((A/N SURPRISE! A THIRD is up today! Please, tell me how much you love me :) it raises my self-esteem haha :) More reviews=Quicker updates! ALSO: Keep in mind that this story is Rated T for a reason. This chapter, as well as the previous one, are about as graphic as things are going to get romantically. I don't want to break any rules... but if someone lets me know the actual boundaries for a T-rating, then maybe I'll fit something else in ;) I know how you all love yourselves some Percabeth :)))

Annabeth POV

"Hey, I didn't even want to get on this boat, jackass!"

"Well then, maybe we should just throw you overboard and let you drown!"

We could hear the banter from inside, but once we break out onto the deck Percy, Reagan, and I can finally see the fight that's about to go down.

"You think you're so smart, just because you're a son of Athena?" a girl about thirteen screams. She has her hand around the neck of a broken bottle, the edges jagged and glinting in the sunlight. She points it at the other offender, a boy maybe a year older than her, unarmed but fiercely pissed.

"Hey, at least I know who my godly parent is! And it's pretty easy to see why your parent hasn't claimed you. You're a selfish little brat with an outrageous temper!" the boy spits back, his teeth grinding.

"What's going on?" I step in between them, looking back and forth between their faces.

The boy glares at me with fire in her eyes, "Look, I know you're the so-called unofficial leader, but you're stepping between the wrong two people here, sweetheart."

"Hey," Percy deliberately steps between me and the boy, "What's your name?"

"Darren Schillings, son of Athena," he practically bows, obviously proud of himself, "Claimed when I was eight years old. My father is-"

"He asked your name, retard. Not your life story." The girl hisses.

"Well, what's your name then?" I turn to ask the girl.

Her eyes meet mine, and she challenges me for a moment. But when I don't back down, she does, and her eyes trail to the ground. "Ruby."

"Okay, Darren and Ruby. How about we split up and talk this out rationally, instead of fist-fighting? Sound like a plan?" I glance over at Darren for literally a millisecond before I see Ruby lunge at me out of my peripheral vision. On instinct, I sidestep her charge and grab her arm, using her momentum to flip her upside down and onto the ground. She hits the deck with a cry of pain, and a not-so-pleasant nickname for me.

When I straighten up, the crowd that's gathered to see the fight is gaping at me, their eyes wide and their mouths wider. "What?" I yell at them, "You're on a cruise ship, and the best thing you've got to do is look at me? Get out of here!"

Percy leans over and whispers so that only I can hear, "I mean, I've got nothing better to do than look at you…"

I elbow, and then ignore him, pulling the bottle out of Ruby's hand and helping her up.

"Percy, go find Darren and figure out what his problem is. I don't want any more fights starting until we get to dry land," I practically order, which is out of the ordinary. Percy's been the head honcho ever since we were twelve and he lead the first mission. I mean, I tell him what to do, but in situations like this he's usually the one to take charge.

Ruby spits blood from her mouth, "Thanks. I practically bit off my tongue."

"Any time," I gesture towards a beach chair, and she sits. Probably scared of me.

"So now you're going to lecture me on how to behave, right? Well, sorry, but I don't know how to act socially. Never had a mother to teach me proper etiquette or whatever the hell it's called."

"So your biological parent is your father?"

"I thought that was pretty clear," she growls, "But whoever my mother is, I'm sure she hates me."

"Maybe not. The gods and goddesses are always extremely busy. Besides, there's this law now, that if you go to Camp Half-Blood your parent has to claim you." I tell her.

"Camp Half-Blood? What kind of name is that?" she scoffs. I almost judo flip her again. No one insults my home.

"It's a haven for demigods like us," I say. I realize that she's about to spit venom back at me, so I continue talking. "It sounds like your major problem with this is that you don't know who your godly parent is. Right?"

Ruby looks down at her feet, and I take her silence as an affirmation.

"Well, I'm pretty smart. I could probably figure it out for you." Her face completely changes expressions, and her eyes open wide. She smiles.

"Really? Okay, I'll tell you anything you need to know to figure it out." She sounds generally excited. I wonder if there's any goddesses with bipolar disorder, and realize that if any did have it, it would be Hera… the goddess with no children.

I look her over, "I would guess Ares if you didn't have a dad."

"Oh, because of my temper?" she instantly frowns again.

"No. Brown hair, hazel eyes, sharp cheekbones… they're all signs of Ares. What does your dad look like?" I inquire.

"I look just like him," she purses her lips, "I'm pretty street smart."

"Athena children have book-smart intelligence. They know things that normally can't be taught."

"I failed the 12th grade twice. I'm no child of Athena." Ruby laughs.

My mouth pops open, and I blink I confusion, "Did you say 12th grade?"

"Um… yeah."

"Ruby, how old are you?" I say slowly.

She cocks her head to the side, "Twenty-three. Why?"

"I know who your godly parent is." I say with finality. There is no way this girl in front of me is twenty-three.

"Who?" She asks eagerly.

"Hebe. Goddess of youth. I've never met a child of Hebe before." I hold out my hand, but Ruby just stares at it until I put it down.

"The goddess of youth." She repeats quietly under her breath. Then louder, "That is so lame! Everyone else gets to be super smart or can shoot an apple off of someone's head from a mile away. But I just look young?"

"You look thirteen," I tell her.

She looks at me, horrified, "Is that supposed to make me feel good? Because it doesn't! That's so stupid!"

I try to calm her down, "Ruby, I may be wrong."

"But you're never wrong! You're a child of freaking Athena!" she fumes.

I glance towards the sky, "I don't think you want to disgrace a goddess that way."

"What's she gonna do? Throw books at me? Make my brain explode with facts that nobody cares about?" Her voice raises, and for a second, her image flickers.

Normally, I would just assume that I blinked wrong, or that I'm physically exhausted. But the louder her voice gets, and the madder she is, the more her face begins to change.

She yells obscenities at me, but I don't hear any of them. I'm transfixed, watching her features as they shift; bags grows under her eyes and then disappear, her face is covered in wrinkles one minute, and smooth the next. Her hair glimmers as silver hairs spread throughout her scalp, and then shift back to their normal mousey brown. She's constantly changing age.

"Ruby, have you ever noticed this before?" I breathe, interrupting her rant.

"Seen what? A stupid look on your face? Plenty of times," she crosses her arms again.

"No… Ruby, you have a gift." I say, taking her arm and dragging her towards the pool, "Keep yelling at me!" I tell her, because the calmer she gets, the more normal she looks.

"What the hell are you talking about? You can't tell me what to do! You're younger than me! You can't just-" she's cut off by a sharp breath that she sucks in as she sees her reflection in the pool's surface. "Holy crap."

"You're a shape-shifter. You can change the way you look. I can set you up with a child of Apollo in the infirmary back at camp, and he can help you harness your ability and learn to control it, if you'd like." I offer politely. She nods enthusiastically, reaching up to feel her own face.

I figure she needs some time for this to register (and I'm kind of sick of her), so I leave her to her own thoughts and go back inside. It's getting a bit chilly outside as the sun goes down, and I want to warm up in a certain boy's arms.

Percy POV

Darren spills his entire life story to me as we sit across from each other in the lounge. He tells me about everything; literally everything, from his pet turtle who turned out to be a plain old rock, to the time he got chicken pox in first grade and swallowed a thermometer. My head is throbbing by the time he takes a break from his story to take a sip of water. "What was the question again?" he asks me.

"Why were you and Ruby fighting?" I groan.

"Oh, right. So, when I was in fourth grade, my teacher, Mr. DiBartolomeo gave me a B on my science project, but I totally deserved an A because it was a volcano that erupted chocolate pudding!"

"Darren," I butt in once more, "Could you please just answer the question? With less than fifty words, please."

"Uh… I don't know. I mean, she wanted to know who my godly parent was, so I told her. And then I asked hers, and she didn't know, and she got all pissed when I called her a half-orphan."

"What does that even mean?" I rub the sides of my head, closing my eyes.

"I don't know. I mean, I know a lot of things. I'm a child of Athena. We know a lot of things. Like the square root of pi! See, 1.77245385091…"

"Oh my gods," I groan, "Darren, please go. No more fights."

"Got it, colonel. Hey, did you know that Colonel Sanders real name was Harland?" Darren gets up and begins walking away, spouting out random facts to himself about fried chicken.

"Are you as exhausted as I am?" Annabeth comes up behind me and begins massaging my shoulders, which feels nice despite me being invulnerable.

"Probably," I sigh, rolling my neck to look at her. She smiles down at me, and kisses my lips upside down. "What time is it?"

"Not even seven o'clock yet. But hey, we deserve some sleep." She lets go of my shoulders and flops down in the chair opposite me, where Darren was sitting before.

"We could do something instead of sleep to pass the time," I suggest, studying her face. Seriously, I don't know how, but every day she gets even more beautiful to me.

"Oh? Like what?" she croons, knowing exactly what I'm about to say. I both hate it and love it when she knows things. Which is always.

"We could finish what we started in our room…" I half-smile, watching her watch me.

"What does finishing what we started look like?" she bites her lip, which I find irresistible.

"I guess we'll see when we get there," I smile, standing and offering her my hand. She takes it, and we make our way to the elevator together.