Artemis is the daughter of Annabeth and Hephaestus and step-daughter of Percy.

Andromeda is the daughter of Hecate and Percy and also the step-daughter of Annabeth.

Zak is the son of Hades and Martha Black.

Nikki is the daughter of Hecate and Jonathan Brooks but was raised by her recently divorced aunt.

Artemis:

Making sure I grabbed the bag of gummy worms and a Tylenol, I walked over to sit by Annie on the couch. Annie had been training harder than ever so she could keep up a scholarship. From what she had told me, her day started with getting up at 5:45 when she made herself a strawberry protein shake for breakfast. After that, she went for a thirty minute run. Once done with that, she went for a swim where she repeatedly went from end to end of the pool for about 45 minutes. She then ran home before taking a long shower. Seeing it was then seven fifteen, she did yoga for an hour before coming to wake me up. I then went through my routine of a shower, getting ready, and trying not to burn my toast or spill my orange juice. In comparison, mine looks pretty lame, but look at Annie now.

She used to do this every morning, but she hasn't done it in about a week. She started doing this all gradually in the course of three years. Today, on the other hand, she went straight back into it, and her body is rejecting it. I even watched her do some yoga, and she was inflexible and in pain obviously.

Right now, she was lying on the couch with a wet clothe over her eyes. Her fake tan was paling and beads of sweat sat atop. I put down the gummy worms and grabbed a glass of water that had been placed by Annie on the wood floor. Handing Annie the Tylenol, I slid the washcloth off her eyes. Her sea green eyes peered at me before taking the pill and glass of water.

"Do you want me to tell your date that you can't make the party?" I asked. We hadn't even been here a week, and Annie already had a date for a party. She had invited me and Zak, but I knew that there would probably be drinking. Zak is better, and I allow him a little bit for special events as he is healing. Of course, I didn't want him having to be so subjected to being tempted. Besides, Morgan is off to stay with some of the girls she may be rushing with. She's thinking of rushing, and she's staying with someone who is rushing to see if it's right for her. Annie was going to join her, but when a football player asked her to head off to a party with him, she ditched.

"No, I need to get back on the social scene," Annie sat up as if she was trying to prove to me that she could handle it though it didn't change my mind one bit, "Are you sure you and Zak don't want to come?"

"I'm sure. We've barely spent any time together recently. We need some time," I smiled even if we were supposed to study during our said date.

"Alright, but if he does anything, I'll kill him," Annie tried to pull off a smile, but I knew her head was still pounding.

"Don't worry, Annie. Do you need anything else?" I asked even though I knew I actually needed to get to Best Buy as my laptop's repairs are all done, but she's my sister. I want to be there for her even if she doesn't need me.

"I'm fine, Art. I just need some sleep," Annie started to get up from her seat to go to her room. I moved out of her way and noticed the gummy worms. Annie has a rule. Sweets are reserved for breakups or when guys send them to her. So, sometimes she can go for weeks at a time without them whereas I need at least a sip of the sugar in Gatorade or I'm irritable and have terrible migraines. Whenever I exert myself, like Annie did this morning, I need something really sweet to get my blood sugar back up. I don't know if Annie is the same way, but I do know that it's worth a shot.

"Anne, eat some of these," I handed her the bag and knew she was looking at me like I was crazy.

"Arty, I have to walk around in heels and a tiny dress tonight. I'm not going to try to put on weight," Annie continued to look at me as if I was mad. I wanted to be defensive as I ate those all the time, but I didn't. Instead, I took a breath and told myself repeatedly that she was tired and irritable so I shouldn't take it too seriously. The other part of me wanted to scream that I ate them all the time and still got the guy, but I wouldn't dare. Annie had a huge crush on Marcus and was scared about it. She had never felt like that, and I knew it as what could be the early stages of love. Either that or she found him way hotter than I did. Of course, my overreacting and revealing that it could be love made everything worse. She was trying to stray away from the idea as she didn't want anything like that. She wanted to date some hot guy until Joel got here. Even if she wouldn't admit it, I knew she still wanted to go by the plan she made back when we were sixteen. She told me that she wanted to go to college with him, get her dream job, marry him, and have two beautiful children. Personally, I don't know how exactly that plan will work out, but she's clinging to it as if her life depended on it. I know why, too. I clung onto the idea that I didn't love Zak. I had prayed every day that I could be happy with my current boyfriend, Ron, but I couldn't. That didn't mean I wanted to just come right out and say that I loved Zak. No, I ended up waiting until Ron and I had been split up for almost a year, and Zak had to make the first move.

"It's for your blood sugar, Annie," I rolled my eyes. Deciding against speaking, she took the bag.

"Now, Arty, you are to not track, put any cameras on, or any such thing to us while this is happening. You are also not to involve yourself or force others to involve you," Zak looked straight at me. We were thirteen, and he had finally reached my height. I knew that eventually he would get taller, but I had hoped I would be given more time to gloat. I wanted to protest, but I could barely think with him this close to me.

"You really don't trust me?" I asked my eyes big. A moment of guilt covered his face for a second.

"Good move," I smiled, "There's a camera on your back. It blends into the jacket. So, to find it, you have to be looking for it," I shrugged. Zak looked at me in amazement before taking off his jacket to find it. He really shouldn't be so amazed. He won't let me this quest because he says it is too dangerous when they really need me along. So, of course I'd try to get in on it in some little way. It's my nature. Both my parents are that way or at least I'm told Hephaestus is that way. I wouldn't really know. He was gone by the time I was born for me to only see him about once every two years. I get that's he a god and everything, but I still wish I could be able to know him.

"Anything else?" Zak asked me. I had to really think about it. Sometimes, I do things without thinking. I can't help it. Again, it's just my nature. Well, I was going to put a comforting hand on Fred's shoulder that happened to have a tracking device. I was also going to flirt my way into Harold telling me everything that was going on during all this. My plan also included sending Zak an Iris Message and guilting him into telling me as well.

"You might want to take the take the pendant off your necklace and run it under cold water," I shrugged. Instead of doing that, he just unhinged the entire necklace and handed it to me.

"When I get back, it better be debugged, and, while you're at it, debug everything," Zak raised his eyebrows in a forceful manner. For anyone else, I would have sneered and walked back to my cabin. For him, I took the necklace and nodded.

"Fine," I mumbled. He nodded, and I watched him walk away. I should have been plotting how to kill but I wasn't thinking like that. I was worrying about him. I couldn't even bear the thought that he could… he could…. I couldn't finish that thought. Instead, I started to walk back to my cabin, gripping the necklace for my dear life.

Well, if I'm going to worry about him to death, I might as well do as he asked.

I gripped the necklace around my neck tightly. He gave it to me about two years after that. We had just started going out, and I was going on a quest without him. For good luck, Zak gave it to me. I've barely stopped wearing it since. Beck used to ask me why I wore it so much, and I always answered the same thing, 'Ask Zak'. Of course, Zak would say 'Ask her. I guess she just likes it.' Oh, and Beck would. This continued for about a week. Eventually, I just broke down and told him that Zak had given to me as good luck a few years ago. That explanation seemed satisfy Beck.

Of course, I then found out that he had given Kat a necklace for good luck two weeks later at breakfast, and I laughed until orange juice came out my nose. After that, I didn't bring it up again as I knew that they would think of that, and I never want anyone to think of it ever again.

"Thanks, Artemis. I'm just a little…." Annie trailed off.

"I get it, Annie. I get it," I smiled. Annie may be a little crazy, but I do know that I would be like that if I didn't have Zak. I also know that I was just like that when I was still confused about me and Zak. It was almost impossible to be around me sometimes, but I'm better. Of course, sometimes I'm so confused or frustrated that even I hate myself. Annie has it a thousand times worse. She has to cope with having a guy who doesn't even know very well and her high school sweetheart showing up.

Silently, I prayed that I would never have to go back on the dating scene again. Of course, then I turned scarlet. Don't tell Zak that I think we end up together or anything, but I sort of hope that a wedding ring from him. I hope we will, but still. I… alright, I need a new subject right now.

"Wake me up in two hours, okay?" Annie asked me, and I nodded. She disappeared back into her room while I sat there alone. I started to worry for Beck. I haven't seen him in what feels like forever. He's just so smart. I wish I could just clutch him in my arms one more time. If not just that, seeing Zak with Beck proved he could eventually make a good father.

What am I saying? We're freshmen in college. We are so not ready to settle down. I know that we may not stay together forever, but I really want us to. I've been in love with him from the time I was twelve. I don't want to just give it all up. My only fear is that he'll change his mind. I'm scared that he'll stop loving me and say goodbye.

Annie:

"Hey, I'm going to go get a drink. I'll be back in a minute," I told my date before walking away from the almost drunk male. He may be hot, but he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Besides, the more I get to know him, the more I start to wonder if this is how Marcus is. I've got to know him a little bit, but I don't know him. I hate feeling strongly for him when I don't know him. He can easily break me, and there isn't a thing I can do about it. My date, Daniel, is great, but he's just too great. I don't really see it going anywhere.

If I was going to spend the next few hours with him, I was going to need a drink or two. So, I took my own good time grabbing the drink. Taking the first sip, I turned back to look at the party. What caught my eye wasn't surprising, but it still hurt.

The girl reminded me a lot of Kelsey even though she looked different. Long brown curls tumbled down to reach her waist. A purple cardigan was left for the top few buttons open. Her jeans were so tight that they had to be jeggings instead of jeans. Purple heels matched off to the purple necklace she was flirtily fingering. Silver bangles clanged as she played with her hair as they matched, yet again the same color, purple nails.

Daniel seemed to be buying into it, and I tried not to feel heartbroken. I was the one who had basically ignored him. Instead of marching over there and causing a scene, I downed my drink and started to walk towards the door. I was tired, and it was probably best that I left. Arty and Zak probably won't notice me if I just go straight to my room. I feel like I could sleep for a month. Tomorrow, I need to get back into my habits of keeping to my workouts.

I was about to hightail it out of there when Marcus emerged through the door I was about to leave from. His black curls were offset by beautiful green eyes. He was six three or so as he was taller than Zak by a good inch. Of course, he also had to be wearing something beyond cute. A blue tee shirt was matched off with navy converse, distressed dark wash jeans, a 'Pray for Japan' bracelet, and a shark tooth necklace.

I felt myself go as red as Kelsey's top that day when I saw that she was going out with Joshua. I had to look terrible as my dress was a blue sleeveless minidress that hugged every curve to match the blue high heels. Red didn't match this at all. Part of me wanted to be self-conscious and fix my hair, but the other wanted to continue to high tail it out. Undecided on what to do, I stood there like an idiot. Marcus seemed to notice me as he smiled and started to walk over to where I was.

"Leaving already?" he smiled. I took a second to stop from stuttering.

"The guy making out with the girl in purple was my date," I pointed to him. Marcus nodded.

"And she was supposed to be my blind date," Marcus told me.

Of course she is, I wanted to scream, but I couldn't .Considering I had just been stood up, I knew what he needed, and that was a drink.

"Come on. I don't know about you, but I need a drink," I smiled. He laughed and nodded

"Two vodka cranberry's it is," Marcus smiled. I would have just said bye and walked away. Of course, I really needed a drink right about now. So, I followed him back into the crowd.

Looking back on it, I remember the first drink. He was sweet and funny. So, I was fine with us drinking another. He was still funny, but I was starting to get woozy. I was about to say goodbye when I saw my date walk out with the girl hand-in-hand. After that, I downed another before reaching for yet another drink. After about the fourth drink with him, I started to black out.

Artemis:

"I think we've studied enough, and you know it. So let's just put the books down," I tried to convince Zak as I knew he actually wanted to study whereas I would have done just about anything to get some time with him. Zak just chuckled before putting his book down on the coffee table. I took his arm and guided it to be wrapped around me. I rested my curls on his chest, and he looked down at me.

"What's wrong?" he asked before kissing the side of my head. I just snuggled up to him even if there really was nothing wrong. The moonlight was shining in through the window illuminating Zak's face. How the Hades does he look so good without any effort as it seems? It took me twenty minutes to get my blonde curls to not be frizzy. It took me fifteen minutes to pick out just the top I wanted to wear. I'm pretty sure it took him five minutes to take a shower and change. Lucky.

"Why would you think that something's wrong?" I asked trying not to bite my lip as it was a force of habit when I was being accused. Then again, I tend to bite my lip when I really wanted to kiss him but was trying to carry on a conversation.

"Because you're being extremely affectionate. You're biting your lip and playing with your necklace. So, either you are about to dump me or something's wrong. I'm aiming for something wrong," he smiled. If it was possible, I snuggled closer.

"I've just been thinking about Joel and Annie," I sighed. He didn't seem to understand so I continued on, "They thought they were so in love, and one silly little fight sent them running. I just don't want to see that happen to us."

Zak took a second to take that in. I really wish he wouldn't have. I needed support right now, not a second later. His grip on my hand slightly lessened, and I squeezed his hand to let him now that I really did actually need comfort.

"The necklace," Zak looked down at me. I must have looked as confused as I felt as he kept on, "When we were fifteen, you went on a quest without me, and I was scared to death. For good luck, I gave you my necklace. Since then, I've barely seen you without it. I guess, after seeing that, there was no doubt. I knew right then I loved you. I guess I thought you loved me, too," Zak looked told me making me feel guilty.

"I love you so much, Zak," I almost felt like crying. Sensing the tears were about to fall, Zak kissed me. As soon as his lips met mine, I couldn't think about anything anymore. Any tears were hidden away as the buzz took over. Time slipped away as I leaned deeper into him. The next thing I knew, I was on top of him. I didn't think of how late it was getting and how Annie was late even though I really should have been.