Sally Jackson nearly jumps out of her skin when she hears her four year old crash against something, causing a metallic thud to echo throughout the apartment. She twists around and sure enough, a very drowsy Percy waddles into view, rubbing his eyes with his little fists.
"Percy, what are you doing up? It's the middle of the night?" She pushes herself off the couch and towards her son, she grabs him and lifts him up into the air, cradling him in her arms. "Was it another bad dream?"
He nods, clutching her back tightly. She makes her way back to the sofa. She places his head on her lap and wraps him up in the blankets she'd brought out for herself.
"Want to talk about it?"
Percy twists around on her lap and reveals to her his misty ocean green eyes. "I had another dream about the slimy monster. This time it was growling and hurting you and-"
Her breath catches in her throat. Poseidon had warned her about how demigods' dreams tend to be prophetic. For Percy's benefit, she doesn't let her panic show.
"Don't cry, honey." She soothes, running her hand through his unruly hair. "No monster is going to be hurting me. Nothing bad is going to happen, it was just a dream."
Sally wipes away his tears with her thumbs, forcing a smile for him.
Her smile falters when his eyes widen with apprehension. Sally's first instinct is to look behind her, but there's nothing.
"Percy, what's wrong?"
His eyebrows scrunch up together, obviously concentrating really hard.
"Percy?"
"What's...what's that?" He finally asks, pointing.
Sally's heart skips a beat when she realizes that what has frightened him isn't some monster, but rather the blue bruise on her temple.
With her heart beating fast, she plays it dumb. "What's what, honey?"
He frowns. "You have a bump on your face. Did you fall down?"
Gods bless naïve four year olds.
"Oh this? I just bumped my head at work today. Nothing to worry about."
Percy nods thoughtfully and stays silent for such a long time, Sally thinks he's fallen asleep. When he speaks again, she jumps a little.
"Did it hurt?"
"Did what hurt, honey?" She asks, momentarily forgetting what they had been talking about earlier.
"The bump on your head, did it hurt when it happened?"
She gives her little boy a strange look, "Only a little bit."
Percy pulls away from her and stands up on the couch.
"Percy, what have I told you about standing on-"
Percy leans in and plants a tender kiss on her right temple. It's so gentle that it doesn't inflict the smallest amount of pain.
Sally's too astonished to even react.
Without saying another word, he curls back into a little ball on her lap and falls almost instantly asleep.