Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 24
"You've had your little nap, now wake up!" Thalia yelled in Percy's ear.
They were in the police medical ward. A nurse pulled Thalia back forcefully.
"You could damage his ear and make him deaf," the nurse explained once Thalia turned on her.
"If he isn't deaf already," Thalia muttered a reply.
The nurse chose to ignore it, and took a wet rag to clean the blood of Percy's face. So far, he had gotten a black eye, and a broken nose. Cuts were on his face like mini souvenirs of his childhood, and no matter how much the rag saturated the blood, new blood kept on coming like a never-ending waterfall. The bucket that the nurse used to squeeze the blood out from the rag was now full of water and blood. Perfect for a tasty vampire snack...
"Usually a beating like that doesn't make anyone die or in a coma but now..." The nurse trailed off, as she looked at Percy.
"Blood loss and old wounds," Annabeth realized.
The nurse nodded to Annabeth's answer. "We'll just have to wait for him to wake up by himself."
Thalia groaned when she heard that. "Then he'll never wake up."
"The irony of that statement," Nico spoke as he grinned at his cousin. "Is that Percy's awake right now."
Thalia glanced over at Percy, as if not believing Nico's words. But when she heard a waking up noise, she saw that he actually was waking up. He groaned when he tried to open his black eye. He closed it hastily and opened his good eye instead, breathing the fresh air deeply through his mouth, as he was strangled an hour ago.
The nurse sighed in relief, giving a quick look at Thalia, who ignored the 'I told you so' stare.
"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked gently, mopping more blood of his face.
"I'm fine," Percy croaked out, his voice weak and hoarse.
"Good," the nurse replied with a small smile. "Because when you need to speak to the police, you'll need to be fine."
Percy nodded, attempting once more, to open his black eye. He only managed to open it quarterly before he closed it, wincing after the failed attempt of opening his black eye.
"When are the police coming?" Nico asked, looking at the door as if expecting it to barge open with dozens of cops.
"The irony of that statement," Thalia repeated Nico's words from earlier. "Is that the police are coming right now."
"How do you-"
As if coincidental, a cop opened the door and started walking over to Percy. It was the same cop who had the note, and the same cop who knew about the guns and licenses. The cop took one look at him and had to suppress a wince. The kid looked terrible. A black eye, a broken nose, and plenty of other scars to go along with them. They would have to do a lot of explaining, the cop thought with a sigh.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions," the cop said, staring at Percy and the rest for confirmation, before he continued.
They all nodded, knowing to be serious, and no joking off. Too bad they forgot that rule after a few minutes
"Ok," the cop sighed. "Who is the man we had just arrested an hour ago?"
"Gabe Ugliano," Percy answered. He would be the one answering most questions. "He's my stepfather."
"Stepfather?" The cop raised his eyebrows. "Where's your real father?"
"When my mom was alive, she used to tell me stories about him but... She never told me his name."
"Your mother's dead?"
"No shit Sherlock."
"Thalia!"
The cop frowned as an argument began to start. On every single occasion of where he interrogated teenagers, arguments were bound to happen. And he was ashamed to say that he was the reason of it.
Of course, the argument gave him time to think. Think about the answers Percy and given him. His mother was dead, his biological father is a mystery and he had a stepfather, he thought. Must be a hard life to have.
"Continue," Thalia suddenly spoke.
The cop looked up. "Why did you stepfather beat you?"
"He did it because I told my friends my life story," Percy answered, getting a tissue to stop his bleeding noise.
"Which is?" The cop pressed on for more details.
"None of your business," Thalia answered for Percy.
"It's ok Thals," Percy replied, but he was giving the cop a distrustful look.
"I've seen those cop movies," Nico added. "Where the cops start to interrogate you, and then they use the information against you. Twisting the story so that you can go to jail instead of the person abusing you."
By now, the cop was starting to look very uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, but no one listened as they kept on telling stories about corrupted cops.
"I am not corrupted!" The cop yelled as they had told a story about cops selling drugs.
"Check his socks," Thalia ordered. "He might be selling crack on his socks."
"Guys!" Annabeth demanded, but she sounded amused. "Let the cop-"
"-per is worth less than gold." Nico stated a random fact.
That was part of their plan. In their earlier days, Percy told his two cousins to annoy any cop that even got close to his life story. So far, it had succeeded a lot.
"Let's ask if the cop has any copper on him," Thalia said, looking at the cop. "Maybe he bribed the entire police force with tons of money to make him officer."
"But not just any money," Nico continued for his cousin. "Money that he got from the crack he sold!"
"Enough!" The cop shouted. "Back to the questions shall we?"
"Corrupted..." Thalia and Nico whispered the last part dramatically.
"What happened after you mother died?"
Percy sent his friend and two cousins a helpless look. Annabeth nodded, but wasn't too eager. Thalia and Nico nodded reluctantly.
"That bastard belongs in jail!" Thalia said loudly, taking her bow she had brought along with the ride and pointing it to the wall.
Nico nodded in agreement. By now the cop was interested. What had happened? He thought, his curiosity peaked by every minute silence overwhelmed them.
"Nosy..." Thalia sighed when Annabeth glanced at her.
"After my mom died, I..." Percy trailed off, unable to tell a stranger his story.
Eventually, Percy gestured for Annabeth to go on. If he had asked Nico, he knew that his cousin would add stuff that weren't true. And if he asked Thalia, she was worse. If he asked her, he knew maybe she would land all of them in jail someway.
Annabeth looked surprised but nodded. "After his mom died, he became Gabe's personal slave basically. His stepfather beat him if he did something wrong, or come home late from school. Like a... Like a dog."
"Child abuse," the cop muttered, his face looking angry. "Jail it is."
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, even though it was short. This is more of a sort of humorous chapter. Thanks for all the support!
The L0st One: What do you mean by that...?
PeaceLoveAndCheese: Maybe he will, maybe he won't. You'll just have to wait and see.