Paul's POV
I gripped the bat in my hand, it being the only weapon I could find. Percy was supposed to be gone; he'd been called on some errand to that mysterious camp. I'd urged Sally not to let him go on a school night, there was no way he would be back by morning but she'd shook her head "He has responsibilities he has to uphold."
More important than school, I'd thought to myself but bit my tong. Sally's approach to parenting was… odd to say the least but Percy was a good son, regardless of what the multiple school he'd been kicked out of said.
My heart hammered loudly against my ribcage, and I was almost sure whoever, or whatever was in Percy's room could hear it clear as day.
I stood beside the slightly ajar door, listening to the sound of scraping from inside. It was too big to be a bird, maybe a raccoon. As I was about to jump out and scare the thing from the room I heard a crash and a long list of swearing. "Seaweed Brain!" an exasperated voice said, it sounded like a girl "Be careful or you're going to wake them up!"
Robbers? They were ransacking Percy's room! I knew he had a small bundle of cash in the top drawer saved up from his shifts at the fish store and that crashing sound had probably been the lamp on his bedside table "My mom's fast asleep and Paul didn't spend the night tonight." Whispered someone who was definitely Percy. A series of the worst possible scenarios ran through my head, where had he been? What was he doing with this girl? Why were they sneaking around?
"I got it!" said a triumphant Percy as the sound of his search stopped.
"You got both baggies? Don't forget last time we were one short, Will almost shot Maple (tree nymph). The Council of Cloven Elders had a field day."
"I got them both. Now grab the extra bandages and let's go, I told them to wait in the alley. I still can't get the hang of that mist thing and we don't need a bunch of mortals going off and telling everyone they saw some beat up teenagers sitting in front of my house." Said Percy, I heard the sound of someone step out onto the fire escape.
"Come on Seaweed Brain." It was the girl's voice, as impatient as ever.
"Hold on a second Wise Girl!" He responded before I heard another set of feat on the metal ramp. It was now or never.
I held my breath and pushed open the door as quickly as possible. Percy was half way inside the apartment when Paul walked in. For a moment Percy stiffened and then he sighed "We've been caught." He said without breaking Paul's eye contact
"What do you mean 'we've been caught'? I thought you said-"
Percy was fully inside now, cutting her off as he leaned back out and grabbed several bundles from her arms before helping her over the window sill. She looked at me for a moment, the feeling of her eyes making me skin itch uncomfortably, before glaring at Percy "I told you Seaweed Brain." He only shrugged and rolled his eyes.
Percy was looking side long at Paul, glancing back at the girl, I couldn't be sure but they were sharing some type of unspoken conversation between them. Eventually the girl shook her head and pointed out the door "Let's go then."
I stood there shocked for a moment before swallowing the lump in my throat and making a decision. "Percy." He glanced at me sheepishly.
Before I could say anything he cut me off "Let's talk in the kitchen."
My mouth hung open for a second before I closed it and nodded. "Kitchen." I agreed.
As we walked down the short hallway I couldn't help but wish Sally was here; she'd had to jump on the last flight to Los Angeles for an impromptu meeting with a potential manager and asked me to stay the night so I could tell Percy where she'd gone when he came home. She would have been able to deal with this better then I could, after all, he was her son.
In the harsh kitchen lighting I could see them both in detail. The girl was taller than him by nearly an inch, she had long blonde hair that curled around her face, reminding me vaguely of a princess but the golden dust on her grimy clothes and congealing in the blood on her right arm ruined the picture. Percy was no better; his shirt ripped open on the shoulder revealing a long gash, not to mention the small scratches and bruises that were forming on their arms and legs.
"You both need to go to the hospital." I said, Percy's gash needed sterilization, the girl leaned slightly on him, keeping the wait off one of her ankles and they both looked like they could use a long, hot shower.
I reached for the phone but Percy beat me to it "No." he didn't snap but his tone was firm and compelling.
"You both need care immediately, you could have internal bleeding," I pointed to the still forming bruises "and those cute could get very infected."
Percy shook his head "No, we've got this."
I stared at him, then at the girl who was regarding me unwaveringly. Her eyes were a startling gray, something I hadn't noticed before but it made me want to look away. "If I don't take you to the hospital not only could you both be very hurt but your mother would kill me."
Percy shook his head again "Annabeth and I are fine, this is nothing, really Paul, we'll be fine after we take a shower."
"But your moth-" I began again weakly
"My mother is used to it, she knows were okay." He said, cutting me off. I stared at him for a moment before nodding and sitting down at the table, determined to at least watch as they dealt with their wounds just in case I had to dial 911.
The Annabeth girl looked at me searchingly one last time before standing, still favoring her left leg "I'll go get the others."
My eyes widened "Others?"
Percy nodded "Ya, a few of us from camp, we ran into some trouble while we were doing some-" he faltered "Work."
"Work?" I asked.
"Ya." His eyes wandered to the two plastic baggies of what looked to be fine, white powder
"Is that!?" I grabbed one and opened it, looking at the substance. With a look of fear Percy snatched it away from me. "What is that?" I asked him accusatorily
"It's something that you do not want to eat, somebody like you would just burn up." He closed the bag and placed it, and the other, in his back pocket gingerly.
"Someone like me?" I asked, what the hell was he talking about? What was that stuff? My brain was going on overdrive but I didn't have the chance to ask any question as Annabeth returned with two other people behind her.
They were all about Percy's age and they were all in just as bad, if not worse, shape as Annabeth and Percy. I made a move for the phone, meaning to get them all help but Percy shook his head. "Paul, these are some of my friends from camp; Annabeth Chase," he pointed to the gray eyed girl who was still looking at me like I was something to be solved "Charles Beckendorf," he pointed to the oldest looking out of all of them, he was tall, dark, his muscles were big and barely fit in his shirt and his hands were nearly twice as big as mine "and Will Solace." He was the shortest out of all of them, with blonde hair, a thin, yet muscular build and an oddly white smile "Guys, this is my stepdad, Paul." I was fixed with three stares that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
"Hey." Grinned Will, who stuck out a hand to shake mine. His skin was oddly warm to the touch and my fingers had both dried blood and golden dust on them when he pulled away but out of the three of them he seemed the least intimidating.
"Nice to meet you finally Paul, Percy's told me a lot about you." Smiled Annabeth
"Must be a lot of work being Percy's step dads what with all the attacks and-" he cut himself off at the look Percy was giving him.
"He doesn't know." Mouthed Annabeth. Didn't know what? What attacks? What was going on?
"Anywaysssss…"he said, getting up from the chair he had nearly dwarfed moments ago "Thanks for the place to clean up Perce; Chiron's been going on about how we shouldn't do so many night runs." I tuned out as they bantered back and forth, trying my best to comprehend what had happened tonight. I didn't miss the quiet exchanges in the corner as each one of the silently placed a few pinches of the white powder on their tongs before giving a sigh of relief and I didn't miss the quiet argument between Annabeth and Percy when they thought no one was noticing, the only thing I caught was "You have to tell him, it only puts him in danger not to know."
Finally, they all gave one last goodbye that I returned halfheartedly, save for Annabeth and Percy, who were still chatting at the table.
"Paul?" asked Percy, giving me his full attention for the first time in the last two hours.
"Hmmm?" I responded, hardly able to focus on anything but the weird events of tonight.
"Annabeth's going to stay here tonight before she goes back to camp in the morning; she needs to get some things for Chiron." He didn't really pose it as a question but I tried to argue none the less
"Both in you room?" I asked them, trying my best to seem imposing but neither seemed affected.
"Ya." They blushed and Percy rubbed the back of his head awkwardly
"I'll sleep on the floor of course." Said Annabeth.
I looked at them both for a second more before waving them away, listening bemusedly as they argued back and forth down the hall about who would get the floor and who would get the bed.
There was no use in trying to make heads or tails of what had happened tonight, I needed sleep, the coherence of daylight and Sally to even begin to sort through the mess that had unfolded itself in my stepsons kitchen. Whatever was going on, whatever it was I didn't know, at this point, I wasn't sure I wanted to.