It was a sunny Saturdy morning. The summer air was fresh, and the sea salt that mixed with the breeze woke me up. I walked downstairs to find Percy and the kids loading up the car with our suitcases for Labor Day.

"Hi Mommy!" Selena's dark pigtails bounced as she bounded towards me. Selena was the queen of bear hugs... and temper tantrums. But let's just stick with bear hugs.

Rion was helping Percy load things onto the roof rack. He was sitting on the roof of our new Suburban. My four year old mini Percy was sitting on the roof of the car. I opened my mouth to protest, but Percy kissed me. I relaxed, although I shouldn't have because Rion was still up on the roof.

"Ew!" Rion and Selena covered their eyes. Taylor giggled and toddled over to me. Luke followed her. Both sets of twins had a secret language, and Taylor and Luke's was adorable. They'd literally whisper in each others ears, as if sharing secrets. It was too cute, and I began to laugh.

"Phia?" Taylor asked, pointing to Sophia's suitcase. I was surpirised by her genuisness at just 2 years. She recognized her big sister's suitcase.

"Yes, sweetie. We're going to pick up Phia."

"It's SO-phia, Mommy," Rion moaned. Selena put a finger to her lips.

"Shh! Taylor doesn't know how to say 'so' yet. That was mean, Rion."

"No it wasn't! I was just telling Mommy that Soph's name is Sophia."

I watched as my two kids fought on the roof of the car. Percy turned on the car and Selena's face turned paper white. Then he opened the sun roof.

"Climb in, Ri!" Rion eagerly jumed through the sunroof onto the console. Selena was more hesitant, and Percy had to kneel on the console and carry her down. I strapped Luke and Taylor into their car seats. We had Rion and Selena in the third row on their booster seats, and Luke and Taylor in the second row. Four carseats in one car was a lot.

I buckled myself in and we closed the garage door and headed South, to Long Island. It was a six hour ride without the ferry. We were heading to Manhattan afterwards to see Sally and Paul, then up to Truro WITH Sally and Paul. It was very out of the way to pick Sophia up at camp because everything else was on the way there, but we had to, and then everything was on the way back.

*****THREE HOURS INTO THE DRIVE****

I was so excited to see Sophia again. It had been three long months without her. I think we all missed her more than we thought we would. But more than all of that, I was hoping that she had a reat time. She was claimed at seven! Not all of us got nearly that lucky. 

Somewhere in Connecticut we stopped at a drive thru Dunkin' Donuts and bought coffee for us and donuts for the kids. It was a long car ride, and they were being so patient. Selena and Rion were watching Cars 2, and debating whether Holly was better than Sally (Selena didn't think so, but Rion did because Holly could fly and Sally couldn't.), and Taylor and Luke were watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates quietly, giggling and answering to the TV. I had country radio (my new obsession) on and Percy was trying to sing along. Every once in a while he'd sing the right words. At one point Rion asked him to stop singing because he sounded like a toilet flushing. Percy was very offended. It was a funny car ride.

****PULLING UP TO CAMP HALF BLOOD************

"MOOOOOMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Sophia came barreling down the Hill and almost knocked me over. HEr siblings surrounded her, asking her all sorts of questions like:

"Did you fight baddies?" -Selena

"Did you play capture the flag?" Selena

"Did you move into Daddy's cabin?" Selena

"Did you eat bugs?"  Rion

Percy and Chiron were talking about her progress, and Chiron came up to me.

"She's doing very well, and I'm impressed at her ability to control her powers. But she is dangerous. With Percy and Sophia, your family is in great danger. It woul dbe best if she stayed all year long at Camp, and if Percy came with her, but obviously that's not possible at the moment, and considering her age, you'll want her home. But depending on how many of your other children are claimed by Poseidon, you may end up having to move the family here, or have them stay all year round. Percy is a lesser threat, so they won't attack you as much, merely because of his reputation and his weakening powers. He will never lose them, though, and the monsters know that. But they also know that Sophia is vulnerable, and an easy target. Consider it. Once she's thirteen, she can't live at home. I can promise you that." I gulped. I hadn't been expecting that. But Percy seemed to have been.

We loaded everyone in the car and began to go to Manhattan. I pulled out my phone and got directions to Sally and Pauls' apartment. 

We arrived there around 6:00 PM.

"PERCY! ANNABETH! SOPHIA! SELENA! RION! TAYLOR! LUKEY!" Sally squished us all into one big hg, and gave the kids kisses and handed them each a Hershey's Kiss.

"How have you been? Dinner's almost ready. Paul! Can you take the kids to their rooms?" I walked into the kitchen and asked Sally if I could help her with anything.

"You've helped enough, hun. You've raised quite the family. How did Sophia do at Camp?" 

"Great! SHe got claimed by Poseidon, and Chiron said that our family's in danger with her and Percy around, though. He suggested that she stay there all year. It's what I did, but I couldn't bear to let her do that. I'm going to talk to Chiron about it next year, but I want to put it off as long as possible."

"Oh, wow. That's news, huh? That's how I felt with Perce, and he was fine. Just cross your fingers that the rest of the kids will be Athena's, I guess," Sally began placing plates on the table.

"My fingers are already crossed."

*********************************THAT NIGHT*************************************

I walked the kids into their room. Sally and Paul had designed it for them specifically. Paul was a great artist, and painted the kids names on their beds. Rion and Luke had a bunk bed pushed up against the wall near the window, and Selena and Taylor shared a bunk opposite of them. Sophia had a twin size bed inbetween the two bunks. The foot of both bunks backed up the the sides of the twin. She was tucked away.

"Goodnight, kiddies. I love you guys." I kissed each one of them on the head, and made sure Taylor had her pacifier, and Luke had his blankie, and Selena had Mr. Cuddles the bunny and Princess Giggles the cat. 

"Goodnight!"They chorused. I blew them a kiss and left the room. I could hear them whispering, but it was sweet, and died down quickly into snores and steady breathing.

"They were exhausted," Percy muttered as I sat on the couch to watch Chopped with the rest of the adults. I must've fallen asleep because when I woke up I was in a bed, with Percy next to me. I instanly fell back asleep.

**********************TWO DAYS LATER***********

It was as gorgeous as it looked int he pictures, if not better. I walked into the house in Truro, wondering whhy I hadn't been there before. It was perfect. Gorgeous. No words to explain it. 

"Wow." My mouth stayed in that shape for a while. It was going to be an amazing Labor Day weekend.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

You guys are amazing. 195,040 reads?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That's insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i"m literally freaking out, but I"m not gonna scare you guys and freak out too much on here. I want to thank every single reader, every single commenter, every single voter; you all mean the world to be. You are all amazing. If you ever need anything, just message me, because you were there when I needed it, and I'll be here for you. Seriously, message me whenever, and I will respond, as soon as I can. Thank you guys. No words to explain myself right now.

I am still debating whether or not I should do the Sophia story. So that's going to be the question of the chapter: SHould I, or shouldn't I? If you think I should, and you have ideas, comment them below. I will probably start writing that (if you think I should) soon, and release the first chapter around Christmas, or mid January, depending on how far I get. Let me know your thoughts!!!

XOXO,

PercyAnnabeth20owl