Disclaimer: Not mine.
Chapter 4 - Mother And The Pig
I led Chiron out of the elevator and down the hall to the apartment that, right now, Gabe would be playing poker in with some of his buddies. I cursed myself for not remembering sooner that Gabe would still be alive at this point; in all honesty, thanks to Fate refreshing my memories, I'd taken the route home (and I use the word loosely) without even thinking about it. Mom wouldn't be home from work yet either, so Chiron and I would have to put up with Gabe's presence until she showed up. It would only be ten minutes or so, but that was ten minutes too long near Gabe for my liking.
I kicked open the door once I unlocked it, knowing it wouldn't open unless shoved thanks to all the crap on the floor. My nose wrinkling in disgust as the smell hit me - I'd apparently forgotten how bad it was - I stepped in gingerly.
Glancing back at Chiron apologetically, I said, "You can wait out here if you'd rather." Chiron shook his head in the negative, looking admirably unaffected by the stench, though I noticed his eyes flicking from the mess to me and back when he thought I wasn't looking.
He followed me in as I pushed open the door to 'my' room, dumping my bag on the bed and casually grabbing Gabe's boots off the windowsill, chucking them out into the hall where they landed with a loud thump.
"Boy!" Gabe yelled from the table. "What was that?!" I rolled my eyes, noting that Chiron had his 'deduction' face on. What he could possibly learn from Gabe's mess, I have no idea.
"Your boots!" I hollered back. I knew I was just pissing him off, but to be honest I didn't give a damn. I have faced down armies of monsters; one mortal bully not only no longer bothered me, but made me want to grind his face in the ground while reminding him that I was more important than he'd ever be.
So my humility might have faded over the years. Not that I liked having the world on my shoulders (figuratively speaking, for the most part) but I could at least admit that it was.
Gabe came stomping down the hallway, stopping suddenly as he spotted Chiron before glaring rudely. "Who're you?" He demanded.
"Rude." I chided. "He's my Latin teacher, wanted to talk to mom about something."
The walrus switched to glaring at me, his small mind apparently losing interest in Chiron. "She's out." He growled.
"I hadn't noticed, thanks for that deduction Sherlock." I snarked, sarcasm dripping from my words.
"Whatever." It wasn't any fun when the person I was trying to annoy was stupid enough to not notice when I insulted him. "Got any cash?" I caught Chiron looking at me sharply, wearing an expression as close to appalled as he'd allow himself to get.
"Not a penny." I said cheerfully, having handed all the money I had on me to a guy playing a guitar at the bus station. Chiron had looked surprised and bemused at the time; he'd probably figure out why I'd done it now.
"Liar." Gabe said darkly, eyes narrowing. "Used a twenty to get here. Got six, seven bucks in change."
"Nope." I said, watching with amusement as Gabe began to turn a beer-and-anger-fuelled red. "Gave it to some guy playing at the station."
Gabe lumbered forward threateningly, or as threateningly as he could. "Lying brat!" Seeming to completely forget that a teacher was in the room - for gods sake, how dim could you get? - he swung a heavy fist down at me. I rolled lightly out of the way - even as an adult who could hands-down beat any mortal in a contest of strength, not to mention a few gods, I'd never been bulky - and bounced on the balls of my feet as the walrus stumbled and nearly fell.
"Oops, missed me." Gods, this was almost fun. I really needed to get out more ... then again, I never did get a chance to pay Gabe back for everything, since mom turned him into stone.
"I'm gonna teach you a lesson, brain boy." Gabe spat. Chiron moved forward, about to interfere, but he didn't get the chance.
The words brought back every time Gabe had tried to 'teach' me something, in great detail thanks to the Fates' little trick of refreshing my memories. My eyes narrowed in rage as I remembered the times Gabe had trapped me and made me bleed, when it felt like lines of fire had been carved into my skin, when I moved and something shifted inside of me that I knew was not supposed to be broken.
With an audible crack and loud cries from the other apartments, the sprinkler system burst on. My hands were clenched into shaking fists, burning with the desire to punch the pig as hard as I could. Right then, I didn't care that putting all my strength behind a punch like that could kill him; I just wanted him gone. Preferably as permanently as possible.
Chiron grew more and more concerned the more he learnt about Percy Jackson. Especially his home life.
He was no stranger to child abuse; people feared differences, and demigods were practically the definition of the word. Not to mention that the children of the gods did not have the best of luck, as a whole. Still, it never failed to hit him hard; after so many years alive, after guiding children so long, the idea of not helping them, giving them what they need, was almost incomprehensible to him. (Almost, because he'd spent years in the world of Greek Mythology and the gods know that they never appreciate anything till it's gone, including family. Too many lonely children bitter beyond their years had passed through Hermes cabin and never been claimed for Chiron to maintain his illusions.)
The stench had easily hit him as the door opened and Chiron soon understood why Percy had said that he could wait outside. He had quickly surmised that the mortal was there for the sole purpose of protecting Percy with his disgusting scent - he certainly wasn't there for his charms, good looks or, judging from the way he'd wanted Percy to give him money, cash. He was also probably abusive, given the flippancy with which he moved to hit Percy when there was a stranger present. Chiron thought sadly of what most likely happened behind closed doors to both the boy and his mother, although most likely neither knew of the other's pain.
Percy's deliberate needling of the man was unusual in most cases of abuse, Chiron mused thoughtfully as he recalled Percy insulting the man. Either victims were completely downtrodden, rebelled when the abuser was not present and likely wouldn't know, or escaped from the abuser entirely. They didn't usually antagonise the abuser with frequent insults and, if Chiron was correct, deliberately giving money away that he would have been bullied into giving up otherwise. Percy's actions made a lot more sense from the perspective of making sure that Gabe didn't get anything from him.
Still, he could admit that right now he wasn't particularly interested in the whys and wherefores of Percy's behaviour; he was much more concerned with the way that the demigod looked like he was restraining himself from killing the mortal. With one simple sentence the mortal - whatever his name was - seemed to have made the son of Poseidon (because realistically, what else could he be?) angry enough to unintentionally drench this apartment with water and probably a number of other apartments too. Not to mention the death glare the stormy-eyed boy was fixing the step-father with.
"Percy." He pushed forward, wishing that there wasn't quite this much waste on the floor. "Percy, calm down." The child looked at him then, and Chiron felt a shiver of foreboding sweep across him again. This boy ... was powerful. Almost godly. His eyes had shifted colour almost completely in the last few minutes to a darker and stormier colour as Percy got angry, and looking at him now, Chiron could almost understand why Zeus was so afraid of his brother's children. This was not someone who'd accept the usual excuses that the gods tended to give.
"Percy." He said again, paying no attention to the mortal who was swearing and storming out of the apartment. The boy watched him go, rather like a cat would watch a bird fly off, Chiron thought, but whatever he was thinking Percy didn't move to attack. Once the front door slammed behind the repulsive mortal, everything seemed to go out of Percy all at once; his shoulders didn't slump, but he gave the impression of being smaller somehow, and the water flow slowed before tapering off entirely.
The boy looked at Chiron, and the teacher absently noted that Percy's eyes had already shifted colour again. They weren't happy, not by a long shot, but they no longer held the hue of a storm about to break. "Sorry about that." The boy apologised, flashing an easy grin. Chiron could almost see the mask slide over the boy's face, and he felt another pang of sadness. Percy Jackson was a child who'd learned how to hide his feelings, and that almost hurt more than knowing that the boy had suffered.
"Not at all, Mr Jackson." Chiron said easily, his own mask taking over and hiding his immediate thoughts and feelings. "But our current location seems rather unsuitable, and I suspect the building will be evacuated."
Percy glanced up at the sprinklers, expression inscrutable. "Why did the sprinkler's break like that?" He asked, but Chiron could tell that the boy already at least suspected the answer.
"You recall our discussion the other night?" Chiron asked in reply. Percy nodded, eyes distant.
"The water on the roof." He murmured, and the teacher nodded slightly in confirmation. Percy shook those thoughts off, like a dog coming out of water. "I know a café with outside tables that Mom walks past to get back - we can wait out there for her if you'd like." When Chiron nodded his agreement to the plan, Percy led the way out of the door, glad to be seeing the back of that apartment once again.
We sat at a table next to the café just round the corner, Chiron sipping slowly at the cup of tea he'd had me fetch from the crowded counter. I'd politely declined having anything, not feeling particularly hungry. For some reason, seeing New York whole and relatively undamaged was playing havoc with my memories of it being half-destroyed the day Olympus fell - I couldn't help but remember the screams. I was glad I had a chance to make sure that it didn't happen here, glad that I had the chance to give some version of my family a happier ending, but sometimes I wished I could just forget. In so many ways, I was just tired, at the thought of having to take up arms again.
It was almost enough to make me want to pack my bags and move to Alaska, but I doubt the Fates would allow me to escape so easily and my fatal flaw was still personal loyalty, after all. As much as a nice peaceful life sounded appealing, I knew that I wouldn't be able to rest properly while worrying about all the people I'd abandoned.
Chiron broke me out of my thoughts when he began to speak. "Mr Jackson, may I ask what is troubling you so?"
I looked up (and damn being twelve to hell anyway) into his eyes, which were looking at me with their usual mixture of concern and compassion. It reminded me so sharply of my Chiron that my breath caught in my chest for a second. I ducked my head and stared determinedly at the table, struggling to reign in my emotions. If I ever met the Athena of my world again, I was going to strangle her for getting me to do this. Going back like this was either going to be the best or worst thing that I ever did, and personally I was leaning toward the latter. There were so many ways for me to screw up, and I knew that I would have to plan carefully to avoid accidentally condemning the gods.
Planning was never my forte. The only plans that worked for me were crazy stupid and nearly killed me.
"I'm fine." I answered finally, not wanting to tell the truth and unable to think of a believable lie.
Chiron cleared his throat and I heard creaking as he leaned forward. It was probably so I would look at him, but I refused to oblige. After a moment, he spoke anyway.
"In my experience, Mr Jackson, people who are fine rarely have eyes so sad." His voice was calm; neither accusatory nor comforting, just a simple statement of fact with a gentle patience that should have seemed patronising, but somehow wasn't. He was a teacher first and foremost, after all; not an enemy, not a friend. Someone who would tell you the truth no matter how much it hurts if that was a lesson you needed to learn.
My eyes burned, but I didn't let tears fall. I hadn't cried in years, but now I felt as if the waterworks were going to start any second. What the bloody hell was wrong with me? Could I really be so affected by simply returning to the past and being faced with everything that I failed to save originally?
... On second thought, I'd have to be pretty bloody cold to be unaffected. That didn't really make me feel better about wanting to cry. Didn't exactly fit with my twelve-year-old personality, and Chiron had probably picked up enough strange things from me already.
"What would I have to be sad about?" I asked, probably sounding a little sarcastic and a little bitter and maybe a little angry. Damn it, but my emotions were so far out of whack that it wasn't even vaguely amusing. I'd never been particularly good at dealing with my emotions (case in point - Annabeth) and I mostly dealt with things by blowing up monsters. Great for stress relief, not so much for mental health.
"Perseus." He said, and my head snapped up as a scowl formed, opening my mouth to snap at him to not call me that, but he continued before I got the chance to tear into him. "What did that repulsive mortal do to hurt you?"
Those memories were far easier to shake off now, and they didn't faze me at all. I snapped my mouth shut and glared for a moment, before the corner of my mouth twitched in the beginnings of a resigned smile. "You knew I'd look at you if you called me Perseus." I accused grumpily.
Chiron inclined his head slightly, amusement evident in his face. "Most people forget to avoid eye contact when annoyed."
I pulled a face and succumbed to my childish side, (something that I'd only mostly grown out of) sticking my tongue out at the trainer of heroes. He chuckled, and I went back to looking at the pedestrians to see if my mom was back yet.
"I never understood why mom put up with that piece of trash anyway." I grumbled under my breath. And it was true, I never did. Sure, his scent was disgusting enough to disguise my scent - during the holidays, but I spent most of my time in a boarding school, far away from Gabe-the-stinky. I honestly didn't get why mom needed him, and it wasn't something we'd ever had a chance to properly discuss. Beyond getting rid of him, we didn't talk about him at all.
I wondered if I could find out why, this time around, or if me asking questions would make mom cry and me feel guilty.
We fell into another silence, this one slightly more comfortable than the last. Chiron didn't press me about Gabe, and thankfully I didn't start crying. I really doubt I could have handled the embarrassment.
It wasn't more than five minutes before my mom came down the road, looking more than surprised to see me there. Nevertheless she ambushed me in a hug as soon as I stood up to greet her. I hugged back just as tightly, suddenly not embarrassed at all. I had missed mom, and I didn't care who knew it. She was one person who had always believed in me.
"Percy!" She said, sounding concerned, relieved and happy all at once. "What are you doing here? And what happened to your hair?" She added when she pulled back to get a better look at me.
"Gabe is a pig and interfering old ladies, respectively." I answered without a beat. "You have a good year?"
She huffed an exasperated laugh and hugged me again. "I missed you." She held out a bag of sweets, which I took eagerly.
"Blue?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"You bet." Mom winked at me, smiling. "Don't eat it all at once."
I completely ignored her in favour of rummaging through the bag. Who cares if I'm too old for sweets, these were blue. And from mom, which made them automatically awesome purely by association.
Her gaze slid over to Chiron who was watching the scene with a polite smile on his face, and a worried frown crept onto her forehead. I hid a worried frown of my own; I could guess how this conversation was going to go. With a sigh, I decided to at least get this over with. "Hey mom, meet Mr Brunner. He was my Latin teacher this year."
I couldn't actually remember if Chiron had mentioned that his name wasn't Mr Brunner yet, so I went with his fake name on the safe side. Better than calling him Chiron if that wasn't something I'd been told yet.
"It's nice to meet you." Mom smiled politely and held out her hand to shake, but the worry lines didn't fade completely. "Is there a problem?"
"Not at all." Chiron assured her. "Not one of Percy's making, at any rate. Might I talk to you both somewhere more private?"
"Of course." Mom said, looking more concerned by the second and now shooting sideways glances at me as well. "We could go back to the apartment." Honestly, she sounded like she'd rather do anything but. Fortunately, that wasn't really an option anyway. Chiron coughed sheepishly and I put on my best innocent face.
"I suspect that won't be possible, Miss Jackson. Unfortunately, your apartment was afflicted with a slight flooding problem." Chiron explained ruefully, his eyes flicking over to me slightly. I maintained my innocent face - I totally hadn't intended to drench half the block - and pretended not to notice the subtle communication beneath the words. "Perhaps it would be possible to come to a camp I run during the summer instead? It's something of a drive, but it's very secure." He fished out a card and handed it to her. She turned it over in her hands, before looking at me, considerably paler and sadder but still determined. It hurt, to see her sad like that again, and I searched for the words to tell her that I would be all right. Before I got the chance, she spoke.
"Well, I don't see a problem with going to that camp." She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "We could take the Camaro if Gabe didn't take it when he left. I can go and check." She turned to leave but was distracted by the bundle of keys I dangled in the air between us. "Percy ..." She began slowly, "are those ...?"
"Keys to the Camaro." I said nonchalantly, tossing them gently in her direction. "I'm sure he can get a bus or something." Filching them from the front hall table had been too easy and I'd learned the benefit of having transport on hand. Besides, I dearly wanted to see Gabe's prize possession ruined and things break easily near me. There was no way I could resist.
Mom looked more than a little shocked though, and was clearly having an internal debate about lecturing me. On the one hand, stealing is wrong. On the other, transport away from the monster infested city to a place where I would be safe. Self preservation won out and Mom led the way to the car. I pretended to ignore Chiron looking at me strangely - stealing wasn't exactly a habit for me at twelve.
When we were all squeezed into the car and well on our way to camp, I broke the increasingly uncomfortable silence. "So is anyone going to explain what this camp is for?"
"For people like you, Percy." Mom replied distractedly. "You'll be safe there."
I raised an incredulous eyebrow. Camp Half-Blood wasn't exactly safe. Awesome, sure. Safe, slightly less so, considering the chances of being maimed in capture the flag alone. Not to mention being sent on quests, or monsters sneaking past the borders of camp, or hellhounds being invited in, or supporters of Kronos like Luke. And that was all before my sixteenth birthday when everything went to hell. After that, camp was safer than almost anywhere else - which wasn't saying much, considering the death toll.
"Safe." I said sceptically. "And you know this how?"
"Your father wanted you to go there. Please honey, just go." Mom said, desperation edging into her tone.
"My father?" I stopped faking scepticism and started faking outright disbelief instead. "You want me to go to some camp because my father recommended it twelve years ago?"
Chiron interceded. "Mr Jackson, I'm sure you recall our talk about the gods." He waited for my grudging nod before continuing. "Your father is an Olympian god. Twelve years is the blink of an eye to a being such as he, who has seen centuries pass like a long summer afternoon."
I didn't reply, looking out of the window instead. The clouds were getting darker, and the rain heavier. If things continued the same as last time despite the fact that we were headed to camp earlier, then we could expect a lightning bolt from Zeus soon.
Truth was, I did not want to go back to camp. It was a symbol of everything Greek to me, my entire heritage, good and bad - and the bad far outweighed the good. The closer I got to my past, the more I wanted to say 'aw shucks' and move to Alaska instead, even if I knew that wasn't really an option for me. I was scared of trying and failing, scared of losing more people, scared of having to fight another war.
But I'd been terrified for most of my life when it came to gods and monsters, I just never let that stop me. I wouldn't let it stop me now, either.
"Mrs Dodds." I commented out of the blue. "Will there be more like her?"
Chiron cast a serious glance at me. "I very much hope not, Mr Jackson." He said mildly. A drop of water hit the windshield, then another, and suddenly it was pouring down. I saw a flutter of movement ahead, and felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. "Maybe we should drive faster." I suggested uneasily, mind racing for ways to keep my experience a secret. Being a badass monster-killer at the age of twelve, while awesome, was not precisely a good idea. Logically, it would be better to avoid fights until I could plausibly say, 'oh look, that training really paid off', but the chances of us reaching camp without disaster striking was practically nil.
(Fucking Zeus and his bloody lightning. Forget Gramps, if that bastard killed my mom - )
My mom didn't question me, and I felt us accelerate. From behind, I heard a long, tortured bellow. I swore and twisted in my seat to watch the road behind us, ignoring mom's admonishment. That was Pasiphae's son - what the hell was he doing here now? We were headed to Camp hours earlier, thanks to going straight to camp rather than Montauk.
Actually, unless Pasiphae's son normally travelled faster than a speeding car, he wouldn't have caught us at all if Zeus hadn't -
My eyes widened and I yelled out a warning a second too late, lunging forward from the backseat to yank the steering wheel sideways myself.
Predictably, the world went white.
So, another chapter. Sorry it took me a while to write, but I got a bit stuck. It probably shows in the first half.
Shib. :)
