Penny Jackson

Chapter 1

I'm not too sure how it happened, really. I mean, one day I'm dead (as I had been for the last few months, yes, very sad, I know), and the next day I'm alive again. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't alive in my previous body, nor even my previous world, which became apparent rather quickly. For one, when I died, I had been 17 and blonde and most definitely human (no matter what my ex-boyfriend tells you. The guy's a douche bag; don't trust anything he says.) yet when I awoke in my recently-acquired body, I found myself 10 years old again, having brown hair, and, as I later found out, being a demigod.

Now, don't let my new older brother Percy fall you. (Yes, Percy Jackson. Extremely exciting if I'd read more than the first few chapters of the book series probably). Being a half blood isn't half-bad really. Yes, it's dangerous, and often painful, and will most likely get you killed before you reach adulthood. However, as a girl who lived only until 17 in my past life, that last bit doesn't seem so bad to me. After all, I now know exactly what happens when you die. You drift around in a state of half-aware, half-asleep horror for a few months, then wake up in someone else's body and hope no one notices you are a completely different person than who they were expecting.

Now, do I feel bad for whatever happened to the original Penny Jackson when I took over her body? I mean, a little. Obviously. But she likely only existed because of me anyway seeing as I don't believe she was ever mentioned in the books.

So, to recap: My name was Penny Gray. Now it's Penny Jackson. And I'm a forbidden daughter of Poseidon, who is absolutely a sucky dad.

When I first woke up in my new body, the first thing I did was scream in absolute terror. Luckily for me, no one thought that seemed odd, as in that moment, we were all (Sally, Percy, Grover, and I) being attacked by a crazy guy with half a bull on his head. Oh, yes. The Minotaur. So a supposed 10 year old screaming her head off, while jotting exactly helpful, also wasn't entirely surprising. I managed to stay conscious long enough to see Sally dying yikes, poor Percy, and Percy killing the monster in revenge, yay! Go Percy! but when I helped him carry Grover into Camp Half Blood, I took one look around and realised I was 100% in a fictional universe now. So, I fainted, just as I heard a voice say "He's the one. He must be."

When I next awoke, I was lying in a bed with only one other person in the room: an (objectively speaking) very handsome guy looking out of a window.
"What... what happened?" I croaked, sitting up. He turned around and I met 2 blue eyes with my own, before seeing a long scar on the left side of his face. Luke, my mind supplied me with. Right. Son of... Hermes, I think?

He gave me a gentle smile. "You passsed out."
No shit, Sherlock.
"Chiron and Annabeth brought you here. Usually a healer would be looking out for you, but it's a Wednesday. They're all teaching archery. So you got me. I'm Luke." He explained.
"Apollo's kids are the healers then." I realised out loud.

He looked surprised. "Yeah. You got that quicker than your brother did that's for sure. You're clearly the smarter of the two, huh kiddo?" He grinned at me and ruffled my hair. For a few seconds I pondered tearing his hand off his arm, but it wasn't his fault he didn't know I was actually 17. Not a 10 year old. That was going to be an issue then. I didn't want people to be treating me like a kid.
I raised an eyebrow at him and shuffled backwards on my bed so I could sit upright. "Not a kiddo," I said firmly, "My name is Penny. And I don't need to be here. I'm 100% fine." I swung my legs over the bed and stood up. As I started walking towards the door, I noticed Luke following me outside.

"Sure thing kiddo. I'm not going to argue but I am supposed to lead you to Mr. D and Chiron. You'll like Chiron, I think. Mr. D not though. He's the god of wine." He replied, taking the lead and showing me to a big house. "This is the Big House." Great name. "You'll find them both inside. Kinda hard to miss. Your brother's in there too" With that, he took off, arms swinging by his side, having completed his short quest. Lol. Quest. I'm hilarious.

I narrowed my eyes at him for leaving me here alone. Yes I am indeed 17. Why do you ask?
Opening the doors in a dramatic flourish, I walked proudly inside the Big House, determined to make an impression upon the god inside.