7. Explanation and Acceptance

Percy's pov

"Percy?!"

Sadie had a shocked and surprised look on her face. Her wand rolled towards Percy's bed from where she dropped it. He stifled a laugh at her face. The other boy beside her was just looking plain confused. Percy remembered that he was the one who had found him after fighting the chimera. He must have been a magician.

Percy picked up a glass of water from the counter beside him and drank it all. He felt a lot more refreshed and energetic. He climbed out of the bed, stood beside it, and gave a mock bow to the boy. "Hello. Thanks for bringing me here. I am Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you." Percy held out his hand.

The boy slowly raised his hand shook his. His grip was strong yet gentle. "My name is Walt Stone. I'm thinking you already know Sadie." He motioned towards her frozen state and gripped her hand. She came out of her shock with a red tint in her cheeks. The way they stood so close to each other made Percy think they were a couple or at least working towards it.

Sadie cleared her throat. "What are you doing here? Don't you live in New York? And what about Annabeth?" She fired off questions but at the mention of Annabeth, he tensed and shifted uncomfortably.

He changed the subject quickly. "Where's Carter? He should be here for my explanation."

If Sadie or Walt noticed the subject change, they didn't mention it. Sadie nodded in agreement. "He said he'll be here tomorrow. For now, you can sleep here for the rest of the night."

She looked at Walt and they seemed to have a silent conversation. They both said their goodbyes to Percy and left the room.

Percy took some time to look around the room. It was like a typical infirmary, with white walls, a white ceiling, and a few counters with some equipment on them. Normally, he would've hated being in here but it is so much better to have a roof on your head after so long. He'll take anything.

He then changed into his pyjamas with Aphrodite's gift but kept the cloak on so it could mask his presence from monsters and other deities. He couldn't risk anyone finding him here after all.

After he was done, Percy laid down in bed wishing for a peaceful sleep. But a demigod's sleep is rarely ever peaceful. and this was not one of those times.

-Dream-

Percy was in a kid's bedroom. A little girl at the age of seven or eight was in her bed with whom he suspected was her mother sitting at the edge. They were talking in soft tones yet he could hear them clearly. The little girl had straight soft brown hair like her mother. He couldn't see either of their faces clearly. The girl giggled at something her mother had said.

Then the atmosphere in the room got more solemn when she asked," Mommy, where is daddy? Why isn't he here like all of my other friends' daddy are? " It was heart-breaking when her eyes started to tear up. Percy felt fiercely protective of the little girl even if he doesn't know who she is. He wanted to make sure she didn't cry.

Her mother wiped the girl's tears and softly said," He can't be here ladli. He is at his home in the sea. One day, I promise you will meet him."

The dream changed.

Now he was in a backyard, a cyclops was looking straight at him. He tried to remove his sword but he couldn't move his body. The cyclops moved towards the two-storeyed house. "I can smell a half-blood. SO hungry," he wailed.

A woman then came outside. He wanted to warn her about the cyclopes but he knew he couldn't. This was only a dream of probably the past. Whose past? He didn't know yet. When he looked closer, he realized that this woman was the little girl's mother. The cyclops then charged at her. Before he knew, the woman had drawn a sword and battling the cyclopes. She feinted left and struck her sword into his chest and he dissolved into gold dust.

He saw that she had multiple cuts on her and was panting hard as if out of shape. She sheathed her sword.

"MOM" A loud startled voice called.

A ten-year-old girl ran to the woman and threw her arms around her and inspected the woman's cuts. The woman kissed the girl's cheek and said," Ari what are you doing out here? I told you to stay inside. There could've been more danger and I am letting one of them hurt you."

Ari cocked her head to the side. "But you were hurt. Mom, you should teach me to fight. Then I won't get hurt."

The mother smiled sadly, "Maybe when you get older but not now. I am going to go clean my cuts ok?" She let go of Ari and walked towards the house, only slightly limping.

Then Ari turned her head and looked straight at me. Her face was beautiful, she looked to be an Asian but her eyes were absolutely mesmerizing. A shade of sea-green he saw every time he looked at his reflection but without the pain and misery. Percy stood there shell-shocked. Then he heard a loud 'BANG'. And the dream dissolved into darkness.

-Dream end-

He woke up lightly sweating. That girl was so familiar yet he was sure he had never met her. Those eyes though, could it be? Their hair is different but the eyes are so similar. It can't be a coincidence, can it?

Another 'BANG' snapped him back to reality. Percy decided to think about the dream later and deal with the problems going on right now. Percy quickly got ready. All he had to do was wave his hand to transform his clothes into new ones. It didn't take much time. He raced to where the sound was coming from.

He expected to find them in the middle of an attack or maybe the gods had found him or Sadie had told Annabeth about him being here. But what he did not expect was Carter getting crushed in a game of basketball against a baboon and Sadie cackling evilly at her brother's expense.

When Sadie noticed him standing by the door taking in the scene in front of him, she waved and smiled brightly at him. "Hey, Percy. Good to see you're awake." She then turned to Carter who had noticed him after she greeted him. "Carter stop fooling around. You are losing horribly. Let's go to the veranda to hear Percy's story. Most of the trainees should be done with their breakfast now." She then proceeded to drag Carter towards him. He was muttering something like," Khufu asked me to and I wasn't completely losing."

"Hey, Carter. Long-time no see, man." We, bro-hugged and walked together with Sadie leading the way and the baboon tailing us. "Hey, Percy. That's true with me doing the Pharaoh duties at the House of Life and you in New York. It's hard to stay in touch."

Percy nodded in understanding. "What's with the baboon?"

"Oh him? His name is Khufu. He stays here along with Philip of Macedonia."

Percy's face was comical, "Philip of Macedonia?" "Yeah, he is a crocodile. He stays here too," Sadie chimed in. They chuckled at his expression.

They got to the veranda and Sadie turned towards him told him to grab whatever he wants to eat from the buffet and they'll talk. He got a plate of waffles which unfortunately were not blue and poured tons of syrup on it. He got a seat on the table across from Sadie and Walt and Carter sitting beside him.

They all ate in silence until Walt spoke up. " So, is anyone going to tell me how you all know each other?"

The other three looked at each other and Sadie sighed. "Okay, so you know how there are Egyptian gods still existing, well, the Greek and Roman gods are too."

"There are Norse gods as well," Percy interrupted. When they all turned to look at him, he shrugged, "I know because I met Ann-Magnus Chase who is Norse."

Sadie continued after processing this information," The monster Percy was fighting was a Greek monster and Carter and I met Percy and Annabeth when we joined forces to stop Setne from becoming an Egyptian and Greek god sometime last year. We agreed to tell anyone else then but Percy showed up here yesterday." She glared at the said demigod but he seemed to be fiddling with his pen.

Carter nudged him with his elbow. Percy blinked a few times into reality. "Uh, did you say something?"

"You said you were going to tell us what happened."

Percy nodded slowly and delved into what happened at camp. "Well, it started when Xavier...

... so, I was wondering if you could give me a place to stay here for a while. You don't have to tell anyone about the Greeks since I have been the eye of Nekhbet once."

They were quiet for some time. Then Carter spoke up, "I can't believe that they betrayed you after everything you helped them with."

Walt and Sadie agreed," Yeah. You can stay here for as long as you like."

Percy felt relieved, they believed him and he had a place to stay for a while. "But please, if Annabeth contacts any of you, please don't act any different or tell anyone I am here," he begged.

They all agreed to that request. They all joked and talked about their adventures all day.