He could see for miles. Everything around him was level with the floor beneath his feet and stretched on into the horizon. The sky was a deep purple, bleeding into a solid black at the edges. A cool breeze blew across the plain, rustling the short grass hairs and pooling coolness across his skin. He felt so hot, like he was inside a warm oven and the wind was an ice cube dropped across him, only to evaporate as it felt his own body heat. Percy was completely at ease here, even with the almost overwhelming heat that was pooling in him, the soft ease of the gentle wind allowed enough escape that he felt comfortable. There was no sun, there was no moon, or stars or planets or anything above him. This was his safe place, a world of his own creation where he could escape the other bits and pieces of his life he didn't want to acknowledge.
"PERSEUS JACKSON!" The purple sky shattered with the booming voice, thousands of tiny sky particles floating down fast and hard. Above him, in the sky, was an empty void of pure black that sucked him in, pulling his body up and out of his safe space until he felt his mind settle back into his body. Opening his eyes, he sat up in his bed and looked at his fuming mother. Adopted, sure, but nothing could dispute the cold fury of a mother that was currently shining in his own's piercing blue eyes.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing? Shouldn't you be at your new school?" Obviously rhetorical, but he still felt a need to shoot back with his now famous sarcasm. "Just thought I'd stop by and get some of that good family disappointment, haven't gotten any while I was away at school." Percy rolled his eyes and slid out of bed, his twelve-year-old height only reaching his mother's shoulder. Grinding her teeth in an obvious attempt to get herself under control, she sat on his bed while he got changed into jeans and a blue t-shirt.
"We aren't disappointed, we're pissed off! Or I am, at least. You know how your mother gets when your home." She huffed, kicking at the muddy shoes on the floor. Great, now she had to worry about the gods damn carpet too.
"Mom's home right now? Thought she had a case you both were working on." Percy questioned, leaving his room to get some food from the kitchen. The apartment was rather spacious as apartments go, much more room than he had had as a kid. The kitchen was just down the hall from his room, open design with an island in the middle that operate as both counter and cabinet space. Soft sunlight entered the window that was two steps from the sink and right about the oven, just breaking past the windowsill.
"Po is at an early conference at the precinct, but she was here long enough to notice you. If not for her, I probably wouldn't have known you were even home." She held back a snicker at his soft utterance of a swear as he grabbed a bowl out of the cabinet. "Look, I'm not here for long, I'm just grabbing some breakfast and then meeting a friend, I'll be back at school before my first class starts." She rolled her eyes and was going to rebut when the door opened, revealing her partner and long-time girlfriend.
"Oh good, you're awake." Po said happily, hanging up her coat and coming to hug and kiss her lover. "Hi Po, what did the chief need?" She sighed, pointedly looking at Percy before moving into the kitchen herself. "The usual stuff. Crime rates, congratulations on recent captures, getting on my ass about this missing kid. Honestly, it's like I don't have enough crap on my plate, and he has to add useless anxiety to it as well?" She started the brewing of some very strong Italian coffee she got as a gift from some other detectives on her birthday last week, giving Percy a side-hug while she watched it drip.
"Honestly, fuck that guy. If he has a problem with how we work he can write it down on a nice, dry piece of paper, and shove it up his thinning-hair having, troubled, useless ass." While Percy was absolutely guffawing at the use of profanity, Po had turned around with a chiding glare. "Mia, what have I said about swearing in front of Percy. If you keep doing it, he's gonna develop a potty mouth of his own."
Mia rolled her eyes at the innocent look her son gave but said nothing, instead finally moving into the kitchen to hug her girlfriend from behind, kissing her neck. "Aw, I'm sorry babe. How can I make it up to you?" Percy made gagging noises, halting Mia's hands in their place. "I think that's my cue to leave, it was nice seeing you guys." As he headed to the door Po huffed and pouted, making him sigh and come back to hug them both goodbye.
"Love you moms." Po snuggled into his hug while Mia ruffled his hair, much to his displeasure. "Love you too kiddo."
"Make sure to call! And keep up in your classes! And tell Grover we said hi!" Po yelled after him while he through on his coat. He waved his assurance, before stepping out the door.
Po sighed, leaning against Mia softly. "That boy. I swear he gets more like you every day." Mia smirked, resuming her previous ministrations and kissing down her neck slowly. "You say that like it's a bad thing." Po sighed dreamily, turning in Mia's arms to kiss her deeply. Things for them were just heating up, and with half an hour until their shift started it ought to. Picking up Po, hands pressed to her ass, Mia carried her into the bedroom. Po giggled all the way; actually thankful Percy was in a hurry to leave this morning.
xXxXx
Percy hopped out of the taxi, giving over the money he owed and bidding the driver a good morning and farewell before beginning his trek down the sidewalk. He got to a little café before taking a seat in one of their tables, leaning back in the morning sun.
"Percy!" A voice shouted, well, more like bleated. His best friend, Grover Underwood, ran as best as he could with a set of crutches until he practically collapsed into the chair opposite of Percy.
"Hey man, you didn't have to put in that much effort." Percy laughed, patting his friend on the back while he sucked down breaths of oxygen. "If I wanted to make it in time for us to get to class on time, yeah, I did. Perce, if we miss another one of Miss Dodds classes I think she'll actually murder us." Percy shook his head and tried to wave down a waitress at the, surprisingly, busy breakfast joint. "You worry way too much about that shit man. Its just algebra, when will I ever need that in the real world?"
This argument was not one of a kind, in fact, this was probably the hundredth time they'd fought over school, grades, and the like. Grover was much more worried about passing the classes, while Percy was more into school for the experiences they brought on. Don't get him wrong though, Percy did care about his education, just not the useless garbage they spewed at his supposedly high-end private school, Yancy Academy. "Perce, if we don't pass, we'll have to repeat the course and I don't think I can take another year of Dodds." That, Percy could agree with. Miss Dodds was one scary mofo in his personal opinion, with her beady black eyes and leather jacket that did not suit the persona of an algebra schoolteacher.
"Fine, you win. Once I get my coffee we can get out of here." Grover sighed in relief, pulling an apple out of his bag to snack on while they waited. Finally, a waitress appeared with an award-winning fake smile plastered across her face. "What can I get you sirs?"
"Just a black coffee for me, please and thank you." Percy put on his most charming smile, hopefully easing this poor high schooler's nerves by a bit. She smiled, genuinely this time, and went off to make his order. Percy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, mind filling up with the calming sounds and smells of the city. He really felt at peace out here, on the street like he used to be before he…
"Hey uh, Perce? Maybe we should get going?" Grover bleated, quite literally too. Percy cracked open an eye to see what his friend was worried about now. "I told you G-man, once I get my coffee we can head out." What he saw, however, wasn't the worried best friend he had thought, but instead the terrified face of someone truly scared. "What's wrong?" Percy asked, sitting up from his laid-back position. Grover only pointed behind Percy's back, eyes wide and full of terror. Percy took a small, unassuming look behind his shoulder, and was soon also caught up in shock and terror.
The form of a man in a trench coat was looming in a nearby alley, but to those who could see through what most saw, the man was not as innocent as he tried to put out. A single eye sat in the center of his head, and it was pointed right at him and Grover. What was once terror was soon overcome with adrenaline and even a bit of excitement. "A cyclops!" Percy whispered when he turned back to Grover, face cracking into an awed smile. Grover glared, and with a huff he nodded, still staring at the monster with fearful eyes.
Percy could barely conceal his excitement. This was his first official monster since he learned about the world of myths and monsters that he lived in. Of course, he could see through the hobbling act that Grover put up, and of course he noticed the strange things that happened in the very city he lived in. Percy was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them. Maybe it was because he had two detectives for moms, but the boy was actually quite perceptive and intuitive.
He slowly pulled a flask out of his coat pocket, unscrewing the cap and letting the water float out and into his hand. Percy concentrated, pushing his will into the water to make it become more solid, slowly forming it into a spike of sorts, only seven inches long and fairly thin. With a nod to Grover, who looked like he might pass out, they both stood and walked towards the alley on the other side of the café, walking a short way down before turning back and getting in position. Grover stood at the back of the alley, back towards to entrance, and pretended to be looking through his bag.
As predicted, the cyclops lumbered to the entrance, grinning maliciously at the satyr. He walked forward carefully, surprisingly nimble for such a large creature. Just as he passed a small divot in the brick wall, Percy launched his attack. Jumping from the shadowed part of the wall, he stabbed his water spike into the monster's neck with as much strength as he could muster. The spike punctured its neck, making the cyclops howl in pain. He was quickly shut up with a strong punch to the nose. Grover quickly turned around and pulled his hand out of his backpack, revealing seeds. He threw them quickly down onto the ground beneath the behemoth's feet, pulling out a pan flute after and playing a jaunty, quick tune. The seeds erupted into foliage, roots wrapping around the best and dragging it to it's knees. The cyclops growled angrily, ripping at the plant life only to be stopped by Percy yanking the water spike out and stabbing it into the monster's chest, effectively piercing his heart and killing it, shown evident by the explosion of gold dust afterward.
Grover practically collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, soon joined by Percy who was panting. "That was…" Grover started, sucking down air like it was going out of style. "Epic? Amazing? Totally-super-awesome?" Percy supplied; wiping sweat off his forehead. They both chuckled softly before standing, heading out to the table they were sitting at. Percy picked up his now empty flask, pocketing it in his coat.
He picked up his coffee, ignoring the scrawled-on phone number, and took a long sip. "Aah, this truly is the nectar of the gods." He said happily, putting his arm around Grover as they walked on their way to school. If the morning was anything to go off of, today was going to be awesome.
xXxXx
And yet, a month later things were settling back into the boring routine they had been before.
Percy was practically falling asleep at his desk, only kept awake by the odd question sent his way or Grover kicking him when he started snoring. Truly if hell existed it would be an algebra class as boring as this. Miss Dodds was prattling on at the front of the class, her Southern drawl sinister in the echoey classroom. It was times like this when Percy thought about his heritage. That is to say, he would imagine what his father was doing at the moment.
Even with all the hints of water-bending or 'hydrokinesis' as Grover had dubbed it, there was too many options to pick from that could be his father. Grover had suggested maybe a minor water deity like Triton or Rhodes, or even a water spirit. When this was brought up, however, Percy always wondered why Grover never stated the obvious: Poseidon, God of the Seas. Percy didn't care for secrets, and he knew Grover was keeping things from him. He didn't fault the satyr for it, not after the courage it took to tell Percy about all the mythological world and even helping train him in his water abilities. Eventually Percy would call out the secrets being kept from him, but until then he would leave it be.
When the bell rung, Percy almost sprinted for the door, only to be stopped by the claw-like hand of his teacher. "Honey, I'm gonna need you to stay for a little bit after class." Percy huffed, rolling his eyes at Grover's wide-eyed look. "I'll catch up in a minute, G-man." He promised, shrugging his arm out of the death grip it had been held in. Grover nodded and left the room with one last glance at Dodds.
Once alone, Percy leaned against a desk with a sigh. "If this is about me not paying attention in class, I swear I am receiving everything you're saying. It's just filtered out through my other ear."
Miss Dodds chuckled lowly, the first sign that something wasn't right. "Sarcasm, a great weapon for you demi-brats." She snarled. Percy snapped to attention at that, eyes narrowing at the old lady. "What did you say?" Before he got his answer, however, Miss Dodds began to transform into what could only be described as a pest control nightmare.
Leathery bat wings grew out of her back, her clothes melted into brown, scar riddled skin, her beady black eyes burst into orange flames as fangs grew out of her mouth. "What the fuck!?" Percy screamed, backing up as quickly as he could without falling over. "Do you like my true form, Jackson?" Bat-Dodds cackled, stomping forward on clawed feet.
Without warning she lunged forward, swiping her razor-sharp talons across his chest. Percy fell onto his back in pain, blood bubbling out of the claw marks on his chest. He tried to move, to do anything, but all he could feel was hot, searing pain in his chest. It wouldn't matter anyway, because as soon as he moved his arm it was forced back down by Bat-Dodds
"And now, Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon, I will rend you limb from limb for my own amusement." She let out one last cackle, before swooping down with her mouth agape, fangs shining, bearing down right on his throat.