Story Overview: Percy, Annabeth, and Adam go to California to scout for a new half-blood camp to combat the increasing amount of claimed half-bloods. Little do they know danger is always following them.

Characters: Percy and Annabeth will be the main characters. There will be 2 OCs, but they both play an important part in the story. They are, in my humble opinion, not Mary Sues or Gary Stus. Point of views will change very rarely; about once every three or four chapters.

Genre/Plot: This story is written to be similar to the PJO series written by Rick Riordan. It will be mainly adventure, though mystery plays a large role in the plot - many clues have been written so you can piece together what's going on without having to wait for a new chapter. There are numerous subplots scattered throughout, the main one being Annabeth & Percy's growing relationship and feelings towards each other. The main plot is mentioned in the story summary.

Rating: Rated T for mild language and kissing.

Notes: I have tried my best not to make Annabeth and Percy OOC. I have kept in mind that while they know they have feelings for each other, they are not head over heels in love and still argue like brother and sister. Annabeth is intelligent and somewhat of a tomboy. Percy can be quite oblivious and is overly loyal and protective of friends. Reviews and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, as this is my first FanFiction. Thanks!

CHAPTER ONE: I MEET MY BROTHER

Percy's POV

It was a typical Saturday in August. I was in my room, just lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling while listening to my iPod. It was just like most of my summer days away from camp. My mom and Paul were in the living room, watching some movie together. They've been married for a few months now, and my mom's happier than ever.

Just then, my phone started ringing. I took it out of my pocket and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Seaweed Brain."

Oh gods. I haven't talked to Annabeth for weeks. She was probably out to kill me now.

"What's up, Wise Girl?"

"Nothing much. It's just that a certain Seaweed Brain hasn't talked with me for the past two weeks."

Silence. I sat up on my bed and nervously looked out the window. How could I get myself out of this mess?

"I'm waiting for an answer."

"Well, um…"

"Percy, is something wrong?"

"No… it's just that… I've been busy with stuff."

"Care to explain what kind of stuff?"

"I was helping Rachel pack up for her new school, and…"

"Oh."

"Oh? That's it?"

"No, well, I just wanted to talk to you."

"So how's your moving to the boarding school going?" Annabeth's parents were letting her stay in New York to help with the reconstruction of Olympus.

"Huh? Oh... yeah, it's going great."

"Listen, if you need any help, just call me, okay?"

"N-no, it's fine, Percy. Oh, and one last thing."

"Hmmm?"

"You'll be getting a real birthday present from me in about a week."

With that, she hung up. Okay, well... That was just about the weirdest conversation I ever had. A week? That would be when school started.

I groaned at the thought of another horrible school year. Me, being the loser I am, would probably barely pass my classes and always be the loner. It was going to be just like the past 15 failed years of my life.

But then, I smiled. As long as it wasn't another deformed cupcake, it'd be okay. Annabeth sure knew how to brighten up my day. As busy as she was designing the new Olympus, it was surprising she still remembered me.

And I have to admit, someone like her is impossible to forget too. I could almost picture her stormy gray eyes and long blonde hair next to me. I groaned at the thought of having to wait another year to see her.

. . . . . . . . . .

About an hour later, my mom knocked on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I said, still lying on my bed.

She opened the door slowly. I noticed she was holding hands with Paul. The two of them had smiles on their faces.

"Percy, I have two things to tell you."

I sat up and removed my earbuds.

"One. I'm pregnant!"

The look on my face must have been pretty funny, because the two of them started cracking up. I was in total shock and I guess my face was plastered with a goofy looking grin with a hint of surprise.

"Wow. That's… great!" I said.

The two stopped laughing to look at me.

"We knew you'd be excited, Percy," my mom giggled, which was very unlike her. I guess this is what marriage does to you.

"Yeah. So, uh, is it a boy or girl?" I asked.

"It's too early to tell," Paul told me, clutching my mom's hand even tighter.

"Percy, I think you'll be more interested in this second piece of news," my mom said, moving on.

"You know how the Williams moved out last month? Well, we're getting new neighbors! Now you might ask why I'm so happy, but it's because one of my college friends is moving in. Her name's Madeline, and she has a son your age. I think you'll relate to him pretty well." She sounded like she knew something I didn't, but tried masking it with excitement.

I almost rolled my eyes. If she thought we were going to be, like, best friends or something, she was crazy. It's not that I'm not social, it's just that demigods aren't liked too much among mortals. Especially ones like me.

I listened to my mom as she went on. "They just moved in yesterday and Madeline invited us over to their apartment to talk and catch up. We'll leave in 10 minutes, all right?"

"Sure," I said absentmindedly while put my earbuds back on.

. . . . . . . . . .

Before I knew it, there we were, in front of Apartment #403. My mom decided to buy a vase of flowers and a dish set as a welcoming gift. Take a guess at who was holding the presents. That's right - me.

My mom nervously played with her hair for a few seconds, sighed, and pressed the doorbell. A soft ding echoed in the apartment.

I heard small, quiet footsteps moving towards the door. The doorknob turned, and the door opened to reveal a medium aged Eurasian woman with long brown hair, sparkling walnut eyes, and lightly tanned skin.

"Sally!" Madeline exclaimed, and immediately proceeded to give my mom a bear hug.

"Madeline! It's been too long," my mom whispered, with small tears of joy falling from her eyes. After a minute, they pulled apart and my mom introduced Paul and me as the four of us stepped inside.

"Madeline, this is my husband, Paul. And my son, Percy."

Madeline shook Paul's hand and mine.

"It's great to finally meet you two! Percy, you can put those on the table." She motioned to a glass coffee table in between two cream sofas.

After I put down the gifts, I looked around the apartment. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it. It was pretty well furnished though, considering that they just moved in.

After the three adults were seated on one sofa, Madeline called for her son.

"Adam! Sally and Paul are here. Come out and say hello."

Since I was the only one still standing up, I turned my head towards the hallway, not sure of what to expect.

He was thin - not anorexically skinny, but most likely weighed less than me, and that was saying something. He had light brown surfer hair with overgrown bangs and tan skin. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and slim jeans; his eyes were sea green with specks of blue, hidden behind black rectangular glasses. The different aspects of his appearance strongly clashed against each other, leaving me confused of what sort of impression I had.

Adam walked towards us, carefully looking at the guests. He gave me a small smile. After the introductions were done, he invited me to his room to talk and get to know each other.

I agreed, but almost regretted it when I stepped inside his room and he closed the door, trapping us inside. He looked at me and simply said, "So, it's Percy Jackson. It's great to finally meet the hero in person." He gave a little chuckle that sounded evil.

Instinctively, I pulled out Riptide and half expected Adam to turn into some sort of monster.

Oops.

His eyes grew huge and he started freaking out, leaning against the door as I approached him suspiciously.

"Whoa there, dude, calm down. I'm not an evil Titan or something."

Wait, what? How did he know about Titans? And that I was a hero?

I let my guard down for a split second, and Adam snatched Riptide out of my hands. He jumped forward, as I edged towards his bed, creating a sizable distance between us. After twirling the sword for a bit, he held it up to my throat. All in perfect Greek battle style.

Wow. This guy was interesting.

Out of nowhere, Adam just handed the sword to me and burst out laughing. I couldn't see what was so funny.

"I'm just messing with you."

Being the smart person I am, I said, "Huh?"

He paused for a breath of air. "And I thought my ADHD was bad… Well, don't you have any questions?"

Okay, so my brain wasn't working at its best. I guess Adam got the message. He sighed and sat down on his bed. I plopped down next to him.

He looked at me for a while, like we were in a staring contest. Startled, I noticed that we actually looked kind of alike. It was strange considering our physical appearances were almost opposites of each other. Finally, Adam adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath. "I'm your brother."

My brain finally woke up, and my mind started racing. What kind of idiot was I? Of course. The sword fighting skills. Knowing I was a hero. Having Poseidon's eyes. But why? And… how? How did a son of the Big Three stay in hiding for so long? Why did Dad never tell me? Then a memory flashed back in my mind. "I suppose this means I can claim all those other sons and daughters of mine and send you some siblings next summer."

"Wow… That's great!" I tried to sound happy.

"…I'm fluent in sarcasm, bro," he said flatly.

"It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I don't know you. Yet."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Let me tell you the whole story."

He paused, focusing his eyes on the floor. After a few seconds of silence, he turned back to me.

"You know how my mom and your mom were friends in college? ...And how gods have relationships with mortals?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. Well, naturally, girlfriends always talk to each other about everything – their clothes, their boyfriends, their obsessions – everything. So after your mom…met Poseidon… and, uh, they did it… well, let's just say my mom and Poseidon did the same thing."

He stopped again, his face turning a bright red. I thought about my dad cheating on my mom. It didn't sound too good. But that's what gods did all the time.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about," I told him. He shrugged.

"I guess. Anyway, when we were both babies – you're older than me by a few weeks – you were the only one that reacted to water. You loved it. You would always be laughing and smiling when you were in the water. I, on the other hand, didn't like water at all. I was actually scared of it. Things got worse when my mom decided to become a dermatologist. See, she didn't want to get married. She didn't want me to grow up with a stepdad. So she wanted to get, you know, a job that pays well.

But you probably know that being a doctor isn't easy. She still had to finish another year of college, go through four years of medical school, and intern at a hospital. She knew she couldn't take care of me while that happened, so she went to Poseidon and begged him to take care of me and never let anyone else know about me until the time was right. She knew about the pact of the Big Three and how it broken... so she didn't want to face the wrath of the gods." He was talking slowly, like had to think of what to say.

He stopped to take a swig from a can of fruit punch. After a few sips, he stopped, leaned down, and tossed me a can.

"Thanks," I said, opening the can and taking a drink myself. This guy's story was interesting.

"So, when I was two, Poseidon took me to live with him. That was when I started reacting to water. I became in love with water. You have no idea how crazy a two-year-old gets when he learns he can breathe underwater." He laughed.

"I lived in Poseidon's palace for a while, but hidden from everybody. Nobody knew about me except for him and a few servants. You can imagine how mad Amphitrite would get if she found out..." he shuddered.

"Dad explained everything to me when I was 10. And I actually believed him. After all, living underwater since the age of 2 can make you believe anything. When I was 11, he had his military advisor teach me swordfighting. I'm okay with a sword, but nowhere near as skilled as you." I heard a slight hint of respect and admiration towards me, but at the same time, I felt a pang of jealousy. I had never even seen Dad's palace until this year, much less live in it. And he said I was his favorite son.

"When I turned 12, I found out my mom had just bought a house, and wanted me to come back to live with her. So I said goodbye to Poseidon and lived in California with my mom. We lived close to the beach, and I started surfing, which I found more interesting than battling. During the summer, I would visit Poseidon again, and he would bring me up-to-date about everything going on. Mostly about you and your adventures. I really wanted to meet my half brother, who was a huge hero, but Poseidon had promised to keep my existence a secret - and let's face it, who wants to come face to face with an angry wife when she realizes her husband cheated on her twice?"

I just laughed at his description of me and it was Adam's turn to look bewildered.

"I'm not as great as everyone thinks," I started. "You know, it's weird knowing that I'm some huge hero when I don't feel special. I mean, everyone talks about me and how heroic I am. Sure, I can fight monsters and save people, but really, I just want to fit in and live a normal life. One without all these adventures and life threatening journeys."

"Yeah, life for a demigod is never simple. But I feel so useless. I didn't do anything to save Olympus. I can barely use a sword..." he trailed off.

Silence for a few minutes. My brain tried to process everything he had said. Surprisingly, it made sense. But there were some gaps.

"Next summer, I'm going to Camp Half-Blood, now that it's safe and the prophecy has been fulfilled." Adam's gaze dropped to the floor.

I blinked. "Didn't Dad think about the possibility that you could've been the person in the prophecy?"

He sighed, and put his elbow on his thigh, resting his chin on top of his hand. He hesitated before answering. "Dad knows I can't save the world no matter how much I try. I'm not cut out to be a hero like you... So he made me immortal."

I looked at him incredulously.

"No, I'm not permanently immortal. It was just for a month, you know, before the battle and your birthday," he explained.

"Don't worry about Camp Half-Blood, it's a great place," I changed the subject. "You can meet more demigods. We always have a good time over there, doing crazy stuff." I looked out the bedroom window, down to the cars stuck in traffic and started thinking about how life would be so different next year.

"We?" he raised his eyebrow, "as in you and Annabeth?"

I shuffled my feet awkwardly for a few seconds. Why did I even say that?

"Yeah. She's one of the most amazing friends I've ever had. We saved each others lives so many times and been through so much…" I probably smiled stupidly then.

Wow, why was I being so open, talking about Annabeth?

Adam nodded slowly. "So what Poseidon told me was true."

"What did he tell you?"

"That you and Annabeth liked each other. And how you two make a great couple. You'd be surprised at how much Dad keeps an eye on you," he said, grinning widely. "Not to mention Aphrodite made a soap opera on Hephaestus TV about you guys."

I groaned, and Adam started laughing.

"It's all right. Hey, wanna go the beach this weekend before school starts?"

"Sure. Paul owns a private stretch of beach down at South Shore. Here's my number, text me whenever you want. Calling's still kinda risky, but not as bad as before."

I took Riptide (in its pen form) and scribbled my number down a post-it note.

"What high school are you going to?" I asked, giving him the paper.

"Goode," he replied, as he punched my number into his phonebook.

I smiled, relieved that I might actually have a shot at enjoying this school year.

Please review, and I'll be more motivated to write the second chapter. Thanks! (: