Ummm...hi...

I'm really sorry about the long...really long, wait for this chapter, but I hope that this chapter's worth it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, he (along with everything else) belong to Rick Riordan

Enjoy!

October 11, 2011, With Thalia

Thalia sighed and began walking with Nico and Poseidon. Truth be told, it was very awkward walking with your godly uncle that can very well kill you with a snap of his fingers if either you or your "cousin" gave him an excuse to kill you. And knowing his rivalry with your father and your "cousin's" father, which can be as small as "I don't know."

There was an awkward silence as Poseidon led them to a different part of the castle. Thalia can't really disagree with said awkward silence, for reasons that have already been mentioned.

They soon reached a courtyard that had a table set up. Poseidon swam towards the table, and took a seat on one of the chairs.

"Please, take a seat," Poseidon said, pointing to the two empty seats in front of him. Thalia looked at him in surprise, and slowly took a seat in front of him, Nico following her example.

"Would you like something to eat?" He asked, while looking at Thalia.

"No, thank you, Lord," Thalia answered.

"Please, don't call me that," Poseidon said, "Call me Uncle," Thalia immediately decided that out of the Big Three, Poseidon is the most relaxed out of the three of them. Thalia smiled politely and nodded. Poseidon smiled back, before looking at Nico.

"Nico?" The younger demi-god politely shook his head. Poseidon shrugged and nodded.

"Suit yourselves," He said before a delicious seafood delicacy appeared in front of him.

Thalia found it really strange that the god of sea has not yet done anything to her or Nico. No sneering, no comments that tick her off, no threats, no nothing. Thalia's very thankful that this hasn't happened, and yet, she found it very strange sitting in the garden with Percy's godly father, in his domain, and wondered how he could have not killed them yet, or at the very least attempt to do so.

Her thoughts suddenly drifted to Percy. Is he alright? Did he manage to get Amphitrite's box—which Thalia assumed is the item that they needed—? Did he somehow manage to get himself killed? Then again, if he did get killed, someone would've sent message saying "Percy Jackson is dead."

Thalia let out a silent breath, not seeing the analyzing looks on both Nico and Poseidon. Poseidon's gaze was more out of curiosity, wondering how the children of his brothers are like; while Nico's was out of worry, as if he knew what Thalia is thinking about.

"Good afternoon, Father," A new voice said, bringing Thalia out of her thoughts. She looked over to her left and saw a young man who looks like Percy, but around her age rather than eighteen, and he didn't have the grey streak that Percy has. Thalia assumed that this person was Triton, Poseidon's other son. How Thalia knew who this guy was? She didn't know the answer herself.

"Hello Triton," Poseidon said curtly, "What brings you here?" He asked. Thalia could tell that Poseidon didn't really like Triton that much…then again, Thalia knew from experience that being immortal as well as living with other immortals can really start ticking off a person.

"I just heard that your other son is in the castle, and brought along two other demi-gods with him, and I wanted to see if this is true?" He asked; he sounded genuinely curious about this.

Poseidon nodded, "Yes, it's true; in fact; you're standing right in front of the demi-gods that Percy had brought with him." Triton blinked, and finally turned his attention to Thalia and Nico.

"Why, hello there,"

Correction, he finally turned his attention to Thalia.

"Please excuse me for not noticing you earlier. I'm Triton by the way, and you are?" He asked flirtatiously.

Thalia suddenly felt really uncomfortable by the way Triton was looking at her. If she were still a Hunter, there was a high chance that she would've punched the lights out of any guy that said this to her, and won't get into any trouble since Artemis would have her back. Artemis has all of her Hunters' backs, so long as they keep their vows of course.

"Her name's Thalia and I'm Nico." Nico interrupted. Thalia shot the younger demi-god a thankful look. Triton, however, didn't really look that impressed.

"I wasn't asking you, for her name," He said coolly.

Thalia took a deep breath, but didn't say anything. Gods help me, she thought desperately. The last thing she wanted on this quest is for Nico to get either killed or hurt by the immortal son of Poseidon.

Thalia blinked when the thought crossed her mind.

Me not wanting Nico to get hurt by Triton? She thought. That's a first. Normally, she would be asking someone to shut the younger demi-god up.

Then again, there's always a first.

"Now, Thalia, was it?" Triton asked. Thalia looked at him suspiciously before nodding.

"Yeah," She said, further confirming Triton's answer. Triton smiled and took Thalia's hand, and kissed it, like a perfect gentleman.

"Pleasure," He replied.

And I'm really a mortal being with special benefits, Thalia thought sarcastically as she pulled her hand away from the immortal son of Poseidon.

"Likewise," Thalia replied curtly, hiding her annoyance from Triton.

"Please, allow me to show you around the castle," He said.

"That won't be necessary," Thalia replied.

"Oh, but I insist," Triton said, the look on his face, clearly saying that he won't take "no" for an answer.

Thalia glanced over to Nico, giving him a "help me or die," look. Nico shrugged, and gave her a look that said "Don't look at me, I don't wanna be killed".

"Your friend will be just fine with my father," Triton said, not really meaning what he said.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine with, uhh, Uncle…?" Nico piped up, causing Poseidon to smile, and for Triton to scowl at the casual title that he had used. Thalia gave him an "I'm so gonna kill you for this," look before sighing and reluctantly agreeing with Triton.

She really does have to stop doing this. Giving into others' needs, that is.

"Excellent choice, Thalia," Triton said happily. Thalia got up and stood in front of Triton, while the said immortal offered his arm, and not wanting to tick him, or anyone off for that matter, she took it.

The two took one step, and both had disappeared to a different part of the castle, leaving Nico alone with his all powerful, godly uncle.

"Sooo," Nico began awkwardly, "How're things going on here?" He asked.

"Very well, thank you. The construction is half completed, but I believe that we'll be able to finish within the next two years," Poseidon replied, "How are things going on in your father's domain?" He asked. Nico shrugged.

"The last time I was there, it was pretty busy," Nico replied.

"When was the last time you visited?" Poseidon questioned.

"About a week ago," Poseidon curiously raised a brow, "Long story short, I have been banned from visiting the underworld for three weeks after asking Persephone what's wrong," Nico answered.

"And I thought she was moody enough when she's on earth," Poseidon muttered.

"Oh you have no idea," Nico replied.

Nico never really thought he'd see the day when he'd find himself having an awkward conversation with an uncle that would very well kill him if he said the wrong thing.

The two sat there in awkward silence, neither of which knew what to say to the other.

Hope Percy's having more fun than me, Nico thought.

With Percy

Percy didn't know why he even bothered trying to convince Amphitrite to give him her box.

All the two had been doing so far is just staring at each other, and with each minute passing, Percy felt more and more nervous than before.

Mainly because of the fact that there's still a high chance that she would blow him to bits if he does anything that she doesn't like, not only making this quest a failure, but killing him in the process.

Hope Nico and Thalia are having more fun than me, Percy thought bitterly. He really didn't want to be here right now, but then again, who would?

With Nico

So far, there's still a very awkward silence between Nico and Poseidon. Nico didn't know what to do or what to say, while Poseidon doesn't know what to think of his brother's son.

"How are Hades and Persephone?" Poseidon awkwardly asked, not knowing what else to say.

"They're the same since the last time you saw them," Nico replied.

"Brooding, moody, and the occasional case of bipolar attitudes?" Poseidon questioned with a smirk.

"Pretty much," Nico replied.

"Think they're ever going to change?" Poseidon asked.

"Nope," Nico replied, popping the "p" while he was at it.

"All the other gods will have to agree with you," Poseidon said.

"I think it's something that everyone, both mortal and immortal would agree on," Nico said.

"I'll have to agree with you, nephew," Poseidon said.

He may dislike his brother, but his son? He's starting to like this young demi-god, for a son of Hades of course.

"If you don't mind me asking," Nico said, bringing Poseidon out of his thoughts, "But where do you think Thalia and Triton have gone?"

"In all honesty, Triton may have taken her to Miami beach," Poseidon answered. The black haired demi-god's mouth practically dropped to the ocean floor at Poseidon's answer.

The sea god had to hold back a chuckle at the sight of Nico's face.

"But I thought that he'll be taking her on a tour of the palace!" Nico exclaimed.

"The place where you, Thalia and Percy have come to is only but the throne room. The entire palace ranges from the Strategy room in Halifax, Canada all the way down to the sleeping chambers in Miami," Poseidon replied.

"That's the size of your palace? How big is the strategy room anyway?" Nico asked curiously.

"About five times larger than P.E.I.," Poseidon said. Nico stared at him blankly.

"What's a P.E.I.?" He asked.

"Not what, where," Poseidon corrected, "It stands for Prince Edward Island, a small province in Canada,"

"Oh," Nico said, and all was silent for a moment, before he realized something, "Wait a minute...you said Triton may be taking Thalia to Miami, right?" Here Poseidon nodded, "And you said that's where the sleeping chambers are, right?" Nico asked, on the verge of panicking.

"Yes, I do believe so," Poseidon confirmed.

"Uncle, I don't mean to degrade your son, but I think he might do something to her, and I want to make sure that she won't harm anyone," Nico said. Poseidon sighed, and refrained himself from rubbing the bridge of his nose—a habit that he picked up from Sally Jackson.

By my throne, this boy is slow, Poseidon thought exasperatedly.

"Why do you think I mentioned the sleeping chambers, earlier Nico?" Poseidon asked.

There was an awkward silence and Nico had no idea what his uncle meant, before suddenly, the black eyed boy slowly. Once. Twice. Three times. Before realizing why Poseidon had mentioned this earlier. Nico blinked once more, and he suddenly felt very stupid for not picking up on this earlier on in the conversation.

"Oh,"

Poseidon couldn't help but sigh once more. He can picture himself getting along quite well with this particular son of Hades, but if there were to be one thing that Poseidon really wished that Nico would work on, it's to get rid of that slowness of his.

With Thalia

As soon as Nico and Poseidon went out of sight, Thalia suddenly regretted accepting Triton's invitation for a tour of the palace.

They continued walking along the courtyard, all of the fish-servants giving her strange looks. Some of them are looking at her with pity, some are curious, some are angry, and Thalia began to get confused as to why they're doing that.

"Is everything alright, Thalia?" Triton asked—who was still holding her arm, for reasons that were unknown to Thalia. The black haired demi-goddess turned to face him and nodded.

"Yeah," She answered, refraining herself from giving a sarcastic answer. Triton gave her a charming smile at her answer.

"Thank goodness," He said, "Well, here we are, Miami Beach," Thalia blinked at the mention of the name.

"M-Miami!" She exclaimed. Thalia turned her wide eyes over to Triton who was refraining from laughing at her.

"Didn't Percy tell you?" He asked—although, Thalia detected a hint of bitterness when Triton mentioned Percy's name.

"Umm…no," Thalia said. What was Percy supposed to tell her?

"The entire palace ranges from Miami Beach all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia," Triton explained. Thalia stared at the immortal son of Poseidon when he told here this.

"You're kidding," She said, breathlessly. In all honesty, she never found out about this.

"I'm not," Triton said with a charming smile.

"There's no way that the entire palace is that huge," Thalia said.

"Are you sure you should be saying that?" Triton countered. The young woman blinked at what she said.

"Never mind, I take that back," supposed Thalia. This time, Triton laughed at her. It was a booming laugh, and it had an air of aristocracy that suited him very well. Thalia turned away from the god and looked around Miami Beach. There weren't that many people out, considering that it's in the middle of the day, and since it's not the tourist season, along with the fact that school is currently going on. It was quite nice to see what the whole place is like when it's not bustling with so much life, but at the same time, it was quite strange to see Miami Beach of all places like this.

The sun was just setting over the horizon, and Thalia felt an ache in her chest. An ache that she knew all too well…She blinked, and focused her thoughts elsewhere.

"How long were we down there?" Thalia asked Triton. The immortal shrugged.

"Six, seven hours, give or take," He shrugged, "Time really passes by when you're immortal," He winked. Thalia took a subtle step back—a technique when trying to stay a comfortable distance away from any males, that she had perfected during her time as a Hunter of Artemis—and looked away from Triton.

"How about some ice cream?" He offered. Thalia was about to refuse before her stomach grumbled. The demi-god's eye twitched at the terrible timing of her stomach. Besides, hadn't she eaten a while ago?

Triton began laughing, and brought Thalia out of her thoughts.

"I'm assuming that dinner is for the best," He said. Thalia rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but laugh as well.

"I will have to agree," She said with a smile. Hey, she isn't a hunter anymore, and she's single, and she's twenty three, so what's the harm? Plus, it's free food, who wouldn't want some free food?

"Well then," Triton began, "I know just the place," He said as he offered his arm to Thalia. The dark haired demi-god looked at it for a moment before taking it.

For some unexplainable reason, she felt quite happy that Nico hadn't done anything to stop Triton from giving her a tour of the palace.

With Nico

"Ah-choo!"

"Bless you," Poseidon said as he pulled out a tissue from somewhere and handed it to Nico.

"Thanks," He said before he blew his nose, "Great, I'm getting sick," He grumbled under his breath.

"Not necessarily," Poseidon began, "In some cultures, if you sneezes, it means that someone is speaking about you," Nico raised an eyebrow as he tucked the tissue in his pocket—making a mental note to toss it out when he gets the chance.

"Really?" Nico asked. He's always been fascinated with myths and superstitions—a trait of being the son of Hades.

Back with Thalia

"How many people?" A waiter asked as Triton led himself and Thalia inside a small, very cozy looking restaurant.

"Just two," He said. Thalia glanced around and saw that the place has live music entertainment, and several people were already dancing to a song that Thalia doesn't recognize.

"Right this way, sir," The waiter said. The sandy haired waiter led them to a spot near the stage, where Thalia and Triton have a clear view of the singer.

A comfortable silence fell upon the two, and as Thalia was looking over the menu, she can't help but feel as though she's betraying someone. But how can she? She hasn't been with anyone for several months now, and for all she knew, its Triton who's doing the betraying of a relationship (if he's ever met anyone worthwhile his time, that is).

"Is there anything you would like?" Triton asked her suddenly, bringing Thalia out of her thoughts.

"A cheeseburger would be nice," Triton grinned, and waved the waiter over, "Great choice, Thals," He said as the waiter came over, and just the way Triton said that made Thalia let out a very small chuckle. She pushed the feeling of betraying someone to the back of her mind, and began having a pleasant conversation with Triton.

Back on Olympus

Apollo growled angrily as he punched a hole in the wall in his temple, as he watched Thalia laugh as she had dinner with Poseidon's immortal son.

"That arrogant bastard…" He snarled, and let out a string of curses in Ancient Greek.

Why him! He thought in a jealous rage.

If there's one thing he knows about Triton, it's the fact that he's exactly like Poseidon, who is exactly like Zeus, who behaves in manners similar to Apollo himself. To put it in simpler terms, all gods—not including the goddesses, just the gods—act and behave in a similar manner when it comes to mortal women—minus Hephaestus, Hermes and surprisingly, Hades—and Apollo is no exception. Arrogant—though he likes to say that he's confident, but Thalia would say otherwise—womanizing, and almost always has a difficult time keeping it in his pants. That was Thalia's very blunt explanation of it on the night he ruined her career as a Hunter of Artemis, and thinking back on it, it's kind of true.

But that wasn't the point. The point is that out of all the mortals in this dang universe, Thalia should know this!

Apollo cursed in Ancient Greek again, and almost crushed his iPod when he saw Triton reach out across the table and wipe away some ketchup sauce that was on the corner of Thalia's mouth.

I should be doing that…He thought in a jealous manner.

He made a brief mental note to make sure that Triton—or anyone else for that matter—never touches Thalia in any sort of way that doesn't show friendship. Ever.

"Apollo," Apollo growled once more, and whirled to face whoever dared to set foot in his temple when he was this mad—it's never a good thing to bother Apollo when he's mad, or make him mad for that matter, take a look what happened to Cassandra! He cursed her when she pissed him off, and now Troy is nothing but a pile of burnt ash and itty bitty rocks—which was ironic considering he was on Troy's side…

"What?" He snarled and his temper calmed down—only a small fraction that is—when he became face to face with his sister, Artemis.

"I suggest that you calm down before you melt the polar ice caps," She stated bluntly. Apollo ignored her and went back to watching over Thalia. It's a very well known fact that Apollo has his eyes on Thalia—you can thank Aphrodite and her gossiping ways for that—and Thalia only, and whenever any of the other male gods had even mentioned Thalia's name he would always send them a nasty glare that made them back off—except for Zeus, Zeus is Thalia's dad, so Zeus is an obvious exception.

"Apollo!" Artemis barked. She has no idea what to think of when it comes to Apollo's genuine affections for her former lieutenant, she wanted to be grateful for it, because Apollo had finally stopped going after her hunters, but because of it, she lost one of the three best lieutenants she had, Zoe Nightshade being one of them, and Queen Elizabeth I being another.

"Calm down!" She demanded, as she grabbed Apollo's iPod, and did her best to restrain herself from chucking the thing out the window. Apollo didn't say anything, but instead glared at his sister.

"You care for her, I get it, but you have to watch your temper, Apollo," Artemis warned, "The mortals are already thinking that the sun will explode in 2012,"

"Then let them think that," Apollo snarled, as he grabbed his iPod back.

"You're not getting it," Artemis said, "You should know more than anyone else that if a god does something to make the mortals think of something untrue—" Apollo cut her off.

"I know, Artemis," He said, taking in some breaths, trying to calm himself down. He glanced over to his iPod, and did his best to refrain his temper, when he saw Triton smile cheekily. Not at Thalia, Thalia went to the washroom, but at Apollo himself.

"Apollo," His sister's warning tone filled his ears. Apollo didn't say anything, but continued to glare at the immortal son of the sea god.

He wasn't paying attention, so he didn't realize that his sister had covered the screen right away.

"If it'll help you calm down," Artemis began, her sounding very frustrated, "I'll take care of Triton, I hear that he's been eyeing one of my hunters lately," Apollo glanced back to his sister.

"Just remember not to directly interfere," Artemis warned.

"I won't," Apollo promised, knowing that he is, once again, relying on his sister to do something that he isn't allowed to do.

He has to rely on his sister in order to make sure that his children will be alright on quests—her being the goddess of the hunt, allows her to directly help demi-gods on quests, seeing as she's constantly on the earth, and in her domain—and in exchange, one of his daughters will become Hunters. And he's relying on her once more, not for his children—at least not yet, due to the fact that most of them are either dead (you can thank Kronos and his army for that) or year rounders at Camp Half-Blood—but for Thalia's sake.

There is no way in Hades will he allow her to get hurt while on a quest as vital as the one she's on. He already promised her that he won't directly interfere with Thalia's quest, but that doesn't mean that he can't interfere indirectly. After all, he did that with Thalia's first quest after she had been revived from her tree, and he didn't get into trouble, so who's to say that he can't do it again?

Apollo instinctively glanced back to the screen on his iPod, and saw Thalia and Triton exiting the small restaurant, and his jealous rage suddenly increased a hundred fold.

In his screen, he saw Triton place an arm around Thalia's waist as he guided the two of them through the boardwalk. The moon light being reflected on the (suspiciously) still water made it look as though they were on a romantic date! What made it even worse was that Triton had led them to different stands that were still open, and had attempted to buy her some things.

"That's it!" Apollo seethed before took one step, and immediately transported himself to Miami Beach.

When he saw Thalia smile—albeit, a really tiny smile—at the large mouse plush toy that Triton had bought for her—he's just glad that the mouse is another one of his symbols—something inside him had snapped, and he wants to make it clear that Triton will not look, woo, touch or even attempt to do anything with her that doesn't show any friendship.

Back with Thalia

"You…really didn't need to buy me this," Thalia said as she squirmed uncomfortably with Triton's arm around her, all the while, squeezing the life out of the large mouse plush toy as a way to deal with her tenseness.

It just felt so wrong, having this guy's arm around her.

"I wanted to," Triton told her as he began leading her passed the play area for children, and heading in the direction of the water—for some reason, he has yet to show her this part of the palace, "I saw you looking at it, and I figured you wanted it," Thalia let out a tiny smile. She had indeed been looking at this plush toy, only because it reminded her of a certain…

Thalia mentally slapped herself.

You're supposed to be getting over him, remember! She thought.

The mouse is one of Apollo's symbols, and Thalia had made the mistake of looking at the large mouse toy a little longer than necessary.

"Uhh, thanks," Thalia replied uncertainly.

"Look out!" A young child's voice rang, and Thalia instinctively ducked in time when a soccer ball almost hit her and Triton.

A young girl looking no older than nine with wild auburn hair suddenly raced towards them, and picked up the soccer ball before looking at Thalia. She immediately recognized the silver—not grey, silver—eyes and saw that it was Artemis. A feeling of dread filled the pit of Thalia's stomach as she subconsciously clutched onto the large mouse in her arms.

Fortunately, Triton didn't seem to recognize Artemis.

"I'm really sorry about that," Artemis told them in her own childlike way, "And…can you take a look at my brother, he seems to be in pain…" She said as she looked at Thalia, all the while pointing at a sandy haired boy that looked about nine as well, sitting unhappily beneath a tree, just a little ways away, his bright green eyes seemed furious, and Thalia recognized him as Apollo.

Why! She thought unhappily, Why, Fates, why!

Thalia opened her mouth to say try and get someone else to take him to the hospital, but the look that Artemis gave her told her that she had to go.

"A-Alright," Thalia mentally slapped herself for her stutter. As she took her first step, Triton decided to say something.

"Hang on, I'll take a look at him—ow!" Artemis had taken the liberty to "accidentally" throw her soccer ball at Triton's…err…kiwis, and managed to do so discreetly.

"Oh my gosh, mister, I'm so sorry! Lemme take you to a nearby stand!" Artemis cried out, before dragging the whimpering Triton away from Thalia, leaving her on her own.

"She's a really good actor," Thalia said as she blinked at Artemis's retreating form. A small grin broke out of her thoughts when she realized that she's on her own, and using this chance to get away from Apollo.

She turned on her heel, and was about to walk away when she came face to face with an angry looking Apollo.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Again, I'm really sorry for the really, really, really long wait.

Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase review!