Annabeth called time on the sword fight when Louisa deflected Percy's sword in such a way, it twisted in his hand and he nearly skewered himself. They protested straight away, they still had fifteen years, ten months, three weeks and two days of sibling rivalry to make up on. And it had to be to the extreme otherwise they would never catch up. Annabeth redirected their attention to the climbing wall, the lake, the race track, anything that didn't involve weapons. Not the easiest thing to come up with in a demigod camp, but they were starting to get somewhere.

"You do realise anything is a weapon in their hands?" Grover pointed out.

"And so it is in mine, now shush." Annabeth glowered. Grover smiled sheepishly and ducked, arms over his head. Percy tipped Louisa's canoe and smiled at the naiads. The water sprites went crazy- they loved Percy- and started fussing over Louisa underwater. Percy paddled away, making it almost to the finishing line before he- canoe and all- went under. Annabeth sighed. "Why do I feel like I've become a mother of two in the last ten minutes?"

"Ugh, tell me about it." Grover shook his head. Annabeth didn't even ask, leading the way to the water's edge. They found the twins lobbing handfuls of water at each other, melding the water in spheres. Louisa had a loose strand of seaweed in her hair, Percy was splattered in mud and both of them were determined to win. The canoes had washed up a few metres away.

"Twins!" Annabeth scolded. They got a last throw each in, ending up mud and seaweed covered, head to toe. Annabeth sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and counting to ten. The green of their eyes was far more striking than ever before, their smiles unnervingly bright admist their latest get-up. "Go and get cleaned up!" Annabeth ordered.

"Mud is good for the skin." Grover remarked. The blonde glared at him. "Sorry." He said meekly. He dutifully helped shepherd the two back to their cabin. Louisa sprinted outside and dived straight in the water. Percy had a shower. Grover mopped up the mud they had stomped in.

"Mud is good for the skin." Percy agreed when he came out, rubbing his arms and then feeling his face. His smile dimmed; Annabeth blocked the door, arms folded, the Stance, one hip out to the side. Grover suddenly remembered Louisa hadn't come back, so ventured outside and started calling for her. "Hey, Wise-Girl." Percy gave a lopsided, nervous smile.

"You're an idiot."

"Um..."

"Do you two have to fight over everything?"

"Yes. No." Percy corrected quickly. Footsteps behind him, Louisa and Grover. "We can behave. Right, Lou?"

"Wrong. 'Scuse me." Louisa disappeared into the bathroom. The lock clicked and Percy had lost one of his defences.

"You really are big children." Grover commented. "Seriously though, when she gets out, you are banned from fighting and racing and... and any other activity. Literally, just sit and play card games or Monopoly or something. Just sit still."

"Yes, Mom." Percy muttered. There was a thud from the bathroom and then Louisa cursing some more. "Lou?"

"That was my foot!"

"Shampoo?"

"More like shamshit! Holy fuck, that's cold!" Annabeth threw up her hands and left. Two seconds later, Louisa opened the door a fraction, sticking her head out. "We won?"

"We won." Percy grinned. Louisa returned it impishly.

"Excellent. Speakin' of card games though, d'ya know Bullshit? Or ya might call it Cheat, if ya polite." Percy nodded. "Double excellent. I'm so freakin' good at that game. 'N' stop usin' all the hot water, twatface." She retreated and slammed the door shut. Percy sighed, smiling. Grover laughed.

"Sisters." Percy shook his head. "Who'd have 'em?"


"So, how's it going?" Sally smiled at them.

"Annabeth keeps telling us off." Percy told her. "Lou, don't touch that." He playfully smacked his sister's hand and she glared at him. "No, we need that to work for the IM, no touchy." Louisa muttered something foul and reappeared in Sally's vision.

"Why does Annabeth keep telling you off?"

"She says we're like toddlers. And that we need to stop fighting over everything." Sally's gaze slid to Louisa who shrugged and yawned. Percy frowned at her. "Don't play cards with this one, Mom. She cheats loads-"

"That's 'cos I won." Louisa mumbled sleepily.

"And if you play Snap against her, she tries to break your fingers."

"Lies."

"And she bankrupted me eight times in the space of twenty minutes."

"How?"

"He can't count."

"I can too!" Percy protested. Louisa went cross-eyed and stuck her hand up.

"Uh, one..." She put her forefinger up, putting on a dumb, slightly deeper voice for Percy, "mmm... two... ay yo ma, what's next?"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"No." Sally warned. "Here's an idea, why don't we play a game? And not a competitive game. Say... Lou, Percy's first word was 'mam'. What was yours?" Louisa shrugged.

"Not somethin' ya get in an orphanage."

"Probably something rude." Percy said at the same time. Louisa shot him a withering, sidelong look and called him a bitch. Sally cleared her throat, laying a firm mother look on the pair of them.

"Do you know much about your milestones?" Sally continued. Louisa shook her head. Sally hummed, feeling her heart sink. Not only had she missed Louisa's first smile, first word, first steps- all the firsts- she had no information on them either. As if sensing this, Louisa thought quickly.

"I could tie my shoelaces when I was four. I was potty-trained 'n' everythin'." Sally gave a small smile.

"Percy didn't learn to tie his laces until he was ten." Louisa snorted.

"It's hard for some people." Percy muttered.

"He kept tripping over them. I mostly gave him Velcro straps. There hasn't been a day that he wasn't falling over and getting cuts and bruises and scabs all over- I remember I took him to the park once and came back with a bandage for a son." Sally shook her head. "What's your favourite childhood memory?" Louisa blinked at her.

"Um..." She said brilliantly, reaching up and playing restlessly with her ponytail. "I don't know. I don't really have a favourite, just things that I'm sort of proud of. Like, I was... four? I think, maybe just turned five 'n' this kid told me I couldn't fight 'cos, ya know, I'm a girl. Broke the bastard's nose with a spatula."

"How?" Percy and Sally demanded, staring at her like she was crazy.

"I can't really remember." Louisa laughed. "This other time, I'd just started my first school ever 'n' there was this girl, she kept takin' the piss, 'cos I was adopted."

"I'm scared to ask what you did." Percy told her.

"Better ask what I didn't do."

"Um, what didn't you do?"

"I didn't kill the bitch."

"Language!" Sally hissed. "Good gods, Jessica must have the patience of a saint." Louisa hunched her shoulders and then yawned again.

"Imma sleep now." She got up and stumbled to the bunk bed. "Maximum effort." She mumbled, pulling herself up the ladder and flopping onto the top bed. She was asleep in seconds. Percy turned back to his mother, bemused.

"We've actually been very good today. Don't listen to Annabeth, she's mad."

"You tried to drown each other."

"We can't drown."

"In lava." Sally added.

"Minor details." Percy waved it off. "Missing us yet?"

"Shockingly, no."

"Rude!"


I'm really tired, I've literally no idea what I'm doing. Sorry!