I had ever watched a movie, I would have known never to do that. I took a cut through a small corner of forest, which I knew fairly well. As I walked in-between the pine trees, I could have sworn I heard something…growling. It sounded like something with big, heavy feet stalking me. I just ignored it as I walked, even though in truth, I was terrified out of my wits. When I heard a huge, lethal foot step on a pile of dead pine needles I had just passed a few feet ago, I froze. I knew I was going to regret it if I turned around, but of course, I just had to. And I did regret it. In front of me was a huge dog, bigger than any I had ever seen. It had red, dark, unforgiving eyes. Baring its stained yellow and red teeth, huge claws digging into the ground as if ready to run, it was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen in my life. I didn't move a muscle. It barked, and the echo carried through the entire forest. It dug its claws deep into the leaves and pine needle carpet, and I could see it was about to take its first strides toward me. I turned and ran as fast as I could, but I was the slowest runner in the world. It caught me faster than I had time to react to, and tore my dress. I managed to escape before it tore my head in two, but I wasn't free for long. I climbed up a tree as fast as I could, just barely escaping its jaws.

"Oh, dear Gods, please tell me what this thing is, and get it off!" I prayed. With any luck, Zeus would vaporize it. But I knew that it didn't work that way.

"ANNA! HELP ME!" I screamed as loud as I could. When it came to screaming, I was the champion. I knew she had heard it when she came running up to the dog. I heard her gasp.

"Vadetta, what did you do!" she yelled up the tree.

"I just walked through here! Now get it away!" I screamed in reply. And that was when I saw something in Anna's eyes spark, like she had just found a missing link. Up her sleeve, she drew a bronze knife and charged toward the dog. The dog turned to face her. I was immediately scared for Anna's life. How could she possibly take on such a beast! I prayed to the gods (the Greek Gods I might add - I believed in them for some reason) to help us. I instantly felt my bag weighing down so much I almost fell. I finally propped it on the branch with me, and unzipped it. There was something that sort of looked like a spear, but with a different shape. I took it out and examined it. It was a lightning bolt! But where had it come from? I didn't take time to think about it, I just thanked the gods. I jumped down from my tree and charged at the dog. When I tried to throw the lightning, instead of being thrown, a huge blast of lightning was shot out the end. The dog was hit, and quickly disintegrated into sand and sunk down below. I was frozen. When that strange thing had been shot, I had felt something. I didn't know what, but it effected me. Suddenly, the lightning bolt vanished. I guess it was a one shot only.

"How… how did you…" Anna was out of breath.

"I don't know. I just found that thing in my backpack randomly. I don't know where it came from," I said honestly. Anna looked over me.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure why I hadn't realized it before, but now I know why the Hellhound attacked you," she announced. I raised an eyebrow.

"A what hound?"

"Never mind that - but you're a demigod!" she concluded. I raised my other eyebrow.

"A demi what?" I yelled.

"I'll explain later, but for now, we have to get you to Camp Half Blood!" she said as she started dragging me back toward my house.

"Camp what? Anna, what are you talking about! We're going to be late for school!"

"Camp Half Blood, where people like me and you go. Now hurry up, before more monsters appear!" she ran faster. I was struggling to keep up. When we finally reached my house, I was exhausted. I saw that my step mom was already gone, headed to work at Pizza Hut. Anna dragged me inside.

"Go to your room and pack these two bags full of everything you want to take with you!" she tossed me a backpack and tote bag. I didn't understand why she was so anxious, but I did as I was told. In the tote bag, I packed as many pairs of clothes as I could fit, along with different shoes and things for my hair. In the backpack I took a few animals, my cell phone, and all my jewelry. I also took my photo album and wrote a note for my mom.

Mom,

Anna insisted I go to some camp named Camp Half Blood. I don't know where it is or why, but some weird dog thing called a Hellhound attacked me earlier. I'll call you later, promise. Don't worry; I'll be fine with Anna with me.

~Vadetta

I stuck the note on the fridge, the first place my mom goes after work. I carried the two bags out of my room and set them in the living room. Anna was filling a grocery bag with food and water, as if we were going camping or something.

"Ok, I'll call us a taxi. Assuming you have money, that is," she said.

"Um… I don't. But my step mom keeps all my allowance and Christmas money in a huge jar on top of her dresser," I replied. We ran into her room and grabbed the jar. There was a bunch of pennies and quarters, along with quite a few bills.

"How much money is in here?" Anna asked in amazement. I shrugged.

"I don't know… probably a couple hundred at least… my mom was saving it for my college fund, though."

"Well, this is more important. We're taking it all. Let's go!" she ran outside with my jar of money and her bag of food, while I followed with my two bags. She called us a cab, and told the driver Long Island. He looked at us like we were crazy.

"I have enough. But we need to get there fast," she said, holding up the jar. The man saw the money and floored it. We were only going 60 in town, but once we got on the freeway, I never saw that little needle go below 90. I was terrified.

"Ok, Anna. You get to start explaining!" I insisted. She sighed.

"Ok… a demigod is someone who's half-human half-god - like me and you," she began.

"Um… half…god..?"

"Yeah. Example: my mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. You haven't been claimed yet, so we don't know who your god relation is yet. But one thing's for sure: we're related. All gods and demigods are, especially if you're in the same cabin," she continued.

"Your mom, is Athena? And we're related? Cabins?" I wasn't following.

"Yes and yes. Each God had their own cabin at the camp. Depending on who claims you, you live in one of them."

"Um… okay… so, who am I "claimed" by?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Not everyone gets claimed. But… if you are claimed, you do not want to see the symbols of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades," she warned.

"Why not?"

"They were banned from having anymore children because of… well, that's too long of a story for right now. Anyway, the last time one of them had a kid… well, technically, nothing's happened to him yet. But the time before that, Zeus's daughter got turned into a pine tree. Their children always have the worst of things happen to them… if they don't get throw off Mt. Olympus first. Percy hasn't yet, but… then again, he has an excuse… but anyway! Just make sure they don't claim you."

"Um, I thought I couldn't control it? And if they do… will they vaporize me?" I was choking up now.

"Possibly. It's a miracle they didn't kill Percy" Anna said.

"Wait, who's this Percy dude?"

"Oh, he got claimed as Poseidon's son last summer. The only reason they didn't kill him was… well, I'm not really sure what it was actually. But he did become a true hero. But that's beside the point!"

"Well, if I do get claimed by them, I might survive then. If they didn't kill him, they might not kill me," I offered. Anna shook her head.

"I doubt it. But even if they did, you still don't want it. Just hope you get claimed by a different god, like Athena or Hermes."

I nodded, even thought there was nothing I could do about it. We sat in silence the rest of the way, up until we got to this little dirt road.

"Well, kids, this is as far as I can take you. You'll have to walk from here," he said as Anna handed him the jar. We thanked the man and began to walk. I sighed.

"Oh, don't worry. It's not that far, just about a mile or two up the road," she reassured me. I wished I had the energy to believe her. I began to walk very slowly. I tried to take in the surroundings as I went, but they were glum and boring. We had only been walking for about five minutes before I heard a very deep, low grumble. When I turned around, I saw a pack of four Hellhounds staring me down. I froze. Anna dropped everything and dragged me up the hill. I dropped my tote bag, but my backpack was securely on my back. I tried to run, but I didn't get too far. I saw Anna drag me behind a bush and pulled out a bottle of water from the very bottom of my bag. She shot some in the air, making a rainbow. She threw some kind of gold coin at it. I could see some weird place appear through the rainbow. I saw a sign that said CAMP HALF BLOOD in the background. I saw some dude in a wheelchair, some dude in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt, some dude with curly hair and a hat, and another totally normal-looking dude holding a ball-point pen.

"Percy! Grover! We need help!" she whispered into the rainbow. My jaw was dropped. I could hear the growling getting closer as the Hellhounds sniffed us out.

"What was that? Who is that?" the guy in a hat asked.

"We're being followed by Hellhounds! Four of them! Come help us!" she whispered. I saw one of their noses stick through the bush and sniff. I screamed, and they burst through. One grabbed my backpack and was trying to drag me back to the others. I was screaming. Anna turned immediately and drew her knife.

"Annabeth! What's happening?" the normal guy demanded.

"Just come help - NOW!" she yelled and ran out of the bushes. I was struggling to keep the dogs from biting my head off. I tried kicking them and swatting at them, but they didn't stop. Eventually, I dropped my backpack and ran in a dead sprint, which still wasn't very fast. They caught me quickly as I climbed a tree. One caught my dress and was tugging down. It ripped the bottom, tearing off a few inches. I climbed as high as I could and stayed there. The dogs quickly turned and went for Anna. I prayed to the gods, even the minor ones, again for help. But now, nothing happened. I sighed, and jumped down. I knew I would have to help somehow. Anna couldn't fight off all those things with a little knife. As I watched them chase her, I focused hard. There had to be a way to help her! But nothing happened. I gave up on that, and just charged the dogs. I was going faster than I ever had. I jumped on one and started beating it until it fell to the ground. It didn't stay down long, but I had injured it. It was limping after me, still pretty fast. My body was going in over-drive - my heart was pounding like a fighter jet, my veins ready to burst with the rush of sudden energy. My entire body felt engulfed in warmth, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It gave me energy to do things I never could before. I ran from the dog, easily able to outrun it. I quickly turned and held my ground firm, waiting for the dog to charge me. Sure enough, it did. I was careful not to move until it was close enough. When I sensed it was the right time, I jumped high, and landed on the dog's back. I pulled its fur and made it charge toward the other Hellhounds attacking Anna. They scattered. I jumped off the dog, and ran as fast as I could up the hill. Anna was right behind me. After only a few seconds, I could feel the heat starting to cool in my body, and my energy was pouring out with each step, as if I had sprung a leak. I had to slow down after only 10 steps, to barely a jog. I felt as though my veins had been rung out - blood and energy-less, and my feet felt heavier than a million freight trains combined. I collapsed to my knees. Anna saw me stop, and back to me. The Hellhounds had started chasing us. We had made it a good length up the hill, and the dogs were slower going uphill. We probably had just over a minute until they reached us. Before I could say anything, some dude with a pen in his hand ran up to Anna.

"Annabeth! What happened? Who is she?" the boy asked. I barely had to energy to look at him. Did he just call her Annabeth? I thought.

"Vadetta, thank you very much," I said a little rudely. "A better question - who are you, what the heck are those things, where am I, why am I here, and what the heck are you?" I directed the last question to Anna.

"First of all, that's a lot more than just one question. I'm Percy Jackson, those 'things' are Hellhounds, you are on Long Island, about 250 yards from Camp Half Blood, ask Annabeth why you're here, and I am a demigod," Percy explained each one.

"Anna, why am I here?"

"Um, well… because you're a half-blood," she replied simply.

"Oh, right, all that 'god' stuff. So, you're both those weird half-god things, too?"

"Yes, and so are you. Now hurry up!" Percy snapped. I stuck my tongue out at him, and struggled to stand up. The Hellhounds were gaining. Anna and Percy ran out of patience and began to drag me. Percy left me to Anna, and uncapped his pen. Suddenly, there was a glowing sword blade in its place. I was too stunned to move. I watched as he sliced through the beasts, and they just vaporized into sand. I was so focused on him that I didn't even notice one of them charge at me. It was only thanks to some weird dude with hooves I lived. He suddenly ran up behind us and squirted a bottle of what appeared to be liquid dish soap on the dog's path. But instead of the path getting cleaner or wet, the ground sort of… dissolved. There was a huge hole where the soap had been, and I quickly realized what it really was: acid. the dog fell into the hole, and we all ran. Percy caught up with us about 10 seconds later after finishing off the last of the monsters. I very slowly walked up the hill, threatening to collapse any second. Just as I was about to give up, I saw a pine tree standing on this hill. I could feel its aura… like it was reaching out to me almost. I got really impulsive and tried to touch it, but Anna held me back and shook her head. As we walked, everything became blurry, and I only remember seeing some really ugly girl grimacing at us as we passed. I was out cold before we passed the camp sign.