Special thanks to Novaexplodes for giving me some of the inspiration to write this.

"Mom! I'm home!"

Percy walked in the front door of the flat and unceremoniously dropped his bag on the floor. He pushed a hand through his messy hair as his mother walked out of the kitchen smiling brightly. She kissed his cheek and was about to say something when a loud squeal echoed through the house. Approaching footsteps pursued.

"PEEERCYYY!" The tiny four year old sprinted down the hallway and leapt into her brother's arms.

Paul walked in shortly after and gave Percy an awkward side hug.

"Long time no see. How's college?"

Percy shrugged. "Eh. It's still school. I have to go back in two weeks."

The little girl sat in his arms and held his face with both hands. She looked into his eyes and very seriously said, "Where's Annabeff?" She still had trouble with the name.

Percy smiled. "She went to San Francisco to see her family."

The little girl looked confused. "I thought we were her family."

With a small chuckle, Percy shook his head. "No. She has a real family. She just stays around here a lot."

The girl's mouth made a big O shape, then slid from Percy's grasp onto the floor. She took his hand and pulled him towards the dining room, pushing past Sally and Paul. "Mommy made food."

"Oh, that's wonderful!"

He took his seat at the circular table, and the little girl sat next to him. In fact, she pulled her chair as close as she possibly could to him. Paul sat opposite of him.

"Bella, don't annoy Percy."

"Oh, it's okay." Percy said with a grin. "I missed her."

Bella gave him a signature toothy smile and he blinked. For a second, she had looked different...older. Bella was quite unusual, though. Her traits weren't like either Sally's or Paul's: olive skin, black hair, dark eyes. Just then his mom walked in. She held a huge platter of lasagna, the delicious smell rolling off in waves. He immediately forgot about his previous thought.

"Mom, you're the best."

"I know." She set down the platter and ruffled his hair. "Everybody dig in!"

And everybody did.

The lasagna had been absolutely delicious, and the happy chatter had made the meal even better. Sally, Paul, and Bella bombarded Percy with questions about college, his love life, his friends… and a few very disguised, very coded questions about his demigod life. Bella still had no idea Percy was anything but ordinary, and they wanted to keep her blissfully ignorant.

They were nearing the end of the meal when his mom asked, "Have you heard anything about your summer camp?"

Percy nodded and watched Bella out of the corner of his eye. She was carefully picking out the onions and mushrooms from her first piece of lasagna, which had long gone cold.

"I got a message that everything is fine. The most dangerous thing that has happened was this one game of Capture the Flag when Nico was caught-"

"Nico." Bella suddenly seemed very interested in the conversation. "I like that name… a lot."

Percy froze. Surrounding the girl was a dark green aura. A holographic image flickered around her, looking just like Bella, but years in the future. She smiled at him, and little Bella did the same. Then she saw his expression.

"What's wrong?" But the words didn't process. They sounded tinny. His eyes didn't move from the hologram, that now had a look of concern. It reached out a hand as if to stroke his face, and he cried out and toppled backwards. As soon as he did, the picture disappeared. Immediately his family was surrounding him on the floor, each looking panicked.

"Percy, are you okay?"

"Are you hurt?"

"What was that?"

Instead of answering, he pushed himself to his feet and bolted into his room, slamming the door. The image of the girl with the green beanie was burned into his mind.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering." The coin disappeared into the rainbow made hastily by a glass of water and the receding daylight.

"Annabeth Chase, in San Francisco."

The image flickered to the blonde girl, laying on her bed with a book in hand.

"Annabeth!" Percy called. Immediately she looked up and put the book down, smiling brightly. Then the smile faded.

"You're so pale! What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"No. Annabeth, listen to me. How fast can you get to Camp Half-blood?"

"It'll take me at least a day… Percy, what happened? Tell me!" Her voice was raising in pitch as her panic grew.

Percy quickly told her what had happened during dinner. Annabeth covered her mouth.

"Oh my gods..."

Percy was visibly shaken. "What should we do?"

"I… I don't know. Should we tell him?"

"I feel like I have to. He has the right to know."

Percy put his head into his hands and took a deep breath. "I don't know how I didn't see it earlier. How could I have been so STUPID?"

"You couldn't have known! Bianca died what, 8 years ago?"

Percy nodded. He glanced to the door and then looked back. "I'm going to do it."

"You want to wait for me?"

"Meet me at camp?"

"Okay. I'm coming."

Silence hung in the air for a second. "I love you, Wise Girl."

"Love you too, Seaweed Brain."

Percy brushed his hand through the image and it faded. He opened the door and called,

"Hey, Bella, come here! We're going on a car trip!"