Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson & the Olympians or Vampire Diaries.

English is not my native language, so I'm sorry for any errors I might have.

Summary: Slightly AU, Fem!Percy. The war against Gaea is over. Everything is slowly going back to normal—everything but Persephone Jackson. Going through a war is hard, but going through two wars is harder. She leaves Camp to spend her senior year in a little town in Virginia in hopes for a normal year for once. Little does she know—Mystic Falls is a monster infected town. Will the saviour of Olympus be saved before its too late, or will the darkness within her consume all that was left of her? Will she fall in love again?

Chapter 2

Mystic Falls seemed like a normal town, but it wasn't.

Percy started to realize that slowly.

After a long torturous drive of nearly 10 hours—it was supposed to be a long trip, but not that long; Paul got lost once or twice, and they also stopped for food and to go to the bathroom along the way—they reached Mystic Falls, Virginia.

It was a normal city, but oh so different from New York. While New York was all buildings and noise and people swarming around, Mystic Falls looked more rusty than Percy would've thought. Rusty, full of wilderness, and small.

They drove around town for a bit before stopping in front of a big house painted white with pecks of brown. A vast garden could be seen, and Percy was almost sure that behind the house was a forest. It seems to expand through a great deal, and the demigoddess thought that it could be useful to train without anyone seeing her or without being interrupted.

Percy smiled softly.

Sally sighed, and Paul started to text, inmediately wanting to make sure they reached their destination.

The house in front of them was completely and absolutely breathtaking. At least for Percy it was. She was aware that it paled in comparison of other houses she saw around, but it was hers. It was something very different from what she once had, an apartment. This, this was a house. A big, pretty house with a vast garden and at least two stories.

"It's like something out of a movie," Percy muttered, still looking around. Everything was so different from New York but at the same time not at all foreign. A big home—if this was indeed their new house, Percy really liked it. It reminded her of what she wanted to have when she was little, of what she hoped to have when she formed her own family.

Not that she was thinking of forming a family anytime soon. She was only seventeen and had no boyfriend since her romance with the Greek God Apollo—which was a long story she did not wanted to remember—But the thought of a family was present on her mind, like it was expected on anyone. Sometimes she wondered if she was to find someone in New Rome and settle there with them, or maybe a nice mortal...

But that wasn't important. Not really, it was just a silly thought on her teenage mind.

What mattered now was a small opportunity of starting over with her mother, before going away for college.

"Do you like it?" Paul asked distractedly but with hope, phone still in hand.

"It looks nice." Percy admitted, pushing her thoughts aside with a shake of her head. "Is this our house?"

"Yes," Paul settled, locking his phone and putting it on his pockets. He shared an excited look with Sally before both of them excited the car, both of them unable to contain their excitement. "Come on."

Percy chuckled fondly at them, but followed almost immediately. The dark-haired girl threw her backpack over her shoulder and stepped out of the car, holding again the plant Calypso had given her.

The second she stepped out, she froze, one hand already moving towards her jean pocket, where Riptide, her sword, was in the disguise of a pen. It was an unconscious movement, almost like something she was used to do, not something that was needed in the moment.

For a dreading moment, Percy was breathless.

The feeling all around her was horrible, almost like Tartarus. The whole place seemed to be swimming around with monster powder. Her neck prickled, her heart raced with adrenaline, her senses where overthrow.

The whole air felt monster infected. She couldn't literally feel them, but the way her body reacted to the place told her something: there must be monsters close, because her whole body tensed and her senses jumped; she felt ready for a fight, and that only happened when monsters were about to attack.

The demigoddess looked around, expectantly.

...but nothing came.

Nothing came, not even from the forest she saw behind the gates that separated the garden and the forest.

A frown made it's way towards Percy's face, and she felt herself stiffen once more. The feeling was still present, but as she looked around, she only could see vast trees and beautiful houses in the distance. No sings of any creepy monster disguising himself as a man, no signs of horrible titans nor enourmous giants ready to kill her.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Percy gritted her teeth, and looked away from the house. Anger radiated of her, but her anger wasn't directed at anyone else but herself. It wasn't the first time she felt as if she was surrounded by monster. It had happened a couple of times before that, and the conclusion she had made angered her: she was paranoid.

After Tartarus, everywhere she went—even Camp—felt monster infected.

Nico had said it was Post-Tartarus syndrome—a term Percy was sure he invented. Supposedly, it happened to everyone after experiencing Tartarus. It was supposed to go away after weeks of being outside of Tartarus. But Percy had been out for a month now, and she still suffered from paranoia caused by her time in Tartarus.

Sometimes she feared it might not go away ever.

But still, even when she convinced herself she was just being paranoid, the feeling continued. The air still felt heavy with monster powder, and the air hung with the heavy presence of the supernatural; heavy and decaying like ghosts in an old town.

"Percy? Is everything okay?"

The demigoddess frowned again, turning back to where her mother was. Standing in the porch of the house the beautiful older woman looked at her daughter, a wide smile on her face. Percy felt herself relax, telling herself over and over again that she was just being paranoid.

"Everything's okay," Percy said, walking towards her mother. With every step she took, her heart raced more wildly, the adrenaline on her body still kicking, but she tried to push it down. "More than okay, actually. This place is amazing, I can't wait to see my room."

"I know, right?" Sally grinned widely. "The best thing is that all our furniture is already here. Your room is all settled in, you just have to put your personal touch on it and it'll be finished. This house has only two bedrooms and we'll have to share the bathroom—"

Percy shrugged at that, she was used to share bathrooms. She shared one in their old apartment, in the Argo II, and sometimes in Camp Half-Blood if Tyson was visiting. It wasn't that bad.

"—there's also a storage room for old things and things we'll never use, and a music room, even thought none of us plays music. And there's a big study where Paul transferred all our books and where I could try and finish my book...—" Sally trailed off, breathing deeply, her cheeks reddening as she smiled excitedly.

Percy giggled. "Breathe, mom."

Sally sighed deeply, smile still on her face. "I'm so happy."

"I know, and I'm glad. We deserve a break, and this place—" Percy motioned around, ignoring the ever-present feeling of being surrounded by monsters. "This place looks like a nice start."

Paul agreed, appearing at the edge of the staircase. "Old town, small population, new people, no monsters, no gods, no titans...What could go wrong?"

Percy smiled despite the fact that every time someone said something like that, everything went wrong. But she was going to think positive, like Will Solace advised her to.

Think positive and positive thing will happen.

"Well," Paul broke their small moment by clapping. "Let's get down to business. We start at Mystic Falls High School this Monday, and there's still lots of things to do here. Percy, dear, why don't you go upstairs, explore the house and see if you like your room while Sally and I go check the garden."

Knowing that the couple wanted some alone time, Percy smiled at them and nodded. The smile dropped from her face the second her back was turned. She slowly made her way upstairs, her heart still racing wildly.

She passed some rooms, ignoring completely the music room, having too many memories from the times Apollo used to dedicate songs to her; ignored the study, and crossed what she assumed was Sally and Paul's room. At the end of the hall, the last room awaited Percy.

She quickly made her way towards it and stepped inside. It was plain and empty. Her old bed from the apartment was there, along with her desk and some other furniture she used to have, but the rest of the room was empty. The walls were a decaying grey, and it smelled like dirt.

She frowned.

It was nothing like she imagined her room to be. It was...sad.

Leaving her backpack and her plant on her empty desk, she crossed the room. The only light in the room seemed to be the rays of sun that shined through the only window in the room, but still, the girl managed to find the door that seemed to be the closet, and once she opened it, she groaned, closing it immediately again.

It was full of spider webs. While she wasn't scared of those creatures, she started to hate them after the Arachne incident. It had been, after all, her fault that both Annabeth and Percy fell into Tartarus.

"Seriously, what the hell? When was the last time someone paid attention to this room?"

She pursed her lips, hands going to her hips as she thought of what to do in such a room like her new one.

"Oh, my God." Her parents were back.

Percy sighed.

"This is...not what I expected," Sally whispered, sharing a distressed look with Paul.

"It's okay, I guess," Percy lied, hearing the distress on her mother's voice. "Nothing a good cleaning and new paint for the walls can't do. I was thinking of painting it a nice blue, and putting some art in the walls, and maybe some flowers in the desk..."

Sally nodded. "And maybe we can find a small fountain that could fit here, like the one you had in your cabin in Camp Half-Blood. That way you'd always have ways to talk to your friends via Iris Message."

"That's a good idea," Percy brightened happily. "That fountain was a gift from my father, but I guess we can buy one just like that one."

"And better," Paul promised, trying not to feel to awkward at the mention of Poseidon. "I saw a store a couple of streets from here, maybe we can go later."

Their trip had been a long one, and they were all tired. After settling when they would go to the store, Sally and Paul left Percy's room, and the demigoddess sighed almost exasperatedly, and let herself fall back into the mattress.

Her room wasn't what she expected, but that was just a little bump in the road. The house was beautiful, and the town looked nice enough. What really bothered her now was the paranoia she still felt. Because, yes, she still felt like monsters were around.

And that worried her.

Still, she closed her eyes, only for a moment, and ignored the bad smell in the room. She imagined she was back in her father's kingdom, hearing the nereids sing and seeing Poseidon laugh alongside Triton, her half brother. She thought back to the feeling of waves rolling her, and that was enough to send her to a peaceful sleep.

...

Her peace lasted only a couple of minutes. What once started as a peaceful dream of the beach and her father, quickly transformed into something more.

Percy was in an unknown place. Startled, she looked around, eyes fixing on the entrance of the cave-like place she found herself at. "Dad?" she called, looking around, and wincing when she saw she was stepping on what looked to be like rotten corpses.

A scream escaped her throat, and she stumbled back, trying to stop stepping on corpses, but the whole floor was filled with them. She huffed a frustrated and frightened cry, moving wildly and taking Riptide out, getting ready for whatever was in that cave with her.

Her eyes found the wall behind an old column that looked weirdly out of place in that cave, and froze when her eyes met the sleeping form of Gaea.

Percy's breath caught in her throat, and she quickly raised her sword, ready to attack if Gaea moved, but it did not. After a moment, she spoke.

Her voce husky and harsh, words clear as a day even thought her eyes were closed, and it looked like she was sleeping, "...—I will have my revenge. I will wake up again, and nothing will stop me, not even your little's friends charmspeak...—"

Percy tried to yell, but her lungs were filled with dirt and earth, and she started to choke, Gaea's words still loud on her ears. "And you, Persephone Jackson, will help me rise again, and then I will have my revenge, and I assure you, my child, that the first to ever die will be the one you hold most dear to your heart..."

Annabeth.

Percy moved wildly, trying to do anything and stop Gaea, but she couldn't move. Her body wasn't responding to her. She looked down at herself, only to notice her body was melting in the dirt of the cave, and she was slowly becoming dirt herself. A scream caught in her throat, and she felt herself choking again.

"—...And then it will be your satyr friend, and the little ex-oracle."

Grover and Rachel.

Percy tried to yell again, but her throat burned painfully, and she was almost running off from the little bath she had left inside of her.

"The charm-speaker will be next, and her death will be slow and painful, to punish her from sending me to sleep, and her boyfriend the son of Zeus will be next, and he will do watching her die. The frustration will eat him alive, the knowledge that he couldn't save her..."

Piper and Jason.

Percy struggled to breath.

"The son of Mars will be next, and the little witch will die again, and this time not even Pluto will be able to save her."

Frank and Hazel.

Tears burned at her cheeks, and Percy screamed as hard as she could, the action clearing her throat for a second and letting her breath deeply, but a second later dirt collected itself on her throat again, and Gaea choked her again.

"—death will come to the ghost king—"

Nico.

Percy started to feel dizzy, the lost of oxygen and the lost of her adrenaline was slowly weakening her.

"The last one to die will be the most fearsome of them all, the strongest warrior of the legion. Heartbroken at the death of the lieutenant of Artemis, killing her will be so easy..."

Reyna and Thalia.

"And you, Persephone Jackson, will watch them all die, unable to help them. Your own loyalty will kill you, and I will finally seek my vengeance on you and those so called gods for killing my favourite son, the one who should've ruled instead of that Zeus."

Dizzily, Percy saw Gaea's eyes opening, and as she screamed at the horrible vision of Gaea waking up, the dream shifted.

The dream shifted away, and Percy could breath again. After a few seconds of regaining her breath and her nerves, Percy looked around.

She wasn't standing in that cave anymore, but at the edge of Half-Blood Hill.

Familiarity hit her, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

But then she caught sight of the handsome face of Luke Castellan, standing in front of her, and everything changed. Percy felt herself calm just a little. Luke had been a friend of some sorts, and he died a hero. He was good now, he wasnt evil anymore...

But then as Percy darted her eyes to ask what was going on, she looked into his eyes, and saw gold instead of icy blue. His sweet smile morphed into a cruel, twisted one, his scar glistening a sickening pink that made the scar look fresh and recently made.

"Persephone Jackson," Luke's voice was darker than his own, and the golden in his eyes was enough to tell Percy that wasn't Luke.

That was Kronos.

"Kronos," Percy felt herself whispering, her voce sounding as husky as Gaea'. Her throat burned, as if she had actually choked with earth and dirt.

Luke's face morphed into a dark twisted smile. "I'm waiting."

Percy's brain forced itself to comprehend. "Waiting?"

All Luke's face did was smile. "Where are you my sweet sea scum? I'm waiting."

In that moment, something overcome Percy, and she tried to run away, but her legs moved slower than they've ever moved, almost in slow motion.

"I'm waiting."

As the titan's stolen hands started to grasp Percy, she felt her heart constricting, and her eyes flew open.

She woke from her dream.

Her eyes were wide and her heart was racing wildly. She looked around, feeling lost for a second, but then remembered where she was, and groaned, sitting up and lowering her face to her hands in a desperate motion.

Hee face was sticky with sweat, and her body felt feverishly hot. She groaned again, and let herself fall into her mattress, hands still on her face.

Every day, the same nightmare.

It didn't mattered what she did, that nightmare always followed her.

Always.

Always the sleeping Gaea; always Kronos possessing Luke.

The first time that happened she had been extremely scared, and had asked Apollo, her boyfriend in that moment, if that was a demigoddess dream of some sort. She had been scared that it was a vision, she had been scared that it was Gaea playing with her mind, that she was waking up again...

And then there was Kronos part in the dream. Always confusing to her, the Titan always muttered the same. Waiting...but for what?

But Apollo, being the god of dreams and phropecies, shook his head at that. No demigod or demigoddess could have visions anymore, not since his Oracle stopped working. Not since the power of seeing the future seemed to escape him.

He had comforted her immediately, telling her that it wasn't Gaea nor Kronos, but Percy's own subconscious. Those were just nightmares, a glimpse of Percy's subconscious, of what she feared most.

It wasn't a secret to Apollo that Percy feared Kronos more than she feared Gaea. That's why her nightmares with him were confusing. Gaea had been way too easily to destroy, the dreams with her were short and direct to the point.

Kronos had took time and had taken way too many lives. With Kronos more people had died, and the war was more gruesome and hard. With Gaea only few people died, and it had been easier to put her to sleep again...

From both of them, Percy feared Kronos more. And Apollo knew it, and Percy himself knew it. That was the "I'm waiting" part in the dream. Apollo liked to think it was Percy's way of telling herself that she was waiting for herself to get over the first war; but deep down, Apollo knew it was something deeper than that.

Percy knew it too, but she refused to see beyond her nightmares.

For a couple of weeks, the nightmares had subsided. Her dreams used to be filled with beautiful things and full of Apollo. He had promised to help her overcome her fears, starting with her nightmares, so he, using his god powers, had stopped any nightmare to come, instead filling her dreams with memories of them, of their dates.

When they broke up, the nice dreams stopped, and the nightmares came back.

Percy didn't knew if that was Apollo's way of "punishing" her for breaking up with him, but all she knew in moments like this, when the nightmares came, was that she missed him.

A lot.

She missed when he comforted her, and she missed feeling safe in her dreams. But she was never admitting that out loud, not after their disastrous break up.

After hesitating for a moment, Percy rose from the bed. She rummaged through her luggage—Paul had left it in her room as she slept—and after choosing fresh clothes, she headed towards the bathroom. A nice hot shower could help her.

Water always made her feel better.

...

Feeling much better after a long shower, Percy went downstairs, only to find Paul sleeping on the couch, and Sally arranging things in the kitchen.

"Hey," the girl greeted.

Sally turned and grinned at her. "Hey, dear. Did you sleep well?"

Percy's smile faltered, but she caught herself before her mother could notice. She nodded, not trusting her voice, and started to help her mother.

"Poor Paul fell asleep almost instantly after finishing with our luggages," said Sally, fondly. "Didn't even make it to our room."

"Did you managed to rest?" Percy asked her mother, curiously.

Sally nodded. "Of course I did. But only a couple of minutes, I want all our things to be perfect before Monday. I'll be by myself in the house while you two go to school." she moved around the kitchen almost gracefully, while Percy watched with a faint smile.

It had been long since Sally had looked so fresh and calm...

"I missed you," Percy admitted after a moment.

Sally stopped what she was doing, and turned towards Percy. "Oh, dear..." she quickly made her way towards her daughter, and embraced her tightly. "I missed you too. You have no idea how much..."

After a second, Percy pulled away, sighing. "Okay, enough of this sentimental stuff. Can I help you with something? I need to be distracted or I'll start tearing my hair off."

Sally chuckled, but leaded Percy towards the living room. "It's okay, I'll go wake Paul up, he slept enough by now, and we must hurry to the store to buy the things for your room before the sun sets completely. I don't like driving at night, you never know what could happen..."

—...it was harder to identify a monster at night. Sally had the capacity to see past the Mist and past every disguise, but even she had her slips, now more than ever because of her age. That's why she hated driving at night when Percy was with them, she worried for their safety.

...

Some time after that, the three of them were making their way towards the closest store, which happened to be Walmart, to buy the things for Percy's room and a whole other things they needed for their new house.

"What colour you want your room to be, again?" Paul asked as they walked towards the house paint area in the store.

"Blue," Percy answered inmediately. "Any type of blue will be nice, but I absolutely hate navy blue, looks more black than blue to be honest."

"Blue, what a surprise." Paul said, the corner of his lips turning into an amused smile as he pointedly looked at the blue jacket the demigoddess was wearing over an old Camp-Half Blood t-shirt, and the blue ripped jeans she was wearing.

"What can I say? It's a family thing." Percy grinned, shrugging innocently.

Her mother chuckled besides her, remembering how it was actually her fault the girl was so in love with that colour.

Well, technically, it was fault of Gabe Ugliano, who had argued with Sally multiple times over the fact that there was no blue food. Since then, Sally had cooked everything and artificially painted it blue, thus starting Percy's obsession with the colour.

"I think it's a lovely colour," Sally said, sharing a look with Percy.

"Yes, of course, but even lovelier in food." Percy grinned back.

Both of them shared another look as Paul looked curious, but didn't asked. He had learned not to ask most times, the matter being extremely ridiculous or extremely important. Still, he ventured the store, and when they reached the house paint area, Percy groaned out loud after seeing the long wait up line.

"Really?" she sighed exasperatedly.

Paul noticed, and knew her ADHD made her an impatient person sometimes, and considering they had traveled for hours and had rested little, the girl probably had zero patience in that moment.

"Hey, why don't I stay in line and buy the paint while you and Sally go and fetch the rest of the things?" Paul said gently. "After we're done here we can go exploring and eat dinner, and then back home, yes?"

Not noticing, Percy nodded. "Yeah, sure, thanks."

Sally smiled at her husband for his gesture, and then left with her daughter.

...

Sally and Percy had time to buy all the house items they needed for their new house, and even brought Percy school materials and other personal items, and even after that, Paul was still waiting in line when they came back.

Only, that he already had ordered, and was now waiting for them to handle it to him. He was talking with a handsome guy that was also waiting. Percy frowned at the chill that went through her spine as they approached Paul and the unknown man.

The man emanated a powerful sensation. Not quite monster-like, but almost reaching there. Percy's body tensed immediately, and she gritted her teeth. The man seemed friendly enough, as he was speaking animatedly with Paul, but no mortal had ever emanated such a wave of monster powder before.

If that man wasn't a monster, he had been spending time with some.

Or, a moment of hesitation seized Percy, what if there was nothing wrong with the guy, and she was imagining all of that. Her paranoia was strong, maybe she was wrong and that feeling was just in her mind.

Sally noticed her hesitation, and stopped too, just a few steps away from Paul and the man. "What is it, love? Is something wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Percy said. Her heart was jumping wildly with adrenaline again, and she couldn't keep her eyes away from the man talking to her step-father. "I'm just paranoid, I guess."

"Of him?" Sally quickly looked back at the man, trying to see if the man had Mist around him, but she saw nothing. "Are you sure?"

"I don't know, mom," Percy pursed her lips. "I just can't shake this feeling...but I'm sure it's nothing, I'm probably just paranoid. The war made me paranoid, I guess."

Uncomfortable with the way her mother looked at her, Percy looked away. Discretely, she tried to control her heartbeat and to back down from the adrenaline rush that overcome her.

Paul saw them, and beckoned them over. Sally tuned to Percy, "We don't have to go towards them if you don't like the way that man feels like. Okay, that sounded bad but you know what I mean."

Percy shook her head. Uncomfortable but not wanting to make a scene or seem dramatical. Chiron always told her to follow her instincts, because that was what kept the demigods alive, but this time she didn't knew if she should or not...

"It's okay, I guess," Percy said, "I don't even know him yet. I'm sure I'm just being paranoid. It'll surprise you how many times that has happened before."

Sally looked worried at that, but said nothing. After a second of hesitation, Percy walked forwards, and met Paul. Sally followed too, and Paul wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Got everything we needed?" Paul asked Sally, who nodded. He noticed how both his wife and step-daughter were watching his new friend, and he proceeded to present them. "Sally, dear, this is Alaric Saltzman. Alaric, this is my wife Sally and my step-daughter Percy."

Alaric quickly smiled politely at both of them, and shook Sally's hand, seeing the tension on the teenager he simply nodded at her, still smiling politely.

"He, um, works at Mystic Falls High," Paul informed them, eyes meeting Percy's for a second.

"Yes, uh," Sally turned to Percy, remembering she hadn't told her. "Paul came here last week to see how was the school, so he partially knows the grounds already."

"Cool," Percy nodded, giving the man a look. He looked young, probably her parents age, and normal beyond the monster powder that emanated from him. She relaxed just a little. "What do you teach?"

It was a polite question, more to convince herself he wasn't a monster than anything else. Usually, when she encountered monsters disguised as mortals, their eyes flashed or something would cross them at the demigoddess talking to them, but with Alaric none of that happened.

"History," Alaric answered. "It's more interesting than it sounds like, I promise."

Percy chuckled, more relaxed now that she was nearly sure he wasn't a monster. "Don't worry, I find History interesting," she paused, then added, "Sometimes."

All the adults chuckled.

"You're starting this week, right?" Alaric asked Percy, then to turn to Paul, letting him know the question was to both of them.

Paul nodded. "We start on Monday. Though I have to go tomorrow and start fixing the classroom that's going to be mine."

Percy frowned at that, while Sally sighed. The demigoddess thought they were going to spend their weekend together before they had to start at school. But, it seemed that that wasn't the case.

"Ah, yes, there's nothing like cleaning up the mess the former teacher left," Alaric nodded sympathetically, having done it multiple times already.

Both he and Paul chuckled, at what, Percy wasn't sure, probably something only teachers understood. She looked at her mother, who was looking distracted as her husband and Alaric talked.

"Hey, Percy," Alaric's voice interrupted Percy's line of thought. When the girl looked his way, he continued. "How old are you?"

Percy narrowed her eyes for a second. Why did he cared? She wasn't even part of the conversation. Her mind quickly betrayed her, and she wondered if he was asking because he was in fact a monster in disguise and wanted to know who he was dealing with before killing her—

—no. She shook her head softly. She forced herself to remember he was a mortal, that he looked and acted like a mortal, that he probably meant no danger to her.

"Seventeen," she answered.

"My girlfriend's niece is seventeen too, and she goes to Mystic Falls High School, if you ever need assistance I'm sure she won't mind helping you." Alaric said, to then add. "She is very kind and, to be honest, I wouldn't mind knowing she has a new friend. The once she has..."

The tone he used implied he didn't approved of her choice of friends. He would never say anything if his girlfriend's niece was there, because he had no right to say anything; but considering he was friends with Damon and Stefan, he could say Elena wasn't the safest girl in the world.

"I'm sure she's lovely," Percy said politely. "She's a senior as me?" She asked, wanting to know if she was to share any class with the girl Alaric mentioned.

"Oh, no, she's a junior," Alaric said, hands going to his pocket as he half shrugged. "But I'm sure you will meet her, new students in the middle of the year always attract attention."

Percy nodded at that. She didn't cared about that much, she was used to it considering all the schools she attended to, and she was sort of famous between demigods, so she was mostly used to the attention. And to some point it didn't even bothered her anymore.

In that moment, their paint was ready, and after Paul paid for it, they were ready to leave. They said goodbye to Alaric, and started to leave. However, Sally turned, and faced Alaric again.

"Hey, Alaric," Sally called, making the man look back at them. "Do you happen to know about any good restaurant around here?"

"Of course, the closest one is just some streets away from here. It's called "The Grill", and everyone seems to hang out there. The food and the service is good, so I recommend it." he smiled politely. "You drive until you see plaza, and just a few stores from it there's the Grill. If you manage to get lost you ask around, everyone knows where it is."

Sally returned his smile. "Thank you very much, Alaric."

The man nodded, and turned back when he heard the store man calling his name.

"Okay," Paul said as they walked. "Dinner at the grill and then back home, yes?"

"Yes," Sally agreed immediately, worrying when she saw the sun had almost settled completely. It was going to be dark soon...

"I'll drive," Percy offered.

Paul nodded, and threw her the keys. He opened the door for Sally, and entered the car.

"Do you think everything is grilled at The Grill?" Percy wondered as she started the car. "I mean, the name had to come from somewhere, didn't it?"

Paul and Sally chuckled at her, and Percy smiled to herself. Jokes and dumb comments always were her speciality, even more if they helped to hide how she was actually feeling.