Percy scowled and twisted his fingers around the tangle jr., just to give his fingers something to do. He had come to like Camp Half-Blood decently enough, but now it felt more like a prison than a summer camp. He really wanted to go home to his mom, even if it was just for a visit, but Chiron wouldn't let him leave. Percy wasn't even allowed to borrow a phone to call her.
Percy tried really hard to understand where Chiron was coming from. Phones acted like a beacon for monsters, basically broadcasting the location of any demigods. The thing was, powerful demigods were a bit of a mini beacon even by themselves, but especially when they were in a group. Monsters had to sense that there were a lot of demigods gathered in this valley, but they couldn't get through the barrier that kept them safe.
Percy didn't understand how using a phone could make things worse, but Chiron was insistent, and Percy had seen this kind of attitude from his teachers at school. They had rules, and whether Percy understood them or not, he was expected to obey. Percy didn't want to, but he also didn't want to get kicked out, so he reluctantly did as he was told.
Fortunately, Chiron wasn't completely ruthless. He gave Percy several golden drachmas and told him that he could Iris message his mom. Percy would much rather see her in person, but he would take what he could get.
Grover brought Percy to a small but powerful waterfall in the woods. Not only was there a small amount of mist for him to use to send the message, but he would also be able to have a decent amount of privacy. He would have Grover there for emotional support, but there wouldn't be any other campers to silently, or vocally, judge him.
Percy sat down on a rock right at the edge of the water. He kicked off his shoes and soaked his feet in the river. It felt great. Percy pulled the drachmas out of his pocket and set them on the rock next to him. Percy picked up one of the coins and eyed it slightly dubiously. He'd never done this before, but Grover assured him it would work, and Percy was willing to try anything to talk to his mom.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Percy repeated the words that Grover told him to say. He tossed the coin into the mist. "Show me Sally Jackson."
For a moment Percy was terrified that nothing would happen, but then the mist thickened and twisted until Percy could see the image of his mom. She was in the kitchen. She looked stressed and far more tired than he could remember her being, or maybe she always looked this tired and this was just the first time he bothered to notice it.
Percy was worried about his mom, but he was far more relieved to see her. He thought he'd lost her.
"Mom!" Percy cried out. He felt like he was seven years old and coming home from his first boarding school, his first time away from his mom. He saw his mom jump in surprise. She stared at him in silence for a moment before she gave him a strained but sincere smile.
"Percy." His mom looked like she wanted nothing more than to hug him, and Percy wanted the same thing. He needed to be held by his mom and hear her reassurances that everything would be okay. This was the best he could get though, and he was going to enjoy it as much as he could. "How are you? How's camp?"
"I'm fine." Percy said with a shake of his head. He didn't want to talk about himself. He wasn't the one who had been dragged into the underworld by a vengeful god. "What about you? I thought…" Percy swallowed thickly as he felt his throat tighten. "I thought you were gone."
His mom gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "I know, Percy, I know. I'm sorry for scaring you."
"It's not your fault." Percy said bitterly. His mom was the last person he blamed for what had happened. "Sorry for not calling earlier. I had no idea you were back."
"It's okay." His mom said. "You didn't tell me how camp was. Are you having fun? Are you safe?"
Percy still didn't know how he felt about camp, and he didn't want his mom to worry about him hating a place that was supposed to be a safe space for him. Despite this, Percy found himself telling his mom everything about his quest, and Luke, and how camp had been since then. He couldn't help himself. He was always able to talk to his mom about how he was feeling. She never judged him, even if he maybe deserved to be judged.
Percy talked for so long that he had to use a couple more of the golden drachmas to give himself more time. His mom listened patiently and attentively. Percy could have talked to her for several hours, but then he heard Smelly Gabe in the background. Percy's first reaction was anger, as it frequently was when he heard his step-dad's voice. But then Percy looked at his mom's exhaustion and small flinch when she heard Gabe.
She was afraid, and tired, and looked so much like Luke. Percy was still mad about what the older boy had done to him, and he would probably be angry for a long time, but he was slowly starting to forgive him. Luke had messed up, and he'd been helping Kronos, but he'd also been hurt by the titan for two years. He's been abused by him, and it had worn him down.
Now here Percy was looking at his mom, and he was terrified of that same look in her eyes. Luke had been abused by Kronos, and Percy was starting to think that his mom had been abused by Gabe. He didn't know whether that abuse was emotional, financial, neglectful, or, gods forbid, physical, but he didn't think it really mattered. Regardless of how his mom was being hurt, she was still being abused, and that wasn't okay.
"Mom, can you do something for me?" Percy asked quietly.
"Of course." His mom said, and it almost hurt him to hear just how quick she was to agree. She didn't even know what he wanted.
"Leave Gabe." Percy said. It was far from the first time he had asked for this exact thing, but this time he wasn't going to back down. He wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Percy, we've talked about this." His mom said tiredly.
"I know, but my mind hasn't changed." Percy said. "You give everything you have, and I mean everything, to this relationship, and you get nothing out of it."
"That's not quite true." Grover piped up. Percy turned to look at his friend. He had almost forgotten he was there. Grover gave him a sheepish look. "Monsters are attracted to the smell of demigods, but being around mortals can confuse the smell, especially mortals like Gabe. He's, like, the most mortal smelling mortal I've ever had the displeasure of smelling. I'm serious, that guy stinks."
"Grover," Percy's mom had a warning tone in her voice. She clearly didn't want him to keep talking, which just made Percy want to understand more. He didn't like where this was going, but he couldn't just ignore it.
"Sorry, Sally, but he deserves to know." Grover said. He looked at Percy. "Whenever you were anywhere near Gabe, he completely masked your smell. It's why you were never really bothered during the summer. Monsters only went after you at camp.
Percy felt furious and absolutely sick to his stomach. His mom had been with Gabe for his sake. She had been trying to protect him from monsters, and her sacrifice hadn't really been for anything. Percy ended up spending most of his time at boarding school, away from any protection that Gabe's masking scent might have given him.
It hurt, and it was infuriating, and Percy couldn't let it go on like this. He needed his mom to be safe, and now that he knew why his mom had stayed with Gabe he had a better idea of how he could convince her to finally put an end to it.
"I've gotten really good at protecting myself." Percy said. "It's why I came to camp in the first place. I don't need that protection from Gabe anymore." Percy was reluctant to call it protection, but he didn't want to upset his mom. He needed to reason with her, which meant he needed to be calm and in control. He wasn't just an emotional child throwing a tantrum. He was a concerned son who genuinely wanted the best for his mother.
Percy could see his mom waver. He thought he was wearing her down. Percy had just one more ace to play. "I don't like you with Gabe. If you don't leave him, I'm leaving camp to help protect you from him."
"Percy, you can't." His mom said desperately. Grover was looking at him in alarm too. "You're safe at camp."
"Exactly." Percy said. "If I'm safe here, I don't need Gabe's protection, so you don't have any reason to stay with him. You can leave."
His mom sighed. "I'll think about it, Percy." She looked even more tired than before, but there was a new look in her eyes that Percy wasn't used to seeing from her. He saw hope and just the smallest hint of defiance. He knew in that moment that she was going to be okay. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.
"I just want you to be okay." Percy said. "I love you so much."
"His mom smiled at him. "I love you too."
"Sally!" Gabe shouted from the other room. Percy scowled and Grover flinched. Even Percy's mom cringed, looking a little annoyed.
"I need to go." Percy's mom said. "Try to keep in touch."
"I will." Percy promised. Wild pegasi couldn't drag him away from his mom now. "Bye, Mom." She smiled at him as she turned away to see what Gabe wanted. Percy took a deep breath and waved his hand through the mist, ending the message.
Grover put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"No." Percy said. "But I'm doing better." He was one step closer to feeling like he could handle his own life. He wasn't quite there yet, but any amount of progress was better than nothing. Percy pulled his feet out of the water and finally stood up. He stretched. "Let's see if we can find some food."
Percy wasn't actually hungry, but he wasn't not hungry, and he wanted to do something to just get his mind off of everything. Food was one of his default ways of dealing with stress, and he knew that Grover was the same.
As they made their way back to camp Percy's initial plan was to head straight to the pavilion, but then he saw the first aid building and remembered Nico and Bianca. He had just ditched her, and he felt bad that the kid had gotten hurt. Percy had sat with Nico and tried to keep him calm before he'd gone to get his cut taken care of, but he felt like he needed to check on the kid, just to make sure he was okay.
Percy made his way to first aid. He knocked on the door even as he let himself in. "Hey, Nico, you still in here?"
"Percy?" Nico was sitting on the bed, talking to another kid about his age. Percy recognized him from the Apollo cabin, but his name was completely escaping him.
"Hey, kid." Percy sat on the bed next to Nico. The cut on his head was looking a lot better. Percy was sure the only reason he was still there was so he could be supervised. Ambrosia usually healed things up really well, but the cut had been pretty bad.
Besides, Percy was sure that the others weren't in much of a hurry to let Nico anywhere near swords so soon after the incident.
"Where's Bianca?" Percy asked. Nico frowned ever so slightly, though Percy didn't know what was bothering him.
"Connor dragged her off to play with swords." Nico said. He was quiet for a long moment. He seemed to have a lot on his mind. "Is it important for demigods to be friends with each other?"
"Uh, I guess so." Percy said. "I mean, maybe not friends, but trust can help people work together better, and friends are more likely to trust each other."
Nico deflated. "I'm not very good at making friends." Percy felt bad about it, but he kinda understood why. Nico was a fun enough kid, and Percy liked him well enough, but Nico could be really intense sometimes. He was passionate about things that he liked, and he didn't quite understand that other people weren't as passionate about what he cared about.
Percy didn't always understand what Nico talked about, and it could be annoying sometimes, but he had a soft spot for the kid. Nico was barely nine years old, way too young to have to deal with all this god stuff. Percy may not understand Mythomagic, but he was more than happy to listen to him.
"Well, I'm your friend." Percy said. Nico stared at him like he had just suddenly started speaking another language.
"We're...friends?" Nico asked, sounding so young. Percy wouldn't say that Nico was his best friend, far from it, but after seeing the kid looking at him like that he wasn't going to take back his words. He didn't want to let the kid down.
"Yeah, we're friends." Percy held his fist out. Nico stared at him in awe for a long moment before he grinned and returned the fist bump. "So, how long are you stuck in here?"
"Bianca's coming back before dinner." Nico said. Percy frowned.
"That's still several hours away." Percy wondered if it was normal at camp to leave two kids, one of them just recently hurt, completely unsupervised for so long. If Percy was in their position, he would quickly get bored and find himself in trouble. If the kids were going to be left alone Percy thought that the least he could do was provide them with a distraction or a way to amuse themselves.
"Hey, Nico, that mythical mage game of yours-" Percy started.
"Mythomagic." Nico corrected.
"Yeah, that." Percy said, though he knew that he wasn't going to remember the name. "It has elements from greek mythology, right?" Nico nodded. "You know so much about the game, so I'm guessing you've picked up a thing or two about real Greek mythology."
"Yeah, a bit." Nico said. "Bianca wouldn't let me learn a lot though. She said it was too grown-up."
Percy considered the darker themes and more mature themes in the Greek legends. He was sure that his mom wouldn't approve of many of the things that he'd been casually told, but this was his life now. He couldn't just have his whole life be censored just because he was a kid. Percy needed to be ready for what was out there, and so did Nico.
"Well, who's your favorite hero?" Percy asked. He'd go from there.
"Uh, I don't know." Nico said with a small frown. "I mostly know about the gods."
The other boy sitting next to Nico brightened. "Oh, I have one."
Nico relaxed and gave the other boy a small smile. "Who's your favorite hero, Will?"
"Patroclus." Will said. "He's really loyal and brave."
"Uh, I'm not familiar with that guy." Percy said. The name didn't even sound remotely familiar.
"He liked Achilles." Will said. "He was really important during the Trojan War."
"I guess I need to brush up on my Trojan War knowledge." Percy pulled up a chair. He knew the basic story, but the details evaded him. "Why don't you tell us about Patrol?"
"Patroclus." Will said. "He and Achilles grew up together." The kid started to tell the story of the Trojan War in a way that Percy had never heard it before. Will seemed to be putting the actual war in the background of his story. His main focus was the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles. They definitely sounded like good friends.
Even though Will didn't talk much about the exciting stuff, like the war and the battles, Percy kinda liked his version of the story. Sure, it made Achilles feel less like an amazing, all-powerful warrior, but it made him seem a lot more relatable and human. It was easier for Percy to imagine Achilles as a real guy rather than just some hero in a story.
Every once and awhile Nico would interrupt Will's story with some interesting information about the gods, or the culture of ancient Greece. For the most part when Nico said something Will would nod and then just go right back to his story. He listened to Nico's contributions, but was more interested in his own story. However, when Nico mentioned something about Achilles being something called an eromenos he got Will's complete attention.
"Yes!" Will said. "That's what my dad said."
"You dad...you've talked to Apollo?" Percy was shocked.
"Yeah, the night before I came to camp." Will said. "He gave me this." Will grabbed a necklace cord from around his neck and pulled on it to bring an amulet up that had been tucked under his shirt. It had a golden sun symbol on it. "He's also the one who told me the story of Patroclus and Achilles, though I don't think he liked them very much."
"Okay, but what's an eromenos?" Percy asked.
Nico and Will looked at each other, sharing a confused glance.
"I think it means Achilles was younger than Patroclus." Nico said, though he didn't sound confident.
"My dad said I would understand when I was older." Will pouted. "He also said that he's always the eromenos."
Percy still didn't understand it, though he was comforted with the fact that the others didn't seem to get it either. Percy didn't like not knowing things, but at least he wasn't the only one in the dark.
"Can I see the necklace?" Nico asked, even as he reached for it. Will nodded and took it off. He leaned closer to Nico and slipped it around his neck. Percy didn't think that was quite what Nico had in mind, but the boy wasn't complaining. He just looked at the sun amulet.
"It's so bright." Nico muttered, and he wasn't wrong. No matter which way the necklace was tilted it seemed to catch the light just right and glare blindingly. Percy thought he knew why Nico kept his necklace under his shirt.
"It suits you." Will said. Nico frowned and rubbed the necklace thoughtfully. After a long moment he shook his head and took it off. He handed it back to Will.
"I don't think so." Nico said. "It looks better on you."
Will glared at Nico, like he was mad at him, though Percy had no idea what he was upset about. "Well, I think it looks good on you." Will put his necklace back on and crossed his arms. "You'll see."
Nico looked somewhat amused that Will was nearly threatening him to like a necklace. "I don't think so, but I can't wait to see you try to prove it to me."
"Challenge accepted." Will said. He held out his hand. Nico stared at it for a long moment before he grinned and took it. The two of them shook on their apparent deal that they had made. Percy had no idea what had just happened.
Nico's stomach grumbled audibly. His face went red. He ducked his head and wrapped his arms around his stomach. Percy smirked slightly.
"Hungry?" Percy asked. Nico nodded. "Have you had lunch?" the kid shook his head.
"I'm hungry too." Will got up. "I'll go find something. Will you stay with him?" Will looked at Percy.
"Hey, I'm not going anywhere." Percy said.
Nico's eyes widened in alarm as Will started walking towards the door. "Will you come back?"
Will grinned. "Yeah, I mean, I have to continue my story, don't I?"
Nico relaxed and looked incredibly relieved. "Yeah."
"I'll be back soon," Will said. "You like sandwiches?" Nico nodded. "I'll bring back some." Will left without another word. Nico stared at the doorway for a long moment. His face was still red. Eventually Nico nodded.
"...Okay." Nico said quietly.
"Hey, you okay?" Percy asked. Nico seemed distracted. Maybe his head injury was worse than they thought. When Percy put a hand on Nico's shoulder the kid jumped and looked at him in alarm. "What's going on?"
"I...I don't know." Nico said with a confused frown. He thought for a long moment before he sighed and looked at the ground. "I've got a lot on my mind, I guess."
Percy nodded. He knew the feeling. The kid needed a distraction. Percy said the first thing that came to his mind. "Hey, your accent, it's Italian, right?"
Nico gave Percy a cautious look. He seemed to be looking for something. When he didn't see it he relaxed. "Yeah."
"Why doesn't Bianca have one?" Percy asked.
"I don't think she likes it." Nico shrugged. "She doesn't like to stand out."
"Who says you stand out?" Percy asked. "There are tons of Italians in New York." It was how Percy had recognized the accent in the first place, though Nico's somehow sounded different than the ones that he was used to.
"There are?" Nico said.
"Kid, you have no idea." Percy shook his head. "I swear, you're not alone here." Nico looked shocked at the very idea, and that didn't sit right with Percy. "Tell you what, when camp's over I'll get Luke to take us to Little Italy. I'll show you around."
Nico gave him a small but sincere smile. "I'd like that."
A/N: My favorite part of this chapter is definitely Nico and Will obliviously talking about Achilles being an eromenos without fully understanding what that means. They're so innocent.