Updated on the 13/11/2022
12 Years Later
Chapter One
(12 Years later)
Percy walked into the apartment that he and his mum shared (with in his opinion the most disgusting and most foul man on the earth, Smelly Gabe), hoping, in all the world that Gabe Uglyface wasn't home, and that the sweet smell of candy would overtake him because his mum was. But to his disappointment, as he opened up the door he was greeted by the deep voiced pig who was sitting on the couch in the living room, playing poker with some of his disgusting friends. The TV was blaring and littering the floor were the remnants of their conquest, half-full and empty beer bottles along with a pile of empty crisps packets and lone crisps that were lucky enough not to be devoured by the men were strewn across the floor.
Hardly looking up from his cards Gabe speaks to the 12 year old boy that had just entered the apartment, with distaste in his voice, "So you're home."
"Where's my mom?" Percy asks.
"Working where else." Gabe replies.
'More than I can say for you' Percy thinks to himself, because he doesn't dare say that out loud at the risk of a good beating.
"Got any Cash?" Gabe demands.
The flat slob pulls himself out of his chair and stomps his way towards the raven black haired boy. His sea-green eyes with slight silver-ish specks held his dis-contempt for the man now towering over him.
"I don't have any cash" Percy tells him.
Like a greyhound Gabe starts sniffing the air as if the scent of money was stronger than his own ghastly body odor. "Let's see" he says pondering "To get home you would have had to catch a taxi from the bus station, you most likely paid with a twenty, so you should have $6 or $7 bucks in change."
Percy again avoids another beating as he thinks to himself. 'Amazingly the only time you can think coherently is when it involves money' Smiling at the snarky comment he has just thought of he tries to push past Gabe, but the overweight, beer-bellied man has yet to finish on his now constant victim.
"Excuse me boy but if you expect to live under this roof, then I think you should contribute around the house more. Don't you reckon boys" he says to the other men, that are all sitting around the poker table, all just as disgusting as him. Then he turns back to Percy, "Now I think you should pay for making me wait for my money. Don't you?" His rotting teeth and disgusting breath rear their disgusting stench up Percy's nose. Gabe clenches his fist and draws his arm back ready to strike, but a voice stops him.
"Gabe stop, leave the miserable sod alone and lets get playing, I'm down 50 bucks and I want to get it back before I get home to the wife"
Percy looks up to see Eddie, the superintendent of the building, with a sad look in his eyes, as if he feels sorry that Percy has to live with Gabe.
"Fine" Gabe mumbles giving Percy one last threatening look that says 'you're gonna get it later' before going back to his seat and grabbing a bowl of Pretzels.
Percy looked once more at the man that had just saved him from a beating, then averted his eyes to the door that lead to his own room and Gabe's "Study" or as Percy liked to call it, second hell. Entering the room and regrettably breathing in he got hit with the stench of the room.
The smell of nasty cologne and cheap cigarettes with a slathering of stale beer wafted in the air. Littered with car magazines along with 'other adult' magazines the room was an absolute pigsty and Percy was now forced to live in said pigsty, until school started up again in three months.
Percy's thoughts race around. He thought of Grover and Chiron and the year that he'd had and how the school was alright. There was also the need for a new school since he had unsurprisingly been kicked out of yet another school, this time for calling a teacher an old sot, well and being in a fight every second day didn't help either. But that aside Percy's thoughts cirlced back to how he was stuck, no trapped, in the same vicinity as probably the most disgusting and vile man in the world. Percy dropped his suitcase on to his prison cell mattress. 'Home, Sweet home' he thinks to himself. But even he knows that no amount of optimism can or will be able to convince him that this is a home.
He sits down on his cot and returns to his previous ponderings on all the things that had happened throughout the year, and well most of them confused him. First the weirdness from his best friend Grover after what happened at the museum. Now, actually, the museum itself had been confusing, with the whole vaporizing his math teacher with a pen that's a sword that was a pen again and then after the field-trip it was if the school didn't even know Mrs. Dodds existed, Percy shuddered as he remembered how the vile old cow had trans-morphed into some huge hideous disgusting bird straight out of Greek mythology.
Then there was a knock on the door, and with a wide smile he sat back up as his mum walked in.
3 Days Later
(Percy's P.O.V.)
My eyes fluttered open and sunlight hit my face, squinting to adjust to the light. I look to my left and see Grover, my best friend from Yancy Academy. Suddenly images from before I blacked out flood my mind; -My mom coming home and telling me we were going to Montauk, Montauk beach, the storm that was raging while we were there, Grover showing up out of nowhere, in the middle of the night in the pouring rain, my mom and Grover rushing around, the car flipping, the bull man, Grover's furry goat legs, the tree, my mum vanishing- and then to the more recent images of when I woke up - Grover, The pretty blonde girl with princess curls and the husky blonde surfer looking dude that had blue eyes... Everywhere.-
"Careful" a familiar voice says. Grover was leaning against the porch railing looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm was a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain looking and good old Grover. Not the hairy goat boy. So maybe it was all a dream and I had just had a nightmare. Maybe my mum was alright and maybe we were still on vacation and we had stopped at this big farm house for some reason. My frantic hopeful thoughts were interrupted however by Grover speaking. "You know Perce I haven't been able to thank you properly yet, well because every time I tried you would black out again. So thank you for saving my life...Oh and I got you this" he says as he hands me the shoe box "I went and picked it up the next morning you know after..." I open the box and inside was a bulls horn, white and black, jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with blood. It hadn't been a nightmare. It had all been real. The realization hits me and I am automatically overcome with grief.
(Insert the wonderful writing of Rick Riordan from Page 59 of the lightning thief to page 74)
Okay that is another Chapter Done
Thanks from The Ocean BlueDude