Annabeth:

"Last one there's a rotten egg!"

Annabeth giggled and raced out the double French doors of her house and out into the warm July sunshine, her brother Malcolm calling out indignantly after her for cheating. Her feet pounded through the grass in her black Mary-Janes and she almost tripped, but she just righted herself and kept running.

She reached the cattails on the creek bed and slowed down before carefully making her way down the slope to the water's edge. By the time she made it to the rocky shore, Malcolm was running down the slope of the creek bed. He coasted to a stop next to Annabeth and turned to her, breathing heavily. "I told you to wait for me! I had to change into my play clothes! And so do you, as a matter of fact!" He poked her stomach as he finished his statement and Annabeth laughed.

"But I wanted to come here and you were taking too long. It's not my fault you're too slow." She teasingly stuck her tongue out at her brother and blew a raspberry. Malcolm lunged at the little girl and she yelped, jumping away from him. He smirked and said, "You know Mother is going to be angry at you for wearing your good clothes, Annabeth."

She fold her arms in front of her and said matter-of-factly, "Then I just won't get them dirty, Malcolm."

The boy lifted an eyebrow, but didn't argue it any further. "Whatever you say, Annie."

Annabeth pouted. "Don't call me 'Annie,' I'm a big girl. That's a little girl's name."

Malcolm chuckled as he crouched down and began examining the rocks of the shore. Annabeth crouched down next to her brother and watched as he picked up rocks, studied them, and then tossed them back or put them in his other hand. "What are you doing, Malcolm?"

He glanced at her and then said, "I'm looking for good tossing stones." He looked at her again and must've seen the curiosity on her face because he smiled and showed her the stones in his hand. They were all flat or almost rectangular. Then he picked up a big, round stone from the ground next to him. "The good ones look like this," he said as he held up his hand. He showed her the big one in his other hand. "This one is too big and round to skip."

Annabeth studied the good rock in Malcolm's hand. "Skip?" She didn't understand how rocks could skip when they weren't alive.

Malcolm nodded. "Yes, skip. Look, let me show you." He dropped the large rock and rose to his full height and walked a little further down the creek bed. He set the stones down on the ground next to him, save one, and he rolled it around in his palm before turning his body sideways and pulling his arm slightly out to the side. With a flick of his wrist, the stone went sailing through the air and into the water. Annabeth watched in wonder as the rock bounced across the surface of the water three times, leaving circular ripples behind each bounce before disappearing underwater with a final "plop!"

Annabeth gasped and ran towards her brother saying, "Malcolm, that was amazing! Can you show me? Please? Please?"

He grinned and said, "Sure. Here." Her brother handed her one of the smaller stones from his little collection and moved her to stand in front of him. He bent down behind her and positioned her to stand sideways. "Look. You stand like this; like you're about to walk down the creek. Then, you just pull your arm like this," he said as he gently pulled his sister's small arm out to the side. "Then you just flick your wrist like this - " He took her hand and mimicked the motion he'd performed earlier. " - and when you do that, just put a little force into it, and let go of the rock."

Annabeth nodded and pushed a stray curl out of her face with her empty hand. She tried copying her brother's instructions and tossed the rock. It went sailing and plopped straight into the water without skipping. Annabeth huffed. "It didn't do it," she said angrily.

Malcolm just laughed at his sister's frustration and said, "That is because you threw the rock. You didn't toss it."

Annabeth remained sulky, so he gave her another rock and said, "Here, try again. Just really focus this time, alright?"

She rolled the stone in her palm as Malcolm had done earlier and said, "Alright."

This time, concentrating hard, Annabeth went through the motions again, this time willing with all of her might that the rock would skip when it left her hand. She tossed the rock and it bounced across the surface twice before disappearing. Annabeth gasped and pointed at the ripples where the rock had skipped. "Malcolm! Malcolm, look! Did you see that? I did it!"

The boy grinned at his sister and replied, "Yes, I saw that, Beth. Good job! Now try to see how times you can make it skip."

She nodded happily, proud of her accomplishment and began searching for new rocks. She wanted them to be the perfect rocks so that they would skip more times. When she found one that she liked, she would place it in the skirt of her dress because she couldn't carry them all in her hands.

When she had gathered a good amount, she dumped the stones onto a little area next to her and began practicing her new-found skill. Malcolm was already well into his pile and soon went searching for more. When he returned with another fistful, he called out, "Hey, Beth!"

Annabeth turned toward her brother after tossing a stone. "Yes?"

"Do you want to play a game?"

Annabeth looked down at the pile of stones next to her. She was having so much fun, she didn't want to stop tossing rocks. Hesitantly, she said, "I don't know, Malcolm. I like doing this."

He walked over to her. "Don't worry it's a game that involves skipping rocks. It's a competition of sorts, actually."

That got Annabeth's attention. She loved competitions. She especially loved winning them. "Okay. How do you play?"

Malcolm rubbed his hands together. "Alright, so what you do is you have two people, and you take turns skipping rocks and you see how many times it skips. The person that gets the highest number of skips wins the game."

Annabeth smiled. She was so going to beat Malcolm. "Let's play."

The two siblings played the game for the next hour or so, laughing and tossing stones before Malcolm decided that it would be ending soon. "Alright, Annabeth, the next toss is the last toss. Whoever has the highest number off skips after that wins." He smirked triumphantly as he had four skips and Annabeth only had three.

Annabeth huffed and said, "Fine," before sticking her tongue out and turning back towards the creek to watch Malcolm's final toss.

He got into his position and took a deep breath before tossing his stone and watching it skip four times before falling into the water. He placed his hands on his hips and smiled proudly before turning towards Annabeth. "Your turn."

Annabeth grabbed her last stone, which happened to be her worst one, and got ready to toss it. After positioning herself, she moved her arm back and tossed the rock as hard as she could, even using her arm more to throw as well. She and Malcolm watched as the stone bounced energetically across the surface, and Annabeth could have sworn that she counted more than four skips. The stone didn't stop skipping until it hit the shore of the other side.

Malcolm turned to her with wide eyes and an incredulous expression. "That was eight skips! How did you do that?"

Annabeth held her head with pride and crossed her arms, smirking at her brother. "I'm not telling you."

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "That's because you don't even know."

Annabeth scoffed. "Yes I do! I'm just not going to say."

"Whatever, Annabeth. Let's go." Malcolm began trudging up the slope of the creek bed and Annabeth followed.

"You're just mad because I won and you lost," she gloated as she watched her brother make it up to the flat ground level of their yard.

"No, I'm saying we should leave because Mother probably wants us back for dinner already." He turned toward the house and began walking. "Now, come on, Annabeth. Before she gets angry with us for being late."

Annabeth began climbing up the slope that was a bit too big for her small frame, but turned back to look at the stone halfway up. She saw it on the opposite shore and smiled before looking around the area where the stone had landed. She noticed that the opposite side of the creek was covered in foliage and weeds along with trees and more cattails. She wondered if anyone had ever been over there. It didn't seem like anyone lived past the tall plants. She decided that she wanted to find out.

"Annabeth!"

Startled by the sound of her brother calling her name, Annabeth slipped and slid a bit down the slope before quickly regaining her footing and digging the toes of her Mary-Janes into the dirt for grip to pull herself up onto the flat level. She stood and ran to her brother who was standing only yards away from the creek before joining him and running back to the house.

When they arrived, Malcolm was the first to walk through the doors. "Mother! We're back!"

Athena Chase emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the white apron tied around her waist to cover her red cotton dress. Her dark curls were pulled back and piled into a pretty knot behind her head and her sterling eyes swept around the room before landing on her children. "Good. You're back just in time for dinner. Malcolm, will you please set the table?"

Annabeth watched as Malcolm nodded and said, "Yes, Mother," before running into the kitchen.

"Annabeth."

The young girl looked back at her mother. Athena had a raised eyebrow and was examining Annabeth's entire appearance. "You're all dirty. Is that your new dress?"

Annabeth looked down at her silky blue dress and saw that there were smears of dirt down the front.

"And your shoes are all muddy. And your stockings! My, Annabeth, what have you done?"

Annabeth saw that there was a run in her stockings from when she'd slipped on the creek bed. She looked guiltily up at her mother. "I went to the creek with Malcolm."

Athena gave her daughter a stern look. "Now, Annabeth, you know better than to go out and play in your good clothes. The next time that this happens, I will have to punish you. Do you understand?"

Annabeth nodded vigorously, relieved that she wasn't going to be punished, her loose blonde curls bouncing with the movement. "Yes, Mother."

Athena smiled and moved toward her daughter, stroking her hair. "Just make sure that you change your clothes from now on, alright, Dear?"

Annabeth smiled. "Yes, Mother."

Her mother pat her back and said, "Now go change and get washed up for dinner."

The little girl nodded and ran through the living room to the staircase near the foyer. As she reached the top of the staircase and ran down the hallway to her bedroom, Annabeth thought about the day she had and how she learned how to toss stones. Then, she thought about the other side of the creek and what was over there. She shook away the thought for the time being, and figured she'd better change and get cleaned up before her mother really punished her.