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  "WHY?" he screamed, "DID YAKU PUT YOU UP TO THIS?"

"I am so sorry!" I stammered, "I-I thought you were someone else!"

  "You know I can sue for this, right?" His voice was deep and level which caused me to tense up. We were in no position to get sued! We were broke! I looked desperately at Percy but he was just as in shock.

  I repeated my desperate apology 50 more times.

"I was kidding, I was kidding. Simmer down," He said as he rubbed his jaw then removed his hand. His voice lightened a little, allowing me to hear a hint of humor, "It was an accident. I'll just ice it."

  I stared in disbelief. A few seconds ago, I was sure this man would snap me in half. Now he was chuckling? He reminded me of Percy, able to go from humorous smirk to death glare in a matter of milliseconds.

  "Are you okay?" I asked.

  He winced. "I'll live. I've been hit in the face with volleyballs before. However, you do have a good arm so I think that might make it a little worse."

Before I could respond, Percy walked up next to me.

"Sooo, you won't press charges?" he asked.

"Percy!" I hissed.

"What?" he defended.

The boy laughed. "Nah. You guys are just kids. I'll let it slide."

I was about to point out the fact that he couldn't be more than two years older than us but decided against it.

  His eyes began trailing behind us to the gym.

  "UH—" Percy said.

  The rooster-head looked back at Percy to see what he was about to say. Unfortunately, it appeared Percy hadn't gotten that far in his distraction.

"Let's go find your team and forget whatever damage you might see," I said, smiling sweetly. (which was hard because I felt like I was going to vomit from all the energy I was exerting into charmspeak and combat. Not to mention the last thing I ate was only an apple like six hours ago.)

"Okay time to go find my team, and what damage are you talking about?" he responded almost instantly.

Percy and I looked at each other, surprised. I counted on my charmspeak working, yes. But he was affected so easily, especially considering I had almost no energy left. It should not have been that strong.

We decided we'd figure that out later and went to look for Annabeth.

  "Can you manipulate the Mist?" I whispered. Percy had been trying to learn how ever since he saw our friend, Thalia, do it.

  "It's hard enough for me to manipulate the Mist when there is Mist to manipulate," he huffed, "What now that there might be none?"

  "But the Laistrygonians did it," I countered.

  "Yeah well the Laistrygonians are evil and smell bad so I'd rather not copy them."

Percy began dialing Annabeth's phone while I kept the mortal in check.

"So do you guys go here?" he asked.

  Percy shot me a look that told me to lie.

  "Yep," I said.

"Ah. So that's why your friend's wearing a Karasuno jacket."

  I did a mental facepalm. He took it off during the fight but apparently put it back on. Why did he feel such a need to wear it?

  I didn't want to charm him again. I was getting really dizzy. I couldn't just say 'Oh we're here to take your manager 'cause that might just get us arrested.

He looked at me expectantly for an answer.

"I like your hair," I said.

"Thank you but you're getting more and more suspicious by the second," he said.

We turned a corner behind the school and thankfully found Annabeth and the rest of the team. I thanked the gods. She was talking with the girl from my dream. From the look of disbelief on Iosoa's face, I suspected Annabeth just told her she was a half-blood.

The rest of the team was looking around with bewildered expressions as if contemplating how they got here.

"You again!" said the long-haired bottle blonde. I politely pretended not to hear, "Kuro!"

"Kenma?" said the boy next to me, "What the—"

Annabeth saw us and turned to the team, "Alright! My colleagues are here and we have an appointment soon so we must get going!"

"But you said if we followed you, we'd get free pizza!" One boy yelled.

"I said one of you will be getting free pizza. And I decided Kalea is the winner here," she gestured to Iosoa, "So I will be bringing her with me to discuss her reward."

Kalea Iosoa looked too bewildered to disagree.

"Aw, see that? She's so happy she can't speak. C'mon let's go."

"Now hold on!" The ravenette said next to me and stepped up to face his team, "We need Iosoa to lead the practices since coach isn't here! And you believed this girl would give you free pizza? Yaku? Kai? You allowed them to be lead off?"

Two other players, one shorter and paler with brown hair and another taller and tanner with a military cut hairstyle.

"Sorry, Kuroo," the shorter one said in an annoyed voice, "They wouldn't listen. They were all too taken by what that girl—" he pointed accusingly at me, "—told them to do."

  "You were too, Yaku," the taller one, Kai, said.

  Yaku shot Kai a murderous look.

"Oh, so you're Tetsuro Kuroo? Kalea tells me you're the team captain." Annabeth said in a challenging tone.

"Yeah I am! And I don't appreciate my team being lead o—"

"Well," Annabeth interrupted while giving him a friendly slap on the back, "if you're the captain, I'm sure you can lead your team's practice sesh. Chances for free pizzas don't come very often. I doubt Kalea wants this robbed from her."

Before Kuroo could protest, I elbowed Percy in the rib. He got the message immediately. He brought his fingers to his lips and let out a cabbie whistle. From living in New York all his life, he was a pro at it. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Alright," I charmed with my last bit of energy, "Stay put until we leave."

That was all I could command. If I asked them to forget the ordeal or anything remotely complicated and/or specific, I would no doubt pass out. I'm not sure about you, but passing out in one week was plenty enough for me. Best I could do was keep it straightforward and easy.

  Fortunately, they obeyed and stayed rooted to where they stood.

  "C'mon," Percy urged.

  He didn't have to tell me twice. I wanted to get out of here the moment my fist came in contact with the captain's face. Great, another scene my brain could haunt me with. I doubted I was getting any sleep tonight. Or for the next week. I prayed I'd never see the this volleyball team again.

Annabeth turned to Kalea and told her to follow us. She hesitated then began trailing behind. Judging from her expression, I don't think she liked us very much. However, Annabeth piqued her interest and she wanted answers.

We made it out of the school grounds without any of the team members coming to their senses and coming at us with sticks and torches to retake their manager.

It was then that we realized we had no idea what to do now.

"Uh... can anyone procure a vehicle that can take us to the train station?" Percy asked.

"Whatever you end up doing, you're doing it on your own," I declared, my voice raspy from all the abuse on my voice, "If I have to charmspeak one more time, I'm sure I'll drop dead and I haven't even tried all the Lays potato chips flavors yet."

Iosoa sighed behind me. Getting a better look at her, I realized she was really beautiful.

Her curly hair fell all the way down to below her waist. Her hair changed from caramel blonde to warm brown depending on the lighting. It reminded me of how my sister Piper's eyes changed color like a kaleidoscope. Her skin was a nice golden tan which complimented her warm-toned hair. Her eyes were somewhat feline and colored a pretty light green. When she moved her mouth, deep dimples would appear and reappear. Her figure was nice, too. She was about 5'7, making her about and inch taller than Annabeth. She was lean looking and like I said, she had dancer legs.

  "We can catch a bus," she said, irked, "But I'm not going straight with you to your camp thingy. I need you to go more in depth and I need to talk to my mom about this."

  Percy, Annabeth, and I looked around at each other and gave a collective sigh of agreement. Who were we to deprive this girl of seeing her mom before going off to camp? (Also, we'd rather not be charged for kidnapping even if it were for a cause.)

  Kalea lead us to a bus stop and informed us it would be taking us to her home. We got on and she made sure we all sat close by, Annabeth sitting next to her and Percy and I in the row in front.

  "So," she said, "You say my dad is a Greek god? Dish."

  "If you don't mind me asking," I began, "How did Annabeth start this conversation?"

  "'Do you have an absent parent?'" Kalea answered.

  "Ah."

  "Hey I haven't done this in a while! And whenever we went out on rescue missions, we always had a satyr with us and they did the introduction!" Annabeth shot back.

  "We are short on satyrs," Percy added.

  "Anyways!" Annabeth said, "Weird things happen to you or people around you, right? You know, maybe the occasional putting other people in danger?"

  "Well," Kalea said with a guarded expression, "People used to get into fights around me... and our kitchen tools can be weird, too."

"Not the kitchen tools," mumbled Percy.

"Hm... well we'll figure out your godly parent when we get to camp," Annabeth promised, "I know it's hard to wait. You wanna know who abandoned you when you were younger. I get that. But I'm sure Chiron will be of more help than us."

She simply nodded. I doubted this news was making her like us. I tried to think of ways I could tell her about her heritage more gently. Annabeth, she wasn't very good with feelings. She was more of a logic person.

"Hey," I said in the most comforting tone my raspy voice would let me muster, "We'll figure this out. You'll like camp. Just remember, the gods are busy. Nothing is your fault."

She fixed her mint eyes on me. Was this how cheetahs and lions looked like as they stalked their prey?

"So this Greek stuff?" Kalea said, "It's all real?"

"Yeah," Percy said, "You're taking this really well."

She didn't say anything. Instead, her face morphed into an expression as if her worst suspicions had been confirmed. She didn't deny it. She didn't ask us for proof. She simply leaned back in her seat and looked at the bus ceiling for the rest of the ride.

• • • • •

  Kalea's house was modest yet homey. It was a simple 2-story building with beige walls and a brown-tiled roof.

"Mom," Kalea called, leading us inside, "I'm home and brought some company."

"Friends of yours?" Asked a female's voice from deeper inside the house.

"No, not really," muttered Kalea. She lead us out of the entry hall and into the living room. She gestured for us to sit on the couch while she went to look for her mom.

"She's taking this pretty well," Percy said while plopping down on the cushions.

I remembered Kalea's face on the bus, "Don't speak so soon, Percy."

Kalea came back, followed by a tall woman.

She looked almost exactly like her daughter. Narrow frame, golden hair and skin, sharp green eyes. The only difference was instead of bouncy curls, Miss Iosoa's hair was sleek and straight.

She smiled at us but faltered when her eyes landed on Annabeth. I followed the woman's gaze. Annabeth was standing there self-consciously but I couldn't see anything wrong. Then, I noticed her eyes were fixed on Annabeth's orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

  "I'm sorry," Kalea's mom said, "You need to leave."

  Percy, Annabeth, and I looked at each other with confused expressions.

  "No," Kalea said firmly, as if expecting this to happen, "They're staying because they're telling me things about dad that you won't."

  Miss Iosoa looked at her daughter with raised eyebrows.

  "What?" She growled.

  "You heard me, Mom," Kalea said, her eyes narrowing, "You didn't think I'd catch on? All the things you say accidentally, all the weird creatures I see following me. I've done research. You knew I was a Greek demigod didn't you?"

  "They mean to take you away, Kalea!" her mom yelled back, "Don't you know how dangerous a life as one of them is?" She pointed accusingly at my bandaged arm, "I'm protecting you!"

  "Protecting?" Kalea looked at Annabeth then back to her mother, "Chase told me I could have died! Monsters were acting as students so they could get to me! They wanted to eat me and you and I didn't even know!"

  "This is why I tried to get you to homeschool!"

  "NO! I need to know how to protect myself, Mom! I have to know about dad! He's a part of who I am whether we like it or not!"

  "You don't understand what I've seen, Kalea," said Miss Iosoa with a shaky voice, "The wounds, the deaths, if it happens to you I'd—"

  "Then let me go to this camp thingy! I'll be with people like me! I'll learn to protect myself—"

  "But if you're there," Miss Iosoa said, cheeks soaked with tears, "How will I be able to protect you? It's my job now since your father can't!"

  "Mom," Kalea said, voice softening, "You're gonna have to let me grow up soon. I appreciate your efforts, I really do, but... you need to let me learn how to defend myself, too."

  Miss Iosoa looked at the floor for what seemed like years. Finally, she turned to us, expression unreadable.

  "Do you mind stepping out for a little, please?" she asked, "I need to speak with my daughter."

  We nodded respectfully and went outside. Considering where the sun was, I assumed it was about noon. We sat down on the steps outside Kalea's house.

  After about 20 minutes, Kalea came out and gave us a wad of cash. We gaped at it then looked up to her.

  "For train tickets and lunch," she explained.

  Annabeth counted up the sum.

  "That's a little generous," she observed.

  "Mom said I could come with you one of these weekends and see how I like your camp thing," said the Nekoma manager, "If I enjoy it, I'll be allowed to spend my school breaks and some weekends there. That should be enough time to train, right?"

  We all nodded. Kalea looked at the ground and exhaled.

  "My mom's protective. She was a military nurse a long time ago. She's seen a lot. I guess she's just scared I might end up like one of the soldiers she's watched slip away."

  She took a deep breath and continued.

  "The money is for a bus to take you to a train station and train tickets so you can go back home. There should be a little for lunch, too. The rest is for a bus and train back here so you can take me to your camp."

  "Thank you," Annabeth said.

  Kalea nodded.

  "You caused quite a stir with my team," she mused.

  We all winced at each other and Kalea let out a laugh. A laugh that sounded refreshed, as if a huge burden had just been lifted off of her.

  "I'll sort it out," she promised, "My team likes and trusts me so it should be fine. Here," she took a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to me, "My phone number so we can plan and figure out when you guys can come back and take me."

  I secured it in my pocket and we all stood up.

  "Safe travels," Kalea said, "I'm excited to see your camp."

  We said our goodbyes and made our way to a bus stop. Despite the less than enjoyable events from this morning, I was actually quite happy. Happy that we were able to lead a demigod to a safer place. Kalea had called Camp Half-Blood our camp. I hoped that in time, she'd be calling it her camp just like how she called the Nekoma volleyball team hers.

• • • • •
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hi guys it's lux. i just wanted to say thank you for 1k reads and i hope you're enjoying the story !! <333