Paul
Paul wasn't surprised at all when Sally told him she had a son. He was surprised when she told him the boy was fourteen.
"Why don't you come over for dinner on Saturday and meet him?" Sally said. "He should be here."
"Where is he now?" I had asked.
"Out with some friends," Sally said vaguely.
So, here he was on December the twenty seventh. Outside of her door.
From what Sally had told me about her son, he wasn't sure what to expect. She made him out to be a good kid. She told me that he got expelled from every school he went to. Of course, the way she told it, he never had done anything wrong. He was about to see if that was true.
He knocked on the door.
"Coming," Sally's voice rang out.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
She opened the door.
"Hello Paul," She said. "Come in. Sit down. Percy should be home soon."
"He's not here, yet?" He asked relieved.
"No," She said. "He's with his friends."
"Oh," He said. "It's good he gets out of the house, I suppose."
"Yes," Sally said. "Dinner should be ready soon."
She went into the kitchen and Paul sat down on the couch.
About five minutes later, the front door sprung open. In the doorway stood a teenager. He was tall with black hair that had a grey streak in it. He wore an orange tee shirt and jeans.
"Who are you?" The boy asked him.
"Percy," Sally called. "I told you my friend Paul was coming for dinner. Did you forget?"
"Maybe," Percy said. Then he turned to Paul. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Blowfis."
"You must be Percy," Paul said, stoop up, and shook the boy's hand.
This boy wasn't what Paul had expected. Not at all.
After some time had passed, Paul felt that he knew Percy. He and Sally were married, after all. That's when he found out.
Percy was a demigod. A son of Poseidon.
Paul was sure that that would be the strangest thing.
Then came the hoof prints on his car and the war in Manhattan. It just got stranger.
Then, Percy disappeared. That was the worst thing that could happen.
Sally was devastated, but she never gave up hope.
"He's coming home," She promised him one day.
"I know. I know."
He hadn't known though, hadn't been sure at all.
Then came the day of the phone call.
"Paul, get in here."
He had run out of the bedroom into the kitchen. "What is it?"
"Listen." She replayed the message.
"Mom." Percy's voice said through the answering machine. "Hey, I'm alive. Hera put me to sleep for a while, and then she took my memory, and… Anyway, I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest—I'll make it home. I promise. Love you."
"Percy." Paul said.
"He's not one to break promise." Sally was crying.
Months later, Percy was true to his promise. He came home.
"Hey mom." He walked right in the door. "What's up?"
"Perseus Jackson!" Sally enveloped him in a bear hug. "Percy."
"I missed you, mom."
He wasn't ever the same.
"Annabeth!"
Paul ran to his bedroom. He was tossing and turning in his bed.
"I didn't! Who did I abandon?"
"Percy!" Paul shook his step-son.
He snapped awake. "What happened?"
"It was just a nightmare, Percy."
He shook his head. "It was real. It happened. In… in there."
Percy sounded scared. He had given Paul many surprises, but being scared was the strangest yet.
