Disclaimer: I hate saying this so many times, but yeah. I don't own PJO.

Town Half-Blood – Chapter fourteen

In the kitchen, Annabeth and Percy were working on their famous blue cookies and some croissants while Thalia was preparing the turkey and Katie was making the salad with Juniper. Silena was making lemonade. Very slowly. She doesn't want to ruin her makeup.

"The boys should help too," Thalia groaned tiredly as she placed the turkey in the oven.

"Hey! I'm a boy!" Percy protested.

"You don't count," Thalia said.

"I'm offended," Percy pouted. "If I'm not a boy, then I'm a man," Percy grinned, striking a pose.

"We're all sure that's what Annabeth thinks," Silena giggled as the rest of the girls laughed, and Annabeth's face instantly turned red. Percy on the other hand, didn't get it at all. He's earned his obliviousness from his father after all.

"W-Wha-What d-does that mean?" Annabeth stuttered.

"Oh, we're all sure that we all know what it means," Thalia flashed a grin. "Well, excluding Percy."

"Hey! Are you implying that I'm stupid?" Percy crossed his arms.

"Yes," the room chanted.

"Some friends I have," Percy muttered, and continued with mixing the dough for the cookies.

"You think we made too much salad?" Juniper asked everyone.

The people working in the kitchen all turned to look at the salad they've been making. And yes indeed, they've over made the salads. In our point of view at least. Everyone stared at the ten large bowls of salad the two girls had prepared, and both Katie and Juniper shrugged.

"I think we should make more," Katie said thoughtfully.

"Are you kidding? That's way too much!" Thalia protested.

"Well, then that means you haven't exactly seen how Grover and Travis eats nowadays," Juniper says.

"Travis' even worse when it comes to my salads," Katie sighed. "Twenty more?"

"Thirty," Juniper decided.

"Boys are pigs," Thalia muttered.

"I'm offended!" Percy faked pain again.

Annabeth snickered and playfully punched his arm. Thalia did the same. The arm punching part, I mean. Let's just say we wouldn't exactly call it "friendly". Percy was lying face first on the ground.

"Thalia!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"What?" Thalia asked innocently. "Is he that weak? I thought he could handle a punch like that. I never thought Percy would actually act so weak in front of Annabeth."

Annabeth looked at Thalia with confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Thalia sang.

"Unnmmmmgggaahhh," Percy mumbled out nonsense.

Annabeth scowled. She did not like being left out of the blue, not knowing something that someone else already knows. She was determined to find out.

"Ow," Percy said something that would be considered an actual word.

"Almost done…" Silena says, focusing on her job.

"All these salads are exhausting," Katie sighed.

"I don't like vegetables," Percy commented, getting himself up. "I hate salads."

"Of course you do," Annabeth smirked, rolling her eyes as she placed the cookies in the oven. "Roll the dough already."

Percy and Annabeth started to roll the dough for their croissants, and Katie and Juniper continued with the salads. Silena was still, very slowly, squeezing the lemons for lemonade, making sure her nail polish doesn't get ruined and the juice doesn't squirt onto her dress. Thalia was relaxing on a chair, waiting for the turkey to be heated. She peered over at the other boys, frowning at their laziness.

Malcolm was face palming himself because the rest of the boys were thinking of ridiculous dares. Drinking toilet water? Scarfing down ten hotdogs? Lame.

"No," Malcolm repeated for the hundredth time already. "We are not going to make Percy do the chicken dance. Can't you people think of anything better?"

"Trash the Ares district?" Travis smirked.

Malcolm was considering it, but that would just mean death. "Something not so deadly," he suggested.

"Make Percy read a book?" Nico snickered.

"What's wrong with a book?" Malcolm snapped at him.

"Everything," the other boys replied coolly.

Malcolm snorted, standing up. "Well, have fun. I'm going to help with dinner," he decided. He really didn't want to deal with those idiots. Seriously, what's wrong with books? The reason he went to help with dinner was not only because they insulted books or planned out boring dares, but the people in the kitchen seemed to be having a lot of fun.

"Hi," Malcolm says to Katie.

"Want to help?" she asked.

"Yeah. Those guys aren't fun," Malcolm replied.

"Good. We need help with these salads," Juniper sighed from exhaustion.

"Whoa," Malcolm's eyes almost popped out, staring at the amount of lettuce and tomatoes.

Outside

Athena smirked at Poseidon. "Well, looks like my son helped out too," she says.

"Percy helped out first," Poseidon replied smoothly.

"Nobody cares about that boy," Athena scoffed.

"I care," Poseidon offered.

"That proves you're a nobody," Athena rolled her eyes.

"Well if I'm a nobody, why are you even talking to a nobody like me?" Poseidon grinned. "Does that mean you're a nobody too?"

Athena growled, completely frustrated and making it hard for her to think. She really didn't know how to reply to that and for a goddess of wisdom too. "Just shut up. You're being immature," was the best she could think of at the moment.

Poseidon snickered and went back to spy mode.

Athena's POV

That old stupid piece of immature Kelp Head is so irritating. I want to rip his head off and slit his throat open! Where was that axe?

But that's not the point. Anger will just cloud my mind, so I need to calm down a bit. Right now, I need to keep Annabeth away from that…that Barnacle Beard's offspring. Then I need to get her to like someone else. Maybe that Hermes boy, Luke, was it? He's good with swords, is what I heard from Hermes. Anyone's better than that…that sea creature.

"I can't hear anything from here," Poseidon concluded.

"Of course not," I rolled my eyes. "It's not like the window's open."

"Can I open it?" Poseidon asked, reaching to lift the large window up.

I smacked his hands away. "No. They'll notice us, you big idiot. We'll just have to settle with watching their actions."

"That's boring."

"Shut up," I hissed.

"And you need anger management," he pointed out.

I'm telling you. I was this close to murdering him, god or not, I'll figure out a way…I always do.

"Shut. Up," my voice rattled with anger.

Poseidon did that lip-locking motion with his fingers, zipping his lips closed with an imaginary key that was indicating that he wasn't going to talk anymore. Then unzipped his mouth and swallowed the pretend key.

"Whoops," he grinned.

"You did that on purpose," I grumbled.

"Of course I did," he said with that stupid, stupid, stupid grin.

I snorted at him – very unfeminine of me by the way – and looked through the window again.

Percy was teaching a blushing Annabeth how to make those horrid croissants. He stood behind Annabeth, hands on hers, practically wrapping his arms around her, showing her how to use that dreaded rolling pin. And I know that Annabeth knew how to use that tool. She had to bake and cook for her stepfamily almost her entire life. And Annabeth wasn't doing anything to stop him! She's just standing there; face all red, letting him help her with rolling the dough as he whispered something in her ear. My eye twitched.

"Aw, they're so cute," Poseidon cooed.

"Who are you? Aphrodite?" I spat at him.

"Actually, I'm a male, not female. When's the last time you got your eyes checked? I suggest some glasses," he says.

My eye twitched again. I had to breathe in and out to calm down. Just a tiny bit. "Once we're back at Olympus, I will rip out your vocal cords," I said threateningly. "Then you'd learn what 'shutting up' means."

"Then I should hide in my underwater palace for a few millennia," Poseidon mused.

"Once we get out of this town, I will pulverize you," I corrected myself.

"That's nice. Maybe I'll bunk in with Percy?"

"Zeus' rules. You can't interact with your children," I said proudly.

"Phooey," Poseidon shrugged as if it was no big deal.

He's pissing me off now. Real bad.

Annabeth's POV

Okay, so I've got to admit. I was kind of enjoying this… "Kind of," so shut up. Stop smiling.

Percy's arms were around me, his hands holding mine, showing me how to use a rolling pin. I didn't tell him I knew how to use it…and I felt a bit guilty, but that won't hurt anyone, my right? Anyways, I was, um, kind of happy with his arms around me, and kind of enjoying his warmth as he whispered to me instructions on how to make the croissants. Truthfully, I've almost forgotten that we were supposed make bread for our appetizer. .

But, that's not the point right now. Right now, outside sounded like someone just socked another person's face. Everyone dropped what they were doing and scrambled over to the source of the noise. That came outside the window. Was somebody stalking us? I shuddered at the thought, imagining two creepy dudes peeking through the window.

Travis got to the window first and immediately opened it up, and jumped out to check what was going on. Then he stumbled back.

"Uh…" he said, pointing at the two strangers shakily. What was so scary about them?

The rest of us hopped out the window as well to take a close look at the strangers.

One was a woman, standing all high and mighty, and from the looks of it, she seemed to be breathing heavily from anger and was glowering at the man on the ground. Her hands were formed into fists. I was right; she punched the guy. She wore all black: black pants, shirt, and a beanie cap as if she was on a spy mission. The woman looked around her mid-twenties. She had black silky hair to match her outfit and familiar looking gray eyes…

That man on the ground was cradling his nose from pain, about the same age as the woman. He wore a camouflage coloured V-shirt, pants, and a cap covered in leaves like an idiot. He had messy hair along with a short beard on his chin, and green eyes. Both of their auras seemed ancient and…I don't know. Old? That sounds insulting.

Oh Styx. They aren't who they think they are; are they?

"Dear Zeus! That hurt," says the man with the crazy leaf hat. "What's wrong with you, lady?"

"Oh don't, 'what's wrong with you' me. You know exactly what's wrong you rotten fish head!" the woman growled.

"Oh yeah? Well – Oh. Er, hi," the man said awkwardly to us. "We were just… Wrong house! Sorry!"

The man tried to scramble back up, but the woman kicked him back down. "I'm not finished with you yet," she says in a very terrifying tone of voice.

Nico, the daredevil he is, coughed for attention. The woman snapped her head towards his direction. "What do you – Oh."

The man with green eyes laughed hysterically. "So now you notice? I thought you were supposed to be smart!"

"You will die," says the woman threateningly.

"Hello?" Nico asked, and it caught both their attention. "Yeah, look. We don't know who you lovebirds are, but what are you doing here outside our window?"

The woman's eye twitched and her face grew red, and the man's face paled a bit. "Lovebirds?" the woman asked, using the word in disgust. "Are you serious?"

This time, Nico chose now to cower. "N-No, ma'am."

"Good boy," she says as if she was talking to a dog, but was still pretty pissed off.

Katie, Travis, Grover, Juniper, Malcolm, Silena and Thalia quickly kneeled down to her. I figured it'd be the right thing to do, assuming who they might be, so I followed their actions. Percy and Nico stood there like idiots they are.

The woman huffed. "Seems like there are two children don't have respect."

"Huh?" Percy says stupidly. I mentally smacked his face several times.

"Wait. Why should we bow to you, huh?" Nico crossed his arms, acting all brave again.

"Maybe because we're gods," says the man, and Nico's face fell. "Ah, but it doesn't matter if you bow to us or not. Feel free to stand," he says casually.

"Um, uh," Nico stuttered, and then went down to his knees.

"Dad!" Percy exclaimed with a grin on his face, somehow recognizing him.

"Percy!" Poseidon mimicked him, and flung his arms open. Percy rushed to Poseidon to give him a hug. Does that boy have any manners?

"Does that boy have any manners?" the woman scoffed, reading my mind.

"Yes he does," Poseidon replied.

The woman snorted and looked at me and Malcolm, smiling. "See? My children have respect."

"Hey!" Percy frowned. "Are you saying that I don't have any respect?"

"Mom?" I hoped, ignoring Percy. Athena nodded, and I smiled, finally being able to see my mom for the first time. "What are you doing here? I mean, why didn't you visit me before?" I was getting angry for ditching me with a horrible family, but I calmed myself, since she's a goddess after all. Plus, because I was with that horrible family, I got to meet Percy. Ooh, Mom's not going to be happy about that…

"It's against Zeus' rules. We are forbidden to meet our children," Athena answered.

"You were spying on us?" Nico asked credulously.

"Aphrodite was hogging the Hephaestus television. So I had to come down here to look after my children personally," Athena says, as if it was no big deal.

"Then why are you here?" Percy asked his dad.

"To visit you of course!" Poseidon replied with a hearty laugh, and Percy beamed at him.

Athena scoffed. "That's against the rules, and you came to visit him?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care about Zeus' rules?" Poseidon rolled his eyes.

"Then why didn't you visit before?" Percy wondered.

"I visited your mom," Poseidon says. "Not you though, as much as I wanted to. I hid your scent so you'd be safe. But once you figured out whom you are your scent would be soon exposed to monsters. So I couldn't meet you until now, for the sake of your safety. My, you've grown, boy!"

Percy grinned. "Thanks Dad," he said sincerely. I envied how he and his dad got along so well.

"Well, I need to leave before Zeus finds out I was here," Athena concluded. "Make sure you close your eyes. Farewell."

I shut my eyes closed so I wouldn't be blinded by the flash of light I've expected to happen. When I opened my eyes, she was gone. I was a little disappointed because that was the first time I met my mom. And as fast as I found her, she disappeared.

"That's rude," Poseidon stared at the empty space Athena was in. And I silently agreed.

"Aren't you going to leave too?" Silena asked.

"Pfft. Me? Leave? I just got here!" Poseidon says. "Plus, I need more quality time with my son."

"Ooh! Can we go swimming?" Percy suggested like a seven year old boy. He must be really happy to finally see his dad.

"But what about dinner?" Grover whined. "I-I mean if that's okay with you, Lord Poseidon."

"So can I join?" Poseidon wondered.

"Er, sure?" Katie said, unsure about inviting a god to dinner.

"Great! I'm starved," Poseidon laughed again, and Percy laughed along with him. The rest of us were wondering what was so funny. "What're we having?"

"Um, salad, turkey, lemonade, croissants, blue cookies…" Juniper muttered.

"Sounds good," Poseidon licked his lips. "Too bad Athena couldn't join us," he laughed again. "Sucks for you!" he shouted to the sky. No offense to Poseidon, but I'm pretty sure he shouldn't have done that…

A white blinding light appeared beside Poseidon and we quickly shut our eyes closed again. By the time we opened our eyes, Poseidon was on the ground holding his nose again, groaning in pain.

Athena was wearing a furious looking face, and held a large mallet in her hands, standing beside Poseidon. She had changed her clothes into denim shorts, a white blouse, and sandals instead of that spy costume.

"Where'd you get that hammer from?" Poseidon yelped.

"I borrowed it from Aphrodite," Athena says calmly.

"Agh! You broke my nose!" Poseidon complained.

"Whoops. Would you like me to kick it back in place?" Athena smirked, twirling the mallet.

"Who knew Aphrodite would keep such a horrible weapon," Poseidon muttered, and cracked his nose back. "Ow. That hurt," he said monotonously.

We, the demigods plus the wood nymph and satyr blinked, wondering what the Hades just happened.

"Um, Lady Athena," Malcolm says, still down on his knees with everyone else. "Would you like to stay and join for dinner?"

"Glad you asked, son," Athena said. "I'd love to. Sucks for me, you say?" she turned to Poseidon.

"Not anymore," Poseidon muttered.

Mom nodded. "Yes. It sucks for you. I'll beat you up after dinner."

Then once again, all at the same time, our stomachs grumbled. But this time, it includes Poseidon. I'm guessing Mom ate something before arriving here.

"I think the turkey's ready," Thalia says. "Excuse me for a moment…" Nico snickered at Thalia's behavior when she left since she usually wasn't very mannerly. I guess that's different in front of the gods.

Everyone else went back to working with dinner, this time with all the boys helping but me and Percy. We stayed to chat with our parents. I think Malcolm's afraid of Mom… He dashed back inside faster than a cheetah.

"Well, nice to see you in person," Mom says to me.

"You too, Mother," I said respectfully.

"Dad! Look! It's a robin bird!" Percy says cheerfully, pointing at a bird sitting on one of Katie's trees. I closed my eyes and counted to ten so I won't yell at him to shut up. As much as I envy how close Percy and his dad are, what part of "gods" does he not understand?

"Ooh! A robin bird? Where? Wait, that's not a robin," Poseidon says. "That's a raven!"

"I'm pretty sure it's a robin. See its red belly?" Percy asked.

"Oh! I see it now!" Poseidon nodded his head. "Want to catch it?"

"You bet!" Percy agreed.

"GODS, just SHUT UP!" My mom and I shouted in unison, which kind of freaked me out how we said it at the same time. I guess my mom and I are a lot similar.

"Sheesh, you two need to control your temper," Poseidon raised his hands up in surrender, and Percy did the same. Like father like son.

"Just a robin," Percy says defensively. Then he turned his attention to his dad. "Can we catch the robin now?"

"Sure! Wait. Where'd it go?" Poseidon asked, turning his head left and right to search for that bird.

And you thought it couldn't get worse? They started making bird whistling sounds and calling out, "Here, birdie; birdie; birdie!"

"If only I could blast them into bits of fish crackers…" I heard Mom mutter. "Do you like those Goldfish crackers?" my mom suddenly asks.

"They're okay I guess…" I said cautiously.

"Hmm…" she mumbled, and I was suddenly curious about what she was going to do.

She wasn't going to turn Percy into a Goldfish cracker, would she? Oh gods no. Anything but that. He may be an irritating piece of kelp, but I don't want seagulls pecking at him!

My mom sensed my panic and gave me a reassuring smile. "Oh, no worries. I won't turn Percy into a cracker yet. It's currently against the rules to destroy or magically turn demigods into anything at all," she sighed.

"Oh," I numbly nodded my head, worrying about that "yet".

"Agh! I give up!" Percy shouted exasperatedly.

"Me too," Poseidon groaned. "Ooh! A worm!"

"Worm? Where?" Percy asked, excited again.

"I swear, I never thought it'd be possible for a sixteen year old and a god to be so immature," I mumbled quietly. I didn't think Athena would hear me.

"I very much agree," Mom nodded her head. "But Poseidon isn't usually this immature. I'm assuming it's because he finally got to meet his son in a long time."

"Same with Percy," I agreed.

"Let's head to the dining room. Dinner must be ready soon," Mom suggested.

"Yes, Mother," I said, and we climbed through the window.

Thalia's POV

The turkey was complete and I hurried to place it onto the dining table before my hands burn. Katie needs to get new oven mitts. They have holes in them.

Anyways, the boys finally decide to help out. So everyone but Annabeth and Percy were outside, probably having quality time with their parents. I envy them. Even though I joined Artemis, I never met my dad yet. He's always busy.

And so as I was baking Percy's and Annabeth's cookies for them, I was hearing bird whistles and calls outside. What the Hades?

"Hey," says a masculine voice. I turned to find myself face to face with Nico di Angelo.

"Lovebirds. I'm sure Athena and Poseidon was happy with that," I smirked.

Nico blushed red from embarrassment. "I didn't know it was them!" he defended.

"What? You couldn't at least sense a bit of their godly aura? Or how much they resembled Malcolm, Annabeth, and Percy?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh…No?"

I rolled my eyes and smirked. "I wouldn't be surprised if Athena transformed you into a mouse for dinner."

"Ew, Athena eats mice?" Nico gagged.

"Owl symbol? Mice? You really are stupid," I laughed, placing some of the salads onto the table, and Nico helped me out.

He pouted. "I'm not stupid!"

"Sure," I chuckled.

Katie, Travis and Juniper had put the rest of the salads on the dining table, and I swear the salads were practically taking up the entire space. Silena and Malcolm poured the lemonade and Grover was trying his best to serve the croissants without gobbling it all up. Travis on the other hand had already eaten a bowl of salad to my surprise. Pigs.

Nico and I waited for the cookies to be ready since they were still baking.

"Can we turn up the heat?" Nico asked.

"Hmm…I guess it wouldn't hurt…" I agreed.

"No!" Annabeth's voice shouted, and it caused me to jump. Gods, where'd she come from? "You'll burn it."

"It's taking forever!" I whined.

"No," she repeated.

Nico groaned. "Why didn't I just stay in the graveyard?"

"Because you wanted to stay with Thalia," Silena sang, walking by us with a glass of lemonade.

I could've sworn I saw a tint of pink on Nico's cheeks…but it's just my imagination, right?

I spotted Athena arguing with Poseidon in a corner about something as Percy was nibbling on some of the croissants when dinner hasn't even started. Annabeth skipped towards him happily and smacked his head.

Silena was admiring her work with the lemonade, happy that it wasn't too sour. I think she added way more sugar than necessary.

Malcolm was seated on a dining chair yawning, probably regretting not bringing a book with him. Nerd…

Grover and Travis were tackling the salads, which is pretty disrespectful with gods in the room. So I'm guessing that's why Katie and Juniper were trying to hold them back.

Lady Athena huffed and sat down on a chair. "So? Are we going to eat?"

"Yes Ma'am!" the entire room said. Well, excluding Percy and Lord Poseidon. They were too caught up in their conversation.

Everyone took a seat. So here was the seating order: One end of the table sat Athena, and the other Poseidon. On Lord Poseidon's right sat Percy, then Grover, Travis, Nico and Malcolm. Malcolm, of course, was beside Lady Athena. Annabeth sat parallel to Malcolm, beside her mother, and I sat next to her and in front of Nico, then Katie and Silena.

Percy seemed happy beside his dad, and they were having a conversation about sharks, I think… Annabeth looked very disappointed that Percy didn't sit beside her, but was also consumed into the conversation about architecture with her mom and Malcolm.

Silena was checking her nails as Grover scarfed down a bunch of salad with Travis. Katie was slicing the turkey, which Grover by the way found it disgusting. Did I mention he was vegetarian? Juniper was eating some of the salads since she doesn't have a huge appetite as her boyfriend.

Nico and I were eating the croissants as we waited for the turkey to be sliced. What? Meat tastes good.

But I wonder. Will Athena and Poseidon get in trouble for visiting their demigods? I'm not sure what'll happen tomorrow. All we can do right now is hope my dad doesn't kick them down to Hades' territory. That won't be good at all.

Olympus

"Oh. My. Gods. Is that Athena? And Poseidon?" Artemis gapped. "That's against the rules!"

"Hm…It is," Aphrodite agreed as they watched the television screen.

"Are we going to disqualify them? I can't believe my sister would go against any rules at all…" Artemis said.

"Disqualify? No. Punish? Yes. Hmm… Once their little dinner party is over, the demigods are going to have to go on a little quest…" Aphrodite smirked. "Oh yes, that sounds lovely."

"Oh dear," Hestia mumbled as she woke up from her nap. "This won't be good at all…"

"Pish Posh! What are you talking about? This is the most exciting thing that's happened in the past thousand years!" Aphrodite argued. "Heh heh heh…"

Artemis and Hestia backed away from Aphrodite. What an exciting day it'll be tomorrow. If only the people in district four knew…

Ugh. I hated this chapter D:
Do you hate it? I like the previous chapter much better. My writing skills are fading away again! -GASP-
And I didn't edit it, so it's just ten times more worse, I'm sure.
But it's longer at least. ...Still sucks...

So yeah. A quest is coming up~ You readers excited? :D
Please review, review, review~
Let's try to reach 130 reviews~ That's like, four more reviews... small goal. :)
Don't forget to review~ REVIEW!
Make sure you tell me how awesome or horrible it is, kays?
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REEEVVIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW! :D (LOL. I just realized this: "REEEVVIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!")