Percy looked up into the sky and let out a long sigh. The sky was a pastel blue—the only kind of blue one would see in a movie. The clouds lilted and flowed as a slight, refreshing breeze pushed them forward. Percy swore he saw a couple of clouds that looked like a slice of pizza or a hamburger . . . or maybe he was just hungry. Pushing that thought away, he heard the whining of the seagulls and the crashing of the water against the sand and he knew he wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here for his twentieth birthday: Montauk.

The sand between Percy's toes crunched against his skin as we walked from the ocean to where his mother, step-father, and girlfriend sat. They all smiled, waved, and called him over to sit since he was the first person into the water (naturally.) Sally threw him his towel and Percy swiftly caught it, rubbing his hair and his face. He would decide to come out of the ocean bone dry like he usually does, but there were people there. He didn't want to confuse them or question physics or chemistry or whatever.

"How's the water, Perce?" Paul asked as he bit into an apple. He wore a baseball cap and khaki shorts with a white t-shirt. Percy suspected he was wearing a bathing suit underneath his clothes, but doubted he would actually end up going into the ocean.

"It's really nice," Percy nodded and rested his hand on his hips. "I would definitely go in at some point." Instead of audibly responding, Paul simply nodded in recognition and took another bite of his apple.

"Maybe Paul and I will make it in some time." Sally responded for Paul and rested her hand on his arm. She gave Paul a soft smile, which was how Percy could tell she was genuinely happy. Percy smiled because of this, but Paul just nodded and continued to chew on his apple.

"Whatever you want, honey." Once he swallowed, Paul smiled back at her and Sally patted his hand before she went back to her book and Paul went back to his apple. Percy nearly flinched when he called her "honey"—not because he was angry, but because he had rarely heard a man call her a term of endearment.

Once slightly dry, Percy dropped the towel and sat down on the blanket next to Annabeth. Her blonde hair was lit up by the sun, but efficiently thrown up in a ponytail. Her skin glowed because of the sunscreen she had already put on and Percy found himself getting distracted by this. Annabeth picked this up as she was reading her book because she asked without looking up,

"It looks like you're getting hot again, Seaweed Brain. Maybe you should go back into the water again." Percy knew she was being playful because she caught him staring. He was still amazed at her perception outside of the battlefield.

"Yeah, yeah," Percy grumbled and moved, so that Annabeth was sitting in between Percy's legs and leaning back against his chest. Since she was so close, Percy could smell the strong scent of sunscreen, along with the faint hint of lemon, which he knew was coming from her hair. He smiled and placed a kiss on top of her head.

"Whatcha reading, Miss Brainiac?"

"Nothing you would care about or understand."

Percy pursed his lips, "I'm serious." He heard her lightly laugh in contrast to his serious, pouty tone. She turned her head a bit to look into his eyes and she smirked.

"I'm reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius." She said and held the book up to his face. Percy didn't flinch, but he took the book from her hands and flipped through a couple of pages. The words automatically became scrambled on the page, but when he really focused, he could manage a couple of phrases.

"Why are you reading this? Isn't this Marcus guy dead?"

"Percy, I swear," Annabeth scoffed and took the book away from him. "Sometimes I even wonder why I'm with you."

"I crawled through hell for you," Percy said with feigned hurt, a hand over his chest. Annabeth rolled her eyes and sat up, shutting the book. She crossed her tan legs and placed the book beside her.

"You often forget that I was there, too." She said matter-of-factly and tilted her head to the side. She was studying his face while chewing on her bottom lip contemplatively.

Of course Percy knew she was there . . . how could he forget? Without her, he would probably be dead, or worse . . . still in there. She was the brain, he was the execution. He often wondered if he could ever function without her . . . he didn't usually stay transfixed on that thought because he knew the answer was probably no. And even though it had been a couple of years or so since the war with Gaia, still thinking about traveling through the Underworld got to them both. They wouldn't crumble as much as they used to, but chunks and bits of memories and pain flashed through their minds.

"Yes, you were. And I'm glad you were." Percy admitted. Some ringlets of Annabeth's hair had fallen out of her ponytail and they blew in the slight breeze. Percy reached over and pushed them out of her face, causing Annabeth to smile. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before returning to her original position: cuddling with Percy and her book.

Percy leaned back on his palms and smiled, watching the waves going in and out. Percy always admired the beautiful routine of the waves. It was natural and mandatory and Percy respected that. He watched the dark blue waves roll back and forth until he saw a venom green fin poke out of the waves. Not wanting to alarm anymore, he sat up some more and he narrowed his eyes at the ocean as if that would help him see better. He waited a couple of seconds before a long, scaly tail shone as it danced in and out of the water. His muscles tightened and Annabeth slowly closed her book.

"What is it, Perce?" She breathily whispered. The sound of a wave crashing against the sand cut out the last part of her sentence, but he knew what she had said. "Animal, Monster, or god?"

"Monster." Percy muttered in response and pointed towards the ocean. Annabeth's eyes followed his finger's direction and she sat up as well, groaning. Annabeth watched Sally and Paul to see if they were alarmed, but they were both now reading books. Annabeth looked over her shoulder and into Percy's eyes.

"The Mist." Percy nodded at her and Annabeth sighed. "I can't believe we can't even celebrate your birthday without a monster attacking." Annabeth should've kept her tone lower because Sally perked up.

"Monster?" Her eyes darted around wildly, fervently searching for something. "Percy, where? It's not Gaia, right?" Ever since that battle, Sally had been paranoid about another war like that or losing Percy. It made Percy's heart break, but he couldn't control if he got sucked into another battle. He didn't know how to comfort her because sporadically battling a monster or an ancient god came with the territory of being a demigod. Percy got onto his knees and rested his hand on her arm. It was comfortably warm from the sun.

"Mom, don't worry," Percy said as calmly as possible. "It's just a sea snake or monster or something."

"Oh, yes. I'm not supposed to worry about a sea monster devouring my son." Sally retorted. The word "monster" must have caught Paul's attention because he finally looked over to Percy and not his book.

"Perce, what can we do?" Although Paul was wearing sunglasses, Percy knew he was being serious. Percy rubbed the back of his neck as he thought.

"I don't know how big this monster is or what it even is, but I need this area to be evacuated. Things could get . . . messy." He admitted and grimaced. Annabeth joined Percy next to him on her knees and nodded.

"I'm sure these people don't see this monster because of the Mis-" The sound of a reptilian screech cut of Annabeth mid-speech. They turned around and saw the sea monster sprout through the water. It was the color of deadly, venomous emerald and had two heads. To Percy, it looked like a hydra with less heads. They roared into the sky and it seemed like its roar shook the earth. The people who were at the beach began to scream and panic and run away.

"Right," Annabeth pursed her lips. "Now they definitely know something is here." She leaned forward and looked at Paul and Sally. "We'll take care of this monster. You make sure that those humans get to safety and far away as possible." Sally and Paul nodded simultaneously and got up, walking as fast as they could to the panicky people. They calmed them down and went up the stairs that led away from the beach. Once they were gone, Annabeth and Percy turned towards each other.

"You've got Riptide?" Annabeth asked.

"Of course," Percy reached into the pocket of him swimsuit and pulled out his weapon. Annabeth nodded and rifled through her bag, pulling out a bronze knife.

"I'll distract, you attack. Okay?" Annabeth asked expectantly. Percy nodded. Annabeth leaned forward and kissed him since it was a tradition now. She began to run towards the monster and it roared in response as if it was supposed to be laughter. Percy was surprised it had all of this patience, but I'm sure it was because the monster only wanted Percy. Typical. Annabeth turned around suddenly.

"Oh, Percy?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to get too dirty. I was going to surprise you with a birthday dinner, but that's gone to Hades now."

"No promises, Annabeth." Percy said with a smirk. Annabeth rolled her eyes and took off into the water.

With a wave of his hand, he caused a giant wave to hit the left head of the monster. The monster cried out, but then they looked down at Annabeth who was taunting it. Percy decided to take this as his cue.

He sprinted towards the water.