Hey *dodges tomato* sorry, I'm such a liar. Here's the second chapter of TCB. This is more of a filler chapter to build into, but it gives a little insight to Nrissa's life. I'll give you a big hint, her Dad's occupation has something to do with her Mom's identity( godly heritage)

Nrissa slid to the edge of the leather seat, legs tense in preparation for the grinding halt. Normally the ceaseless chatter of the kids would get on her nerves, but after today's win, it seemed she was in an eternal state of joy. She knew she should feel guilty about the pudding incident, but any reminder of it only brought giggles. She was sure the kids in the seats around her thought she was a nut job.

Screech! The bus came to a grinding halt. It wasn't something she'd readily admit, but she loved the suction-like swoosh that the doors made when they opened. Someone she had mentioned it to had compared it to souls being sucked out of their bodies. Yeah, she had steered clear of them for quite a while. Swinging her backpack over her arms, she walked down the aisle and out the doors. She paused for a second as she watched the oversized Twinkie speed away before crossing the road. She remembered that her father had been nervous about her crossing the road everyday, but her Mom had calmed him down considerably.

She kicked pebbles across the sidewalk until she reached the big house with the big white door. Sauntering up to the doorknob, Nrissa reached into her backpack pocket. Pulling out a set of jingly keys, she jammed the pink one in the door. She swore it was the last time she sent her sister to do her own work, unless she wanted pink princesses all over everything. Hearing the click, she turned the doorknob and the door opened with a slow creak. Not surprisingly her dad was laying across the couch, seemingly engrossed in the TV. SVU blared through the screen, which made Nrissa shake her head. She found his choice of favorite show ironic. After all, didn't people complain that TV made things super unrealistic? Even more amusing was that her dad, clad in a loose white t-shirt and shorts, was gobbling up spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream straight from the tub. His leather briefcase seemed forgotten on the floor, luckily not open. Still it was better than that time she came home to nacho dust all over the couch.

"Dad, come on!" Nrissa groaned, " Would it kill you to clean up? Haven't you heard of organizing?"

Nrissa's dad chuckled at her admonition. Sitting up, sent her a goofy grin. He shook his spoon at her for emphasis as he tried to redeem himself.

"Come on sweetie, I'm not that bad! Besides, my office is beautiful! It wouldn't be good for anyone if I got my defendant's case files mixed up with the grocery lists. Besides I'm just, what do you kids say, chilling?"

Nrissa sighed, there was that. Her father was a lawyer, and a pretty good one too. Unfortunately, he seemed to be stuck on breaking lawyer stereotypes. He had stated on many occasions that he wasn't going to be one of those suit wearing, briefcase lugging scowlers. Still, as Nrissa stepped over an empty bowl of pretzels, it didn't mean he should trash the house. The only plus side to her father's nature was that he didn't get on her case about her room. After all, he couldn't yell about messy rooms when he was the mess king.

Finally she maneuvered her way to the kitchen. It was pretty spacious, with an island in the middle, but it had already been hit with Hurricane Dad. Piles of dirty dishes sat in the sink and random food items covered all the counters. It was a miracle something didn't catch on fire in this chaos. Tiptoeing over the spilled coffee powder, she made her way to the corner where the cups were kept. Nrissa reached on her tiptoes to grab the door on the top cabinet. Before she could open the door, her father called over from the living room.

"Nrissa! No snack until you go put your backpack away and change. The gods only know that you'll cart that thing around for 24 hours unless someone tells you to take it off!"

Nrissa groaned, but walked out of the kitchen. Luckily the stairs seemed clear of clutter, so she bounded up them with ease. The thick carpet tickled her bare feet, but it was just another feeling that made her home homey. Turning the corner, she ducked into purple room. Normally it would look like a mini version of the living room in terms of clutter, but she hadn't been up here since the end of summer. It seemed Mom had cleaned it up for her over vacation. Throwing her bag in the corner, she went to the closet. Sliding the curtains to the side, she pulled out the first outfit she saw, a white shirt and a jean skirt. It was nice and simple and perfect for the blistering heat that was Arizona August. Quickly washing her face, she ran back down the stairs to grab her snack. Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Hey Dad, where's Corinth? I haven't seen her or heard her, which is pretty rare," she called from the steps.

"She and Mom left for that new rec. center downtown, remember? It's the first lesson," he hollered back, then murmured to himself, "I swear that girl has all of her mom's genes."

Corinth was Nrissa's little sister, although most people who met her thought she should have been a boy. Sometimes, even Corinth agreed with them, but then conceded that it was her bad luck and just to roll with the punches. She refused to wear dresses or skirts, never talked to a girl her age and was sports crazy. Her current obsession was swimming and gymnastics, which she was taking at the rec. center. Nrissa also theorized that she was part crazy. When their parents let them paint their rooms, Corinth refused the pick up a paintbrush. No, she had to dip her limbs in paint can and punch and kick the color onto her walls. She was just lucky that she hadn't created holes in the drywall. If Corinth wasn't 100% mortal, Nrissa would've said she was Ares's baby. But Corinth was her sister, and they definitely shared their dad, which left Corinth's personality completely unexplainable.

As she bounded into the messy kitchen, her father called her back again. Suppressing a groan at his insistence, she went back to the living room. She lumbered into the room, shoulders slouched to show her displeasure. Taking no heed of her attitude, Nrissa's Dad waved her over the the couch. Patting the seat next to him, he turned to face her. Then she noticed that her dad looked slightly apprehensive, which immediately put her on alert. As much as she wanted to blurt out What's wrong?, she knew her dad would tell her.

" Your mom called," he finally admitted.

Nrissa furrowed her eyebrows, it didn't sound as bad as her dad was acting. Was she missing something in his sentence?

"Why? Is mom ok? Did she call you from the rec center?" she queried.

Her dad shook his head vigorously. Rubbing his hands together, a nervous habit of his, he swallowed.

"No sweetie, not Mom. I'm talking about your birth mother….she contacted me today and wanted me to pass on a message."

Nrissa felt sad and excited about her mother. She couldn't believe that for 12 years of her life she thought she was a normal girl with a normal family living a normal life. After all, they had given her no reason to think she was living a lie. But when an empousai had showed up as a pizza delivery girl at her 13th birthday, her parents were forced to reveal the truth….that she wasn't Carrie's real daughter and that her mom was an immortal greek goddess. The next two years had been one interesting situation after another, but she eventually reached a point where it wasn't as strange as before. Not to mention she was much less angry. To her Carrie would always be "Mom" despite her blood being half ichor.

Still, she was itching to meet her mother, well again that was. She had met her once, but only to exchange ominous warnings and the like. Perhaps this was her mother's way of meeting her properly? Then she felt guilty. Most of her siblings were neglected by their mom and many by their dad as well. She had a loving family and she was still trying to cling to her birth mother.

Then her brain came to another conclusion. Maybe the gods were in trouble and she needed to use her powers to help them? As far as she was concerned, those were unique to her and her only. She knew quests were dangerous and deadly, but maybe it would give her some holding at camp?

" Did she say what she wanted? Do I need to go to camp? Is she sending me on a quest?" Nrissa threw questions at her dad.

Nrissa's dad shook his head, marveling at her enthusiasm for anything relating to the Greek world. He had already felt torn from her from the birthday fiasco, but here was another stinging reminder that she was in a whole different world than he was.

"No Nrissa, it's not that. She, she said she wanted to tell you something the day you were born."

Oh by the way. There is a petition to create a new Percy Jackson movie from Dreamworks. If enough people sign it we can get a new movie. The link is: p/dreamworks-to-re-make-the-percy-jackson-movies . I hope you can look at it because Zeus knows we need a new movie *Thunder* Sorry, Zeus!

So aslongaswe'retogetherPA won the trivia contest, with the answer being Brown. So props for that. For Chapter 4, the question is:

When is Annabeth's birthday?

The OC contest is still in the running, and it's not much of a contest if only 1 person submits. Please PM me for details about it.

Salut,

Adena