Author's Note: Here is the second part to my update!

Diclaimer: Still don't own.

A word about my mother, before you meet her.

Her name is Annabeth Chase, and she is the best mom in the world. She doesn't get along extremely well with her parents, but we send them a Christmas card every year and vice versa. She's an architect and is a graduate from Harvard University. An early graduate. But her childhood wasn't as great as her life now, until she met my dad.

I don't remember him, probably because he left my mom, before she found out she was pregnant with me. You might be wondering why she never told my dad about me. Basically it's because he's dropped off the face of the Earth. My mom is positive that he's not dead, and my mom is always right. Trust me on that.

She never got married, which I guess is a good thing, especially since I've heard some pretty wacky stories about stepfathers.

I walked into my apartment and was met with the pleasant aroma of brownies.

"Mom!" I called, dropping my bag behind the door. "I'm home." I walked down the hallway, following the intoxicating scent.

"I'm in the-" Mom started.

"Kitchen," I finished, entering our large kitchen. My mom looked over her shoulder and smiled at me.

My mom can make me feel good just by smiling at me. Her eyes sparkle and are usually full of laughter. Her smile is as warm as hot chocolate (although sahlab, an Egyptian drink almost like hot vanilla, is just as good). She has one streak of gray hair in her curly blonde hair, though she's only in like her thirties!

"How was your day sweetie?" Mom asked.

"We did absolutely nothing," I replied, rolling my shoulder, which was starting to burn, now that the adrenaline from my fight had started to die down.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Mom asked, glancing back at me.

"What? Oh nothing," I said, smiling innocently, while ceasing the rolling of my shoulder.

My mom turned, her stormy grey eyes showing that she didn't believe me.

"Umm… well," I stammered. "We were debating again in Latin and… and… all of a sudden this giant creature jumped through the wall! It was huge! It's head was like a hippo's with the body of a… umm… a poodle! Yeah, a pink poodle! And then it started stomping around the classroom, and it found a box of Cheerios and it just went CRAZY! It was eating the Cheerios and then it found Doritos, and Oreos, and a burrito and some tacos, and oh! Then it found a flock of flamingos and it just started ripping them to shreds! And the flamingos were going NUTS! They were flapping around everywhere like this." I began jumping around the kitchen, spinning around the kitchen's marble island, while flapping my arms. In the middle of my reenactment I looked up at my mom, who was still staring at me with that unbelieving face again. "Umm… yeah, that's what happened."

"Cassandra," my mom said.

"I got into a fight during Latin," I sighed.

My mom shook her head (although she had a small smile on her face). "Let me see," she said, grabbing the First Aid Kit from a cabinet.

I pulled my ripped t-shirt off, leaving me in my tank top, so that my mom could examine my shoulder. Gently my mom began cleaning the cut.

"So what were you debating?" my mother questioned.

"Greek gods. Again," I said.

"Anyone in particular?"

"Yeah," I started. "Athena and Poseidon." I continued talking even though my mom's fingers slowed for a minute. "We had to pick sides, and once we did, a representative from each side had to come up and talk about who they had chosen, so I went up for my group."

"Whose side were you on?" My mom asked hesitantly her fingers slowed even more.

"Poseidon," I answered, just as carefully, and my mom's fingers stopped all together. I glanced over at my mom who had a stunned look on her face.

"What made you pick Poseidon?" my mom asked.

"I don't really know," I started. "I just started thinking about it and I reasoned that Athena is a make a plan and follow it to the T while Poseidon is more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person, like me. So I picked Poseidon."

I glanced back at my mom who had finished working on my shoulder, after starting on it again during my little spiel. My mom was glancing nervously around the kitchen as if she was expecting someone to pop out of the walls.

"What's wrong mom?" I asked gently. She looked at me and I saw something behind her wise eyes. Something other then the laughter, happiness and love that was usually there. Something that looked like… fear?

"Mom, what's the matter?" I asked, and I guess she heard something in my voice, because the look left her eyes and she smiled softly at me.

"Nothing sweetheart," she said lovingly. "Hey, I was thinking that maybe we could go to the beach for spring break. To Montauk." She was trying to distract me, and unfortunately it worked.

"Really? When are we leaving?" I asked excitedly, jumping up.

"Yes really! And I was thinking in maybe an hour," mom said, her smile widening as she stood up. "That is if you think you can be ready by then."

"You bet I'll be ready!" I cried, rushing out the kitchen to my bedroom.

For some reason, I actually like reviews!

LYLAS,

WiseGirl