The last god Percy really wanted to check off his list of potential parents before stopping the prank was Demeter. The fact that he'd manipulated earth (spread through camp by the satyrs and nymphs) had put Hades on the betting list, even if most didn't seem to think it was that plausible. Percy was more than fine with that.

Ethan had congratulated him for continuing the prank, as had Johan and Mara, but Luke was still avoiding him as August came around. Along with most of the rest of camp. Still. By that point, Percy had just come to accept that that would be his lot in the camps until he made a name for himself, but he'd liked the camaraderie while it lasted.

With everything going on and his thoughts turning to the future, he decided Demeter would be his last prank. Otherwise, he'd be dragging the joke out too long. Besides, as much as he had enjoyed it all, it had worked against him in the end.

Not that he couldn't take it (it was annoying at best), and he did remember enough from his first go around to be used to it. The prank had still seemed to make people think, too, so he probably wouldn't even change it if he had to start over a third time. (He'd better not.)

So the final day of the prank ended in early August, when the heat of the summer months could severely hurt plants if not tended to correctly. Now, he'd never had a green thumb, but he'd never been particularly bad at growing either. And the Demeter cabin was always looking for people who weren't terrible to help them with some of the more menial jobs for maintaining the strawberries the camp relied on.

Still, the look on their faces when he showed up. Every single demigod—and a good deal of satyrs too—stopped and stared at him from their various places around the field. He grinned, knowing very well he just looked like a delinquent. He blamed his father.

"Hey," he waved. "Mind if I help?"

"Oh… sure," Miranda, who happened to be the closest, said a little dazedly. She kept looking at him like she wasn't sure she was actually seeing him.

"What do you need me to do?" he prodded after a moment.

"We… need some fertilizer spread."

Ah, yes, the worst job in gardening. Percy still nodded emphatically, pointing to the nearby wheelbarrows with shovels stuck into the piles of smelly, brown 'dirt' inside them. He'd figured he'd probably be doing something like that anyway, so he'd worn his rattiest clothes. Not that most of his clothes didn't have holes in them, but hey.

"Where should I start?" he asked.

"Over there," Miranda said, still kind of blinking at him as she pointed towards a droopier corner of the field that the satyrs and demigods hadn't gotten to yet. He could even see Castor and Pollux in the next field over watching him interact with the Demeter kids, although they looked more entertained than anything. He was positive if they had a bucket of popcorn, they would be relaxing and sharing it as they observed.

He always knew they were smart.

He still made his way over to the appointed area as if no one was watching, pushing the wheelbarrow carefully between the strawberry plants, completely ignoring everyone else.

Thus began a long morning of work.

Initially, he'd wanted to try and manipulate the water inside the plants to make them grow, but after some time testing it out in the woods, he realized he could only make them move, and even then only with far too much effort. Still good to know, but that wasn't actually going to help him in the long run with the Demeter cabin.

It took him entirely too long to remember what would help him: his connection to the camp. It wasn't part of his domains technically, but the camp was so deeply tied in with his demigod domain (not to mention right near the sea, which gave him strength too) that he could, theoretically, manipulate the aura of any living thing connected to the camp. After more testing, he realized it was only to a limited extent. A very limited extent. He fully expected to be taking a very long nap that afternoon.

So, as he worked on spreading the fertilizer, he carefully reached out to the camp and directly fed what divine power he had into the nearby strawberry plants through that connection. Within minutes, he was feeling it, but he kept going, making sure to take a break every half-hour or so.

When it was nearing lunch, Katie approached him.

"Um… Percy?"

He turned and smiled at her, wondering why the world seemed to spin a little.

Oh… wait.

"You… don't look so good."

"Oh, I'm fine," he said, waving her off and pasting a smile on his face. He'd have to head back for that nap as soon as he could. "Did I do a good job?"

She looked past him at the fertilized area and nodded. "Yeah, that looks…"

Percy held back a snicker. She'd noticed the plants from the expression on her face.

"Percy… has anyone come to help you over here, yet?"

He shook his head, keeping a firm grip on the shovel he'd buried into the ground in front of him. That wasn't the only thing keeping him upright at the moment (was it?), but it helped. "Nope. Just me."

Aaand there were black spots. Apparently the shovel was the only thing keeping him upright. Oops. He'd overestimated himself again. And he really had pushed this joke too far. Funny how he came to so many realizations as those spots grew. He heard Katie calling out to him worriedly, but couldn't make out what she was saying.

The next thing he knew, he felt warm dirt on his cheek, thankfully not the recently fertilized area. At least it didn't smell that way.

Yeah. This was definitely the last day of the prank. Maybe one of these days he'd learn when to stop.

xXx

Percy woke up in the medical room.

Again.

Good to know that his 300 years of living hadn't managed to pound the recklessness out of him.

Sad to know that he'd exhausted himself over a little bit of gardening.

Seaweed Brain, his wife's fond voice rang through his mind. He shook his head. Every time he thought he'd gotten a hold of how restricted his current access to divine power was, the universe happily shoved his face in how he really hadn't.

"Well, good to see you back in the land of the living," Erin's voice brought him back to the present and he turned his head to see her striding towards him. "Also, you need to apologize to the Demeter cabin. You really freaked them out. Probably the Dionysus cabin too."

Percy sighed. "Yeah. That's fair."

"Good. Now, mind telling me what happened?"

He didn't wince, but it was a close thing. "I… was stupid."

"Was it your prank?"

He did wince that time. "You know about that?"

"Percy, everybody knows about that. It's obvious." She shook her head, golden-blond pony-tail swishing behind her. "If you were trying to keep that a secret, you're not a good secret keeper. We just don't know how far it runs… which is what's making the betting fun. I, personally, highly approve."

Percy snorted.

"Though once you reveal your actual parentage, you'll have to tell us how you did it all."

"With some help from the rest of the Hermes cabin," Percy said, grinning.

"So that rules out Hermes. Good to know."

The time-traveler blinked. "Um… what?"

"I'm positive you know your parentage and if it really was Hermes, you would have said 'our' or 'my' cabin. You're inclusive like that."

Percy snorted. "Are you sure you're not an Athena legacy somewhere too?"

Erin grinned and shrugged. "Who knows? Now, drink up." She held out a glass of nectar, about half-full.

Sitting up was harder than he wanted to admit, but he managed to take the glass carefully before beginning to sip at it. The divine liquid soothed the all too familiar (and somewhat nostalgic, not in a good way) ache in his gut and he let out a long breath. Erin took a seat in the chair beside the bed (the same one Luke and Annabeth had sat in? He thought so—wait, had they designated a bed for him? He may need to rethink… no, focus), seeming content to watch him.

"So," he said, trying to avoid some awkwardness, "where are you from?"

She smiled. "A small city in Colorado. Doubt you've heard of it. Fruita."

"Nope," Percy agreed. "Do you like it there?"

A shrug. "I mean, it is what it is. Although I will say I do love the mountains. It's greener here though. I think I like that, despite it being more crowded."

"Well, I'm a New Yorker, born and raised. Probably always will be." In more ways than one.

She snorted. "I can tell."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" he asked, mock offended.

Erin just grinned.

"So you're, what, seventeen?" Percy went on. He'd never met her before and wanted to know why. Was she a defector, or had she been attacked, or had she just 'graduated'?

"Sixteen," she corrected. "I turn seventeen in October."

Which meant she had at least one other year before she wouldn't be expected back every summer. So either a defector or attacked.

He didn't know which one he preferred.

"Still seems old to a twelve-year-old like me," he managed to force out with a smile, hoping any strain he had could be hidden behind another sip of nectar.

"Brat," she said, good-naturedly. Then she paused. "Wait, I thought you were eleven."

He pouted. "I turn twelve this month."

A twinkle he didn't like entered her eye. "Oh?" she asked, all too innocently. "When?"

His eyes narrowed. "Depends. Are you going to throw me some big party?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you want a big party?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Huh. Did he? He'd rarely had large parties for his birthdays in the past, and once he'd become a god, it had sort of become moot. Dionysus had still tried to use him as an excuse to throw a party when he'd taken over Camp, but it really hadn't been his style. Not that he thought he would mind a party of demigods…

"What would that entail?" he asked slowly, wondering why he'd never had a party before. Well, the first time around, it had probably all been due to the wars, and he did remember a couple, but never his. Also, 'parties' tended to change over the years as different campers and cultures came.

"Lots of drinks and food," she started.

Percy laughed. "Fair."

"Probably a couple of fights. Depends on if Mr. D wants to get involved or not. Sometimes he thinks we're below him."

"Really?" Percy asked sarcastically. "I never would have guessed."

Erin snorted, but continued. "Singing—both to and with you—and if we can swing it, maybe some fireworks."

Okay, that actually did sound fun.

"August eighteenth."

She grinned and fell quiet, looking thoughtful. He hoped he hadn't just signed a part of himself away. It kind of felt like it.

"So… where is Fruita exactly?" he asked, hoping to get a little more information, just in case she needed help this year. Maybe he could find a way to get there? There had to be some way for him to use water to travel, like Nico did with shadows. The more demigods they had this time around, the better. Besides, he'd been a god of demigods. It was his job… or would be. Well, it was still a part of him, so yeah, it was his job.

Her eyes narrowed, but she allowed the change of topic. "West Colorado. Right by the Colorado River, actually."

"Oh, really?" he asked, genuinely excited now. If there was a significant body of water near her when (if) she got attacked… Yeah, that would be his next project. Figuring out how to transport via water instead of his usual method, the typical godly way of flashing. Which, again, he was still sure he could do, but he was still pretty sure he wouldn't be mortal afterwards. But it was also the easiest way to get around as a god. And kind of fun too.

Still, as much as he wished otherwise, that wasn't an option. . However, he'd make a way if he had to. Maybe he'd ask his father? If Poseidon could answer him. Or he could ask Hestia about it… And when would be the best time to use it so that someone like, say, Zeus or Hades didn't find out about him.

The last thing he needed were several Furies coming after him instead of just one.

Oh, yeah… he'd probably have to put up with Mrs. Dodds again. Was she even a Missus? Was she seriously married? Weren't they supposed to be maiden goddesses? Or monsters or whatever they were…

No, focus!

Ugh, he really hated ADHD sometimes.

"Yeah," Erin shrugged. "It's usually pretty quiet there. I mean, I've run into a couple of monsters, but nothing major." She grinned, bright and very Apollo-like (also very Koios-like, but he didn't like to think about that, and didn't think she'd like to be reminded of her great-grandfather just then).

"Wait you just… Did you have to jinx it?" he asked dryly.

She snorted. "Even demigods shouldn't be so cynical at your age."

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm several centuries old."

That time, she outright laughed. "Nice try, kid."

Well, now they couldn't say he hadn't given them clues. He grinned cheesily up at her.

Before she could say anything else, though, the door burst open and one of the single most terrifying sights he'd ever seen stood there. A worked up Annabeth Chase was never a good thing. And she looked like she was about to punch him to the moon.

He swallowed uneasily.

"That's it!" she hissed. "You have some explaining to do and you'd better answer or so help me, I'll gut you right here."

He believed it.

"Not in my recovery room, you won't!" Erin returned, folding her arms. He appreciated that. "Imagine the mess."

He appreciated that less.

To be fair, he also appreciated witnesses, but he had a feeling this would be a discussion they shouldn't have in front of those not even remotely close to being in the know.

"Um… Erin," he said hesitantly. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me, but… I really think Annabeth would like to talk to me alone."

She turned her head slowly to stare at him. "Seriously?"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. The pillow made that difficult, but he managed.

The older girl sighed and shook her head. "Fine. It's your funeral. But if I find blood in here, you will be cleaning this room for the next several years, Annabeth Chase. Do you understand me?"

Huh. She was almost as scary as the daughter of Athena. Color him impressed.

Huffing, Annabeth also folded her arms and nodded. "Fine."

"Good," Erin said. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes, so you'd better finish up by then."

With that, she walked daintily by Annabeth and out the door. Well, apparently she'd gotten her father's sense of dramatics.

(Not that he was one to talk.)

"Hades, I can understand," Annabeth finally said once she'd closed the door behind Erin, striding forward menacingly. "Poseidon is the Earthshaker after all. But Demeter? I've figured out what resulted from your own powers and what was a set-up before that—or most of it—but agriculture?! Very few demigods—or gods in disguise—could have everything I've compiled and the ability to grow plants."

"And here I thought you were avoiding me," Percy said, unable to keep a smile off of his face, even if his point hurt a little to say aloud.

Annabeth flushed and stuttered, taken aback by his comment. "Oh… I… um…"

"You were being loyal to Luke, and since he was avoiding me, you thought you should support him… or something?"

Her blush deepened. "Yeah… something."

She was so adorable. And just then, she reminded him of their oldest daughter, Lina. She always had taken after her mother in everything but coloring. She'd had Percy's wild, black hair and sea-green eyes. She'd also taken a little more strongly to sea-powers, but her facial features and how she reacted to things that embarrassed her? That was all Annabeth.

"Well, I spoke with Luke about something and he said he needed time to think. I'm just giving him that." Percy shrugged. "Next time, just ask. I don't think he's mad at me, and I'm certainly not mad at him… just the situation."

She frowned. "Oh, he's mad at you. Wouldn't tell me why, but he's really upset and told me to avoid you."

Percy's smile dimmed. "Wait… what?" He thought back to their most recent talk and… no, they'd ended on decent, if somewhat stressful terms. Had something else happened that he didn't know about?

He stared at her, eyebrows furrowed and mouth open because that made less sense the more he thought about it. And it also set off alarms in his head. Something had happened… probably something with Kronos. He had to confront Luke, asap.

"Anyway, back to this," she dropped a folder on his lap, drawing his attention to it (thankfully, he didn't want to think about Luke right now). It was written in Greek.

"What is this?" he asked, pushing his mental notes to the side for now.

"All my evidence," she said, opening the file. "I had to speak to the Aphrodite cabin for this, so you'd better appreciate it."

He didn't snort, but it was a close thing. Then he raised an eyebrow as he read how she laid out evidence theorizing what he'd done to make the camp bet on each god and whether it fit under Poseidon's potential powers, 'his own', and/or the rest of the Hermes cabin. She wasn't completely correct (i.e. she'd gone with Chiron in that he'd had water in the grape juice, and she'd still gone with the idea of the 'Athena wisdom and battle planning' due to his father and not experience), but she was pretty close.

"You don't think I'm a legacy?" he asked. Hadn't she said something about that before?

"I haven't figured out who you are, so I don't know if you used to be human or if you were born a god. If you were born human, then it's not unlikely, but a lot of that could just be your own domains. But not this one. Mr. D and Demeter would both know if you had domains in their area. The only two I can really think of that you fit now are a horse and a woman respectively."

That piqued Percy's interest. "Oh?"

"Arion and his twin sister… the Goddess of ice, frosts, and winter. We're not supposed to say her name by order of Demeter."

Ah, Desponia. According to some professors in the future, she was the precursor to Persephone in Mycanean (and maybe even Minoan) times. Whether that was true or not, he knew they were separate now. He'd met her. She'd hated him because she hated Poseidon. He'd wanted to get to know his half-sister, and hadn't given up, but often came away rather frost-bitten after their encounters. She was cruel… but he could understand why, so he tended to put her in the same category as Kymopoleia—dangerous and unstable, but still family—and he still made overtures when he could.

"I suppose you could be Arion given a human form," she muttered.

He snorted. "You've seen me run. I most certainly do not run like the wind, over land or sea. And why would a horse have power over plants, even if he was a son of Demeter?"

"Well, you were seen with water and ice, so are you his twin sister in a male form?"

"Doesn't she hate, well, everything? Wants to, you know, kill everyone with ice and winter and all? Firstly, it's summer. Secondly, the camp is still alive and not fighting off a freak blizzard, so no."

"Her son, then?"

"With Poseidon as my father?"

She slumped. "Your obvious disgust at that idea alone tells me it isn't true and you were likely born human. Although it wouldn't be the first time the gods had inter-bred."

Percy shuddered. "Ugh. No. I am neither a horse given human form, a very hateful woman in a male form, or a child of either."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "Would you tell me if I did get it right?"

He thought about that, but not for long before nodding. "I would."

"Swear it on the Styx."

Percy raised an eyebrow, but he knew that look on her face. She would be stubborn and this was not a hill he wanted to die on. So he sighed. "Fine. I swear on the Styx that if Annabeth Chase figures out the secret of my past—including parentage—I will tell her honestly."

A crash of thunder, and Percy just stared back at her. She smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.

"Are you a child of Poseidon and Demeter?"

"No."

Annabeth waited for a moment, then slumped. "Styx. I thought I had it. But this just makes it all worse! How can you be a god, a child of Poseidon, and no one on this list?!"

"I wasn't in the myths," he said honestly. "I was born twelve years ago in… actually pretty close to here now that I think about it. The Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. I was not a god before then, or a demigod, as far as I know. I, Perseus Achilles Jackson, did not exist more than thirteen years ago, again, to my knowledge."

If anything, Annabeth looked angrier than ever. "But that makes no sense!"

Percy sighed. Seeing her so upset wasn't amusing anymore. Not when it was just getting worse. "You'll figure it out. I know you will. And when you do, it will answer so many of your questions. It will also probably bring up more."

She snorted and slumped back in her chair. "Of course. All correct answers do that."

He knew that look. She was starting to doubt herself, and while that was rare, he hated it when it happened.

"How about a clue," he offered.

She narrowed her eyes.

"You're looking in the wrong place. Instead of myths, think more… sci-fi. Modern sci-fi."

Her frustration went from supremely 'frustrated to a point of destruction' to 'you're utterly crazy' as she stared at him.

"What?"

He shrugged, knowing she'd hate it if he said more. "That's all I can give you."

"You make no sense!" she muttered again, slumping farther in her chair.

"More evidence towards the god theory?" Percy asked innocently. "I mean, when have they ever made sense?"

Annabeth snorted, then looked horrified that she'd done so. Seventeen-year-old Annabeth would have laughed outright at that. Twenty-seven-year-old Annabeth would have rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement.

Seriously, this miniature Annabeth was adorable.

"Do you want this back?" he asked, closing the folder on his lap and holding it out to her.

"Yes. Fine," she snatched the folder and went to stand, "I'll go look up…" she paused. "Wait, you're not an alien, are you?"

Percy let out an actual urk noise, then turned to stare up at her in incredulity. "What? No! I'm not an alien! I told you where I was born!"

"Just had to make sure," she said, smiling vindictively.

Percy huffed. "Alien. Do I look like an alien to you?"

"Dunno," she said nonchalantly. "For all I know, all aliens look like us."

"All ali—" Percy spluttered. "No aliens are involved in this! Not as far as I know."

"Hmm," Annabeth said, satisfied that the equilibrium had been reestablished.

And not a moment too soon, as Erin came through the front door. "Oh, good, you're both still alive. Wonderful. Now I don't have to kill the other one."

"Hey!" they both said together.

Erin just grinned. "And what was that about aliens?"

Annabeth shot him a grin.

"Oh, for… I'm not an alien!"

Much to his annoyance, it appeared on the betting list before he'd even gotten back to the cabin that night. Right next to Demeter, of course.

He'd forgotten how annoying a young Annabeth could be too.

xXx

AN: Between people moving, visitors, and a ton of other stuff popping up, you're kind of lucky you're getting this when you are. Feel loved.

Hubby's working hard right now. Can definitely still use prayers and thoughts, but we're at a point where working super hard every day is giving us very slow but steady progress. Now we just need the insurance people to see that. :/ So yeah, please, wish us luck. (And thank you for all the well-wishes, prayers, and thoughts already. The support helps more than you know. *luv*)

Also, thank you to my beta readers: Berix, The Shadow Slayer, Asterius Daemon, Quathis, Harlequin, Speedster, Snow, and The Chronomancer! Also, the rest of my Discord.

Discord: www. discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces) - It's a little dead there except for the memes and the occasional poll, but when I do original stuff, I will announce it there first. :)