This revelation was shocking enough to make Alessia gasp aloud, and the two people's voices stopped. After a few moments, her mother's voice came. "It's alright, Alessia, you can come out." Alessia hesitantly scooted into the cabin's small dining room. Her mother was there, a few streaks of dried tears on her face. The black-haired man remained turned around.
"What's going on?" She asked, then directed her voice towards the stranger, "And who are you?"
The figure turned around slowly. "That hurts, A, really." Alessia stared into the eyes of the man she had seen the other day, when Mrs. Dodds had turned into that bat... a Fury? He was the one who had saved her life! And... he had just called her by the nickname that Percy had given her over the multiple months she had been at Yancy.
"Percy...?" She muttered. It definitely looked like him, if he was a couple years older. Practically a splitting image.
"Bingo," Percy winked. "I was just talking with your mom, here. I can't believe you didn't tell her about Alecto yet. Probably thought you were going crazy, didn't you?"
"I... What? What the hell is happening?" Was this a fever dream? Had she really woken up from the last one? She blinked rapidly, and then pinched herself. Neither of these dispelled the image in front of her, so she was left with no choice but to accept it wasn't a dream.
"Alessia," Percy- Perseus?- spoke firmly. "You are a demigoddess. Half-human, half-god. Your father, not Gabriel, your real father, is a Greek God."
"I... see." Alessia processed what had been said for a few solid moments, slowly opening her mouth... "I'm on drugs. I am totally high right now. That is literally the only explanation."
Percy facepalmed. "I... You know what? Let me just show you. Watch. Hands are empty." He held his arms out, palms open, facing toward her. He snapped. Suddenly, a yellow-wrapped burger appeared in his hand. "Double-quarter pounder."
"Congrats, you're a magician." Alessia rolled her eyes. "Going to pull a quarter out from behind my ear next?"
The man sighed. "I'm not a magician. I am Perseus, the God of Currents, Loyalty, Combat, and Heroes."
"Right..." Alessia muttered. "And, so, the great god Perseus spent eight months in a random high school in New York for no reason?"
Perseus leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. "Not for no reason. I spent eight months in a crappy New York high school to watch over you." Suddenly, his head whipped towards the door. "The Protector approaches." He turned back to Alessia. "Say 'Hi' to G-Man for me, will ya?"
With a brief flash that forced Alessia to close her eyes, the man disappeared from the room. Outside, thunder boomed out, and was quickly followed by a knock on the door. Almost fearful, Alessia stepped towards the door, throwing it open. Grover Underwood, complete with the crutches, stood there, looking almost crazed. "Alessia, Mrs. Mason, we have to go... now."
"You're probably not going to believe what I'm about to tell you," Grover started, "but-"
Alessia interrupted him. "Let me guess, Greek Gods are real, I'm the daughter of one of those gods, and you're something called a protector?" She rattled off, surprising Grover. "And let me guess, you were at Yancy to watch over me?"
"Yes, yes, yes, well, a satyr, actually, and yes... Did I miss something?"
Alessia groaned and slumped back against the seat of the car. "Just a bit... What are we running from, anyway?"
Grover opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a loud roar. "...That," he muttered awkwardly.
Alessia thought for a moment. "Wait, mom, did you know about this?" Her mother, who had been driving silently up until that point, shifted awkwardly.
"Well... yes," She spoke, keeping her eyes on the road as rain pounded the windshield. "Our world and the godly world are separated by a veil called the Mist. I can see through that veil. It's one of the reasons that I attracted your father."
"And you never thought to tell me?" Alessia spoke, her volume raising. It might've been her imagination, but it seemed that the strength of the storm outside seemed to increase in order to match her temper.
"The scent you give off naturally is increased once you know about your heritage, it's why I married Gabe, and..." Alessia was unable to hear the rest of the sentence as lightning struck, and the following thunder came nearly instantly.
"We're in the center of the storm," Grover moaned, "This is not good. I knew I should've come sooner." He was chewing on his beanie nervously.
"Wait, you married Gabe to cover up my scent?" Alessia asked.
Lillian tilted her head and started to respond, "Well, I-"
"Mrs. Mason, look out!" Grover yelled, pointing forward. In front of them, a figure was standing in the center of the road. It was too dark to see properly, but... Alessia could've sworn that in the middle of the dark visage's head... she had seen a toothy smile. Lillian jerked the steering wheel to the side to avoid the man, and the car skidding off the side of the road, running face-first into a tree. The windshield instantly shattered, and they were all sent forward, luckily being saved by their seatbelts.
A few sputters of the engine, followed by all of the lights in the car turning off, told them the machine would not be going anywhere any time soon. They quickly unbuckled, and Grover instantly made a beeline for a break in the trees that was emitting some sort of light. "The Camp, we're close!" He shouted.
"What camp?" Alessia shouted back, struggling to be heard over the storm.
Alessia's mother responded. "Camp Half-Blood. It's a safe-haven for demigods like you."
'They really couldn't have thought of a better name than a racial slur?' She thought. Aloud, instead, she said, "Well, why haven't I been there, then?" Lillian fell silent.
Another roar erupted from behind them. "Is that... a pig?" She looked at the silhouette. Indeed, it looked like a large pig.
"A boar. And not just any boar..." The figure started to become larger. "A very bloodthirsty one!" Grover yelped. Suddenly, he had a realization. "Hades, why do I even need these things?" He kicked off his shoes and tossed aside his crutches and began to run faster.
"What the hell...?" Alessia wondered. "Was anything real? What's next? Nancy was a magic dummy created to elicit reactions?" In any other circumstance, she would've laughed at her own joke, but running from a murderous pig was a pretty unique scenario.
The boar was getting closer, and it soon became apparent that there was no way they were going to make it to whatever was emitting the light. But... they ran anyway. They made it to the base of the clearing when the boar caught up to them. Now, they had no escape, and were defenseless. Suddenly, Lillian stopped running. "Go, Alessia, keep running. Make it past the tree and you'll be safe!"
"There are hundreds of trees- Wait, Mom, what are you doing?" Alessia skidded to a stop in the mud, lightning flashing around them.
Lillian smiled at her daughter. "Saving your life. Go, don't stop run-" All of the sudden, she was interrupted as the monster ran into her, sending her flying nearly twenty feet away. In an instant, it was on top of her mother, pressing a leg down on her chest. Alessia could do nothing but watch in horror as she climbed to the top of the hill as her mother starting glowing golden and, suddenly, disappeared.
For a second, the world stopped. The rain, the exhaustion, everything.
Then, the anger came. Alessia didn't know how she knew what to do, she just acted. She thrust her arms forward and, before her very eyes, the rain took the shape of two ginormous hands that began to match the actions of her own. Everything else was deafened by the wind whipping around her as she grabbed the boar, who suddenly didn't look so threatening, and ripped him apart. Instead of blood and guts, the beast dissipated into golden dust that was quickly swept up by the storm.
The water hands fell from her grip and splashed into the ground, and Alessia fell to her knees, her shot of adrenaline quickly fading. Her vision and hearing started to blur, but she felt a force on her collar dragging her, making it over the top of the hill and catching a glimpse of an old farmhouse before everything went black.