"PERHAPS DIE," I very profoundly say to the half-goat-half-tree beside me.

Cedar gloats at me from across the Catan board, pinching their fingers together at me demandingly. "Gimme."

"This is how friendships are killed," Gil Espina Rosales says to the wall, as if he's in The Office. Which he's not.

"Shut up Gil," I say, thrusting my cards furiously at Cedar.

"Yeah shut up Gil," they grin, plucking one of my cards with their nimble fingers. My goddamn brick.

I stand up, pointing. "You cheated."

"Did not," Cedar says with dead enthusiasm, hand limp to their chest. "How dare you."

"I know you did you've been hounding me for that brick and now all of a sudden out of my fifteen cards you pick the one and only brick? You're cheating!" I howl. "Cedar Pansy Underwood you are a cheating cheat and you know it."

They glare. I wince. "What did you call me?"

"Light of my life, handsome tree child?" I attempt weakly. Very, very weakly. Weak as Gil, really.

Cedar lunges at me before I can make any more Gil-demeaning jokes. I eep, dodging out of their way, shoving a chair into their path. Cedar trips and faceplants, and I get two seconds to cackle in vainglory before they stab out their hand. One of the vines on Mr. D's Memorial Wall snaps out and cracks me on the thigh.

"Ow you fuck!"

"So sorry," they say, not sorry at all.

Gil sighs, rolling a dice around with his middle finger. "Can we be done?"

"Fine," I limp over to my chair, picking it up and sitting down as loudly as possible. Cedar sits in their chair across from me. I stick my tongue out. They roll their eyes. Gil sighs even louder.

"Settlement and a road," Cedar finishes their robbery with a nice spite to my empire, plopping the little house-shaped wood piece onto a corner of a hexagon. I glare.

"Cedar has eight points," I whine to Gil.

"Right, let me attack Cedar, because you're not winning at all," he rolls his eyes at me. People do that a lot. "My turn."

Gil grabs the dice and rolls an eleven. Useless. As per usual. I get one (1) sheep and add it to my growing, useless menagerie of other sheep.

"Anyone have a wheat?" Gil asks, shuffling his cards around. "I've got an ore."

"Nope," Cedar shakes their head, curls bouncing adorably. They are so cute sometimes.

"I've got sheep," I offer helpfully.

"Oh, yes, that's what I said!" he reaches for my offered card, then smacks it out of my hand.

I laugh. "Fine, no sheep."

"Can you gimme three?"

"Two."

"Fine."

We swap cards, and I say goodbye to one of my flock. Gil places down cards, and replaces a settlement with a city, which is a boot-shaped thing that looks nothing like a city. "Done."

I roll. A two. More useless than Gil, surprise surprise. Nobody picks up cards cuz none of us are idiotic enough to build on a two, so I put down four sheep, another sheep, and my newly acquired ore.

"Development card!" I sing.

Cedar and Gil groan in harmony.

"Was ten not enough?" he mutters under his breath.

"Apparently not," Cedar says dryly.

"Well, you know, what," I put my hands on my hips, glaring at them. "My investment paid off. Suck on this, haters."

I slap down my card. A victory point.

Gil and Cedar protest angrily. "Come on! That's so lame."

"You just won with absolutely no honor," Gil points out, crossing his arms. "Longest road, largest army, and a victory point? You've got five solid points on the board you shit!"

I cackle. "Too bad, you baby. Now, I think something needs to be said."

I lean in innocently, hand to my ear, waiting patiently.

"Mmr mrhrhg nsmfmsn gn," Cedar huffs.

"Pardon?"

Gil and Cedar look at each other, absolutely done with my shit. I beam.

"All hail Lord of Catan," they chant grudgingly, and Gil even does the Catholic cross.

I smile with satisfaction. "Very good."

"AND VIVA LA REVOLUTION!" Gil screams.

They both lunge at me, and I scream, pushed back onto the table and sending the pieces scattering. Gil pins my legs down as I kick at him, hollering threats, while Cedar clamps their hands over my arms and twists them sharply.

"Don't be a smug lil' bitch," they say.

I pout up at them. "But isn't that why you love me?"

Gil snorts from somewhere by my feet.

I hear the sound of Chiron clopping in, stopping, and then complete silence. Cedar twist their head to look, and stills.

More silence.

"I can't explain," Gil explains.

"Neither can I," Cedar admits, and they both slide off me. Cedar offers a hand, and I pull myself up.

"Hi, Chiron," I wave. "'Sup?"

"Miss Jackson--" I can hear his inaudible sigh. Even standing in majestic, mane-flowing, shiny-coated centaur form, a good two feet taller than us, he still manages to look like an exhausted five-foot-six history teacher. He pinches his brow.

"Headache?" I ask sympathetically. "I know a guy, if you want--"

"Do not offer me recreational drugs, alcohol, or magic," Chiron cuts over me.

I put my hands up in surrender. "Fine. Your loss."

"Half of what she says is just hot air, sir," Cedar reassures a very-stressed Chiron. "She doesn't even know what weed looks like."

"Weedy puff!" I say gleefully. Gil face-palms.

"Yes, thank you, Underwood," Chiron smiles painfully. Gil, Cedar and I edge out of the room, watching him carefully, smiling as big as we can. Big smile means innocent.

"Perhaps clean up a little before you go?"

Damnit. "Right away!" I chirp.

We make quick work of the Catan stuff, even with the hexagons scattered about the Big House's living room. It's hard to do anything lazily when Chiron is watching you, cuz you can feel the centuries of disappointment in his career amounting to this, even when he's silent.

Chiron gives us the Nod of Begrudging Approval, so we wrap up in coats and hoodies and scamper out of the Big House, into the cold December air. The Mist barrier prevents snow from coming in, but I'm pretty sure we convinced the Apollo kids to suntan half-naked inside their cabin, not on the roof, just for December and January. Which means Elsa, daughter of Khione the snow goddess (no, I'm not kidding, you can't make this shit up) is going to be let loose from her tiny ice castle behind the Hecate cabin and reign snowy terror upon us. It'll be epic.

"So, we pissed Chiron off for today," Cedar says as I loop my arm through theirs. Gil stomps behind us in the crunchy grass. "What's next?"

"I promised Perce I'd clean out Cabin Three. You can come!" I say.

Cedar slides out of my grip. "No way."

"Giiil?" I smile charmingly back at him.

Clearly not that charming, because he looks at me like I'm crazy. "Clean out that pigsty? No. I would literally rather climb into Peleus' mouth."

"Fine," I groan. "Be lame. Whatever."

"Sorry, 'Stel, but when Percy is off-leash with Annabeth not around, I'm not going to find out the state of his living space," Cedar pats my shoulder bracingly.

"Good luck in there. Repent for whatever you did to receive this punishment," Gil salutes me, and trails off with Cedar.

"I hate you two!" I call at their retreating backs.

They flip me off in sync. Cedar and Gil are the most uncooperative people I've ever met. Figures the one thing they can do together is be rude to me. Figures!

I peel off from their path to Cabin Three, blowing clouds of breath between my lips as I walk. Little puffs of white float before me before evaporating quickly. My Slytherin scarf is warm, but the cold seeps in underneath, and I walk faster.

I push open the abalone door of the Poseidon cabin and shut it soundly behind me. During the summer, it's usually cool as an aquarium in here, refreshing and crisp. In the winter it's like a warm soupy bath. I pull off my things, dropping them to the floor as I walk further into the cabin. It's been expanded from my childhood days to fit the occasional incoming camper, but we don't get a lot more siblings. Usually it's Kim's kids, or other children of water-themed gods. Sometimes Uncle Tyson.

"Perce, it's me!" I shout, trudging through the main hallway.

"In my room!" he yells back.

I push his door open, popping my head in. "Knock knock, hope you're decent."

He looks up from where he's lying on the bed, Nintendo switch lying on his belly, controllers in hand. "Don't be gross, weirdo."

"My bad," I come fully inside, leaving the door open behind me. "Ew, Cedar was right about you."

The floor was barely visible beneath orange t-shirts, jeans, and socks. Even the occasional underwear. A helmet sat upside down, stuffed full of empty chip bags, while more snack-related trash was scattered around like it was the Hudson river or something.

"What did Cedar say about me?" Percy looks at me hard.

"That you're a fine role model and a shining specimen of a demigod," I say sweetly, tossing a melted Fruit Roll-Up at him. He swats it out of the air, and the Switch teeters off his stomach and flops onto the bed. Score.

"Ha-ha, punk," he rolls his eyes. That was the third person in a ten-minute span! Actually, probably fourth. I don't know that Chiron is contractually allowed to roll his eyes at kids, but I do know he does it in his heart. "C'mon, let's get cleaning."

WE DID NOT. Surprisingly (by which I mean not surprisingly), Percy gave up trying to cajole me into scrubbing toilets (and why would I?) and just flushed the whole place out with hydro-jet-powered-sea-god stuff. He looked like some swirling ancient god, with the sea mist in his hair, and I've never wanted to slap someone more.

The last dredges of cabin-water and a few shirts swirl out of the door and into the icy lawn, we exchange grins.

"Nerf war?" he says.

"Nerf war," I agree.

We bullet inside, slamming each other out of the way. If I don't get the N-Strike Elite I'm going to lose and take a beating. Percy is fucking ruthless but so am I. My shins are already bruised when I throw myself forward, dragging the gun just out his grasp. He shouts in indignation and pulls me by my ankle, trying to shake the gun loose.

I kick his hand and scramble to my feet, aiming the gun at him, just as he whips around with an Ultra Pharaoh Blaster aimed for my head.

"No powers," I say.

"Fine," he cocks the gun. "No traps."

"Fine," I put my finger on the trigger, slowly pressing down. "Get ready to bite it, big brother."

He shrieks, pointing at something behind me, and my heart jolts out of my chest. "What the fuck is that?!"

I whirl, eyes wide. "What?"

A bullet smacks me in the neck, but Percy's triumphant laughter stings way bitchier. He sprints off, slamming into a wall and screeching in pain as he bolts away.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT," I scream, barreling after him. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU."

"EARTH AND HELL INCARNATE COULDN'T," he shouts back. "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU FUCKING TRY."

I let out an ear-piercing scream and fire recklessly, bullets pinging off the abalone and clattering to the floor. Percy slides, John Wick style, into a room and I overshoot, stumbling past him with a shriek. Lying on the ground, he sticks his foot out, and I face-plant onto the hard floor.

I turn onto my back, trying to scoot away, but he levels his gun at my head.

"Sayonara, sucker," he grins. The gun fires.

Mom springs into view in a spray of mist just as the Nerf dart bounces off my forehead, leaving a stinging welt.

"Perseus Jackson!"

"Mom he hit me!" I wail.

"You hit me first!" he splutters, thrusting his hands out with the gun in them. Mom looks at the gun. He drops it, and it nearly crashes onto my face.

"Mom!"

"Percy!"

"Mom!" he protests.

"Estelle." She gives me a good stern Mom look.

"To be fair," I begin.

Mom lets out a loud, long sigh. Her hair is nearly all grey now, and it suddenly hits me how old she's getting. It sobers me up, the laughter dying from my face. I push myself up, taking the hand Percy offers me.

"We're sorry, Mom," Percy says. I nod emphatically behind his shoulder. "What's up?"

"Nothing," she smiles at us warmly. I feel tingly warm, like I took a sip of hot cocoa. "I just missed my babies."

"Miss you too, Mom," I say, brushing my fingers in the mist that makes up her hand. "How's Dad?"

"Busy as ever, you know how he gets during the midterm," she laughs, pushing her hair back with a hand. "We're thinking about going down to Montauk. I know it's cold out, but Shell Place hasn't been used in forever."

I smile. "Shell Place. I miss it."

Our house up at Montauk is one of those little pockets of time. You step into it and you're ten again, and nothing else matters but the waves. Percy used to make water slides for me, and Dad always rented a dune buggy and took us for drives. Mom loves it, she says it was the place where she first met Poseidon. They bought it a year after I was born, when Dad got a raise and Mom landed her sculptures in a fancy gallery place. It was originally called The Baste or something boring like that, but I always called it 'the shell place' cuz there were shells.

"Paul's finally got the fireplace sorted out," Mom says, smiling at us. "So should we do it? Christmas at the beach?"

I look at Percy, my hopes falling a little. I always forget he's an adult, with a wife and kids, especially when it's just us at camp. I cross my fingers and pray Uncle Frederick hasn't scheduled some big holiday this year.

Percy shoots a look at me, then back to Mom. "Sounds like a plan. I'll ask Annabeth."

I squeal, punching him in the arm. "Yay!"

"Ow, you punk!" he shoves me, laughing.

"Oh, I just remembered," Mom cuts over our physically violent affection. "You'll probably want to tell Annabeth this, since the kids like exploring the caves."

Her mouth turns down at the corners, her wrinkles creasing. She's always hated the caves, and the first few years she never let us around them. Now the kids can go, but she stares emptily out the window, worrying a cup of tea in her hands, until they get back.

"We finally closed them off," she says. "I just don't like them. There are snakes, and I don't trust the safety of the structure. Someone reported rattlesnakes recently, and I just couldn't let it sit there."

"Rattlesnakes aren't even native to Long Island," I point out, annoyed. Mom never let me go to the caves, even when the littles could. She frets like this over nothing.

"Well, I didn't like it," she's stern now, using her 'that's that' voice.

"I'll tell the kids," Percy reassures. "I'm sure it's for the better anyway. The kids can explore the boardwalk instead."

I huff, rolling my eyes. "It's just a cave."

"Estelle, I said I'm done with it, and that's that," Mom snaps at me, her voice rising. I blink at her. "I don't want to hear any more. That place is dangerous."

"Well it is just a cave, I don't understand why you're so paranoid!" I protest, throwing my hands out wide. "A little bit of danger is good!"

"Estelle, I said enough." Her voice is cold now, and she's almost shrieking.

Percy puts a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Mom. Estelle, enough."

I bite my tongue, glaring, feeling bad and stupid and riled up for no reason. "Sorry."

Mom relaxes a little. "Just promise you'll stay away until it's sealed up. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I promise," I say grudgingly.

"Thank you, Stella," she smiles, and her hand reaches out in a shower of mist, as if she's brushing my cheek. "I'll see you two tomorrow. Estelle, if Cedar or Gil wants to come, I'm sure we can squeeze them in your room."

I nod, looking at my feet. "Kay."

I can feel Percy's glare, but I don't look up. "Love you, Mom," he says instead.

"Love you both." And then she's gone.

"You're a dick," Percy turns to me, hands on hips.

I shrug. "She is paranoid. It's just a cave. There's probably rat snakes, and that's it."

"Clearly she's worried," he says, eyebrow raising. "Can't you at least lay off for her sake?"

"Fine!" I throw my hands up, grating against his stare. "I won't mention it again. I guess I'm just too lame to be trusted around there, even when your kids have been playing at the caves since they were five."

"Estelle, that's not--"

"It's fine, Percy," I shove him off, turning away. "I'm going to pack for the trip that won't have any cave visits in it. Again."

I'm not salty. Nope. :) 

author's note!

gasp, chapter one! thoughts on the first pov?