Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or the main story line of this FANfiction.

Thank you, TibbiToo for Beta-ing! :)

Three

Percy broke his promise.

Let me explain: as soon we were off that bus and back in New York City, the two of us jumped in the first open cab we saw, and got out of there before Grover was even back from the bathroom.

Not nice, but untimely necessary in my opinion. (After all, if Grover really expected to come home with us he could have at least stopped with the panic-filled looks and muttering under his breath about how kids are always dying in the sixth grade.)

But at last, we were safely hidden in a New York City cab, with the skyline towering over us. I smiled and leaned back into the leather seat. "We're home."

Percy turned from the window and nodded. "Good to be back."

It took longer than I had wanted to reach our apartment, but traffic was something that was a part of life to me, so in a way, it was kind of nice to have it all back.

"Now," Percy emphasized when we finally pulled up outside our apartment building, "we're home." I laughed a little and paid the driver while my brother grabbed our things.

The two of us marched up to our apartment and swung the door open. Instantly, I wrinkled my nose in disgust. The place was possibly even messier than it had been at Christmas, then I noticed the three extra guys sitting at the table playing poker.

Now, I don't get irritated very easy. If you mind your own business and take care of your problems, there's nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately, there are a few things in this world that really bother me, and if one of those things are really irritating me, I can't get it out of my head. I literally have to do something or I go insane! (I was questioned for both OCD and schizophrenia, but in the end, it all seems to root from my ADHD.)

And one of the things I had yet to do anything about went by the name of Gabe Ugliano. My stepdad (insert disgusted look here).

I'm not completely sure why I hadn't just gotten rid of him myself. I guess part of the reason was my mom, (who was possibly the best person on the planet) or maybe it was because I didn't even think he was worth any my time, much less my energy.

The fact that he exists isn't the biggest thing that bothered me, and it wasn't that he trashed the apartment with garbage and other scraps of junk. What really got to me was the first thing he said to us.

"So, now you're both home," Gabe grumbled through the cigar hanging from his mouth.

I didn't need to give him an excuse to throw me out of the house till our mom got home, but I couldn't help myself. I shot him the fakest smile and replied. "Yeah, we are. Isn't that awesome?"

His small, black eyes met my big, blue ones, but I guess he decided he was too lazy to do anything at that moment because he just bristled and growled. "Watch that lip, girl."

Girl. Yep, that was all he called me. I'm not even sure he knows my name, but I don't care either way. I exhaled noisily (earning another glare from Gabe) and left the room.

"Where's my mom?" Percy asked as I reached the bedroom. I was too far away to hear Gabe's response, but I would bet it wasn't anything good.

A few minutes later Percy came marching up the stairs, and slammed the door. He tossed his bag onto the bed and fell on the floor next to me. "Home sweet home," my brother mumbled bitterly.

"So much for being happy about being back," I responded.

"I'm still glad to be back in the city, I just hate Gabe," he stated. "By the way, we're out of cash."

I gaped at him. "You gave him more cash?"

"I didn't realize there was a choice not to hand it over," Percy muttered, shaking his head pathetically.

I shrugged. "Whatever. Now, tell me what happened when the bus broke down. Why was Grover freaking out so much?"

"All right," Percy started, shifting back and forth, "after you left, I saw these three ladies running a fruit stand across the highway. They were knitting—"

I dramatically gasped, throwing my hands in front of my mouth. "Knitting? Oh, no! Not knitting of all things!"

"Leila! Be serious!" He huffed. "Come on, do you want to hear the story or not?"

"All right, all right," I motioned for him to continue and he sighed and began again.

"So they were knitting, and all of a sudden one of the ladies held up a sting and another cut it. Don't ask me why, because I don't know," he stated seeing or sensing my next question. "All I know is that it was bad. Really, really bad."

"I want to say a piece of like… super, supportive advice right about now," I told him, "but I can't. I had the same feeling about whatever Mr. Brunner and Grover were talking about. I don't know what it is—"

"You just know it's something so important, life as we know it is about to change," he finished with a slightly amused look on his face. "Man, that sounds cliché."

I agreed and stood up, pushing open the window.

"The worst part is that I can't get Grover's look of panic out my head," Percy admitted. "Every time I think about him or the ladies at the fruit stand or Mrs. Dodds… I get chills."

"You're still having nightmares?" He never got a chance to answer.

"Percy?" We both jumped a little at the sudden sound of our mom's voice so close to the room. "Leila?"

The two of us grinned, and all tension swept out of the room the minute she appeared in the doorway. "Oh," she reached over and hugged us both at the same time, but still somehow managing to squeeze us super tight. "I can't believe it! You've grown since Christmas!"

"I'd be worried if we didn't," I mouthed at Percy over her shoulder. He flicked my ear,but even my sarcasm wasn't enough to wipe that smile off his face.

Our mom worked at a candy shop in Grand Central called Sweet on America, so I was really happy when she handed Percy and I a huge bag of free samples for us to attack.

Right away, our mom wanted to know everything. Percy told the stories about what had gone on since Christmas, while I practically started drowning myself in blueberry sour strings. The one thing she never brought up was the expulsion, but I never really expected her to. Sally Jackson was the best mom ever, and the proof of this was just in the fact she never talked about bad things that happened to either of us.

The one thing I could never figure out was why anyone would leave her. But for some reason, our dad did. Percy and I never met him and I don't know, or remember anything about him

"Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?" Gabe called from the other room. I could hear a few other guys laugh and praise Gabe about how he 'properly trained his woman'.

I had to literally bite my tongue so hard I tasted blood to keep myself from getting up and giving those pigs a piece of my mind. One look at my brother and we both seemed to decide to just ignore it. Percy continued telling stories about Yancy slightly louder than before, but other than that, we didn't react.

The only mistake Percy made was hesitating when he got to telling her about the trip to the museum.

Now, my brother and I shared just about everything. We've known for a long time we weren't 'normal' twins. Both of us had the same height, weight, shoe size, skin tone, and hair color. Unfortunately, the only difference we had in appearance was that Percy had bright green eyes, I had piercing blue ones. Not many people tend to notice those things, which caused either Percy to be called a girl or me to be a called a boy. Altogether that situation gets embarrassing fast.

The good news, there are extreme differences in our personalities to balance all that out.

And this brings us to the fact that my brother is hopeless when it comes to lying. I'm almost completely sure he couldn't even lie if his life depended on it! Yes, he is that bad. Lucky for him, I happened to be born with the ability to convince anyone of just about anything. Which is was why I took over the story when we got to the museum trip.

"What?" our mom asked when Percy abruptly stopped his story telling. "Did something scare you two?"

"No, Mom, don't worry. It's just my turn to talk. Percy has already talked more than any girl should," I teased. My brother laughed a bit and tossed a blue jellybean at my head. It missed, but he looked too relieved about not attempting to lie to really care.

I described the Roman and Greek art along with some other things that I had seen, but of course, didn't know the names of.

"I have a surprise," our mom revealed when I was done, leaning slightly closer to us. "We're going to the beach."

Percy froze. "Montauk?"

She nodded. "Three nights—same cabin."

"When?"

"As soon as I get changed," she said, smiling at us while the both of us were still frozen in our I'm-so-stunningly-happy-right-now-I'm-not-sure-what-to-do face. We hadn't been to Montauk since our tenth birthday, (thanks to Gabe and his gambling addiction) and I wasn't sure either of us could believe we were going.

Gabe suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?" His face was flushed with anger and embarrassment at the need to repeat himself; especially, in front of his poker buddies.

"I was on my way, honey," our mom said, while giving me and Percy warning looks to keep calm. "We were just talking about the trip."

"The trip?" he stated disbelievingly. "You mean you were serious about that?"

Percy exhaled loudly. "I knew it. He won't let us go."

"Of course he will. Your step father—," I grimaced at the reminder, "—is just worried about money. That's all. Besides, Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."

Gabe's eyes lit up at the sound the dip. "So this money for your trip… it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"

"Yes, honey," my mother promised.

"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back," he ordered.

"We'll be very careful," she assured him.

"Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip..." Gabe shrugged and did his best to look deep in thought. "And maybe if the brats apologize for interrupting my poker game."

My scowl deepened and I thought, There has to be a better option. I wasn't expecting any sort of answer to my metal debate, but whether I was expecting and prepared for it or not, I got one.

Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot. And make you sing soprano for a week.

The piece of blue taffy I was holding slipped from my hand.

I recognized Percy's metal 'voice' well enough, but his thoughts had never come in so clear before. I was used to the occasional creepy feeling if he was prying into my head, or picking up the general gist of his thoughts when I tried, but this was completely different. I actually 'heard' his thoughts.

Recovering from my shock, I tucked my short hair behind my ear and picked up the candy from off the floor.

Percy was still staring at Gabe with pure hated screaming from his expression. I realized with a start he had no clue I'd just heard his thoughts.

I wasn't really sure how I felt about that. In one sense, I could hear his thoughts and it was kind of reassuring to know you weren't fighting alone, but on the other side, I was freaking out! I couldn't figure out why the heck this weird thought-transporter turned on now.

"I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game," Percy told Gabe in a tone only truly stupid people would take seriously. "Please go back to it right now."

"So sorry," I muttered to him coldly.

"Yeah, whatever," Gabe said after a silence. He left, slamming the door loudly behind him.

"Thank you," our mom told us gratefully. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about..." she trailed off slowly then quickly continued, "whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?" We both smiled, but agreed to nothing.

"Get packing," she told us, indicating toward our bags we'd left abandoned on the bed then headed off to the kitchen.

"I've decided something," I announced to Percy while I unpacked the junk from the bottom of my backpack like broken pencils, a ruler, and random miniaturized objects no one ever really uses.

"Oh, no," he replied. "It doesn't involve another plot for revenge using a pipe line again, does it?"

"No," I snapped, "and that was the most awesome payback we've ever accomplished, Percy. Don't act like you didn't have fun."

He grinned. "What did you decide this time?"

"I'm either going to have an extremely good control on my temper by the time I turn thirteen, or I'm going to get arrested for ripping Gabe apart limb from limb." I rolled a mini stapler over in my hand, "Most likely the second one.

"It wouldn't even be so bad," I continued, "if he just had at least a small amount of decent manners."

"I don't think there's anything even close to manners is in his personality," Percy responded. "Of course, I'd probably die of shock if he ever tried to say anything even slightly nice."

I nodded. "Too true."

Exactly fifty-four minutes later, we had the car packed and ready to go.

To my surprise, packing the car had been relatively pain free. Although, at one point I did have to grit my teeth when Gabe complained loudly about how he would miss my mom's cooking more than her.

With a stern glance toward his most prized possession—one 1976 Camero complete with a rust colored interior and a peeling-paint exterior—he told Percy, "Not one scratch on this car, brain boy."

"Brain boy?" I muttered, thinking about Percy's recent report card. I love my brother, but smart is not a word I would use to describe him.

"Not one little scratch," he repeated, pointing a hot dog sized finger in my vision.

Like we're going to be the ones driving, we're twelve!

I stood a little straighter as Percy's voice rolled through my head. Gabe—thinking he must have caused the reaction—smirked slightly and tried to look more intimating.

I rolled my eyes and headed for the car.

"Shotgun!" Percy shouted from behind me.

"Never!" I called back, dashing for the car. I took great pride in how fast I was at running. I'd always been faster than my brother, and took any chance I could to remind him.

Unfortunately, where I was fast, my brother was strong. So sadly, when it came to a tug-of-war for the front seat, Percy won. "Ugh, so not fair," I grumbled and climbed into the back seat.

One of the greatest things about our Long Island cabin was the fact that it never changed. Some probably don't understand why I love something that is always the same every single time I see it, but when you're forced change schools every year, constantly meet new people (doctors, teachers, roommates, etc.), and your mom is always getting different jobs or hours, you can fully appreciate one solid thing out there staying the same.

It had three beds, one bathroom, and a kitchen/living room area. The cabin was half-sunk into a sand dune so everything inside had sand and spiders in it and the place really needed a new paint job, but it was still my favorite spot on possibly the whole planet.

After a dinner of hot dogs, soda, and candy, the three of us sat out on the sand, wrapped up in beach blankets to roast marshmallows for desert.

I laughed as Percy attempted to put out one of his marshmallows that had caught fire. He ended up having to bury it in sand to get rid of the flames, and even in the dark I could see him blushing.

"Fire doesn't seem to like you very much," I told Percy with a smirk.

"Well, I don't like it very much either," he muttered, gingerly starting to roast another marshmallow.

"Mom," I started, as she looked up with an amused look, "have you ever liked fire?"

"I've never been much of a fire person either," she admitted with a laugh

"Maybe it's inherited," I said with a shrug. "What about dad? What kind of person was he?"

She gave us a small, secret smile and said, "He was always more of a water person."

"What else was he?" Percy continued boldly.

Our mom's smile faltered a little, then turned a little wistful. "He was kind, tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You both have his jet black hair, you know, and his eyes."

"Uh, mom, we have two different eye colors," I pointed out, exchanging a long glance with Percy.

"Both your eyes are the color of the sea," she said. "Just different regions.

"I wish he could see you now," she continued. "He would be so proud."

I smiled slightly, but couldn't fully appreciate the moment since Percy glum train of thought intervened.

How can she say that? He wondered with a grim expression.

I drug my toes into the sand and sighed. I've always known Percy had more trouble accepting that our dad would probably never be a part of our lives, but I guess because I never actually heard him say anything about it, I didn't bother to ask.

"How old were we?" Percy asked in a hard voice.

Our mom sighed and tucked her blanket a little tighter. "He was only with me for that one summer. Right here at this beach, this cabin."

I glanced up at the cabin behind and stared at it really hard, like maybe it could me the secret to where my dad went. That may be silly, and almost everyone would just consider it as just another sand covered building on Long Island, but to me, it was a link to someone I wish I had known.

"But…" Percy protested, setting his marshmallow aside before it caught fire again, "he knew us as babies."

"No, honey," she shook her head sadly. "He knew I was expecting, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."

"He left knowing you were pregnant?" I said.

"It wouldn't have mattered. He had to go," she replied simply.

"He did know," I stated. She nodded once in confirmation, but kept silent.

I exhaled sharply. That bit irritated me a little. He could have at least waited until after she had the baby to leave, but he didn't. "Did he know you were having twins?"

"That part was a surprise," she admitted. "He knew I was pregnant with a boy, but you were the unexpected one, Leila."

"Not the first time I heard that," I muttered. "But what job could have been more important than sticking around for nine months just to see you at least have the kid?"

"Kids," Percy corrected.

"Either way," I snapped at him. "My point is… why was his job more important than you?"

"Hopefully one day you can understand why he had to leave, but right now…" she trailed off in a soft voice.

"Are you going to send us away?" Percy asked, changing the subject. "To another boarding school?"

"I don't know. I think..." she took a deep breath, "I think we'll have to do something."

"Because you don't want us around?" Percy grumbled.

I was so close to getting up and smacking him for that, but I caught the regretful look on his face and remembered my brother sometimes had no filter on the words that came out of his mouth. Whatever came to his head, he either acted on or volunteered out loud. I couldn't judge on that part since I seemed to have the same problem.

"Oh, no," our mom said in a heartbroken voice. "I—I have to, for your own good. I have to send you away."

"Because we're not normal," Percy stated.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you both are. I thought Yancy… I thought it was far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."

"Important," I said, doubtfully. For almost my whole life I was told my parents didn't want me around. That I was obviously so unimportant and bothersome that I was sent to one boarding school after another just so my parents could get away from me.

"'Safe'," Percy continued, "from what?"

Our mom gazed at us both like we were missing the obvious.

Immediately, every horrible memory I had successfully blocked out, rushed back to me.

During naptime in pre-school, a poisonous snake had somehow managed to hide underneath my mat. When the teacher had laid me down, it came out and tried to bite me. But before it could do anything, Percy grabbed it and strangled it to death with his hands. As soon as our mom had come to pick us up and saw us playing with the dead snake, she had freaked and pulled us out of that place right away.

More memories threatened to be remembered, but I pushed them back. For the first time, I fully considered telling her about Mrs. Dodds. After everything that had happened to us, I had a feeling she would understand more about it than we would.

Percy must have read my expression because he gave me a knowing look toward the car. I didn't need to read his mind to know he thinking that something like Mrs. Dodds would end our trip to Montauk.

"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," our mom continued, staring at the fire with a faraway expression. "They told me it was a mistake."

"Oh, joy. More confusing talks about 'Them' again," I grumbled too low for anyone to hear.

"But there's only one other option—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just…" she hesitated for a second and closed her eyes. I wasn't even sure she was still talking to us; she might be just talking out loud, but I wasn't about to stop her. "I just can't stand to do that."

"Our father wanted us to go to a special school?" Percy asked.

"Not a school," she amended gently, "a summer camp."

"What kind of summer camp?" I said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send either of you to that place. It might be saying goodbye to you for good."

"For good?" Percy repeated. "But if it's only a summer camp—"

This time, I did smack him. I heard him suck in a breath when I elbowed his ribs, but I guess he finally noticed how close to tears our mom was.

(A/N: I know this doesn't end at the same spot as in the book, but I added some stuffs and needed to end here. Anyways, I've already started the next chapter so it shouldn't be too long… thanks for being so patient! Reviews help me update faster! I read and cherish each and every one XD)

And a special thanks to...
paigemeable, TheMusicKid, BookWorm77071, Percy's favorite sister, puretorchermynameiscaitlyn, Bailey, shimaxkutau, Annabeth Lucy granger, AgentCherry-Garcia212, and K
...for reviewing! Every one of you are purely AWESOME!

My answer to last chapter's question:
I do not ride a bus to school, but I do take a bus to and from my winter and summer camps, then sometimes around town with my friends… Guess that's about 8 times a year at the least…

This chapter's question:
How often do you go to the beach?