Whoooo lives in a castle under the sea?

I don't think I'd ever in my life slept as well as I did at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

I slept like a rock. Like a bug in a rug. Like a baby. Actually, that's a horrible analogy. Babies are awful sleepers. But in all reality, I slept for twelve hours straight and woke up with all the signs of a good sleep. Crusty eyes. Lines on my face from my pillow. My whole body feeling rested and ready to go. I slept so well that I didn't even have the desire to fall asleep again. I got right out of bed.

Someone – I assumed Dr. Annabeth – had turned my light off after I'd fallen asleep. The covers were tucked around my body tightly. My orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans and shoes and socks were all stolen from the bathroom where I'd hidden them in a pile behind the door.

I remembered that Percy and Annabeth were supposedly living in one of Poseidon the Sea God's old palaces. This room was both in line with the expectations and out of line. I couldn't imagine Poseidon having tons of air-accessible places, for example. I remembered Dr. Annabeth talking about how she'd had to stay in the tunnels. I supposed all of these nice things had been added for her. Maybe if she hadn't have come, Percy would be living in endless basalt and slowly freezing.

The place was certainly nice enough to be a palace…. The chandelier in the entrance hall had been sparkly enough. This bed was comfortable enough. Plus, they had blue pasta. Blue pasta!

Also in the room with me was a dresser about half the size of the one Dr. Annabeth had had me pick pajamas from. On this dresser was a curvy glass jar that was probably handmade because I couldn't imagine such a unique shape being cast in a mold. It was filled with seashells. There was also… a kindle? A thin square nightlight?

I climbed out of bed and wandered over to pick it up. It had a power button, three buttons on the left labeled 4000, 7000, and 10000, and three buttons on the right labeled 30, 60, 90. It was casting a green glow over the room. A label with painters tape and sharpie read, "Artificial Sunlight – do not adjust. XO, Leo"

I flipped on the light and rubbed my eyes and then wandered into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Much like Annabeth's pajamas, mine hung on me. I began to roll up the cuffs of the sleeves and pants.

I could tell someone was baking when I opened the door to my room. Even though I'd eaten tons last night, I followed my nose as if in a cartoon to the kitchen.

When I passed the door to Percy's room, where I'd grabbed my pajamas, it opened. Dr. Annabeth stepped out. She paused when she saw me and smiled. She wore a red tank top with four-finger width straps and pajama bottoms. "Good morning, Percy," she said. "I'm washing yours and Annabeth's and Grover's clothes. You can borrow an outfit from Percy for the day if you want."

I wanted to ask, "What are you doing in there?" but instead, I asked, "Grover got back?"

Dr. Annabeth nodded and frowned, deep in thought. "Yes… Eudora takes a few minutes to rest every time she sends someone mortal to or fro. I guess Piper decided to head up before Grover came down, so she had to rest longer. But he's fine. There were no monsters."

I wondered why she was frowning. But it also seemed weird to me. "Did Piper leave?"

"Yes," Dr. Annabeth said. "She said sorry for not saying a proper goodbye, but she was on her way out already when she worried Grover might have been attacked by monsters, and didn't want to have Eudora send her down just to come back up again."

"Oh," I said.

She began to walk down the hall anti-route to the kitchen. I paused, then headed towards the kitchen.

Just before I entered the kitchen, weird things started happening to my body. I felt… tingly all over. My ADHD went into hyperfocus mode. I began wiggling my fingers, and felt stronger and steadier on my feet. Then, I walked around the refrigerator, and my knees gave out from under me. I hit the floor in this odd little dip, with my head kinda lowered and my eyes on the ground. I heard the scrape of someone putting a pan on the stove. "Oh," a voice said in front of me. "Good morning. Did you fall?"

"No, no, uh… mister."

"Oh. It's just… sorry, yeah it takes a moment to get used to." A hand appeared in my vision. As I went to take it, the skin where he was about to touch me went hot. But I didn't have enough time to process that before he was helping me up.

He was six feet, easy. Which made me really hopeful. He had tan skin still, as if he'd spent every day of his life on the beach. His hair was jet black and messy – just like mine. I doubted he'd combed his hair yet either. And his eyes were mine too. Sea-green. A super athletic build – none of which I possessed. Also, he had this dim glow around him. Being in his presence reminded me of being in the God's presence. I honestly felt he had the power to zap me into oblivion for disobedience. Maybe he'd conjure a tidal wave to sweep me away. Maybe he'd pelt me with a storm.

"Would you like some banana bread?" God-Percy asked me.

"I'll eat as much as you want," I said. The words sounded even stupider out of my mouth than they did in my head. I didn't even have the self-restraint to stop them.

"No, what I meant was, are you hungry? Currently? Without me influencing you?"

Something about God-Percy reminded me of me aside from his appearance. His expression was brooding. Like he was mulling over whether to destroy me or not. But then he smiled, and I got a glimpse of the person I was. Like me, he looked like trouble. But I didn't think he was.

"I was hungry," I admitted. I took a few steps towards the bar stools. "Banana bread sounds nice."

"My mom and I made blue butter," Percy said.

My throat was tight. Now that I was well-rested and felt safe, I was processing that a little better. "I'm so glad she's alive," I said.

"Alive and well," Percy replied. "She visits pretty often. But probably not for a month or so now." He sighed. "I'd have liked to have been banished to the part of the ocean she lives near, but it was too close to Olympus for the Gods to agree."

He sounded so sad that it nearly sent me into a depressive episode. I felt hopeless and distraught on his behalf. How could the Gods be so cruel?

Then, Percy flipped over a tiny baking pan and offered me my own personal loaf of banana bread. I didn't feel too bad after that.

"Anything to drink?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll drink," I replied, then paused. "Can I have a hot chocolate?"

"Sure," Percy said, and went for the cabinet of mugs Dr. Annabeth had pulled the Athena mug from. He pulled one out that read, "Just Keep Swimming," and began making hot chocolate. I felt like a little prince.

"Do you like living here?" I asked.

Percy shrugged. "No. If I had the choice, I wouldn't. It's nice, of course, but I don't like living so far from friends and family, and I miss the sunshine, and there's a lot of restrictions."

"Can you go swimming down here?"

"Yes," Percy nodded. "But only a mile up or to the sides. I can go deeper, but there's not a ton of variation."

"Wow," I said. "The Gods really don't want you around."

He snorted. "Yeah. You're telling me."

He seemed sad about it. Maybe even a little bitter. But didn't offer up anything else. He handed me my hot chocolate, then pulled the spray cream out of the fridge and offered it to me. Even better. By the time he'd returned with a peppermint stick, there was as much spray cream as there was hot chocolate.

Grover came around the corner, yawning. He'd changed clothes and now wore a green pajama top that read, "I speak for the trees." He went to Percy and the two exchanged a hug. Grover came to sit beside me and took a fruit out of the basket by the sink. Percy offered him another personal-size loaf of banana bread.

"So, who all lives down here?" I asked, sipping my hot chocolate so that the spray cream gave me a moustache when I pulled away.

"Just Annabeth and I," Percy said. "We're the only two Legends the Gods consider dangerous."

"Because you convinced Zeus to give up his throne?"

Percy chuckled and then sighed. "Thing is, Percy, we didn't convince him. I suggested it sarcastically. He immediately complied."

I licked the spray cream off my lip. "Oh," I said. "And Hera?"

"Annabeth and Hera don't get along. Annabeth was angry and said some things to her. Next thing we know, she's putting in divorce papers to Zeus." Percy pried a loaf of banana bread out for himself and then came to lean against the counter as he spoke. "That got Zeus mad, of course, and he felt we'd already tricked him into leaving his throne. He and all the other Gods got together and said that we needed to go. They all united and said we couldn't be allowed to walk around giving suggestions to the Gods. We tried to talk them out of it, and they sealed our mouths shut. Then, no one wanted us near them. Me specifically. They couldn't agree on a spot of land I should be allowed to inhabit. My dad offered up this old place. Annabeth's mom stepped in and said if we were going to be banished, then at least we could be banished together. It took about three years to get this place livable for Annabeth, but we finally have it up and running."

The banana bread settled into my stomach like cement. I shivered. "Why you?"

"Percy's faced almost every Greek Monster out there," Grover said. He was eating an orange, rind and all. "Remember? I was telling you on the plane."

"Annabeth thinks," Percy said slowly, "That Legends are more powerful when you've done more. We both became legends after turning down immortality again. But I've always had a more convincing force about me than she does. Not that she's not very convincing…" I nodded emphatically. "She and I have done crazy things. Crazier than any demigod out there."

"Denying immortality, for starters," I said. "You didn't want to be a God?"

"The Gods are messed up." Percy's face wrinkled. I believed him immediately – even without the persuasion powers. "I just wanted to live a normal life. And die and go to Elysium."

"Will you still die now?" I asked.

He smiled. "I think so," he said. "Which is good, because I don't want to spend eternity down here. Dying is our only way out. Not that we want to hurry that along."

I heard a door shut in the hallway. Dr. Annabeth still hadn't appeared, but I wondered if that was her. Then, Annabeth came around the corner. She wasn't in her too-big pajamas anymore. Instead, she was in some blue jeans with a belt holding them up and a red shirt that was monogrammed Dr. Annabeth Chase. She did almost the exact thing I did and bent over solidly at the waist in Percy's direction, nearly thwopping her head on the counter in the process. Her hair flew into the air and came full circle to hit her in the face. I heard her spitting it out of her mouth. It was kinda funny.

"Oh, you're good!" Percy said hurriedly. He moved to right her up by putting a hand on her shoulder and then picked up banana bread to offer to her. "Banana bread?"

She immediately sank her teeth into it without even taking it from his hands. Her cheeks bloomed bright red. I didn't feel so bad about my reaction now. Grover was laughing so hard he was bleating.

"I phrased that badly," Percy said as Annabeth mumbled an apology around her mouthful of banana bread. "No, no, my fault, really. I forget… I'm sorry."

Annabeth came to sit by me. She put her banana bread with its big chomp mark on a plate Percy offered. Then she put her face in her hands for a few moments. When she surfaced, her face was still very red. Grover continued bleating on the other side of me. I passed Annabeth the blue butter without a word.

"It's my fault," Percy said again. "You do get used to it, really. Oh, Grover, shut up, you're embarrassing her!" Grover immediately went quiet, which didn't convince me that it was possible to resist a Legend just by hanging around them more. Percy began making Annabeth a hot chocolate as an apology. I liked the mug she was given. It said, "Don't Marry Your Glass Ceiling."

"So you haven't fought monsters in seven years," I said after a few moments of silence. Because I don't deal with silence well.

"Yup," Percy said, popping the p.

"To be honest, this place seems pretty chill," I said. "You don't pay rent, you play with LEGOs all day, and you don't have anything coming after you."

Percy shrugged. "Would you want to stay in one place day in and day out?"

No, no I wouldn't. I stirred my peppermint stick into my hot chocolate. It was nearly dissolved and now resembled a small pike. Sticky red residue was left on my fingers. I licked it off. Annabeth's face was still red and she wasn't looking at me. She must be super embarrassed. I guess I looked too similar to Old Percy for her to think about.

That reminded me of something. "It must be weird for you and Dr. Annabeth to always be around each other," I said. "You never get a break."

Grover snorted. "Dr. Annabeth…"

"That's a good way to tell them apart," Percy said. I was glad he agreed, because it's rare when an adult agrees with me. "I guess it was a little weird at first, because no one else was around, but we'd already spent tons of time together."

I supposed they'd fought most of their long list of monsters together. I hadn't considered that. But looking at Annabeth beside me… I couldn't imagine being around her all day, every day, for the rest of our lives. I felt like that would be awkward.

But Grover said, "Yeah, you were attached at the hip every summer for years. Between all the quests and things… the only time you weren't was when the Titans kidnapped Annabeth to make her hold up the sky and Hera kidnapped Percy and wiped his memory."

My mind short circuited. Annabeth dropped her spoon with a clatter. "I held up the sky?" She demanded.

"Technically, Annabeth was kidnapped in the winter, not the summer," Percy said. "Hey, remember when I got blasted out of Mount St. Helens, and-"

"I remember, Seaweed Brain!" Dr. Annabeth shouted from the hallway. She appeared beside the refrigerator, lips pressed together and looking dismayed. "He showed up to his own funeral! I was doing the final remarks! Oh, I about killed him then and there!"

"It was a shame we had to let a perfectly good funeral go to waste." Grover nodded and popped the last of the orange into his mouth. "Let's just call it a practice run for when it's actually time."

Percy laughed and held out one of his arms. Dr. Annabeth rolled her eyes but walked over and gave him a hug. I started feeling weird. Like our old friend the tarantula was crawling up my back. "Good morning, Dr. Annabeth," Percy said. He put his hand to her cheek, and I watched him lean down, and then touch lips with Dr. Annabeth.

He did!

I jumped out of my chair. Every hair was standing on end – even up and down my arms. I felt as if I'd embraced a live wire. I pointed at the two of them, stuttering, and said, "Why'd you just kiss her?"

Real smart, I know.

Percy looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

I wasn't sure what universe we were in where that had to be explained. "Well, when two people touch lips together, we call it a-"

Annabeth was still bright red as she looked over her shoulder at me. "They're married, Drool-Boy."

I fell quiet. Like echoes from the past, I heard my questions from earlier. "It seems weird that they'd live here alone together", "you never get a break." I realized why Annabeth had not been looking at me.

Dr. Annabeth looked confused. "Did no one tell you?" she asked.

1/25's chapter will be called "I politely refuse adoption."