I sat down at the table with her. "I'm not entirely familiar with speaking in public. I mean, I took a speech class when I was part of a co-op at the community college in by my hometown. And obviously I gave that speech back in June. Other than that, I have no public speaking experience. You really want me to speak at a teen empowerment conference when I'm still a teen?"

"You're a teen that has the opportunity to make a humongous impact, and who, from what I understand talking to Jacob, has a big drive for making a difference. Not to mention what you went through earlier this fall and the fact that you seem to be coping well from it."

"Seem to be," I repeated, looking down at the table. "I'm extremely fortunate and not the norm. You're right, I do have a lot of ideas, but a lot of them are very specific to who I am and what I see. Getting my book published was something that my mom facilitated, yes I had it written before, but I was a long way from being ready for my writing to be out there. Then again, if it hadn't been that way I may never have been ready. I was surprised when Jacob said I was a choice made by teens."

"You represent your mother's books and they are very popular for people your age. We just want you to talk about what makes you feel so empowered. What drives you, what you're passionate about. We want to hear you talk about what got you through your struggles and what made you decide not to let anything hold you back. We want you to talk about what makes you strong."

I frowned a bit, pulling out a small notepad and a pen and jotting down a note. "I guess I don't see how me giving a speech empowers teens."

"We're always trying to find good role models for these guys. They found you on their own. They come from all situations of life and you have shown yourself to be someone who understands that. You're willing to be vulnerable, making you strong. Your speech still had thousands of views a day. Actually, we're showing that video before you go on."

"I don't suppose there's anything I could say to convince you not to do that?" I asked, making a face.

She laughed softly. "No, we do that for all of our speakers. We show a clip of what they are best known for as a sort of introduction."

I made a note to bring earplugs so I didn't have to listen to myself ramble.

"Does that help you figure out what to talk about in your speech?"

"Not really, but I'll figure it out. I just have to take some time to flesh out ideas and write down points that I will completely forget when I go to speak. What else am I doing?"

"You're doing a meet and greet, just a quick hi to people and sometimes talking a little bit with the teens of the event."

I nodded. "After the speech?"

She nodded. "That okay?"

"Um…" Crowds…always a struggle since September. "I'll have to have someone with me, um, I'm not completely over what happened and crowds can sometimes trigger anxiety attacks. So I need someone…safe with me. Also, I have to have my dog, for my anxiety."

"Of course, whatever you need."

I nodded, making a note to talk to the boys about one of them coming with me.

"You will have to dress appropriately," She said. "But that shouldn't be a problem."

I shook my head. "Not really. Do I have to dress up? Or can I go casual?"

"Casual is perfectly fine."

I nodded. "Alright. Anything else?"

She shook her head. "Not unless you have any other questions."

I looked at my notes and shook my head. "I'm good. I just have to go figure out what to say now."

"Then I'll leave you to it, I still have some work to finish up."

I waved and took a sip of my hot chocolate, then headed for the door myself. They wanted me to talk about what made me strong? What kind of question was that anyway? I was strong because I had to be. I wanted to fit in and nobody else was falling apart. I made my own family because I couldn't bear the thought of living my life alone. I needed family. My ideas for helping people were limited to demigods right now because they were the ones that were in my immediate circle of concern and care. Mortals didn't have monsters hunting them down.

Well, not regular monsters.

I walked into the park and just slowly meandered as I thought. I wasn't normal. Not by a long shot. I didn't know how they expected me to be a positive influence to people with whom I had little to no common ground. I'd have to go deep, I'd have to delve into the most painful memories to remember what it was like to feel powerless.

When did I start thinking of myself as powerful?

I shuddered. "Time to stop thinking so deeply."

"Cassie!"

I turned and saw Percy, then waved and made my way over.

His mom and step-dad were just behind him, with their daughter, Estelle.

"Hey," I said as I got closer.

Percy gave me a quick hug. "You remember my parents."

"Yeah, hi Sally, hi Paul."

They greeted me warmly.

"What are you doing in town?" Percy asked.

"I had to meet with a lady managing this teen empowerment meeting or whatever. I'm talking at it, I guess. They want me for some reason. It's not like they know about the safe houses, or the children's home I want to open someday. Theresa seemed pretty certain that I was a good idea though." I shrugged.

Percy chuckled. "You're super confidant when you're not thinking about it."

I winced. "That is the problem."

"Are you nervous about it?" Sally asked.

"A little," I answered, folding my arms. "I just, I feel like most of who I am is because of who my father is and everything that goes with that. You know?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I get that. You'll do fine. Halfbloods seem to excel under pressure."

I nodded.

"How was your Thanksgiving?" Sally asked.

I smiled. "It was great. How about you guys?"

Percy grinned. "Awesome."

Sally rolled her eyes a bit. "We had a very nice day."

"Is someone picking you up?" Percy asked, suddenly frowning and looking around.

"They're picking me up at the loft, I'm just walking there." I shrugged a little. "It's not that far from here."

"That conference you mentioned, is that the one being held at Goode?"

"Um, yeah. Why?"

Percy snorted. "That's my old high school. Paul works there. You're not walking alone in New York. Especially not unarmed."

"I'm armed," I argued. Then looked past him to Paul. "Are you going to be there?"

He nodded. "Was offered payment for being there."

"That's a no-brainer, then."

"You aren't walking there alone in New York, armed or not. I know you can defend yourself, but it's still not safe," Percy insisted.

I sighed. "Fine, you can walk me."

Sally laughed softly. "We'll see you later, Cassie. Percy, try not to irritate her."

We set off toward the loft.

I glanced at him. "Enjoy being a brother?"

Percy nodded, grinning. "It's great so far. I mean, she's getting big so quickly and it sucks being away for school because she is growing so quickly. But it's really cool. Have you started work on the loft?"

"Not really, I'm just getting a feel for the space right now. It's got the protective barrier and that's about it."

Percy nodded.

We walked silently.

Nico was out front killing a monster, looking unimpressed. He frowned a bit when he saw Percy. "What are you doing here?"

"Found him in the park, can we keep him mom?" I asked sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Hey Percy."

Percy waved a little. "Hey Nico. Can I see the place?"

"Sure, you already volunteered to help work on it during winter break." I led the way inside, and up to the loft.

It was empty, except for the painting and cleaning supplies and a couple of chairs. But the windows and the structure was great and the space was workable.

Travis had a table up with my swatches and samples. "Hey, Percy. Find Cassie wandering around?"

He chuckled lightly. "A little. Saw her in the park. Didn't think she should be around New York alone."

"Ah, so you were more successful in convincing her of that fact."

"I am still armed, and still dangerous." I folded my arms.

Travis smiled somewhat nervously. "Right. Forgot that your swords did that weird invisible thing."

I nodded.

Percy looked somewhat releived. "Okay, I was just trying to figure out how you were armed."

I traced the celtic-knot pattern on the scabbard of the right skean and they became visible to others. We'd discovered that feature sometime around my second week of school. I had noticed that Nico could see them, but mortals couldn't, then when I had been fiddling around and just tracing the left celtic knit wondering if there was a way to make them invisible to demigods as well, Nico had come in and been unable to see them until I drew them. We found that if I traced the knot on the right scabbard it made them visible to demigods, and tracing it twice made it visible to mortals. Because Johnny had seen them when we first got to school. There was definitely a learning curve to using them because I could always see them.

Percy nodded a bit. "Nice. Mine turns into a pen."

"Portable."

He nodded. "Returns to my pocket after a while."

I nodded. "Nice, that makes it…what's with that stray cat?"

"We couldn't get it out. We're going to look up shelters. She's pregnant." Nico had a can of cat food that he gave to the cat.

I shrugged a little. "Okay. It's pretty cold out. Let her stay where it's warm for now."

Will came out from the bathroom. "Okay, bathroom needs work."

Travis grabbed the tool bag and headed for it. "I'll check it out for now."

Percy nodded. "I'll help out."

I looked over my swatches and samples. I wanted the bedroom to be lighter than the rest, but I was still working on just how to do it. If I went with a white and cream type of deal with the same wood that I had planned to use throughout, and just make the details less industrial. The bedroom still needed some sort of segregation from the rest of the loft. The kitchen was also going to be an interesting feat.

Will looked at my fabrics. "Nice color palette."

"Thanks. I'm still working on the bedroom. It's definitely more sophisticated of a place than the burrow. It will still be as useful, but I think it will be more of a stopover place for travelers and a semi-permanent place for someone or other."

"It would be cool," Percy said, shuffling back over. "Nothing I could help with plumbing wise. But this place could be really nice for a couple."

"Like you and Annabeth?" Nico asked, an actual teasing tone and look to him.

Percy looked as surprised as I felt, if not more so. "Um…yeah. I guess I was thinking it would be nice once Annabeth and I are married, to stay here during the holidays at least. Not far from my mom's apartment, but also let's us have some space of our own."

I smiled. "Works for me. At least I know it will be used."