A/N: Sorry for the late update, I really struggled with this chapter, since it's so far removed from the usual Percy Jackson universe... But it's finally finished, and I'll try to keep the boring legal stuff to a minimum (mostly because I don't know all that much about it, and I don't want to mess up). Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 13:

12 August

Percy refused to leave her side for the rest of the day. And that's about as long as they spent in that place. Two other detectives came to interview her. They asked about her various foster homes - they were both quick to point out that she'd had 10 different families over the past 7 years - and about her injury. Luckily, the Mist had done it's job, because when Jade mentioned the exploded fountain in Central Park, they both mentioned hearing about it.

But there were still some holes in her story. She'd told them that Percy had found her, and that she hadn't thought she's been that injured, so she'd told him not to take her to the hospital. In her story, Chiron doubled as a retired doctor who was a family friend of the Jacksons', and Camp Half-Blood was now his estate. Percy wasn't allowed to say anything, but he held her hand throughout the whole thing, never even mentioning his probably bruised fingers.

But the interviews were the easy part; she'd perfected her ability to lie during her foster care years. It was when her foster parents showed up that things got really bad.

Jade was still sitting in the interrogation room with Percy, when the door opened. The detective from earlier entered first - his shoes were squeaky - followed by someone in heels.

"Here she is, mrs. Leigh," the detective said.

Jade felt her throat close up. They'd called her foster mom? Why would Janet even come? She hated Jade with as much passion as Jade hated the bitter woman. She quickly grabbed Percy's hand again, squeezing hard.

"Jade, sweetie, I was so worried!" Janet's overly sweet voice washed over Jade, and she had to resist the urge to shudder. Here was a woman who couldn't care less if the children under her care starved or were beaten to death, so long as she didn't have to do anything - and here she was, putting on an act.

Jade turned to where she thought the detective was. "Get her away from me," she ground out. She'd told the man that she'd struggled in her last foster home - more than in the others - and that she wouldn't go back even if her life depended on it. Apparently, the man was a poor listener.

"Oh, darling, don't be like that. I know we've had our differences, but you've no idea what it was like, not knowing where you were or if you were getting food-"

Jade let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, now you care if I'm being fed? You never cared before," she snapped, putting as much venom in her voice as she could muster. Once again, she could feel her fingers tingling and wrenched her hand away from Percy, scared that she might harm him if she didn't get control over her powers.

"You have a very active imagination, sweetheart," Janet said, an icy tone sneaking into her voice. "But you can keep your stories for campfire night."

The Leighs had a firepit in their backyard, and once a month, they made all their foster kids - when Jade lived there, there were 3 of them - sit around the 'campfire' and pretend to be normal. Jade figured it was mostly so their nosy neighbours would think they were good parents, but she didn't care. She'd never said a word at 'campfire night'.

Jade stayed stubbornly silent, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Where's our mom?" Percy asked. He was probably just trying to change the subject, but Jade could hear the strain in his voice, too. They'd been cooped up in here too long already, and the stress of the situation wasn't helping.

"She's donating a DNA sample, which we'll rush to the lab. Which reminds me that you'll have to give us one as well," the detective said. Jade heard his squeaky shoes on the linoleum, moving closer to her. "Open your mouth please?"

Jade hesitated, but Percy's hand landed on her shoulder, and she relaxed a little. She opened her mouth and fought back a flinch when she felt the swab touch the inside of her cheek. A second later, it was gone.

"Thank you, Jade," the detective said, and it was the first time he'd sounded sincere. Maybe he wasn't so bad. "There'll be an emergency hearing at 9 tomorrow. A judge will decide what's going to happen from there on out," he explained.

She heard his squeaky shoes retreat to the door, and then she and Percy were alone with Janet. Her mood soured again.

"Grab your things, darling, we're going home," Janet said, the sarcasm dripping off the endearment.

Jade glared and got up from the table. "I'm not your anything, and home is with my mom and my brother," she spat, backing up a step.

"These people aren't your family, Jade, I am," she said, her voice practically dripping with insincerity.

She could sense Percy moving and opened her Sight to see him standing between her and Janet. "Get away from her," he said, his voice low and dangerous. It was easy to hear the ocean's rage in his voice, like a true son of Poseidon.

Janet didn't reply right away, and Jade got the distinct impression that the woman was just a little bit afraid. Good. "Step aside, young man, or I'll have to call the nice policeman in here again," Janet said, the threat obvious.

The thought of Percy getting in trouble because he was standing up for her was something she couldn't allow, though, so Jade put her hand on his arm. "Perce, it's okay," she said softly. "I've survived it before, what's one more night, right?"

Percy was tense under her fingers, but it seemed he didn't really know what to do in this situation either. Turning to her, he pulled her into a fierce hug, surprising her. "I'll call Camp, we'll get this sorted out in no time, I promise," he whispered.

Jade could feel tears burning behind her eyes, but if she let them fall now, she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop. So she just nodded and pulled back, grabbing her cane and holding on tight. "I'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, she followed Janet out of the interrogation room, the other woman's hand a vice on her shoulder. Jade would have given everything in that moment to just be home with her mom and brother, sitting on the couch. Instead, she was headed for something much, much worse.

/*/

Arriving back at the house was like looking back at a nightmare when you're wide awake. You know it shouldn't be that scary, but it still feels terrifying. Janet didn't say a word, but Jade could feel her eyes on her back.

The house was silent, as it so often was back when she still lived there. It was an unnatural silence, especially considering that children lived there. I used both my cane and my Sight to navigate, but I could only see a tiny, lifeless Spark that represented Janet, and two other Sparks in a neighbouring room. So there were others here. Jade vaguely wondered if she knew them, but dismissed the thought. It didn't matter. Before long, she'd be back with her mother and brother. She said as much to Janet - partly out of sheer spite, and partly because saying it out loud made it more real.

Obviously, I didn't see the slap coming.

My cheek stung, and tears sprung to my eyes, but I refused to cry out. I turned my sightless eyes onto her - I've been told that it's an unnerving sight - and glared. "Touch me again, and I'll show you how much I take after my father," I said in a low voice.

"And who was he? A lowlife drunk or a criminal?" Janet asked snidely.

Jade smirked. "Someone you don't want to mess with." She knew that the chances of Poseidon showing up to teach her foster mother a lesson - or put the fear of the Gods in her - were slim, but the thought cheered her up immensely. So she turned on her heel and navigated towards the other Sparks she'd seen. Time to meet the rest of the 'fam'.

/*/

"This isn't fair!"

Mom sighed as Percy paced the kitchen. "There's nothing we can do until the DNA results come in," she said, though she sounded as worried as he felt. "Though I'm not sure if it's even going to look normal, considering you're half-Gods."

Percy stopped and considered this. He had no idea how DNA worked in regular people, never mind what it would look like for demigods. He wished Annabeth were here, she'd probably have some clever plan or something. "I don't know…"

"I wish you could have cell phones," mom muttered.

Running a hand through his hair, he sat down next to her at the table. "Yeah, that'd come in handy, but it would also attract every monster in a 100 mile radius." He hated feeling so helpless. He was used to swinging his sword or outthinking a monster to solve his problems. Dealing with the real world was a whole other matter, and one that he'd have to defer to his mother for.

"I wish your father were here," mom whispered. Percy was pretty sure she didn't mean for him to hear it, so he ignored it. But he did share the sentiment. It was moments like this that he thought he could understand why Luke defected. If the Gods were so powerful, how come they couldn't even help their own children?

Regardless of that, there was nothing they could do. Nothing but wait.

/*/

Turns out there were 2 girls and 1 boy at the Leigh's house. The boy and one of the girls were significantly younger than Jade, but the other girl was 11.

"Did you really escape?" the young boy - Tommy - whispered, sounding awed.

Jade couldn't help the small quirk of her lips. The near hero-worship was definitely new for her. "I ran away, yeah. I ended up in Central Park and ran into my real brother, though I didn't know that at the time," she explained.

"What happened then?" the other young girl - Felicia - asked. The two young ones were still somewhat awed by the world, still hoped that their families would save them from their fate, but the 11 year-old - Lindsey - was already a lot more bitter.

"He took me to a summer camp, where a doctor checked me over, and then we just had fun. Eventually, I met his mom and we figured out that I was her long-lost daughter."

"Just like a fairytale," Felicia sighed dreamily.

Lindsey snorted. "Yeah right. The police will find out that those people are nothing but frauds and that they only wanted to use her."

"That's not true!" Jade protested. "Just because you don't believe in miracles anymore, doesn't mean they're not possible." It was perhaps a little petty of her, but she was tired of people claiming to know her family better than her.

"Whatever," Lindsey muttered and moved. A second later, Jade heard a bed creak, and knew that she must've gone to bed, even though it couldn't be that late yet.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Tommy said. Right, he was probably too young to read clocks yet.

"The little hand is almost at the 8," Felicia said proudly.

Jade grinned at her enthusiasm. "Where's the big hand?" she asked.

There was some rustling; Jade firgured that Felicia had gone to the clock to check.

"You're not supposed to touch it!" Tommy whispered, inching closer to Jade's side. She put a comforting arm around his shoulders. Janet was a horrible foster mom, and she wanted to shield these little ones from her for as long as she could. It was sad that they were already this scared, since they'd only been with Janet for a few months, but that was the horrible reality of foster care. You either lucked out with a good one or you got a bad one. These kids just hadn't been lucky.

Jade had told a teacher once; that Janet locked them in their rooms at night, that they were sometimes forbidden from using the bathroom, and were then made to clean themselves up when they inevitably soiled themselves. The teacher had been mildly concerned and had called child protective services, but had also warned Janet. After the social worker had come by to see that nothing was amiss - Janet was good at covering her tracks - Jade hadn't been able to sit for 2 days from the spanking she'd received. Janet usually didn't lay hands on her foster kids, but she figured Jade would learn better that way, just this once. Freaks didn't deserve any better.

The teacher had told Jade off for making up stories and had said that she ought to be grateful to JaneT. Jade had never spoken to that teacher again.

"The big hand is a little bit further than the 7, but not at the 8 yet," Felicia said, startling Jade from her memories.

"Thanks, Felicia," Jade said. The little girl came back to sit at her side.

"I'm hungry," she said. Jade fought back a glare, not wanting little Felicia to think she was mad at her. Janet hadn't been too happy at the warm welcome Jade had received, and even less so when Jade had defended the little ones. She'd locked them in the room without food.

"I'll go get you something," Jade whispered and felt her way over to the window.

"They're locked with padlocks, you can't get out that way," Lindsey said, clearly annoyed.

"I lived here before, remember?" Jade said, and proceeded to ignore the girl. "The padlock on this window is rusty, give it a few good pushes, and…" The locked jumped open. Jade grinned and pulled it off. "Just wait here for me and be quiet," she whispered, before shimmying out the small opening the window provided. She wouldn't let anyone else down.

A/N: Let me know what you guys think!