AN: The story begins two years before Luke and Annabeth arrive at camp. This chapter is just the beginning. This is my first story so review and tell me what you think!

I'm Adria.

My real name is Alexandria Montgomery, but I don't use that name anymore.

Why? I died seven years ago.

I didn't actually die. I was assumed dead after the fire. I just didn't think there was a good reason I should tell anyone I was actually alive.

I had nothing left after that day: no family, no home. I was alone.

That day was awful. Worst day of my life. That day was the day I found out my step mom was a monster.

I know a lot of teenagers hate their moms. I know a lot of teenagers hate having a step mom. Heck, I hated my step mom too! But I didn't hate her because she didn't let me go to the dance, or let me buy a short skirt. My mom wasn't mean. She was EVIL! She was an actual monster!

You ever hear of the monsters in Greek myths? Like the ones Hercules and Perseus fought? Well have you ever heard of the empousa? That's what kind of monster my mom was.

My dad met her in a casino when I was about two. We lived in Las Vegas and he was a performer. He did magic tricks. That's how he had caught the eye of my real mom, Hecate.

Anyways, he told me that he was performing one evening, and after the show someone knocked on his door. He opened it and one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen was standing in the doorway. He said she came backstage to get his autograph (lame) and they struck up a conversation on his outfits. They started going out, and a few months later they got married.

She had it out for me every day since. I was always getting in trouble because of things I didn't do. I wasn't allowed out of my room when my dad wasn't home because she didn't let me.

It didn't really bother me since I was so little. Now that I think about it, I actually didn't care. My dad was usually home during the day. He would take me swimming and biking and to the movies and to get ice cream all the time. Life was pretty good. That was, until he died.

I had come home from school once, a happy little kid skipping around and singing songs. I was in the second grade, about eight. I didn't expect anything bad to ever happen to me, but I was wrong.

I walked around the corner, turning onto Elmer Street. I noticed police cars crowded near where my house was. As I got closer I noticed they were at my house. I started running. When I got to there, one of my neighbors saw me and said "Here's Alexandria! She's home!" She guided me toward one of the police men and they let me over the police line.

"W-what's going on?" I asked the man. He gave me a grave look that sent chills up my spine.

We walked toward my step mom, who was crying her eyes out. She noticed us walking over. She looked at me and smiled wickedly, her eyes flashing red. Then she went back to crying.

"Alexandria, dear, I know this might be hard for you to understand, but I need you to try your hardest." A woman in a suit told me softly. She looked me in the eyes "Your father, he… isn't alive anymore."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Your dad is dead," the woman told me. I was so little then I hardly understood. "You can't see him or talk to him anymore," the woman told me "He's gone." My step mom broke into a whole new wave of tears and sobs.

Gone? How could he be gone? "But his car is still in the driveway! He's still here!" I told the woman. How could she say something so silly?

The woman just gave me a stern look and said "I'm sorry." Then she walked away.

All I could do was stand there, confused.

Before he died, my dad had told my step mom that he wanted to start sending me to camp half-blood. She let me go during the summers, but made me come home during the school year. I liked that. It gave me something to do during the summers. It was just the school year that had become a problem.

Ever since my dad died nothing had ever been the same. My mom started yelling at me. Screaming even! She never actually talked to me like a human being. She treated me like an animal. Once I came through the door I had to eat, and then go straight to my room to do my homework. I ended up buying a mini fridge from my friend to keep food in my room. I was only able to go out into the world when I realized I could climb out through my window. That was what got me killed.

I had snuck out of my room on a Friday. I really wanted to go to the movies with my friends. I didn't even bother asking my mom. I already knew the answer was no. I just decided to sneak out. I left the radio on so she would think I was still in my room. It usually fooled her.

When I came back through my window I knew I was in a world of trouble.

"Alexandria Montgomery just WHERE do you think you've been?" my step mom yelled standing in my doorway with her arms crossed.

"I was at the movies," I said, "I really wanted to go, and I knew you wouldn't-"

"That's no excuse! And I told you to take the trash out earlier! The whole house smells like rotten fish!"

"I took out the trash when I got home." I said calmly, "And the house doesn't smell."

"Then it must be you! Go take a shower and as soon as you get out you come straight back into your room! We need to have a serious talk!"

I was not in the mood for another one of her talks. I valued me hearing and I didn't like getting my ears blown out every time she lost her patients with me. "I don't smell and I don't need to take a shower!" I told her angrily, "Stop yelling at me! You're such a monster!"

"MONSTER?" she shrieked. Then her voice changed to a slight hiss, "Why child, I think you've finally caught on!"

I watched in horror as my step mom began to change in to something hideous. She began to grow fangs. Her skin turned as white as chalk. Her eyes glowed bright red and her hair burst into flames. Her legs both changed into something different: her left leg grew brown fur and a hoof, like a donkey leg. Her right leg turned hard and shiny brown like it was made of bronze.

"You-you're a…" Honestly, I didn't know what she was.

"I'm an empousa!" she snapped

"But why do you have a donkey-"

"Do NOT mention the legs!"

"You're a monster?" I asked "All this time, you've been a monster?"

"Yes stupid child! You and your father were too blind to see it!"

Then it hit me. "YOU KILLED HIM!"

"Yes," she sighed," He was a sweet man, very handsome, but he would have gotten in the way of my plans." She smiled," And we can't have that can we?"

I was furious! She killed him! It was her all along! I grabbed my sword off my desk. I could have stabbed her then and there. "What plan?" I asked.

She smiled more widely, showing off her fangs "You are destined for great things my dear. You will help decide the fate of Olympus."

"The fate of Olympus? What are you-"

"It was foretold that you would be a great fighter. I am here to test that." She bared her fangs. Her legs tensed as if she would jump at any second. I leveled my sword and stood on the balls of my feet, ready to dodge an attack. She made the first move. She leaped at me, slashing her claws as she flew toward me. I rolled out of the way just as she flew over my head. She landed on her feet

"don't run! Stand up and fight!" she lunged at me. I slashed me sword upward but she moved before I could hit her. She began to circle me, "Foolish girl! No hero has bested me in a thousand years!"

"Then let me be the first!" I picked up the lamp I kept on my desk and threw it. She tried to move but it hit her square in the forehead," AARRGG!" she yelled. She lunged again. I slashed and cut her arm, but I didn't make a deep cut. I turn and ran down the stairs. I needed more space. I couldn't keep fighting in my room.

"Come back here!" She yelled chasing me down the stairs. When I reached the bottom I turned around and stabbed my sword into her leg. She shrieked in pain but she didn't vaporize. "Why you little-" She picked up something long off of the floor. I couldn't tell what is was in the dark, but I knew I didn't want to get hit with it. She swung it and it met the flat of my blade, knocking me over. As I fell I hit my head on something hard. "Ow…" is all I could remember before I blacked out.

When I woke up the whole room smelled like gasoline. I looked around. I couldn't see much, but I could make out a figure in the corner of the room. I heard something that sounded like water spilling on the floor.

The figure set down what looked like a huge red bottle. I recognized the figure. It was my monster of a step mom. What was she doing?

I stood as quietly as I could, grabbing my sword off the floor. I pointed my sword at her and whispered a few words in Ancient Greek. A light shot out of the tip and wrapped itself around her. It was a trick I taught myself at camp.

"What? How are you doing that?" she asked as I willed the light to turn her around.

"I am Alexandria, daughter of Hecate." I said grinning.

"D-daughter of Hecate?" she stuttered, "But that can't be so! The prophecy told of a child with great power!"

"I HAVE great power! Don't you see what I'm doing?"

"But I surely assumed that you would be a child of one of the greater gods!"

"Well it serves you right for assuming things without knowing!" I willed for her to come closer to me. "You won't be around for much longer, so where is your purse? I need money to get to camp half-blood!"

"Oh please daughter of Hecate! Please spare me!" she begged.

"Your purse!" I dug my sword under her chin.

She gulped "Its in the bedroom, on the tall dresser. I told where it is now please mistress, let me go!"

I liked the way she called me mistress. I turned and walked up the stairs, leaving her wrapped in the magic light. I got the purse and came back down. I knew I couldn't keep her like that forever, but I had to ask her one more thing.

"What did you say about the fate of Olympus?" I asked her, "Tell me!"

"The hero that will turn! He will make a decision that will save or destroy Olympus! It is the great prophecy!"

"Who is the hero? Is it me?"

"No. It is a child of the three elder gods, but they haven't had a child in many years." Well that was a relief. I didn't want to destroy Olympus, and if I ever did, something really bad must have happened.

"Now let me go!" the empousa yelled at me. She began squirming, trying to free herself. My arm was getting really tired. I tried switching my sword hands, but she jerked around as I was switch and I dropped my sword ending the spell.

"Finally! Now I can kill you!" She lunged at me with her claws extended. I ducked and picked up my sword. I stabbed my sword upward, stabbing her in the stomach. She shrieked and burst into flames.

"Uh-oh," I said running out of the back door as the house burst into flames. That's what she was doing, I realized, She was going to cook me alive!

I boarded a plane to Long Island as soon as possible. They airport security thought it was pretty weird that a twelve-year-old was flying to Long Island alone with no luggage. I told them I got separated from my parents and got on the wrong plane. They asked if I needed to call them but I told them I already had.

Once I got to Camp Half-Blood I told Chiron, our camp instructor, exactly what had happened.

"I see," he told me after I was done with my story, "What did she say you were destined to do?"

"She told me I was going to be a great fighter," I remembered, "She said I would help decide the fate of-" I realized what I was saying.

"Well, on with it child!" Chiron persisted. I really didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to worry him.

"She said I would help decide the fate of Olympus." I said reluctantly. "But I couldn't be the one in the prophecy! She told me it was child of elder gods. The big three."

"Yes I suppose that's true…" He said stroking his beard, "I will have to discuss this with the council. For now I think you'll just have to stay in cabin eleven."

"Aw, not cabin eleven!" I complained, "Why don't the Hecate and Nemesis and all the other gods children have their own cabins? Why do we all have to get crammed into the Hermes cabin?

"Hermes, out of all the other things he rules, is also the god of travelers and traveling. He welcomes all campers who don't have a cabin to stay in."

"But WHY can't we just have our own cabins and the undetermined campers just stay there? Its completely unfair!"

"Well I'll have to tell Mr. D about your opinion."

"Like he'll care."

Chiron just smiled, "Go, and get some rest. I'll see you for dinner."

So what do you think? Please review! Flames will be ignored but constructive criticism is appreciated :)