Guess what? I'm back. :)

When I told Minnie we would be able to talk to her mom, she could have been a daughter of Apollo the way her face lit up. Speaking of which, boy would Apollo and Iris have made a good pair. Not that I was learning anything from the particular goddess that was messing up my life, but I had never seen someone so theatrical in a long time. I guess Iris hadn't had a chance to show off lately, because she made a big production out of conjuring the shimmery mist for the Iris message. Let's just say it included a lot of 'Ohm'ing.

But the wait was worth it because suddenly the cloud of mist wasn't a cloud anymore, it was the inside of a shop.

It looked like your typical tacky tourist trap from the front section. There were hats and water bottles and keychains all with the "Orange Beach, Florida" logo and some dancing citrus fruit in sunglasses. But Minnie's mother had expanded the back to some much more high-quality items. There were brand-name bathing suits, shirts, frayed shorts and even some local art. Ms. Coulter was trying to sell the lone customer a blown glass starfish when we appeared.

I could tell it was Minnie's mom immediately. The family resemblance was remarkable. Both Coulters had the same dark curly hair and sun-kissed cheeks; however, Minnie's eyes were a foamy green compared to her mother's hazel. The rest of her body was obscured by the customer, who, thankfully, had her back to us. She hadn't noticed us yet, but when she did I trusted her to keep it together until the lady left. The customer wouldn't be able to see us, but just in case...

"… completely handmade right here in town!" Ms. Coulter was saying, "He has such attention to detail. Just see how the colours – "

She looked to the customer and caught sight of the Iris message over the lady's shoulder. Her jaw dropped then...

Smash!

The starfish tumbled from her fingers and shattered on the floor. Ms. Coulter looked like she has just been hit by a school bus, her eyes focused on Minnie.

"Oh my goodness!" The customer said. "Are you alright? I –" she turned around. I winced, waiting to see if there would be a reaction...

Smash!

"Percy?"

"Mom!"

"Mommy!" shouted Minnie, shocked despite everything.

"Oh my goodness, Minnie!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I forgot you were in Florida!"

"You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'm okay! See?"

"Don't you ever do that to me again young lady."

"I'm so sorry, Paul just knew how everything had been getting to me..."

"I missed you so much."

"He thought a vacation would be good for me."

"It's okay! I've been busy here."

"I love you momma!"

"I'm so proud of you."

"Hem hem."

We all turned at Iris' cough. And then took a few steps back. The four of us were so close to the screen of mist our faces were practically touching. I just wanted to jump right through the mirage and give my mom a big hug.

"I may be going crazy," Ms. Coulter said, turning to Mom with an entire new facial expression. "But does that mean you know about all this too?"

"Do I ever," Mom said with a small smile.

"Would you like to have coffee later or something? I'd love to talk. You have no idea what this has been like."

"Actually, I think I do!"

And then suddenly in pure girlish fashion they were laughing and looking like they'd found their new best friend. I caught Grover's eye; he was grinning mischievously. We both knew what was coming.

"Being a single mom is hard. Especially when your baby," Ms. Coulter looked poignantly at Minnie. "Is carrying a dagger and running off to battle monsters all alone."

"Luckily enough I've found Paul to keep me company," Mom replied. "Who was your –"

"Minnie," I said.

" – Minnie's father?"

Ms. Coulter blushed.

"You've probably heard of him," she said. "He's pretty popular around here, at least. The god of the sea..."

"Poseidon," Mom finished

"Why, yes! Don't tell me..." She looked at the group of us at Camp Half-Blood. Grover winked.

Both ladies turned to fully face each other. Their eyes narrowed as they looked the other up and down. Then Chiron cleared his throat, both ladies blinked, smiled, and everything went back to how it had been before.

"You know," Mom mused, her eyes flicking between my sister and I. "I think I ever see the family resemblance."

Ms. Coulter studied my face. "They have the same eyes." Then she turned to Minnie and bent down to look her daughter in the eye.

"Do you want to stay here?" she asked. " Because if you to come home, I'm sure we can find a way to keep you safe from the monsters. I just don't want you running away again, love."

"I want to stay," Minnie said. "I think. I like it here. And then when I come home I'll know how to fight, right?"

By the expression on Ms. Coulter's face, I wasn't sure if she necessarily wanted her baby to know how to fight. I couldn't understand why. It would be super handy for deterring bullies, creepy old men, and the monster specialty of the day. She only sighed and turned to Chiron. Rachel aside, I had never seen a mortal so not fazed by the centaur. Things must have been pretty rough in Florida.

"Are you in charge here?" she asked. "Is that okay?"

The camp director nodded. "Certainly. Many of our campers come here for the summer and return home for the school year. You and Minnie can assess at the end of August if it is safe for her in Florida."

"Okay," she looked relieved. "You'll be good Minnie, dear, right?"

"Of course, Mommy."

"You too, Percy," Mom added. "Find some balance in your life if you can. Don't let all the responsibility – " she sniffed. "Oh, I wish I could give you a hug. You've grown up so fast!"

"Love you, Mom. I'll make sure Paul takes care of you."

"Love you too, Percy."

"Bye Mommy!"

"Bye Minnie, dear," Ms. Coulter said as she began to fade. "Don't go looking for trouble. Don't get into fights! Always have a weapon on you. Get lots of sleep. Don't forget – "

She was cut off as the last bit of the message evaporated.

"Mothers," Iris said. She rolled her eyes as if that was enough explanation.

"Thanks missus... um, lady... your highness," Minnie said reverently.

"No problem kiddo. Give me a call anytime you need a message. Providing you've got some gold, of course. And I'll be seeing you later," she added to me before disappearing.

A few campers had been watching the activity from a distance away, but most were still fascinated with Annabeth's blueprints. One guy suggested she put in a temple for the demigods since they had been the ones to protect Olympus. Mr. D appeared just in time to give him a smack upside the head. Then he scurried away howling and pleading 'I'm sorry father! I didn't mean to!' to some unknown force.

Annabeth decided to pack up soon after this and came over to where Chiron and I were discussing the new demigods that would be arriving this school year.

"I was wondering," she said. "If I'd be able to go visit Olympus sometime soon? I'm not going to be able to visualize anything completely without seeing the actual area."

Chiron pulled at his beard. "We might be able to arrange that. It would take some time though. We'd need to – "

"Or I could take her?"

Both looked at me.

"I mean, I'm the god of heroes, right? It's my responsibility to make sure Annabeth has the opportunities she needs if she's going to design all of freaking Olympus."

"I see no problem with that," Chiron said. "You two can leave in the morning, provided that Annabeth won't be missing any important training."

Annabeth shook her head and grinned at me. My fingertips began to tingle.

"I can take us there and back," I said. "So Argus can have a break."

Chiron chuckled. "He will be grateful for that."

"Thanks Percy," Annabeth said. She moved forward like she was going to hug me, then decided against it and turned away. "I've got an Ancient Greek class to teach now. See you tonight!"

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I made plans with Chiron and Grover, walked Ms. O'Leary, taught a sword-fighting class, saved some little guys from an Ares bully that I was going to have to talk to Clarisse about, and watched Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus and Demeter (with a little help from my Poseidon sister) bring home the victory during Capture the Flag.

But the mood was a little less celebratory when I looked in on Minnie's dreams that night. I was right. Things had been simmering under the surface.