To be perfectly honest, I was nervous. It was definitely not about sitting next to Annabeth driving her to meet my parents, even my dad who I've never met in my life. And it was also definitely not that I had never used a GPS in my life.

Yes, I'm a bit behind technology.

The air between us was so tense that you could cut through it with a knife. Every time I tried to talk, the conversation dwindled out quickly—not that it was Annabeth's fault.

We drove past some huge houses—like the size of mansions—and Annabeth started commenting about their structures. I tried to listen, I really did, but I found myself getting lost in her words, her voice, and just everything.

"Percy? Are you listening? Seaweed Brain," she said, waving her hand in front of my face.

My head jerked up, and I cracked my spine. I winced. "Ow. Yeah."

She smirked. "You're going to drive past the house."

"Huh?" I parked the car on the street.

I turned off the GPS and looked at the house we were parked in front of. It was a huge white mansion which looked impressive, but I couldn't tell anything about it from the outside. I was nothing compared to Annabeth who immediately started listing off all the things she saw there.

"Maybe it's the wrong house," I said, scratching my head. "Let me check the address."

"It's the right house, Seaweed Brain," she said confidently and got out of the car, leaving me no choice but to follow.

It felt strange walking on the doorsteps of my father's home. The father that was never there for me. Who I would meet with for the first time with my friend. The father that just happened to be another rich businessman from the biggest company in the world.

"Hey, you okay?" Annabeth asked, looking at me with her gray eyes. She sounded concerned, not teasing.

"Y-Yeah," I managed, and rang the doorbell.

The door opened immediately, and I quickly stepped back. The door missed me by an inch.

"Percy!" my mom cried, and gave me a giant hug.

"Hey, Mom," I said weakly. "Missed you too."

She stepped back, and I got my first good look at her. She looked much better than she had back at our house, and she seemed… I don't know. Happy. Was she still happy when she was with someone that abandoned her?

My mom finally got a look at Annabeth who was standing to the side with a small smile. "Oh, is this a friend? Or is she your girl—"

"Mom!" I yelled, feeling my cheeks heat up. "She's just a friend! Mom, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, this is… uh, my mom, obviously."

"Nice to meet you Ms. Jackson," Annabeth said.

My mom smiled. "Please, just call me Sally. Anyway, come in, you two."

She let us in, and we followed her to the kitchen. The mansion was huge, but it was decorated with a snug feel. The walls were either white or a pale bluish-green, and there were a whole bunch of fish tanks. I counted at least six. I smelled something familiar: chocolate chip cookies. Sure enough, there was a blue batch sitting on the counter.

"Oh my gods. No way," I drooled.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, and my mom said, "Just for you, dear. Now stop drooling and dig in."

We sat at the table awkwardly, munching on the cookies. I ate at least five. I didn't realize how much I missed these cookies. It was like I was on cookie drugs. Annabeth stayed silent, but I wasn't sure if it was because it was awkward ever since I started hanging around with Rachel or if she just had a lot on her mind.

"So, tell me what's going on," my mom said, resting her head on her palm. "Tell me everything."

We gave her a brief rundown of everything, Annabeth piping in a few times. She told her some extra information that even I didn't know. By the end, my mom was near tears.

"Oh, honey. That must've been so hard for you," she said, only she was talking to Annabeth.

"I'm going to go wander around, if that's okay," I mumbled.

"Okay, dear. Don't get lost," my mom said. "I'll be talking to Annabeth here, if she's fine with that."

Annabeth shot my mom a grin in response.

I sighed and walked off. I wasn't sure where I was going, seeing how I barely even knew this house. It was like a labyrinth which I did not appreciate, but I didn't feel as threatened. If anything attacked, I could, like, make the fish tanks explode or something. I wondered if Daedalus was able to shut down the labyrinth in time.

I raised my head and found myself in a room that looked like an aquarium. The tank was along the curved circular wall, and I could've sworn I saw a shark in there. The room itself was dark, the only light coming from the fish tank.

"What do you think?" A voice said behind me, and I whirled around, my sword in my hands. The man chuckled. "No need for weapons, Perseus. Put it down, but I'm glad that you're using it quite finely."

"Who are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. I capped the sword, but kept the pen in my hands. "Are you—"

His green eyes twinkled with laughter. "Yes. I'm Poseidon."

Oh. That made sense. My mom had commented that I had his eyes and hair, and I could see it now. I wasn't sure what to feel. Was I supposed to feel angry that he was married yet had me with my mom? Was I supposed to feel amazed about seeing my father for the first time?

"Oh, um… Hi?" I said stupidly.

He laughed. "You've grown."

Anger filled me rapidly. "You never even saw me. You never visited or helped, even when we were living with Gabe."

Poseidon winced. "Percy, I'm sorry—"

"Forget it," I grumbled. "If you'll excuse me…"

"Father," another guy said strolling in. "The preparations are ready." His green eyes latched onto me, and I resisted the urge to step back. "Well, Perseus, come to help at last?"

He had our green eyes and hair, only he had it tied in a ponytail. He was older than me by a few years and also an inch or two taller than me, much to my dismay.

"Percy," I corrected, and I tried to push down my anger. It was obviously not working because the water in the tank was bubbling. I cursed under my breath.

"It takes a while to get it," Poseidon sighed in sympathy. "I mean, sometimes I'll come down after a shower and find the kitchen flooded. It's a mess. Anyway, Percy, this is Triton, my, erm, other son."

"Son and heir," Triton corrected. "Father, Oceanus is on the move. He's probably going to be their first move."

Poseidon let out another tired sigh. "Alright then. Where's Amphitrite?"

"She left when he and his girlfriend came," Triton said, pointing at me with his chin like I was a piece of dirty laundry.

Poseidon nodded. "Ah, I see."

My face heated up. "She's not my girlfriend."

Triton rolled his eyes, and Poseidon laughed.

"You go first, son," Poseidon said, and Triton nodded. "I'll join later."

I waited for Triton to leave, and I asked," What's going on?"

"Oceanus is on the move," he said, which didn't explain much. "He might cut off the water supply and such."

That didn't seem like much to me, but I refrained from saying anything. Unfortunately, he wasn't done.

"He's sending his armies through the water, and I have to go meet them," he finished. "I can't stay here for long, even now."

"Oh. Okay," I said, my heart sinking.

"Kronos will make his move as well. He has already moved the pawn," Poseidon said.

I sighed. "Why does everyone have to speak in riddles now?"

Poseidon laughed again. "Well, I'll be seeing you again. When you go back, try consulting Chiron about your little… oracle."

"Oracle?" I frowned. "Oh, Rachel."

He nodded and left me alone in the room. I looked glumly at a squid swimming by. At least they didn't have a care in the world. I sighed and walked back to the kitchen.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, not looking at me.

"Where's my mom?"

"Went to go get some baby pictures," she said. She smirked when she saw my horrified expression. "Just kidding. She went to go contact some other Olympians. Alert them on what's happening."

"So what did you two talk about?" I asked as I grabbed a cookie.

"Nothing important. Girl talk," she said.

"Well, while we're waiting for her, what do you feel about some snooping around?" I grinned.

"What if we get caught?"

"I don't think he has maids, and they all went out," I said. "We should try to get some information. I mean, I came here to see my mom, but why not do some other stuff too?"

A smile split her face. "Sounds like a plan."

"Good, I was worrying that it might be stupid."

She punched my arm playfully. "Just lead."

We climbed up the stairs, peeking through the slightly ajar doors. I didn't want to risk dropping in Amphitrite's room. Or any of their family, really.

Nevertheless, we dropped in Triton's room, and Annabeth had to drag me away so I didn't bomb the whole place.

"Hey, Percy. Look what I found," she called from the end of the hallway.

"What?" I said, and jogged over.

She shoved me in a closet and closed the door behind us.

I cussed under my breath, and I could imagine Annabeth rolling her eyes. "What did you do that for?" I stepped back and touched something slimy. "Ew, what the heck is this?"

"You sound like a baby," Annabeth scoffed, and flicked on the lights. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding.

We were surrounded by racks of weapons and file cabinets. The slimy thing I touched... turned out to be some spoiled yogurt that someone had left in here.

"Aw, gross!"

I started shaking my hand wildly, and Annabeth slapped me. "Don't do that. You're going to ruin the papers."

I didn't know what she meant until she opened the file cabinets and started ruffling through them. She passed some to me, but I couldn't make sense out of any of them. I recognized some Greek myths that my mom used to tell me as a kid, but that was it. Plus my dyslexia wasn't helping either.

"That's enough, I think," Annabeth said. "We can always come back later."

I passed her one of the papers from the stack as we headed back, and I tried reading the one directly under that. I saw a few phrases that I understood here and there, like Daedalus made this in 1999, in the Greek Myths, the River Styx…

I looked up to take a break, and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. My mom was on the floor in front of us, face down. She seemed to be alive, but she wasn't moving.

"Oh my gods," I said, and dropped the papers. I rushed over and carefully turned her over.

Annabeth sorted the papers and dropped next to me. She put her hand over her heart. "Her heart's still beating. She's alive."

"Then why is she like this?" But as I said that, everything clicked in my head. "Kronos."

"What?"

"Poseidon said that Kronos moved his first pawn. I have a feeling this is it."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Guess we'll have to cut this visit short then."

I looked down at my mom, thinking of all the things I wanted to tell her. "I'll just put her in bed then join you by the car."

"Alright then," she said, and fished the keys from my jacket. "Hurry."

She ran down the stairs by threes, and I carried my mom to her room. I eased the door open and lay her on the bed. I pulled the blanket over her.

"I'll come back," I promised. "There's so many things I want to tell you…" I choked on my words. "Bye, Mom."

I kissed her forehead then went outside where Annabeth was waiting. But something was wrong.

"I don't… hear anything," I said.

Annabeth nodded. "It's not just your mom, Percy. The whole city's asleep."