AN – This chapter is set before the events of 'Through the Looking Glass'. Please shoot me a review if you enjoyed and, of course, thanks to ofsaltandsea, MIGHTY RULER OF GUMMY BEARS and Animegurl64 for reviewing the last chapter.

Disclaimer – Don't own.

The cold, dirty pavement pounded against seven year-old Annabeth Chase's tiny feet as she ran through the deserted streets. She could not breathe. A lump of pure, undiluted panic nestled in the back of her throat, like some sort of hideous tumour. She glanced behind her, her eyes wide, tears of terror staining her cheeks. A choked sob escaped. Her spindly legs ached, in agony from the fear fuelled flight, but she dared not stop. She wanted to live. She had to live.

Her pursuer, an ungodly beast with foaming jaws and sharp, demigod devouring teeth, almost seemed to grin at the prospect of a chase. The logical part of Annabeth's brain, the part that she could never seem to shut off, noted that the hellhound was still young and cheerfully reasoned that the young demigod was likely to have the honour of being the monster's first prey. The instinctive part of Annabeth's brain, the part that was urging her to run, gods damnit, run, ordered the logical side to shut the Hades up.

Of course, logic never responds well to threats.

Even a hellhound as relatively young as this one has the ability to rip my throat out and devour my flesh. Naturally, as it is likely on its first hunt, the result will be rather messy.

Annabeth whimpered and stumbled slightly in her fearful haze. The thudding of the hellhound's paws grew ever closer and the small child urged herself to keep moving. She could not move quickly enough.

The creature lunged. Razor-like claws raked across her back, slicing Annabeth's soft skin like butter. She screamed, completely overcome by mind-crippling agony. The hellhound pinned her to the ground, it's snapping jaws mere inches from her face. Through her pain addled daze, Annabeth came to a terrifying realisation.

The beast was toying with her.

Fear rushed through her system. She was certainly not under the assumption that she could defeat the hellhound. After all, she was seven, possessed no weapons to speak of and was wearing pyjamas to battle. However, she had hoped that she would be able to outrun the monster or at the very least, hide from it. She squirmed under the weight of the beast's paws, wincing as the sharp claws sunk into her shoulders with a sickening squelch and desperately attempted to ignore the hot, heavy scent of rotting flesh as the hellhound breathed in her face.

"Help me!" she cried, delirious with pain, desperation lacing her tone, "somebody, please!"

The hellhound snarled and pressed down harder on her frail body, relishing the wail of agony the small child released at the action. Annabeth could not stand the pain any longer. The corners of her vision began to darken and the little girl eagerly welcomed the numbness of unconsciousness. If her fate was to die here, at least she would not be awake to witness it. Her eyelids drooped. The last thing she saw before oblivion claimed her was the glinting teeth of the monster and a sudden streak of black and electric blue.

How bizarre.

Annabeth thought the afterlife was a rather odd place. The myths had always made it seem far more glamorous. In reality, however, it was almost like she was suspended in a state of unawareness, gently floating in and out of consciousness. She was not in pain anymore, which was always a good thing, but she felt hot and sticky, almost as if she had a fever. Of course, such an event was impossible due to her untimely demise, right? Unfamiliar voices often tickled her ears, too faint to properly hear and speaking words she could not comprehend.

"-daughter of Athena-"

"...rescued...hellhound."

"-injuries intensive...survival unlikely."

"...god of medicine!...do something!"

"Annabeth, it is time to awaken. Wake, child!"

Annabeth's eyes snapped open and she jolted into a sitting position, gasping and spluttering at the sudden intake of oxygen. A firm hand pressed against her shoulder and she squealed, stumbling backwards in fear.

"Whoa, calm down, kid!"

The little demigod's eyes were wide, her blonde ringlets dirty and wild. She was tensed, ready to run at any available opportunity. The figure who had spoken recognised the body language and attempted to make herself appear as least threatening as she possibly could. Quite a difficult feat for a girl garbed in a t-shirt promoting Barbie murder.

Annabeth's eyes nervously flicked around her surroundings, instinctively searching for an escape route. She seemed to be holed up in a rather dingy hotel room, the ugly floral wallpaper and the scratchy bed sheets serving as fine hints. She was no longer garbed in her grubby flannel pyjamas. Instead an enormous orange t-shirt engulfed her tiny body, the words 'CAMP HALF-BLOOD' emblazoned proudly across the front. A girl in her early teens sat on the edge of the little girl's bed, smiling, in what she hoped was a gentle fashion.

"Take deep breaths, kiddo. You've had a rough night. My name is Thalia. I'm the one who found you."

"I'm not dead?"

"Well, I'm certainly no medium, so I'm going to go with 'no'."

"You saved me?"

"Yeah," Thalia's gaze softened, "you were in pretty bad shape. That hellhound really did a number on you. Luckily, my half-brother dropped in and was able to help you out."

"Hellhound? You can see them too?" asked Annabeth, momentarily forgetting her wariness, but frowning in suspicion, "no-one else can see the monsters. Does this mean you're a demigod?"

"Relax," chuckled Annabeth's rescuer, "and yeah, daughter of Zeus. You're a daughter of Athena, right? Your mom sent me to look after you."

"You've met my mom?" Annabeth's eyes widened in awe and she regarded Thalia with mild respect, "when?"

"That's not important. What's your name, kiddo?"

Annabeth frowned and scrutinised Thalia, mentally evaluating whether she could take the other half-blood in a fight. The daughter of Zeus was small and somewhat scrawny, remnants of puppy-fat long since lost from her young face. Her short, dark hair drooped from weeks of neglect and she looked as if she had not eaten properly in quite some time.

Annabeth could relate.

Thalia's electric blue eyes, however, seemed to crackle with unbridled energy, suggesting that the girl contained far more fight than her frail appearance implied. Also, if Thalia was to be believed, she had rescued Annabeth from the jaws of a hellhound and was carrying out the instructions of Athena. If her mother had directed the other demigod to her, Annabeth mused, then it was likely that the daughter of Zeus was trustworthy.

Of course, it was also entirely possible that Thalia was lying through her teeth and was in fact just another monster waiting to prey on her flesh while she slept. Oh, the joys of being a demigod.

"My name's Annabeth," she offered quietly, choosing to trust her new companion.

"That's a pretty name," smiled Thalia, "how old are you, Annabeth?"

"Seven," the small child glanced around, "where are we?"

"Some random motel. I didn't ask for the details. I was more concerned about the small child bleeding all over my favourite shirt."

"Sorry," winced Annabeth, sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," grinned the daughter of Zeus, "we get to stay in a motel for free, thanks to Lord Apollo, so I call that a win for us. That's his shirt, by the way. And look-"

Thalia reached into a tattered backpack and gleefully pulled out a large wad of money.

"Lady Athena gave us some cash! Think of it as a long overdue child support payment."

"'Us?'"

"Sure, 'us'," grinned the daughter of Zeus, "you're stuck with me now, Annie. I'm not about to let an untrained seven year-old roam the monster infested streets alone. That would just be irresponsible."

"I can fight monsters by myself," frowned Annabeth, folding her arms across her chest, clearly taking offence at the jab at her competence, "and don't call me 'Annie'."

"Really?" smirked Thalia, raising an eyebrow in amusement, ignoring the 'Annie' comment, "and how long have you been on the run, then?"

"A week."

"And how many monsters have you seen?"

"Thirteen."

"And how many have you killed?"

Annabeth mumbled an unintelligible response.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"None," huffed the little daughter of Athena, "but I poked a fury in the eye once."

"That's impressive," laughed Thalia, "and what about the other twelve?"

"I'm a pretty fast runner."

"Running'll only get you so far, kid. Clearly that hellhound could run faster than you."

Annabeth shivered involuntarily at the fresh memory and tried to swallow a wave of uneasiness. Thalia noticed the small girl's discomfort and offered her a sympathetic smile.

"Listen, I'm not the most motherly person around, and I sure as hell am a pretty crappy mentor, but you need someone to keep you out of trouble. Y'know, like a bodyguard. And bodyguard, I can do."

"I don't need a bodyguard."

"Fine, protector, guardian, whatever. That hellhound could have killed you and it would go against everything I believe in if I just left you to fend for yourself. So please, pander to my ridiculous moral code and let me help you out."

"Can you teach me to fight?"

"Only if I can call you 'Annie.'"

Annabeth glared at Thalia, clearly not amused at the price of her lessons. Thalia just laughed at the little demigod's fury.

"Fine," conceded Annabeth, unhappily, "but you have to PROMISE to teach me how to fight."

"Is a pinkie-promise serious enough for you?" questioned Thalia, leaning on her elbow and offering the daughter of Athena an outstretched pinkie finger.

"If you break a pinkie-promise, you get sent straight to the Underworld," warned Annabeth, her eyes wide with childish disbelief, "are you sure you want to risk it?"

"Annie," laughed Thalia, "I never break my promises, so I don't have anything to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now, are we going to do this thing or not?"

Annabeth wrapped her little finger around Thalia's and the daughter of Zeus inhaled deeply.

"I, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, do solemnly swear to teach little Annie how to fight the otherworldly monsters that make our lives a living hell and keep her safe during our journey. I also promise to develop her young musical taste by introducing her to the inspirational band that is Greenday."

"Green-who?"

"Oh, we have a lot of work to do."

Thalia smirked at Annabeth and tossed the money back into her backpack.

"We'll stay here tonight and move on in the morning. Are you in any pain?"

Annabeth blinked in surprise. Oddly enough, she did not feel even the slightest twinge of discomfort. Considering she had just been mauled by a hellhound, the lack of pain was incredibly confusing. She touched her back gently.

"The skin's a little red," admitted Thalia, noticing the action, "but other than that, you're wound free. You were really lucky Apollo showed up. He was able to fix you with a snap of his fingers."

"It doesn't hurt at all," marvelled Annabeth.

"Well, he is the god of medicine. I'm just glad he refrained from reciting poetry while he was healing you. You were in enough pain as it was."

Thalia shuffled into the bathroom and grabbed several bottles of shampoo off of the shelves, stuffing them into her bag.

"Where are we going to go?" asked Annabeth, watching the daughter of Zeus with mild interest. Now that she had resigned herself to the idea of travelling with Thalia, she found that she was not as opposed to the thought as she had originally assumed.

"Somewhere safe," answered Thalia, "Lady Athena told me about this camp for demigods on Long Island. If we can get there, we won't have to worry about monsters."

"Long Island?" gulped Annabeth, "that's on the other side of the country!"

"Yep," grinned Thalia, "so we've got one hell of a trip ahead of us, Annie."

The daughter of Zeus flopped down on the bed, seemingly unable to find any other objects to add to her list of petty thefts and glanced at Annabeth's expression of concern.

"Relax, kid," she snorted, "we'll be fine. You seem pretty smart and I can wield the power of lightning. Those monsters won't know what hit them."

"You promise?"

"Of course, and I never break my promises."

Thalia reached over and ruffled the little girl's dirty curls.

"We should sleep. You can have a shower in the morning and then we'll get the hell out of here. Sound good?"

Annabeth nodded and stifled a yawn. Despite being unconscious for what she assumed was hours, exhaustion had caught up with the young demigod. She had not slept properly since leaving home. Life on the streets dictated that one had to be a light sleeper to survive and the little girl, huddled in a cold corner of an alleyway, had often found herself too terrified to submit to Hypnos' thrall.

In Thalia's presence, however, Annabeth allowed herself to relax. There was an aura of security surrounding the daughter of Zeus, one that the child of Athena did not fully understand. The logical part of Annabeth's brain informed her that falling asleep next to a complete stranger was not the brightest of ideas. If the other girl was a monster, Annabeth would be incredibly vulnerable to attack. But, reasoned the part of Annabeth's brain that was still a little girl, Thalia had promised to keep her safe. Pinkie-promised.

And Thalia never broke her promises.

AN – And there we have it – the first meeting of Thalia and Annabeth.

Stay tuned for chapter three: The Quest for the Oracle, in which a new oracle is selected, Percy and Grover cross-dress and hopefully Tyson makes an appearance.