Growing Up
Perseus
Daycare Disaster
Third Person P.O.V.
It was a bright sunny day and a young Percy Jackson and his mother Sally were on their way to daycare. Percy was well known at Sunny Ocean Daycare as one of the most well behaved and interactive children. Sally walked through the doorway and smiled at the small chime of the bell. A young strawberry blonde named Elizabeth walked up to her and smiled.
"Hey there Sally, I see you brought little Percy along for another good day," the seventeen year old chirped. Sally smiled.
"I sure did Lizzy. I'll be back at five," Sally said as she handed Percy over to her trusted friend. Elizabeth smiled.
"Same as always. Don't worry Sally, I'll take good care of him," she said. She turned to take Percy over to where the other kids were and was five steps away from the loving mother when Sally called out to her.
"Elizabeth," she called. Said girl turned and looked at Sally in confusion.
"Yes Sally?" she asked questioningly.
"How's Marisol doing at camp?" Sally asked. Elizabeth looked around at the aqua-themed daycare and smiled.
"She's doing really good Sally. She's growing up so fast and everybody at the camp loves her and helps take care of her. Even the Ares kids. They're teaching her how to wield baby-sized, wooden, weapons. The Athena kids have been helping her develop her speech and reading skills, and we Apollo kids make sure she doesn't get sick. The Demeter kids are making sure she eats right, and Hermes kids are making sure she's comfortable in their cabin.
Her first word was Daddy, then Mommy. And her third word was Perseus. She loves you, and I'm certain about the mental link because she keeps giggling at the weirdest times and saying things she could only have heard from you. She keeps mumbling I wub uo Pewcy. It's so cute, and I promise you I'll make sure she grows up right. I swear it on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed and Percy flinched. He began to sob and Elizabeth began to gently bounce him against her hip. Sally smiled at how well this young daughter of Apollo could take care of her children. If there was one person she would trust with their lives it would be Elizabeth Soloff.
"Thank you Elizabeth. I'll be back at five."
And then Sally kissed Percy's head and left.
Elizabeth walked with Percy over to the other kids who were playing tug of war with a sea-weed like rope.
She watched them play for an hour and a half before getting ready to set them all down for a nap.
Elizabeth had been cleaning up the toys all of the young children had been playing with when she head a sound. A rattling sort of sound.
She froze before turning around slowly and slipping her dagger out of her boot. This was too enclosed a space to pull out her bow and arrows. She followed the sound for a minute before it slowly died out around the room where the children were supposed to be asleep.
One of the children must be playing with a rattle instead of sleeping, she thought to herself. I swear if they all wake up and start chaos I'll never get them back to sleep.
She walked toward the door to the nap-time room and made to push it open when the door to the daycare center opened and Sally walked in.
She froze when she saw the dagger in Elizabeth's hand her eyes widened and she rushed forward. Sally immediately thought the worst and tried grappling the dagger away from the young girl but Elizabeth had been trained well and had Sally pinned to the wall easily.
She slid the dagger into her boot and pulled away from Sally.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she yelled in a whisper. "I was checking on the kids because I heard something in there! Did you honestly think I was going to hurt one of the kids?"
Sally was about to respond when she heard Percy's baby laughter. She rushed into the nap-time room and screamed in horror at what she saw.
Percy sat in his cot with a rattle-snake's neck between his little fists. The snake hung limp and it was clear that it was dead. Sally rushed in and picked up Percy, ignoring the screaming babies-which had been startled awake by her scream- around her, and ran into the play room. She threw the snake away from them and sat there rocking Percy. Elizabeth came out with the other kids who she let off to play while she spoke to Sally.
"Is this the first attempt at his life?" she whispered. Sally nodded and cradled Percy to her chest tighter. "Then you have to stop coming here. From now on you have to figure out a way to keep your eyes on Percy and provide for him at once because if you don't somebody will get to him. It's clear someone may know his parentage and I'm guessing Amphitrite may have had a hand in this. Go home, and keep him safe. I'll return to the camp immediately and take care of Mari. Good luck Sally."
Sally nodded, hugged Elizabeth goodbye, and ran to her small apartment two blocks away. She had to keep Percy safe because that had been one big fat daycare disaster.