A week, that's how long Percy Jackson had been home and so far all I knew about the guy was that he went to summer camp, he was dyslexic and ADHD, he loved the blue cookies his mother made and he loved his mother most of all.
Parents were supposed to protect the kid, after all Percy was only 15 but as I watched the dynamic unfold between the two the more I saw that Percy protected Sally from everything he possibly could. It was sweet to see but in reality made no sense.
"Mom," Percy yawned. The blue light from the TV flickered eerily across his face, I still couldn't get over the fact that he looked so much like a normal teen. His hair always in his eyes, an unending appetite and if not for his eyes I might have forgotten the way he looked standing in the same blue TV light in the hallway, covered in blood and sometime of golden sand. But no, his eyes always brought me back. They were blue, a blue I'd never seen before; like the clearest green waters off the shore of some tropical island but that wasn't it either. They were dark underneath all that, like the water was drowning something sad and twisted.
"Mom," he gently shook her awake and for a moment the blackness went away, just like it always did when he looked at her. Sally blinked groggily. Percy was about to open his mouth to say something but he stopped dead when the TV women began to talk;
"Last month Mount St. Helens erupted causing Vancouver and a number of other surrounding areas to evacuate over a half million people. Authorities estimate a large amount of repairs. Members of the wildlife association have done their best to improve the condition of the surrounding habitats but are making little headway. Unfortunately the freak explosion hasn't just affected the wildlife; there have been many reports of lung damage and other injuries caused by the smoke and fire, this is just the beginning as more and more people have lost their homes. Thankfully no deaths have been reported yet, let's keep hoping!"
Sally didn't look bleary eye anymore, she was glancing from the TV back to her son he was staring at the screen half way between the standing and sitting. Percy glanced at me and for a moment I saw the blackness rear its ugly head, it eclipsed his retina; now the color of a stormy sea. It was gone as quickly as it came but it reminded me why I always saw the bloody child at the door instead of the loving one who always ate to many cookies. It wasn't that I didn't trust Percy, I did, but he was hiding something, they both were.