AN: Hello my lovelies! I'm back for another update before going back to another long hiatus. I've just started my second semester of college so I decided to award you all with a new chapter. I'm really happy to see the number or readers on this story as well as the previous one. You guys are the best! Still, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave reviews on both stories since I like to know your opinions on my work. It helps me grow as a writer and bring you a more entertaining story and characters.

Regardless, this will most probably be the last update I make before the beginning of July. Any earlier ones are more like a gift from heaven than me starting to be regular with writing, but still.

Also, I would highly appreciate it if you'd vote on the poll I have set up on my profile as it very well might have an impact on Merri's fate.

And just because I'm an Otaku and have been rolling down memory lane, I'd like it if you guys would check out this link. These songs were just a HUGE part of my childhood and I wanna share them with you guys since they were what got me through writing this chapter. :)

watch?v=vZ8UMq_hI28

Well, that's all from me for now. I hope you'll like this chapter. And remember:

Read, Fav/Follow and Review!

Love, angel

The following few days, while torture for Percy, proved to be more or less fun for Merri. She'd told Percy that he shouldn't let their situation get to him or he'd be playing into Tantalus' hands, but he'd always wave her off like she had no idea what she was talking about. That grated on her nerves but she let him sulk – after all, it's not like she went through a nearly exact same situation last summer and was going through one now as well.

Screw it. At least Tyson was having fun with the situation. The young Cyclops seemed blissfully unaware of Percy's feelings about his origin – and everyone else's for that matter – and Merri was happy with that. While huge in size and strength, Tyson proved to be a gentle soul underneath the monstrous exterior and, in some cases, acted more like a small child than the teen he appeared to be, making it easier for Merri to deal with him and to protect him from the teasing of other campers.

Percy, on the other hand, obviously felt ashamed of having Tyson as his sibling – even by half. It mostly had to do with the act that he was no longer the big hero in the eyes of others, but the poor schmuck with a monster for a brother. Peer pressure at its best, it seemed. And while he sulked, and protested to the others, and yelled that Tyson wasn't really his brother, and Annabeth tried to cheer him up by suggesting that they form a team for the chariot race, Merri took to spending more and more of her time with Tyson than with Percy. It was probably a subconscious attempt at conveying that if he thought Tyson wasn't his real brother, neither was she his sister. Thus, she took Tyson on small tours of the camp grounds and swimming in the bay. She even let him play around with Lucy when it turned out that the crazy blonde feline had actually managed to stow away in the redhead's luggage somehow. That was one conversation with her landlady she was not looking forward to repeating in any due time.

Surprisingly, for a cat with the hate for the entire male gender, Lucy was okay with playing around with Tyson. The young Cyclops didn't seem to scare the fluffy animal one bit, so Merri was glad he had something to pass the time with other than doing nothing productive with her.

When she was approached by Percy and Annabeth about joining their chariot team, she was quick to refuse. Her reason?

"You've already got one horse whisperer, what the hell do you need two for?"

Also not to mention the fact that their question interrupted her while she was tuning her guitar didn't bring them in any brownie points either. Over the years, Merri had told Annabeth countless times never to disturb her while she's playing around with her guitar on the cabin's roof – something the blonde obviously decided to overlook in order to harass the older girl into helping her. Not happening.

The duo then left in a seemingly random direction which would lead them to pass by the Aphrodite cabin and Merri continued on with her guitar, occasionally stooping to hum to herself and write word or notes down in a leather bound notebook next to her. These days, she was practically brimming with inspiration.

Over the course of the next couple of days, Percy started spending more time with Tyson – Merri was sure it had absolutely nothing to do with his fight with Annabeth. What the two lovebirds were fighting about now was completely irrelevant to the redheaded Australian. –for which Merri was grateful. As good as she can be with kids, Tyson was just too full of energy for her to handle, so she was more than happy o let the Cyclops hang out with his favorite person in the world. It also helped that Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin had no problem hanging out with Tyson whenever Merri and Percy were either too busy or too exhausted to do so themselves. He'd taken to showing Tyson the ropes of metalworking, claiming the Cyclops would be masterfully crafting magic items before they knew it.

Merri saw very little of Percy these days as well. The boy was constantly off doing something, as if he were trying vehemently to keep his mind occupied. He took pegasi riding lessons with Silena Beauregard – the only person in the Aphrodite cabin who didn't seem to hate Merri – which he took to unsurprisingly well when taken into consideration that, technically, the ancestor of all the pegasi at camp was Merri and Percy's half-brother, but that's a story for another time. Regardless, whether or not Percy was aware of this fact, he seemed to genuinely enjoy spending his time on horseback.

The boy also spent his time on swordplay, archery – where he turned out to still be a hazard to everything but his intended target -, climbing the wall, arts and crafts – he later admitted to making Poseidon look suspiciously like Sly Stallone – and border patrol. And, while he was off doing everything available, Merri made it her mission not to take part in anything remotely productive.

Her days were spent disappearing right after breakfast, only reappearing for lunch and then dinner. She was still on her usual workout routine of running, swimming, wall-climbing etc. She also started meditating – she was occasionally seen doing soon Cabin 3's roof with Lucy curled up in her lap or pawing at her hair. She wrote three new songs, sending them over to her band mates and even snuck into the Big House to play the piano in there. How she wasn't seen by Mr. D or Tantalus was a feat in itself. In the evenings, while Percy was on patrol and the rest of the campers were participating in the traditional sing-along's in the amphitheater, Merri would curl up on her bed with Lucy and watch one of the many movies she had on her laptop.

Watching "The Princess Bride" while gorging oneself on chocolate, popcorn and cheese-dip nachos beat looking at Tantalus' ugly mug any day.

Percy was still having nightmares if his constant mumblings, thrashings and spinning on the bed was any indication. Ever since they'd gotten back to Camp, he's been having weird dreams he later refused to talk about with Merri. On more than one occasion, he got so annoying that Merri opted for sleeping on the cabin's roof. Luckily for her, it never rained on those nights.

He and Tyson finished working on their chariot the night before the race. According to the boys, the thing was 'wicked cool'. From what Merri'd seen, all she could tell you about the thing was that it was blue and white with a trident painted on the front. In her opinion, it was nowhere nearly as cool as her car, but she might be biased on that one.

As the three children of Poseidon were turning in that night, Tyson started a conversation with Percy – one Merri heard nearly no part of due to the blaring music in her ears, courtesy of her iPod. And she was too busy humming the songs under her breath and trying to get Lucy off her pillow, so that might have had some impact on that as well.

"… I will be a good monster. Then you will not have to be mad," she heard Tyson say in between songs, so she inconspicuously paused her playlist to listen to her brothers.

Percy seemed speechless at Tyson's comment. Merri wasn't sure what they were talking about before this, but it clearly drove a proverbial nail through her younger brother's heart. It took the younger boy a few minutes to start speaking again and, when he did, it was obvious he was putting a lot of effort into not letting his voice crack.

"It's just…" he started, "I never had a half-sibling before. It's really different for me. And I'm worried about the camp. And another friend of mine, Grover… he might be in trouble. I keep feeling like I should be doing something to help, but I don't know what." Silence met Percy's words. From the corner of her eye, Merri could see that Tyson was already fast asleep and she was still pretending to be listening to music and scribbling into her lyrics notebook.

"I'm sorry," Percy sighed. "It's not your fault. I'm mad at Poseidon. I feel like he's trying to embarrass me, like he's trying to compare us or something, and I don't understand why."

Right after a deep rumbling snore escaped Tyson, Merri tore her headphones from her ears and pinned her brother with an impassive look. "Don't you think I've ever felt like that when you entered the picture?" she asked him putting her things away under her bed and tuning to face him properly.

A look of confusion was plastered all over Percy's face. "What're you talking about?"

"Think Percy," she pressed. "Up until last summer, I wasn't aware of your existence as well. I spent twelve years in this camp, hoping that one day I'd be worthy enough for Poseidon to claim me as his child. Then, one day, you show up and within two days of being here you're claimed by our father while it took me helping you go to the Underworld and fighting my only friend at camp – a fight that nearly killed me when I was struck by lightning -, nearly bleeding out to death for him to even notice me being in the same room as you on Olympus, to claim me when we got back to camp. And I forgave him for that because I know that gods are fickle beings and their attention spans for humans are particularly short," Merri rambled and while speaking, not once did her voice waver from its monotone which, in one hand, was even worse than if she were yelling.

"I also found out on that night, that you were the reason why he left my mother and me. And now you're all conflicted about finding out that your brother is classified as a monster by most people just because he's got one eye!"Merri glared at Percy. "I don't know how much you know about Poseidon's escapades, but, technically speaking, the Pegasus is also our half-brother. If you don't believe me, feel free to read up on the myth of Perseus. That should clear some things up." Angrily, she burrowed under her covers and turned off the light on her night stand.

"Good night, Percy," she bit out.

She heard Percy sigh. "Good night, Merri."

It took some time, but around 3am, Merri finally fell asleep.

The morning of the race was hot and humid. And, as much as most other campers were complaining about it mentally and out-loud, it simply reminded Merri of that one Christmas at her grandparents' a few years back. The worst the sauna-like fog was doing to her was making her hair go wild, which was why she tied in a messy bun with some chopsticks Jack brought to her from one of his many trips to Tokyo. She honestly had to start telling the man just how awesome he was. She nearly started full out giggling when she saw some of the girls from Aphrodite with their makeup running down their faces from both the humidity and the fact that they were sweating bullets from the heat.

Meanwhile, Merri was comfortably seated atop a random branch overlooking the racetrack-all the while eyeing those suspicious-looking pigeons that were surely not pigeons – in a pair of cargo shorts and a black Durarara! Tee while Lucy alternated between sitting atop her head and in her lap.

The racetrack was built in a field between the archery range and the woods by the members of Hephaestus' cabin with the help of the bronze bulls – the creatures had been surprisingly tame and docile since having their heads smashed in – rendering the job of plowing in an oval track over in a matter of minutes. There were even rows of stone steps for the spectators – i.e. Tantalus, satyrs, few dryads and all nonparticipating campers. Mr. D didn't make an appearance – not surprising since he rarely got up before ten.

"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began assembling. Merri observed in amusement, all the while munching on a bag of blue-potato chips with sea salt and pepper, as Tantalus' hand chased a chocolate éclair across the judge's table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" He sent the contestants a creepy smile. "Any killing will result in a harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

"What an asshole," Merri sighed and devoured another fistful of crisps. She continued observing the preparations for the race below her. If anyone asked her, she had the best damn seat in here.

Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. As one would expect, their chariot was made of bronze and iron, even the horses were metal – magical automatons like the Colchis bulls. Knowing those guys, the thing was undoubtedly rigged with all kinds of mechanical traps and fancy additional equipment. It wouldn't be a surprise if they'd put GPS or AC in there somewhere.

The Ares chariot was (surprise, surprise) blood red and pulled by two wicked looking horse skeletons. Clarisse climbed aboard with a batch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other toys.

The Apollo chariot was trim, graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. If Merri's eyes weren't deceiving her, the horses were from her grandparents' farm or descendants of those that were. The cabin's fighter was unsurprisingly armed with a bow, though he'd promised not to fire pointed arrows at the opposing drivers. Hah, as if blunted arrows are unable do any damage. Give them enough speed and you can kill a person with them – simple physics.

Hermes' chariot was green and a bit on the older side. Despite it not looking very special, it was still manned by the Stoll brothers, and when those two are involved, there's n doubt the duo had a sleuth of dirty tricks up their sleeves. For a second there, Merri thought that it would've been more appropriate if she'd brought popcorn but it was too late for that.

Well, that only left two chariots: one driven by Annabeth, and the one driven by Percy.

"This might actually be entertaining; don't you think so, Lucy?" The cat in question simply meowed before burrowing further into Merri's lap and commencing to purr like a lawnmower. It was virtually impossible to fall asleep if she was doing that. "Hah, seems like Percy and Chase got in a little lover's spat over there. Wonder what it's about," Merri mused while observing the preparing contestants. "On second thought, I don't really care."

Sooner that she'd expected, the conch horn sounded.

"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"

Was it just Merri's imagination or were those infernal metal birds multiplying? There were even more of them that there were when she arrived earlier, and they were screeching like crazy. The whole forest seemed to rustle with the sound. They'd even scared Lucy off with their noise! However, it seemed like nobody was paying them much attention – they were probably too focused on the race to do so – but they still made Merri's skin crawl in an unpleasant way. Those blasted beaks looked mighty sharp on those things. Now, all of Merri's attention was one the suspicious avian creatures littering the branches of the forest. So many were starting to gather up that people in the stands were starting to glance nervously at the trees shivering under the birds' weight, the noise caused by them reaching near deafening levels for Merri who was sitting close to them. Even Tantalus had to speak up to be heard over the noise.

"Charioteers!" he shouted. "Attend your mark!"

He waved his hand and the stating signal dropped. The chariots roared to life, hooves thundering against the dirt. The crowd cheered.

Almost immediately a loud crack resounded through the track. The Apollo chariot had flipped over, the Hermes chariot ramming into it – perhaps intentionally, perhaps not. The riders were thrown through the air, their panicking horses continued to drag the golden chariot diagonally across the track. The Stoll's, Travis and Connor, were laughing at their good luck but that too was to run out very soon as the Apollo horses crashed into them, flipping their chariot too and leaving them in a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust.

Two chariots down in the first twenty feet. She hated this sport. She hated seeing people get hurt. It was part of the reason she wanted to become a doctor.

Looking at her bag of crisps with regret, she heaved a sigh before jumping down from her perch and making her way towards the track.

Being the child of the god of horses – amongst other things – had its benefits, like Merri's ability to communicate with horses via a form of telepathy. She made quick work of calming down the Hermes and Apollo horses, bribing them with apples and sugar cubes before leading the four of them off the track. After tying the horses to the nearest tree, she returned to see if the four charioteers needed any help. The worst they seemed to have been hurt were a couple of shallow cuts and scrapes accompanied by the occasional bruise. 'Lucky bastards,' she thought to herself.

That was probably the moment that shit hit the proverbial fan. Looking over her shoulder to see how the race was going, Merri saw that the birds she was previously watching had risen from the trees in an impersonation of a big tornado of metal feathers. The birds swarmed the tack, dive-bombing the spectators in the stands and attacking the chariots. She saw Beckendorf get mobbed by them, his fighter desperately trying to bat the birds away despite not being able to see anything. Soon, their chariot veered off course, plowing right through the strawberry field while their mechanical horses steamed away. Merri would've gone to see if they were alright like she did with the previous two chariots, but was stopped in her track by a swarm of at least ten birds soaring right into her.

They knocked her down on her side, one of them digging its talons into her forearm leaving deep angry gashes on the scarred limb. The feeling of blood warmly flowing down her arm in stream, Merri tapped a random charm on her bracelet to summon a weapon and try to swat the birds away from her. Luckily for her, the charm she tapped was a bladed weapon, a Taijijian to be precise, and she swung it hitting three of the birds away.

A Taijijian is a straight two-edged Chinese sword used in the training of the martial art Taijiquan. It has a tassel attached to the pommel and makes a noise when hit by the opponent. A thinner version of the sword is used for theatrical purposes in Chinese street plays as to add visual appeal to the performance. But that's just trivial information here. Back to our matter at hand –crazy demonic metal birds attacking!

Merri used the momentary distraction to swiftly push herself to her feet and assume a proper stance. Blood was still flowing from the gashes making her grip on the sword slippery and hard to hold on but she was determined not to let those infernal birds get any closer to her that they already had.

In the background, she could hear the screams of the spectators in the stands. Apparently, they too had had an opportunity to experience just how sharp the beaks and talons were on the birds. Merri heard Annabeth yell that those were Stymphalian birds. 'Jeez thanks, not that I haven't figured it out for myself!' Alright, that may have made her sound like a real bitch seeing as the others probably didn't know that piece of information, but Merri was pissed – she was already moody enough from having to abandon her snack when the first two chariots crashed and now she was being attacked by crazy, metal, flesh-eating birds. Something told her she should've just stayed in bed today.

'Think, Merri! Think!' she mentally yelled at herself while swatting away at the birds. The things turned into gold dust the moment she managed to get a good slash in them but there were just too many of them. For every bird she destroyed, four took its place and Merri was quickly losing energy as well as blood. It wouldn't be too long before they manage to overpower her. She had to think, and fast!

'Think! What story are they from?! Stymphalian birds… Stypmhalian birds… Hercules! Oh, jeeze, what did he do to them? What did he do to them?... Noise! That's right! We'll need noise! Oh where is Mr. D. when you really need him?!'

Destroying three more birds, Merri saw Annabeth and Percy running for the Big House. Not sure whether they were running away or simply looking for a way to help, she continued slashing the birds down. She was more concerned with staying alive than the prospect of a couple of deserters.

All around her was complete and utter chaos. The chariots were in flames, wounded campers were running in all directions with birds following them. All the while, Tantalus was busy chasing breakfast pastries around the stands yelling, "Everything's under control! Not to worry!"

The moment the air was filled with the sounds of the All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin, the demon birds went berserk. They started flying into circles, slamming into each other before abandoning the track altogether and flying away in a huge dark wave.

"Now! Archers!" Annabeth shouted from somewhere on the track.

The Apollo archers started shooting at the retreating dark cloud. With their targets clear, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Within minutes, the ground was littered with dead bronze-beaked bird, the survivors a distant trail of smoke on the horizon.

Merri sighed in relief before falling down to her knees, her sword disappearing with a single tap of her fingers. She was running on pure adrenalin for the last few minutes and could now feel the ache of blood loss and being beaten around by metal birds settle deep in her bones. She was pretty sure her bruises had bruises.

'I'm getting too old for this shit,' flew through her head.

With no other quick solution, Merri focused the last of her strength and concentration into pulling as much water as she could from the air and surrounding grass to heal the gashes on her arm. The process managed to give her just enough energy to get up and tiredly limp back to her cabin to take a shower, Tantalus yelling at her back that she was to be punished for disrupting the race be damned. She merely flipped the immortal off and yelled at him to go chase a salad or something. She was going to deal with him some other time. Preferably, when she wasn't exhausted from fighting birds.

Another reason why she hates nearly anything with feathers added onto the ever growing list.

"I hate chariot racing," she muttered before turning on the shower.