❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒱𝐼𝐼. 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝐼𝓈 𝑀𝒶𝒹 𝒜𝓉 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒... 𝐸𝓍𝒸𝑒𝓅𝓉 𝒵𝑜𝑒

𝒲𝒾𝓉𝒽 Percy's new brother, came new views on the demigod son of Poseidon. Suddenly, he wasn't Percy Jackson, the cool guy who'd retrieved Zeus's lightning bolt last summer. Now he was Percy Jackson, the poor schmuck with the ugly monster for a brother.

"He's not my real brother!" Percy protested whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like...a half-brother twice removed, or something."

Zoe knew it was hard for him but she also knew that if any of her siblings were saying that about her, someone would have a broken nose. At best.

Annabeth tried to make Percy feel better. She suggested they team up for the chariot race to take their minds off their problems. Zoe decided to help because the Aphrodite cabin obviously wasn't going to make their own chariot and she wanted to do something other than sitting around doing nothing.

Don't get her wrong—all three of them hated Tantalus and they were worried sick about camp—but they didn't know what to do about it. Until they could come up with some brilliant plan to save Thalia's tree, they figured they might as well go along with the races. After all, Annabeth's mom, Athena, had invented the chariot, and Percy's dad had created horses. Zoe's dad was a genius inventor who owned a multi-billion dollar tech company and her great-grandfather was Hepheastus, god of forges. Together, the trio would own that track.

One morning Annabeth, Zoe, and Percy were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some of Zoe's siblings walked by and asked Percy if he needed to borrow some eyeliner for his eye..."Oh sorry, eyes."

Zoe stood up, throwing her sketchbook to the ground. "You wanna repeat that, Tanaka?" She snarled, taking a menacing step forward. "Say something like that again and I'll make you clean the toilets for a month."

Drew Tanaka had gotten to camp during the school year. Zoe didn't know her very well, but she was the epitome of a stereotypical Aphrodite kid. Zoe had seen her comfort Lucy when monsters attacked, so she knew Drew could be nice, but she hadn't seen it outside of their cabin. To everyone else, she just seemed like a grade-A bitch.

As Zoe's siblings scurried away, Annabeth grumbled, "Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"Don't you start, Annie," Zoe scowled as she sat back down.

"He's not my brother!" Percy snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"

"Seriously Percy? You either defend him, or you're ashamed of him. Which one, huh?" Zoe asked, getting no response. 

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, ignoring Zoe. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster."

"Well you gave him permission to enter the camp." Percy shot back.

"Because it was the only way to save your life! I mean...I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous—"

"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, anyway?"

Annabeth's ears turned pink and Zoe's face flushed as they both looked away.

"Just forget it," the blond said. "Now, the axle for this chariot—"

"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," Percy said. "He saved my life."

Annabeth threw down her pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design a chariot with him."

"Maybe I should."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

She stormed off and left Zoe and Percy on the beach.