A/N: So, yeah, I decided to re-rewrite this. It has a slightly different concept this time around, and I honestly think it's a lot better. Despite this being an OC-centered story, it'll focus on what goes on at Camp and in the rest of the world while Percy's off on his quests. I plan on taking this all the way through the Heroes of Olympus series too, if I can manage it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

11 years ago

He had been wronged, and so he'd come to her. Nemesis lazily looked him up and down. She wondered if he would be like the others, scrambling back as soon as he saw what his wish had done. Or perhaps he'd stay true to his wish. So precious few actually went through with their revenge, it was sickening to the Goddess. But no… this one was of the latter group, she surmised, as she studied his face, contorted in anger.

Although, she supposed it didn't really matter, since Nemesis never backed down from vengeance. Even if the one who came to her begged to have her acts be undone.

"I believe I can think of a suitable punishment," Nemesis said.

Her visitor merely nodded, and kept scowling. "He deserves it," he ground out.

Smirking, Nemesis extended her hand. Yes… this was one of the ones who would stick by their revenge. And it was wonderful. Who knew he had it in him, especially with his parentage? "Then we have a deal."

He eyed her hand for a moment, before curtly shaking it. A flash of light filled the room, and both knew that the agreement was now permanent. "I think you'll notice when the act is done," Nemesis said, getting on her motorcycle, already thinking of ways she could carry out her revenge. "Pleasure doing business with you." And then she rode off. She had a God to torment...

/*/

Present day ~ 8 July ~ Early morning

Percy was fairly sure he'd been having a nightmare. Once he woke up he could never be sure of the details, but he was certain he'd had that particular dream before. He remembered he was very young in the dream, maybe two or three and that someone had screamed. He remembered being terrified, but he had no idea why. It was frustrating, to say the least.

It was early July and he'd been at Camp nonstop since the end of their little adventure in the Sea of Monsters. He'd been plagued with nightmares ever since. It was weird, usually he'd either have prophetic dreams – as half-bloods sometimes did – or regular nightmares, but this didn't feel like either. He couldn't put his finger on it though, and decided that sleep was going to evade him for the rest of the night anyway, so he might as well do something useful.

Percy snuck out of his cabin – easy now that he was the only inhabitant again – and went out to the lake. Swimming always cleared his head, even though the naiads had the annoying habit of watching and giggling while he was still close to the shore. He waded in and willed his clothes to get wet. He could swim without that, but it made him feel better to get connected to the water properly. He swam past the water nymphs and into the deeper parts of Long Island Sound, diving until he was close to the bottom. He could breathe just fine down there, and the pressure didn't bother him, so it was an ideal hiding place.

Percy shooed a few stray fish away while he settled on the sandy ground. Most of the sea creatures around here knew to leave him alone, but they were still curious. And terrible gossips, he was sure the naiads would hear everything from them come morning.

He had the strangest feeling about his dreams, like they were important somehow, but he couldn't for the life of his figure out why, or what the hell they were about anyway…

"Percy?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up. Before him stood a pretty girl, her hair floating on the water. She seemed to be suppressing a giggle, which didn't really improve Percy's mood.

"Yeah?" he answered the naiad.

She blushed. "There's a girl on the beach, she was looking for you," she said, looking like she had something else to say, but needed to get this out of the way first.

"Oh, okay, it's probably Annabeth." He couldn't think of any other girl who'd want to talk to him in the middle of the night.

The naiad waved a hand impatiently, as if to say does it matter? "You know," she said as Percy got up. "You should come by more often. Mayim's throwing a party Saturday, and we'd love for you to come," she said self-importantly. That was the problem with naiads, they were nice and all, but they were also pretty vain and far too giggly for his tastes. He preferred more serious girls. At least they didn't make him feel uncomfortable.

"Uhm…" he replied intelligently. "Not sure if I can, but I'll try." If he'd turned her down right away, he knew she wouldn't have let him go – or, rather, she'd have tried to keep pestering him, and though he could outswim her easily, it wasn't a bother he wanted to deal with – so he just lied and never showed up. If he wanted a whole bunch of squealing girls all around him, he'd visit the Aphrodite cabin.

"Okay," she agreed, and Percy could tell that she knew he wasn't going to come.

"Tell Mayim I'm sorry," he said awkwardly, before willing the currents to take him to the beach.

When he got there, he couldn't see anything, but he saw footprints leading onto the beach and not away from it, so he figured Annabeth was wearing her cap. Smart, considering the harpies would most likely either eat her or make her do chores if she was caught.

"Hey Annabeth," he greeted, plopping down onto the sand next to her and reveling in the warm breeze against his wet skin.

"Why are you wet?" a disembodied voice next to him asked.

"He raised an eyebrow. "Helps me think. Why are you still invisible?" he shot back gently, reminding her of the fact.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, pulling her cap off her head. Percy smiled at her, and turned back to the sea. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Percy knew that if Annabeth had something to say, pestering her wouldn't help, she'd tell him in her own time. He'd been hit over the head plenty of times by the fiery blonde to know that, at least.

Annabeth sighed. "I had a nightmare," she confessed finally. Percy regarded her curiously. Two strong demi-gods having nightmares on the same night was never a good sign. Though it could always be a coincidence, he supposed… He decided to just wait for her to explain.

"I can't remember what it was about, exactly… I know you were in it, and you were upset, and there was someone else, a girl. I think… I think she was in trouble…"

"Do you think it was a demi-god?" he asked. Her nightmare probably had nothing to do with his own, but he couldn't rule it out.

Annabeth frowned at the ocean, and Percy could imagine a million thoughts churning behind those stormy grey eyes, offering up new theories and dismissing them just as fast, drawing up a battle plan. "Yes," she replied, finally. "She was definitely a demi-god. I think maybe we should try to find her."

"Do you remember where you saw her?" he asked hesitantly. She'd said the dream wasn't very clear, which often meant that it wasn't a vision, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, it wasn't a good idea to argue with Annabeth. He'd follow her if she asked. Besides, they'd been through enough together to trust whatever the other person said. He'd probably believe her if she said she'd seen a flying pig.

The blonde finally looked at him then. "Yes. New York."

/*/

New York

She had to run. There was no place for her where she'd come from, and she had no clue where she was headed. But she knew she had to run. Ducking into an alley, she hoped her pursuers would give up sooner rather than later. She was exhausted, she had nothing left, no energy, no strength.

Hiding behind a dumpster she hoped would mask her scent, she allowed herself a moment to breathe . She'd learned the hard way how they were tracking her. She knew she shouldn't sleep, they'd find her, hunt her down, and she'd be vulnerable. But she couldn't fight the exhaustion anymore, the drooping of her eyelids. She'd just rest her head, just for a moment, then…

A loud bang woke the young girl instantly, and she was up and running before she could fully comprehend what was going on. Stifling a groan, she turned a corner and kept going, though she could hear no one behind her anymore. She couldn't risk sleeping, she had to keep going, had to keep running…

/*/

Camp Half-Blood

Telling Chiron about Annabeth's dream was rather anticlimactic, as the centaur had already known about a rogue demi-god roaming the streets of New York.

"A satyr is on her trail, but she's never in one place long enough for him to track her down," he explained. "Perhaps it would be better if you two helped retrieve this one."

Annabeth frowned, not having expected him to be so compliant. "May I ask, sir, why?"

Chiron looked thoughtful as he gazed out over the grassy fields of the Camp. "Well, for one, she's older than most unclaimed demi-gods. Tiades – the satyr tracking her – suspects she's about 13, if not older. For another… You know Luke is gathering more supporters every day," he warned.

"And we'd rather he not get his hands on this one, we get it," Percy said resolutely.

The centaur regarded him. "I feel that she will be important, somehow, especially if Annabeth is dreaming of her. If she's as powerful as Tiades thinks she is…"

"Luke can't get his hands on her," Annabeth finished.

/*/

It was another half a day before they could leave Camp. They took a cab to Manhattan and met up with Tiades near Times Square. Even though they searched all day, all they found was a scrap of fabric behind a dumpster. Annabeth proved to be the most useful of the three, having lived on the streets herself, but even she could only do so much.

"We're never going to find her this way," Annabeth growled out in frustration as the trio walked into Central Park with their lunch.

Percy wanted to comfort her, but he had no clue what to say. Hey, it was true, how were they supposed to find a teenaged – BANG!

They all stopped and turned in the direction of the noise. The sun had just gone down and that probably meant the monsters were coming out to play.

Want to find a demi-god in New York city? Head for the nearest explosion.

Percy ran ahead, followed closely by Annabeth, with Tiades following in the back, limping due to his need to hide his hoofs. They ran all the way to a fountain that Percy couldn't for the life of him remember having seen before. Then again, Central Park was pretty big. He'd have asked Annabeth about, if there hadn't been a young girl desperately trying to fight off four monsters with her bare hands.

Percy charged in and managed to decapitate the first monster, not even stopping to see what it had been. He did register that the sound they'd heard was the fountain exploding. He vaguely wondered how the monsters had managed that one, but quickly dismissed the thought as he dodged a swing from one of the other Uglies he needed to kill.

Annabeth quickly engaged the third monster, but hadn't managed to catch it by surprise, and it was putting up a hell of a fight.

Just as Percy reduced his second monster to dust, the girl screamed. He whirled around, only to see Tiades ninja-kicking some kind of snake-creature in the face. It spit something in retaliation, but Tiades was more than quick enough to evade it, now that he'd shed the fake shoes. The girl was crumpled to the ground, but was still moving, and Tiades seemed to have his monster under control. While Annabeth got rid of her own evil creature, Percy raced to the girl's side and turned her over.

The first thing he did was catalogue her injuries – claw marks on her right leg, a head wound, a multitude of bruises and superficial scratches in all stages of healing, and a sticky substance covering her eyes, like a grotesque mask. The next thing he noted was her appearance: she looked like a younger copy of his mother.

In hindsight, it was probably a very good thing that Annabeth and Tiades were there, because Percy would probably have just kept staring. Annabeth worked to bind the unknown girl's leg, while Tiades – having cut the snake's head off – took out some nectar and started pouring drops of it down the girl's throat.

Percy was shaken out of his stupor – which had thankfully only lasted about a second – when the satyr elbowed him. "Get that sticky stuff off of her face. The snake spit it at her, and I don't like the look of it."

Percy summoned water from the spraying fountain to clear the girl's face, but he'd never tried to control such a small burst before. Somehow, he managed to pick the 'mask' off her face. It didn't look good. The skin around her eyes was red and irritated, and when Percy pried open one of her eyes, it was more bloodshot than he'd ever seen before, and her pupils were huge.

"We need to get her back to camp," Annabeth said, but she paused when she looked at the girl's face. "Percy…" she whispered.

"I know," he replied grimly, before getting up. "I'm summoning Blackjack, she needs to get to camp now. Can you two get back on your own?" he asked apologetically, dismissing the previous topic. Annabeth and Tiades nodded grimly.

Percy closed his eyes and concentrated on the black Pegasus. 'Hey bud? Gonna need your help again. Hurry,' he urged mentally.

Annabeth finished binding the gash on the girl's – he really had to figure out her name – leg, and most of her smaller scratches seemed to have scabbed over if not healed completely, courtesy of the nectar.

"Jade," Annabeth murmured as she knelt next to Percy.

"What?" he asked, confounded.

The blonde pointed at the girl's neck. "Her necklace, it must be her name," she explained. Sure enough, the girl was wearing a silver necklace bearing the name 'Jade' in swirly letters. It was a bit worse for wear, having been bent somewhat out of shape and being crusted with blood. Honestly, if Annabeth hadn't mentioned it, he probably wouldn't have been able to read it, he was having trouble as it was.

Flapping wings and a cheerful whinny interrupted Percy's scrutiny. 'Hey boss!' Blackjack greeted, even as he nuzzled Annabeth, probably searching for donuts.

Tiades helped get the unconscious girl – Jade, he corrected mentally – onto the Pegasus in front of Percy, while the latter explained the situation, briefly, to Blackjack.

Percy became aware of applause. He looked up, seeing countless tourists clapping and taking pictures. Whatever the Mist made them see, they thought it was some kind of show. Some were even throwing coins. He shook his head, it was better than people thinking he was a criminal.

Before long, they were ready to go. "Be careful," Percy warned, looking at his best friend.

"You too, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth replied softly, and stepped back so the winged horse could take off.

A/N: So, yeah, this is it. I hope you liked it, and will keep reading. Please leave me a review if I left any glaring errors, or just if you want to share your opinion!

*Mayim: means 'water' in Hebrew
**Tiades: comes from Miltiades, meaning 'red earth'