"Percy Jackson!"

The uncharacteristic mix of anger and fear in Thalia's voice made Percy jump, his heart beating like a rabbit's as he looked around. He didn't see anything of note, just Paul looking up from grading papers, so he found the Iris message to frown at it. Thalia looked incensed.

"You're going back to St. Joan's!" she said accusingly.

"Wha-" Heat flooded Percy's face, and he scowled at her, shoving away his textbook to cross his arms. "Yeah, so what? What is your problem?"

Thalia blinked, looking abruptly disoriented, and most of the wind seemed to slip from her sails. "...Okay, good!"

Percy stared at her. "What the hell, Thalia?"

Thalia huffed, crossing her arms and brushing her hair out of her face. "I finally got to check on Jason today," she said, looking calmer but no more pleased. "He told me what you said to him when you let yourself get poisoned, you asshole."

"Are you kidding me?" Percy demanded. "Do Graces have an innate urge to tattle or something?"

"No, we just worry about our friends." Jason nudged Thalia aside enough to make room for himself, and he looked so genuinely worried when he met Percy's eyes that it was hard to stay angry. "I didn't know you had a history, Percy. I would've done something sooner."

"I don't have a history," Percy grumbled, sinking down in his seat in embarrassment. "I've said stuff before, is all."

"That's history enough," Thalia snapped, making Percy wince as he remembered her reaction last time. "But it's true? You're really going back to St. Joan's?"

"What's St. Joan's?" Jason asked.

"It's this therapy school that's run by a demigod and about half staffed by clearsighted folk," Percy explained, slouching sullenly. "I spent a couple months there last year, right before Hera... you know. And yeah, Thalia, I'm going. I did learn stuff last time, like the fact that it's bad to want to hurt yourself." He shrugged. "I didn't want to go right away 'cause I've been away from Mom so long, but I'm supposed to go next week, and I'm seeing Raine already." He studied Thalia for a moment, and then added, softer, "I'm gonna be okay. Really. It's not like last time when I thought I was right."

The anger and fear seemed to fade completely, leaving only a low worry. "It better not be," she grumbled. "You're such a pain in my ass."

"I didn't realize you two were close," Jason commented, looking between them curiously. "How'd that happen?"

"Annabeth," Thalia said, at the same time that Percy said,

"Quest."

They looked at each other, Thalia raised her eyebrows and Percy shrugged, and then back to Jason.

"Annabeth got kidnapped by Kronos' forces a couple years ago," Percy explained to Jason. "And Artemis just a few days later. We were on the same quest to rescue them, and we bonded then." He smiled a little. "Thalia became a Hunter right afterward. I guess I forgot she joined the quest for Annabeth too."

Jason looked delighted at this information. Percy made a mental note to tell him more stories about Thalia when he got the chance. "Seriously? You rescued a goddess and then decided you liked her so much you'd serve her for eternity?"

Thalia waved her hand dismissively. "I like her now, but at the time the decision didn't have much to do with her at all. I just needed to escape the prophecy."

"The prophecy?" Jason echoed curiously. Thalia and Percy stared at him. "What prophecy?"

"...You know," Thalia said, drawing it out with confusion. "The prophecy. The last Great Prophecy."

"No, I don't know what prophecy," Jason said. "I grew up in New Rome, remember? My camp went through different stuff than what yours did."

"Okay, but..." Thalia trailed off, looking lost.

"Oh shit," Percy said, sitting bolt upright. "Camp Jupiter doesn't have an Oracle."

Jason frowned. "Neither do you, at the moment," he reminded Percy.

"Not the point," Percy said. "You didn't get the last Great Prophecy, did you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jason informed him.

It was hard for Percy to imagine. The prophecy had been a part of his life for so long, a massive weight hanging over him. It made up a big part of the unspoken understanding between Percy, Thalia, and Nico, even now that it had passed. It tied them together with the mere memory of that fear.

And Jason didn't know about it.

Thalia had gone pale.

"Oh my gods," she said. "If something had happened to Percy, it would have been you."

"What?" Jason demanded, exasperated.

"The last Great Prophecy was given after World War II, and it came true last year," Percy explained. "A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze."

"I hate that," Jason said. Both Percy and Thalia nodded fervently.

"It's horrible," Thalia said. "That was the reason I joined Artemis – so that I would never turn sixteen, and that prophecy wouldn't be about me."

"I- what does it even mean?" Jason asked anxiously. "A half-blood of the eldest gods... Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, I guess. So one of their kids turns sixteen..."

"And chooses whether or not to destroy Olympus, yeah," Thalia agreed. "That was... well, Percy got the brunt of it in the end, but me and Nico both definitely felt the pressure. I guess being Roman kept you away from it."

Jason muttered a curse under his breath. "You had that hanging over your head?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Thalia said. "Only for about six months – I became a Hunter around that long after I fell out of the tree." She tilted her head toward Percy. With a sweet, unexpected honesty that Percy suspected was just for Jason, she added, "I... kind of figured that Percy was more likely to make the right choice than I was. So I bowed out."

"That's a horrific decision to have to make," Jason said.

"It was the right choice," Thalia said, with unwavering confidence.

Jason looked from Thalia to Percy, eyebrows knitting together. Percy started to wonder what he was thinking, and then he spoke to Percy. "The way people talk about you, man... I wish I could earn that much respect."

Percy's cheeks heated up. "You did. Your camp adores you, remember? They made you lord priest and everything."

Thalia gave Jason a proud noogie. Jason squawked, but when she let him up, he was smiling.

"So you did it, then?" Jason asked, trying to straighten his hair. Thalia fluffed it up again, and Jason elbowed her. "You made the choice?"

"Behold, the reason I needed emergency therapy last year," Percy said dryly. "Yeah. It would've been around the same time you were fighting Krios. The day Kronos fell- that was my birthday."

Jason shook his head, disbelieving. "That's... I can't believe how much they managed to hide from us."

"To be honest, I'm glad we didn't know," Percy said. "If I'd been worrying about Kronos' throne as well as Kronos, I would've given myself a heart attack."

"I don't blame you." Jason looked at Thalia. "So basically, you two bonded over Annabeth and the weight of the world?"

Thalia snorted. "I guess we did. And there was Persephone's quest, where Percy dropped the Lethe on himself."

Right. Where Percy had destroyed Bob's memory – where Percy had fought him like any other monster, dunked him in the Lethe, and given him the first stupid name Percy could think of. What had been a clever way to win a fight had turned into an ally that Percy hadn't expected and didn't deserve.

Bob deserved better.

"Percy? You good?"

Percy blinked, and took a moment to focus on Jason's concerned face.

"Yeah, sorry," Percy managed after a moment. He looked at Thalia. "Annabeth and I ran into Bob. Ask about it, um, not right now." He scratched the back of his head with a strained smile. "After a month or two, maybe."

Thalia raised her eyebrows, looking concerned. "Okay?" She frowned. "Man. I'd forgotten about Bob."

"Y-yeah," Percy agreed, throat tightening.

Jason leaned over and murmured something into Thalia's ear. Thalia stiffened, going dead pale, and didn't relax as Jason pulled back apologetically.

"Yeah," Percy repeated, softer.

Thalia exhaled slowly. "No wonder you regressed," she muttered. "Just, don't forget, if you do anything stupid, I'm gonna go hunt down your soul in the Underworld and punish you myself."

Percy laughed raggedly. "Yeah, I got you," he said, with maybe more warmth than the words deserved. "Thanks for checking on me."

They had the last appointment before he left while Percy was drawing at his desk, steadily working through the events he'd picked out over the last few weeks.

"Have you had any luck identifying any of your triggers?" Raine asked him.

"Some of them," Percy said, roughly blackening the whole of the paper under his hands. "Mom and Paul have been helping a lot."

"Do you feel comfortable telling me about them?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Percy said, glancing up. Raine was leaning on her desk, watching him attentively, and gave him a nod when their eyes met. Percy looked back down. "Um, I'm afraid of the dark now. I've been sleeping with the lights on, and I had a really bad flashback when the power went out one time."

"How does the dark affect you when you're not surprised by it?" Raine asked.

"It kind of builds," Percy muttered, scowling down at the shadowed paper. "I get really nervous, and sometimes it gets bad enough that I start panting even if I'm just lying in bed. If I can't calm down, I start seeing things in the shadows – Nyx's children, mostly, but other monsters too." He shrugged helplessly. "I, I know they're not there. But as soon as the lights are out, I'm like, but what if they are?"

Raine nodded. "It'll take time for you to regain your sense of safety. What others have you noticed?"

"There's something about food," Percy scowled. "I can't figure out what it is, but I've had way too many issues with mealtimes to explain otherwise."

"You're certain that it's not your general stress nausea?"

"Pretty sure," Percy said. "I smell sulfur almost every time."

"What's the significance of sulfur?"

Percy paused, then shoved the blackened paper into the finished pile and grabbed a new sheet. "The air in Tartarus was acid," he said at last. "Sulfur. Annabeth and I had rashes and blisters afterward, and that's nothing on what my throat felt like for weeks." Even ambrosia and nectar hadn't helped with that.

Raine's hand closed, then opened on her desk. "...Is the issue acidic food?" she asked. "Lemonade, tomato sauce, pineapple?"

"I didn't think about that," Percy admitted. "I actually didn't write down most of what I was eating during those episodes. Stupid." He sighed. "Damn it. Uh, it didn't occur to me that specific foods might set it off. I'll fix that." He dropped his forehead to his desk. "I thought I kicked that habit!"

"You did very well," Raine reassured him softly. "And I'm sure you would have continued to do well if your priorities hadn't been forcefully rearranged. It's okay. You'll get that progress back."

Percy sighed, and then sat up and started working on the next picture. Akhlys and her poison. "Yeah. I hope so. Uh, spray bottles. You know the kind you use for cleaners? Spray bottles and mops get me every time, which is super embarrassing."

"It's funny what our minds can latch onto during trauma," Raine agreed. Percy relaxed a little. "How do you react to them?"

"It kind of varies," Percy admitted. "Most of the time I just start crying. They, uh, they make me think of Bob, the titan that helped us in Tartarus." Raine frowned, and Percy tried to smile. "Yeah, I know, there wasn't originally a titan named Bob. It's... it's Iapetus. I never told you that story. I'll get around to it."

"When you're ready," she agreed. "How else do you sometimes feel?"

"Sometimes I get mad," Percy said. "I kicked a mop bucket down a hall last week. Uh, an empty mop bucket, but still. And sometimes I just feel like garbage. Like, it makes me remember how much I hate myself."

Raine made a note.

"I know," Percy sighed. "It's... damn it. Um, weird."

"Many triggers look strange to outsiders," Raine said calmly. "But this one appears to be an especially intense one for you, so I wanted to make a note to spend particular time on it."

Percy didn't know whether to be more embarrassed or grateful. "Oh, okay."

"Would you prefer if I recorded these sessions and took my notes later?" Raine asked, concerned. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

Percy shook his head. "I kinda like knowing when something stands out to you. I'd probably worry more if I didn't know." He fidgeted with the pencil, then got back to work. Akhlys was ugly. He shoved the half-finished picture out of the way and started drawing Bob instead. Mostly his mop and spray bottle. "There's the biology thing. It's, um, mostly the heart, really, little bit the lungs and the blood." He shuddered. "Brings me right back to the heart of Tartarus and then I can't stop thinking about it until I drive myself nuts."

"Is it primarily a fear response?" Raine asked. Percy nodded. "Anything secondary?"

Percy shrugged. "Disgust, I guess. But it's mostly the fear."

Raine nodded. "Any others?"

Percy frowned down. "Not that I'm sure of. I'm pretty sure I'm still missing at least a couple, though, 'cause there've been episodes that none of these can explain."

"It'll take time to identify them all," Raine said. "You've done very well to figure out as many as you have in so little time. How are you doing with the pictures for your trauma box?"

"Pretty good," Percy said decisively, tilting up the edge of the stack to show her. "I've had to take breaks from drawing a couple of them, but I think the only ones of those I have left are Akhlys and Bob. And that's at least half because I hate drawing people."

"You can draw a shadow figure if you want," Raine said. "What matters is that you recognize it."

Percy smiled a little, thinking of Bob as a play-doh blob with a mop and spray bottle. "Okay."

"And your self-soothing box?" Raine asked.

"Mom helped me pack it," Percy said. "It's mostly ready to go, except for the stuff I use a lot. Fang and the fidget spinner and things like that. My duffle bag too."

"Very good. Have you made a decision about medication yet?"

Percy dropped the pencil and hugged himself, unhappy and uncomfortable. Soon after the goal-setting conversation, Raine had brought this up. She'd recommended a prescription that was supposed to combine anti-anxiety and anti-nausea medications. If he agreed, he'd probably take it all through his stay at St. Joan's and maybe for a few weeks after.

"Can't I just take the anti-nausea?" he asked the wall.

"You can," Raine said gently, "but your anxiety and stress are the primary causes of your vomiting. They'll be more effective in combination."

Percy's throat was sore. He'd been vomiting most nights and frequent days for more than two months now. "Annabeth isn't throwing up from stress."

"People's bodies react differently to stress," Raine reminded him. "I expect there are other symptoms that she is experiencing that you aren't."

Well... yeah. Annabeth had been getting stress headaches and joint pain that he hadn't. "...I can stop whenever, right? I don't have to take it even if I say yes?"

"I'd prefer that you let me know if you decide to stop, so that I can keep an eye on your mood," Raine told him, "but yes, you can stop at any time."

He lowered his head. For some reason, it felt like admitting defeat. "Okay. I'll try it. Thanks."

"Hey," Percy said to the group, pressed back against the furthest corner with his knees pulled up. "I'm Percy. I'm dyslexic and ADHD, and now also PTSD I guess. I did a stint here last year, but then more stuff happened and now I'm all fucked up again, so I'm back. Don't yell at me, don't sneak up on me, and really don't startle me for fun."

He briefly missed camp. Throwing a startled punch at someone there just resulted in a playful wrestling match, and everyone did it at least once. He wouldn't be that lucky here.

"Yikes, bro," said one of the girls, and then did a mock salute at him, accidentally revealing some thin scars across the width of her arm – looked relatively fresh. He smiled wryly.

"Hello, Percy," Cassia said with warmth, though it didn't hide the concern in her eyes. "I'm sorry that things haven't been going well for you, but you were a pleasure to have here last time, and I'm sure that won't change."

He flashed her a weary smile, folded his arms around his knees, and leaned on them, watching the others as they took their turns.

"I'm Amethyst," offered a different girl, the one with dramatic eyeliner and hair that had definitely been dyed that shade of black. "Ex-Catholic, fuck the system, I don't for a second believe you're as basic as you look."

Percy couldn't help it. He laughed. Amethyst flashed him a smirk back, then leaned against the wall behind her.

"Ruya," the next girl said softly, curled up almost as tight as Percy. A hijab was wrapped around her head and neck.

"Sofia," said a third, waving one hand casually. "Hate dresses, love cars, remind me to teach you how to change a tire if you don't know already." Also clearsighted, if Percy remembered right.

"My name's Abel, I'm Sofia's spiritual opposite," one of the two boys said, fiddling awkwardly with a clip in his hair. "Hate sports, love needlework, please don't ask me to play sports with you, I'd die."

Percy flashed him a thumbs up, smiling despite himself.

"Lucille, call me Lucy," said the next girl, a plump one with short, cute hair. She smiled at him nervously. "Christian-raised." Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Also lesbian. You see why I'm here." Percy winced in sympathy.

"I'm Mike," added the other boy. Wearing a letterman jacket even away from school, Percy noted. "I'm dyslexic too. I'd like to play sports with you, but I'm not allowed to keep score for therapy reasons." Clearsighted number two.

Percy granted him a smile. "That's cool, casual games are fun too."

That left the girl who'd spoken first, who smiled at him sheepishly when he looked at her.

"Oh, Violetta," she said flippantly. "I'm usually in the art house when we have free time, good luck getting me out of there, but I like company."

"Thank you, everyone," Cassia said. "Today's icebreaker is going to be a bit of a surprise. I'll pass around a roll of toilet paper, and each of you can tear off however many pieces you like."

She received a few vague sounds of agreement, and turned away to retrieve a toilet paper roll from where she'd stowed it on a shelf, just out of easy sight. She presented it to Lucy, who frowned at it for a moment before neatly tearing off three pieces and passing it along.

Ruya took four pieces. Mike tore off a handful without looking. Percy watched the roll progress around the room, sometimes being tossed between people too far apart, and caught it when it reached him. Thinking of the shitty toilet paper Mr. D had picked out for Camp Half-Blood, Percy grabbed a pretty big handful and tossed it to Cassia, whose eyes were glittering with foreboding amusement.

"Thank you, Percy," Cassia said, tucking the toilet roll away. "We won't really need the toilet paper for anything, but it's a fun way of getting everyone to pick a number without telling them why. What we'll be doing next is going around the room, and each of you will tell one personal fact about yourself for each square of tissue you took."

Percy looked down. "Argh," he said. "I'm being punished for my summer camp's bad toilet paper." A few of the others laughed at him.

Cassia chuckled too. "I won't make you do it all at once," she said. "But you need to take turns until you've placed every square of toilet paper in front of you. Who's willing to start?"

The others glanced at each other ruefully, and a few seconds of awkward quiet passed before Percy sighed and tore off a square to put in front of him.

"May as well get started," he said wryly, earning a few laughs from the others. To Cassia, he asked, "Uh, on a scale of party tricks to trauma, how serious do you want these to be?"

Cassia gave him a grateful smile. "As serious as you're comfortable with," she said. "Things you would tell someone trying to get to know you as more than a casual acquaintance. That you were very close to your grandmother, or that you don't want people to make fun of certain things."

Percy snorted. "Thanks for the hint," he said. Cassia smiled unapologetically. "Alright, exposition the first: I don't like people making jokes about my intelligence."

Mike raised a hand. "Question, are we not supposed to call you dumb, or are we not supposed to tease you about being smart?" He shrugged sheepishly at Percy's confused glower. "It's a genuine question! I've heard people do both."

Percy let his hackles fall. Yeah, okay, they teased Annabeth for being smart often enough. "Uh, I meant don't call me dumb, but I'm not really comfortable with the other one either." Frankly, he'd probably still assume they were calling him dumb.

Mike made finger guns, then moved one to point at Amethyst. "You're up, girl."

They went around the circle, and despite the new faces, it was comfortingly familiar. Amethyst was gay. Ruya lived with her grandmother. Sofia still wore dresses to funerals, but not weddings. Abel had an identical twin. And so on.

Percy kind of had fun choosing what he wanted to share too. He told them that he lived with his mother and stepfather, that he'd gone to a lot of private schools, that he was counselor at a summer camp that he adored. He said that he was afraid of drowning, and that he'd been in a coma for a few months. He explained the medication Raine had put him on to make him stop stress-vomiting, which saved him an explanation later, since he'd be taking it at mealtimes.

"Dude, how stressed do you have to be to regularly throw up from it?" Sofia demanded.

"If I tried to answer that, I'd probably throw up again," Percy told her.

For obvious reasons, each of them ran through their toilet paper at different rates. Lucy and Ruya were done quickly, but the last few rounds were just Mike and Percy going back and forth, and then just Percy for a couple. It was embarrassing, but fun, for the most part.

"Aaaand my parents met at the beach," Percy announced, dropping his last square into the pile. "Done!" Some of the others golf-clapped, so Percy did a mock bow.

"Thank you, you all did very well," Cassia praised. "I'll have to include a lesson on self-care and medication soon – I didn't realize so many of you needed them." In addition to Percy, Sofia took painkillers for severe cramps, Lucy was on an antidepressant, and Abel was on some medication for seizures. "We have some time still, so why don't you all pick out some board games and play for the rest of the block?"

Percy smiled a little. Board game days weren't super common, reserved for new members, but they were fun. "Nothing with reading! Anyone up for Uno?"

"New kid gets first pick," Mike said. "But after that- Mouse Trap?"

Percy grinned.