Hello! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long. Life's been busy, and I went on vacation. Please please please forgive me. Oh, and here's the disclaimer I forgot to put, and the one I need to put in now.

Disclaimer: I am a girl, therefore I am not Rick Riordan, therefore I cannot own Percy Jackson and the Olympians and it's characters. I do own Rissa though, but not the heritage she has in this story.

I sighed and put down an envelope, one I was going to slit open and probably see another bill. It was getting annoying when I saw the weirdest things on the bill, things I was sure I hadn't purchased, like pomegranate seeds (what was I going to do with pomegranate seeds?) and knowing Alecto, my mother's new caretaker, had used my mother's credit card to purchase it. I had seen her smuggling a packet if pomegranate seeds out. Although what she was going to do with them was a mystery. I mean, you typically don't go up to a person and just hand them a packet of seeds, right?

Standing up, I decided to take a break. Maybe design a cool living room or something. Do some math. Play some Sims 3. I loved that game. I had hacked it for unlimited money so I could design my house however I wanted. Pity I couldn't make a second floor...

As I stepped out into the corridor, I spotted Alecto rushing around a corner, glancing nervously over her shoulder. Probably smuggling something. I decided it was time to take action. "Alecto," I called. "Shouldn't you be with my mother?"

Turning, she spotted me. Her mask of nervousness turned into a face of pure glee, and she cackled like a witch. "Ah," she said giving me a toothy smile. "I've waiting for you, young one."

"What do you mean by waiting for me?" I demanded. "And really, I've been here the whole time you've been working for my mother. Do you really need to wait for me when I'm paying you and giving you food and seeing you everyday?"

She smiled again. "So ignorant. Aren't all demigods these days?" With that, her face morphed into one of a hag's. I mean, she was old already, but this was pure ugly. Leathery skin that hung off her face, hunchback, and - oh wow, leathery wings with talons at the ends. A bit like arms with leathery skin hanging off it and hands with extremely long and thick fingernails.

"I can see why you looked so ugly now," wad the only thing I was able to say. Not very smart of me.

She hissed and lunged for me. "Little daughter of Zeus, you must die! You should never have been born, especially with your mother being a demigod also, a daughter of Athena."

I easily rolled out of the way, much to my surprise. Must have something to do with that ADHD I was diagnosed with. "Sorry? I kind of lost you at 'daughter of Zeus'. Wasn't Zeus the king of the gods in Greek mythology?" I said, hoping to distract her while my eyes searched the corridor desperately for a weapon of some type.

There! Alecto gave no reply, but growled as she tried to tackle me, jaws snapping. At the last moment I lunged for the bronze knife that my mother told me wasn't destined to just sit around for a millenia. It was a real weapon, to be used. The memories of our last real talk lingered in my mind, but I pushed them away. Well, I thought, I guess it's time of use has come.

Gripping the handle tightly, I ignored the card tied to the hilt. I turned to face Alecto, who hissed and backed away from the knife. I guess everyone's afraid of sharp things.

Alecto appeared to shake off her fear, and carefully came at me. I held the knife in front of me defensively, and met Alecto's eyes. She ran forward, pinning me to the ground, preparing to rip me to pieces, I was sure. Bad mistake. I plunged the knife right below her rib cage. She howled as the knife broke the skin, and she crumbled into nothing but fine, white dust.

Now that the immediate threat was over, I took notice of the card hanging from the knife's hilt. It said:

5/24/2007

Dear Rissa,

You are probably not in immediate danger right now, as who would read an index card while they were being attacked? I am going to assume that you have been attacked by a monster, who has revealed your heritage.

Listen to me, Rissa. You probably think that you aren't in danger, but you are. I am losing my memory, and that leaves you vulnerable. By picking up this knife you are letting my old friends at my old summer camp know that you are in danger. Do something for me, Rissa. Go down to the entrance hall and wait for people dressed in orange t-shirts. When they come, go with them. Leave me behind. I'll be fine.

I love you, Rissa.

Love,
Mother

I looked at the date on the card. 5/24/2007. The day before she had completely lost her memory, forgetting who I was. The day she had shown me the knife.

I sighed and started running down three flights of stairs, keeping the knife in my hand. Orange t-shirts. Identities. Right. A totally normal day for me, being attacked by a old woman with wings and talons. Yes. Very normal. Right? Don't you agree?

I stopped at the bottom of the flight of stairs that faced the main entrance. The doors were wide open, and a girl stood in the frame. When she turned, I found she resembled my mother, only younger. Same curly blonde hair, same stormy grey eyes. Just like my eyes. The only difference between her and my mother was that my mother had paler skin, while she had the tan of a typical California girl. She was wearing an orange t-shirt.

I started speed-walking towards the girl. When she noticed me, she shook her hair out of her face and asked, "Are you Rissa?"

I nodded. She didn't need to know much, and the message my mother had written had creeped me out. Better to wait until there were more people.

Two boys appeared from behind her. The one with sea green eyes and jet-black haired asked, "Rissa?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, Percy, I just asked her that. The first boy, Percy I presumed, smiled good-naturedly and put his arm around the girl's shoulders.

The second boy shuffled his feet nervously. "Annabeth, Percy, don't go all googly eyes on us. Me and Rissa don't want to see you make out."

"It's Rissa and I," the girl, Annabeth, corrected, blushing. "Rissa, I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Sorry about those two boys."

My jaw dropped. "Daughter of Athena?" I asked. "As in, the Greek goddess? The Greek gods are real?"

She nodded. Under normal circumstances I would've told them that they were crazy, but hey, I just got attacked by a crazy hag with wings.

The first boy stepped forward. "I'm Perseus," he offered. "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. But just call me Percy."

The last member of their group, another boy with an Italian look to him, said, "Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades."

"Percy, you're going to go first," Annabeth ordered. "Rissa, stay with me and don't be shocked by what you see."

I nodded. Nico stepped into the shadows where it was darkest, right next to the wall, holding his arm out. Percy joined him and took the arm. Then they simply disappeared.

I turned to Annabeth. "What was he doing?" I asked. Nobody just vanishes into thin air, right?

She shrugged. "Shadow traveling. They went to Camp Half-Blood. Nico will be back soon to take you."

Sure enough, in a few seconds, Nico reappeared. Annabeth nodded at me to go forward. Tentatively, I touched his arm. The moment I did, the world went black for a second. Then, I was facing a huge pine. I could see strawberry fields behind it.

Percy was standing there, waiting. "You want to wait for Annabeth and Nico or just go in with me?" he asked.

I stepped out of the shadows. "I don't think wile have to wait long. Let's wait." I fixed my eyes on where I had materialized.

As soon as I finished my sentence, Annabeth and Nico appeared. Nico began speaking, saying, "Uh, I guess-"

He was cut off by Annabeth, who got straight to the point. "Pine tree," she said. "That's the camp boundary. Walk past it."

I started speed-walking. I speed-walk when I'm nervous, yeah. But when I got to the pine tree, I stopped for a moment. I took a deep breath, then continued.

I stepped past the boundary.

Only two and a half pages. But there's a mini cliffie! Yay! Not. Anyways, R&R and thanks to the one person who story alerted!