A clang resounded from outside a modest Indiana home. A tanned hand ripped earbuds out of delicate ears as a sigh filled the otherwise quiet upstairs bedroom. Vanessa Lijep abandoned her laptop, still blaring "Yellow Submarine". Racing down the staircase and throwing open the front door, the 12-year-old girl peered around the front yard in mock suspicion. Seemingly finding nothing, she turned and started to close the door.

In the bushes, a tanned 13-year-old breathed a sigh of relief, inwardly celebrating his triumph over actually evading his opponent's observational skills. Alex Garza's celebration was quickly turned to dismay when Vanessa, his pseudo-sister, smirked over her shoulder and stared straight at him.

"Hey Zaza," she began, eliciting a groan from a suspiciously rustling bush. "I win, you know."

Zaza groaned and emerged from his leafy hideout, "I do know that, as a matter of fact, you remind me every-"

"Again," a smug Vanessa interjected.

"Typical," Zaza muttered under his breath. A bit louder, he pleaded, "But please stop calling me Zaza, for Venus' sake. My name is Alex, and you know that, Nessie. Or even Garza would work, but please not Zaza!"

Vanessa scowled at the monumental idiot who compared her to a filthy LAKE MONSTER! "Hypocrite, pleading against a nickname while calling me one you know I hate. I am way too beautiful to be even associated with a lake monster! Oh, and never on my life, Zaza." Alex drooped dramatically over the weight of his horrid nickname.

"Oh, come on, Zaza, Dad made watermelon-ginger granita! Cheer up." Alex immediately perked up at the prospect of Maria's heavenly granita. Following Vanessa inside, the duo kicked off their shoes and made a beeline for the kitchen. Mr. Lijep was in the kitchen tidying up the counter.

"Hey Dad/Mr. Lijep," Vanessa and Alex chirped in unison, Vanessa splitting off from her friend to hug her father.

Mr. Lijep snarled at Vanessa, who was about to touch his arm. Vanessa retreated in shock at this uncharacteristic behavior from her father. Vanessa's gaze wandered to where a metal poker hung on the wall next to Zaza's head. (He was raiding the organized fridge, as usual.) Once, two years ago, Vanessa's dad had warned her that if any situation seemed wrong somehow, she should use that stick to defend herself. He said it was his last memory of her mother. Vanessa contemplated taking that stick down now. Nah, she thought. He's just having a bad day.

Turning to thoughtfully stroke the poker, Nessie missed the byplay behind her.

"Mr. Lijep?" Alex called, confused. "Nessie said you made granita. Where is it?"

Mr. Lijep's eyes rolled back in his head, tuning not white, but glowing black. "Half-blood scum," he hissed and lunged at Alex with inhuman speed. The visage of the well loved father melted off of the monster like snow sloughs off glass.

Vanessa whirled around as her childhood friend yelled in fear and dove to the floor, upending the kitchen table and two chairs into the monster's path. Mr. Lijep was nowhere to be seen. In her place stood a figure Vanessa had only seen in her childhood nightmares.

Yep, Vanessa realized grimly, grabbing the bronze poker off the wall. Definitely need it now. How did he know?

A teenage girl stood on the other side of the kitchen, her beaky nose wrinkled in distaste and thin lips pulled back in an animalistic snarl. Feathered wings spread along the girl's back, and sharp amber eyes watched Vanessa's every movement.

"Mistress will be so very pleased. And to think, it was I who captured the Lijep girl! Tell me, child of love, what says your mother on the new issue?"

Alex opened his mouth to speak, but the bird girl cut him off.

"Know your place, boy."

Alex narrowed his eyes at Nessie's stricken look. No one spoke to him or his sister that way and got away with it, especially not Princess Featherbrain over here.

Vanessa took a shaky step back. "I-i don't know. What are you talking about? And what did you do to my father?"

Alex the Tactless again cut in impatiently, "Her mother's gone. Who are you to ask, anyway? Leave my sister alone!"

The bird girl screeched in anger and turned to Alex, preparing to atttack. "Stop interfering, child! It is not yet your time or aspect! My mistress will have order!" She looked back at Vanessa slyly. "And as for your dear mortal father, scum, he's gone! Dead! Do you hear me? You. Will. Never. See. Him. Again." The monstrosity threw her head back and cackled.

"No!" Vanessa sobbed. "No. That's not true!" She seemed to plead with her enemy, hoping for the continued existence of her father. Better this be a cruel joke than an even more painful reality.

Princess Featherbrain continued her screeching laugh, her amusement the dreaded confirmation of the horrible truth.

"No," Vanessa muttered under her breath with quiet courage. "No."

The shaken, half-orphaned girl mustered her courage and lunged forward with the poker, the tip sinking an inch into the distracted bird girl's gut before Princess Featherbrain burst into golden dust and feathers.

Vanessa drew in a shuddering breath, the rush of adrenaline seeping out of her system. She turned to her longtime friend, only to see her expression reflected back on his face. Before either of them could do anything, a dove flew in the window. Or tried to, flying instead straight into a highly polished window. Alex laughed shakily, as Vanessa opened the window to help the poor bird. Imagine her surprise when the tiny creature spoke!

A rosy glow surrounded the small bird, and it rose into the air from an astonished Vanessa's hand. A woman's voice emanated from its tiny body:

"Vanessa, I am your mother. Go to Camp Half-Blood, Vanessa. You will find the safety you need there. Find the one who is half man and tell him that Kythereia has awakened. Go swiftly, my child, to Long Island, and let your feelings guide you; they are your most powerful weapon."

"How in Aphrodite's name am I supposed to get to Long Island? It's, like, on the other side of the universe!"

Seeing his friend start to hyperventilate from the continued shocks, Zaza interrupted her panicking with an optimistic, but useless comment, "It could have been worse. You could have been sent to Japan or something."

"Not helping, Zaza! I just got attacked by an angry bird-girl-something, and now I need to get to freaking Long Island, New York! All because of a message from my supposedly dead mother through a dove, of all things! How does it get worse than this?"

Alex decided some defusing was in order here. "Hey. Calm down, Nessie."

"I will NOT calm down, you oaf!"

Ohhhhhkay. So that didn't work out so great. New plan... Ah. Perfect.

Alex wrapped strong arms around his pseudo-sister and pulled her down to lean against the wall. Nessie almost collapsed in his arms, knees buckling from fatigue. "Well, at least we'll be together. Nothing is going to tear us apart, Nessie. Nothing. You're my sister, and that's never going to change."

Vanessa buried her head in her brother's shoulder. "Thanks, Zaza. Oh, and don't call me Nessie, please?"

Alex scoffed. "Right. When hell freezes over, my dear Nessie." He sobered and continued, "Really though, today was a pretty tough day. Tell ya what, I'll sleep over with you tonight and we'll face this mother of yours tomorrow."

Evidently a bit of sarcasm slipped through into Alex's words, as Nessie twisted out his grip, and spoke up again, slightly coldly. "Even if I've never met her, this voice is supposed to be my mother, and don't you ruin that for me, Alex!"

Alex futilely argued his point, "But Nessie, how can you trust her? What if that's Princess Featherbrain's boss on the other end? You never know, Nessie, and I want you to be safe."

Vanessa was having none of it. "I have a feeling that I will find my mom at this Camp Half-Blood, whatever it is. Until then, I can only trust. I have you and Dad and..." Vanessa trailed off, the loss of her father finally crashing down upon her as a wave carves soft rock. "Dad. Oh my gods. Dad." Alex could do nothing to help her except hold his sister close, waiting for the tide of emotion to ebb. "He's gone, Alex. I'll never see him again. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone."

"I know."

"HE'S GONE! MY FATHER IS DEAD!" Vanessa broke down, hot tears staining Alex's blue shirt. Alex rubbed her back, comforting her. As the stricken boy held his weeping sister, he felt her body relax and fall against him, Nessie's mind drifting on to the realm of Morpheus.

Deciding to take a leaf from her book, Alex leaned against the wall and slipped silently into sleep, borne away on the cloud of a dream.