This is my first Percy Jackson fanfiction. I hope you like it! 

(I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this book except for my main character.)

Chapter 1

         I woke up. This may seem vague but it's the best way I can describe my experience. When I came to awareness, I was on the forest floor. Pine needles were pressed against my face, and their sweet scent rose to my nostrils. My head jerked up. I rolled over to my back. This was uncomfortable, and I realized it was because I was wearing a backpack. I pushed myself into a sitting position. I looked around. Directly around me were pine trees. But just through them, I could see empty countryside. Everything was covered in snow. I looked up to see that it was about mid- afternoon. I could just see the sun over the tall pine trees.

        I suddenly realized I couldn't remember anything. Dozens of questions were running through my mind. Where am I? How did I get here? And most startling, who am I?  I couldn't remember my last birthday. I couldn't remember where I had been before I got here. I couldn't even remember what my family looked like, or their names. I was starting to panic and I was breathing quickly.

        "I need to calm down," I thought to myself. "Just breathe slowly."

It took me a couple tries, but eventually my breaths began come slower. Okay, now the next step was to see if I could salvage anything from my memories. Even my name would be great. I slowly closed my eyes, and just searched my mind. After what felt like forever, I started to get frustrated. It was like my mind was a corridor with all the doors locked. I couldn't open the door to any of my memories. Suddenly, I felt a flicker of a memory. It was like when you have something on the tip of your tongue. 

        Ashley. The name flickered through my mind. My eyes flew open. Was that my name? I said it out loud, tasting the sound on my tongue. It's hard to explain, but it just sounded right. Like this name was mine.

         Okay, so I've got a name. That's at least some progress. Now let's see what else we can find. What about where I am? I ran that question over and over again through my mind. Where am I? Where am I? Where am I? Nothing.

        I shook my head in frustration. Okay, maybe something smaller. Maybe I just have to start small and work my way up. I remembered the backpack on my back. I felt like an idiot. Maybe there was something in there that could help me remember. I pulled it off my back and laid it in front of me. It looked like any standard backpack you would use for school. It was a plain, nave blue backpack. I opened it up. I was kind of disappointed. There were only three objects in the bag. One was a Red Sox baseball hat. I put that aside.

         Underneath that was a snow globe. I gingerly picked it up and looked it over. The background was a city skyline with mountains behind it. In front of it on a glass piece sticking up it said "Salt Lake 2002" with the Olympic symbol underneath. So either I or someone I knew had been to be to Salt Lake City once. Great. People from all over the world went to the Olympics. That didn't limit anything.

        Finally I drew the last thing out of the bag. It was a stuffed animal. It was a stuffed black bear about the length of my forearm. It was soft and for some reason when I held it, it gave me comfort. Although it was nice to have, it didn't trigger any memories.

        I sighed and put everything back in the bag. I slung it over my shoulder. I stood up and steadied against a tree. My legs felt weak. I wondered how long I'd been laying on that forest floor. I took a few experimental steps. I stayed steady enough. I don't know why it didn't hit me before, but I suddenly realized how quiet the forest was. Forests weren't usually this quite. I at least knew that much. I stayed still listening for the smallest sound. I heard a distant shout. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I decided to head towards them.

        As I walked, I tried to think of some simple memory. A date popped into my head. November 17. What was this date? Was it the day today? No, that didn't feel right. Was it my birthday? That made sense. As I thought about this, I felt that rush of relief when you finally get that word you've been trying to think of for a while. Okay, so November 17 was my birthday. Then how old was I? I tried to decide how old I felt. It was kind of hard. Have you ever tried to decided how old you felt when you yourself have no idea? I decided on the ages 11-13. I tried to think of something more specific.

        Referring back to my mind corridor, I felt like I was pounding on a door. I kept pounding. I could feel it almost giving in, almost releasing this one small memory. Finally I felt this rush and number 12 popped out of my imaginary door. I was so surprised I tripped over a branch and face planted in the snow. This brought me back to reality. How long have I been walking. I realized I couldn't see the sun anymore and it was getting darker. I got back up and brushed as much of the snow as I could off of my purple shirt and denim shorts that stopped just above my knee. My feet were starting to get wet through my canvas slip-on shoes. I couldn't hear voices anymore and could only hope I was going the right way.

        I was starting to get tired, especially since my legs weren't the strongest in the first place. I was beginning to stumble every few steps. I was cold and wet. My short sleeved shirt wasn't giving me much warmth. I saw huge pine tree up ahead. It was every kid's perfect Christmas tree, without Christmas decorations. But the strange thing was, at the base wrapped around it was a dragon. I didn't believe it at first, but I saw smoke coming from his nostrils and his ear flick in his sleep and I knew it was real. Either that or I've gone completely bonkers, of course. I didn't feel crazy, though. I felt completely aware, except for being completely exhausted of course.

        I ignored the dragon and just gave it a wide berth. Maybe it was just a pile of rubber houses and I was going completely mad. The cold was getting to my brain. Finally, I stumbled over the hill. I fell to my knees in the snow. I looked up to see the most amazing place I'd ever seen. There was a huge four story house, a pond, and a volley ball court, but those were the only "normal" things. There were twelve crazy cabins. None of them looked the same. There was also a sword fighting arena. At the far sides of the valley were some woods, which seemed normal enough, but I swear I saw a huge scorpion in them

        Suddenly something triggered in my brain, like I had been here before. A roaring pain enveloped my head and I heard a scream. I collapsed into the snow. I could feel the cold seeking into my bones. Just before I slipped into unconsciousness, I realized the scream had been mine.