A/N: Hello my lovely readers. This is an important message to those whom it may concern that is reading this story. First off I'd like to clarify that Percy and Arina's relationship, is merely in a complicated phase...and they aren't going to be 'in love' at all in the squishy romantic eat your heart out way. I'm trying to emphasize on the point that water kenetic's share a very strong bond that cannot be interfered with or broken. So what Percy feels is strong emotions aren't exactly one's of love but kind of like, there's Annabeth who he likes emotionally and then there's Arina who he can't help but like because of their similar lineage. But the love they have is just one that is just there, and you can't ever change it. So really...you never know...I might make Percy end up with Annabeth, or make him end up with Arina...you just have to read now wont you? =]

III

Saturday rolled around and everyone around camp was lounging about, sunbathing or swimming. Which mostly everyone who was in attendance at Percy's cabin was doing, since it was right on the lake. People sat on the dock, and jumped off it or sat there eating and talking. It seemed to Percy there were far more people that came than he invited; at least twenty other people. He didn't mind though, he liked all his friends. But there was someone in particular that was missing and hadn't shown up yet...he figured she'd eventually would.

But Arina who was on the other side of camp in the training yard had her sword drawn and was sparring with her cousin Alcander. However heart was not in the battle as she parried and dodged attacks. She even stumbled a bit which was not at all in her character.

"You okay Ari? You're not exactly into this are you?" Alcander said as he took a step back from her and let his sword point to the ground and she braced herself on her knees as she took careful breaths in. Not that she was winded, she was just wary of everything at the moment.

"I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind."

"If it's about Dea–,"

"No no Al, it's okay. I took care of it she wont be starting fights anymore." Arina stood straight as she threw her sword into the ground and it stood there and she turned looking out over the mountain side that over looked the lake. She could see her fellow camp mates having a good time and lounging about. "You can go and have fun, I'll just stay up here and do inventory."

"Why don't you come with me?" Al said as he sheathed his sword and stood behind his cousin looking at her. "You deserve a break too you know."

"Hm maybe later."

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure." she said sadly as she looked over her shoulder at her cousin and gave him a forced smile. He knew he shouldn't trust such an empty smile but he knew she would force him to leave with some excuse or leave herself and he didn't want to have a fight with her. They had already had so many in the past few days with what had been going on.

In all honesty Alcander was the only one that got along perfectly with Arina. Sure he had a temper but she kept him in check most of the time and was a very good person to him. She watched over him even though he was technically older, she was more like a sister to him than a cousin and he felt the need to protect her as well.

He didn't like the talk around camp about her, and how hard it was for her to make friends for everyone treated her only like an instructor and she treated everyone like they were her subordinates. He was her only friend. Sure he had friends with some of those from the Ares Cabin but, Arina only had him. In fact they only had each other since they were very young.

Alcander turned and left grabbing a towel off a tree branch and wiping his face as he head in the direction of his cabin.

He only hoped she would change her mind.

She didn't change her mind though. Arina trained well into the afternoon but still her heart was not in it as she ended up sitting down on top of the hill and watching everyone else have fun. It didn't seem fair, but in her opinion it was. She didn't want to go to Percy's cabin, and make everything awkward with her presence and everyone leave on her account. She just wanted things to be easy and neutral. She was absolutely content with neutral. There was jealousy peaking though as she got older. She wished nothing more than to have girlfriends to share worries with and to have sleepovers. Alcander was great, but he was also a guy and well sleepovers stopped when they were twelve.

"Not out having fun?" she heard a voice behind her she knew all to well and the sounds of hooves approaching.

"No, this is how I spend my days off Chiron you know that." Arina said softly and she looked up over her shoulder at the large centaur and her favorite mentor.

"Hm," he hummed to himself looking out too at all the children running about having fun. "He's waiting for you to come you know." Chiron said as of course he was referring to Percy and she sighed as she rolled her eyes a bit.

"He'll get over it."

"He'll take it as a personal offense. You're the only other person in this camp that is exactly like he is." Chiron explained and Arina kept staring not saying a word as she watched people toss a volleyball back and forth or some of them dancing to trendy new music they had acquired from the outside world or even play sparring in the low water near the shore. It looked fun, but Arina in truth didn't really know how to have fun. "You should go. I can do inventory today."

"It's okay Chiron, I'll say I'm sorry another time to him. Besides it's better for everyone in the long run, not just him."

She got up and began cleaning up the training grounds and picking up discarded weapons from the day before and going to the weapons storehouse where she picked up a clipboard off a rack and began to do inventory which would take up the rest of her day, or at least she hoped it would.

Around seven o'clock by her watch she had done at least two thirds of it and decided she was done for the day. She had completely skipped dinner and just wanted to go home so she closed up the weapons storehouse and then locked it before heading off to her cabin.

She walked in, shredding off her armor and shirt and sifted through her drawers as she was searching for a new tank top when her hands brushed over something rough and pulling back her clothes she saw "One Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" all tattered and worn and she picked it up and sifted through the pages her fingers brushing along the dog ears on the corners where pages had been marked by her father. This copy had been his during his brief time when he had been free. It had been a happy accident when he was and that accident produced her. He married Arina's mother in the span of a week and by the time she was born he was locked away again. She only knew his face by pictures and though she ached to know her father she couldn't miss someone she never knew. Tucking the book back into her drawer she closed it as if locking away the feelings she had on the matter of her father.

Pulling open another drawer she plucked out a bronze bathing suit and stripped off the rest of her clothes to don it. Then pulling a blue toga over it she slipped on sandals and dashed out her door towards Percy's cabin across the camp. Her mind had been made up the moment she put the book away. She only hoped that it wasn't too late to go see Percy and that the small olive branch of friendship hadn't expired.

She took a few steps towards the cabin and came towards the entrance which was wide open. His cabin and hers by far were the most open as they were just little lake houses. He was chewing on some candy as he read through the first couple pages of his book and Arina lent against the pillar as she smiled seeing him and felt suddenly embarrassed that she was there just staring at him.

"Hey." she said softly and he snapped his head up his beautiful blue eyes looking at her wide as he had his candy bar half way to his mouth and he dropped his hand to his side and then set it on his bedside table as well as his book and tugged on the towel around his shoulders. He was a bit lanky but he had a swimmers build and wasn't unappealing. Or at least, she thought so.

Though those thoughts she shouldn't be thinking.

"I-I didn't think you were coming at all? Kind of late though everyone's gone."

"I know." she said, but he understood what she meant. She didn't want to be around the others. Whether or not it was because she wanted to avoid people because she was uncomfortable, didn't want to make others uncomfortable or a perplexing combination of both he understood. It was new for him as it was for her. To have someone who once didn't like you to suddenly be standing at your door in the middle of the night asking to hang out was something that filled Percy with a twinge of excitement.

"You didn't want to be around other people?"

"I really do want to be friends with your friends Percy, but I didn't come because I thought everything would have been tense and awkward. It was for the best. I wasn't going to come at all actually but, I found my copy of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and thought about you, and maybe it's not too late, to hang out for a bit?" she asked hopefully and he grinned his blue eyes seeming even more blue.

"You're welcome anytime." Percy said and she nodded. "Want to go for a swim?" he gestured out towards the dock and she nodded as she looked around and then back at him.

"Why don't I meet you out on the dock. I'm just gonna get undressed." she said and he nodded as he walked out looking back at her and went as he walked out onto the dock to the very end and sat out in the moonlight dipping his legs in the water up to the knees.

He waited patiently but couldn't help but look over his shoulder as he saw her in his room taking off her little blue dress that looked quite nice on her and fold it and settle it on his bed and he turned back around fidgeting as he felt his neck get warm. She had on a bronzed bikini that matched her nails and blended with her skin almost if it weren't for the fact it was shimmery he would have thought...well this isn't skinny dipping.

He heard footsteps behind him and he made to turn but before he knew it the footsteps got louder and he felt something rush past him and a splash later he looked out into the water which was a distance away, as he saw Arina dive in and disappear underneath the glassy surface. He waited a few minutes as he watched the water and her head popped up five feet from him from her fifteen feet she had jumped. It was impressive to say the least and she blinked the water out of her eyes opening them fully to reveal just how much they resembled the water and how much they glowed in the moonlight.

Was he really having a midnight swim with Arina Bishop?

"Aren't you coming in?" she asked him bobbing up a bit more as she swam to him and he nodded but couldn't help but stare at her. "Doesn't look like it." she teased. "Don't tell me you're suddenly aqua-phobic."

"Hardly." he said as he bent over onto his knees and looked down as she came up and grabbed his ankles tugging on him a bit and he caught his balance leaning back.

"So you're gonna watch me swim?"

"I can admire you from here." he teased right back but the conversation had turned into a flirting banter. Which she didn't mind in all aspects but his neck got even hotter and she merely rolled her eyes and his eyes widened as a jet of water came right at him and he dove off the side of the dock into the water to avoid being hit.

"Not bad Jackson," Arina said impressed at his reflexes but she suddenly felt a hard tug on her ankle dragging her under the surface and she was face to face with Percy who had a grin on his face. The water was illuminated more to them than to anyone else so it seemed almost like daylight underneath the surface with the moon hanging above. She could hold her breath and actually breath just fine down here and the longer they stayed under the more she found out he could too.

She propelled herself back a bit with her arms and then rolled to the side as she began to swim off and Percy followed as they emerged in the middle of the lake on the surface the two of them lying on their backs and floating as they watched the stars completely content in their world.

"This is nice." she said after a few moments of silence and Percy up righted himself the water coming up to his chin as he moved his legs back and forth fluidly to keep himself afloat. She looked at him and did the same as they both faced each other.

"I'm really glad you decided to come, even if it's just you an I hanging out." he said and she dipped her head low as you could only see her eyes on the surface but they seemed to be smiling, she came up and took his hand gently lacing her fingers with his and this time he felt that heat on the back of his neck spread to the center of his stomach as she pulled him along back to the dock. They both pushed themselves up and shook the water off themselves and sat there in more silence before Arina actually broke the silence asking the first question.

"So what propelled you to, be so nice to me?" Arina asked him and he shrugged.

"Guess what my mom said kind of hit home with me. She said that I basically have to put myself in your shoes, and show you and your cousins kindness without expecting anything in return. She told me things might change."

"Your mom sounds wise."

"What's your mom like?" he peered at her and she reached up involuntarily and plucked at the small golden pennant on her neck. He stared at it and found it to be a tiny little golden shell on a delicate golden chain. "Did she give that to you?"

"Oh no this is something my dad left me." she said releasing the little golden shell from her grasp and stared out at the open water for a second before looking at Percy. "My mom is very kind and understanding. She's, well she's not strict. She is very naive and innocent almost, so I don't know why my dad chose her. My mom couldn't hurt a fly, like literally." she smiled at that and so did Percy. "She's a good mom though for whatever short a time I got to live with her before I came here."

"How old were you?"

"Eight. Chiron raised me, and I am thankful for that. I think I'd be very much like Dea if I had grown up in the outside world."

"Is that the reason she's so...hostile?"

"Possibly." Arina sighed shaking her hair off her shoulders. "She's very bitter, and she did come to this camp at a older age, but then again so did the twins...my cousins and even myself have a lot of issues we need to work on. Which is why we haven't permanently left this place yet."

"Where would you go if you left?"

"I was thinking the Caribbean or maybe an island in the Mediterranean. Just some place with water. You know Alcander said they might as well put me in an all water exhibit at the zoo, at least I'll be fed, groomed and get a tank of water all to myself." Arina laughed at it but not out of amusement, but just making a light of her enjoyment of aquatic life.

"Mediterranean sounds nice." Percy said and she looked at him and shrugged but internally felt pleased he hadn't commented on her joke. "So why are you so nice to me?"

"Hmmm," she hummed in though narrowing her eyes a bit and biting on her lip. "I think that maybe it's because I'm not as mean as everyone thinks I am. Sure I glared at you, but I have to be different in front of cousins than I am by myself. I have to be an organized leader, because if I don't do it then the rest of them are just going to be chaotic. I don't mean to be mean." she flicked water up with her foot and plopped it back down in the water and he looked up at the moon.

"I never thought you were mean." he said quite truthfully. "I mean I didn't know why you disliked me, but that doesn't make a person naturally mean. I always kind of admired you." his face flushed red and she shot a look at him and felt her face flush too.

"Really?" she scrunched her nose up in disagreement and he nodded side glancing at her.

"Really, really." He chuckled. "It's just that you're just like me and yet you have so much control over yourself and your powers and you can fight, like I mean fight." Percy said in gunfire and it took Arina aback as he took his legs out of the water and faced her Indian style. "I mean sure Annabeth can fight, but you have real life experience and pure bronze of the gods can break over you and it doesn't leave a mark."

"We're just thick skinned us mini Titans." Arina said slowly bringing her legs out of the water and copying Percy's posture as she crossed her long slender legs too and looked at him. "We're not completely invulnerable you know." she said slowly running her fingernails gingerly through the grooves of the wood on the dock.

"Really?"

"Mhm. We have weaknesses. Usually since we're demigods there's a flaw in our system that is not apparent in our parents. See it's like Achilles when he bathed in the river Styx, he was invulnerable except for his heel."

"So where's your weak spot?"

"Not telling!" she laughed as she play shoved his shoulder. "That's top secret information, what if we're opponents in capture the flag, you could just punch me in my weak spot and I go down like a glass horse."

"That bad?"

"Yeah, it's my only human flesh on my body." she said quietly avoiding his eyes and he was after all a boy and couldn't help himself but examine her as he sat there leaning back on his arms. Her long toned and tan stomach matching these long legs and arms, then a beautiful arched neck and a pretty petite face with a set jaw and striking features. Her hair was long and even more wavy from the water. Arina was in fact, in her normal state with a small embarrassed smile on her face, very beautiful. He wouldn't quite say she looked like a doll, but more like a statue. He imagined instead of her bronze skin, white marble in it's place as her lithe frame was etched in stone. Stone however was too harsh for her features that were angular but soft.

But if Percy had to pick one feature he found the most attractive, it had to be her beautiful sea blue and green eyes with the flecks of gold in them and right now those eyes were staring right back at him.

"I promise, if you tell me, I wont ever use that against you. You have my word as a friend, and a fellow water demigod."

Arina looked down and spaced out for a moment as Percy watched her think and she finally flit her eyes up to him and scooted closer coming up along side him. Reaching out for his hand, which caught his breath as her skin touched his and made his heart beat a million times over, she held his hand in hers and then turned it so his palm lay upturned. She traced the lines in his hands contemplatively.

"You promise?" she whispered and he found his throat completely dry as he nodded none the less.

She then guided his hand to her right hip and placed it there as she guided it up and underneath the strap of her bikini till it settled on the area underneath the breast and right above the rib cage near the underarm. She held her hand over his and then looked at his hand and then at him.

"There, my weakness." she said and he looked at his hand and absentmindedly stroked his thumb over the area of skin and scooted closer.

"So if you get hit here,"

"Well it hurts, but if I were stabbed there, I would ...die." she said gravely. "Only my cousins know this, so please, keep this a secret between you and I?"

"I gave my word. I'll keep it." he said bringing his hand down and resting it on her hip. He was being very brave at the moment and she was letting him.

"It's getting late." she said sliding out of his grip on her waist and backed up towards the water before she pushed herself and back vaulted skillfully into the water. She popped her head up and came and lent her arms on the dock and looked up at him as he too lent forward and wrapped his arms around his propped up legs.

"You swimming back?" he smirked at her.

"It's only three miles, and it's faster in my element than on land." she grinned and he nodded. "So, maybe you can come swimming at my place next time."

"I thought I had the better view?" he teased and she laughed splashing water at him as she pushed back from the dock.

"See you later Percy." she said before dipping under the water and disappearing not resurfacing again.

He looked at the hand that had rested on her weak spot and found that his fingers were tingling. And the more he contemplated their evening, how innocent and how not innocent it was. He found himself thinking about her more now that she was gone, even as he headed inside to go to bed. And for the next few days she would fill his every thought and dream.

A/N: So for a quick thing I wanted to add is the pronunciation of the names of the Titan children.

Arina Bishop and Alcander Wells is pretty easy to say.

Caius and Callus Jacobs are pronounced Kay-us and Cal-us.

Then Dea is pronounced Day-uh not Dee-ah. Davens is pronounced Day-vens.

Just thought I would clarify the names for you guys.