Chapter One

"Thalia! Wait!" I yelled at my cousin, Thalia. She was a year older than me. I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. By the way, my name is Percy Jackson. Right now I'm only 7 years old. I have a lot of family members. There is uncle Zeus, and Hades and aunt Hera, Demeter, and Thalia's mom. Thalia, Nico, Jason, Bianca, and Hazel are my cousins. I have a brother named Tyson, but he was visiting with my dad and mom somewhere. I visited my cousin's house for the summer. So far, it's really good. We had lots of fun. We're in New York and I've already been to the Empire State Building, Pier 17, and the Statue of Liberty. Life has been very good so far. I live on the other side of New York in a small apartment building with my mom and dad. Right now, I'm chasing Thalia. She stole my chocolate chip cookie and I got really mad.

"Thalia! Give back Percy's cookie!" her mom yelled, while busy on the phone.

"Fine!" She stopped running and gave back my cookie. She stuck her tongue out at me and ran off again. I sighed, putting my hand on my forehead.

"What's with the mature look, Percy?" Auntie Grace laughed at me.

"I'm a big boy now. I'm really mature."

"Well, when you grow up, you'll be a handsome young man. You'll even find yourself a girlfriend!"

"YUCK! Girls are gross and they have cooties!" Auntie Grace laughed even more. Suddenly, the door bell rang.

"Hold on, Percy. I have to get the door." I nodded and ran up the stairs, but only high enough to be able to see who the person was. Thalia walked down in curiosity and smacked me on the head.

"Kelp Brain. It's not nice to spy on people." She blew a raspberry at me.

"Pinecone Face, it's not like you've never done it" I whispered back.

I looked back at what happened. When the door opened the door, a girl my age came running in, crying her eyes out. Thalia recognized the girl as her neighbor and friend, Annabeth Chase.

"Annabeth, what's wrong honey? Are you okay?" Auntie Grace came in the living room, where Thalia was, with a towel and tissues. Annabeth was hugging Thalia, with tears still streaming down her face like a waterfall. It was never ending. I just stared at her. She had on a gray hoodie with holes in it and jeans stained with ashes. Her hood was covering most of her face, but her curly hair was covering her eyes. Her face was red and there were burn marks on her cheek and most of her face was covered in dirt. Or burned ashes.

"What's wrong, Annabeth? Please tell me." Auntie Grace and Thalia desperately tried to shake Annabeth into reality. Then, she spoke, but not without stopping a few times.

"My..house..b-burned..." She tried to speak again. "Mom...dad...brothers...gone..." By now, she wasn't able to speak. She just started to bawl really hard again. Thalia and her mom looked shocked. They stopped trying to talk to Annabeth. Auntie Grace suddenly ran to the window and looked across the street. I wasn't able to see what was outside, but I saw a fiery red stream into the room. With her eyes wide, Auntie Grace called 911. She told the police something, but I wasn't able to hear it because Annabeth kept on bawling. Thalia tried the best she could to comfort her. I, on the other hand, just stood there. And watched. After Auntie Grace talked to the police, she started to cry, kneeling down on the ground. I ran down the rest of the stairs to her side. I caught a glimpse of Annabeth's eyes. They made my eyes go wide. It felt like a spark of electricity was connecting the both of us. Her eyes were stormy gray. Sea green to stormy gray. I was back into reality.

"Auntie Grace, what's wrong? What happened?" Then, I saw it. Outside the window, I saw fire. A huge raging fire. It was burning down what once was a three story house. Firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars appeared a few seconds later. The fireman started to blast water at the house and went inside. I looked back at Auntie Grace. "What's wrong?"

"Percy, let's bring you home."

"Oh. Okay." I grabbed my clothes and toys and walked outside with Auntie Grace. I could smell smoke and flying pieces of debris flying into my eyes. I had to blink many times to get it out of my eyes. We got into the car and started to drive off. When we were down the street, almost out of view, the last thing I saw was firemen and paramedics with human shapes inside body bags.

Hey everyone! I hope that you like my new story! I know that it's short, but I hope to add more details on to the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!