According to camp customs, I was required to make a shroud for Percy that he would either be buried in should he be returned dead, or burned should he return alive and victorious. I hoped for the latter. Of course creating a shroud wasn't exactly going to be easy for me, but I dedicated an entire day and night to it having spent a lot of time thinking about it. Basically, I used hot glue to make the shape of ocean waves on the bottom of a silk sheet that Snowstorm assured me was a rather beautiful shade that was somewhere between green and blue, like the ocean, and that when it moved and rippled it almost looked like a moving tide. I didn't exactly want to make our banner with a giant trident on it to signify dad, but I didn't want to let Percy down either. I started with the waves and, once the hot wax had dried, I used the shapes to pull silk thread through the shroud as it was rested in something like a giant easel, trapping the fabric lengthways and holding it taught like a giant loom so that I could push the needle through easily whilst Snowstorm kept an eye on me. Instead of a trident, I went for a pegasus, reasoning that it was close enough to be a symbol of cabin three and since it was the symbol of Camp Half-Blood, I saw no harm in it.

Somehow I managed to make the general shape with the glue gun, letting it dry before then running my fingers over the imprints whereby I then picked off the parts I thought were wrong and fixed it, Snowstorm helping to guide my hand by telling me where to move it. When a few people came to take a look, they were shocked by how decent it looked. Once I'd looped thread over the entirety of the waves and the pegasus so that the waves were white and silver like sea foam and the pegasus a bright golden colour, I flicked out the shroud and hung it on its stand, sliding it on carefully before then stepping back. "Well? Does it look alright?" I asked Snowstorm who snorted with a toss of her mane. I discovered she did that a lot, both because she liked to toss her hair and also because she said it looked elegant and silky whenever she did.

'It is beautiful, my lady. Truly wonderful, your brother will certainly love it!'

"You're not just saying that because you're biased, are you?" Snow assured me that she was not, promising that the shroud really did look lovely and that I had done really well with it, all things considered. I laughed then, amused at how tentatively Snow referred to me being blind even though I'd told her repeatedly that I wasn't affected or bothered by it anymore, and that I'd stop caring about it a long time ago.

"Wow! Did you really do that Lils? That's amazing!" Silena from the Aphrodite complimented as she happened to pass, and several other voices joined her in their appreciation for my hard work. I told them that I'd only managed it with Snow's help, that she had picked out the colours and helped me make the shapes by telling me how to move my hand, but still they were impressed. I worried that the wax would make the silk heavy and bulky, but there wasn't really anything I could do about that now. Maybe I'll try practice my sewing so that if ever there was a next time, I could do an even better one. Though that being said, I hoped there never was a next time. All day on the twenty first I was a bundle of nerves, so much so that I couldn't face any of my activities. I paced back and forth by the entrance to the camp, waiting to hear any sign of Percy coming back from his quest safe and sound and whole. He didn't come back that day, but word did spread. There would be no war. Percy had succeeded. I almost cried with relief, throwing my arms around Snowstorm who made a little hop of elation on my behalf before nuzzling into me.

I waited patiently for Percy to return, and when the shouts started to rise, I lifted my head and it was if all at once he was suddenly there. I could sense him, and I was already running towards him ahead of all the other campers. I had no idea I was that fast, but only Snow was able to keep up with me as I bolted towards where I could sense Percy and the moment I was close enough I sprung upon him with a strangled sob. I hadn't allowed myself to fully believe it until now, but when I felt his familiar form against me, his height meaning he tucked perfectly under my chin, I held onto him for all I was worth and swayed unsteadily as he wriggled his arms free and hugged me back. I wanted to kiss his face and spin him around but in the back of my mind I remembered that were a bunch of other people watching and I didn't want to embarrass him, so when I let him go I smiled to him, feeling tears rolling down my face. "Welcome home, dummy." I felt his grin in my hands. Letting him go to be descended upon, I even hugged Annabeth and Grover who were surprised by my action, but accepted it all the same. I even apologised to Grover for being so hard on him when he left and hugged him a second time, thanking him for taking such good care of my brother. Hell, I could have even probably have hugged a monster I was so happy, yelling at the top of my lungs that my brother had saved Olympus, saved the world, and that everyone should bow down and fear him.

Of course I was joking and we all laughed, but I had never felt prouder of my brother as I was handed a laurel wreath and I placed it upon his hair which I knew to be as dark as jet, straightening it carefully and fussing until I was satisfied it would stay on his head. Snowstorm reared up and flapped her wings with triumphant cries, making Percy stare at her in shock as he heard her voice in his head. "Hey! This one talks too!"

"Too?"

"Oh, I came across a zebra and I heard it talking. Long story. I'll tell you later." Already I was bemused by his explanation however I put it to one side, rushing back in order to fetch his shroud and was extremely pleased when I heard his astonishment. "Wait, you made that Lils? No way! I almost don't want to burn it."

"Well tough. It's your death shroud so whether you like it or not we're burning it. I don't ever want to have to make another one of these again, you hear me?" I told him forcefully, the two of us falling naturally into our usual bantering attitudes. It was with great satisfaction I tossed that thing onto the fire and regretted nothing as it went up in smoke. Of course after that, a massive party was held. There was singing and dancing and feasting, enough to tantalise all the senses. I heard through the grapevine that Grover had been awarded something called a searcher's license, and Percy explained to me that it was something that Grover had been working towards his entire life as it would allow him to go searching for the missing god, Pan. "Wait, Pan's missing?"

"Yeah, another story." But nothing else mattered except when Percy had told me that mom was alive. I'd screamed. Loudly. Enough so that many people stared at us in alarm and seen me dive at my brother with fingers outstretched and they probably thought I was about to strangle him, but no, I was only shaking him violently and demanding to know exactly what had happened. Now that had been a long story, but to sum it up, basically the War God Ares had stolen the lightning bolt and Hades' Helm of Darkness after using another demigod to first take them from the throne room of Olympus. Hades thought Percy had stolen it because Poseidon was aiming for war, which was why the Furies were always after him. However they only discovered this after reaching the palace of the Underworld, whereby Hades had demanded they return his helm and also hand him the lightning bolt, which had appeared in a rucksack given by Ares. Hades offered our mother in exchange for the items, but of course Percy couldn't do that because then there would be war.

It pained me to think of how Percy must have felt having to abandon mom in the Underworld, but thankfully it had all worked out in the end. They'd escaped thanks to the three magical pearls gifted to Percy by dad – I scowled instantly – and when they were brought back to the beach by the coast guard in Santa Monica, Percy had fought Ares and managed to injure the god, though the only reason the god surrendered was because of a sudden dark presence that overcame everything that had been enough to even make him retreat. He left the helm behind as he had promised he would if Percy won, and the Furies had happened to be watching at the time. After giving the helm back to dear Ms Dodds, Hades had then released our mother and even kindly put her back at our old apartment, scaring the living daylights out of Gabe. That wasn't even the entire story, but right now I didn't care about anything else other than the fact I wanted to go to my mom. I wanted to hear her voice, smell her scent of liquorice and peppermint, and I wanted nothing more than to hug her. "Sorry Perce, love you and proud of you, but I have to go see mom." He stuttered but understood, watching me as I whistled for Snowstorm who immediately cantered over and, having grown rather adept at mounting and dismounting, managed to time it so that as I caught hold of her I swung myself up as she lifted her wing, smoothly seating myself on her back.

I found Chiron and begged for him to give me a pass to go and see my mom, and I wasn't even afraid to stoop to the point of crying until I got what I wanted. Mr D could not stand sobbing campers, and gave me a pass just to make me leave. I didn't bother packing, I didn't even bother telling anyone else where I was going. With my pass in hand, I leaned over Snow's neck and asked her if she knew the way to my mom's apartment, giving her the address. 'I shall carry you there as fast as the wind. Hold on tight, my lady!' Snowstorm warned and so I held on for all I was worth, because we hadn't exactly practiced flying. She took off with explosive force, leaping almost directly into a gallop whereby I then felt the rush of her wings and heard the feathers catching the air as Snowstorm started to surge, going up and down and up and down until all at once she sprung upwards and started to lift. Instinctively I clung onto her neck, giving a shriek as Snow soared into the air and carried me higher and higher until I could smell the strong scent of pine, telling me we were over the forest. Monsters weren't likely to attack us up here, right?

Even if they did I wouldn't have cared, I would have ripped them apart with my bare hands if I had to. Snowstorm hadn't been exaggerating when she'd told me she was fast, I could feel the wind peeling at my face as she flew through the air, her legs and neck stretching and moving with every flap of her wings until she started to glide. I didn't even care that I was in Zeus's domain, because after I'd gotten over the initial alarm of the take off and the rapid ascent into the sky, I'd felt a thrilling rush and even dared let go with my hands in order to stretch them out wide and gave an elated whoop into the air. Snowstorm whinnied in answer. She made a few loops and twists, spiralling like a corkscrew after giving me fair warning so I could hold on. To be honest I found flying easier than riding across the ground, because the impact of her gait didn't throw me out of my seat and all I had to do was sit there and hold on. As we flew Snowstorm described to me the land below us, telling me exactly where we were as if she knew instinctively her location, and I calculated in my head how far we were from my mom. In just a handful of hours, we were landing in the familiar smelling streets of New York, not far from the apartment. Snowstorm landed in an alleyway having told me the street name and I immediately recognised where I was, because I could also smell the deli shop that wasn't far from where the apartment was. Telling her to stay out of sight and that I'd probably stay the night, Snowstorm nuzzled me and told me to have a good time with my mom. I couldn't wait any longer, I bolted out of that alley and pushed my way through the crowds of people. I ran all the way, suddenly glad for all that racing and training because now I was in excellent shape and didn't even break a sweat even as I started to climb up the stairs as I knew the elevator would be broken, it was always broken, but it didn't matter. Counting off the doors, I hammered my fist against the door and shouted out for my mom.

There was a rush of sound and the breath caught in my throat, she really was on the other side of the door. When the door was yanked back with a rush, her smell washed over me and I burst into tears all at once when I heard her voice, falling into my mother's arms as she started to sob too and somehow we stumbled back into the apartment, kicked the door shut then just sank to the ground in order to hold one another. "Neri, my Neri…oh I've missed you, I've been so worried! Percy assured me you were alright, told me that you were at the camp, how on earth did you get here?!"

"I flew on a pegasus." Mom laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. She hushed me gently and lifted me up, getting me onto my feet so that we could sit move through the apartment. My feet were constantly kicking at empty beer cans that were strewn over the floor and I grimaced. This place smelled worse than ever, and probably looked like a Gabe-decorated pigsty. Thankfully, however, my room was unaffected, and when we went inside the smell could be ignored and we both lay down on the bed in order to cuddle up close.

"Now, tell me about this pegasus of yours." Smiling, I eagerly told mom all about Snowstorm, promising that she could meet her if she wanted, and then everything else just came bursting out like a geyser that had built up too much pressure underground. I told her everything from the moment I had been separated from Percy and the minotaur which I had thought would come chasing after me but hadn't, how I'd invoked the name of Hermes to ask for his protection from a monster which had somehow worked, and how Luke Castellan had come to my rescue to kill the monster before it could eat me. I told her about the camp, how some of the kids were really nice though the Ares kids were awful and liked to try and pick on us, but so far Percy and I had held our ground and even given them a good taste of their own medicine. I told her how although I couldn't really do much of the training, Luke had been teaching me how to fight with a sword and I wasn't all that bad, how I was learning how to rely on my other senses to judge where my opponent was and where they were attacking from.

All the while mom had listened and stroked my hair, letting me rest against her like I was still a small girl hiding in her bed from a thunderstorm. I talked until I had nothing left to say, taking a deep breath in order to let everything just sink in. "Where's Gabe? I can't sense him in the apartment. Is he out somewhere?"

"No dear. You see…Gabe won't be troubling us anymore. He's gone. For good." I was shocked, never in a million years having expected my mom to kick out Smelly Gabe Ugly-ano. "Percy left behind something from his quest, did he tell you about meeting Medusa?" I shuddered. Yes he had indeed told me about that part of the quest, though I expect he'd kept quiet on a lot of the details when he'd told it to mom so I didn't reveal anything. "Well, he left the head here and…well. Let's just say Gabe is now a very expensive poker playing statue." My jaw dropped in utter disbelief.

"Mom! I didn't know you had it in you!" Honestly I was impressed and there was no part of me that felt even the smallest margin of guilt over Gabe getting turned into a statue. Truth be told? Even if mom had kicked him out, he would have latched onto some other poor woman and leeched her dry and made her life a misery, and he was nothing but a complete waste of space. The world was better off without his kind, and I dearly hoped that he was now suffering punishment in Hades' realm. I would even willing do that guy a favour if he paid special attention to Gabe for all he put my mother through. Hell. I'd hand over the whip myself. "But I'm glad. Seriously. Why did you ever marry him in the first place?"

"You weren't told? It's because of his smell. It was so overpowering, it was enough to cover you and Percy and keep monsters from finding you. That's why." Cold ice filled the pit of my stomach and I sat bolt upright, staring in disbelief towards my mom. So Chiron had been right about Gabe and his stench. I couldn't believe it. She married that asshole for us? Just to protect us? She suffered his abuse, his condescending mistreatment, acting like his slave just so that she could keep us near and protect us as best she could? And dad just let that happen?! I felt a fiery rage in my gut, and I really wanted to punch something. "Honey, I know it sounds bad but it really wasn't. It was selfish of me really, I should have thought about you and Percy and your safety first, but I just couldn't bear to send you away." Not wanting to hear mom blame herself for any of this, I turned back and hugged her again, this time wrapping her in my arms so that I could console her.

"We'll make it up to you mom. Percy and me. We'll build you a palace of gold if that's what you want, we'll find a way. I promise." Surprise, mom sniffled slightly and I felt her warm tears meet my skin as she drew in a deep breath and hugged me back whilst smiling.

"I don't need golden palaces, Neri, just you and Percy. I'm already the luckiest mom in the world." Gods, my mom was an angel. She deserved the entire world, not this crappy apartment. Still, at least Gabe was gone. "I was going to write to tell you and Percy, but I may as well tell you now. I'm planning on selling Gabe as a statue, and I'm going to use the money to get a better place, and also finally work on getting those qualifications I always wanted to so I can write my novels." This made me infinitely happier, because I knew that this had been a lifelong dream for my mom.

"Well if ever you want to write about modern day demigods running around America, you know who you can talk to." At this mom laughed and admitted that it was actually a really good idea, though she'd have to be careful if she ever wrote about the gods because they were easily insulted. To this I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly how easily they could be insulted. Having talked for a little while, I started to think about the questions that I always wanted to ask her, wondering if now she might maybe answer them truthfully but I didn't want to spoil the moment. Mom, however, knew me too well and could immediately tell when something was on my mind and urged me to talk. "It's just…I have so many questions mom. About me and Percy, about…Poseidon…a lot of things." Feeling her turn a little sad, she stroked the hair away from my face.

"I thought you might. Percy told me that he'd met his father when he returned the stolen lightning bolt to Olympus, did you know?" No, Percy hadn't got to that part yet in the story, as I'd run off to come here before he could finish. I didn't want to know though, because I didn't really want to hear anything about Poseidon at all, but I also couldn't help but be curious. I wanted to know the truth, the whole truth, because I felt like it was time that everybody came clean. "Ask me anything you want, honey. Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid. I just…don't know where to start." I told her weakly before then rubbing at my eyes and feeling the ridges of the scars that were imprinted at the corners, stretching across my skin like jagged bolts of lightning. It seemed fitting considering who'd made them. "I know that Zeus was the one who made me go blind. I remembered a little about that day and Chiron also told me, but what do you know? Did he ever come to explain to you? Poseidon I mean." Mom shifted until she was sitting upright on the bed, encouraging me with a gentle pull to lay down again so I nestled myself against her and curled in close as she resumed stroking at my hair.

"You were three years old and Percy only one. I was about to bring you and him inside because of the storm that had suddenly hit, but it all happened so fast. I heard you screaming, lightning flashed in the sky and I saw a wave come rushing at you from the sea. I'm not sure whether it was trying to grab you or shield you, but either way I remember it sort of contorted, like the water wasn't sure what it wanted to do, and that moment of hesitation was enough. The lightning struck, and from that moment on you were blind, cursed by the King of the Gods." Mom recollected and I held my breath whilst I tensed against her. "I never saw your father again after Percy was born, in fact I shouldn't have seen him after you were born, but we were so in love…and he loved you, Nerida. You have to believe me when I say this. He loves you still, he tried to protect you that day, though I'm not entirely sure what happened. You'd have to ask him to be certain, but I think Zeus only attacked you because he did not yet realise that Percy was also your father's son. He thought you were his only child, which is why he went for you. By blinding you, you were no longer a threat, so he left you alone."

"It doesn't matter. Dad left us, abandoned you to that scumbag. The least he could have done was send a henchman or something to our door and beat the crap out of Gabe to warn him off hurting you." I muttered darkly, fighting the urge to get up and start pacing around. I was jittery from stillness but I didn't want to move away from my mom.

"No honey, he couldn't do that, and he didn't completely abandon us. He's been looking out for us in whatever way he can. I mean, your bracelet was actually a gift from him." Now I sat up again, not expecting mom to tell me this though it made sense that this bracelet was somehow magical. I wanted to rip it off my wrist, but mom's next words stilled my hand. "It masks the scent of your godly blood, essentially hiding you from monsters. Your father was worried that you would be vulnerable to them, and after that business with the sphinx, he knew that you would need some form of protection. That's why I've always insisted that you wear it, and it even helped to mask Percy's scent a little too, which was also why I always wanted you to go to the same school together, though in the end it did little good." This bracelet was a gift from dad? This bracelet that I had loved and cherish for so many years? I felt disgusted, and all at once I hated it. "No! Don't!" But even as mom cried out, I had pulled it from my wrist and flung it across my room. "Neri you can't! If you don't wear it, every monster for miles around will come flocking towards you!"

She dove from the bed, almost throwing me from it and grasped at the floor in order to find my bracelet and bring it back, practically shoving it back on my wrist as I flinched but didn't make to pull it off again. Attracting monsters right now would only put mom in danger. I can always throw it away once I was back at camp. Turning my head away for a moment, I took a deep breath to calm myself before asking mom about the sphinx she mentioned. Turns out, that purring lady I remembered from when I was little? That had been a sphinx and she'd asked me a riddle. Mom had freaked out when she realised what she was because she could see through the mist, but thankfully even though I'd already answered, I'd given the right response and so the sphinx had decided to let me go. Mom considered me for a while then, probably still sensing my underlying rage as she took my hands and held them gently. "I know that you are angry, Neri, but you have to understand that this is the best he can do for you. For us."

"Well it's not good enough. The gods have stupid rules. Sure I understand not getting too involved and showing too much favouritism, but what's wrong with a little family time? They could at least send a birthday card or something to say that they still remember us." Grinding my teeth, I stubbornly folded my arms and had to fight the urge to twist the bracelet around my wrist. "You have no idea mom just how many kids are at camp unclaimed by their parents. They have no idea who they are, some are even foster kids, because their real mortal parent didn't want them and tossed them into the care system, so they don't even have any clue who their godly parent is. It's awful, they're so sad and depressed all the time, like a part of them is missing. I didn't care, I was happier not knowing. In fact Poseidon really messed things up when he claimed us. I wish he'd just left us alone!" Mom hushed me fearfully, warning me not to say things like that because often, we would live to regret them, especially with gods listening. Quite honestly, I had many choice words I would love to throw in their faces. I kept quiet because I didn't want to argue with mom, instead asking her about something else to change the subject. We talked for hours, cuddled up together and fell asleep on the bed where I dreamed of the ocean and falling deep into its depths, and though I wanted to fight against it, I couldn't. I'm not sure if this was a foreshadowing or just a dream. Either way, I was just glad to wake up in mom's arms and feel them tighten around me when I moved.