Disclaimer: The characters and story of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" are not created or owned by me. This is an unlicensed fan fiction. A great deal of coffee was harmed in the making of this story.

Thanks to all my readers who reviewed my last story. I really enjoyed reading your comments.

This story is basically an alternate universe story. Even though it is based in the regular story, I diverge from the established storyline considerably. This is only my second fan fiction but I am excited about it. I wrote the prologue months ago, right about the time I finished my first fan fiction and then life got busy. Now I am taking up pen (metaphorically speaking) once more and will hopefully finish this story. One thing I should note, I have not started reading the "Heroes of Olympus" series yet so if I write anything that contradicts that, just ignore it. I think, given the nature of this story, that it should not be a problem, though.

The prologue was inspired by an episode of "Doctor Who," one of my favourite television shows, titled "Turn Left" (thus, the title of this story). I have the story about half-way finished (I think it is about half-way, at any rate, since I am actually not yet sure how the story is going to end!) but I do not like putting up chapters as soon as I finish them because they tend to change a great deal by the time I get to the end of the story. But I think I have enough of the story locked in now that it is safe to post some of the first chapters. Should be interesting!

Enjoy!

Prologue

One Year After the Battle of Manhattan:

Annabeth savoured the cool of the evening as she wandered through the woods. The last rays of the setting sun fell gently through the trees lending a heavenly quality to the surroundings. The great peak of Olympus rose high above, soaring into the clouds. The sight of Olympus was both depressing and hopeful. It was almost bare, only a few of the old buildings and temples from the once-great city remained. It had taken a year to clean up the destruction Kronos had wrought on the mountain, sifting through every bit of rubble for anything that should be saved or repurposed. But now it was done. It was time to start rebuilding. Annabeth stopped and perched on a boulder, closing her eyes as the breeze stirred her long blonde curls, and she sighed. She missed Percy. Their schedules had kept them apart far more than she liked lately.

"Inspiring, isn't it?"

Annabeth jumped in surprise at the unexpected voice from beside her. She turned and found a small, hairy creature sitting on the ground next to her. The small thing stood up, revealing that at its full height it was barely two feet tall, and smoothed its glossy black fur with hands possessed of fingers so short and stubby they almost looked like paws. It was pudgy and shaped rather like it preferred to go on all fours than on two legs. It touched the brim of its bowler hat (a bowler!) and nodded its head in a gesture of deferment. "Sorry," he said (it sounded like a 'he' at any rate), "didn't mean to startle you."

Annabeth stared at the little creature. Then she realized that he was waiting for her reply. "That's fine…um…I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Names are such boring things," he replied with a dismissive wave of a hand, "So limiting. Once you know someone's name that's all they will ever be to you for the rest of time. Before you know their name, they could be anyone, anything. Life is much more interesting without names."

Annabeth arched an eyebrow at the funny little thing. "Interesting, perhaps, but rather confusing."

The creature smiled which made its nose crinkle. "But confusion is interesting, too."

Annabeth laughed. Even though his sudden appearance had startled her, there was something about this fellow that put her at ease. "I suppose it is. Is that what you do in life? Go around nameless and confused, enjoying the sights?"

"You could say that."

"Do you ever give a straight answer to a question?"

"Only under certain circumstances," he replied with a vague wave of his hand.

The two of them were silent for a moment, enjoying the evening. "Yes, it is," said Annabeth. Now the creature looked quizzically at her. "Mount Olympus," she said nodding toward the distant peak. "You said it was inspiring." The creature nodded his head in understanding. "And when we finish rebuilding it, it will be even better." There was no visible change in the small, furry fellow beside her but Annabeth thought she could feel disapproval from him.

The creature was silent for a moment longer before he said, "You've already cleaned up all the mess from the mountain. Now you're going to make it even more orderly?" He seemed to be talking to himself more than her so Annabeth said nothing. He shook his head gently, "A pity."

Annabeth turned to him in surprise. "A pity?" She was almost angry. "We are going to build something great, something that will last for millennia!"

"Yes," the creature mused, "it will last for millennia. Thousands of years without changing. Everything always the same…forever. How boring." Annabeth was about to make a retort when he said something that brought her up short. "Now Kronos, he would have been something." The creature looked Annabeth in the eyes and she saw cold malice that made her blood run cold. "Kronos would have been interesting."

Annabeth began to back away. "I think I should get back to Olympus," she said. She hastily turned back toward the mountain she had come from but before she could get away the creature jumped up and grabbed her arm pulling her back. Despite his comically small hands, he had a grip like a vice.

"Oh, I think not, Annabeth Chase." His features contorted in a sinister sneer. "I waited six thousand years for something interesting to happen. The rise of Kronos would have wrought unimaginable chaos, I could have fed off that for generations to come but you and your little boyfriend had to go and ruin it!"

Annabeth began to feel faint. She looked down at her arm and saw blood seeping from underneath the creature's hand. He had not scratched her, how could she be bleeding? A dark discolouration began to seep up her arm toward her shoulder. "What are you doing to me?" she cried out.

"Me?" the creature laughed, "I'm not doing anything. Just rolling back history a little bit."

Annabeth realized he was gripping her arm right where Ethan Nakamura had stabbed her with his poisoned dagger during the Battle of Manhattan. Somehow the creature had reopened the wound. Her blood began to drip onto the ground below. "But…how…?" Annabeth's vision began to go black at the edges. Her voice barely came out as a whisper, "H-h-help." She looked up at Mount Olympus but no help was coming. She collapsed as her vision narrowed to a pinpoint and then faded entirely.

- x - x - x - x - x -

Annabeth suddenly found herself on a battlefield in the middle of a battle. She shook her head to clear it as she sliced open a hellhound bent on her destruction. She had been…on Olympus? A year after the Battle of Manhattan? That was ridiculous. She was fighting alongside Percy for control of Manhattan right now. Get your head in the game, smart girl, she told herself. Get distracted now and you die. She parried a blow from an enemy demigod and risked a quick glance at Percy to her right. He was handling a greater number of enemies than she would have thought possible. More than she could have handled by herself. Then she saw one lone warrior coming up from behind. She recognized him from the eye patch under his helm. It was Ethan Nakamura and Percy did not see him at all. She had to stop Ethan before he got to Percy. Annabeth turned to her right…

"No...turn left."

The voice tore through Annabeth's mind like a sledgehammer. She stopped reeling slightly from the immense power of the voice in her head. Ethan was still a ways from Percy. Annabeth tried once more to move to intercept him-

"Turn left."

Annabeth felt dizzy. What was happening to her? She took another step to the right…

"TURN LEFT!"

Before her mind had a chance to register what was happening, her feet took her left—away from Percy. She had barely gone two steps when she heard Percy cry out and her blood went cold. Percy was crumpled on his knees screaming in agony with a dagger buried in the small of his back. His cries tore at her heart. Annabeth felt tears running down her face. That seaweed brain could NOT die before she'd told him how she felt about him. He just couldn't.

All of the enemies Percy had been fighting had pulled back for a moment, seemingly in shock at his sudden defeat. But they quickly recovered and moved in to make sure of the kill. Annabeth ran to Percy, not sure what she planned to do but she would NOT let them take him from her. Before anybody could get to him, Percy was wrenched upright as though by a muscle spasm. Annabeth could see pain and terror written all over his face. Percy's head was wrenched back by another spasm and he cried out one last time as his body burned with golden fury. And then he was gone. His sword fell to the ground, clattered once, and turned into a small ballpoint pen.

Annabeth picked up the pen and took off the cap but it remained a pen. She did not have the power to turn it back to a sword. She gritted her teeth through her tears. "Cursed blade, indeed," she muttered. Annabeth screamed with rage and launched herself into the crowd of monsters and demigods.

Some time later (Hours? Days? Annabeth wasn't sure anymore) Annabeth huddled behind an overturned car with a few other half-bloods. She and a handful of half-bloods had managed to escape after Percy died but ever since then the war had become a nightmare. Thalia and the hunters of Artemis were missing in action. Annabeth hoped they had made it into hiding. Half-bloods were cowering wherever they could find shelter all throughout the city while Kronos' army hunted them down like animals. Annabeth dared a look around the car. There were no troops on the street. They had not seen any enemy soldiers in…time seemed meaningless, it was hard to tell. Everything seemed meaningless since Percy had died.

A commotion from far away caught Annabeth's attention. Unsure what she was hearing, Annabeth strained to see what was going on when golden light caught her attention. A golden light, like a beacon was shining from…oh gods, it was shining from above the Empire State Building. Annabeth felt a strange energy humming in the air. She realized she did not just feel it, she could hear it. A low thrum, slowly building in power and intensity. As it grew louder, the Empire State Building began to tremble. Annabeth watched in horror as it began to crumble from the top down. A great beam of golden light shot down from above and the building was demolished in the space of a heartbeat.

Kronos was risen. The Titans had overthrown the gods.