(Disclaimer: all of this belongs to Rick Riordan, except for Terra. I made her up.)

(Side note: this takes place during The Heroes of Olympus series and I will say when the books transition. And just a BTW: I suck at first chapters, so please continue reading, I PROMISE you it gets way better. Even I think this chapter is a little cliche and sucky, but just trust me, it get's better.)

(The Lost Hero)

"Get out of my house you stupid, worthless *****!" My father yelled at me as he slapped me across the face. The tears rose up into my eyes and I ran into my room. I grabbed my backpack and started packing my clothes.

I hated summer. It's when I get stuck at home with my drunk dad all day, every day. He's been like this ever since mom left, and she left right after I was born. He blames me. He says that I'm the reason she left. He punishes me every day. I have to have everything ready for any of his friends or just to make me work. I have to go out and buy things while he lounges around getting drunk and almost passing out.

I zipped up my backpack and was about to leave, but noticed my plush polar bear on my bed. It was the only thing mom had left me, besides dad. He gave it to me on my fourth birthday, when he was still sober. He didn't start drinking until I turned seven. Now I'm fifteen and I need to get away.

I stuffed the polar bear (Mr.Fluffy is what I called him, you'd be surprised how fluffy he really is.) in my backpack and went into the kitchen to pack any food I could get before he noticed me. I managed to pack four water bottles, two cans of corn, a bag of grapes, a loaf of potato bread, and $253.44 that was lying on the counter. I felt a hand on my shoulder, it squeezed me really tight.

"What did I just tell you?" He whispered in my ear. I could smell the alcohol in his breath. It stunk so bad. I swore to myself I'd never drink in my life, ever.

"I was just leaving." I said calmly, even though my heart was racing super fast. I remembered all the horrible ways he had beaten me over the years. Then I remembered what he looked like when I was young, when he actually loved me.

I turned around and started to walk out the door, but pain seared across my back and I tripped on my way out. Luckily I broke my fall with my hands and landed in a sort of push-up position.When I stood back up, I realized that he had kicked me. My back really hurt, but I learned that he stops when you act like it didn't happen or it doesn't hurt. So I just picked myself up and started walking, not sure where to go.

My name is Terra Jones. I'm fifteen, five feet and three inches tall, and diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. I have icy blue eyes, pale skin, freckles, and natural platinum blonde hair. I hate heat, and enjoy the winter. For some strange reason, I can withstand extreme cold temperatures and I loose a lot of energy in the summer. Where ever I go, I always feel fifteen degrees cooler.

I live on Long Island Sound, and there's this valley that I've always wanted to check out because I see lots of kids come and go from it. There has been some other things I have seen, but I'm not sure what I saw was real or I was hallucinating. So, I decided to go check that out.

I wasn't wearing the ideal hiking outfit. A navy blue tank top, darker blue jean shorts, and my blue Converse. I had put my hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of my face, but the wind seemed to think that it was pretty funny to swish my ponytail around, getting hair in my mouth.

I finally made it to the thick forest that outlines the valley. I made sure that I was walking fast so that my father couldn't chase after me. I walked along a road that lead into the valley. I knew I had a long way to go because all I saw ahead of me was trees, trees, and you guessed it. Trees. The sun was starting to set.

"Dang it!" I shouted. I should have brought a tent with me or something. How stupid was that of me? Well I'm smart. I just slightly grinned to my self and gave a half-hearted chuckle.

I don't like to be the person to point out the bad things in life. My true personality is being optimistic, sarcastic, and funny. My mission in life: making people laugh. Sometimes I like being sarcastic just so I can see people's face light up. I hate seeing people cry or having a rough time. I don't know why, but I think it's because I know how they feel and it feels terrible.

Terrible. One thing I'm terrible at: remembering things. And of course understanding boys. Their so weird and gross. I've never been asked out in my whole life. Probably because I'm a nerd. I'm not afraid to say that and almost everyone at my school knows it to.

And, I guess, I would say I'm not exactly the prettiest girl at school. I'm to pale as the other girls at school would say. This one time, I thought I had actually made friends with this girl named Amanda Burgatroph. So, I told her I had dyslexia and ADHD. But, I was wrong about her and she told everybody. The whole school made the meanest and nastiest comments you could ever hear.

Of course, being me, I had a hilarious come-back that made everyone laugh as usual.

I've been walking (or jogging, I really wanted to get away from my dad) for almost forty minutes now and the sun was almost completely set. I turned around to watch the sun set, but I kept walking backwards.

The sun looked beautiful. It made the sky look magnificent. You see, seeing the good in the world is much more better than pointing out all the problems. I like to stay positive, like the sunrise and sunset of each day. I even take the night optimistically.

One friend I had while I was six was scared of the dark. Her name was Rachel Dare, and she wanted to keep a light on every night, even when I slept over.

(Flashback)

"But the night is so beautiful!" I told her, surprised that she would refuse to open her curtains and watch the night sky light up with stars.

"No it's not! It's scary and it has monsters like this in it!" She showed me a picture of a weird looking half human, half bull monster, which I now know as a Minotaur.

"Those aren't real Rachel! Now just let me show you something!" I walked over to her curtains, but she blocked my path.

"Noooo!!!!! Please don't!!!!!!!!" She said shaking her head vigorously, making her short red curls bounce like crazy. I put my hands on her shoulders.

"It's just fine. I'm going to show you something that will make you smile. It sparkles more than your shirt." I pointed out. That seemed to catch her attention.

"Really?" She asked, still a little frightened.

"Really!" I said excited. Trying to get her spirits up.

"Okay......" She said and let me by hesitantly. As soon as I opened the curtains, she screamed and leaped to her bed.

"Rachel. It's not scary. The stars are shining. Look at them." I told her. I turned to face her, but her head was under her pillow. I walked over and lifted the pillow from her head.

"Hey. It's okay. I checked. There's no monsters." She lifted up her head.

"There isn't?" She asked.

"Yeah. Now look." I dragged her over to her window. She awed at the sky. It was dark, but full of bright twinkling stars.

"Whoa." She said.

"Yeah." I say, taking in the view. Then I turn to her.

"You see! There's nothing to be afraid of!"

"Eeep!" She screamed and ran back to her bed. I heard low growl and a snort, then turned around. It was a big hairy monster like the one she had drawn. It's nostrils flared and I could see it's breath.

(Flashback ended)

I didn't want to remember that part. I would have stayed friends with her, but we moved to Long Island Sound.

The sun was nearly set when I heard someone approach. I turned around to face a boy in crutches.

"Hey." He said. I could see he was near growing a beard and had a hat on.

"Hi." I said and kept walking towards the valley.

"What's your name?" He asked before I had gotten to far.

"Umm. Terra." I answered. He looked at me like I was someone who looked familiar, but couldn't just remember who they were. I noticed he was taking in deep breaths through his nose, like he was smelling the air.

"I'm Grover." He said.

"Well, nice to meet you, Grover. But I gotta go." I did a small wave and turned back towards my destination.

"Where are you going?" He asked. This was getting a little too creepy.

"None of your business. Now just be on your way and leave me alone." I said, looking back at him and speeding up my pace.

"Did you know that there's a camp over there?" He asked.

So that's what was over there! I felt so stupid for not guessing that. Though, it's not like I haven't done anything stupid before. I forgot a sleeping bag. You think I would have at least thought of a pillow or a blanket or a heavy jacket. I knew I had packed a light jacket, but I'm in the mountains and it gets freezing during the nights. But, I noticed it never really bothers me.

"Uhhh. Yeah. I go there. Sooooo, I'll be on my way." I lied, walking a little faster. Even though I couldn't see the look on his face, I could tell he didn't believe me.

"Oh yeah? What's the name of the camp?" I turned around. I was caught. I noticed he had an orange shirt on underneath his hoodie. It said "Camp Half-Blood" on it. I'm gonna wing it.

"Camp Half-Blood." He noticed I read his shirt and his shoulders slumped. Then he smiled and said. "Great. I guess I'll walk with you. What cabin are you in?"

Crap.

"Uhhh. Well......" I could see a smirk on his face start to form, but it dropped when we heard a loud noise.

"GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*snort*"

This scared the heck out of both of us. Grover jumped really weird, almost...... um. Like a goat? I guess? Maybe I was just really freaking out and seeing weird things. Then it came out of nowhere.

This humongous Minotaur comes out of the woods and starts hurdling towards us. My brain did a double take.

"Oh crap!" I shout and start running as fast as I can down the road. Grover ditched his crutches and started running along with me.

"Don't you need those?!" I shouted over the sound of the Minotaur's stomps.

"If you really go to this camp. Then you'd know that those are just for show." He shouted back and grinned.

"Fine! I admit it! I don't go to this camp! I wasn't even sure what was over here! I just wanted to check it out!....... Obviously that was a HUGE mistake!!!"

Crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. I'm gonna die! This has to be a dream. Yeah, it's all a dream. You just.........passed out when your dad kicked you in the back on the way out.

I felt the same searing pain go down my spine again, but I just brushed it off and kept going.

"Don't worry! I have a feeling you belong here! Blaaaah! But, I suggest that we run a lot faster if you ever want to see it!"

What the heck was that!? Did he just make a goat noise?! The Minotaur was ganging on us, and I could hear him breathe. So, I ran as hard as I could. Heart racing, head pounding, legs throbbing, and laughing a little because I'm weird like that. I can feel that I'm on the verge of passing out, but I don't let myself because I'd obviously die.

I saw a huge pine tree come out of nowhere and people with bronze armour and weapons charging at us. Grover grabs my arm and pulls me to the side so that they don't end up getting us. My mind was freaking out. None of this was making any sense! A camp that had an army? They took camping wayyyy to serious.

Arrows were flying at the beast. It was getting really mad, but they seemed to be able to handle this pretty well. I finally took in all the fear that was rushing through me at that time. I could feel the temperature drop. Wait.. what?

I looked down and ice was forming where my feet met the ground. I looked at Grover, expecting him to be freaking out like I was. He was smiling! Like this was so normal, like I finally reached my goal.......... or something like that. My head was pounding.

I walked around to get away from the ice, but it was following me. I looked at my hands, they were frosting over. I wiped the frost off on my pants, but it started to form again. My eyes were growing so wide I thought they might pop out.

I frantically try to wipe off the frost, but it just keeps forming faster and faster than the last time. My heart was pounding so hard now. I was freaking out. I looked back at my feet. I screamed.

Frost covered the grass ten feet in every direction from me. Then it dawned on me.

"What? No." The ice was coming from me. I've never felt so scared before.

"GRRRRRAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" Shouted the Minotaur.

I noticed people started staring at me. I tried to get away from the frost again, backing away faster and faster. I could see the frost coming from my legs and settling on the ground. I stiffled a scream. This was too much. I tried to calm down by putting my hands into fists, but I felt something form in my hand.

"Crap!" And I threw the icicle to the ground.

"Ice. I should have known." Grover said. Wait, what?!

"What?! What do you mean you should have known?! I didn't even know!!" As I wave my hands around I notice that small snowflakes are forming and falling from my hands. I feel like a living snow storm.

I look at my hands like they're loaded weapons, because I have a feeling they could be. Wait......weapons............

I look to see that they're still having problems. Even though my legs are shaky, I slowly walk up to the monster. Before I got that close, I tested to see if I could shoot ice from my hands. I stuck out my hands in front of me. That caused snowflakes to fly out of my hands and form a pile of snow, and caught some unwanted attention.

The second time I tried to do a jab with my palm facing out and it shot out an icicle that crashed on the ground. I didn't care about the attention given to me, I just walked up to the Minotaur and started firing icicles at it.

It seemed pretty taken aback at the storm of icicles hurdling at it, but got used to it fairly quickly.

"RROOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It shouted and snorted as it came walking up to me.

I tried shooting more towards it, but they were only doing a small amount of damage. I had to think of something, something big and powerful. It was getting closer, and I had nothing more. I could feel my heart start to race again. I'd be dead in just three seconds if I couldn't do anything else.

I breathed deeply and stopped firing. I put my hands together, like I was holding a sword. I closed my eyes and focused on my powers, trying to make the biggest icicle you could ever see. I could feel my hands being weighed down.

I opened my eyes. It wasn't an icicle, but the beautifullest, most delicate ice sword you could see. There was a beautiful and intricate snowflake where the blade met the hilt. I didn't really think about it, but I stabbed the sword right into the spot where his heart should be. Frost formed around the wound, and he formed into an ice statue. I pulled my sword out of him and the statue fell into snow and it started to melt.

"YYYEEAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Shouted the crowd.

My knees buckled, but Grover caught me. Something bright appeared above my head. It looked like a light blue snowflake, and it started snowing on me. Grover stepped back and let me support my own weight.

The snowflakes started collecting on me. At first they were going slow, but they sped up. Everyone was quiet. It turned into a blizzard and snowflakes big and small were swirling all around me. It was so cold, but it didn't bother me. It felt relaxing, like nothing bad could ever happen again. After thirty seconds passed, they stopped and let everyone see me.

"Whoa." Grover said. He folded his arms and smiled.

My platinum blonde hair was in a braid that draped over my left shoulder. When I looked closer, there was snowflakes in it making it shimmer. My tank top, shorts, and Converse were gone. I frantically looked for my backpack and found it lying on the floor next to my feet. I had a light blue dress on. The sleeves were transparent, the bodice was a slightly darker blue and sparkled a lot. The skirt went to the ground, it's a light teal and had a cut to reveal my right leg. I looked at my shoes. They were beautiful. They were slightly transparent light blue high heels with swirls on it.

I turned around and saw that I had a lovely cape coming from my dress. It was very transparent, but you could see the designs of snowflakes on them. It shimmered slightly in the moonlight. I looked up and noticed that the moon had almost risen completely.

"Yeah, you definitely belong at this camp." Grover told me reassuringly. It still confused me and apparently he could tell.

"Don't worry you'll learn soon."

This was too much for my brain to comprehend. I felt dizzy, and started to stumble. Luckily, Grover caught me. How was he still able to walk? Where the crutches really just for show? Was that really a Minotaur I just fought? Do I really have ice powers? Why didn't I notice this before? Why are they choosing to start now? Do I really belong at this camp? What is this camp like?

My head was racing with questions. It started to hurt. I couldn't take this pain. Then everything went black.