Percy brushed wrinkles out of his right sleeve as he and Selene returned to the Gala. Before entering, Percy could hear loud club music and noticed Thalia and Clarisse standing outside the closed chamber doors.

"What's going on?" Percy asked.

"Apparently they started a representative free dance contest after you left and they want to finish it," Thalia explained, "it shouldn't take much longer."

The music blasted as the door opened. Artemis poked her head out and grabbed Percy's arm as soon as she spotted him.

"You need to come in with me," Artemis said as she pulled Percy, "the rest of you still have to wait for the contest to finish."

When Percy got inside, he covered his ears. The music seemed to be a hundred times louder than it sounded outside. He looked over to the normal tables and saw Grady almost asleep in his breakfast despite the noise. Artemis tugged on Percy's arm and pulled him towards a stage that Percy could only guess was used for the dance contest. As they neared the stage, Percy saw Apollo behind a gold turntable, bobbing his head with the beat of the music. When they reached him, Artemis said something, but Percy couldn't hear it. Apollo couldn't either since he gave her a confused look. Artemis motioned in a way that showed that she was sighing, then leaned over the turntable and turned the master volume to the lowest setting. Percy uncovered his ears as the music was now at a normal level.

"I said "Turn it down" you bass happy hothead," Artemis said in a calm yet irritated tone, "I need to make an announcement."

"Looks like father beat you to it," Apollo gestured to the center of the stage.

"I hope all of you are enjoying the Gala so far," Zeus said, amplifying his voice through some sort of godly power that Percy didn't even care to take note of, "I would like to inform you that this event will last several weeks, and you may leave and return as many times as you wish. However, it is mandatory that the cabin representatives return on the final day of the Gala, as is their responsibility. Now, I understand that the twins each have an announcement that they would like to share," Zeus eyed the twins, noticing Artemis' look of anticipation to say hers first, "Artemis, would you care to take the honors?"

"Yes father," Artemis said in an almost regal tone, stepping into the stage, dragging Percy with her, "My fellow gods, my dear Hunters, demigods of Camp Half-blood, and my dearest daughter," it was then that Percy noticed that Selene and the other representatives had entered the chamber, "I would like to say that by summer's end, I will begin a new chapter in my life that does not involve the shackles and responsibilities of being a maiden goddess. By summer's end, I shall be wed to Percy Jackson," Artemis paused as the whole room yelled in shock and confusion. Even Percy gave Artemis a confused look. When the commotion died down, Artemis continued, "as you have all no doubt heard, Percy has a harem, of which I am a proud member, and after the mortal holiday known as Halloween, I will allow the other members of the harem to marry Percy. However, any newcomers will have to wait until the one year anniversary of the harem's formation before they can marry him," Percy noticed her eyeing a number of girls who had confessed to Percy over the past couple of weeks before focusing on Grady's sister, Aurora, "for those of you who don't know, the official day is Christmas Eve. So if you wish to attend the wedding, please return here on August thirty-first. Thank you all for hearing me," as she stepped off the stage, she looked at Apollo, "you will be nothing more than a guest. I forbid you to play a role any larger than that."

Apollo snapped his fingers in the way that TV villians do when they suffer a small loss. He was clearly hoping to play a big role. He took the stage and cleared his throat.

"On the subject of my soon to be brother-in-law, arguably the guest of honor here considering everything he has done, I would like to make the idea of Percy's harem enjoyable for everyone," Apollo snapped his fingers and large board lowered. Written on it, to Percy's shock, were not only the names of everyone in the harem, but also everyone who has confessed to Percy thus far. He even noticed Calypso, the first girl to ever confessed to Percy, had her name there too, "may I present the "Percy Jackson Harem Betting Pool"," those words appeared above the board as a neon sign, "the way it works is like this. You are free to place bets on which girl you believe will be the first to do certain things with Percy. Winners shall receive points which can be spent on merchandise I will make based on Percy and each member of his harem. You will all receive 100 points immediately for betting. Now, I think I'll use events that have already happened to show you how it works. But first,"

Apollo snapped his fingers again and little red, heart shaped devices rained down. Everyone caught one, even Percy, who grabbed one for the sole purpose of examining it. It had a square screen that took up most of the device and three buttons below it. The ones under the corners had little arrows pointing outwards while the one in the middle had the word "BET" written in Greek on it. The screen itself had a black bar in the corner with the number 100 in it in white. The rest of the screen was occupied with a picture of Artemis. Curious, Percy pressed the right side button and the picture panned over to one of Annabeth.

"These will be what you use to place your bets," Apollo explained, "your points are displayed in the top corner of the screen. You use the side buttons to cycle through the girls in the pool and press the middle button to place your bets. Each bet costs five points, so think hard before placing your bet. Let's give it a try," Apollo cleared his throat, "Which girl do you believe confessed her love to Percy first?"

Deciding that playing Apollo's game might be a little fun, Percy panned over to Calypso and placed his bet. He then looked at the board and was not that surprised to see that about 98% of the people had placed their bets on Annabeth while some others decided to be daring and bet on Artemis.

"Well, can't say I'm surprised," Apollo chuckled, "let's see what the correct answer is,"

The section on the board with Calypso's name on it glowed and Percy's device beeped. He looked at it and saw his point total increase twenty fold.

"Next. Who was Percy's first kiss?"

Almost immediately, Annabeth's section filled up. Percy was about to select Calypso again when he remembered what happened in the volcanic forge directly before he went to Calypso's island. He panned over to Annabeth and selected her.

"Wow, everyone chose Annabeth. OK, board says," Annabeth's section glowed, "your all correct."

Percy's total only increased a small amount, probably because of how many people voted for the same person.

"OK, last one, and this one is tricky. Who is the mother of Percy's first natural child?"

Percy considered Apollo's phrasing and panned over to Khel. After placing his bet, he looked at the board and noticed that only 15% of the people there actually listened to Apollo's question, as everyone else voted for Artemis. Apollo looked disappointed at the ratio and facepalmed, signaling for the board to show the correct answer. Confused murmurs flooded the chamber as Khel's section glowed. Percy received fifty points.

"For those of you who are confused, let me explain," Apollo said as though he were a high school science teacher, "yes, Selene is Percy's first child, but she wasn't naturally born. Kira, while currently Percy's youngest child, is also Percy's first naturally born offspring. Those of you who actually considered my wording instead of blindly betting obviously understood that most basic of details. Now, from here on the results will take a while to come in, so don't expect to get points fast. Also, I hope you guys know how to use a computer, because unless you want to constantly come here to order and pick up merchandise, the online store is your best bet. Now the first ongoing bet, which I suggest you take time and think it over, is this. Which girl will be the one to take Percy Jackson's virginity? And don't you dare bet immediately. I'm serious, take time and think it over."

Apollo stepped off the stage and raised the music volume to reasonable, yet still loud, level and exited the chamber. Percy turned to Artemis.

"I need to go talk to Apollo about something," he told her.

"Don't you dare offer to make him a groomsman, not after this stunt."

"I won't, in fact it actually has something to do with this stunt."

Artemis let go of him and went to spend time with the Hunters. Percy left the chamber and followed Apollo down the street.

"Apollo," Percy called, "wait up."

"What's up bro?" Apollo asked, "or should I wait until September to call you that?"

"You don't care," Percy pointed out, "listen, if I buy something from that merchandise store, could you send it to Calypso?"

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"What do you got?"

"Oh ho ho, Percy," Apollo put his arm around Percy's shoulder, "wait till you see the warehouse Hermes and I have for this."

Place your bets.