Chapter 1

Athena was sitting on her golden throne and listening to Zeus going on and on about the quest her daughter Annabeth was going to take. It still hasn't ceased to amaze her how much her father liked to hear himself speak.

"And remember, no one should know what your delicate mission entails." Zeus continued to stress the importance of discretion. Perhaps, several millennia of life did improve one's ability to say the same thing in different ways. Or maybe it was just a natural talent of his. "Don't tell anyone anything, especially Poseidon's son."

There the Sea god shot her father an annoyed look and Athena surprisingly found that she couldn't really disagree with him on this matter. It was a stupid quest to retrieve some thing that the mighty Sky lord once deemed appropriate to gift Hera in order to cover for his yet another infidelity. Apparently, just a few days ago a new child of Zeus was born. Of course it surprised nobody but the timing of all of this was truly wrong. It meant that while all other gods were concentrating on the war with Gaia Zeus bedded another mortal. So the Queen of Olympus threw the thing in a fit of rage. Maybe she should have just broken the offending item against his head. Athena shuddered in disgust and once again was glad she didn't have to endure some stupid unfaithful failure of a husband.

And now Annabeth had to bring it back. Did her father really think it will earn him his wife's forgiveness? Athena could already tell that Hera's well-deserved cold treatment would last long enough and he wouldn't get off that easy.

"Yes, about that, my lord," her daughter thankfully interrupted his never ending speech. "We seem to have a slight problem here. Percy will definitely search for me if I suddenly disappear without any words."

"So think about something to tell him that will satisfy his curiosity." Zeus retorted without care. "Not the real reason."

"It's not curiosity that is the problem, lord Zeus," Athena easily read the demigod's desire to roll her eyes. "After the war when I nearly died too many times to count and, mind you, that are not my words, Percy became extremely overprotective. I have no doubts that he will attempt to follow me even if I tell him the best lie of my entire life. And we don't want that, do we?" Annabeth boldly spoken the last sentence and fell silent.

"Surely you are exaggerating." Zeus said dismissing her concerns.

"I won't be so sure, father," Hermes voiced unexpectedly. "Percy almost chopped my head the other day when I startled him."

"That's hot," Aphrodite interjected dreamily and clapped her hands in delight. Everybody looked at her strangely but she ignored the stares. Abruptly the Goddess of love exclaimed. "I know what we need to do! One of us can simply morph into Annabeth and Percy wouldn't need to know anything at all."

"That's not a bad thought," Zeus immediately supported the idea. He wasn't keen on involving Poseidon's son as disaster always followed the boy wherever he went. And disaster didn't go well with discretion.

Now the disbelieving looks were directed at the King of gods. He frowned and glared right back but Hera's gaze in response made him to avert his eyes. Zeus coughed almost embarrassed.

"So that's decided," her father boomed. "Now do we have any volunteers for the task?"

"Wait a minute, brother!"

"I can do it!"

Poseidon's outraged shout and Aphrodite's gleeful one both sounded at once.

"Firstly, there is no way I will allow Aphrodite near my son. Secondly, brother, the moment when we," the Sea god emphasized the pronoun, "decided must have slipped my memory."

Who knew Poseidon could be sarcastic, Athena thought to herself.

"Fine, Poseidon, let's vote. All in favor of Aphrodite's idea raise your hand."

Athena couldn't believe her eyes. They were outnumbered! She looked at Annabeth in sympathy but to her surprise her daughter stayed calm throughout the whole exchange.

"Now as we came to agreement," Zeus clapped his hands in satisfaction, "we can vote on Aphrodite's candidature."

"Stop it," Athena spoke clearly. She was practically horrified by what she was going to say next, but Annabeth had suffered enough. Maybe it was time she finally sacrificed something for her brave girl. "I'll do it."

The goddess of Wisdom kept her face impassive not liking the undivided attention of all council. But she brought that on herself and she wouldn't let them see her uncertainty.

"All in favor," Zeus asked and Athena almost wished it wouldn't pass. But it did and now she was going to spend the unknown amount of time with Poseidon's son.

Her rival threw her a suspicious glare however he didn't try to protest anymore. Evidently, even Poseidon could understand that between Aphrodite and herself the choice was obvious.

"Than the meeting is adjourned," Zeus quickly said and flashed away in a lightning.

"Why the sudden desire to have some fun, Athena?" Aphrodite innocently blinked at her and she briefly struggled with the strong wish to send the vain goddess to Tartarus. There couldn't be a better place for Aphrodite to 'bring love' to.

"I'm doing this so you can't toy with my daughter's happiness, Aphrodite," Athena coldly responded. "She doesn't need your meddling."

"I wouldn't be so sure but what do I know about love, right?" She tapped her well-manicured nail against her perfect lips and sized Athena up. "Should be interesting anyway."

With those words the goddess of Love departed. Others followed her soon and finally the only ones left were Annabeth, Poseidon and herself.

"I hope you are sincere in your intentions, Athena." Poseidon spoke in a carefully moderated tone. Of course she wasn't dumb to take it for anything other than a warning and a threat it was.

"I want what's best for my daughter." She hated to explain herself to him but if after that he left her alone she had to. "Apparently, she thinks that's your son. I won't interfere with that."

"Good," the god of seas slightly inclined his head and flashed away.

Now it were the two of them. Athena shrank to a mortal size and walked up to Annabeth who looked at her in wonder.

"I really didn't expect that from you, mother."

"Well," Athena smartly said and shrugged. "What's done is done. Now tell me exactly what sort of a mess I got myself into."

Annabeth sighed heavily and her facial expression became rather pensive.

"Percy is very confused right now and tends to hover over me. Although the demigods are naturally resilient to mental trauma Percy has suffered a lot of hardships and he is afraid of losing people. Lately we had a fight about it so he won't probably bother you that much." Annabeth frowned and fell silent. After a pause she whispered sadly. "He is just trying to rebuild his life. We all do."

"How do I act around Perseus?" Athena questioned preoccupied with the task ahead.

"First of all don't call him Perseus. It's a huge giveaway. Just act normal, you know. I take after you so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to emulate me. I guess you should act according to situation, mother, and everything will be good. Also, you can send me an Iris Message if you have any questions."

Athena looked at her daughter searchingly. Clearly it couldn't be all, could it? That wasn't enough information. Couldn't Annabeth give her some useful pointers? What would she talk about with Perseus if she didn't know anything about him? What if he asked her about something Annabeth should know and she didn't. And what if he wanted something physical with her.

"You will be fine, mother. Percy is not some kind of monster and moreover I won't call him particularly observant."

Athena shook her head and stared at her in disbelief.

"How can you date someone, Annabeth, and expect them not to notice that something is amiss? Why date that person at all then? If you are replaced and it doesn't make a difference."

"I didn't mean it like that, mother," Annabeth said defensively. "Let's just say that I believe in your acting abilities and quick thinking."

"You seem awfully relaxed about the whole matter, daughter," Athena muttered thoughtfully and studied Annabeth more closely. However demigod's carefully schooled features betrayed nothing of her inner feelings though Athena could sense waves of impatience and exasperation rolling off her. Was it Athena who simply didn't understand modern relationships of mortals?

"I just don't see the point of being nervous about such trivial matters anymore, mother, when you can handle it. It's not like the fate of the world depends on this." Annabeth stated coolly. "Do you have other questions? Cause I need to go pack for my quest."

"Yes," the goddess of Wisdom spoke in an equally chilly tone, "I do. Why did you agree to this quest when you could easily refuse?"

"That's the thing, mother, I didn't want to refuse. I wanted to return some normalcy to my life and I think this stupid mission is just what I need."

"Then I wish you luck, daughter," Athena said formally.

"Likewise, mother," the demigod nodded and without further ado walked away leaving her mother to stare at her back dazedly.

Athena had a feeling she had sacrificed herself for nothing. Her daughter clearly didn't appreciate her efforts. What's more she didn't value her relationship with Perseus enough to stay and try to work around whatever issues they had. The goddess felt like a complete fool at the moment but that didn't change anything. She would succeed in her mission if not for Annabeth then just to prove that she could do it. Besides now Athena felt even more frustrated about the whole thing. She was certain that Poseidon's son was the one for her child.

With the newfound resolve she walked to her palace and soon she stood before the mirror critically studying her features that were more and more resembling her daughter's with each modification. After nearly half an hour of careful work she was sure no one would tell them apart. But appearance was the easy part. The hard one was actually to behave like Annabeth. And the question of whether she knew her daughter enough to pass as her still stayed.

She decided to spend the night there to get herself in the right frame of mind. The goddess of Wisdom then meticulously replayed in her head every interaction, every observation she had made about both Annabeth and Perseus.