Courageous

Chapter 1: Change

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and my OC's. The characters and story belong to Rick Riordan.

…

I thought I was normal. I had two amazing parents who loved me and always looked out for me. I was so much like both of them, looks and actions alike. I had no major problems at school. I had straight A's, loved to learn, and read a lot. I wasn't a "problem" child; I had no criminal record, not even a detention. I was just a regular, American 16-year-old. That is, until they came.

…

I was dreaming again, or at least I hope I was. I was running, running from what, I do not know. I've had this dream multiple times throughout my life, I could never get away from it, much like how I could never get away from whatever was chasing me. I would run, and run, and run, but I could never get away. I ran through a forest, getting closer to my goal, a gate that I could see in the distance. I ran towards the gate, but it seemed to get farther, and farther away as I ran. Every time I would wake up at the moment where it got me, and I never once saw its face.

I woke up, sweaty and panting, like I actually had been running. Twelve years of the same dream that was my worst nightmare, my biggest fear. I had no idea what the thing was, nor do I care to ever find out. It's a good thing that my other nightmare is about to take a break. Today is the last day of school before Christmas break, halfway through my junior year. It would be fitting that my third period exam was today and not any of my other classes, where their online and don't have any exams, and, therefore, I would not have had to go to school. I guess that's okay though, I thought. Not really, I'd actually like to sleep in.

I sat up in my bed and stretched. My bones popped in places that they shouldn't for at least forty more years. Today feels like a sweatpants day, I told myself as I put on my favorite pair of basketball sweats that were beginning to be too large for me. I tied the strings closer together and threw on my other clothes, honestly not caring because I'd be back home by noon anyway. I brushed my teeth, put my hair into a messy bun, and added some mascara and eye liner to make myself a little more acceptable to be seen in public. I walked back out of the bathroom, or at least attempted to. Instead of walking through the door, I ran straight into it. I hope this doesn't mean that the rest of my day will be this awful. I rubbed my head, pouting. I got up slowly, as my head was hurting and I was extremely dizzy. I shook it off and walked into my room.

I probably need to clean my room when I get home… I laughed. I'm not going to clean my room. I picked up my backpack, and my purse, and slid on my slides. I walked down the stairs to see my dad sitting in his chair watching the news.

"Hey dad, what are you still doing here?" I said as I walked over to give him a hug.

"It's raining outside, so how could I go to work?" I looked out the window into the front lawn and sure enough it was pouring down rain.

"Yeah, it might be hard to cut Christmas trees in that." I referred to outside. "Well, I better get going or I'll be late." I gave him a kiss on the cheek and began to walk towards the door.

"Layna," I turned to see my dad's eyes welled up with tears. "I love you."

"Love you too, dad." I walked to the door and opened it, turning back to look at my dad again. He stared at nothing, as if he knew something was going to happen today, like it was the last day that he was going to see me. I closed the door and walked to my car, hoping that I had imagined everything. As I drove to school, I couldn't get this morning out of my head. It's like everything was pointing towards something that would happen today, even my dogs wouldn't come near me and the birds stopped singing as soon as I opened the door. Something big was going to happen, and I really hoped it was good, although I had this feeling that everything was going to change.

I parked my car and got out. A car pulled in on the other side of mine, one I didn't recognize, which was strange because I went to a small school where I knew everyone. There was a boy in the car with dark hair. The car was a silver 2003 Ford Focus, but the more I looked at it, it began to shift and mold into a gold chariot. I shook my head, knowing that I was going insane, as a familiar maroon Tahoe parked two spaces away. I grabbed my stuff, locked my car, and walked over to meet my best friend, Grace.

"Hey best friend! Ready for our chemistry final?" I laughed as she gave me a glared of pure hatred.

"How are you so happy at this time of a morning?" We looked at each other and laughed. "But seriously, no! Ugh, I hate this class and he doesn't even know how to teach!"

"But we did do some pretty great experiments and talked him out of a bunch of things." I shrugged. "But that doesn't help us for our final."

"Not at all." Her eyes seemed to focus on something behind me. "Okay, major hottie alert, behind you." I turned to see the guy that was in the car beside me this morning. He had shaggy black hair and bright sea green eyes, and he was totally fit. "He's coming this way! Try to act natural!" She began to dig through her purse to find something.

"Oh yeah, let's just do that." I rolled my eyes. I felt someone tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see the guy in the car not a foot away from me.

"Are you Layna Spiers?" He looked me straight in the eyes, his were absolutely beautiful, nothing compared the my brown mud holes.

"That'd be me." I looked at him cautiously. "What do you want?"

"I need you to come with us." He turned to reveal a girl with a blonde ponytail and the most beautiful grey eyes.

"Come with you where?" I asked still giving them a questioning look, although I knew that their intent was honest.

"We'll have to explain later." He looked back at Grace as if she were the reason that he could not say anything.

"Sorry, but I have a test. And you just interrupted our conversation." I crossed my arms and leaned against her car.

"Yeah, the one about how hot my boyfriend was." The blonde chipped in. Her eyes looked like grey storm clouds. "Everything at school is arranged for you. This is urgent; it is not safe for you here."

"Thanks for the concern, but I can take care of myself."

"You need to come with us." As these words were said, I felt something wash over me, something powerful, but it had no effect on me. I turned and it was a girl about my age. She had choppy brown hair with a few strands braided and her eyes seemed to change colors. Where do they keep coming from?

"Yeah, no thanks." I tried to turn back around, but she grabbed my wrist. As she did my vision changed. I saw her whole life, who she was, her father, and her mother, all of it. I was in a trance until it came across a place that I knew, the gate that I ran towards in my dreams. I yanked my arm away from her, but she looked like she was in a trance as well. The other two looked at each other and the girl finally looked up at me. "Piper?"

"How did you…."

"I need to go with you." I said flatly, as I had made up my mind when I saw the gate. I turned back to Grace. "I'll call you after school gets out and tell you everything. Don't say anything to my mom, I'll tell her later."

"Okay… See you then." I hugged her and she left.

"All of that has been arranged for you." The boy said. "Piper picked out your clothes for you."

"Yeah, I did." The girl, Piper, still looked a little dazed. She shook her head, trying to get rid of whatever happened between us. "Your clothes were really cute!"

"Anyway," said the blonde, she looked as though she had the most authority of the three. "Let's go. It is never safe here, especially with seaweed brain around."

"Hey!" They laughed; it was now obvious to me that they were a couple. "I don't smell that bad!"

"Yeah, okay." She rolled her eyes, they looked less angry now. We need to get you to Camp Half Blood as soon as possible. Chiron said it was important."

"Who now? Someone explain, please." I said, less confused because of what I saw through Piper's eyes.

"We'll explain on the way." The blonde turned and walked towards the car, now turned chariot.

…

"So, how did we fit four people, plus my stuff, on that thing?" I asked as we got off at what they described to me as Camp Half Blood. They told me I was a demigod, half Greek or Roman god and half human. They thought that I was Roman since I took Latin as a second language, but they weren't so sure after I told them how awful I was at it. They were also confused when I couldn't read Greek. Annabeth, that was the blonde girl's name, told me I was unlike any demigod she had ever met. I was not dyslexic, I was not ADHD, I was not attacked by any monsters, no demigod had ever made it to my age outside of the camp. I was strange. I had no powers except whatever happened between me and Piper, it obviously wasn't her because that was not the first time that it had happened to me.

"It's magic." Percy said, using his fingers as exaggeration. After I first met them, I had no trouble getting along with them, they were all hilarious, not that I didn't know that from just looking at them, another talent Annabeth said I had, I could read peoples personalities like an open book. Percy was funny, sassy, and usually confused. He loved to have fun, and was completely in love with Annabeth. Annabeth was smart, witty, and loved to make fun of Percy. She was mean to him at times, but you could never doubt her love for him. Piper was far from what you thought a child of Aphrodite would be. She didn't care about beauty or appearances and she was very down to earth and didn't care what anybody else thought about her. She had a boyfriend, Jason, who was gone at the moment checking up on the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter.

I laughed. "I don't doubt it." I turned to look at the camp and didn't realize that we made a big entrance until I did. It was as if every person stopped what they were doing to look at us. They said they got new people all the time, so I didn't understand why this was such a big deal. I saw many people, but a few stuck out. There were two boys, maybe twins, standing next to each other. They looked as if they have just done some mischief. There was a girl who had hard eyes and a sneer on her face as she looked at me, I could tell that she was tougher on the outside than on the inside. There was one other person who stuck out like a sore thumb. He was by himself in the shadow of a building. He had dark, messy hair that looked like he just rolled out of bed and dark brown eyes. He wore all black and an aviator jacket; he also had a black sword at his side that made everything around him look darker. He looked like death itself; his aura was black and his eyes looked tired. He stuck out more to me because I could not read him. He showed no emotion, no expressions, nothing, and I swore to myself that I would figure this guy out if it was the last thing I did. I heard what sounded like a horse approaching but when I turned I saw a half human and half horse creature approaching me, I instantly recognized him from Piper. "Are you Chiron?"

He looked at me confused. "Yes, I am. How did you know that, my dear girl?"

"It's kind of hard to explain…" I trailed off.

"Well then, we can speak in the Big House. We both have much explaining to do. What is your name?"

"Layna Spiers." I stuck my hand out for him to shake, out of habit, and he took it. When our hands touched I saw everything, every memory, every feeling, anything that he had done in a matter of seconds. Although this time, I was not the first to pull away. He yanked his hand back, as if he had just touched a hot stove. His eyes were wide with shock, and then it changed to recognition.

"We must speak." His tone was urgent. "No one is to bother us until I call for Annabeth. Follow me." He walked towards a large building, which I assumed to be the Big House, and I followed. I turned back to get a reassuring nod from Percy, and looked past him to the strange boy. He was wide eyed and was talking to something that I could not see. As I looked closer I saw the outline of a see-through person, he was talking to ghost. My eyes widened and he turned to look at me again, we stared into each other's eyes before I turned and followed Chiron into the Big House.

…

A/N: And scene. Okay, so I have been working on this all day, instead of my 10 page essay for AP Language so you guys better feel special. Anyway, I hope that I gave you guys enough information about everything. There are a few questions that I would like you guys to answer for me. First, what do you think of my writing? Does it move too fast? Is it descriptive enough? Is it bad? Good? Tell me what you think about that. Second, who do you think the godly parent of Layna is? I'm excited to hear what you guys think! I'll answer any questions that you have, as long as it's not a huge spoiler! Thanks for reading and review, please!

-Volleyball3girl