A/N: Hey guys! I know, another chapter, shocking, right? NaNoWriMo really is making me work at this, so yay for that! Although I am about 4k words behind, so I'm really going to have to work on it this weekend (hopefully that will result in another 2 chapters for you guys).

Anyway, thanks so much for all the positive feedback, I'm really loving you guys!

Chapter 10:

Previously:

Good. Let him know not to mess with his little-

"Hey guys. What'd I miss?" a sleepy voice interrupted.

/*/

29 July

"Nothing much, you fainted, Will felt guilty for pushing you, Percy tried to kill him with the power of his mind. You know, the usual," Katie said dryly.

Jade laughed, which cost a lot more energy than it should have. She felt really tired, but not more than she'd been feeling all week. Her talk with dear ol' dad had been keeping her up, especially since she was keeping such a big secret from her brother. The mental reminder dampened her spirits a little. "I'm okay, guys, really. I should just get some rest, that's all. I haven't been sleeping all that well," she said. And then she cursed herself, because she had definitely not meant to say that much.

"What? Why not?" Will asked, concerned as always.

Someone grabbed her hand and squeezed it - Katie, she thought - and Jade was grateful for the unspoken support. "It's nothing, really."

She could practically hear the scepticism in the air after her blatant lie. "You're a terrible liar," Percy said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jade insisted, but she could tell her friends weren't going to let this go. It was her own damn fault for letting something slip anyway.

"Come on, Jade, you know you can tell us anything," Katie said softly

Hesitating for a moment longer, Jade hung her head. They really weren't going to let this go. "It's… I…" Gods, she didn't even know where to start explaining this. "There's something I need to tell you, but… I need to tell Percy first," she said, making a decision.

There was a short pause, before Katie squeezed her hand again. "We'll be just outside if you need us." And with that, she was left alone with her brother.

She wondered vaguely if Percy was older. She'd been assuming so ever since they'd found out they were siblings, but now that she knew they were twins. Maybe she was older. Gods, if it turned out that she was 10 minutes older, she was never going to let Percy forget about it. That thought both cheered her up and got rid of most of her nerves.

"So, what's up?" Percy asked, sounding a little unsure himself as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Uhm… So, you remember how, after I healed Malcolm, I kind of… ran off?" she started. 'Wow, real smooth, he's totally not going to be confused by this at all.'

"Uhm. Sure?" Percy replied, sounding even more confused now.

Sighing, Jade shifted on the bed. She really wished she could pace, or at least walk around now, but she was afraid her legs wouldn't hold her in her current state. Fidgeting it was, then. "So, you also know that I ended up in Long Island Sound, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well… Ikindatalkedtodad," she mumbled, as quickly as she could.

For half a minute, Percy didn't react, and Jade thought he'd just not understood her. "You did what? How? What did he- Why didn't you- What?"

"Uhm… I talked to dad. He kind of just showed up. We didn't talk very long, and he said the only reason he even talked to me was because I was upsetting the weather, though I'm not sure if that was an excuse, because you didn't say anything about that when you came and got me," she babbled.

"What did he say?" Percy asked urgently. There was also something else in his voice. Something a lot like envy.

"Not much, like I said, he couldn't stay long. He… he told me my birth date."

Silence.

Then Percy said; "Oh." He was quiet for another minute. "When is it?" he asked.

"August 18th 1993," she whispered.

Another pause followed, but this one lasted a lot longer. Jade's curiosity and nerves grew so insistent, that she even used her Sight for a few moments, even though her head immediately started pounding. Percy sat frozen, leaning back.

"I've been trying to tell you all week, but I didn't know how to. And I don't really have any proof, except dad's word, and…" she trailed off. She had absolutely no idea how to deal with this situation. She had no idea what to say to him that would make him feel better. If there was even something that could do that.

"It's not possible," Percy finally said.

"Percy-" Jade started, but Percy shot off of the bed, startling her. She quickly shut off her Sight, for fear that the headache would make her faint again.

"No! My mom would have said something! She would have told me if I had a sister!"

He sounded angry, and Jade recoiled a little from him. "I'm sorry," she whispered so softly she could barely hear it herself.

She could hear Percy's heavy breathing, and felt immensely guilty. She should have just kept her mouth shut, what did it matter that they were twins? Hadn't she resented her birth mother before this? Hadn't she all but decided that she was better off just thinking of her adopted parents as her real parents? Obviously Percy wasn't dealing with this as well as she was. She should have just kept her mouth shut!

"What?" Percy said. He still sounded shocked, but she'd obviously distracted him somehow. Wait, had she said that out loud?

"Nothing. I… can you send the others in?" she asked quickly. She might not know Percy as well as she wanted yet, but she knew he needed to be alone, and to think about this. It's what she'd wanted to do what she'd first found out, after all.

Percy didn't say anything for a moment. Then, he walked out, and Jade hated to admit that it hurt. She hadn't expected him to stay - he needed to process - but it still hurt that he left without saying anything. It had been hard enough for him to accept that she was his half-sister, now that he knew she was his twin… what if he didn't want anything to do with her anymore?

She'd had plenty of foster siblings who didn't want her around, and even a couple who did a lot worse than just ignore her. But with Percy, she'd started to think that maybe she could have a family again. Maybe, for the first time since she was 6, she'd found someone who cared enough to stick around, even when she was being a brat.

Before she knew what was happening, warm tears slipped down her cheeks, and Katie's arms envelloped her, hiding her from the world. And Jade found she didn't care. The world could go to Hades for all she cared. Right now, all she wanted to do was let go.

/*/

When Percy was upset, there was one place he usually went to think. It was the only place he could really think, where no one would bother me. But before he could take more than two steps into Long Island Sound, he remembered that, apparently, it had also become Jade's hiding spot. And it was the place Poseidon had talked to her.

The whole situation just made him angry, so instead of going in, he plopped angrily down into the sand.

He wasn't even sure what the hell he was even angry about. Nothing. Everything. Poseidon deigning to talk to her, while he'd ignored him ever since their meeting on Olympus. Jade not telling him what she'd learned for a whole week. His mom never telling him he had a fucking twin sister. How the hell could he not have known?

Rationally, he realized that losing a kid might have been too painful for his mom to talk about. After all, she'd refused to talk about his dad, too, for the longest time. And Jade - as she'd said - hadn't known how to tell him. Percy probably wouldn't have known what to say if her were in her shoes, either. Rationally, he knew this. But his anger was in charge at the moment, and the waves that had been lapping onto the beach peacefully a moment ago, now reflected his mood.

"Hey, Jackson!"

The shout pulled him from his dark thoughts, startling him into looking up. Will was running down the beach, looking none too happy either. The older boy had never called him by his last name before, and Percy knew this was a bad sign.

But he was in a bad mood, and didn't want to deal with this now. "Go away, Will," he said, turning his attention back to the waves.

But a second later, something heavy collided with him, and he and Will tumbled sideways into the sand.

"What the hell?!" Percy spat, pushing the blond off and getting up, his anger soaring.

Will glared at him. "You're an ass, you know that?"

"What did I do?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Jade is in there crying right now, because she thinks you hate her and don't want her as a sister. I get that this is a lot to process, but how do you think she feels?!" he shouted.

Percy's anger melted away, leaving only embarrassment and guilt. He hadn't even considered what Jade had to be going through. "Why would she think I hate her?"

"Uhm, maybe because you stormed out of there like without saying a word, like you couldn't wait to get out of there," Will snapped. "I don't know if you noticed, but Jade can't read your facial expressions that well anymore, for all she knew, you were glaring at her in disgust."

Percy flushed red. What with Jade's Sight, he'd kind of forgotten that it wasn't perfect. She couldn't see colours or - as Will so aptly said - facial expressions. "Shit!" he swore, got up, and ran straight back to the Big House.

Jade was still there, of course, curled up in a ball on the bed. Katie sat at her side, rubbing soothing circles on her back. Percy felt even more guilty now.

Katie shot him a half-hearted glare, but got up from the bed and left the room.

"Jade?" Percy said. She didn't move, and her back was to him, so he wasn't sure if she'd heard him. Or if she was even awake for that matter. "Jade, I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to hurt you by running off like that, I just… I got mad."

For a moment, Jade didn't respond. Then, she unfurled from her curled up position and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were bloodshot and a little puffy, but thankfully dry. He wasn't sure what he would have done if she'd have been crying. "It's okay, I understand," she said, her voice a little rough.

"No, it's not. I was an ass, and I'm sorry. I'm glad you're my sister, really. I just wasn't expecting it."

She turned her head towards him, looking the tiniest bit hopeful. "Really?" she whispered.

He grinned, even though she couldn't see it. "Of course, you idiot. Trust me, if I didn't like you, I'd have sent Tyson after you. For a little brother, he's really protective."

Jade huffed out a laugh. "Well, who else would keep you in line?" she joked.

"I'm pretty sure Annabeth's up for that job," he replied, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. "How you feeling anyway?"

Jade pulled up one shoulder in a shrug. "I'm okay. Still a bit tired, but I'll be okay in the morning," she said. Then she frowned. "What happened anyway? I remember coming back from training with Will, and then…"

"You fainted. Exhaustion, Will said. Something about healing making you tired or something?" Percy said, struggling to remember exactly what the blond archer had said.

Jade fell silent. "I don't want to do that again," she said quietly.

"What, why not?" he asked, surprised. He thought she'd want to practise this.

Despite her blindness, she still managed to send him a flat look. "I made a dummy explode today, Percy, and apparently, it makes me faint. Not exactly a useful gift," she said. And then she looked away and muttered; "Just another freakish ability to set me apart."

Percy frowned. He'd heard her call herself a freak before, but he hadn't thought too much of it. Now he was starting to wonder if there was a story behind it. Before he could ask, though, Thalia sauntered in.

"You know, you should ask for a personal room, what with the amount of time you spend in here," she commented dryly.

Jade started; she obviously hadn't heard the other girl come in. "Thalia, hey. Think Chiron will let me?" she joked, even though it sounded a bit forced.

Holding up her hands in surrender - even though she knew full well Jade couldn't see it - Thalia shrugged. "Hey, take it up with the horse. How're you doing, fish-girl?"

Jade made a face. "Fish-girl?"

"It's a work in progress, bear with me," Thalia said, grinning.

"I thought you'd be with Annabeth," Percy said.

The dark-haired girl shrugged. "She's with her siblings at archery practice, so I figured I'd come hang out here. I heard some Apollo guys say that greeny-gills over here caused an explosion."

'That must be that dummy she was talking about,' Percy thought. "You blew something up?" he teased, elbowing her lightly.

Jade blushed. "It didn't blow up, I just got distracted and sort of… exploded the water inside the dummy," she mumbled, obviously embarrassed.

Percy smiled softly at her. "We're going home."

Thalia sniggered. "I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that. Did anyone scream? I bet someone screamed."

"I don't think so, but I was kind of distracted by the whole explosion thing," Jade replied dryly.

Thalia gave another snort before she sobered up a little. "Okay, real reason I'm here is actually for the Seaweed brain," she said, and then turned to Percy.

He gave an obligatory half-hearted glare at the nickname, but turned to listen nonetheless. "Chiron wants to know when everyone's headed home so Argus can start to organize shifts to drive the van to the city," Thalia explained. Then she turned back to Jade. "And he wants to know which campers are staying year-round. Do you have any place to go, or are you staying here?"

Jade looked down at her hands. "I don't know. I'm going back to my foster family, they… I'm not going back."

Percy frowned. Jade was his twin, she had a family, why would she think that she'd have to go back to…? And then it dawned on him. She just hadn't realized that she had a mom now, a family to be with.

Oh crap, his mom… Percy really needed to call her to tell her that her long-lost daughter was apparently not that lost anymore.

"Jade and I are going home," he said before his brain could catch up. Seaweed brain, indeed. Hanging out with Annabeth really should have taught him a long time ago that he shouldn't made decisions for other people.

"I- What?" Jade said eloquently.

Thalia echoed her. "Yeah. What?"

"Uhm. Turns out Jade isn't just my half-sister, she's my twin. So, we're going to live with mom. After I call her… Assuming I'll still be alive to share my room, since mom is probably going to kill me for not telling her sooner. Even though I only just found out myself."

"She's… What?" Thalia said, dumbfounded.

Jade was staring at him, a vulnerable yet hopeful look in her eyes.

Percy smiled softly at her. "We're going home."

A/N: Okay, so that last bit was a bit sappy, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for fluff, especially family fluff.

Review replies:

Guest: Yes, she'll always remain blind. Or, at least, that's how the story is currently going. I don't really plan anything in advance, so sometimes the story can take a turn even I didn't see coming. But for now, she's not getting her sight back. Thanks for the review!

Pallas Athena: So far, the vote is tied between yay and nay, so I can't tell you if there will be a Sally/Poseidon ship or not. And like I said to Guest, I don't really plan stuff, so the story could still go either way. Would you be horribly disappointed if it somehow made it in anyway? And no, Jade will not be getting her sight back, at least not the way the story is going now. Thanks so much for reviewing, I hope you liked this chapter, too!