Enjoy. P.S. I'm not Rick Riordan this is a simple fanfiction.

Chapter 4

We hiked up the steep hill to the giant pine tree. Curled around the base was a really big dragon. I glanced over to Grover, but he seemed really relaxed, so I tried to just ignore the big, scary-looking dragon. Yeah. It's all normal. I just kept looking forward.

Eventually we reached the edge of the hill before it dropped just as steep as the other side. We were looking into a large valley. There were a bunch of cabins and a sky-blue, four-story farmhouse. There was also a lake, what looked like two Greek amphitheaters, and a Greek pavilion. As we neared the farmhouse, two guys, one my age and one who looked like he was in college, ran up.

"Hey, G-Man! What's up- who's that? You're new girlfriend?" The college kid asked. I glared at him.

"Uh, excuse me? I have a name, thank you." I said angrily. I suddenly felt self-conscious. All three of them were staring at me. I knew my eyes were probably kinda puffy and red. My hair was messy, and I really felt awkward because of my height problem ( I'm 15, am 4'3", and I think I've stopped growing). They were all so tall. Grr.

"So what is your name then?" The college kid asked in a childish voice you would use on five year olds, and they think it's stupid. I smacked him between the eyes.

"I'm not some stupid little kid." I said, trying to stand up straighter, so I looked a little taller.

"Well, who are you?" he asked, slightly annoyed, while rubbing the spot between his eyes.

"My name is Lottie. What is going on? Where am I? I- I want my mom." I whispered. I suddenly started crying, because my mom wasn't coming back. She was dead. The college kid hugged me.

"We need Chiron. He'll explain stuff better than we could. Nico, go find him." The college kid said to Grover and the other kid. The other kid ran off somewhere. I forced myself to stop crying. I was just making it worse on myself.

"So what's your name?" I asked the college kid.

"Percy. I guess you know that he's Grover, and the other kid was Nico." He said, letting me go from the slightly suffocating hug.

"Percy, I bet Acacia could erm, help her." Grover suggested. Percy's eyes went wide.

"Uh, really? After what happened…."

"She's special! She can help…. Sometimes." I was really curious about this 'Acacia' and why Percy was so scared of her.

"I'm not scared." I said quietly. They both looked at me.

"It's worth a shot…" Grover trailed off.

"Fine. Can you go find her?" Grover ran off and Percy led me to the big house and we sat on the wraparound porch. After about ten minutes, Grover ran up followed by a girl with long curly brown/black hair. She was wearing a lot of dark makeup, and well, she sorta scared me. Not by her appearance, but she had like this aura of…. Pain. I remained calm.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Try to help her. Please?" Percy asked. She rolled her eyes. I could tell she was a rebel, like me. People were scared of her, like me (even if I'm a midget) and she was really pretty, like me (or so people have said). She took off her black lace gloves. Her hands were tattooed in swirling designs. She held my head in her hands. I gasped, and my head twitched, but she didn't let go. Dark memories flashed through my mind. Some were mine, and some I didn't recognize. When I was told my mother was dead, a time when I was six, and even before that. An image of my dad. A tall man with wild hair and dark clothes. Tattooed hands, like Acacia. An image of him and my mother, laughing together. I tore my head out of Acacia's hands. The connection broke. I had tears streaming down my face, but I was smiling. Seeing my mom so happy felt good. I looked at Grover, Percy, and lastly, Acacia. She looked really pale.

"Who was that? The man, at the end. Who was he?" She asked.

"I think it was my dad. I've never met him, but that's how my mom describes- described him."

"Um, is your mom, um, okay, Lottie?" she asked. I never said my name, but I guess traveling through my painful memories tells you stuff.

I took a deep shuddering breath. "She's dead. She died this morning. I ran away. Grover found me, and took me here." I said. There was a collective gasp. "She was all I had. I'd never met my dad. They didn't even ever get married. He left before I was born."

As if on cue, Nico runs up outta breath closely followed by a friggen centaur. He was a middle-aged man with a scrubby brown beard. The human part ended and fused into a white Clydesdale. He was wearing a wrinkled shirt that said his other ride was a centaur. Haha. We (they; I didn't do much) quickly explained what had happened/what I had said. Chiron said he was going to place me in the Hermes cabin (no idea what that means…) with Acacia.

"Chiron. I need to talk with Annabeth. Can Lottie come with me?" This was the first time she had spoken since she looked in my head.

"Yes, go." She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the cabins up to a silvery one. She opened the door and started talking to a pretty girl with long blonde hair, and grey eyes.

"Annabeth, I need to talk to you. This is Lottie. She came this morning." They began whispering.

"Lottie, how old are you?" Annabeth asked gently. I knew she was asking because of my height.

"Fifteen. I've always been short." I said like I was proud of it.

"Oh. So is Acacia. Cool. So we're going to try something. Hold your hands up in front of you." I put my hands up as if I was going to give someone a double hi-five. Acacia placed her hands in mine and closed her eyes. My hands felt like they were burning, and I cried out. Acacia felt the same too, because she gasped. I looked at her hands. The tattoos were glowing. I looked at my own hands. An intricate design similar in style, but incredible different from Acacia's tattoos had appeared on my hands. It was glowing, but as I watched, they faded to black, like Acacia's.

"What does this mean?" I asked them. I could tell they were just as surprised and scared as me.

Booyah! Longest chapter yet! 1,117 words. :D