A/N: Hi again! Sorry it took me so long to update. It's kinda hard to get the computer in my house. Anyways, thank you to all of my reviewers (a flying-colours number of 2!) It's nice to know that at least some people clicked on this and read it :)

So here's the chapter. I know, it's confusing. and don't worry; Camp Half-Blood in a few chapters! Sorry it's taking me so long to get to that point. Some conversations have to happen first. Also, i apologize for any errors.

Disclaimer in Chapter 1&2. ..

It was past 10:00 when Mr. Penderwick came through the door. Anna, Jeffery, and a mysterious boy with olive skin followed. Immediately, the other members of the family (save for Batty, who was still sleeping) came to greet them. Skye got to Jeffery first. She threw her arms around him, and they would have fallen over, if the other boy hadn't reached out to keep them steady.

"Jeffery!" she said grinning. "God, we haven't seen you in so long!"

"Last Thanksgiving, I think," he replied, hugging her back, also grinning. Then Jane came charging in.

"Jeffery!" she shrieked, then engulfed him in her arms. Once he was free, Rosalind stepped in, and gave him her own, calmer hug.

"It's so good to see you," she said warmly, but she was clearly distracted. She was staring over his shoulder at Anna, and the other boy suspiciously. When she let go of Jeffery, she took her best friend aside.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Good to see you too Rosy," Anna replied pleasantly. Rosalind gave her a look.

"Anna. Its past ten, and you're at my house, under my father's invitation, which he gave to you right after my sisters and I were attacked by a-" She stopped abruptly.

"A monster?" Anna prompted. Rosalind gave her a look of disbelief. Anna shrugged. "Your dad told me on the phone."

"Why would he tell you?" Rosalind asked. Anna gave her a sad smile. "You're about to find out," she said.

Mr. Penderwick herded everyone into the dining room. Moonlight shone through the huge windows, illuminating everything, until Iantha turned the lights on. Rosalind ran up to wake Batty. Anna went into the kitchen to grab some grapes (apparently, being at their house made her hungry) and Jeffery got a glass of water. Eventually, everyone was seated at the table. The four sisters were sitting on one side, Batty in Rosalind's lap. On the other sat Mr. Penderwick, Iantha, Jeffery, Anna, and the olive skinned boy, who the girls kept sneaking glances at.

Jeffery must have noticed this. "Oh, I completely forgot," he said. "Everyone, this is Nico." Iantha shook his hand, as did Slye and Rosalind. Batty and Jane waved from across the table.

"Hello," he said. His mouth was a straight line, and his eyes were dark, but intelligent.

"I don't mean to be rude," Jane said hesitantly. "But. . .why are you here?"

Nico glanced at Jeffery. "I feel I'd be valuable to the situation," he said bluntly. This answer raised a few eyebrows, but no one said anything about it.

"And what exactly is the situation?" Skye asked forcefully. She was looking directly at her father.

Mr. Penderwick cleared his throat. He glanced at his wife, who gave him an encouraging smile, though it looked a little forced. He closed his eyes and muttered something in Latin.

"Do you want me to start, sir?" asked Jeffery.

"No. I should do it," said Mr. Penderwick. "But thank you." He closed his eyes again, his hands pressed together, his thumbs resting on his nose. "Where do I begin?" he muttered. He sighed, then said something else in Latin. The sisters turned to Rosalind, who had taken Latin for the past two years. She desperately shook her head. "Daddy," she said. "You're scaring us."

"Of course I am. I'm sorry." He just stared at the table after saying that.

"Explainations?" Skye said. He jumped, as if someone had startled him.

"Yes. Alright. I'll try." He looked at all of his daughters. "Remember all of those Greek myths about the gods and monsters your mother and I told you when you were little?"

"You mean like Zeus and the labyrinth and stuff?" Skye asked. Her father nodded.

"Of course!" Jane said. "Those were wonderful stories. I like the one where Orpheus is just about to get out of the Underworld with his wife's soul, but then he looks back and has to stay there for all eternity."

"My favourite is the one about boy who stole the cows," Batty said sleepily.

"What about them?" Rosalind asked, trying to get them back on track.

"Well. . . they're real," said Mr. Penderwick . His daughters stared at him. There was a long pause. Rosalind raised an eyebrow. "You mean. . .they were real?" she said. She wasn't sure if it was a correction or a question. He shook his head. "No. They are real." Again, they stared.

"What are you talking about?" Rosalind asked. Mr. Penderwick sighed.

"The Greek myths, they all exist." The girls exchanged worried glances.

"Daddy, you must be making a mistake,"Skye said. "Either someone has played a horrible trick on you, or you're playing a horrible trick on us." She looked disgusted.

"No Skye," Jeffery said. "He's telling the truth. It's real."

"Not you too!" she exclaimed. "It's impossible. How can you be so sure?"

"Skye's right," Rosalind said. "What proof can you possibly have?"

Mr. Penderwick pointed to Skye's cut. "There's your proof." There was silence. Skye's face burned with shame.

"So you know what that thing was?" Rosalind asked.

He nodded. "I have my suspicions."

"Then do you know why it attacked us?" Jane asked excitedly. He held up his hands.

"Before i explain that, i have to explain everything else," he said. He had everyone's attention now, even Batty, whose sleepiness had worn away. He cleared his throat.

"As you know, there are twleve Olympian gods, and many minor ones. They started out in Ancient Greece. Most people believe they faded after the power shifted to Rome. What they don't know, is that the gods followed it." He paused, and took in his daughters faces. Rosalind's eyebrows were furrowed together, like she was concentrating very hard. Skye wore a look of equal intensity, except her eyes were narrowed, and her jaw was set. Jane looked intruiged, and Batty was staring straight back at her father, hanging on his every word

" Mt. Olympus is the sorce of the gods' power," he continued. "Now, there's Mt. Olympus, in Greece, and then there's Mt. Olympus, the honourary name for the gods' power sorce that follows them and the shift of power. Wherever Mt. Olympus goes, the gods go. Wherever the gods go Mt. Olympus goes." He paused again to make sure everyone was still with him. "So, first, it was in Greece. Then, when the Romans became the most powerful, they moved over there. Then England, and France, and some time in Spain and China. And now, they're here."

"The gods are here?" Skye said. "In America?"

"Yes," he replied. "Mt. Olympus is on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building." There was a confused silence.

"But Daddy," Rosalind said quickly. "There is no 600th floor." The family had gone to New York a few years ago, and Rosalind always found the informational plaques interesting.

Mr. Penderwick shook his head. "There is now."

"So does it just. . .hover there?" Skye asked. Again, he shook his head.

"I would not know. I've never been."

"Then. . . how do you know about all this?" Jane asked cautiously, as if she was afraid he would tell her he had been joking the whole time.

Mr. Penderwick sighed. "Well. . . uhg, i knew this wasn't going to be easy."

"Along with the gods, comes demigods," Jeffery said. "The children gods have with regular mortals."

"Like Perseus and Achilles," Rosalind said. Jeffery nodded. "Well, there are lots of them. Almost all of the gods have mated with mortals. Except for some. Like Artemis. She's and eternal maiden, and the leader of the hunt, so she swore off men forever. Then there's Hera, who's the goddess of marriage, so it wouldn't really make sense for her to go around cheating on her husband. And finally, the Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades haven't had many children for years." Nico coughed, then cleared his throat awkwardly. Skye raised and eyebrow.

"See, there was this thing called the Pact of the Big Three..." The girls (and Iantha) listend intently as Nico explained the oath the brothers had taken, and how they'd all recently broken it.

"So you're saying they all had kids?" Jane asked. Nico nodded. "In fact. . .i'm one of them." They waited for him to shout 'just kidding!', but he stared right back at them.

"You're a demigod?" Rosalind asked in disbelief. He nodded again.

"Who's your father?" Jane asked, despite Rosalind's look of disapporval.

"Hades," he said automatically. There was a pause.

"So can you. . like. . . control the dead and stuff?" Skye asked. Nico smiled.

"Yeah. All that jazz."

"This might be a good time," Jeffery said into the stunned silence. "I'm a son of Apollo."

Silence. The girls stared at their friend as if he had just announced he was planning on swimming across the Atlantic.

"What!" Skye shrieked. He nodded.

'Why didn't you tell us?" she said just as loudly.

"Skye, think about it. You would never have believed me." She scowled and looked away.

"And i'm a nymph," Anna added.

"A what?" Batty said.

"A nymph. See, with the gods also comes all the mythical creatures. Like satyrs and pegusi, and nymphs, like me."

"But there are also bad creatures. All the monsters that hunt down demigods. They track their scent. The only place half-bloods are safe is Camp Half-Blood."

"Wait a second!" Rosalind said. "Hold on!" She turned to her best friend.

"You're a nymph?" she asked angrily. Anna nodded timidly. "A freaking NYMPH?" She yelled. Again Anna nodded. As far as she knew, the only person Rosalind had ever gotten that angry with was Tommy Geiger, so a yelling Rosalind made her nervous.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" she asked, quieter this time.

Anna shrugged. "Same as Jeffery said. You never would have believed me."

"You could have shown us some of your powers or something," Skye said. SHe turned to Jeffery. "The same goes for you too! If you're half-god, can't you do special things?"

"I did show you,' Jeffery said quietly.

"What? No you didn't. you-"

"Oh," Jane said, as it dawned on her. "Apollo is the god of music. And archery." SHe turned to Jeffery. "That must be where you get your music from. Your dad. And no wonder you're so good at archery."

"Oh, Skye said, and looked down at her hands.

"How did you find out you were a demigod?" Rosalind asked.

"When I was 10, a friend at school showed me he was a satyr, and told me he had to bring me to this camp. Of course, i refused, because i felt i had to ask my mother first." The Penderwicks smiled at that. Jeffery had always been a wonderful son, even though his mother had been less than ideal. "Then, the summer i turned eleven-the summer i met you guys- i tried to get the truth out of my mother. she denied it at first, but eventually, i got her to tell me about Camp Half-Blood. She let me visit, and spend a few weeks, but in the end, she thought it'd be best if i just went to the Boston boarding school. She wanted me to get a mortal education. Anyways, in those few weeks, i was claimed by Apollo. So i lived in the Apollo cabin, with my half-siblings. Now, i visit whenever i can."

"what exactly is Camp Half-Blood?" Skye asked.

"It's a place where they train you to fight off monsters, and you learn skills that help you in battle. And, you learn Greek and mythology and stuf."

"Wait a second," Skye said. "What does this have to do with daddy?" Mr. Penderwick looked guilty. He hadn't said anything, because he had wanted to avoid this part of the conversation as much as possible.

"Camp Half-Blood doesn't really have anything to do with me," he said. Iantha looked at him and raised an exasperated eyebrow. Mr. Penderwick sighed.

"I suppose i have to tell you. I waited for something to happen to you, so that i wouldn't sound quite so insane." He sighed again. "I am a demigod."

The silence lasted long. longer than any others that night. It stretched on and on. The girls stared at there father.

"Who's your parent?" Rosalind asked quietly, avoiding eye contact.

"My mother is the Roman goddess Abeona. She is the goddess of children leaving home."

"What about mommy?" Jane asked.

"She was also a demigod. Her mother was Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth." He also avoided eye contact with his daughters.

"What about Iantha?" Skye said.

"I'm just a regular mortal," Iantha said. "And so is Ben."

There was a pause, as each daughter took in what their father had said. As each one took in the fact that he had lied to them their whole lives. But it was Rosalind that reached the conclusion.

"But if you're both demigods. . . what does that make us?

Mr. Penderwick looked at her through solemn eyes. "You are all demigods."

"But neither you nor mommy was a god,"Jane said frowning. "You just said you're both demigods."

"We are," he replied.

"Daddy?" Skye said.

"Yes, Skye Blue."

"What are you trying to tell us?"

He lifted his head, and gazed at them with such pain in his eyes, all his daughters wanted to do was make it go away.

"I am trying to tell you," he said shakily. "That we are not your parents."

The colour fell from Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty's cheeks immediately. THe temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

"What do you mean?" Rosalind whispered, clutching Batty.

"I mean, that your mother and i are not your biological parents," he said. "But please. Hear me when i say this. We may as well be. We raised you. i plan to keep raising you. I love you. Just because we are not related by blood, doesn't mean we aren't family. We can still treat each other like family. Just like you girls can still be sisters.

"Still?" Skye asked, who now had just as much suffering in her eyes as Mr. Penderwick. "Still sisters?"

Mr. Penderwick's shouders sagged. "Yes. You see, you girls are not actually sisters."

Each daughter looked at their so-called father. All their lives, a part of each of them had been defined by the fact they were a Penderwick. Another part had been defined by the fact that they were sisters. Linked together. Now, both of those things were being taken away at the same time.

"How can we not be sisters?" Rosalind asked.

Mr. Penderwick took a deep breath. " Your mother and I had always felt bad for the young demigods who were rejected by their mortal parents. They grow up without the love and affection that a child should have and feel. So instead of having children ourselves, we decided to find and adopt baby demigods, and raise them in the mortal world. We knew that eventually, we would have to tell you the truth. But once a demigod knows they're a demigod, they attract more and more monsters. So we decided we wouldn't tell them until we had to. We took up residence on Gardam Street. It was so wonderfully mortal, that we thought it would mask the fact that our adopted children were demigods, and that did work, until today. Anyways, some satyrs went looking for the. . .abandoned demigods. The first one they found was you Rosalind." He smiled at her sadly. "You were such a beautiful baby. And cheerful. We took you in immediately."

"Who were parents?" Rosalind managed to say, despite the sensation that her throat had closed up. Mr. Penderwick shook his head. "I have no idea. I'm sorry." Rosalind ducked her head, so that no one could read her emotions.

"A year later, a harried satyr came to our door. He looked like he had been running from many monsters. He thrust the baby at us, and ran away. And that was that. We named her Skye." Skye took a shaky breath.

"Again, a year later, we went asking at Camp Half-Blood. The leader, Chiron, presented us with another girl. She was already named Jane, which we both quite liked by the way, but we gave you your middle name." The excited glint had gone out of Jane's eyes.

" When Rosalind started kindergarten, a nymph was sent to watch over her. Anna."

"I just want to say," Anna added," That i was just required to keep an eye on you. i didn't have to be your friend. That came naturally." Rosalind didn't look up.

"And when Chiron told me to check up on you that summer, i wasn't faking being your friend either. Or your enemy." he gave Skye a small smile, which she didn't return. She opened her mouth to express her disbelief that he hadn't come to them of his own accord, but Mr. Penderwick cut her off.

"We thought we were done. But then, a few years later, Chiron himself came to our door. He gave us a baby who had been found surrounded by monsters, in an allyway. So we took her, and named her Batty." Batty was staring transfixed at her father.

"But I remeber Mommy pregnant," Rosalind said, her face showing at last. "How could you possibly have faked that when you didn't know we were coming."

Mr. Penderwick readjusted his glasses. "Your mother was never pregnant. It is true, we did not know when any of you would arrive. but once you did, we altered the minds of some people to think she had been pregnant."

"It's called the Mist," Nico put in. "It just switches around a few things in mortal's minds, to make them believe things that didn't happen. For instance, if a a regular human were to see a monster, we would manipulate the Mist, which would then manipulate the mind."

"You messed with our minds?" Skye said angrily. She was blinking rapidly. "what gives you the right?"

"It was for your own good." Mr. Penderwick stood up. "You were too young to know the truth."

"All three of us were older than Batty is now when she was b-. . when she arrived," Rosalind said scornfully, also standing now. "But you can tell her?"

"It's different in this case. Something happended today that would have haunted you if i hadn't explained. The arrival of a baby wouldn't do that."

"Why didn't you just use the Mist today, huh?" Skye said sarcastically, her voice growing rose to stand beside Rosalind "What would that have been compared to all the other lies you've led us to believe?"

"Please," Mr. Penderwick said. He was close to tears. "Try to understand. I just wanted to protect you. I know how hard this must be-"

"No, you don't know!" Skye shouted. Tears of anger and sadness were streaming down her face. "You have no idea what it's like to be told your family isn't your family. What it's like to be told the horrible truth after so many years of lies. How can you possibly know?" She collapsed into her chair, bringing her knees up, and resting her head in her arms as she cried silent tears.

"I think we should go," Rosalind said coldly. Her cheeks were stained with tears."Batty, Jane, Skye, it's bedtime." She turned to her father. When she saw that his head was hanging low, and he wasn't trying to stem the flood of tears, her heart softened. She could see some of her father's reasoning. But it still didn't make it okay.

"You don't understand," she whispered."You don't underderstand at all." She took Batty's hand, and led her and Jane uspstairs. Skye followed, moving soundlessly on the wood paneled floor. But before she left the room, she shot Jeffery and Anna a single glance. And in it she showed them how hurt she was. And how, by not telling them anything, by building friendships that were based on lies, they had forever diminished the sisters' trust for them. then she turned and trudged upstairs.

Too dramatic? Not dramatic enough? Just right? Please review! And i know i brushed over a few things in the explainations (you might have noticed that Mr. Penderwick is the son of a Roman goddess, yet he didn't talk about Camp Jupiter:that will happen later), but i'll fill in those holes in futher chapters. So yes, please review!