6. Door
He clicks the lock behind him, as if this will somehow assure that he will stay on one side and Percy and his mom would forever be safe on the other. When the door is locked, he can almost pretend that there is no Gabe Ugliano, that he's just hanging out in the kitchen with his mom, sneaking bits of blue dough when she turns her back to pull a tray of cookies from the oven. The illusion is ruined when his raucous voice carries through the thin wood, ordering more cheese dip or steak fries as if she's a mindless waitress.
Atleastawaitresswouldbepaidforthis, he thinks, watching the corner of his mother's mouth twitch, a barely repressed retort. He knows she hates him, that man on the other side of the door, but he has no idea why she married him. Percy wondered if she had been tricked into it or did it for the money, but he knows there is no love involved. She had once made him promise to never marry for anything but love, and young as he was, he agreed.
And that was when he made another promise to himself: that he will do anything-anything-to take that man away. He and his mom won't hide behind this door forever.
7. Wind
He raises his face into the wind, feeling like he's going to break for laughing and grinning and sheer happiness. The salty air seems to lift him off the very ground, sea spray kissing his skin, and for just a moment, he feels invincible.
8. Bell
He's just sliding into the classroom as the second bell rings, and Mrs. Thatcher shoots him that same look every time he gets to school, the don't-think-I-don't-notice-you-just-got-here Look that means she's waiting for the one time when he's a second late and she can hand him the pink tardy slip.
From there he alternates between tapping his pencil to his knee to his toe to drawing mustaches in all the men in his history textbook as he waits for the next bell. It rings, and he's the first out of the room, and when the seventh bell finally rings, he's the first out into the sunlight.
"Percy, dude, calm down, it's only Monday."
"Yeah," he laughs, spinning around in the brisk fall wind. "But we're free now!"
9. Pocket
It's amazing how easily her hands fit in his pockets and how he can see every shade of grey in her storm cloud eyes.
10. Lend
He might have to take up this issue with Annabeth, he realized, searching frantically through his room for something clean. She couldn't sneak away in all his shirts-his mom was starting to wonder.