Beach

Everyone woke up bright and early. Alex and Casey had slept over. The girls were getting into their bikinis while Jeremy got the truck ready. Katie was the first to get ready. She went to help Jeremy with the truck while the rest got ready.

Over her bikini, she wore very short shorts and an oversized t-shirt. She put her bag in the back of the truck and got her board. It was bright neon green. It wasn't long until Albany was done. Over her bikini, she wore shorts and a grey tank top. Casey was next. She wore a pink dress that went up to her knees. Jasmine came out wearing board shorts and a rash guard that Jeremy had forced her to wear. Alex wore shorts and one of Jeremy's shirts. Jeremy wore board shorts and a teal t-shirt.

Everyone was surfing when the sun came up. They had all gotten used to the cold. Everyone was having a great time, but something was off. Albany had seen Katie wipeout there times already and they had just started.

"Kates, what's wrong?"

"Guess who Jasmine's crush is."

"Who?"

"Nico Di Angelo"

Albany's eyes widened. This can't be good

XxX

The sun was shining. The waves were pounding. Travis and Conner were having a great time. That was until Travis saw something that had him paralyzed for a moment. Katie Gardner. In a bikini. Surfing. In a bright green bikini that left little to the imagination. Travis was stunned.

Conner smirked at Travis. He started to drool.

"She has one heck of a body"

"Yeah" whoa, what? Thought Travis. His head snapped to Conner.

"Does someone have a thing for Katie?"

"NO! She looks…hot."

"Did you just realize that now?"Travis lifted an eyebrow."Bro, I'm not blind. Look at her."

The brothers turned and saw Katie riding one of the biggest waves they have ever seen. She took sharp turns and did a lot of twist. She came closer and closer to the brothers. Soon enough, when she was close enough, she took a sharp turn and sprayed Travis in the face. Connor laughed his ass off.

"Dude, that's what you get for your prank last night"

"Shut up"

"Anyway, look at her body. Deep curves, nice legs and strong arms. Not too tall, not too short."

"I know. I just never expected this from Katie Gardner."

"Bro, she's not the same Katie. You should have realized that when you first saw her. Green highlights, surfing killer waves, and princess of the school. This isn't our Katie."

"I know. But I wish she were mine." Travis whispered the last part but Conner still heard it.

Conner's smirk grew. Travis saw it and got annoyed.

"Wipe that smirk off your face. How can I not want her? She's fricken hot!"

"This Katie or the old one?" Conner said trying to bait him

"Both" He said in a trance.

Conner busted out laughing. His brother is such a sap.

"Shut up, bro"

It made Conner laugh even more. When he finally calmed down, he realized something that made Katie Gardner even hotter.

"Travis…"

"What?"

"Is that a belly piercing?"

Travis looked to where Conner was staring. As seen, there was a green stud pieced into her stomach. Travis started drooling again.

XxX

Katie and the gang were laughing after she sprayed Travis.

"That's not your revenge, is It?" asked Alex

"Not even close"

"His expression when he saw you was priceless" Laughed Jasmine

"He acted as if he'd seen a ghost" added Jeremy

Katie smirked. She could feel Travis's stare. He's never seen her in a bikini. And over the year, her shape had gotten better. She looked at Albany. She had been pretty quiet ever since Katie had told her about Jasmine's crush. Albany was trying not to laugh.

"You okay, A?" Katie asked

"I think they finally saw the stud"

Katie turned to The Stoll brothers and saw Travis looking at her piecing. She smirked. He seems oblivious to his surroundings. She looked at Jasmine who was on Jeremy's board along with her big brother.

"Jazz, do me a favor?"

XxX

Travis stared at her. Katie Gardner. The goody-goody. Had a piecing. A piecing on her stomach. How is it even possible? She had the body of one of Aphrodite's daughters, she surfed like a child of Poseidon, she can 'supposedly' prank like a child of Hermes, and now she has a freakin piecing. Is this her long lost twin or the real deal?

He abandoned his thoughts when his board flipped and he went under. He surfaced and saw Conner laughing, Katie's friends laughing and Katie paddling toward them. She stopped a few paces away from Travis and pulled a girl who looked about twelve years old with pink highlights onto her board. He caught her eye. She smirked and waved. She paddled away to her friends. Travis looked to his brother.

"You do realized she's winning, right" Conner asked

"Huh?"

"Travis-one. Katie-three"

He looked toward them and paddled.

XxX

"Great Job, Jazz!" exclaimed Katie

"It was your idea"

Travis appeared in front of her.

"This," He said while grinding his teeth. "Means war"

Katie smirked.

"You're on, Stoll"

XxX

Conner had to say that Katie was awesome at surfing. She was a pro. He was mesmerized by how graceful she was on water.

"She's pretty great, huh?"

Conner saw Albany on her board right next to him.

"How'd you get here?"

"I've been here for a while watching you stare at Katie"

"I wasn't staring"

"Yeah, you were."

"I'm just… surprised. I didn't know she could surf like that or that she even knew how to surf"

"She grew up on an island surrounded by water. Of course she knows how to surf."

"She grew up here?" Asked Conner. Albany nodded. "But she's not even a daughter of…" Conner caught himself.

"Daughter of what?" asked Albany

"A daughter of… a surfer"

"No, but she learns quickly. I was five when I learned to surf. I taught her how. Soon she went into competitions and won a lot of them"

"How long has she had that piercing?"

"Why?" Albany looked confused at his sudden change of topic.

"I never knew she had that in New York"

"She got it last year when we moved here"

"We?" Conner was intrigued. If Albany meant 'we' she must have been with Katie when Katie ran away. Now that Conner thought about it, he did remember that there was an undetermined camper that had to sleep in the Big House instead of the Hermes cabin. "You were with Katie in New York?"

Albany didn't look fazed.

"I was always traveling. She stayed in New York. When I traveled and barely saw her, we would talk for hours at night. When I was in New York, I was barely with her. She was always at her school. We snuck around because she was scared of being caught. I wasn't welcome at her school. At least that's what she told me. I wasn't supposed to go, but without me she was a mess. She used to get bullied and some boys started to prank her. So if I was in town, she would ditch school just to hang out and talk. Let some steam off. At night when things got so bad, she would call me and all that. I was her bestie for a reason."

"Phones weren't allowed at… school."

"We made it work." She took a deep breath. "You and Travis were the boys that pranked her, right?"

Conner shrugged. Something's not right. He searched Albany's expression to see for any signs of lying. - There was none.

Albany started paddling to Katie, leaving Conner alone to his thoughts. He replayed the conversation between them.

'Ditch school' now that Conner thought about it, he did remember times where nobody knew where Katie was.

'Call me' Phones weren't allowed in Camp Half Blood. Katie was such a goody-goody; she would never break the rules. Katie must have Irish messaged her if Albany were a demi-god.

Conner searched his memory to see if he had seen her before, then it hit him. Curly brown hair. He had seen a girl living in the Big House with the same brown curly hair. Could it be her? Something's going on. She has a secret. I have to know it

XxX

"Do you really think it's a good thing to tell him about us?" Katie asked Albany

"Let's see how deep he's willing to dig to figure out our story" she replied

"What if he doesn't want to figure out the story?"

"Then it won't kill him to know."

"Whatever, your future; not mine."

XxX

The whole day was a blur. It wasn't long till they had to leave. Travis and Conner tagged along with the rest of the gang. They ate lunch at Pizza Hut then headed to the park. Soon they returned to the beach. Everyone was surprised that Travis and Katie were acting civil to each other.

XxX

It was the end of the day. Katie, Jasmine, Albany, and Casey were watching the sunset while Jeremy and Alex were packing the truck. Conner came up to the girls and watched the sunset with them. He sat next to Albany.

"That was an exciting day."

The girls nodded.

"We should do this more often"

"It was nice." Replied Casey, still looking at the sunset.

"How often do you guys come here?"

"Every Saturday" replied Jasmine

"Where's your brother?" asked Katie

"Packing the truck"

"Shouldn't you be helping him?" asked Albany.

None of the girls had taken their eyes off of the sunset yet. A moment passed until Jasmine finally drawled her eyes away from the sunset and onto her water-proof watch.

"Bro should be done by now." Said Jasmine

"I don't think so. Before they started packing I caught them...uhm 'talking' behind the tree." Replied Casey

Jasmine rolled her eyes and got up.

"I'm gonna go help them. Who knows how long we'll have to wait if we don't help them."

"I'll go with you" said Casey

Silence overcame Katie, Albany and Conner. Neither girls have looked at Conner yet but for some reason, it bothered him. Travis finally finished packing and joined the girls and his brother.

"Why are you staring at the sunset so intensely?" asked Travis.

Katie looked at Travis.

"Why does it bother you?"

"It's creepy. You've been looking at the sunset for almost half an hour"

"You've been watching me for half an hour?"

"You know what? I'm way too tired to put up a fight. Let's go Conner"

"Hold on, bro." said Conner. He turned to Albany. "Can we talk in private?"

She nodded. They walked along the shore.

"How long have you been at New York?"

"My longest trip was three years."

"Are you planning to go back?"

"Soon. But I don't know when"

"Listen, Albany, I need to get Katie back to New York. She won't leave without you. Could you…"

"I'm not gonna tell her to leave. That's up to her. But when I go back to New York, she will too"

"How do you know?"

"She swore on her life she would"

"So?"

"Katie always keeps her word"

They were at Jeremy's truck by then. Jeremy and Alex were sitting in the front, while Casey, Katie, and Jasmine were sitting in the trunk. They were all talking. Albany climbed into the truck and gave Conner a small smile.

"See you on Monday, Conner" she said as the truck disappeared from Conner's view.

As he walked back to his own truck, he replied his conversations with Albany.

She swore on her life. Swore. Albany didn't say promise. She said swore.

Always keeps her word. On her life. Katie must have sworn on the river Styx. Albany used 'swore' instead of 'promise'. She remembered that Katie swore. Not promised. The river Styx only works on gods and demi-gods. Albany was definitely a demi-god. He had never seen her before in the Hermes cabin. She didn't look like she was a demi-god. She had traits from all gods. Blue eyes from Apollo, Brown curly hair from Hermes, body from Aphrodite, surfer from Poseidon, she was a mixture of all of them. So what was she? At least I know she's a demi-god. And Travis says I'm dumb.

XxX

As the kids piled into the living room, their smiles left their face when they saw the facial expression of Jeremy and Jasmine's dad and Alex and Casey's mom. It was not good. They both looked at Albany.

"It's time" they said simultaneously.

Jasmine, Jeremy, and Katie all looked at Albany. Alex and Casey looked at their mom. Something was up. Something big.