Disclaimer:

I do not own the PJO characters.

I stared at Jazmin, my eyes burning. Everything around me grew dark and everyone turned pale. I walked towards her but she was unable to move. She fell to the ground and stared at me.

I turned to Jamie, "I told you this wasn't a good idea! You should have left me in the underworld!"

I tried to calm down but I couldn't, I didn't want to hurt anyone so I did the only natural thing, I ran. I don't know where I was going, I just needed to get away from here.

I ran and ran and ran, I ran until I couldn't run anymore. Even though my legs were tired and hurting, I kept on walking. I walked for what seemed like hours, until I recognized building in the distance. It was New York City, my old home.

I walked up and down the streets of New York with no destination. I finally came across a familiar small alleyway. It was the alleyway I had spent nearly a year in, the one beside Alex Greendale's place.

I walked in and looked around. I sank to the ground and began to cry. I was there for a while until I heard a woman's voice.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Um, Hello?" I responded.

The woman came closer and I could see her face. She was a beautiful woman with brown hair and blue eyes. She reminded me of someone, but I couldn't place a finger on it.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm just a bit stressed."

She crouched down beside me. "How about you come inside and out of this dirty smelly alleyway and you can tell me as much as you want. I also just made cookies if you want some."

"I, uh-," she stuck her hand out to help me up. I reluctantly took it. She seemed so familiar I couldn't help but go with her.

"You have such pretty eyes, you know that," She led me to a small apartment. As soon as I walked in, something caught my eyes. A steaming plate of blue cookies and a picture of Percy with Annabeth and Grover.

I gasped. "Y-your Sally Jackson," I stammered.

"Why yes my dear, do I know you from somewhere?"

"Uh, no, b-but I know Percy," I said pointing to the picture, "I, uh, also read Rick's books."

"Tell me, how do you know Percy?" she asked.

"I, uh, he's the one who brought me to camp."

"Yes, he has told me so much about you. Trish, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"That must be really difficult with that curse of yours," Sally stated.

I looked away. "It's okay, he didn't tell me what it was, he just said that it was extremely powerful," Sally reassured me.

"Oh."

"Here, where are my manners, take a seat, eat some cookies. Tell me something about yourself."

"Um," I took a blue cookie and started nibbling it, "well Hera is my mother, not my birth mom, but, uh, she kind of adopted me. Um, I have a baby sister, Coral, she's two. I mean she isn't my actual sister but she's Hera's only actual child and I've been taking care of her for almost a year now."

Sally stared at me like I was crazy, "You mean Hera has a child?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, tell me something else, why were you in that alleyway and why were you crying?"

"I, uh-,"

"Hey I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

I took a deep breath, "I ran away from camp. M-my curse, it has been taking me over. My curse has two parts, a good side," I lifted my hand up and made the cookies fly in a circle, they glowed yellow, "And a bad side." I raised my hand once more and it glowed black, everything around me began to darken and Sally's face turned pale. I sighed and put my hand down.

"I-if I get mad, even just a little bit, then the bad side tends to take over. A-and I keep hurting people, I don't want to hurt them." I sighed and shoved the rest of the cookie in my mouth.

"Well it's definitely different than most demigods," Sally said sitting down next to me.

"Oh, I'm not a demigod, I'm a mortal. I had a family b-before. I-I," I started crying again.

"Hey, what's your last name Trish?" Sally asked.

I was confused on why she would want to know, but I answered, "Uh, S-Sutton."

"Yes. I remember you. From the news. There was an explosion and everyone in the family was killed. But then how-," I cut her off.

"I-it wasn't an explosion," I said, "It was me. My curse took over a-and I couldn't stop it."

"I am so sorry Trish," Sally put her hand on my shoulder. I could feel her eyes on me but I refused to meet them.

"Well, you said that you read Rick's books, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Well, you know my husband, Paul?"

"Mm-hmm. And Estelle."

"Well, I'm pretty sure they should be home soon. Are you good at cooking?"

I perked up. "I-I love cooking."

"Okay, then how about you go to the bathroom and get yourself cleaned up? We can make lunch for when Paul and Estelle get home." Sally then led me to the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

I washed my face off and looked at myself in the mirror. I mean I've looked in a mirror before, but I really looked in the mirror. I hadn't noticed how much I had changed since the day of the incident. I had straight black hair, as black as coal. Before the incident it was short and shoulder length, now it fell halfway down my back. I found a scar on my cheek, but I didn't know where it came from. And most of all instead of my normal bright blue eyes, one was as black as my hair, and the other was golden.

I dried my face off and walked back out of the bathroom. "So," Sally said, "I found blue noodles at the store and I really want to try and make pasta. Oh wait, Estelle wanted chicken fingers today. I'll make pasta tomorrow."

I stared at her, she just found me in an alleyway and she's already treating me like family. "Do you know how to make chicken fingers? I have a few recipes, but I want to try something different."

"I, uh, yeah I know how to make them. I used to cook all the time for my family."

"Oh, nice. Well what are the ingredients so that I can see if I have everything or not."

"Um, if I remember, it's uh, chicken, flour, eggs, uh, breadcrumbs and cheese. I think."

"Oh nice. Nice and simple, I like that."

People say that smiles are contagious. And when Sally smiles, I couldn't help but smile myself. We spent about half an hour making chicken fingers, and it was probably one of the best half hours I've had in a long time.

Just as Sally and I put the chicken in the oven, the door burst open and a man yelled, "Hey Sally, what are you making? It smells delicious!"

"Mommy, did you make chicken fingers like you promised?" Estelle yelled.

"Yes, and I had help."

I watched as Paul and Estelle entered the kitchen. "And who may you be?" Paul asked.

"I, uh, I'm Trish Sutton," I said.

"Nice to meet you, Trish. I'm Paul Blofis," he stuck his hand out for me to take. Not wanting to be rude, I shook it.

"She helped me make lunch," Sally said excitedly.

"Sally, couldn't you tell me why she is here?" Paul said.

"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else," Sally said looking at Estelle who was staring through the glass window of the oven.

I watched as Sally and Paul walked into a different room.

"So," Estelle said, "are you a half-blood like my brother?"

"H-how did you know about that?"

"About how I know your half blood or about how I know my brother is one?"

"Um, both?"

"Well for one, you have a cloak on and none of us mortals wear cloaks. And Percy's my brother. Why wouldn't I know?"

"Well actually I am a mortal, but I, uh, was cursed."

"Hmm, interesting."

"You know, you don't act like a five-year-old," I laughed.

"Heh, Annabeth taught me everything I know."

"Sounds like Annabeth."

Her face lit up, "You know Annabeth?"

"Uh, yeah. I go to their camp."

"Wow. I've been trying to get mommy and daddy to take me there forever!"

Just then Sally and Paul walked back into the kitchen.

"What are you two talking about?" Sally asked as she scooped Estelle into her arms making Estelle laugh.

"We were talking about how Trish is a half blood but not really one," Estelle laughed.

"Interesting. Now lets see if these things are done so we can eat, I'm starving," Sally said as she put Estelle on the ground and bent down so she could see inside the oven.

"They look pretty good to me," Estelle squeaked.

"Well do you want to help mommy pull them out?" Sally asked her.

"Yeah!"

I stared at them and started thinking about my mother. Paul must have noticed my face because he walked up to me and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

"I, uh, yeah. I was just thinking about my mother," I explained.

"That must be hard being away from your parents for so long. If you don't mind me asking, but how long have you been away from them?"

"A little over a year now."

"Well I bet they miss you."

I looked down at my hands and started crying again.

I saw Sally give Paul a look. She then turned to Estelle and said, "Come on, let's go get ready for lunch."

"Hey, what's the matter?" Paul asked.

"Sorry, I know you d-didn't mean to say that because you don't know, b-but they're dead," I said in between sobs, "I-I killed them, I did this. And now I'm all alone. I miss them so much. And to make matters worse, I just ran away from camp which is where everyone who actually cares about me is."

I began crying even harder. Sally must have heard me because she came in the room and walked over to me.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Paul said, "And I'm sorry to bring that topic up, I didn't know."

"No nothing is going to be okay. I'm all alone, every immortal of revenge is after me, and I don't know what to do. Plus I'm freaking fifteen and I can't stop crying."

"Hey," Sally said, "It's okay to cry, no matter how old you are. Plus most people can't even imagine what you're going through right now, most people would be doing more than crying right now, so it's okay to cry. You've been through a lot."

That's when they both did something that surprised me. They hugged me, they barely knew me and they hugged me. For goodness sake Sally found me in an alleyway, and she was still hugging me! They made me feel like family, something I had not felt in a long time.

Just then Estelle came back into the room. "Hey! I want to be in the group hug too!" she ran over and gave us a hug; she was too small, so she just ended up hugging our knees. I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Well, I'm hungry so imma eat," Estelle said as she hurried over to the pan.

"Don't touch it, it's very hot!" Sally warned.

"I know!"

"So, are you okay now?" Paul said facing me and giving me a tissue.

"Uh, yeah," I responded, wiping my face, "Thank you though."

"Hmm, where are my oven mitts?" Sally wondered out loud.

"Here, I'll get it," I offered as I lifted my hand up, picking up the pan of chicken fingers.

"Woah!" Estelle said.

"Where do you want me to put these?" I asked Sally.

"Here, we'll take them to the dining room, and I can place down hot pads that you can place the pan on. Then we can just grab as many as we want."

"Sounds good."

We sat down for lunch, but it kind of felt awkward for me, because I felt like I was intruding, but the family didn't seem to mind. They all made me feel like I was part of their family even though they barely knew me. It was probably the best lunch I have ever had.

Thanks for reading! And if you guys didn't know already, I have a somewhat editor, Sydney. So say hi to her, and I hope you guys like this chapter. Also, I was thinking of starting to put little fun facts about space at the end, kind of like a daily fact thingy. So, if you think that's a good idea, say something in the reviews. Stay safe and watch out for solar flares.

-Lou Ellen and her trusty sidekick Sydney.