6:55 am, Thursday, November 10th, 2010

Percy walked into the kitchen that morning stretching and yawing.

Annabeth was already dressed and was perched on the countertop, talking to Sally while she made pancakes. Percy gave her a peck on the lips before leaning against the countertop.

"Annabeth was just telling me about her idea," his mother said gently. Percy tensed, still somewhat unsure about the idea.

"Oh yeah?" he said, trying to swallow down his unease, and force nonchalance.

Sally smiled at him, "I think its a great idea, honey. It could really help you."

"I know, I know," Percy said running his hand through his hair, "It's just…"

"Just what?" Annabeth said tenderly, as he trailed off.

"Difficult," he finally said, "difficult because I know this is for the best but it's still scary and weird, and I still don't know how I feel about it."

"Even then," his mother said, "Service dogs can take months to get. There's paperwork to be done, and we need to get you two diagnosed first of all."

"I'm sure we could talk to Will or Chiron," Annabeth said.

Sally smiled, "Yes you could." She then called down the hall, "Jason, Piper, breakfast is up!"

The couple came stumbling out, hair and clothes messy, and Piper sporting a less than hidden hickey on her neck. Percy snickered, "Nice going, Grace."

Jason glared at him, but the effect was lost with his crimson face.

"Less teasing, more eating. You'll have to leave soon if you want to get to school on time." Sally said. She gave Jason and Piper a glance, "But do be more subtle next time."

The couple went red as laughter filled the room.

11:15 am, Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Cain Van Wes was in the locker room when he noticed the small scar on Percy Jackson's side.

They were changing, and while Percy was leaning over his shoes, trying to untie them when it caught the eye of the teen.

It was to the right of some nasty burns, separated enough it couldn't be from the same incident, but looked just like the other burns. The only difference was it was much smaller, and seemed a few years older than the other burns. It was also almost perfectly circular.

All thought the day, Cain wondered about the scar. Theories about the origin of the scar ran rampant through his head, but none of them seemed correct.

He seemed no closer to a plausible conclusion when he got into the car with his sister Lilith. While she sulked in her seat over one thing or another, Cain continued to think.

They were driving down Main Street when something caught Cain's eye. Leaning against the side of a building was a man, smoking a cigarette. It was a wild guess, no doubt but maybe…

Cain pulled his phone out of his bag and typed into his search engine. Cigarette Burn Scars. He scrolled through the photos, and the more photos he looked at the more he became certain that the scar was from a cigarette.

But how could he have gotten it? Cain didn't like Percy Jackson in any way shape or form, but he had to admit that the guy wasn't stupid enough to smoke. Additionally, he never smelled like smoke, and he had never heard anyone say that they had seen him smoke.

So the scar wasn't self-inflicted.

Cain racked his brain for a bit until he remembered something seemingly random. A few weeks prior, Cain had looked up the national manhunt that Percy had been involved in. He remembered a clip of some guy, maybe his stepfather, Cain couldn't quite remember.

And hadn't the man had a cigarette in his mouth?

Cain felt his heart speed up as he looked up the video. And there the man was Percy's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, with a cigarette dangling between his lips. Cain knew he had found something good.

Something that could ruin Percy Jackson's life.

Because Percy Jackson, who didn't smoke, had an old and faded cigarette burn on his side. His old stepfather smoked. Could this man be the one who gave Percy the scar?

He nudged Lilith.

"What?" she snapped.

"I found something about Jackson that you may want to see," he told her. He then proceeded to tell her about the scar, his research, and Gabe Ugliano and his cigarette.

Lilith looked at him, eyes shining. "Cain, this is, this is, great!" She shook her head in disbelief.

"This would absolutely ruin him," Cain added on.

"It would," Lilith smiled, "You want to do the honours?"

Cain grinned, "Of course I do. Just...not yet. We should wait. Maybe, after winter break?"

Lilith nodded in agreement, her face alight with devious joy.

The Van Wes's would ruin Percy Jackson.

And they would do so with pure, untamed, joy.