In the hospital lobby, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. A mixture of emotions consumed those filling the room. Greif, fear, hope, desperation, uncertainty. An old man in his late seventies sat in the front corner, praying that his wife would be alright after the three surgeries she had gone through that day. Trying to calm their four children was a young couple already grieving for the husband's sister who she knew would not leave the building alive. A man with dark hair and sea green eyes sat looking at his six year old daughter who was scribbling away at her coloring book. She was almost a replica of her mother, except for her similar sea green eyes. He knew that his wife would be better than ever after the emergency C-section that would give the world his second child. He could feel it. She would be ok. But that didn't mean that he didn't worry.
He listened to the footsteps of doctors casually walking through the hall that connected to the lobby. Every now and then, he would hear the ding of the elevator and the sound its doors made when they opened. He found that it usually took eight steps for someone to enter it. Half of the time, the rider would take two more steps after pressing the button. He couldn't wait until he would be riding that elevator to go see his wife and son. Would he take the two steps back after pressing the button? Would he even press the button? He knew his daughter would probably race him to it. She was six, and to her, something as simple as pressing the elevator button was important and exciting.
Ding. The elevator opened again. This time two people walked out, and one entered. This time she took ten steps to enter, and did not take the two steps back. Percy was so focused on the number of steps that he did not notice that one of the people exiting the elevator was the one who informed him of his wife's procedure. He got closer and Percy stood up to meet him.
"How is she?" he asked. He knew she was fine, it was over and he would have had a feeling if she was dead. Plus the man was smiling and seemed calm, which Percy thought was a good sign.
"The procedure went very well," he started. His daughter smiled and the worry fell off of her. She didn't fully understand what was happening, but she knew that what the nurse was saying was a good thing. "You can see her now, if you would like." Percy was very glad at hearing this.
"Sally, we're going to go see mommy," he said to her. She smiled and grabbed Percy's hand as they made their way to the elevator. They went over to the elevator and rode to the third floor. The nurse pressed the button because he was the only one who knew where they were going. After pressing the button, the nurse did not take the two steps back.
When they arrived on the second floor, the nurse pointed in the direction of the room and told us she was in room 314. The duo made their way down the hall searching for the room when a loud beep filled the hall. A woman holding a baby ran into the room and let out a loud gasp that Percy could hear. He knew that something was wrong.
"Code blue!" he could hear the woman yell. Several more people flooded into the room and almost every one of them let out a gasp at what they saw.
"How did this happen?" One of them yelled. Percy started running towards the room, leaving his daughter behind in confusion. He found that his wife's room was the one being invaded. By the time he got to the door, he could see the flat line on the heart monitor.
"Time of death," one of them said grimly. He looked at his watch and continued, "1:68."
"No," Percy whispered to himself, a single tear running down his cheek. He didn't understand. The surgery went well, the baby was born, the scare was over. His daughter had caught up with him, and was tugging on his shirt sleeve. He looked down at her, and she saddened at seeing her father's tears. He gave a small fake small and pulled her into a hug. He didn't know how he was going to explain this to her. He didn't have to, she knew, she saw it happen. He didn't have to say anything. His children were going to have to live without a mother. He didn't think that he could do it by himself.
Since Sally was born, the couple had been fighting off and running from monsters nonstop. It was a miracle that she hadn't noticed. Now when someone attacked them, there would be no one to distract the kids while the other defended against the monster. There had been many life threatening injuries due to these attacked, and now if he died, the kids would be on their own. This was bound to happen eventually. Half-bloods have short lives with violent ends, and though they outlived most, this still applied to them. But Percy knew that he couldn't think of that now. He had to stay strong for the children.
"Are you Mr. Jackson?" he heard someone ask. The same woman who he saw running into the room was now standing next to them, holding the newborn. Percy nodded yes to the woman. "We are sorry to say that your wife has died. We're not exactly sure what happened. But your child is very healthy." She handed him the baby, and he was happy for a moment. The whole day was bittersweet, but his love for the child helped him through it.
The room was now empty, and Percy made his way into it to say goodbye to Annabeth. He was shocked at what he saw. Her body looked as if it was devoured by birds. This was not a clean death while giving birth, this was murder. He noticed that the window's glass had been shattered, and he looked out it to see what looked like a flock of oversized pigeons flying around the room. Stymphalian birds. They were the murderers. At the sight of him, they started to come back into the hospital. He quickly gave the baby to his daughter and pulled a pen out of his pocket. The sword appeared and he slashed the first birds that entered. The girl's eyes expanded at the sight of the sword. Percy pulled her out of the room and closed the door.
He knew the birds could bring down the door, so he had to move. He ran towards the elevator, and luckily it opened within seconds.
"Sally," Percy addressed the terrified girl. "There's a lot that you need to know about your mom and I. When this elevator opens, I want you to take your brother, put on this hat, and run. Run until you think it's safe, then find a phone and call this number." He dug into his backpack and handed her a Yankee's cap and a piece of paper that he had quickly written down a number on. She looked up at him with big eyes. He was about to say something, but the elevator doors opened. He pulled her through the lobby and stopped right in front of the door. "There's no time to explain. You're just going to have to trust me. Remember that your mother and I both love you very much. Put on the hat now."
She obediently put on the cap while Percy opened the door. A large flock of nearly a hundred birds was waiting for them. Percy knew that there were many more probably trying to get to him from upstairs. Eventually they would join the swarm. He could no longer see his daughter, which he thought was a good thing. The hat would make his children look invisible and allow them to get away. They would be safe.
Percy didn't know if he could handle that many birds. He and Annabeth had fought off a flock of them before, once back when they were at camp, and another a few years ago before Sally was born, but there were never this many. Now they were attacking him with revenge for killing them earlier. They came at him from all sides, and he managed to get all of them from the first group. The second group came only seconds later, and there were more. One bit a small chunk of his arm, making him grunt in pain. He was doing well, but he couldn't keep up for long. He mentally searched the area for water, but couldn't find any. He thought about going back into the hospital, but if there were half-bloods in there, he would be putting them in danger too. He ran down the streets, slashing at the birds as he went, searching for a fountain or a sink or a lake, anything that he could use to drown his attackers.
By the time he found a fountain a block away, his arm was bleeding heavily and his forehead had three large gashes from feathers that were shot at him. One of the birds pecked off his left shoe and he had several large scratched just above his ankle. He was exhausted, and there was a bird stuck on the end of his sword that he could not get off. That was the thing that he hated the most about that particular type of bird, they don't turn to dust once you kill them; they leave their whole body as a spoil of war. He weakly lifted up the water from the fountain and poured a huge wave down on the birds. The water started to heal his wounds as it knocked around and drowned the birds. Percy had managed to stay alive, but just barely. It had been a long time since he tried doing something like that. It wore him out, and he collapsed immediately.
His daughter ran. She didn't really enjoy running and was never good at it, but she knew that she had to get help for her dad. Whatever those bird creatures were killed her mother, and she knew that they could kill her father and herself too. She walked into a building that looked like an office and asked if she could use their phone. The man at the desk looked up from a stack of papers that he was reading, but he didn't seem to see her. She tried to get his attention, but he looked like he was getting frustrated. After a while, he walked into another room. She just grabbed the phone and carefully dialed the number.
"Hello?" she heard a man say.
"Who is this?" She asked.
"Um, you called me."
"Yes, I did. Who is this?"
"Who is this?"
"Sally. Who are you."
"Um, Nico. Do I know you?"
"I don't know, my dad told me to call you." She explained what happened very fast and very detailed without pausing. After she finished, he didn't say anything for several moments.
"Ok, stay where you are, I'll be right there."
She hung up the phone and walked outside, thinking that it would be a while before he got there. She didn't know how he planned to find her, but guessed that he had caller id or something. When a man appeared out of nowhere in a shadow, she screamed. He looked confused. He stuck his hand out and started reaching around in the air, moving it rapidly. Eventually, his hand made his way to her head. He grabbed the hat and pulled it off her head.
"You look just like your mother," he said with a smile.
"Who are you?" she asked. She was still a little shaken up from everything that happened.
"I'm your Uncle Nico," he said as he started to walk away from the building. She followed next to him.
"How did you get here?"
"You'll find out soon enough. There's a lot about our family that you don't know, that you probably don't want to know."
"Like what?"
"Can't tell you yet. It's not safe."
"It's already not safe."
"You're a very smart girl, just like your mother. But once you know, it will be a lot worse."
"But-"
"No buts! Let's go see if we can find your father." She reluctantly agreed, and followed him to the hospital.
When they got there, they noticed a trail of dead birds. Percy put up a good fight and killed a lot of them. They followed the trail and started to notice the ground was wet with puddles getting deeper and deeper as they moved forward. They finally got to an area where the whole ground was covered with several inches of water. The water seemed to soothe Sally, and she started to relax. There were more birds scattered around a body lying on the ground by a small fountain. By the body were about ten birds, eating the collapsed Percy. Sally screamed, and the baby in her arms started to cry. Nico ran up to the body, and killed the remaining birds with a sword that Sally couldn't figure out how it got there. He reached down to Percy and felt for a pulse, but there was none.
He would have cried at his friend's death, but he knew he couldn't in front of Sally. He walked over to her and sat down next to her. She sat down too.
"It's gonna be ok," he said, not believing his own words. "He and your mom are going to be together in a better place. I remember when my sister died. I felt like she had abandoned me, and that I was alone. But I wasn't alone, and neither are you. I had your father, and you have me, and your new brother. I know we just met, but I had just met your father too. It's gonna be ok. You're going to miss them, but there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to keep them in your memories and don't let their passing be for nothing." Nico was never really good with words, but he did better than he thought he would. Sally stopped crying, so he couldn't have made it worse.
"Can we name him Percy?" she said, looking at the baby in her arms. "Percy Chase Jackson."
"I love it." She smiled and looked at her brother. He had stopped crying, but he didn't look happy. She remembered how she felt when she stepped into the water. She put the baby into the water, and he immediately started to smile. There in that moment, he laughed for the first time. Sally and Nico smiled and started to believe that it actually might all be ok.