Coming up with a prank was not as easy as it was always made out to seem, Estelle quickly realized. Her original plan was to gather ideas and begin her planning at school, but that was quickly ruined when they performed many different activities during the day, something of which they never would have done had it not been her time to shine. To make matters worse, some boy in her grade, Ryan, had tripped and threw his large tray of food all over her white polo.

"I'm convinced the world is out to get me." Estelle grumbled as she continued wiping away at the large stain that had formed on her shirt. Her friends loud giggles had not helped once to tame her rage.

"Why? This is the only thing that's really gone wrong today." Her friend, Riley, spoke from beside her.

Estelle threw her head up in frustration and threw the napkin onto the table. Her pale, nimble fingers grasped at her brown hair, quickly tugging it into a ponytail before explaining.

"You don't understand!" She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I was going to prank my brother, but I needed to plan it. I couldn't do it at home, so here was my best option, and now I can't even do it here!"

"My mom told me pranking others wasn't nice." Estelle's friend from across the table, Sarah, mumbled, playing with her fingers.

"Well, my brother isn't nice to me!" Estelle quickly defended. Resting her head in the palm of her hand, she shut her eyes. "My mom and dad won't let me prank him, so I can't do it at home. I know he's their favorite- they let him get away with everything."

"That's what my mom does with my little brother. He gets away with everything, and I'm the one that gets in trouble." Riley rolled her eyes, grumbling under her breath about how "unfair" it was.

"Maybe you should just scare him?" Sarah piped up, her green eyes shining with curiosity. "I mean, there isn't a lot of harm to come from it, and you can show him who is boss!"

Estelle's eyes widened, and a large grin overtook her face at the thought. Sarah was right, after all. She wouldn't get into any trouble for simply scaring him.

"You're a genius, Sarah!" Estelle exclaimed, jumping up in excitement. Before the three friends could exchange any other words on the subject, the bell rang, signaling for them to return to their class.

When the final bell of the day finally rung, and Estelle had returned home, a sense of nervousness filled her. Despite this anxious feeling, she was not going to back down.

"When do you think I should do it, Sparkles?" Estelle questioned her stuffed bear quietly. When there was no reply, Estelle flopped onto her back, analyzing the ceiling as she thought about the thousands of possibilities.

It's a Friday! She suddenly thought, sitting up. I can stay up late and scare him once he falls asleep!

A triumphant smile lit up her face as she stood, twiddling her thumbs as she excitedly awaited the moment to come.

When it finally did arrive, Estelle was exhausted. She could still faintly hear her mother and father speaking in the living room, but no longer could the nine-year-old wait, for she feared she would just fall asleep and forget everything about her dearest plan. She opened the door slowly, her heart pounding

against her chest as it creaked, but as soon as she realized her parents weren't paying attention, she darted across the hall, straight into the open room of her brother's.

"Oh no," Estelle whispered to herself as the cranks in her head turned. She hadn't even thought about what to do, or how to scare him in the first place. Suddenly, she was reminded of how her father told her to scare, or 'surprise', her mother on her birthday, and everything seemed to connect.

Inching slower and slower to his bed, Estelle snickered slightly as she prepared herself for the fun. Taking a deep breath, she crouched down and jumped onto his bed, a small, "boo!", escaping her lips. Though; the fun didn't last long when she was suddenly launched to the ground, Percy standing over her with a sword in his hand. His eyes darted across every part of the room and his breathing quickened before he brought the large sword down and pointed it straight at her throat.

"I've already escaped your hell, Tartarus! What more do you want from me?" Percy's eyes glowered as he spoke, his angry tone sending shivers down Estelle's spine.

In the back of her mind, Estelle realized that this situation was a wonderful way to get her brother out of her life for good; but the fear took over, and all she could do was let out a loud, bellowing scream, clenching her eyes shut tightly as she listened to her parents footsteps rush down the hall.

"Percy!" The loud voice of Estelle's father rang in her ears, and even when the pressure of her brother's hands left her small neck, Estelle still kept her eyes closed in fear.

Loud noises around the room caused her to shake, and the warm, gentle hands of her mother made her flinch, before she opened her eyes and the worried eyes of her mother made her cry. The sound of Estelle's sobbing cries echoed throughout the room, and the threatening stance Percy had towards her father suddenly shattered, and he fell to his knees, tugging onto his hair harshly.

"Estelle," she heard her mother whisper lightly in her ear. "Come on- let's go get you some water."

Pulling herself up, Estelle slowly walked the hall towards the living room where her mother quickly sat her down onto the couch. She rubbed her pale arms rapidly, shivers running up her spine at the small flashback to the moment that had just occurred. It was something that she never thought she would experience; especially at the ripe age of nine. Estelle genuinely believed her brother was going to murder her- and this newfound belief only caused her hatred for the boy to grow.

"Estelle," the voice of her father cut Estelle out of her thoughts, and her head whipped up quickly, her eyes wide as she met the ones of her father. Next to him was Percy, and the panic that had once consumed her did that once more, but to her surprise, the same fear and panic was etched onto his tan face as well. "What you did was not right."

"But-" her small voice was cut off.

"No 'ands', 'ifs', or 'buts' about it, Estelle." Paul sighed, rubbing his face in an attempt to rid himself of the exhaustion and exasperation he currently faced. In a fluid motion, he waved his hands towards Percy, pointing at him to sit down. "Darling, there are just some things you don't understand. Too young to understand, even."

Estelle froze as her attempted murderer took a seat next to her. Growing angry, She sprang up from her seat.

"I am not too young!" She exclaimed, her hair sticking to her forehead. "Maybe if you wouldn't keep secrets, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Sit down." Paul commanded, his daughter immediately obeying. "If you want an explanation so badly, I will give it to you, but I don't expect any questions should you not understand." He paused. "Alright?"

Estelle quickly nodded, casting a small glance towards the tired, slumped over form of her brother before grasping the glass of water her mother held in front of her.

"Right." Paul ran his fingers through his pepper-black hair. "Your brother has gone through many things, many of which are very gruesome."

Estelle opened her mouth, the question of, "what does 'gruesome' mean?" forming on her tongue, before her father shook his head, and she was left with her mouth slightly agape, a small reminder of a fish, ironically.

"Percy is a demigod, Estelle." Her mother suddenly spoke up, taking a seat in the recliner next to Paul, her arms crossed over her legs with her nimble fingers grasping her knees. "Don't you remember the trip you took to the 'Metropolitan Museum of Art'?" At Estelle's nod, Sally continued. "The things you learned about the Greek Gods- that is real."

"Huh?"

"Yes." Sally nodded, letting out a small giggle at the shock etched onto her daughter's face. "They are real, and-"

"And Percy is one?" Estelle cut her mom off, shaking with excitement and the thought of her brother being some sort of mythological god.

"No, no." Sally waved her hands as if to clear the air of the rumor, all the while Paul shot Estelle a look as if to say, "settle down". "No, Percy is the son of a god. His father is Poseidon."

Leaning back onto the couch, Estelle looked unamused as she began to speak,

"I don't understand how this is similar to him- to him hurting me!"

"Your brother has been through a lot, Estelle." Paul said. "Quests, battles, everything a child shouldn't have to go through." He gave a small pause, debating on if he should say the last part. "He's been, quite literally, through hell."

"Well, yes." Sally looked shaken up for a moment. "His reaction to your silly antics was because of the things he has gone through."

"Are you saying he's murdered someone before, cause it really seemed like he was going to murder me?" Estelle asked curiously, her mind fluctuating with the terrifying thought of her brother being a wanted cereal- as she called it- killer.

"He wasn't going to murder you!" Sally reassured her, laughing awkwardly. "Your brother has something called PSTD-"

"Oh!" Estelle cried out, a small pang of guilt hitting her as she saw Percy jump in the corner of her eye. "I know what that is! We were talking about it in school. It means that you-you," Estelle stumbled over her words, struggling to describe the definition.

"It means that someone has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event." Paul finished, and for the first time that night, giving a small smile at her attempt, the smile growing larger at her excited nod.

"Yeah! And you have things called," Estelle put on a thinking face. "Panic attacks and stuff." Her excitement over her knowledge soon disappeared as she came to the realization of her actions, guilt erupting inside of her and she looked over at her brother, noticing the fear still lurking on his face.

"It looks like she came to an understanding on her own." Estelle heard her mother whisper from across the room.

"Percy." Estelle spoke softly, her bottom lip quivering. When he looked up, his normally bright eyes were now dark, and she burst into tears. "I'm-" Estelle hiccupped. "I'm sorry!"

Quickly, Percy's older brother instincts kicked in, and he sat up in a flash, wrapping her in his arms as she sobbed. Guilt corrupted his mind, just as it did hers, and the only things the two whispered were rapid apologies.

Pulling away from the hug, Estelle wiped her cheeks.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled one last time. "I shouldn't have been jealous."

Percy shrugged, a small, lopsided smile appearing onto his face. "I would have been, too." He gave a small chuckle, his mood lightening at the smile developing on Estelle's face. "Probably would have pranked you, too, if we are be honest." Percy ignored Paul's distant "don't tell her that!".

Laughing, Estelle clutched her stomach, once again wiping her tears, but they now consisted of happy ones, rather than the latter.

"Yeah!" She agreed, nodding. "I probably would have attacked you, too."

Percy feigned shock, sucking in a small gasp.

"Hey!" He exclaimed. "You definitely deserved it!"

"Nuh-uh!" Estelle shook her head, sticking her tongue out at Percy. "You deserved being scared!"

Suddenly, a dark wave passed over Percy's face and the smile soon transformed into a smirk.

"Did I?" He asked, and at Estelle's nod, Percy leaped up and began ticking her, small gasps and shrieks leaving her mouth.

Across the room, Paul and Sally looked on with amusement, laughter filling the room with the occasional breathless shriek of, "stop!".

"I think they are finally acting like siblings, hm?" Paul mumbled against Sally's skin, his head nuzzled into the crevice of her neck.

"No thanks to me." Sally spoke triumphantly, pride swelling in her heart at her two bundles of joy across the room.

"Hey!" Paul exclaimed, shooting out of her neck to give her a look of shock.

Before long, everyone was involved in a play fight, and when Estelle awoke, she relished in the fun she had experienced, her mind claiming it to be 'the most fun she had ever had', and little did she know that her brother thought the exact same thing.