Chapter 8

Percy's Pov

Shock. That was all my frazzled brain could comprehend as I stared up at the man I'd only ever seen in photos. His very presence had rattled me to the core and a thick, suffocating cloud had settled over me as questions burbled to the surface. Why was he here? Why after all this time would he show up to see me? Why hadn't he come sooner? And why now? The questions remained answerless as I stood frozen, eyes locked on my father, my heavy breathing sounding deafeningly loud in the silence.

No one moved, not me, not my father, not a single partygoer even blinked, as they were able to feel the evident tension radiating between the both of us. It was thick enough to cut through with a butter knife and left my nerves buzzing in my gut. Needless to say, I didn't know how to react, how to feel about his sudden, unexpected appearance. Part of me resented him and his constant neglect of me over the years. He'd left my mother and I for some low-life secretary who was only going to love him and leave, simply being with him for the ever increasing numbers of his bank account, never kept up at night with guilt of leaving a child fatherless. Having never seen him since my mother and him divorce didn't help either. He hadn't cared about me enough to visit before so what made him change his mind, what possessed him to come and see me now? A guilty conscience didn't seem very likely. Something to gain or lose from his lack of contact with me did.

He seemed like the kind of man who was all work and no play, like the kind of man who would do anything and everything to make a quick buck, whether it be stealing candy from children or kicking puppies. His deep sea green eyes seemed dull, lifeless, like they'd never had a gleeful spark in ages, and from the strong, steely set to his jaw, it seemed like he didn't smile very often either. He kept his posture almost painfully straight and held himself with a superior air that made me feel inadequate to him. From my brief observation, he seemed like the strict, stubborn man that would surely clash with my carefree, happy-go-lucky personality.

After moments of heavy silence infinitely louder than any explosion in the world, my father crooked a finger at me, beckoning me to him. I merely shook my head, not wanting to acknowledge that this indeed was happening, and I surely didn't want to make this nightmare any more real than it was already. At my refusal, Poseidon's eyes darkened in a look of annoyance, but looking deeper into the sea green, annoyance wasn't the only emotion in his eyes, nor was it the dominant one. Crushing disappointed lingered in the swirling green, an emotion that Poseidon was evidently trying to mask, contorting his face into a look of indifference rather than letting his true feelings known.

All at once, I felt a twinge of sympathy for my father. Clearly, my rejection was a bit harder for him than he let on, or maybe it was his inability to get what he wanted that left him saddened. That last thought left a bitter taste and an unwelcome twist in my gut while the former one sent another small wave of pity for the man. So basically, I was on the fence on how to approach my father. Should I be polite yet detached? Or show him just how pleased I was to see him? Sarcasm intended. He was my father after all, and despite the not necessarily hateful but strong feelings of disliking brewing within me, I felt an irrational sense of delight that he'd come to see me.

Poseidon cleared his throat loudly and purposely to disturb my train of thought. He crooked his finger at me yet again, his face more stern this time. I wanted to simply get this whole thing over with, the whole confrontation with my dad, and yet, I still couldn't get my feet to move over to him. It was as if I'd been frozen in a cold, unrelenting block of ice that left me immobile, or someone had bolted my feet to the floor, killing my movement dead in its tracks.

Finally, I steeled my resolve and was about to take a step closer when a voice spoke closely to my ear.

"Let's get on with this already." The owner of the voice shoved my forward, not roughly but with enough force to send me stumbling right into Poseidon, who did little more than grunt from the force. He lifted his eyes to peer over my head and nodded his thanks to some one behind me.

Turning around, I came face-to-face with my look-alike, the boy that could very well be my twin. Being this close to him only confirmed my suspicion that this was my brother. There was not a shred of doubt at that moment that he was my family. We were identical in nearly every way I could think of except when it came to height. He was several inches taller than me, about eye-level with the top of my head. We even had the same lopsided grin, which was beyond freaky. It was like staring at my reflection in the mirror except there was nothing separating me from the vision reflected in the glass.

Poseidon placed a hand on my shoulder and lead me to the door, turning the sparkling silver handle and pulling the wooden barrier open. He had barely taken a step through the threshold when a demanding feminine voice rang out behind us.

"What do you think you're doing?" Poseidon and I both turned around simultaneously, eyes immediately finding Annabeth elbowing her way through the crowded dance floor up to the front. "You can't just come here and take him away. From what he's told me, you haven't paid a lick of attention to him since he was born; you hadn't even bat an eyelash when you'd walked out his life, and you can't try to heal your guilty conscience whenever you damn well please." Annabeth crossed her arms, her eyes shooting daggers at my father.

"Ah, Annabeth Chase. Pleasure to meet you." Poseidon held out a meaty hand for her to shake, but Annabeth only stared at it with a disgusted look on her face. Several moments past before Poseidon retracted his awaiting hand. "I see. Well, you're one to talk Miss Chase. I've heard plenty about you over the years, and I don't think you should be one to judge. You're said to be a rotten, self-centered brat who hasn't paid a care in the world except to herself. "

"And you have?" Annabeth questioned, her brows raising in disbelief.

"I didn't say that. But forgive me," He replied with a hint of sarcasm, "for trying to be a better man. Granted, I haven't been there for my son, but don't you dare insinuate that I didn't care for him. And I plan to and will speak to Percy tonight whether you like it or not." And with those parting words, Poseidon led me out of the house with my look-alike trailing in his wake.

Poseidon strode towards a pearly white limo-what is it with rich people and their means of transportation- and a driver opened the door for us to get in. My father slipped in first, and I stepped back so my look-alike could get in next, but he merely shook his head and gestured to the open door. I slid into the smooth leather seat, my look-alike taking a seat right next to me despite the surplus of unoccupied seats. It was like they thought I'd try to make a run for and avoid this confrontation, but to be honest, the thought hadn't even occurred to me. I only wanted to get to the bottom of this, find out why he was here, and be done with it.

The driver closed the door and hopped back into the driver's seat, turning the key into the ignition as he did so. Without the shuffling of our feet and the squeak of leather, the three of us were left with a thick veil of silence that hung heavily over our heads as we sat and stared expectantly at each other, daring them to speak first. Poseidon was the one who finally relented.

"So, Perseus," He began, his voice well-mannered and business-like, as if he were a reporter "getting the scoop" on a headlining incident. "I'm sure you have a few questions."

Well wasn't that just the biggest understatement of the century. A few? Pfft. I have enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool and then some. Thoughts, accusations, the need for answers rumbled through my mind like a herd of charging elephants, jumbling together, morphing into a gelatinous blob that was rapidly expanding to fill even the farthest recesses of my brain. There was a multitude of things I wanted to ask, so many questions craving answers, and yet all that came out of my mouth was:

"Why?"

Poseidon tilted his head, strangely resembling a puppy looking inquisitively at its bone, as if it had never seen one before. He raised one of his dark brows and looked at me oddly, like he'd been expecting a barrage of questions that would leave him breathless by the time he answered them all.

"Why what, Perseus?"

A deep, burning sensation filled my chest, a dull ache forming in the fist-sized, life-sustaining organ. It seared through the chambers of my heart in an endless rotation, the pain gradually growing more intense until it felt like my heart was being branded by a sweltering hot, cattle prod. My throat clogged up with emotion, and I could've sworn I'd swallowed a handful of cotton balls. I hadn't meant to get so choked up over a simple slip of the tongue, but still, it was a constant reminder how little my father knew of me. He'd called me Perseus. Everyone knew I hated that name, even my cranky, old neighbor back in New York knew me enough to call me Percy, but my father, he was a separate story all together. He didn't know, he didn't know about me. How old I was or what my interests were or how my life had gone. If I'd ever had a girlfriend, a best friend, an enemy; he knew nothing of my life. Hell, the guy couldn't even get my name right. And as much as I tried to tell myself that it was fine, my emotions didn't revert to indifference but sent another splurge of sadness straight to my heart.

"It's Percy. I like to be called Percy."

Poseidon nodded, a faraway look in his eyes, as if he too was realizing just how little he knew about me. He scrubbed a hand over his face and kneaded the bridge of his nose, the corners of his mouth pulling downward in what appeared to be a small frown, but it was gone so fast I could have sworn I'd imagined it.

"Percy," He tried again, "what do you mean by 'why'?"

I cleared my throat, sending the army of cotton balls on a full retreat, and planned out how I wanted to answer this. My brain yearned for me to ask the more logical questions first while my heart was begging me to ask entirely different ones altogether.

Why don't you care about me? The question was on the tip of my tongue and was just waiting to be voiced, but I clamped a mental lock over the silly inquiry. Instead, I asked a better question, a safer one, as I was in no way prepared for the answer of the former.

"Why are you here?"

"Well, I wanted to see you." He replied simply, like it was the easiest answer ever.

"Why?" I asked again, annoyed at how I kept repeating the same question. I sound like a broken record or one of those parrots that mimics everything someone says until it gets so annoying that you wish you were deaf.

He sighed, a heavy exhale that cut through the silence like a fog horn. "Many reasons actually. For starters, I'd heard rumors spreading around that the Chases had quite the prodigy living in their household, and not just any one either. A swimming prodigy. And, I, having the infatuation with the sport that I do, became greatly interested and did a little research. I skimmed through magazines, website articles, celebrity Twitter pages for even the slightest confirmation that this boy existed and it wasn't some hoax to attract publicity. And several days later, my hard work paid off. I'd located a newspaper stand near a coffee shop, and on the cover was none other the boy people had been talking about. Skimming through the article, I'd found something that really caught my eye, and that, Percy, was your name. Not to mention the fact that you were practically a clone of myself." He added with a quiet chuckle, a proud smile on his face, but it quickly dissipated when he noticed that my face remained stoic. Poseidon cleared his throat, halting his light laughter, and continued speaking.

"Anyway, as I stood and stared at that flimsy piece of paper, I realized how terrible of a father I was. I wasn't there for you, cheering you on when you did the impossible and beat a school record that held true for years; I wasn't there for you when your whole world was yanked out from underneath you, and I wasn't there comforting you when it did. So, Percy, I've come to tell you how sorry I am for not being the father that you'd wanted me to be." He stared at me, his expression expectant and hopeful, as he waited for me to accept his apology.

I remained silent, mulling over everything Poseidon had confessed, and turned my head to look out the window, deciding not to respond.

The world whipped passed me as my eyes wondered over buildings, cars, pedestrians, all blurring together as the limo sped down the asphalt. Tinted windows obscured the view of the outside right along with the names scrawled along the street signs. As I attempted to make out the letters at every one we passed, I became aware that I had absolutely no clue as to where we were headed. For all I knew, we could be headed on a father-son trip to Mexico, thousands of miles away. Where are we going? I thought, suspicion rolling off me in waves.

I voiced my thought aloud, to which was answered with a gruff "home".

Curious, I began to ask which one he was referring to, but stopped when a hand reached out, poking me in the arm. I turned my head only to find my look-alike staring back at me, a simple shake of his head dispelling my former question from my lips and back into the darkness from which it arose. Something about his gaze told me to keep quite and not voice the inquiry aloud; the reason for it was unknown, but I trusted my gut not to lead me into dangerous waters.

Silence fell over the car's interior like a warm, wooly blanket, thick and heavy, wrapping around its inhabitants like a snake locking its prey into a vice-grip, unrelenting until its meal was left motionless and vulnerable. I absent-mindedly observed the plush interior of the limo, eyes lingering over the lavish extremities taken to make the limo as luxurious as possible. The assortment of neon blue lights embedded in the roof accentuated the polished black finish coated around the perimeter of the built-in drink cooler, which had a glossy wooden varnish that only added to the elegance. As my eyes continued to wander, they paused, their attention seeking out the large man seated few feet away. Poseidon sat slumped forward, an odd sight after having seen him straight as a board up until that point. His twiddling thumbs held his attention as he stared down at where they lay in his lap. A strange expression was plastered on his face, one I couldn't quite decipher. He almost looked…..Guilty?

"Name's Triton." said a deep, rumbling tenor that diverted my attention from Poseidon to the boy-Triton-seated on my other side. He held out a hand to shake, and I gave it a pump before returning it back to my lap.

"Percy." I replied despite the fact that he most likely already knew my name.

"Yeah, I know." Triton murmured, not caring to elaborate why the mournful tone colored his words.

Deciding to ignore it, I glided us into easy conversation, venturing away from questions that sounded more like interrogation than a friendly chat. Topics were thrown left and right, questions asked and answered like the typical meet-and-greet game of twenty questions. As words were exchanged, jokes cracked like a whip, fast and sudden, I came to find that I actually enjoyed Triton's company. He was serious yet had a silly side that you wouldn't expect him to have from his hard, gruff-looking facial features. But his outwardly unapproachable appearance aside, I genuinely liked Triton and found him to be the kind of person I could see myself befriending if we had met out in public.

From then on, I thought maybe, just maybe, this whole family reunion wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Annabeth Pov

Hate coursed through me like a speeding bullet, igniting my body into a raging fire until steam was practically puffing out of my ears. The nerve of that man! How could he just pop up out of the blue like that? Percy had enough on his plate without having to deal with his dead-beat dad, who hadn't paid him a second glance. The emotional rollercoaster that boy was trapped on was wild enough as it was without adding another factor to the ever increasing scale. Besides, it doesn't sound like Poseidon to suddenly find the ambition to take responsibility for his mistakes, and I honestly doubt he just woke up one morning and said Hey, I have a son who lives on the other side of the country who I haven't paid an ounce of attention to, but why don't I just go visit him and make things right. Oh, and maybe even start to give a shit. Yeah, sounds like a plan. Definitely not. The possibility of her twin half-brothers running through the neighborhood with frilly, pink dresses, chanting I'm a pretty princess seemed more likely than that.

Now, it may seem harsh, but I hated him, absolutely despised him…..and for good reason.

Anger still pumping through my veins, leaving my hands clenching and unclenching, I hopped out of my car-having left the party the moment Poseidon escorted Percy out- and all but ripped the door off the hinges as I made my way into my mansion of a home. Making a beeline for the living room, I expected to find Percy seated on the plush white coach decorating the expanse of the luxurious sitting room, which was why I was beyond confused when I scanned the living quarters to find my family spread throughout the room; Percy was nowhere to be seen. My father was seated on the very couch I'd assumed Percy would be on, his arm wrapped around Martha, who was holding a steaming cup of coffee, gently sipping the brew. Her eyes looked saddened as she stared blankly at the steam wafting out of the warm mug.

A sniffle drew my attention from my step-mother and to the two little boys seated in the center of the spotless white rug matching the pigment of the couch spot on. Bobby and Matthew sat huddled together as silent rivulets of tears cascaded from their eyes like their own personal waterfall. Their usual, giddy, overly-hyper demeanor was missing and in its place was a somber, forlorn expression that nearly broke my heart.

"What's going on?" I asked, my heart rate suddenly spiking as the worst possible scenarios rushed through my mind, a slideshow of horrors that will no doubt make me lock the windows and bolt the doors before I go to sleep. Was there a break-in? Were we robbed? Something like that would no doubt leave the boys rattled, which would explain the tears, but Dad would look more worried and less like someone just kicked a puppy onto the interstate. Would if somebody died? A gut wrenching pain ripped through my chest at the thought. I know sometimes I might not act like it, but I truly loved my family, and if something were to happen to one of them, I'd be far from okay.

My father opened his mouth to explain, but was cut off by Bobby, who barely managed to choke out his answer.

"Percy's leaving." His voice caught on the name, and he hiccupped before wiping his eyes with his long-sleeve, orange shirt.

"What do you mean he's leaving?" I had a pretty good idea of what they meant, and I didn't like it. At all.

"His father," Martha began, pausing to clear her throat, "called and said that he would be returning to Miami," She hesitated, eyeing the boys and I, as if she could lessen the blow by sheer willpower. "…and he intends to take Percy with him."

I should've been thrilled; he'd been nothing but a pain in the ass since the moment I'd met him, and yet a throbbing ache bloomed in my chest, intensifying the pain from before the bombshell was dropped. My stomach roiled at the thought of Percy no longer being around, and I no longer able to see that infectious smile of his that brightened everyone's day. It didn't make any sense; We'd been nothing but nasty to each other, sans the one time up in my room when he had me laughing so hard, my stomach was cramping the day after. But I guess somewhere along the way, he'd wormed his way into my heart, and I'd begun to accept him as part of the family. A brother, maybe? Yeah. That had to be it. There was no other explanation for the searing pain ripping through my chest like someone were branding it with a cattle prod. Unless….

"And we're just going let Poseidon take him away?" I asked, my voice rising until it was on the verge of hysterics, an inexplicable panic unfurling in my stomach. I couldn't lose him. Not yet. Not when my emotions were so jumbled that I didn't even know how to feel about the anything but discreet tear in my favorite pair of designer jeans. It didn't seem logical that at the though of losing someone I'd known for hardly a month, my heart squeezed and ached and throbbed, persistently sending splurges of sadness zipping through me like I'd been struck by lightening. "To a man he doesn't even know, someone who hasn't even showed his face until seventeen years later?"

"Annabeth," my father said, his voice solemn, yet a knowing glint sparked in his eye at my outburst; A look that would leave me contemplating the meaning for days to come. "there's nothing we can do. Percy's not my son; our only task was to give him a place to stay, take care of him, until he turned eighteen, old enough to live on his own. And we would have, had his biological father not painted himself in the picture. We don't have custody over him, we aren't his legal guardians; We're merely a family who was willing to take care of him, a favor for an old friend." He said, his eyes taking on a faraway look, reliving the memories he had with Percy's mother, his childhood friend….Well, at least before Mr. Tall, Tan, and Grumpy stole her away. Cough. Cough. Poseidon. Cough. Cough. "Believe me, if there's anything I could do, I would, but it seems….there isn't."

"But-"

"Annabeth, please," Martha interjected, her voice firm yet not unkind, "this is hard enough as it is without filling your head with falsities." She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "I think it's time for bed. It's been a long day."

They all trickled up the stairs one by one, seeming to be in no hurry whatsoever, until I was the only one that remained. My mind ran wild with thoughts of Percy, where he was and if he was happy with this new arrangement, but even so, my brain clouded over with the heavy fog of drowsiness. With a long sigh, I followed suit and marched up the steps to my room. But instead of sleep, the inspiration that had evaded me for days burst forth, burbling to the surface like ice cubes in water, and the lyrics flowed out of me, yearning to be written.

And I wrote and wrote, the hours drifting by as pages were torn out and scrawled with words in my tiny script, creating songs that would soon become the highlight of career.

There it is! Chapter 8! Hurray! :)

Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, follows, etc. last chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave a review and tell me your thoughts. Was it good? Bad? Let me know.

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TwistedTrident