Hi! Welcome to my newest fanfic. Hope you guys like it. This is just the prologue, please give it a chance! Jeyna feels will come later. Read and enjoy :)

PROLOGUE

Reyna woke abruptly from her light slumber. There was something off about the air, but she couldn't put a finger on it. Somehow, she sensed that something was wrong.

All senses now on high alert, she stood slowly from behind the bush she was hiding in. She shouldn't have stopped, Reyna knew. Lupa had drilled the basics of survival in open areas into the twelve-year-old during her training in preparation for the trek to Camp Jupiter. But Reyna couldn't help it—she'd gotten injured from her last fight with a starving and desperate harpy, and really needed some rest before she could go on. She winced. Just thinking about the wound made her leg throb. It was probably inflamed and infected and all gross now.

How much Reyna wished her sister was here with her. Hylla had a way with injuries. Though many of the girls at C.C.'s island had taken a simple first aid course at least once in their lifetimes, Hylla was definitely better than most of them. Including Reyna, unfortunately.

Don't think about your sister, she chided. She abandoned you. It's you against the world now. You're on your own.

Blinking to focus back on the present, she stiffened. The weird feeling in the air had increased. Reyna's fingers instinctively reached for the dagger that Lupa had given her. Her pulse calmed a little at the familiar sensation of the cool metal against her palm.

With a start, Reyna suddenly matched the slightly rank odour in the air to one she had encountered before. A single word blasted through her mind, a command to her entire body.

Run! she braced herself for the pain shooting up her leg just as a huge shadow enveloped the trees.

"Come on, guys, it'll be fun!" Jason urged, his boyish voice taking on the edge of a whine as he stared at his two best friends imploringly. He gave the pair his best puppy dog eyes, allowing his body to dangle precariously upside down from the top bunk.

The two boys didn't question his dangerous position. They were too busy side-eyeing each other, a silent battle going on that was only evident to Jason from the occasional twitch in their eyebrows. It was quite amusing, really, if one wasn't focused on another matter. And Jason was.

"Pleeeeeeeeease?" Jason begged once more. "I need the Truly Terrifying and Talented Trio together for this. You promised that we were 'thick as thieves' and you guys are just taking 'thick' to a whole new dimension now." He waved his arms dramatically, causing the bunk to tremble a little.

"Jason, you really have to bring our stupid team name into this?"

"We were five, dude!"

"Yes, because we swore to my dad that we'd be best friends forever! And that means that stupid or not, dangerous or not, you're coming with me 'cos you got my back! Or are you getting out of our pact now, Kota, after yesterday when I blasted that guy off your back in training? I literally had your back!"

"That is—"

"And to think I got toilet cleaning duty because of you! But of course being the honourable and legendary friend that I am I didn't complain at all, and look—now you're the one going all mother hen on me and being too chicken to just come with. I guess you guys aren't the friends I thought you were. I guess it's over now. Goodbye, Dakota and Bobby. I'm sorry it had to end this way, but it's you, not me." With a flourish, Jason hauled himself back onto the bunk and sobbed, burying his face in a pillow. He stole a look down to the two sitting on the ground, hoping his Oscar-worthy performance would get them to agree.

After a moment of silence, Dakota and Bobby sighed in tandem.

"I guess we could give it a try…" Before Bobby could finish, Jason had harnessed his recently discovered wind powers and jumped down on them, crashing them all to the floor.

"Let's go!"

"I still can't believe you made us do this," Dakota muttered under his breath. The trio were getting ready for their unapproved-of adventure. "We're dead meat."

"No," Jason corrected, barely containing his excitement under a façade of seriousness. "The monsters are dead meat, not us."

Bobby fingered the hilt of his gladius nervously. "Kota's right. We can still turn back." The circle of light at the end of the tunnel got closer and closer with every step.

Jason ignored their complaints and surged forward, gladius in hand. "Those monsters are no match for us! We'll bring back the head of a hydra or two and the camp will forever hail us as heroes!"

"Uhm, hydras have more than one head," Dakota panted. "They grow more when you cut one off!"

"Never mind!" Jason yelled back, undeterred. The three burst through the tunnel. There were no guards in their way—Jason had made sure to take this shift so that his plan would be perfect.

"Hear anything, see anything, smell anything, just give me a shout. One, two, three, break!"

Bobby and Dakota ran off together hand in hand to the left and Jason headed to the right alone.

"Dioses!" Jason halted, straining to hear the source of the voice. It sounded close by, behind a stretch of woods to his right. He immediately set off in that direction, determined to find out what was happening.

Reyna had given up on running, almost collapsing from the intense pain in her right leg. She swore loudly in her native Spanish. Stopping and turning around, she decided that she was more likely to survive if she didn't run and instead fought the damned hellhound. Why did it have to be so big?

But she was small and agile and quick, so there must be a way.

Hiding behind a tree, Reyna waited for the hellhound to realise that she was gone. It sniffed the air, swinging its massive head to and fro. When it was facing away from her, she sprang.

Her dagger embedded itself into the back of the hellhound's thick neck. With some effort, she tugged it, now dripping with blood, back out for her next attack. The hound growled. Blood spurted like a fountain out of the deep wound, spattering Reyna's hair and arms. She paid no heed to this.

With another strong kick, she stabbed the hound in the side. It swerved around, thrashing about. Reyna's grip was strong, but she was thrown harshly to the ground. Pain shot up her spine, clouding her vision. Reyna didn't stay down, though. She hefted herself back to her feet. Running under the hound's hulking and bleeding body, she sliced a huge gash into its stomach, crawling out as quickly as she could when the hound howled in agony and attempted to squash her by sitting down.

She took this opportunity to slice its back paw off, but realised too late that now she'd given away her position. Growling with menace, the hound once again rose to its feet—now three instead of four thanks to Reyna—and turned with surprising speed. Reyna was lost for ideas now as the hound stared down at her. She gripped the hilt of her dagger, unwilling to back down. She'd die with honour, not give up.

Jason spotted it. The hellhound was huge and stank of rotten meat. The irony tang of blood reached Jason's nose. Oh no, he thought. It's eaten someone.

He shot into the sky and plummeted down, gladius pointed towards the hound as he hurtled through the air like a meteor. He was aiming for its back. With a satisfying crunch, his gladius sank into the hound's spine, crushing it. Jason landed gracefully on its bloody and wounded back, trying to wrench out the sword.

It was stuck. He panicked. Twisting and turning it didn't work. Just when Jason thought it was starting to come free, the ground gave out under him.

His shoes slipped on the wet and matted fur on the hound's back. He fell without a chance to harness the wind to lift himself back up.

"Agh!" he mumbled, getting a faceful of grass and undoubtedly many a bruise.

Meanwhile, Reyna was desperately fending off the hound's massive head. Her dagger sliced and cut up its muzzle, but nothing deterred it. It opened its huge mouth, and Reyna saw its razor-sharp rows, rows of glimmering, bloodied teeth…

When something dropped through the air and caused the hellhound to pause.

Everything seemed to slow down for a few seconds. The something landed on the hound's back, then fell off and slammed into the ground. The hound looked away from Reyna and focused on the bundle in the grass.

The bundle moved. Reyna caught a glimpse of blond hair.

It was enough for her to hurl her dagger—her only weapon—straight through the monster's side and into its heart (or at least into where its heart should be placed).

Jason lifted his head, hoping for the worst, ready to run for his life.

Reyna thought the hound was more distracted than it actually was.

Something sharp sank into her arm. A shower of dust hit her body. And the whole world went black.

AN: So that's the first chapter/prologue! Hope you liked it. I'm planning to work on this throughout the summer. Ultimately, of course, it will be Jeyna. Or will it? Not sure yet. ;) I've got a lot mapped out right now. Please read and REVIEW and follow! I haven't read the PJO or HoO books for a while, so tell me if something's not quite right. Comments are really appreciated!

time-failed-us (just like it failed Jeyna) :P