Author's Note: Finally done with this one. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I know I'm late. Yes, I know you're all annoyed with me. I had a little bit of writer's block, but I got through it. I had so many different story plots in my mind, and I was busy and preoccupied with stuff, life, you know. But I'm done, and happy!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Percy Jackson or the Olympians.

Enjoy!

Chapter 4: My Sister Steals My Bed

The dining pavilion was full to capacity with campers. Since last summer, the gods have been keeping their promise about claiming their children. I glanced at the head table, where about fifteen demigods were sitting anxiously. A lot of them had cuts and bruises all over their faces, as if they'd been chased by monsters all the way there (which was probably the truth).

Everyone was sitting at their tables, talking, waiting for the meal to start, until Chiron thumped his hoof against the marble floor, signaling for silence.

"Welcome back, campers!" Chiron announced. "I am pleased to congratulate you all on the defeat of Kronos last summer. Well done!"

We all cheered in response.

"Mr. D," Chiron said, turning to the camp director, "is there anything you wish to say to the campers?"

Mr. D, short for Dionysus, god of wine, looked up with a bored expression on his face, which wasn't very surprising, since he seemed generally bored with life since Zeus had sent him down here to run the camp after chasing an off-limits wood nymph. "Yeah, yeah," he said tiredly. "So the little brats were lucky enough not to get killed by monsters and Titans. Whoop-di-do."

I rolled my eyes. I knew that even though he would never admit it, he knew our success was important, since we'd been fighting here in New York while the gods fought Typhon in the west.

Chiron continued. "Since this summer is the anniversary of our victory, we will have a dance this Saturday to celebrate!"

Excited murmuring ensued. I glanced over at Annabeth, who gave me a wink. I definitely had an idea of who I was going to ask.

Someone near Table Eight cleared her throat. I turned to see who it was, and I was surprised to see my friend Thalia, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis. She was standing with her arms folded.

Chiron acknowledged her with a nod and a smile. "And I'd like to give a warm welcome to the Hunters of Artemis, who have been invited back to share in occasion."

There was some half-hearted applause; the campers didn't really like the Hunters, and vice-versa. But Thalia nodded and gave a short smile. She was the only Hunter who was friendly with us campers.

"And now," Chiron said loudly, "let us introduce our new campers, who have been found by our satyrs over the school year." He gestured toward the group of new half-bloods sitting at the head table and told us their names. They all looked different ages, but none older than thirteen. Good, I thought. At least the gods were keeping that part of their promise. I'd asked for half-bloods to be claimed before age thirteen because that was when their powers began to grow, and when they began to be noticed by monsters. I myself had almost been thirteen when I'd come to camp.

One by one, the campers were claimed by their godly parents: two Apollo kids, a son of Ares, a daughter of Hephaestus, a son of Nemesis, a couple of Athena kids, and a few Hermes kids. I was painfully reminded of Luke, and how after his death, his father Hermes had made me promise to make sure his children made it safely to camp. I assumed these were the kids he'd been talking about, since I'd reminded the satyrs to keep an eye out for them.

The next kid was up, Jessica, I remembered—a blond girl with a bright blue streak on the side of her face. With a jolt, I realized she looked exactly like the girl from my dream. As I stared at her, she glanced my way for a brief half-second. And in that brief half-second, I met her eyes. They were green, like mine. In fact, they were exactly the same sea green as mine. A split second before the symbol appeared over her head, I knew what it was going to be.

A shimmering green trident, the symbol of my father, Poseidon, spun above Jessica's head, filling the room with a calm green light. Jessica was a daughter of Poseidon. Chiron pointed to my table, our table, and Jessica walked over to it, looking dazed, as the symbol over her head disappeared.

In the back of my mind, I remembered talking with Poseidon at the end of last summer, his inside-joke wink after he'd told me he'd have to claim his other children. I'd asked if he'd been kidding, and until now, I wasn't sure. But now, I knew he had been serious.

I felt a tap on my forearm. "Uh…is anyone there?" Jessica asked with a raised eyebrow.

I realized I'd been staring off into space. "Oh, sorry," I apologized. "Just…a lot on my mind, I guess. Um, I'm Percy."

"Jessica," she replied. She looked around the room with wonder apparent on her face. "Is the place seriously real? I'm not dreaming?"

I managed a small smile. I remembered being so confused on my first day at camp. "Didn't your satyr explain?" I asked her.

Jessica shrugged. "He just said that it was a safe place for kids like me. Like us, I guess," she corrected. "But I just remember a giant dog attacking me, and I guess I'd gotten knocked out, because I woke up in that big blue house with my head throbbing." She gave a nervous laugh. "But I'm guessing that's probably not weird to you at all, is it?"

I managed a shrug before the room lit up with silver light. We both turned our heads to the head table, but no one was over there but Chiron and Mr. D. Then Jessica turned toward the pavilion entrance and gasped. "No way," she whispered.

I followed her gaze and gasped as well. Standing at the entrance with the symbol of Athena—a silver owl—over her head was that girl from school, Avery. Her eyes looked up for a short moment to glance at the symbol floating above her, then she glanced at our table. She seemed to meet Jessica's eyes for a second. Jessica was still staring in awe, like she still couldn't believe the girl was standing there.

The pavilion filled with an awkward silence; she hadn't been one the demigods at the table—in fact, I hadn't seen her at all since school. She'd just suddenly showed up at camp and gotten claimed by Athena. All eyes drifted over to the Athena table, where Annabeth tentatively stood, motioning for the new demigod to join her. Annabeth caught my eye, and I shrugged. But I felt a little uneasy. Avery glanced in my direction, and, unless the light was playing tricks with me, her eyes seemed to glare icily into mine. I felt cold inside all over again, like another awful cough attack was threatening to take over. And it was stranger still that her eyes were blue instead of gray. All of the Athena kids, even Athena herself, had stormy gray eyes.

Jessica shook her head, mystified. "I cannot believe this," she murmured to herself.

Glad to look away from Avery's cold stare, I looked at Jessica. "Why not?" I asked her. "You sound like you know her from somewhere."

"I do," she said. "She and I used to be neighbors when we were little, up here in New York. We were like sisters…but my mom moved us down to Louisiana, and I haven't heard from her since." She shook her head with disbelief. "I can't believe all of that weird stuff happening to us was because we were…half-bloods."

"Oh." I didn't get a chance to think about it for too long, because then the harpies entered with pizza platters and bowls of grapes, along with some pastries. I picked up my plate and made my way to the bronze brazier to place my grapes in. "Jessica," I said, "The gods like us campers to sacrifice a portion of our meal to them, because they like how it smells." I was a little shocked to hear myself sound so much like Luke on my first day of camp. Jessica's perplexed look made me continue. "Just watch me." I lifted the bunch of grapes. "Poseidon," I murmured. Then I let the grapes fall into the flames, the smell of a fresh ocean breeze circling around me.

"It smells like the ocean," Jessica said.

I nodded. "Your turn."

She picked up a slice of pizza and did as I did. Then she turned to me. "So I'm guessing that means Poseidon's paying attention?" she asked.

I shrugged. It was an honest question, though I could never really tell when my father—our father—was listening to me. But after he'd hugged me last summer, I liked to think that he paid more attention to me that he had before…

I sighed. "I guess so," I finally managed.

When we got back to our table, I lifted my goblet and told it, "Blue Cherry Coke." The dark liquid sparkled into my cup.

Jessica's eyes fixed her eyes on it. "Your cup just filled with blue Cherry Coke," she said incredulously.

I gave her a small smile. "Oh, yeah," I said. "Tell it whatever you want as long as it's not alcohol."

She rolled her eyes. "Too bad," she said sarcastically. "I was planning on alcohol."

We both laughed, then Jessica looked at her own goblet. She hesitated before tentatively saying, "Pink lemonade?" Immediately her goblet filled with the drink. She took a sip and smiled. "Awesome," she giggled.

"So," I said, "You said you were from Louisiana. What are you doing up here in New York?"

Jessica frowned, lowering her goblet and picking up her fork. "You see, things were getting really weird at home, like, strange attacks happening at school and stuff," she explained. "So, my mom decided to take a road trip to New York, for reasons she wouldn't explain, but I now understand. Halfway there, somewhere in Virginia, she dropped me off with some strange guy with curly hair, and we began to drive up to New York, but then this giant dog attacked us over near that big hill with the pine tree."

"Half-Blood Hill?" I asked.

She shrugged. "If that's what it's called, then yeah," she replied. I was running and it jumped on top of me. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the big blue farmhouse."

I raised an eyebrow, but I wasn't at all surprised. I mean, it was pretty similar to how I got to Camp Half-Blood. "I can totally relate," I told her.

Jessica's gaze drifted over to the Athena table again. "I can't believe we're both half-bloods," she muttered.

I shrugged. Annabeth met my eyes and gave me a wink. That sent butterflies fluttering around in my stomach, and I smiled.

After a nice campfire and sing-along, we made our way back to the Poseidon cabin, with its gray sea-stone walls. Jessica stepped through the doorway and stood staring at the room. She seemed to be in a total trance. "Whoa," she managed. She looked walked over to my bed and ran her fingers over the minotaur horn on the wall. She mouthed the word "Wow," and kept looking around. "It's beautiful in here," she whispered. She looked up at the ceiling and pointed. "What are those?" she asked.

I saw what she meant and smiled. "Hippocampi," I answered, remembering how Tyson had made the small horse-fish hybrids, so delicately working with his huge Cyclops hands.

Jessica climbed onto my bed and relaxed, putting her hands behind her head. "I could really get used to this place," she sighed.

"Fine, as long as you get your own bed to sleep on, because that one's mine," I said.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Doesn't really matter, does it?" she asked. "But fine, I'll move, just for you, mon frère," she said.

I frowned. "What?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "It means, 'my brother'," she explained. "Like the song, 'Frère Jacques', remember?"

"So you're French?" I asked.

"Yup. I love it—the language of love," she sighed. Then she looked at me with a seemingly knowing smile playing across her lips. "And speaking of love…seems to me like you're in love with that Athena counselor, Annabeth."

I could feel my face get warmer, but I nodded.

"I thought so," Jessica said. "I saw her wink at you, and you smiled back. Also, you came in together holding hands. As a matter of fact, I saw lots of hand-holding at the campfire tonight, too."

"Well, yeah," I said. "She's my girlfriend."

"For how long?"

I blinked. "Since last August, so?"

Jessica raised her eyebrows, as if she were impressed. "Since last August?" she asked. "Nice. Most of my friends don't keep their boyfriends for a whole month, much less a year."

I frowned. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen, almost fourteen," she answered. "And you're what, sixteen?"

I nodded. "Almost seventeen," I added.

"So," Jessica said nonchalantly, "did you two have your first kiss yet? I hope so, because you cannot have gone out for a whole year without one kiss."

My face must've been glowing. "That's none of your business."

"So you have."

"So what if I have?"

"Did you kiss her, or did she kiss you?"

"I said, that's none—"

"I bet she kissed you," she decided. "You look too shy to make the first move."

My face was on fire. I opened my mouth to answer, but then there was a knock at the door. Taking the opportunity to escape my awkward situation, I answered it. The person standing at the threshold was none other than Annabeth.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," she smiled.

"Well, Annabeth," Jessica smiled back, strolling casually up to the door. "We were just talking about you."

"Oh, really?" Annabeth said, but she had her eyes on me. "Good things, I hope?"

"Great things," Jessica said. Then she took a step back, studying us as if she were going to take a picture or something. She smiled. "Yeah," she decided. "You two are officially adorable together. Oh, you know, Annabeth," she added before lowering her voice to a whisper that everyone in the room could hear, "He really wants to kiss you, but he's too shy to-"

I clamped my hand over her mouth and gave a nervous laugh, but the blush wouldn't leave my cheeks. Annabeth's face was a little pink, too, but she managed a smile.

"Um, anyway," she said, "I just came to say goodnight…so, uh, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Annabeth," I replied as she pecked me on the cheek. "And I'm sorry about—"

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine," she smiled.

When she was gone, I still lingered at the door, trying to compose myself. That was a moment that I would never, ever be able to erase. "Lights out," I told Jessica.

We both got undressed and went to bed, Jessica taking the bunk above mine. I lay in my own bed, wondering how I would get through this summer with my new half-sister.

Cool! I actually sort of like this chapter, and Jessica's a fun character to create. Review, and stuff! You're all awesome!

BTW what do you guys think about me writing an AU story? *gasp*

Plot would be, Percy is a god, and he has a daughter with Annabeth named Andi (Andromeda). I know, the name isn't original, but it seriously works with my story and I chose it for a reason. You know how Perseus saved Andromeda? Well, I was thinking, maybe in the new generation, Andromeda can save Perseus. Yeah, Percy would get captured or something, and his daughter would go on a quest to save him. Probably not a good plot so far, but once I get the ball rolling in my head, it would be cool. I promise. Anyway, tell me what you think.

~Mandi2341