I finally understood why mom didn't want me singing everywhere. The eyes of Rhodes while she watched me, were terrifying, beautiful, and addicting. I wanted to see them more and more. I wanted her to bow before me with those white eyes, but at the same time I didn't like that I was seeing. I didn't like that I was prone to the Siren's song. And I certainly didn't like that I apparently trained my whole life for it.

As soon as I stopped singing Rhodes fell out of her charm and she started crying. Full on sobbing and kicking the ground. Mortals would send her to a mental hospital if they ever saw a woman doing this. Her screams echoed in the cave, erupting the water. I felt my ears pop and I walked backwards as she screamed and ripped out her hair.

She said my Siren's song was powerful. A bit too powerful.

She didn't say it, but I knew she was thinking "If you can charm me, can you charm Zeus into not killing you? Can you charm your way into survival?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Pollux.

'Percy, come here!' I turned my head as I saw Pollux, Castor, Katie, and Akemi wave at me. They were standing in the strawberry fields.

'Coming!' I ran to them.

The scent of fresh strawberries clouded my mind and I stopped near them.

'Hallo, Perce!' said Katie.

'Hallo, you guys have shifts right now?'

'Everyone but this dude.' She pointed at Akemi. 'Imagine this, he volunteered for an extra shift!Volunteered!' she said that as if she wasn't sure ifI knew the word.

Akemi pouted. 'Just because I am a child of Aphrodite, doesn't mean that I can't like anything beyond 90s rom-coms.'

'But you do like 90s rom-coms…' Pollux pointed out. Akemi rolled their eyes, but it was playfully.

'Can you blame me?'

Pollux shook his head and smiled. 'Sure, Castor would agree with you, wouldn't you, Castor?' Castor nodded and proceeded to mumble something about "Chandler" and "Monica". He did this while taking out a long pipe from his bag.

I frowned; it was a weird-looking instrument.

'What is this?'

'A lur, a Norwegian instrument.' I couldn't understand why they even had instruments here. As if sensing my question Castor answered.

'Castor and I can only grow grapes with our powers. For other plants we need to make music, and even that doesn't always work.'

As on cue, Pollux grabbed a small lyre from his pocket, it looked like a plastic toy from the gas-station.

Katie stretched her arms out and started to mumble something. As soon as she did that, a bunch of flies started to flee from her and the fields, leaving the strawberries more or less unharmed. Pollux and Castor started playing and the plants started growing slowly. The sound they were making was so carefree and so full of laughter, that every note was like a breath of fresh air. Katie made her hands a fist and they started growing with an unbelievable speed. Flowers opened their leaves right before me. It was beautiful.

I sighed. I wished I had Katie's powers. Cool, harm-free powers instead of the Siren's song. I watched as they marched into the fields. Akemi walked near me.

'I know what you think.' I turned to them. I panicked; was I so bad at hiding my parentage?

'W-what do you mean?'

They laughed but smiled. 'Assuming you can't grow plants, your powers are something with madness. Maybe you can drive people into suicide...or worse? And you wish to have the same powers as Pollux and Castor. You dont want to not be...' they paused. 'Dangerous.'

I nodded. That seemed like a good cover up.

'I have the same thing. I can charmspeak.' Charmspeak sounded like a cereal company. Like fruity loops.

'What is charmspeak?'

Instead of answering Akemi said. 'Jump.'

I didn't understand what was in their voice that made me want to jump but everything in me screamed that I need to jump. But I didn't want to. Who were they to tell me such a thing? But my legs didn't listen. I jumped.

'See, charmspeak.' They shrugged and I nodded. Our powers were alike. Only mine was more raw, more unrestrained. Like the sea.

I haven't noticed as Pollux, Castor and Katie returned. Katie looked incredibly annoyed.

'Can you believe it? I wanted to eat a strawberry, but this damn bug won't get away.' She pointed at a strawberry she picked, and I noticed a bug there. It was barely noticeable.

'Why don't you eat another strawberry?' asked Akemi. Katie looked at them with confidence. 'This is a matter of spite.'

Castor laughed. 'Katie and her spite, name a more iconic duo!'

'What is it then?' I asked. Castor smiled and proceeded to ramble.

'One time, Hannah from the Ares cabin said that she will never win against her in sparring. Katie trained non-stop for a few months, and she beat her. And this one time Malcolm from the Athena cabin mentioned that the Demeter kids didn't have a noticeable scent cause they're not that powerful. Katie grew a Venus Fly trap and he got his finger bitten off. They needed to sew it back. Also this one time Luisa-'

But his other words were muffled cause Katie jumped on him. 'We doNOTtalk about Luisa!' Castor managed to get away one hand from his mouth and screamed.

'Katie made her bed full of grow full of roses!' I frowned.

'Aren't roses like…romantic?'

Katie shook her head and grinned like an evil witch. 'Rose petals? Sure. Rose thorns? Not so much.'

I winced. That sounded painful.

'What did Luisa do to deserve that?'

Katie climbed off Castor and mumbled something. 'She doesn't see anything beyond her own eyes.'

Akemi nodded. 'She misgendered me.' they smiled. 'Also, I was celebrating Hanami, a Japanese festival for the beginning of the spring, the time when the Sakura is blossoming, and she said, and I quote, 'Here we don't need your stupid festivals. You're in America.'

I nodded. Maybe rose thorns were fitting.

'Katie, no!' I turned and saw Katie eating a strawberry. Pollux was looking at it almost sobbing.

'T-the bug…you killed the bug.'

Katie shrugged. 'If he did listen to me, he wouldn't have suffered such fate.' She went back to the plants. Pollux looked at his watch and signaled to me and Castor that we needed to go to our cabin.

'Have fun with power-practicing, I guess.' Said Akemi and smiled. 'If I don't join you in a couple of minutes, assume I am mourning the bug.'

At the reminder of the now-dead bug Pollux grimaced. 'See you then.'

And we marched to our cabin. It was cool to have siblings whom a shared a cabin with. Especially with someone as Pollux and Castor.

We laughed at the way back to our cabin and when I opened the door, I didn't expect to see my pretend-dad there.

Dionysus was sitting in his cabin, with slime all over his body. His face expression neutral but annoyed.

'D-dad?'

'I was the damn bug.'