Poseidon leaned against the counter cradling a cup of coffee while he watched Amphitrite flip pancakes. It's only five in the morning, but he wanted to be up before his sons left for school.
"Poseidon, I don't think it's a good idea to bring Percy to the aquarium." Amphitrite mumbled flipping a pancake.
"I have my doubts too, dear, but we desperately need the help, no matter how minor it can be. It gives him something to do, rather than being locked up here."
Amphitrite pursed her lips before turning back to the pancakes.
Percy walked down the steps with his crutches rubbing his eyes. He's damp from his shower but was dressed and ready for school.
"Good morning Percy" Amphitrite said with a smile.
"Good morning Amphitrite, dad" Percy greeted sitting groggily at the table.
"Good morning Percy, Do you want orange juice or apple juice, Amphitrite is cooking some pancakes." Poseidon asked opening the fridge, ready to grab the juice Percy will choose.
"Orange juice is fine." Poseidon grabbed the requested juice and poured it into a glass, while Amphitrite served him some pancakes.
Percy quickly ate his breakfast at surprising speed, and hobbled off to the living room as Triton appeared.
Triton grabbed a plate and placed the cooked pancakes on it before he doused them with half of a bottle of syrup. If he saw his mother's eye roll he didn't acknowledge it.
Before Triton took a bite, he tied his long hair back to avoid getting syrup stuck into it while eating. Triton has always had long hair, and he's strangely protective over it. He has panic attacks every time Poseidon jokes about taking him to the barbershop. Triton only lets his mother trim it from time to time. The only time he had short hair was when Luke cut his ponytail off in third grade, Poseidon cringed at the memory remembering Triton's tantrum.
On the topic of Luke, "Let's make this the year we don't have any problems with Luke." Poseidon ordered.
Triton frowned stabbing his pancakes with a fork, "It's not like I start them in the first place."
It's safe to say that Luke and Triton never gotten along. They have this ongoing feud with each other since kindergarten. Poseidon has no clue what started it, but the tension grows stronger between them each year. Triton's been suspended three separate times because of Luke and even got them both held back a grade.
Poseidon let his comment slide as his ears picked up his younger brother's voice from the tv.
"Good morning New York! We're waking up to a clear Monday morning, it is now 62 degrees, and it will rise up to a high of 83 degrees later this afternoon. I'll be back-"
"It's too early to hear that voice" Poseidon groaned. Zeus is the local meteorologist, and he presents each day's forecast on the news.
Out of all of Poseidon's siblings, Zeus is the one who gets under his skin the most. And that's saying a lot, due to his sister Demeter and her nonstop talk about grain.
"Percy are you ready for school?" Poseidon called, seeing Triton finished his breakfast. Triton got up and started to gather his backpack and keys.
"Yeah." Percy answered as he hobbled in the kitchen with his crutches, his backpack slung over his shoulders.
"Oh I forgot! Triton why don't you take Percy with you to work after school." Poseidon called from the fridge grabbing himself more creamer to add to the coffee.
Triton's eyes widen, while Percy face contorted in confusion. "What's he going to do? All he can do is just stand. There's nothing for him to do if both of his hands are using the crutches to get around." Triton asked.
"I'll find something you can do Percy. It'll be a great bonding experience."
Poseidon had to hold back a laugh as both Triton and Percy had a shared expression of horror.
Percy sat down in the passenger seat while Triton started the car engine. Percy leaned his head against the window watching the New York scenery go by. He jumped in his seat when Triton's voice filled air.
"Now remember I don't know you, and you don't know me. We have different last names since you took your mother's name, so hopefully no one links us together. We should get there early enough so they won't see us together."
Percy fought the urge to scoff at his reasoning. Despite them having different last names, they both inherited their father's looks. They have the same hair, except Triton's hair was longer and was almost always tied up. They had identical sea-green eyes, and they both have tanned skin. Somebody will connect the dots at some point.
Instead Percy nodded silently and prayed that the awkward car ride will end. In reality the drive should take fifteen minutes in New York traffic - One of the longest fifteen minutes of Percy's life.
Triton pulled into a parking lot in front of a rather large building. The bolded letters on the center read GOODE HIGH. What could be so good about a school that you have to name it Goode? Percy chuckled to himself.
Triton already slammed the car door before Percy even processed what was going on. He mumbled out a curse and quickly grabbed his crutches from the backseat and opened the car door. Percy stood up so fast he almost toppled over face first into the pavement, luckily he held his balance with the crutches. Amidst Percy's struggle, he looked up and Triton was already at the front doors, not even sparing him a glance back to see if he needed any help. Figures.
Percy finally made it to the entrance of school and Triton was nowhere to be seen. Probably already at the pool. No tour, no help, nothing. That's his brother.
The entrance of the school is grand. On either side of the walls there's a long line of trophies the school has earned over the years. Along with photos of the students who earn them.
Once the trophy cases reaches its end, there's two set of stairs on the left hand and right hand side of the wall. And behind the staircases are two different hallways filled with lockers and classrooms.
Percy sighed and trudged down a hallway in hopes of finding the main office. The sound of his crutches clicking against the hardwood floors filled the quiet hallway. The halls were were empty given the time of day. Was it even day if the sun hasn't rose? The majority of the classrooms he passed were dark and empty, except for the occasional room with an early-bird-teacher catching up on their work. He didn't bother to go and ask for directions from them as they seemed too busy with their last minute lesson plan.
Percy continued his way down the hallway observing the different ways he could get around without being pummeled. Another clicking sound became apparent around the corner. Percy concluded the pattern of the clicking noise were footsteps as it came closer to the corner.
A young women rounded the corner, her head was tilted down as her hands are frantically flipping through papers. She almost passed him without noticing that another person was here. Percy cleared his throat to get her attention.
Her head snapped up, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. I was too busy looking through these last minute plans, and I- Oh my!" She cut off after noticing that half of his leg was missing.
His face quickly heats up in embarrassment, but he managed to get his question out, "Do you know where I can find the main office. I-I'm new here".
She tucked a loose caramel colored curl behind her ear, " Oh- um.. Of course! Its the door to the left just behind the main entrance staircase. Do you need help finding your way there?" She stuttered through her shock before realigning herself.
"No thank you, I think I just passed it. Thank you Miss.."
"Miss Atlas, or Calypso. I don't like being called by my last name even though it's professional. Most of my students call me Calypso. I'm an environmental science teacher by the way."
"Well thank you again Miss, um Calypso. I'll find my way".
With that Percy turned around and made his way back to the entrance. True to Calypso's word, the main office is hidden behind the stairwell. The lights were on which he took as an invitation to enter. Inside was a large cubicle and behind it was a tiny hallway.
"May I help you?" Came a sharp voice from the cubicle, there's a middle age woman typing at a computer with her glasses at the tip of her nose staring at him.
"Um, yes, I'm new here and-"
"There's 737 new freshmen here, what makes you so special? I thought the principle told you all to meet at the auditorium." She sighed and went back to her typing.
Percy bit his tongue at her interruption, "Ma'am I'm not a freshman, I'm a transfer from California and I need my schedule so I can go to class."
She glanced up and down at Percy, her gaze lingering on my short limb, "Ah you're that student. You're early, usually kids like you are late. Hold one minute..."she typed the rest of her sentence before rolling her chair out, "Nightshade the new disabled kid is here. Are you ready to give him a tour?" She called into the hallway.
Percy bit his tongue until he tasted blood. Another pair of footsteps joined the room from the hallway. It was another young women with a dark blouse and dress pants with her dark hair pulled up into a messy bun. Unlike the rude secretary she gave him a genuine smile.
"Are you Perseus Jackson?" She asked politely.
"Yes, but I go by Percy" he corrected.
"Alright Percy, I'm your counselor Miss Nightshade. I'll be giving your a tour around the school and feel free to ask any questions"
She led Percy back out into the school's hallways.
"I want to also apologize for Ms. Em's behavior, she's not really a morning's person"
Percy held back a snort, and followed his counselor throughout the school. He underestimated how big the school really is. There's six floors with two different basements, and the passing periods are only six minutes to get to class to class.
"Well, I showed almost everything that you should need. If I missed anything I'm sure your brother should fill in the rest of the blanks for you-"
Percy kept his mouth shut, knowing Triton will not fill any blanks for him.
"-Oh I almost forgot." She grabbed a key from her pocket, "This is the key to the elevators. The elevator won't open unless you have the key. Every teacher should also have the key just in case you forgot it or something."
The counselor ruffled through some papers before handing him one, "Here's your schedule, we already walked by all the classrooms you have. The last thing is your locker. It's on the first floor right by the wall of acknowledgements. Here's your number and combo. Do you have any questions?"
Percy shook his head as he was handed the keys and the locker combination.
"Good my office is in the main office if you have any questions or concerns. It's great to have you here Percy!" The counselor waved before she walked back to the main office.
Percy looked at his schedule. Instead of the block scheduling he was used to in California where they alternate classes every other day. He now has the same nine periods every day. Luckily for him the destination between each class wasn't horrible, so he should make it to class on time.
Percy headed to find his locker, it was fairly close to the entrance of the school. It's a small locker that was on the top half of the wall. He picked up the paper with his combo on it and opened his locker. As he was setting aside some notebooks in his locker he heard two familiar voices.
"Alright Jason the auditorium is right down the stairs to your left. Remember to text me if you get lost and if anyone gives you any trouble."
"Ok Thals, I will. I got to go, Piper is asking where I'm at."
Percy froze. He hasn't spoken to his cousins since before the accident. After he got to New York he was too busy thinking about his new life, his brain totally spaced about the rest of his family. Will they be mad at him since he didn't attempt to make contact with them?
Percy shut his locker and took a breath. Prepping all the courage he had, he asked, "Thalia?"
Thalia turned. She didn't change at all from last year. She wore a black Green Day T-shirt paired with black ripped skinny jeans and combat boots. Her black hair is a choppy mess falling below her chin, and her eyes are a sparkling blue pop in contrast to her thick black eyeliner and mascara.
Her eyes turned to surprise to fury. "Perseus Jackson what the hell are you doing here? Why did you go off the grid since May? You stopped answering any calls or texts, your father as well. We've been trying to talk to you all summer! Aren't you supposed to be in California at this time? Why haven't-" Her Eyes widen even further than Percy thought was possible. "Your leg! What the fuck happened to your leg?!"
Zeus - (God of the sky/wind/lightning/thunder) works as a meteorologist to track thunderstorms and help navigate planes out of these storms hence the family discount on flights.
Calypso Atlas is the environmental teacher - Calypso likes to plant in the original series, (The Battle of the Labyrinth and The House of Hades).
Miss. Nightshade the counselor- Zoë Nightshade, from the Titans Curse
Ms. Em the secretary -Aunty Em (Medusa) book one; The Lightning Thief.