" Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up." I held up my hand in confusion. " Wait. Are you telling me that you went off to bang a mortal, like, the second the Oath was over? Seriously? Jeez dad, just because there's no Great Prophecy, doesn't mean you no longer have to pay attention to your actual wife." Poseidon/Neptune, I really didn't know, and I didn't want to know, groaned.

" Look, son, I mean, I-just, 16 years. It's a long time for a god." Yeah, right. I wanted to say. I looked down at the 5 year old and tried to smile. It wasn't her fault she had a jerkass for a dad. Unfortunately, it appeared that we both had the same problem. I looked at Poseidon.

" Look, dad," I said angrily. " I have my own life now. I can't help you babysit your kid." Poseidon sighed, shaking his head.

" Look, Percy, this kid's the most important thing to me right now, and I'm a really busy man, I can't-"

" No." I snapped frustratedly. " Look, I don't have enough time for this! I mean, you're the one who fucked this up! You deal with it. Or at least pay child suppor-hey, this kid still has parents right?" I spoke the last sentance abruptly, the realization only hitting me at the time. Poseidon figeted awkwardly, making my blood run cold.

" Dad?" I asked tenatively. " She does have parents right?"

He cleared his throat, and just like that, it struck me like a bunch of bricks. " Her mother's dead. She's living with me for a while, but I kind of can't let her stay for obvious reasons. So yeah. If I could, I'd put her in foster care, but..."

" You don't want anything bad to happen and that's why you're giving her to me." I said the words with a dawning, sick realization. So that's why. I took a deep breath. Sure, I didn't want to take care of her, but... what other choice did I have? Send her off to foster care where who knows what might happen? Where she might die from monsters and people alike? I couldn't allow that.

" Fine." I said, gritting my teeth. " I'll do your babysitting duty for you."

Poseidon looked relieved. " Good! Er, treat your new sister like a princess, will you? And ask the camp to do the same, I don't want anything bad to happen to her. Her name's Atlantia, by the way." I nodded. Suddenly, confusion hit me.

" Wait, Atlantia? You really named your kid after a freaking palace?"

" Kingdom, actually," He said. " I'd prefer it if she didn't leave camp though, at least, not until she's 12. It's dangerous. I trust you're going to train her?" Ah, yes. That mean 7 years of taking care of my half-sibling. Thank goodness I'm only staying for the summer. Still felt like 7 summers too many to be honest. I nodded. Sure I was going to train her. I'm not going to make her wield a fucking sword as a toddler though, you psychopath.

" Sure." I said simply. " But this is going into my allowance, right?" He shrugged, and before I could argue for a higher pay, he left, leaving me behind with a 5 year old who was screaming at the sight of her first godly disappperance. I sighed, standing in the middle of my cabin, listening to the wailing of my new sister. Whoopee.

" Yeah, yeah, great job Dad," I grumbled. It was midnight, and Atlantia was currently figeting in her makeshift bed in the Cabin. " Entrusting a 5 year old in the hands of a barely adult with social skills. Totally not going to backfire. Great parenting skills, Dad!" Just like that, I felt an odd flicker of energy at the edge of the cabin causing me to whirl up and hold my sword. The intruder had black hair and green eyes, like mine, though I really didn't wish that was the case. I relaxed slightly.

" Hey, Dad, guess you finally came to your-" I stopped as the intruder out of the shadows...which, seeing how the entire cabin was quite dark, didn't seem like the most greatest of terms. Either ways, I noticed that he had far lighter green eyes, despite the unique sort of divinity around him. His hair was longer, in less tighter curls, and he was currently glaring at me, which I knew that Poseidon would never do. I was about to ask who he was, but then the pieces clicked.

" No way. Triton?" I honestly didn't know how to adress him. Lord seemed too formal for family connections, and I've long lost all pretenses of respect for many of the gods. But just Triton seemed too informal too. I'd only met him twice, once when I went to Atlantis at age 16, and he had pretty much hated me, which, seeing as in his eyes, I was the living proof of Poseidon's infedility, made sense. The second was when I'd turned 18. Poseidon had insisted that he bring my entire family. It... wasn't any better than our previous interaction to be honest.

I narrowed my eyes. The only reason I could think of him being here was if he was going to kill Atlantia. Sure, Tyson and I were all bastards, but at least we were bastards within a 60-year timespan! Poseidon fucking someone the minute the Oath was broken? That was difference. That wasn't just a spit in the face anymore. It was...just shit. Pure shit.

However, I didn't want anyone to be killed in the cabin. " You aren't here to... y'know." I put a finger across my neck, making a sound to imitate a chainsaw. Triton made a sneering sound.

" No." He said in a voice that indicated he very much wanted to. " Father said that it would be desirable... if I were to help you." He said the words as if they were poison. Maybe they were. I didn't have any knowledge of merman anatomy. Wait, was he a merman now? I looked down worriedly. Thank goodness he had legs. And clothes.

" Yeah. Uh, okay." I figeted and put my sword down. " So, are you staying the night? I don't have any more beds." Triton just disappeared. I wasn't too worried. That just meant that he was going to reappear in the morning. I sighed and let myself fall asleep.

" BIG BROTHER!" My mind didn't register the words, but they did register the sound. I jolted awake, grabbed by sword and-nearly slashed off Tyson's head. Immediately, I stuffed Riptide back into pen form. Guilt that I nearly cut off his head sunk in my stomach.

" Tyson. You really shouldn't me creeping up on me. And like, really not when I'm sleeping." Tyson nodded solemnly.

" Get out, brother!" He ordered happily. " We want to help you with child."

" It's not mine." I said immediately, just so I could be cleared up. " It's-"

" Daddy's!" Tyson said. He was taking this a lot better than I had hoped. I checked the kid again. She was still asleep. Girl was a rock-hey, wait a minute. I remembered my lesson on the First Titanmachy and squinted. Nope. Wasn't a rock. Thank goodness. I smiled.

" Yeah, Triton said he was going to help me. Is he here?"

Tyson nodded. " I came with him!"

" Huh. Wait, why'd he take you?" Tyson shook his head. I pushed the makeshift cradle out of Tyson's looming shadow.

" He didn't! I asked daddy if I could see you, and he said yes!" Right.

" Mm." I grumbled. " Mind leaving so I could wear my clothes?" Tyson nodded happily and waltzed out. I didn't wear my clothes immediately, opting to sit in my bed, thinking about how my life became this way.

By the time I came out, there were already a few campers scattered about, most of them avoiding Table 3 worriedly. It made sense. There was a green-haired immortal with a wicked looking trident and a cyclops. Add two demigods and voila! The most weirdest school band of the 21st Century.

" Alright, what're you all planning?" I asked. Triton gritted his teeth. Probably at the disrespect, but I couldn't care less. Hey, if he was going to take on the body of a 19 year old, I wasn't about to say lord to a kid two years my junior. Tyson smiled and held up a book titled Chili Couring. I frowned.

" Tyson, what's a book on Chili got to do with this?"

" It's titled Child Caring." Triton said to me, as if he had read my mind and train of thought. He looked annoyed. It wasn't my fault that I had dyslexia!

" Yes, brother! All we have to do is follow this book! And we'll help!" Ah, well, that seemed simple enough.

At this point the other campers were giving us some really weird looks. I didn't blame them. It had taken me a long time yesterday to introduce Atalanta to the Camp and clear up all of the misunderstandings. Chiron had already instated her as a year-rounder, but it didn't make it any less weird having a Roman toddler in Camp. I was waiting for the next Roman Ambassadorship to arrive so I could ship the kid to Jupiter. Unfortunately, there was a problem with that. Primarily that it was name Jupiter, and I didn't think Neptune or Poseidon would be happy.

Oh, and the Neptune Altar wasn't the best either.

I tried to smile. " I guess we have it all planned. Not as hard as I-" Originally thought, I wanted to say. Unfortunately, I forgot the first rule of Demigods. Never say that something is easy or something bad will happen to you. Like when the Cabin overfloods in your absence. I realized, with a sickening gut punch, that I had left Atalanta in there to wake up by herself. And she had flooded it. Somehow. More and more demigods started noticing, looked at me with a confused look, and ran to tell Chiron. I groaned, thinking about how much of my stuff was destroyed and ran back.

The sink. Fuck-fuck-fuck. She had flooded the sink. Atalanta was floating on a few inches of water, and started laughing when she saw me. How...cute. And troublesome. I plastered a smile on my face and held out my hand for her her to take before fixing the sink and clearing out the water. It was hard, but I did it, fixing up the pipe and drying out the water. The things that weren't too horribly ruined I forced the water to evaporate from. I then threw out some of the ruined objects, while others I kept and dried carefully.

Finally we were able to walk outside as a bunch of campers stood watching. Neither of us were wet, and I had dried up the floor of the Cabin before any mold could grow. Everything was fixed within an hour. I grinned. " SO! Who wants to hear the tale of how someone couldn't keep it in their pants?"

The days passed rather slowly after the Flooding of Cabin 3 Incident. Sure, Atalanta and I had a talk about flooding, Chiron and I had a talk about my skill as a parental figure, the campers and I had a talk about possible new siblings, and Annabeth and I had a talk about this being good experience for seeing if we ever want to have future children. The consensus was that, no, we would not have children until far, far later. Like, not until we were 27 at least.

But sometimes, things also went horribly, horribly wrong. Like when Tyson gave her his hammer and directed her to a forge, because he seems to not have an understanding that children less than 10 years of age, do not possess the mental capability to wield a hammer without hurting themselves.

" Tyson! What did you do!" I shouted the words in a panic, running into the infirmy after Chiron had told me what happened. Tyson was crying dramatically, and I immediately felt guilty. " Tyson," I said, softer. " What happened."

" I'm so sorry big brother! I gave little sister a hammer to build a forge but she broke her fingers instead!" My mind went woozy. Atalanta had broken her fingers because Tyson had given her a hammer. Panic, fear, and anger whirled in a cesspool of diffrentiating emotions within me. I had to stay calm.

" What happened?" I demanded. Tyson whimpered.

" She was nailing wood blocks together. And then she got distracted, an-and ended up smashing all her fingers!" He finished the words with a loud sob and a 'I'm a horrible older brother! I'm so sorry!" I took a deep shruddering breath. Then I loked at the infirmy bed. Atalanta seemed to be sleeping right now, her right hand bound up in bandages and linen. She looked annoyed in her sleep, but other than the hand, there seemed to be no other obvious injuries.

" Why'd you give her a forge?"

" The book said it was a good way to bond!" Tyson wailed, clutching the Child Caring book to his chest. I gulped.

" It's..." Not fine, I couldn't say that. " ... workable. She'll be alright." I glanced at Will hurriedly.

" She'll be alright, won't she?" I asked worriedly. Solace nodded.

" It'll take some time before she can heal, I suggest doing something to let her get used to the cast." I nodded slowly. It would be alright, I was sure. At least, I hoped so.

" How long will she have to stay here?" I asked. Solace hummed thoughtfully, calculating dates in his head.

" About 4 days. We'll have to check for infection." I nodded dumbly.

Tyson and I stayed there for a while, consistantly checking up on Atalanta. Sometimes she would be awake and talk about things, like why zebra stripes were vertical and not horizontal, or what happens to extra body mass when you turn into a smaller animal. Other times, we would work on our reading and writing, which was difficult due to both of our dyslexia.

" The ya-yellow di-di," I cut her off with a laugh before she could say the word.

" The yellow duck." I said plainly, a smile on my face.

The next week, when Atalanta had managed to heal from her wounds, she was adamant to use a sword. I had to agree. We walked out to an empty training field and started working on stances. However, due to her injury, it was rather difficult to make her grasp the weapon properly.

Atalanta's hands grasp around the light, one foot long sword I was giving her. It was blunted and old, so that she wouldn't get hurt, or hurt other people. Not that she could. Hard to kill someone when you only reach up to their knees.

" Like this." I said. Atalanta's face scrunched up, clasping the sword in her hands, preparing herself in a battle stance. " This?" She asked with a lisp. I nodded enthusiastically.

" Perfect!" It wasn't perfect, actually, far from it. But I wanted to make her feel happy. Atalanta beamed and practiced her pose, along with the several simple techniques I taught her in the afternoon. For a while, I watched her practice with a sword, correcting her stance or movements when I felt I needed to. Then I went to the beach with Annabeth and promptly forgot about our training practice until I heard a scream. Except it wasn't Atalanta screaming. It was Mikael Helms, one of the Hermes kids, with a toddler runner around after him, swinging a sword at his ankles.

Except this time, she had actually got her hands on a real, non-blunted one. I ran up to her and pried the sword from her hands, prepared to give a scolding. She pouted dramatically. " You never give the fun stuff." She muttered. I tried to explain to her why real weapons were bad, like how they could hurt people and yourself. She only seemed to get half of it.

" But what about monsters?" She questioned. I hesitated.

" You won't be meeting any monsters." She looked alarmed and distressed.

" But they kill deimgods. Am I not deimgod?" Demigods, actually, but I didn't bother correcting.

" Well, yes, but you won't be meeting any monsters until way later. And I'll protect you!" She looked conflicted.

" Why can't I prepare? Triton said tat if I trained hard, I could serve in the underwater guard with Tison!" Ah, yes. Immortals and their unreachable standards. I grit my teeth,

" Triton is a liar." I said simply, and hoped that I ended the conversation there. It didn't. We conversed for a few minutes, before I went back to my cabin, tossing a coin to make an Iris message.

" Triton." I said dully. The immortal's face showed through the portal.

" What?" He hissed. I sighed.

" Why'd you tell Atalanta it was okay to use a real blade?"

" Should she not be prepared for monsters and train to be a great hero?"

" Personally, I'd rather her live a normal life, you know, without monsters . Or heroes." Or gods, I didn't add.

" She must be prepared. When I was 5, I was already leading my own regiment." Yeah, and you were an immortal who was trained his entire life, I thought.

" Well, I'm sure immortal growth and human growth are quite different." I pointed out tersely. Triton scowled.

" Impossible. She is half-god is she not?"

" Well, she's also half-human, so..." I waved my hand in random direction. Triton hummed rather thoughtfully.

" I suppose you are correct." Wait, he had actually admitted it? I was rather suprised. Few gods bothered to listen to my advice until absolutely forced to. I grinned. Triton continued.

" I will not tell her to use a typical weapon." Yes! YES!

" I shall give her a divinely enhanced trident of her own, to bypass the dreadful human taint, and she shall become a great hero." What? NO! I felt my stomach drop into a pit and I tried to speak.

" WAIT! Now, come on, Triton, we really need to-" Unfortunately, the Iris Message cut out right then, and I was left with a hollowness in my gut. Shit.

Now, I knew that divine weapons were pretty awesome and powerful, but they also threatened to consume you. I knew that as much as anyone. Giving that power to the hands of a toddler with no understanding of safety, who knew what might happen? I tried to take a deep breath. There were about 5 weeks of Camp left before I could go back to school. I never thought I'd be happy, but after all the trouble, it was welcome.

Unfortunately, Triton followed through on his promise. The next few weeks were chaos. Atalanta was giddily showing off her weapon to everyone who bothered to see, making ocean waves and ocean monsters and all the other tricks she read about in AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. Once, she made a gigantic tidal wave to surf over the camp. Or a giant swimming pool held up my nothing, like a liquid block of ice. Either ways, one thing was made clear. Divine weapons were really bad in the hands of children.

"Atalanta. Please. Give the magic... uh, fork, back to Triton." Unfortunately, Atalanta had been adament that the trident that Triton had given her was a fork. Personally, I was rather glad she didn't try to eat with it. Atalanta gave me a scrunchy face and dove into the water, emerging in a giant mimicry of me. Describing it would take too long, so I'll just put it simply. It was far uglier than the real thing. But then she made the whole thing collapse on me before jumping off a giant pillar of water. For a moment, I nearly had a heart attack thinking she was going to die from the free fall. Instead, she made an interesting trick with a floating water slide that grew longer the more she slid down.

It looked fun, but I wasn't sure that even he could hold that up for a long time. Really, that was the main problem with Triton's 'gift'. It let Atalanta get away with everything with her new, crazy water powers. I sighed, seeking some advice. In order to clear my head, I took a walk to Thalia's tree, where the Golden Fleece and Peleus were at. Peleus looked at me with a critical eye before going back to sleep. I got close to the Fleece, feeling it's divine energy warm and spur me. I sighed, feeling far more energetic than when I was in the Cabin.

" Heya, Fleece." I said rather awkwardly. " So, um, we're related." It was the truth.

" Kind of weird, right?" I said. " I mean, being related to a sheepskin pelt." I laughed in embarrasement. I was talking to an inanimate object. I was going insane, now wasn't I?

" Y'know. I mean, sense we're both like, related to Poseidon... I don't suppose you have any advice." The Fleece did not respond. It was already dead, I supposed, so that made sense. Right. I tried to grin.

" Right. Don't get killed and hung off of a tree. Got it. Makes sense." No response. The wind whooshed in agreement. Or disagreement. I didn't know.

" Weird how we're related right?" I asked. " I mean, how do Godly genetics even work? I mean. I'm related to a dead rug, an immortal, and a whole bunch of cyclopses. Hey, why do I have any relation to cyclopses anyway? Does Poseidon know? Does he have a kink for single eyes? Why? I mean, I'm not judging him or anything, I respect his preferences and types, I guess and all that. But how? Why? What even separates cylclopses from humans except for that one eye?"

It was a serious question that I wondered for awhile, before patting the wool. " Thanks for the talk pal. Any extra suggestions?" I asked humerously, knowing that it wouldn't respond. It whooshed in the wind. I narrowed my eyes, trying to interperate the sign. The wind moved the fleece. The fleece was dead. Death? What death? Wait! The fleece was made of wool. Wool... lamb... uh, Christianity? Wait, I'm Greek. No, that must not be it. I shook my head chuckling. I was looking way too much into- wait. What was I asking Fleece again? Advice! From one Poseidon kid to another dead Poseidon kid.

Should I look for a dead Poseidon kid? That was pretty vague. Poseidon had a lot of kids. I couldn't just go to Nico and ask if he could resurrect a dead Poseidon kid! I grit my teeth, thinking. What about the Fleece again? Was... uh, taken by Jason the Orignial, on the Argo... should I look for the Seven? Leo? Argo II? Wait, Frank! He was on the Argo II! And he's distantly related to Poseidon and me! Yeah! I figured it out! I'm a genius!

Then another thought struck me. Frank wasn't dead. And he was really distant from Poseidon. I couldn't just ask him!

Theseus?

Yeah.

Ok.

" Thanks for the chat, buddy," I said, solemnly patting the Fleece's wool in thanks. Then I went to find Nico.

" Hey, Nico?"

" Can I talk to Theseus?"

" Er, one Poseidon kid to the other. I want to see his view on how to raise a Neptune Child."

" Yeah."

" Thanks."

Nico and I walked into a graveyard. I was rather skeptical, since I didn't think that Theseus was reburied in the middle of New York. Though, maybe he was. I never really got the Necromancer stuff that Nico did. He tossed McDonalds into the grave, deep in thought. I held my breath, waiting for something to happen. Sure enough, a boy with dark brown hair, coiled even thicker than mine, rose up. He looked pale and transparent, and his eyes were a dark emerald, large like eggs, and his eyebrows were the most bushiest thing I've ever seen.

" Hey. I don't really like you." I said simply. Theseus shrugged. I sighed. " But I need your help. How do I raise a younger Neptune- er, that's Poseidon's alter ego, no time to explain- kid?" Theseus looked confused.

" Do you not have any other siblings to help?" He asked in Ancient Greek. I sighed.

" Long story. The two of us are the only demigod ones." He nodded somewhat approvingly.

" Then I trust he has finally stood by his vow?"

" Er, not really. I wish that was the case though. In reality, the only reason he didn't was because of a Prophecy and then he went and had a kid the second the Prophecy was over and just handed it over to me. Oh, and Triton wants to give a 5 year old a magical trident or something."

Theseus looked shocked, as he brain tried to comprehend everything I said. That made sense. He took a shaky breath. " I see. I suppose that she flooded her entire house?"

" Cabin, actually. How'd you know?" Theseus looked rather pleased as he continued.

" Well," he drawled, looking pointedly at Nico, " Although Children of Hades are known for their grudges, Poseidon is known for his unpredictability and volitile tempers. We do have a tendancy to let our emotions influence our actions. Try not to make her angry, or at least teach her how to control her powers." I nodded.

" What about her not following my instructions? I mean, when Triton gave her the trident, she keeps using it to do stuff she isn't allowed to do."

Theseus shrugged. " Treat her like any other kid."

I frowned, confused. " What?" Theseus looked at me curiously.

" Treat her as you would any other kid. She's still human you know. Just one with absurd powers. Go ask someone who's gone through the same experience before. Raising human. A normal human, just with pretty unusual powers." I narrowed my eyes, thinking. Suddenly, it dawned on me.

" You mean... I should ask my mom?" I spoke cautiously. Theseus beamed. Nico sighed, cutting in.

" Thank you for the advice, Theseus. You may leave now." Theseus nodded gratefully, finished his hamburger, and disappeared into the grave.

I went to Atalanta. " Hey," I said gently, " You want to get out of camp?" She suddenly became alert and interested. I smiled.

" C'mon. My mom'll be happy to meet you. She makes the best blue food?"

" Blue?" She asked curiously, holding my hand. Only then did I realize how ridiculous she looked with a such a giant trident in her hands, I grinned.

" Yep! You'll love it. Come on, I just have to ask Chiron for a permit and we'll leave. You ready?" She nodded eagerly, and we walked to the Big House, blue cookies and home advice trapped in my mind's eye.