I woke up with a groggy groan in the morning. My phone alarm went off, 5 o'clock in the morning. Great. I forgot to turn it off. How did I end up in bed?

I peeled off my pajamas (.com/nighty_night/set?id=42507899) and pulled on (.com/cgi/set?id=42654029).

I walk out the door and search the kitchen for some breakfast. Shaking the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I glance inside. "I swear this was almost full yesterday," I mumble to myself. Now it was less than half full.

Jacob strolls into the tiny kitchen as I finish off my breakfast, and wash it in the sink. "What are you doing?" he wonders.

"Washing the dishes. Ever heard of it?" Jacob rolls his eyes and takes a huge bite out of a cold pizza. Then he gags and throws it into the microwave, and punches in a few numbers.

"Seth and Leah are coming over," he says, staring at the door. "Everyone else will probably come later."

"Seth?" I ask. "Leah? How do you know?"

As if on cue, somebody knocks on the door. Through the window I see Leah looking bored, and Seth staring out at the ocean. I made a mental note to go there later. I was aching to get closer to water.

Leah walks in. Jacob was suddenly at the kitchen table, not at the microwave. That was fast. Seth follows his older sister, avoiding eye contact with me. He staggers to a seat at the table and averts his eyes from Jacob, who was giving him a death glare. Leah's mouth moves as if she's saying something, and Jacob sighs exasperatingly. "Fine," he mutters harshly, then escapes to the living room. Leah follows, determined.

Seth's head drops to the table, burying his face in his arms. I stand around awkwardly until he looks up. "So."

"So."

"How old are you?"

I laughed. "Didn't we confirm that yesterday?" The mentioning of my coming-of-age made me queasy. The sky did look particularly dark today, the ocean crashing against the rocks.

"Oh, yeah. We did. Well I'm 16, too."

Smiling, I say casually, "Cool."

Another awkward silence. We chat more; Seth finds out I've attended a camp-not knowing its name, of course-and been, well, kicked out of a lot of schools. Almost as many as Percy. I usually followed him and he usually followed me to whatever schools, the security of another demigod, especially a half-brother demigod, was comforting. Seth's lived in La Push all his life, but only recently has befriended his current cohorts.

We're both sitting next to each other, showing each other photos of our pasts. I show Annabeth and Percy with a sly grin, the picture had been taken without them knowing. Thalia grinning at the camera, Grover sneaking up behind her. Thalia slapping Grover as he tried to give her bunny ears. Chiron scolding me for having a cell phone at camp. Dionysus looking bored. Drinking Coca Cola. Luke before he went... bad. Tyson smiling like a lunatic, clutching a peanut butter sandwich. I didn't show Seth the picture of Tyson, fear that his one eye would show. And luckily, the picture including Grover was waist up.

Seth constantly hangs out with my cousin, his sister, Paul, Embry, Quil and Sam. Sometimes he hangs out with Bella-a long lost friend of mine-and her boyfriend's family. The Cullens. Their pale skin stands out, even against Bella's fair-skin, glittering golden eyes. Bella's boyfriend, Edward Cullen was much taller than her. Apparently his family was adopted, and everybody was like, a couple. Jasper and Alice (also a huge height difference). Rosalie and Emmett (Rosalie was just... wow. She could be a child of Aphrodite. And for Emmett, well, he scares me, despite the look on his face). Seth seems to tighten up as he shows me the Cullens-inhumanly beautiful Cullens-but relaxes slightly at the sound of a brisk rap on the door.

The door opens automatically, pushed open by Embry. Quil and Paul follow. Paul eyes us talking. Grinning, he says, "Hey, you two!" Seth growls.

"I'm going for a swim," I told them. "Tell anybody who wonders where I am."

Quickly I dressed in a swimsuit, slipped on shorts over it, and went outside. I kicked up rocks and sand on the way to the beach. When I arrive to my destination point, I pulled off my shorts and waded in the shallow parts, pushing the water out of my way mentally, looking at the world underneath it. I didn't realize how deep I'd gotten until I looked up at the sound of my name. A wall of water encircled me, and I quickly filled up the hole, and swam to the top.

When I popped up, I saw Seth looking confused. "Did I-you just-?"

"Did I what?" I ask.

"Why are you dry?"

I cursed to myself in Ancient Greek. As a daughter of Poseidon, Percy and I shared the same abilities; we were able to control water, stay dry when wanted, breathe underwater, all that good stuff. I pretended to trip as I walked closer to the shore, allowing myself to get wet with regret. "Uh, I wasn't?" I stammer.

Seth doesn't say anything. Only hands me a towel. I shiver, not used to being wet in cold weather. He drapes an arm around me and gives me my shorts. I take them with a smile.

A thick mist hangs around us, and more clouds roll in from the east. Maybe Camp Half-Blood has already experienced the oncoming storm. As heavy droplets of water fall to the ground, one hits me in the eye as I look up, and I nearly say, "I know that was on purpose, Zeus!"

Maybe I did say that, or maybe Zeus can read thoughts, because lightning flashed, thunder boomed and the rain fell harder.

We ran up the porch steps to Jacob's house, and I realize, as Seth lets go of me, how warm I was. Until he let go of me. He smiles like an idiot while a man comes up, holding a perfectly dry package. His pale eyes seem familiar, and so does his curly black hair. With a gasp, I realize who this is. "Seth-Seth!" He snaps his eyes away from me, glances at the man, and back at me.

"Yeah?"

"Go inside."

He purses his lips. "Why? Who is that?"

"Just go!" I push him inside with difficulty, and unsure of what to do, I bow. "Lord Hermes." I say, shutting the door uncomfortably behind me.

He laughs. "Rise, child. Very respectful. I have a package for you." He held out the box and something for me to sign.

I smile. "I figured as much." After signing the slip, I hand it back to him and tuck the package under my arm. He sighs, an stares at the sky. "Is something wrong?" I ask.

He turns back, his eyes sad. "I just miss him. And there are some problems. But not too much." I know he's talking about Luke. Luke was my friend. Like Annabeth, I thought there was some good in him. I believed everybody, maybe even Ares and Clarisse, had good in them.

Hermes starts down the stairs, but turns back. "Oh, and your brother is missing. Annabeth is on a rampage," he tosses me a drachma. "To call, if you would like." With a wink, he disappears.

Missing? My brother was missing? Howcould he be missing? I mean, this is Percy Jackson we're talking about! But he does have a strong scent... a strong demigod scent. And so do I.

Mind full of worrying thoughts, I grabbed my package and went inside.