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LEGOS AND other assorted memorabilia were randomly placed around the house. Cautiously, Kalani lifted a foot and sighed, stepping over a large green Lego block in the carpet. "I hate Legos," she mumbled to herself, remembering the countless times her five year old cousin Makanui (but she called him Maku) had come over to her house with a box chock full of them. They would scatter everywhere and to Kalani's dismay, every morning she would discover in her sleepy haze she had accidentally walked onto a hidden Lego.
"Dad!" a little boy screamed, running to Dr. Chase with a pouty expression lingering on his face. "He's taking apart my robots!"
"Bobby," Dr. Chase said absentmindedly, "don't take apart your brother's toys."
"I'm Bobby! He's Matthew!" the little boy said indignantly. This kid reminded Kalani a lot of Maku now that she thought about it. But then again, all kids were the same to Kalani. Screaming, whiny, entitled brats. Babysitting her countless cousins had always been a nightmare for her.
"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's toys."
There was a faint, "Okay, Dad!" from the other room.
Dr. Chase sighed, turning to them. He rubbed his hand over the creases forming in his forehead. "We'll go upstairs to the study. This way."
"Honey?" a woman called— and Kalani whipped her head around to see a tall Asian woman standing by the kitchen sink, wiping her slick hands off on a dish towel. She wore her hair, which had streaks of red highlights in it, in a tight bun at the back of her head. Kalani realized she was Annabeth's stepmom. "Who are our guests?" she asked.
"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is. . ."
"Um, Kalani. 'Sup," Kalani supplied helpfully. "And this beautiful lady over here is Thalia." Thalia rolled her eyes. "And that's Zoë. And Peter—"
"Hey!" protested Percy.
"Oh right, Percy," Kalani corrected with a slight shrug as if to say, 'Easy mistake.' "Not much of a difference so it's hard to remember sometimes. Mr. D had that right."
Percy scowled at her, and when Kalani turned, she swore she saw him flip her off through the corner of her eye.
"Anyways I really love your hair," she added with a small grin. "I always wanted to dye my hair red but I could never pull it off. It looks amazing on you."
"Nice to meet you all. And thank you, Kalani," Mrs. Chase gushed, smiling. "My friend Anastasia set me up with her stylist recently, and I'm so glad she did because I don't know who could do a better job at this." She turned her gaze on the group of demigods awkwardly standing in the hall. "Are any of you hungry? I was just baking some cookies."
Everyone nodded in hungry assent. The last thing Kalani had eaten was the burrito at the snack bar at Hoover Dam, so she was starving. Plus, the delicious smell of chocolate chip cookies that was wafting around the house made it kinda hard to say no. She hadn't had cookies in forever.
