When one meets a god, it is normal to have expectations. You may imagine them in a toga, or to have a golden aura. Remember that this is completely normal, and there is no need to panic when they do not match up to how you imagined them. Take their appearance in stride and don't mention your disappointment in the fact they look nothing like the Odyssey promised they would. Also do not blackmail them with your knowledge of the future so they won't turn you over to the king of the dead.

Learn from my mistakes.

Sure it all worked out in my favor for the time being, but I had made an enemy of a god, two if you count Hades. I was a Greek mythology geek in the last life, I knew nothing good came from that. However, waiting for the other divine shoe to drop was exhausting, so I moved on to worrying about less deadly things. Like how I could entertain myself while sitting in a classroom for hours.

So far it wasn't working, and I was getting in more trouble then my brother because of it.

Don't look at me like that. You try being a 22 year old in an 8 year old's body with ADHD. Not only did I know everything the teacher was teaching, I also had to deal with the fact I couldn't have focused on what she was teaching if I wanted to. Idle fingers were always doomed to get themselves into trouble.

Like pranking teachers with paint.

Principle Davis didn't seem to agree.

"This is Theo's fifth offense this year," she said, "We have given him and his twin chance after chance and they continue to disappoint."

"Percy didn't do anything," I argued.

"Maybe not today, but just last week he got in a fight with Jackson Macy. Mr. Macy had to be sent to nurse's for a bloody nose."

Mom sighed next me, still in her uniform from work and leaking the smell of candy into the office. "Is there anything I can do?"

Anything she could do, not what we could do. Always trying to make up for our mistakes.

"I'm afraid this last straw," said Principle Davis, "I have met with the school board and they agree. Theo and Percy will be allowed to finish their second grade year, but your sons' will not be welcome back Reese Elementary next year."

It was the second school we were kicked out of. But Sally was not mad, she was not disappointed. She simply told us the school hadn't been for us. That we knew that now.

The next school was Saint Joesph's military academy for boys. It was the first boarding school we went to and they seemed to thing that we need to make new friends for good influence. Percy was placed in room 192 with a boy named Garrett Northurp and I was put in room 204 with a boy by the name of Matt Jones.

We had no classes together, and Percy was getting more and more irritated by day. A pressure that built up in our gut, added to with every snide comment from Garrett and every time a teacher gave an annoyed look. We weren't even put in the same detentions.

"You need to calm down Percy," I whispered across the table at lunch. "The madder you get the madder I get."

He poked at what looked like mac and cheese on his tray. "I know, I just-" He took a frustrated breath. "I just hate it here."

"I do too," I agreed. "But all we have to do is make it through the year."

His despair was heartbreaking.

Percy made it to November without a punch thrown, I made it to October. I'm not sure why I ever thought I would have more control because I was mentally older. The only difference between me and Percy in this subject was that he would stew over things and I could not hold a grudge to save a life. He would things build up until they boiled over. I let things go after time, but in the moment, I tended to snap.

It's not like the boy hadn't deserved it. Eric Maxwell was as much of a bully as a fifth grader could be. He pushed the smaller boys around when the teachers weren't looking, and did other annoyingly stereotypical things which just made me want to scream.

Now the adult part of me knew he probably bullied people because his dad bullied him. This part of me wanted to hug him and become friends with him to make him a better person. But the other part, the part of me I knew came from Poseidon's infamous temper, wanted to break his nose.

I compromised by slamming his head into a desk and trapping him in a headlock as I hit him repeatedly. Headlocks are kind of like hugs.

I didn't hear a word Headmaster Stevens said, too busy wonder what the difference between a headmaster and a principle was to listen to any of his repetitive lecture. Plus the amusement radiating from Percy was rather distracting. He had enjoyed my show more than I did.

Right before Thanksgiving break Percy gave a boy named Billy Grant a bloody nose and a black eye when he started hitting a second grader for talking back. I don't thing it's necessary to point out Billy and Eric were good friends.

Break was a like a breath of fresh air. Or it was until Gabe ate all the turkey with a cigar still hanging out of his mouth. But mom was there and her smile was all we needed not to kill Gabe were he sat. Not that it wasn't still tempting.

"Tell me about school," mom asked the Saturday before we were due to back. We were sitting in Percy and I's room, eating the blue candy she had brought back from her shift. "Do you like it there?"

I could feel Percy burning to tell her how the teachers only paid attention when they were yelling at us. How we never really got to spend any time together, and the time we did have we almost always had to spend in detention. He wanted to rant about all the things he hated about St. Joseph's. But a single feeling of hesitation from me silenced him.

"It's not too bad," I said.

Percy nodded chewing on a blue taffy. "The other kids aren't as bad as Reese's. They mostly leave us alone."

Her proud smile warmed us. Giving Percy a feeling of determination. We talked more about things that didn't matter. For hours we talked, just the three of us, and not once did she bring up the fights. She said nothing about how we needed to bring up our grades. There wasn't a moment her proud smile wavered.

Not for the first time I wished I shared the same bond with her as me and Percy. Her emotions were a mystery I worried about everyday. All I wanted was for her to be happy and safe and far far away from Smelly Gabe.

But for the same reasons I didn't pray, I didn't voice a single complaint about my stepfather. I knew there were things lurking in the shadows waiting to kill us. I had seen them all my life, much more since Hermes.

Gabe was all that was standing in between Mom and Percy and the monsters.

I had already lost one family, I couldn't lose another.

I was expelled from Saint Joseph's Military Academy in March. With a letter to mom and a stern talking to me, I was told I would not be welcome back for my fourth grade year. It was not a fight, or one to many unmade beds that did me in. It was a simple cuss word aimed at a teacher. It started with b and ended with a itch, and lets just say after what the teacher did, she deserved it.

Percy made it two weeks longer. He might have made it longer, maybe through the entire year. But he had not wish to stay at a school without me and lots of pent up anger at a lot of his classmates.

The summer was kicked off with a trip to Montauk.

The sea was a deep blue and as the sun set it glowed with the light and cast shadows of pink and purple. In the distance a sea turtle broke the surface, so quick a blink would have missed it. To the left a crab crawled its way through the shell of old clams and stones made smooth by the insistent waves upon them. To the right a green piece of sea glass caught the light and reflected like a star. The same color of the string bracelet on my wrist.

In my last life I hated the ocean. Well, maybe hated was a harsh word, more of a strong dislike. The smell always reminded me of rotting sea fish. The salt water always hurt my eyes. Sand got everywhere. It was like my own personal hell.

But now, that hell had turned into a wonderful haven. The smell which made me gag before now made me smile. The salt water now relaxed me to the point of wanting to sleep, and I could if I wanted to. I could now breath underwater. But as much as the water relaxed me, it also filled m with energy stronger than any coffee or energy drink I had ever had. The sea was no longer hell, it was home.

Sadly home was a couple hours and a reluctant stepfather away.

The sun had fallen now, drowning into the blackness the sea was turning into with lack of light. Behind me mom called, and I turned to go back to the cabin.

AN: I am sorry this is so short and I'm sorry you had to wait so long for it. I just really have no idea where this is going and I have trouble writing it. Hopefully I'll fix that soon. Now for the subject of what happened with Hermes, you are going to have to wait. All things will be reveled eventually.

Important! After I post this chapter I will be changing the name from a Twin's Love is Deeper than the Ocean to Taking a Leap. Simply because it's easier to say and write.

Lots of love

Scarlett

P.S. Would you guys want a poll for the pairing, or do you just want me to figure that out?