Paul Blofis has walked in on a lot of things since meeting Sally Jackson.
He knew some oddities were to be expected when dating a single mother. And, when Sally had told him over the phone a few weeks into their relationship that she'd be taking in a young girl to live with her and her son, he knew their relationship would be far from conventional. But, he'd always been the adventurous one of his family. And, there was no way he was letting Sally Jackson go - especially not over a selfless act like opening her apartment to a homeless eleven year old.
But, when the time had come for him to meet the kids, Paul walked into that cafe with very muddled expectations on what he might find.
Sally had told him stories about Percy - always with a defensive gleam in her eye when topics like his expulsions and school infractions came into conversation. She'd painted a picture in his head of the typical troublemaker with a heart of gold. He'd had enough of those in his own classes at school to be able to sympathize with Percy's situation. He figured he could expect the regular awkwardness between a teenage boy and the man dating his mother. The thought made him cringe, but it wasn't anything Paul couldn't handle.
When it came to Juliette, Sally hadn't shared quite as much. She always had a troubled expression when the girl's family situation came into question, and all Paul had been able to glean was that Julie's absent mother wasn't Sally's favorite person. He knew she was Percy's cousin on his father's side. Any details of her personality never really came up beyond the fond smile Sally would get when she was mentioned.
But, walking into that cafe to find the two kids covered in dust and wearing clothing that looked like it had been lowered into a vat of hungry pirannahs was not on his list of things to watch out for.
Sally had looked mortified, but in a fondly exasperated way that was pretty much handled with a swat on the back of their heads and a whispered order for them to be more careful.
"We crashed our bikes." Percy had explained with an easy smile that reminded Paul a little too much of a shark to do anything for his rampant nerves.
Paul had seen pictures of the boy off Sally's phone over the last few months, but they certainly didn't do him justice. The fourteen year old was nothing out of the ordinary at first glance, dark haired with a shock of grey and a windswept look that suggested he spent plenty of time on a skateboard. But, there was something about the depth of those green eyes that unsettled Paul. Percy's hands were calloused and scarred when he reached out for his utensils, and the relaxed posture he'd slumped into was calculated in a way that screamed "danger!" in Paul's subconscious. He was funny and polite, but his eyes tracked everything. Every movement Paul made, from a sip of his drink to a nervous adjustment of his vest.
Juliette seemed in every way Percy's opposite. While Paul had been expecting her to be the mysterious one, she had instead been warm and forthcoming about anything he asked her. Although she'd spent the first ten minutes of the meal loudly lamenting the loss of her favorite sweatshirt - white with little cartoon suns- she'd spent the rest of it excitedly chattering about her new place on her school's cheer squad while Sally and Percy listened with indulgent smiles. Juliette looked absolutely nothing like her cousin. Her hair was long and strawberry blonde, her eyes a bright apple green, and her smiles frequent and genuine. But, when she reached out to sip her strawberry milkshake, there were callouses on her fingers as well. When she talked animatedly with her hands, her sleeves slid down to reveal a multitude of scars down her arms. So, maybe there was just as much mystery to be found in Juliette Aster as Percy Jackson.
After that first successful meeting, things with Sally quickly got more serious.
He'd had a whole proposal planned out - roses ordered, the ingredients for a home cooked meal burning a hole through a shelf in his refrigerator - and yet the words had just slipped from him one evening in her living room. The kids had gone to bed, and the two of them were lounging on the couch editing each other's papers for class. Sally's hair was up for once, little ringlets having come loose and fallen to brush against her cheeks. They must have tickled because she'd kept swatting at them irritably between clicks on her laptop. Her pajama pants had ridden up to her knees, and she'd shoved her icy feet beneath his calves ruthlessly the moment he sat down. Her blue eyes were focused, sparkling. She was so beautiful. It had just slipped out.
When he'd said it, she'd looked starstruck. And then, she'd looked sad.
Paul had left the apartment that night the most confused he'd ever felt, dizzy from the weight of the information Sally had just dropped on him. From the weight of the ring she'd insisted he keep until he was done processing it all.
Greek gods.
Poseidon. That man he'd met at Percy's fifteenth birthday. That was the Poseidon.
He'd done as Sally asked. He took a few days off from work to sit around his apartment surrounded by all the literature he could scrounge up on Greek gods and heroes. He'd laid in bed at night and thought through every strange interaction he'd had with Percy and Juliette over the last year.
Like he said, Paul has walked in on crazy things since meeting the Jacksons.
There was one time he and Sally had gotten home from dinner and found the kids in an argument in the kitchen. It had been funny to Paul, watching them roughhouse with the random objects they'd chosen as weapons - a banana and a serving spoon - but, Sally had freaked out like they were holding each other at knife point over the last pack of PopTarts. Paul had brushed the occurrence off as Sally being tired and done with children for the night, but was there more to that situation that Paul hadn't understood?
There were dozens of strange events like that one that came to mind, but just as many normal ones. Coming into the apartment late at night to find Julie and Percy watching movies in matching puffy headbands and mud masks. Driving to pick up Juliette from cheer with Percy in the passenger seat, ranting about whatever "stupid" book they were reading in his freshman English class. Passing Sally a cup of coffee while she and Juliette teased Percy about the phone number their young waitress had just slipped the boy while waiting for their food at breakfast.
Remembering all of those days. Remembering the emptiness he'd felt before he'd had this family to share them with. That made Paul's decision as easy as breathing.
So, by now, with a wedding ring on his finger and months of practice walking in on things, a visit to Juliette's principal's office is something he's got in the bag. Even if this is the first real "legal guardian" thing he's ever done for her.
He can see her in the window of the door before he even goes in and can already tell this is going to be a doozy. There are four people in the office:
A woman around Paul's age in a suit with a look on her face like she'd swallowed a lemon,
A hunched over boy with a burly build and a cast on his right arm glaring daggers at Paul's stepdaughter across the room,
A man Paul can assume to be the principal sitting on the other side of the desk and looking very much like he'd like to be anywhere else, preferably with a cup of coffee in his hand,
And then, of course, Juliette, in her white long sleeved top and hot pink tennis skirt. She's got her legs crossed casually as she peers into a compact mirror and fixes the little roses she'd drawn into her eyeliner.
Oh, boy. Paul can feel the headache coming on already.
He pushes the door open with a quiet knock. Three heads turn to him. Juliette's too busy to bother. "Hello. I'm Paul Blofis. I'm here for Juliette." He introduces.
The principal sags a bit from the break in tension. "Hello, Mr. Blofis, please have a seat." The man gestures to the chair beside Julie, and Paul crosses the room to take it. He sits down next to the girl, and she shoots him an apologetic smile.
"Hey, Paul. Sorry to make you come out here." She says lightly. Then, she returns to her eyeliner.
Paul and Mr. Angora (or so the plaque on his desk reads) blink at her owlishly. Paul clears his throat. "So...what's going on?"
The boy and his mother immediately start yelling over each other. Their words are blending together too much to understand. Paul sits awkwardly until Mr. Angora silences them with a raised hand. The principal addresses Juliette.
"Miss Aster," He begins. The teen hums in response, eyes on her mirror. "Would you like to explain?"
The mother of the boy scoffs. Julie rolls her eyes and closes the mirror. She turns to Paul.
"I broke his wrist." She states.
Paul blinks. Julie shrugs at him and digs out her lip gloss to reapply.
The woman throws her hands up. "So, she admits it! I want the police down here immediately."
"Mrs. Jeffreys-"
"No! This is absolutely ridiculous! I've seen this little bitch's record-"
"Okay, now hold on!" Paul cuts in. "You watch your language, ma'am. She's fourteen, for God's sake."
The woman stands up abruptly and points at Paul's stepdaughter. He rises as well so her finger hits his chest instead.
"Your kid has been harassing mine for months. I want something done now, or I swear I will sue you and this entire school for his medical bills." The woman spits at him. Paul is very confused.
"What are you talking about? Months?" He asks. Paul turns to Juliette, who's kicking her pink heels together and looking bored. "Juliette, can you please explain what is going on?"
"I'll tell you what is going on-"
"I asked Juliette." Paul snaps. The woman reels back like he'd slapped her.
Juliette sighs like they're all being very dramatic about her having snapped the bones of a boy twice her size. "I haven't been harassing him. He's been harassing me. He's been creepy and gross, and I got sick of it." She waves her manicured hand dismissively.
The boy sits up now, looking enraged. "That is not true. You just attacked me out of nowhere! And you put your freaking...your period stuff in my water!" He shouts at her, cheeks pink with anger.
Paul is even more confused now. "Period stuff?" He looks at Julie. She's smirking. "Juliette, I am begging you. Please explain what is going on here."
She snorts. "Oh yeah, I forgot I did that. That was funny."
Mrs. Jeffreys looks like she's about to have an aneurysm. "This filthy girl needs to be out of this school. I mean it."
Paul turns his stern gaze back to Mr. Angora. "Aren't there cameras in the hallways? Why don't we just look at that if Julie won't talk?"
The principal nods, sighs, and tiredly rakes his hands down his face. Paul can understand. He loves Juliette dearly, but she has put him on the verge of exhausted tears many a time as well. "Okay, so here's the situation. I will have a secretary pull up the security footage. As of right now, Juliette, since you refuse to tell your side of the story, consequences will need to be dealt for the harm you admit to causing Liam. Is that acceptable to you for the meantime, Mrs. Jeffreys?"
The woman doesn't look satisfied, but she plops back into her chair and crosses her arms. Paul sits as well and looks at Liam Jeffreys. The boy has gone a bit pale.
"Now," Mr. Angora continues after leaning out to dispatch a coworker for the tapes. "We are a zero tolerance school for violence. It is my understanding that you caused the first harm, correct, Juliette?"
Julie crosses her arms petulantly, her first sign of annoyance this whole interaction. She turns her head in abstention, and Paul might cry. This girl is going to make his hair fall out.
The principal seems to share his thoughts and just sighs. He motions a "come in" gesture at the door, and a mousy woman in a floral dress trots in carrying a laptop. She sets it in the middle of the desk where all of them can see it and presses play.
The video is a bit grainy, but it's in color at least. It's centered down a hallway, where Juliette is standing at her locker. Her crochet messenger bag is hanging from her shoulder as she transfers notebooks between it and the cubby hole. Pink earbuds hang from her ears and Paul spots the walkman Percy's been looking for for days hooked to the waistband of her skirt.
Liam Jeffreys walks by with a group of friends, all of whom turn Juliette's way as they pass, slapping each other's shoulders and laughing. Julie's too immersed in her music to pay them any attention. The group gets about ten feet down the hall from her and stops, all of them pushing at Liam Jeffreys to nudge him towards where Juliette is shutting the locker and fiddling with her flower shaped combo lock.
Liam lets his friends shove him forward, laughing and trotting up behind Juliette. He presses himself up against her back and places a hand on her waist, reaching up with the other to remove one of her earbuds and likely whisper something. He doesn't make it that far. She stomps on his foot and turns around to shove him away by the chest.
Paul glances at the boy where he sits in the office. He looks about five seconds from bolting. Paul grits his teeth and looks back at the video.
Liam's mouth forms the word "bitch," and Juliette shakes her head at him. The camera is facing the back of her head, but her arms move like she's responding, and then she turns around pointedly and starts to walk away. Liam glances at his jeering friends and then back at Juliette. He smirks, pulls out his phone, and speeds up to match her pace. There must only be a fraction of a second between when the flash of Liam's phone camera goes off under Juliette's skirt and when her demigod agility kicks in and she has him by the wrist.
Video Juliette snatches the phone from his hand, presumably deletes the picture (although she struggles for a minute), and then throws the device onto the hallway floor. Liam makes a move to grab her before she can smash it, and Juliette twists his captive wrist. The pop of his bone snapping is loud enough to be picked up by the camera's mic.
The office is silent when Paul leans away from the laptop. He looks over at Mrs. Jeffreys, who is pale and shocked. Liam Jeffreys is looking at his mother in terror, his good hand twisted anxiously into the fabric of his jeans. Juliette looks...nervous. Sheepish. Like she's waiting for her sentencing. Paul folds his hands into his best "teacher pose," and faces Mr. Angora.
"So," He begins. "It looks like what Julie did was in self defense."
Juliette's head snaps up. She looks at him with wide eyes.
Mr. Angora nods. "Yes. That may be so."
Mrs. Jeffreys lets out a sharp breath. "Look, what Liam did or not, that girl still just cost me thousands in medical bills. She is not getting out of this with a slap on the wrist." She snaps.
Paul takes a deep breath to keep from screaming at her. That probably wouldn't be productive. "I think the concern here is that Liam made her feel threatened enough to need to resort to violence at all. Should she have allowed herself to be violated by your son?" He challenges.
Juliette's mouth is hanging open. Paul doesn't think he's ever seen her speechless before.
Mr. Angora steps in then. "I can say without a doubt that Liam Jeffreys is no longer welcome at this school, ma'am."
Silence.
Then, screeching. Mrs. Jeffreys and her son are both on their feet, shouting at the principal. Mr. Angora just looks past them at Paul. "You two may leave. Juliette will not be facing consequences for this altercation. Please feel free to check her out early for the day; it will be excused." He says kindly.
Paul's chest deflates in relief. He looks over to smile at Juliette, and his heart constricts again. There are tears in her eyes. She's looking around the room, mostly between the principal and Paul, like they're speaking Pig Latin at her. Her hands are clutched tightly on the hem on her skirt, her knuckles white. Paul clears his throat and her gaze snaps to his.
"You ready to go, kiddo?" He asks softly.
She seems to swallow back the tears and smiles hesitantly. She nods and gathers her things, which Paul takes to carry to the car for her. They stop briefly at the front desk to check Juliette out with the lady in the floral dress (which Julie compliments and gets a butterscotch for her troubles) and then head to the Prius he'd parked in the teacher lot by habit.
The drive back to the apartment is the longest Paul's ever heard her be silent in one sitting. So, he drives past their usual parking space. She looks at him in confusion, and he shrugs with a mischievous grin. A minute down the road, he pulls up in front of an ice cream truck instead and leaves Julie in the car with the radio running while he gets them their usual - pecan covered Drumstick for him, pink sorbet PushPop for her. She rolls her eyes at him when he gets back in the car.
"Percy's gonna be pissed we came without him." She warns, accepting the ice cream.
Paul shrugs. "He'll survive. Besides, he ate an entire bag of skittles yesterday. If I give him any more sugar, Sally will make me sleep on the couch when his teeth fall out." He jokes.
Julie chuckles, but returns to her silence. Paul lets her stew while he wracks his brain for something to say. He hadn't planned on being a dad so early. Or stepdad, he guesses. Step uncle? Whatever he is to her, he has no experience in parenting, and having emotional conversations about boys with a teenage girl feels like jumping into the deep end without any arm floaties on. He bites into his ice cream in hopes a brain freeze might generate an idea.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks.
Oh, come on, Paul. That was such a cliche.
She looks at him from the corner of her eye. "Didn't we just do that?"
Well, touche. Wait, no.
"I think I talked about it. You definitely did not." Paul points out. "Why didn't you just explain what happened in the first place?" He asks.
Julie blinks at him in confusion. "I didn't think it would matter."
What? "Why would it not matter? That boy was way out of line."
Juliette shrugs. "I mean, I guess I know that. That's why I broke his wrist." She sighs and starts picking at the wrapper on the now empty PushPop. "I guess I'm just used to being the one in trouble. Even when I think I did the right thing."
Paul frowns at that. "What do you mean?" He asks hesitantly.
Julie looks up at him with big green eyes, and Paul is startlingly reminded just how young this little girl is. She studies him for a moment, contemplative. When she finally speaks, there's a quiver in her voice. It's cautious. Like these are words she's scared to speak out loud.
"Did Sally tell you about my curse?" She asks.
Paul feels dread creep through him. He shakes his head. "No."
Julie nods like that's the answer she'd expected. She sits up a little straighter and tries to look nonchalant. She fails.
"So, basically, when Aphrodite kids are born...it's because our mom fell in love with a human, right? And the love she felt for that mortal became so overwhelming for her that she expelled it from her body and shaped it into a child. Child gets gifted to the mortal she loved, Aphrodite moves on now that they're out of her system, child grows up, and boom - demigod." She punctuates her explanation by miming an explosion.
Paul nods. He thinks he's getting the hang of taking all this mythology stuff in stride.
Julie takes a breath. "But, I'm...different."
He turns to face her fully in the car. "Different how?"
Julie starts picking at her nail polish, flaking some of it off onto her lap. "There's rare cases sometimes where a mortal doesn't love Aphrodite back. Usually, it's because they're under another god's influence, but sometimes a mortal is just immune to her power. When that happens," Julie pauses to find the right words. "If a mortal breaks her heart, then those negative feelings...they build up the same way the positive ones do. They weaken her until she's able to expel them. So, she extracts them and makes a child like she usually does."
Paul can see where this is going now. He never thought he could be angry at the goddess of love after finding what he has with Sally. He was wrong.
"Usually, Heartbreak Children are monsters. They come out so twisted with dark magic that they aren't even able to live on Earth. They spend their whole lives in Tartarus. But, sometimes, a kid comes out differently. As a demigod. Like me." Juliette has given up on nonchalance at this point. She's hugging her knees to her chest.
"We aren't like our siblings, Paul." She whispers. Tears start to fall, smearing the red roses she'd so carefully painted by her eyes. "We don't draw strength from love. We feed on pain. Anguish. Heartbreak." She lets out a sound crossed between a laugh and a sob. Paul's chest aches.
"I had to leave camp early last summer because so many of us died that the whole area was thick with it. It was like waking up and downing a hundred shots of espresso every morning. Like having fire ants under my skin." She lets out a shaky breath. "But, sometimes it felt so good. Like I was invincible. That scared me.
"So many of us go bad because of that feeling. Heartbreak Children are rare, but the ones that survive tend to get addicted to that rush. They start to seek it out. To cause it." She looks at him pointedly. "You're a history buff. Lizzie Borden? Axed her family to death? Yeah. Heartbreak child. Went crazy from the power. Look at what that did to the people around her."
"You're not an axe murderer, Julie."
"Not an axe murderer, no."
Paul freezes.
"Does that mean...?" He doesn't know how to ask the question.
Julie's eyes go distant. Rain starts to fall on the windshield. She tracks the drops down until they disappear below the wipers. "Not humans." She whispers.
He manages to hold in his sigh of relief. "Monsters?" He asks.
Juliette nods. "Not how you're imagining, though. They were good. Innocent." Anger flashes across her face, and she looks at him sharply. Paul feels frozen in his seat. For the first time, he sees the warrior who owns all of those scars and calluses.
"We have to win this war." She states.
The rain picks up, drawing their attention. Paul crumples his ice cream wrapper and exhales. He isn't sure what to say. He goes with, "We'd better get home before our parking spot gets hijacked."
Julie smiles at him and a knot seems to unfurl in his ribcage. She nods. "Yeah. I've messed up my makeup enough without getting drenched."
Paul chuckles and puts the car in drive. They roll up to their building and park. As they unbuckle their seatbelts, Julie speaks up one last time.
"Paul?" She says. He looks up. "I've never had a dad." She states. He stays very still. "I don't know who he is, or what he did to make Mom so...y'know." She grimaces meaningfully, and Paul laughs.
Julie fixes him with a soft look. "I don't really know where I'm going with this, to be honest. Just...thanks for being there. Today, I mean. I probably would have gotten myself kicked out of school if not for you."
Paul is not going to cry in this car right now. He is not.
"Anytime kid. Now, why did that boy say you put 'period stuff' in his water?"
"He asked if it was my time of the month, so I shot a tampon into his water bottle and asked if it was his."
"Of course you did."