"Oh you poor thing…" Sally mumbled more to herself than her son. She sat on the edge of the small bed, causing it to droop ever so slightly. Sally wore her standard work uniform, a red and white sweater accompanied with a blue skirt that ran just past her knees; a blue hat and a name tag reading: Sweet on America to compliment the uniform. Her natural brown color was starting to lose a bit of color as she could see grey strands already sprouting out of her hair. She was far from old, only in her mid thirties, but the work she is constantly put under was enough to make anyone stress.

She looked down at her sickened son and smiled warmly, though his eyes were closed so she doubted he could see her. He was the main reason her life was stressful, and she couldn't be happier that he was with her. He made putting up with Gabe, working two jobs, and getting her master's degree all worth it.

Sally gave a deep sigh and looked at her son, meanwhile readjusting the ice pack on his forehead. She hated having to rely on him like so, but he truly was the one thing in life worth living for. Sally couldn't find much reason to live other than to be with her son.

She thought of all the happy time's they had shared in his twelve years of life. All the time's they would head to Montauk Beach, just the two of them. Together they would roast marshmallows and hotdogs, play in the water, and exchange stories. He would tell her about his struggles at school and she would tell him about her work. And, of course, she would bring his favorite blue candy. Life was simple when it was just the two of them, and she always longed for times like that to stay. Alas, the moments she most cherished were the ones that passed the quickest.

This was especially true with him now twelve years old. She knew, no matter how smelly Gabe was, she couldn't mask his scent for much longer. When that happened, she would lose her main purpose for living for at least a summer, possibly even more. That's why she had made plans.

Providing he was healthy, she would take him to the beach this weekend. It was only Tuesday, so he had plenty of time to get better.

For one last time she sighed before kissing her son, Percy's, forehead and exiting the room. As much as she wanted to care for Percy herself, if they were going to afford the trip to Montauk, then she would need to work as many hours as possible.

Gently, she closed his door and walked into the living room of the apartment. Beer cans, fast-food wrappers, along with random chunks of food were scattered amongst the main floor. Sally was astounded by this, usually when she cleaned it would stay clean for at least a week. She had just finished cleaning the room Saturday and it was already a pigs sty (or as Percy put is, a 'Gabe's Sty).

It seemed as though Gabe noticed this much as well, as he communicated it with his introduction.

"Sally, the room is an absolute disaster! Didn' I tell ya to clean her up on Friday!?" He yelled, seemingly furious.

No 'good morning honey!'

No 'How is Percy doing?'

Not even so much as a simple hello.

Sally growled internally but held a kind façade in front of Gabe. Instead of saying some of the more colorful things she wanted to say (which had netted her a couple bruises in the past) she simply smiled and said:

"My apologize hubby, it must have slipped my mind. I can be such a dolt sometime's. I'll be sure to clean it before I head to Montauk." Oh how much Sally hated calling this man hubby though he forced her to. Oh how much she hated demeaning herself, though he forced her too. Oh how much she didn't want to clean up after this pig, though he forced her too.

Taking a deep breath, she glanced quickly at Percy's room, and remembered once again why she was putting up with this man. Smiling inwardly at Percy, and externally at Gabe, she picked up on whatever he was currently ranting about.

"I expected more from you when I married you. Who knew not havin' a diploma could make a girl such a scatterbrained monkey? Though I suppose you do have your uses…" He trailed off, not taking his eyes away from the part of her legs not covered by the skirt. Sally felt the need to hurl, punch, and run away from this man all at the same time. She had luckily avoided any sort of sexual contact from him thus far (not from lack of trying on Gabe's part).

She also didn't tell him that she'd already completed her college exams and got her diploma last year. She didn't know how he would respond to such information so she only told Percy. She figured keeping the ditzy middle aged woman act was the safest path at the current time period.

Before Gabe could try any sort of advancement on her, or her skirt more specifically, she quickly hurried out the door, rushing the phrases 'I gotta go to work, I'm running late, and love you, bye' all at the same time so that none of the phrases could be completely audible. Gabe stood still for a good minute and once he had snapped out of his doldrums, Sally was already driving off too work.

Sally didn't know how much longer she could put up with Gabe. She wanted to say as long as possible (which didn't seem much longer if Poseidon's word was to mean anything) but she just wasn't sure. She may have to chance herself with the monsters that are sure to come. At least those kinds of monsters can be fought. Gabe was a completely different type of monster, one she couldn't kill, and couldn't deal with being alive. Shaking her head she turned on the radio to drown out the sounds of her thoughts. She had two jobs to do before coming home; she couldn't afford to get distracted (literally).

Meanwhile Percy Jackson, who had been listening intently for the sound of his mother car to go, arose from his bed the second he heard it leave. He tossed of the ice pack and began to furiously rub his head in a humorous attempt to heat it back up.

He hated having to fake being sick, but he didn't see much of an alternative to doing so today. He had got into a heated argument with Nancy and her friends yesterday and apparently said some things they didn't appreciate, if the angry faces and cusswords were any sort of implication. Long story short, he has about three guys from Nancy's 'crew' that all wanted to gut him like a fish.

Percy usually didn't mind these guys, in fact he'd go to school looking forward to a quick tussle or two, but this time was different. Because of a cannibal incident on the last field trip (don't ask) and the fact that he had been caught in three fights this year meant that if he was caught breaking another major rule, he'd be expelled.

Percy had yet to complete a full school year, he was always expelled for some reason or another, and usually they weren't his fault. Percy was far from a trouble maker, his mom constantly reminded him of that. It was just when Percy's friends (the few of them he had) got bullied that he'd really get mad other students.

Either way, Percy couldn't bear to face his mother after getting expelled from another school, especially when the school year was so close to being over. His mother never said it, but he knew she was disappointed every time he was expelled. So, not wanting to risk getting into a fight today, Percy took what he saw was the best course of action; faking sick to stay home from school.

Percy walked into the living room on his way towards the kitchen, aiming to make himself breakfast. He was hoping Gabe would be on the couch, completely absorbed on the ESPN broadcast. That way he could maybe sneak some food away without having to deal with Gabe. Unluckily for him, Gabe was still staring at the door where his mother had retreated from at least a minute ago. Because he had nothing distracting him, he heard Percy the second he was in the room.

Gabe looked surprised to see me for a second before his shocked expression melted into a smirk, a smirk Percy had learned to hate over time. Gabe walked over to Percy, his facial expression never changing.

"Well what do we have here? The little punk thinks he's skipping school does he?" He was now standing directly right over Percy, giving him a great look at his pudgy belly.

"I'm sick; I'm staying home today to get the better today." Percy mumbled at him while trying to avoid seeing any part of this man's frame; which, when you're standing two feet away from him, is almost impossible to do.

"O' really now? You don' look too sick if ya ask me."

"Well nobody asked you?" Percy snapped at him without thinking. Gabe didn't appreciate that outburst too much. He kneeled down so he was just a little bit shorter than Percy and looked directly in his eyes.

"I don' appreciate your tone of voice, punk! Talk to me like that again and it'll be one of the last things ya do, ya hear?" Percy nodded his head quickly. He wanted to come up with a comeback, but saying anything after that man breathes the toxins that are his breath in your face is nay impossible.

"Good, now I'm in the mood for eggs, do something about that." Gabe said as he rose back to his full height. Sighing in defeat, Percy trekked to the kitchen to make Gabe some eggs.

Unfortunately for him, eggs were the only real breakfast food left, and there were only two left. After making Gabe his breakfast Percy realized that he had nothing really left to eat. Never the less, Percy delivered the breakfast to Gabe without a word before retreating back to the kitchen.

Percy found an apple at the bottom of the refrigerator, how old it was he wasn't completely certain. He doubted it'd be the tastiest breakfast, but he decided it'll do. After finishing his apple he walked towards the trash can, where he found a most peculiar note.

Percy had been seeing mail for years now, but not once had he seen a handwritten letter. So upon seeing a crumpled up piece of what looked like a fine piece of paper with beautiful cursive hand writing, Percy was instantly curious. He removed the paper, replacing with his apple core, and walked to his room. Gabe, who was distracted by his breakfast and the TV, didn't see this any of this exchange.

Percy cracked his door (Gabe said no closed doors) and plopped on his bed, before unraveling the paper. The paper had soft tinge of yellow to it and was a lot rougher than the paper's Percy used for his school work. In beautiful blue ink, the paper read:

To My Daughter,

Sally, you haven't any idea how much I have been longing to see you again. How much I've wanted to see the grandson I don't doubt you already have. How much I wanted to say my goodbyes to you before I leave this earth.

Alas, I can't seem to communicate with you. When my phone worked, you never answered my calls. This is the 23rd letter I've sent in the last three years, not one of the previous 22 has been answered by you. I even sent Kali to get you, but he tells me you didn't recognize him. He misses you by the way, Kali; he used to love spending time with you.

I know we had our disagreement when you were younger, I understand that. But, I beg of you, please don't abandon me any longer. I haven't seen you in over twenty years, and I know my time on this earth is becoming increasingly smaller.

I just want to atone for my sins against you in the past. I don't want to die with such events still on my consciousness. Just once, please, come visit me. Let me see your face just once more.

Love,

Viola Jackson

P.S

Bring Percy

Percy had dyslexia, and always had a rough time reading things. Never the less, he was able to make out the purpose of this letter; and this letter had confused him greatly.

His mom was a kind, forgiving spirit, why would she not visit her own mother. That was so unlike the mother Percy knew. His mother was also never one to lie. Yet she told him he had no sort of grandparents, at least none that were alive. Yet here was a letter from his grandma, and it had just come in the mail yesterday.

It didn't add up, and Percy had planned to talk about it when his mom got home. However, the more he thought about it, that would just make his mom upset and more unlikely to ever visit his grandma. That when Percy hatched what he thought was a brilliant idea.

He'd go to the address on the letter and get his grandma. Then he would be able to get her home and hopeful surprise his mom when she came home from work. Then, hopefully, they'd make up with each other and Percy would finally have a relationship with an adult that wasn't his mother.

Percy smiled at himself for thinking of such a plan, and began to think how he could activate this plan.

A/N

Uh-Oh Percy, if only you knew what you were getting into. Oh well, we'll see how this is resolved in the next chapter. Firstly, I'd like to thank all the positive feedback I got from the first chapter, I really appreciate it.

Also, I'd like to talk about the pairing. As you can tell, this is set right before the events of the first book, meaning both Percy and Annabeth will be young. Because of this, don't expect to see a large amount of romance as I feel they just aren't old enough for all that good stuff ;). Their relationship will be very similar to the relationship in The Lightening Thief and Sea of Monsters. If you think a better character can fill Annabeth's role, tell me who and more importantly tell me why.

If you liked reading than be sure to check out another one of my fanfics know as swards and hearts. I am currently editing the chapters of that story and the next part should be uploaded in early June.

You probably noticed I haven't updated that Fanfic in a while. That actually do to a novel I was writing for school. If you want to check it out here is a link:

story/16637081-the-decimation-game-twisted-reality

I upload different chapters on watt pad sporadically, but it'd mean a lot to me if you'd check it out.

Last piece of news: today I plan on doing a lot of writing. While I can't guarantee it I might be able to get another chapter of Elders Curse done today.