Never thought I would write a PJO fic, but this idea wouldn't go away. So, here it is, a short little ficlit about Percy taking Annabeth to Goode High's Homecoming dance - with a twist, told from a reporter's angle. It's been about... oh, seven or so years since I've read any sort of journalistic piece on anyone's experieces on anything, so if this seems blah, well, I tried. This is set the fall after TLO, and before Percy disappears in TLH.

Disclaimer - Not Rick Riordan.

It might seem like old news, the story of a young boy and his friends abducted four years ago by a criminal still at large, but many New Yorkers still remember hearing about Percy Jackson. But in spite of the story's memorability, so many questions remain unanswered. How is it that a twelve year old managed to summon courage where others would not? How is it that throughout the entire ordeal, no one noticed or reported the strange man who abducted percy and his friends? I decided to pay Percy Jackson himself a visit to find out.

I pulled up to the Jackson's apartment building late on a Saturday morning and rang the buzzer to be let in. His mother, Sally Jackson let me in and greeted me at the door of their modest apartment. Looking around the bright, warm abode, it's hard to believe the family experienced the sort of trauma of four years ago. The story is especially incredible in part because Percy was not the only Jackson abducted. Another part of the strange tale is his mother, Sally Jackson's disappearance. The night Percy disappeared, Sally disappeared, their car found burned and ripped apart as though hit by lightning and abandoned. Thus began Percy's disappearance. Sally Jackson reappeared in New York City one day before her son, claiming she'd been abducted as well, but separated from her son. Sally told me her story through what are by her own admission, utterly hazy memories. She does not know where it is she was, only that it was a dark place where she did not eat for days. When asked how she escaped she says, "they let me go. They dropped me off in front of my apartment building and drove off. It was the most bizarre and terrifying experience of my life. I tried to shout at them, ask them where my son was, but no one told me. I was sick with worry until I saw my son on the news."

Ms. Jackson says this all to me as she brings out a plate of blue chocolate chip cookies, a favorite of her sons, she says; blue is his favorite color.

Her son seems to have emerged from the incident as a testament to the resiliency of youth. Percy Jackson is starting his second year at Goode High School in Manhattan. And while as a dyslexic, ADHD youth, the young Jackson has always had trouble with school, his mother and stepfather report his grades are on the rise.

Part of that might have something to do with his stepfather, a teacher at Goode High, who took an early interest in Percy's academic success and has tutored him almost daily. "It's a lot of work," Percy admits, "but it's kind of nice to have someone extra to help with my homework. My mom always tried her best, but I know it was hard on her sometimes."

Paul Blowfis, an English teacher at Goode, has nothing but good things to say about his stepson. "He's a good kid, and a lot smarter than I think a lot of people have given him credit for in the past."

I asked Percy if he thinks maybe it was his quick thinking that allowed him to escape and modestly he replied, "no, no, that's Annabeth for sure. She was the brains that whole time. Most of the time I was just running around hoping to get lucky."

Annabeth Chase, of course a friend of his who was abducted that summer as well. "We weren't actually friends until we met that summer," Jackson explains, "but well, she's been my best friend ever since."

Just a friend, I asked? Percy blushed, and admitted, "well, we started dating this past summer." Daughter to the notable Jonathan Chase, Annabeth a student at a girl's boarding school in New York City, shows as much academic promise as her father, perhaps even more so. She's an honor roll student with significant chances of making class valedictorian, on top of being debate team captain, mathlete and having placed second in the state cross country championship. When asked about her being the brains for their escape four years ago, she too is modest, "we were just trying to do whatever we could to get away. We were lucky, they didn't do much to us, just some rough treatment, shoving us here and there. But we couldn't figure they were keeping us against our will for a good reason. So we just kept hatching plans we were hoping would get us away. We were just lucky that one of them in LA finally worked."

Watching Percy slide a corsage onto Annabeth's wrist before heading off for the Goode High Homecoming dance, they look almost like any other young couple. They look young and happy, excited to enjoy the evening together with friends. Their story is one of hope for all loved ones of missing children and one of inspiration for all survivors of childhood abduction.

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