A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait, school's been a nightmare! But enjoy(:

"I'm here!" I call breathlessly, skidding to a stop as I enter the house. Will looks up and gives me a tired smile, Nico eating fries in a chair nearby.

"Hey-"

"Piper," an unfamiliar voice says quietly, and my eyes snap down to the girl struggling to sit up. "It's you."

"How-how do you know me?" I ask hesitantly, trying to identify why I feel as though I should know her, though I know we've never met.

"Wow, this is weird," she says to herself. "Um, actually, the thing is...we're cousins."

"What? What are you talking about?" Is her godly parent a sibling of Aphrodite-is she a child of Demeter or Hades or something?

"My mother, when she was four, there was an accident. Her father thought she and my grandmother had died, but only my grandmother did. She couldn't find her way back, though, so she grew up in the foster system and never saw her father again."

"I'm sorry, that must've been awful for her, but I don't understand. What does any of this have to do with me? Is your father a son of Ouranos?"

"No, my father is Mars, but that's not the point. My grandfather, my mother could never find him because she couldn't remember his name; she couldn't even remember her own, the foster system gave her the one she's always lived by. But a few days ago there was an attack, a monster came after me and she hit her head and remembered...her father's name was Tom McLean."

Tom McLean. Grandpa Tom-gone for years, but having had another child all these years he knew nothing about?

"I can't-it's not possible," I stutter, but her eyes-Grandpa Tom's eyes-are staring at me, begging me to believe her. "My gods. But how did you know about me?"

"My father. After the attack, he visited-told me it wasn't safe for me to be with my mother until I learned how to protect myself as a demigod, gave me directions to camp, and said I should find you, for both our sakes."

I jump as Nico snorts, having forgotten his presence. "Never knew Ares to be that nice to a kid, except maybe Clarisse after we won the titan war," the son of Hades said, surprised.

"I...this is insane." I close my eyes and take a deep breath, attempting to deal with the situation rationally. "Okay, first thing's first: what's your name?" Will and Nico burst out laughing as she gives me a relieved grin.

"Alma."

"Oooh, pretty name. And how old are you?" I ask curiously.

"Just turned twelve last month. Crap, what's today's date?" She sits up further, paling but looking frantic.

"The twenty-third, why? Is something wrong?" She relaxes and lies back down.

"Tomorrow, then. Thank god," she mutters, then meets my eyes. "It's my little brother's birthday tomorrow-he's turning five." Her face glows at the mention of her brother, and I can easily see he's her pride and joy.

"You-you have a little brother?" Nico's voice is filled with emotion, and Alma nods.

"Yes, his name is Victor. And a little sister, Bea, but she's turning one next month." Nico's face turns ashen, and I swear there are tears in his eyes. Crap, Bea must remind him of Bianca. It must be awful, he was accustomed to at least seeing her ghost, and after she was reincarnated he's left with no one but Hazel...

"Nik..." Will begins to rub circles on his boyfriend's shoulder, talking to him quietly until he seems to regain control of himself.

"I have to go- do a Hades thing-kay bye." And he's out the door, Will shooting an apologetic grimace and "I'll send Quentin!" over his shoulder as he sprints after him.

"Did I say something to hurt him?" Alma asked worriedly.

"It's complicated," I admit. "He...a few years back, just after he and his sister found out they were demigods, she left him to be a hunter of Artemis-she loved him and all, but it was a lot of pressure on a twelve year old to take care of him all the time, and when you consider that they were trapped in time for decades and decades...well, anyway, she joined the hunters and ended up going on a quest to save Annabeth and Artemis, who had been kidnapped by Atlas, and, well, long story short, she died. Nico had a really hard time with it-she was the only person he had. He was really upset and lonely for a while...he's doing a lot better now; he has Will, of course, and Jason and I forced our friendship on him until he started returning it, but it's still really hard for him to be reminded of her."

"Oh wow. That's awful...no one should have to lose a sibling. I can't imagine a worse pain." Alma's eyes fill with tears, and she bites her lip as she looks at me. "Is that-is that common for demigods?"

"Not necessarily common, but...it can happen. Before I got to camp, an Aphrodite sister of mine died in the war-so did her boyfriend, one of my best friend's brothers. And Thalia, Jason's older sister, she died when she was twelve-but she was brought back to life. It's...it's complicated, being a demigod. You lose friends sometimes, but it is worth it. Why do you ask? Are your siblings demigods?"

Alma nods, just barely. "My sister Bea, Mars came by to visit last year and Mom told us she was pregnant a month or so later. I don't think Victor is, though, Mom met Harry, his dad, when we flew to Kansas when I was seven, and he started coming over more a year or so ago. Gods don't visit a lot, right?"

I shake my head with a grimace, "Not normally, no."

"Hey, Pipes, how's everything going?" Jason walks in with a grin, his expression waning as the serious atmosphere hits him. "Sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. Piper was just filling me in on everything I don't know. I'm Alma by the way," she told him with a small smile.

"Jason, but you probably knew that. I'm Pontifex Maximus here at Camp Jupiter, and at Camp Half-Blood, and you have no idea what that means do you?" he trailed off as he noticed her mystified expression.

"Not at clue," she said with a giggle.

"Basically I just make sure everyone respects all the gods, that kind of thing. I'm like the peace ambassador between the camps and Olympus."

"Oh, that's interesting. Are there a lot of jobs like that?"

"Not really. We kind of dissolved the augur position in favor of having a Pontifex Maximus, so now there's just me, the praetors, and the centurions for the most part."

"It turns out Alma's my cousin-on my dad's side," I insert myself in the conversation, and Jason's jaw drops."

"You're kidding! That's so cool. So you're doubly related."

I roll my eyes, "Now you just sound like Percy."

He grins, "Always want to be like my bro Aquaman."

"Dear god, I can already tell I'm in over my head," the pre-teen mutters under her breath, and I burst out laughing at Jason's mock-offended expression.

A/N: So, what do you guys think? Is it what you expected? Do you like it, do you hate it, is there anything in particular you would like to see in the coming chapters? Review, PM, let me know!

On my other story I do a question of the post, and I think it's really cool to see everyone's perspective and personality through the little things in life, so I'm gonna start doing it on here.

Question of the chapter: what's your favorite class you've ever taken?

My answer: AP Psychology, best thing ever!

See you guys next time(:

Kaitie~