Pieces | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Lightning Thief Prologue

Samantha Jackson doesn't remember much from her childhood before camp. She doesn't remember her bedroom; she doesn't remember the friends she might've had; she doesn't remember her own mother's face.

Instead, Sammy remembers her first trip to the beach. She remembers the wild breeze that carried the scent of saltwater and seaweed with it. She remembers the soft sand that stuck like glue to her skin and that engulfed her feet whenever she took a step. She remembers the call of the seagulls as they searched for crabs and oblivious families who had left their lunch unattended. She remembers the crashing of waves that sounded as if the whole world were being swallowed by the sea.

Sammy wasn't sure where exactly this specific beach was, only that it was close to home. Close enough that the sound of the birds was already familiar to her before she first spotted their white and gray feathers flying overhead.

Sammy longed to find this place, where it was sunny and cold. Where the rough wind made her shiver, and the waves kept her warm. She wanted to return to the wet sand littered with seashells and sand crabs that she had to be careful not to step on.

She wanted so badly to go back to the familiar paradise. To her mother and her year old brother; two people she doubted she'd ever see again. She wanted to go back there and find out what happened.

She wanted to know what happened on that beach that took her away from her family. How was it she ended up at camp as a passed out three year old who had no recollection of the past ten hours?

She wanted to know what her life would have been like if she had grown up in the mortal world. Away from monsters and death at every turn. Away from flesh eating harpies and hellhounds and dracaena.

Sammy will never know, despite thinking about it every day and night. Imagining it in her few actual dreams that didn't show the horror's of her life.

All Sammy could hope for was that her brother wasn't anything like her. Because if he was then he was probably dead, and if he wasn't dead he'd have to endure the same nightmares and trauma she grew up with. She didn't want that for the brother she barely knew.

So, when she heard that Chiron was leaving to watch over a potentially super powerful demigod, Sammy hoped that it would be a false alarm. She hoped the satyr had weak senses, and had been mistaken.

When news spread around the camp of a kid around the age of twelve defeating the minotaur single-handedly without any experience, Sammy crossed her fingers his name wouldn't ring a bell.

When Annabeth was seen sneaking into the infirmary more than usual to check on this mysterious boy, Sammy convinced herself the blonde was being hopeful, instead of her.

When Grover began parading around camp, telling everyone about how amazing Percy was in defeating the minotaur, Sammy began praying to every god except her own to claim him.

When word started of the mortal woman who sacrificed herself for her son, Sammy locked herself in her empty cabin and cried into her pillow, waiting for someone to burst in and tell her it was all a misunderstanding, or that this was all just another demigod nightmare.

No one came except her friends, who found a way to pick the lock and sit by her side as she cried, rubbing her back and bringing her food.

When the day finally came that the new kid had awoken, Sammy cleaned up her cabin, made sure she looked presentable, gave herself a long pep-talk in the mirror, and prepared to meet her little brother for the first time in eleven years.