The rest of sword fighting class went smoothly. When it was over, everyone fled the arena to go enjoy their free time before dinner. I was the last one to leave.

Honestly, I was a bit nervous to talk to Percy alone. I mean, I didn't expect him to skewer me with his sword, declaring "there can be only one!" But at the same time I didn't know what to expect.

I spotted Percy easily— or rather I saw Mrs. O'Leary, then saw him. The Hellhound was on her back receiving a belly rub, her tail thumping on the ground wildly with happiness.

I read in my Greek mythology classes (should I still call it that, since the stories were real and all?) that Hellhounds were creatures of the underworld. They were monsters and, naturally, they liked killing demigods. So seeing one like this was comical in a terrifying sort of way.

I hesitated for a while, but made myself take a step forward. I tried for a casual smile.

"My dog likes to be scratched behind the ears," I said.

Percy looked up, a small smile on his face. "You have a dog? What kind?"

I shrugged. "It's really more like my sister's dog, but yeah. It's one of those little, uh, bitchin' frizzies, or whatever."

Percy chortled. "A 'bitchin' frizzy'? Really?"

"A Bichon Frisé." A roll of my eyes. "Gods, that sounds so pretentious. I call the dog that just to get on Alana's nerves."

"Who's Alana?"

"My twin sister."

He froze, his mouth slightly open. "Twin?"

"Yeah," I said, "but she's mortal, so don't worry."

It may have been my imagination, but I thought I saw Percy's shoulders relax. In relief?

"How is that…" she shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to think about it."

I laughed. "My thoughts exactly." I tentatively rubbed the hellhound's belly. Thankfully, she responded positively. I couldn't help but smile. I've always liked larger dogs, and Mrs. O'Leary definitely qualified as a larger dog.

"Who managed to domesticate a hellhound?" I asked. "I didn't even know that was possible."

A shadow crossed over Percy's face. "She belonged to an old friend who died a while back."

"I'm sorry." As I said it, I mentally kicked myself. I knew how shallow an apology could be. When my grandfather died, "I'm sorry" didn't make me feel any better. I saw the look in Hayden's eye when someone said "I'm sorry" after her dad had died. I knew she hated it.

"It's not like 'I'm sorry' is going to bring him back," she once said bitterly, trying not to cry. "They say it like they did something and apologizing makes it better. It doesn't."

Percy nodded. "It's okay. You didn't know."

An awkward silence passed between us. Five, ten seconds. It felt longer.

After a while, Percy spoke. "Come with me."

"Where we going?" I asked.

A smile played on his lips. "Down to the beach. We got some time before dinner."

Like the woods, I've never been down to the beach before. I knew there were practice battles on warships here but that was way, way above my level.

The sun was starting to sink towards the horizon, reflecting yellow and orange light off the brilliant blue sea. Huge swells of water rose, fell, and raced towards the shore. The ocean hit the beach in a giant splash, spraying sea foam into the air.

Percy picked up a rock and tossed it at the ocean. It skipped—one, two, three times— before falling into the water with a kerplunk.

We were silent for a bit, the only noise was the sounds of the waves. I sat, and dug my fingers into the sand. I always liked being at the beach; the melodic sounds of the ocean always made me feel relax and content. I stared at Percy's back and wondered if the beach made him feel the same way.

Percy turned, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not gonna lie, when you were claimed last night by Poseidon, I thought… well, I didn't know what to think."

I didn't say anything while he gathered his thoughts.

"Poseidon warned me, I guess. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but I guess he wasn't. I went through this when Poseidon claimed my brother, Tyson. I don't want to repeat the same mistakes, you know? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Wait," I said. "I thought we were the only children of Poseidon."

"We're his only demigod kids," Percy corrected. "Tyson's a Cyclops."

"We have a Cyclops for a brother?" I thought about that. "That's… that's pretty awesome, actually."

Percy grinned. He sat near me on the sand. "Yeah, Tyson's cool. You'll meet him eventually. He lives in the underwater forges in the palace of Poseidon, and he's the leader of the Cyclops in Poseidon's army."

That was a lot to absorb all at once. I latched onto on piece of information. "Aren't all the Cyclopes our brothers and sisters, too?"

"Only the ones fathered by Poseidon. But I don't really count relatives past Tyson on the godly side. Things start to get…" his features scrunched up, brow furrowing, "weird."

I chuckled at that. We sat on the beach, talking about the weird Olympian family tree (more like a family web of absurdities.) I asked him if a child of Poseidon ever had a horse for a kid, since Poseidon was the father to all the horses in existence. Percy said that he had no idea and looked genuinely concerned. Whether for my mental state or his future offspring, I didn't know. Probably both.

We talked about the gods, and our favorite heroes from the myths. Percy's favorite hero was Heracles, but not because of all of his accomplishments, but because he had worse luck than Percy. I laughed at that, and admitted that I wasn't sure who my favorite hero was. I thought maybe Achilles, because invincibility was pretty cool. When I voiced my opinion, Percy got a look in his eye that I couldn't quite place.

Somehow, we got on the topic of camp dating. I figured that most girls wouldn't want to discuss their dating life with their brother, younger or older, but considering Percy was my brother for less than a day, it wasn't that big of a deal. As I thought (read: hoped), dating was fine as long as it wasn't with someone in the cabin as you were, since the gods had no DNA.

"I wonder what our DNA would look like to scientist," I wondered aloud. By now I was laying on my back, staring up at the glowing golden clouds and pink sky.

"Annabeth said that half blood cells duplicate faster than average," Percy said, "but they pretty much look the same."

"Oh." It was a bit disappointing. I'd hope that godly cells could at the very least glow in the dark or spark fireworks or something.

The topic of DNA gave me an idea, something that I wanted to ask Percy, but didn't have the courage to. I didn't know why… maybe it was too personal, maybe I didn't want an answer. The question died in my throat.

In the distance, a conch horn blew, signaling it was time for dinner. I sighed; I enjoyed talking to Percy. Then I remembered that we sat at the same table for meals.

Percy stood, dusting sand off of his jeans. "That's our cue to go." He held out his hand to me. "Coming?"

During dinner, Percy told me stories about his adventures over the years as a half-blood. I couldn't believe half of what he said: Several near-death experiences at the hands of monsters. The deaths of many friends. War. Being a demigod was a lot more dangerous than I thought. I looked at Percy in awe, surprised that anyone, half-blood or not, could survive all of that and come out of it with his sanity still intact.

He tried to keep it light, too. He joked and talked about his friends and misadventures at the camp: the time he attacked Clarisse La Rue, the head counselor of the Ares cabin, with toilet water the time she tried to give him a swirly. His satyr friend Grover's pan flute playing and obsession with tin cans; Annabeth's love of architecture. Different pranks played by the Stoll brothers and games of capture the flag. Somehow, one game developed into a rescue mission to save his friend, Beckendorf, from giant ants (long story) and they uncovered a giant metal dragon that helps protect the camps borders. I'm glad that I didn't see it the first night I arrived at camp, because I would've had an aneurysm.

Percy talked about his stepdad, Paul Blofis, (I thought he said Blowfish) his mom, and the blue food she made sometimes. She was kind and a writer, too. Sally Jackson. The more he talked about her, the greater she sound. I thought that it'd be pretty cool to meet her, but considering she used to have a thing for Poseidon, I doubt that she wanted to meet me.

Percy spoke kindly of Poseidon, and I didn't know how to feel about it. He said that out of the big three, Poseidon was the best one to be a child of. Was Percy right? Should I give Poseidon the benefit of the doubt? Honestly, I didn't want to. I still hated Poseidon for what he did, but maybe I should do a bit of research on him. Maybe there was a sliver of goodness in the god.

After the campfire s'mores and sing-along, I said goodnight to Hayden and followed Percy to the cabin. I was telling Percy about my family. My dad was the president of the company my grandparents started that made boat parts. Like Percy's mom, my mom was a writer, but she was into journalism. I told him about Alana and how easy it was to mess with her, and about my other friends at school who would've fit in perfectly in the Hermes cabin.

As we got ready for "light out" I was telling Percy the story of how some friends, Hayden, and I earned a month's worth of detention in the sixth grade by stink bombing the teachers' lounge… and the cafeteria… and the gymnasium. I found out the hard way that teachers and administrators had a different sense of humor.

"That's nothing," Percy said. "I once accidently hit the wrong lever at the Marine World aquarium and my entire class took a dive into the shark tank."

The look on my face must've been alarming, because he immediately added, "They survived."

I smiled and shook my head incredulously. "That's insane. I probably would've been kicked out of school ten times over by now, but my school didn't believe in 'permanent retribution.'" I added the air quotes. "That and they liked my parents' money."

I flopped back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. The tiny bronze hippocampi that circled each other mid-gallop reminded me of a merry-go-round. "Hey, Percy?"

"Yeah?"

The question from earlier was back, gnawing at my brain. Now would be the perfect chance. But I couldn't build the courage to ask him to teach me how to use our Poseidon powers. Not yet, I decided. I swallowed my question.

"Does it get lonely?" I asked instead. "Being the only one in here and all?"

He was silent. I thought that he was going to deny it for a second, but then he sighed. "Yeah. Sometimes. But it's not all bad, not when you got your friends during the day."

Percy was trying to get along with me, make me feel accepted and welcome. While he didn't immediately treat me like a little sister, he did treat me like a cabin mate. Considering the oath Poseidon made and knowing that he broke it twice, it probably wasn't too easy to do. It made me think; if I were in the same position, would I be as accepting as Percy? Or would I be angry, feeling like I was being mocked at the arrival of another child of the sea god?

I nodded, even though he couldn't really see me. I pondered that, staring up silently and the prancing hippocampi that gleamed in the dark. I thought about what it would be like to sleep in a lonely cabin and eat at table alone, completely isolated from everyone; a constant reminder that you're the odd one out. It sounded awful.

Did Percy feel like that? Was he putting on a brave face when he said it wasn't all bad? Did he really not mind that much, or was he used to it?

When I realized that I didn't respond back to Percy, it was too late. He was already sound asleep, snoring softly against his pillow. I decide to follow his example.

Sunday came, and Percy left to go back home. He kissed Annabeth and gave me a fist bump. We weren't exactly on hugging terms, but that was fine with me. Things take time.

During the week, the other kids seemed to forget about Poseidon claiming me, or at least the shock value was dying out. I was glad, that meant things could go back to normal, or, at least as normal as it could get here at Camp Half-Blood.

Hayden and I hung out during our free time. I had asked her to teach me how to manipulate the water, and she'd agree to. Every day we went down to the beach to work on it. I got gradually better at controlling the water. I could breathe under water, resist getting wet— which was awesome, by the way— and could make waves, however the tiny swells never passed my knees.

I kept thinking about what Percy said about Poseidon, and when my curiosity was piqued, I decided to go over some old myths about the sea god.

And can I just say: geez.

Poseidon had crazy mood swings. Sometimes he'd be cool and create islands and horses, and help sailors get across the seas safely. Other times he was conniving and angry: tricking Medusa to go with him to the temple of Athena just so he could get back at the goddess, destroying ships with hurricanes and whole cities with earthquakes and drought. It's like Poseidon had super godly PMS… but don't tell him I said that.

Percy had told me how great Poseidon was. If that's true, does that mean that gods can change? I figured that the gods worked differently than mortals did. Since they lived forever tied to their past and to their duties, changing isn't something that come naturally, if they could change at all. Camp Half-Blood was proof of that. Demigods were still around.

A part of me didn't care. So what if Poseidon was a jerk? He wasn't my real dad as far as I was concerned. He wasn't the one who raised me or taught me how to fish or how to change a tire. Poseidon wasn't there for me when the kids in school back in Hawaiian made fun of me and called me Hapa Haole. Poseidon would never be my dad.

I was sort of surprised that he hads more demigod children than Zeus, considering Zeus's reputation. I knew about Theseus and how he slew the Minotaur, but I've never heard of Bellerophon, who killed the Chimera, or Cycnus, the king of Kolonai who was a great hero on the side of Troy on the Trojan War but was then crushed to death by Achilles (gruesome), a ton of Argonauts and even more Kings. I was blown away. All these amazing heroes were my brothers. They had done incredible things. How could I ever hope to measure up to them?

When going through old stories, one in particular caught my attention:

The prince of Egypt, Danaus, took his fifty daughters and fled when his twin brother, Aegyptus, ordered that Danaus's daughters married his fifty sons (and I thought the Olympians were a messed up family). Danaus built the first ship in existence and sailed to Argos, where they were placed under protection by the king, Pelasgus. Eventually Danaus became king.

The fifty sons of Aegyptus pursued them under the order of their father. By the time they found their way to Argos they were so riled up that they were basically clamoring for war. Danaus allowed them to marry his daughters in a mass wedding to spare the people of Argos from war. Instead, he decided to enact revenge on Aegyptus. He ordered all fifty daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night.

All but one daughter complied, the princess Hypermestra, who spared her husband because he respected her wish to remain a virgin. Her husband, Lynceus later killed Danaus to avenge the death of his brothers. He and Hypermestra later ruled Argos together and started a dynasty of royalty—kind of negating the whole "virgin" thing, but whatever. A happy ending. I think.

There was a variation of the story, though. Another daughter of Danaus, named Amymone, was sometimes said to have also not killed her husband. Her name meant "the blameless one." And she was another of Poseidon's old flames.

When Amymone and her family moved to Argos, there was a drought that was caused by Poseidon, so Danaus ordered his daughters to go search for water. On Amymone's journey, she came across a satyr who either started to chase and hit on her, or she shot at him with her bow, thinking he was a deer, and then he started to chase and hit on her. Satyrs are hopeless romantics.

That's when Poseidon intervened, chasing the satyr off and immediately started to woo Amymone, y'know, as you do. He struck the ground and created a spring, effectively fixing the drought he caused in the first place. Amymone fell head over heels for the sea god. They had a son Nauplius who founded his own kingdom.

I knew there wasn't anything special about Amymone. Just another one of Poseidon's flings. But a small voice in the back of my head kept yelling at me, telling me to use my brain. This was important, somehow, but I couldn't see why. Why would one of Poseidon's many conquests be important to me?

Then, I saw it; a clue, the symbol of Amymone. The symbol she is always associated with.

A pitcher of water.

No way.

There is no way on Earth that Amymone is—

No. It couldn't be. Amymone was mortal. She died centuries ago. She's probably in the Fields of Punishment with her sisters, filling jugs of water with holes in them for the rest of eternity. There's no way that the ancient murderess… was my ex-American history teacher.

But I couldn't ignore that one little thing. The jug of water. Mrs. Tot said that she kept a water pitcher for sentimental reasons, but that had to be a coincidence.

Of course it was, a part of me agreed sarcastically. So what that my teacher carries around a water pitcher, the symbol of the murderous lover of Poseidon? It doesn't matter that she referred to a third offense, i.e. murder, as not really "her style" anymore. It's not important that she referred to my father in a wistful, angry way or that she called me a "sea-type."

Okay, I thought. Coincidence overload. None if this was by chance. It couldn't be.

Was Mrs. Tot a zombie? Even I had to shake my head at that. But what was she, then? What about the patron she referred to? Was that Hades? Did he let her free?

Sure. Hades, who is super anal about making sure that all the souls of the dead stayed in his domain, let out one crazy lady to kill off two random demigods, one his great plus granddaughter and one a child of Poseidon conceived during their oath that he didn't even know about.

Okay, so scratch that idea off the list.

It didn't make any sense. Was Mrs. Tot immortal? Did she somehow gain immortality before she died and whoever wrote the stories down never found out? It made the most logical sense. Then why was I feeling so apprehensive about it?

Who should I tell? Annabeth? No, I didn't want to go to her with every problem I had. Besides, she was busy. She would be leaving soon to go to Olympus to see oversee the reconstruction. She didn't need my problems on her shoulder.

I decided to tell Hayden instead. She'd help me figure out what to do.

After a lesson in water bending—Hayden hated when I called it that. She wouldn't even let me call her "Sifu Hayden"— I told her what I thought.

I sat in the surf and finished telling her the rest of my idea. Hayden stood quietly for a moment, pondering my idea. She sat next to me.

"So," Hayden started slowly, "you think that our U.S. government teacher was a princess in Ancient Greece who murder her husband and had a thing for Poseidon."

"It makes sense, Hayday," I insisted. "The water pitcher. The fact that she wanted to kill me."

"That doesn't prove anything, Kai. We're demigods. Monsters like killing us."

"But Mrs. Tot isn't a monster. You know that."

"I know, but…"

"But what?"

Hayden rubbed her temple. "What does that mean? Is she immortal? A zombie? I don't get it. And even if she hates you, why go to extremes to kill you?"

I thought about it. Hayden had a point. I mean, why would a princess from a bajillion years ago go through the trouble to kill me? Petty vengeance, sure, but whether she had returned from the underworld or not, becoming a middle school teacher for a few years just so she could axe me off didn't seem worth it. But…

"Her patron," I said. "She mentioned that someone wanted me dead. But who would want me dead?"

"I… I don't know." Hayden looked down at her feet in the water, her purple sneakers an inch deep in the muck. "But she can't get us as long as we're at camp. Mortals can't get in without permission."

I nodded, but that didn't make me feel anymore assured. One day I was going to leave the camp. I didn't want to worry about monsters and a psychotic princess Hades-bent on killing me.

I looked past the camp, to where the rolling hills blocked the horizon from view and to where Thalia's pine tree stood, protecting the camp within its magical boundaries. My mind raced. Was Mrs. Tot out there, looking for me? Was she outside the camp now, waiting for the chance to strike? The thought scared me.

Hayden put a hand on my shoulder. "Look, Kaia. It'll be fine. If Mrs. Tot comes back, we'll handle her together. I got your back."

She smiled, her eyes full of confidence, and I felt a little better. That's why I was at camp, I reminded myself. To train so I could protect myself against monsters once I left. Mrs. Tot wasn't human. When the time came, I had to deal with her. But even if I had to, could I kill her? Could Hayden? I wasn't sure.

I put Mrs. Tot in the back of my head. I wouldn't forget her, but redirect my attention elsewhere. Being ADHD, that was easy.

Instead I focused on the ocean. I watched the clear cool liquid wash over my feet, reach my ankles, and recede back.

I concentrated on raising the water, making one wave. At first, it didn't work. I closed my eyes, imagining the ocean rising up in front of us. Something tugged almost painfully at my stomach.

"Kai," Hayden croaked. "Is that you? Please say yes."

I opened my eyes and saw what she was talking about. In front of us loomed a wave about two feet over our heads, frozen as if I pushed the pause button while it was mid-crash. The water looked as smooth as glass as minnows darted around like everything was perfectly normal.

I gasped, "Whoa," but as soon as I did, the wave collapsed on us. We stayed dry, but that didn't mean that the cold water didn't shock us.

I groaned and sputtered salt water out of my mouth. "I-I meant to send that the other way."

Hayden looked as if someone had just flicked her in between her eyes. A minnow was wiggling wildly in her hair.

She locked eyes with me. After a beat, she started to laugh hysterically. "Y-you should see your face—pfft!" Hayden cackled, tearing up. I couldn't help it, I joined her. I would've been embarrassed if anyone else was there to hear me snorting. We probably sounded like crazy people, but in the moment I didn't care.

"Uh," a voice said behind us. "Excuse me."

A satyr stood behind us. He seemed almost nervous. "K-Kaia?"

"That's me," I said through a fit of giggles.

"Mr. D and Chiron would like to speak to you."

My smile melted. "Why? What did I do?"

"Nothing, yet," he mumbled. "I mean, I'm not sure why."

I looked at Hayden. She had a worried look in her eye. She tossed the minnow in her hair back into the ocean. "Want me to come with you?"

Before I could answer, the satyr shook his head. "That's not a good idea. They only asked for Kaia."

"I'll be okay," I said to Hayden. "It's probably nothing."

She looked skeptical, but nodded. "Just don't do anything to tick Mr. D off, all right?"

When I got to the porch, Chiron and Mr. D were already there, but they weren't playing cards this time. They were obviously waiting for me. Nothing was casual this time around.

"Uh, hello."

"Hello, dear," Chiron said. I could tell he was trying to sound nonchalant. "Come. Sit."

I sat in the in between the two. Mr. D sipped loudly from a diet coke can, openly acted as if I wasn't there. That really peeved me. God or not, I was getting sick of this guy acting as if I was beneath him.

Mr. D glanced at me sideways. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

He sneered. "If it were up to me, I'd vaporize you on the spot and be done with it. None of this voting nonsense."

I frowned. "What?"

"What, sir."

I glowered at him, which wasn't a smart thing to do. But before Mr. D could turn me into a grease spot in the chair, Chiron intervened.

"I believe we have more pressing matters to attend to," he said.

Mr. D sighed, exasperated. "Very well. Carry on."

He waved his hand, and a winery magazine appeared in his hand. I tried my best not to roll my eyes.

Chiron smiled at me, but I could see the worry in his dark eyes. No, not just worry. Sadness.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "So, what's up, Chiron? Everything okay?"

"I wanted to talk to you sooner," Chiron said, not really answering my question, "but you seemed to be adjusting well enough into cabin three."

"Yeah, Percy's been great."

Mr. D snorted, but didn't say a word.

"Yes," Chiron said wistfully. "Percy is a kind student. I have trained him for many years."

For a moment, his eyes seemed lighter, his voice more cheerful. But then, the look of melancholy returned.

"I assume by now that you've heard of the great prophecy and the Battle of Manhattan."

I nodded. "Annabeth told me about the oath the gods made."

Chiron nodded grimly. "Unfortunately, my dear, I fear that is the reason why I called you here."

The tone of his voice made my stomach tie itself into a knot.

"Zeus was not pleased to discover that his brother broke the oath not once, but twice. Zeus has called a meeting of the Olympians… to discuss your fate."

My heart sank. No, no. He couldn't mean… "My fate?"

"There will be a vote," Chiron said. "The gods will decide whether you will live… or die."

A/N: I don't mean to offend anyone with a Bichon Frisé. Those little dogs are cute. I also have a cute little fluff ball. And I wuv her to death 3

Also, this is the first time that I wrote a significant amount of dialogue for Percy. I hope I got his speaking pattern down. If not, well, I'll be determined next time :)