Paul's POV

Percy Jackson was Sally Jackson's son. I had been dating Sally for nearly a month now and seemed to know everything about him, although I had never ounce seen him. Sally talked of him as if he was faultless, like all those accidents at his previous schools were just that, an accident, but how could you shoot a school bus with an antique war canon on accident?

I didn't know the kid yet but he sounded like your average, run-of-the-mill, delinquent. I couldn't fathom why Sally protected him so much. When I had attempted to breach the subject of possible intention she had completely shut down and had made some excuse about being tired.

Sally was obviously very protective of her son but as the weeks went by and I began to notice his absence more and more I couldn't help but think that any normal parent would have called the police. When I finally asked, Sally replied that; he had to go to summer camp because of a staff emergency, I had never found out what the emergency was.

One night Sally had asked me to watch the apartment while she was gone at some book seminar. I was tired and all I really wanted to do was go to bed after a tiring day of ordering kids around and grading homework but instead I sat on the couch and flipped the TV to the news, hopping to hear more about the freak volcanic explosion on Mount St. Helens. It didn't take long for me to drift off.

Suddenly I jerked awake as loud knocking rang through the apartment. Glancing at my watch my eyebrows knit together, it was almost midnight. My nerves instantly acted up but I reasoned with myself; it was probably someone who had gotten the wrong address. Looking through the key whole all I could make out in the dark was black hair and a blue shirt.

I decided that whoever it was could wait till morning and walked back to the couch. As soon as I sat down the stranger wrapped on the door again. I ignored it until finally I couldn't take it anymore. I stomped to the door and yanked it open. "Can I help you?" I snapped.

Instantly when the stranger heard my voice I could see his body visibly tense, almost like he was stealing himself for a fight. "Who are you?" his voice set my teeth on edge; it was strong and dangerous. Even though he made me want to slam the door in his face, I didn't

"Who are you?" when he didn't respond I added "The owner of this apartment is gone right now, if you would like to speak to her you can come back tomorrow." Suddenly his face turned upwards and the light caught his face, he had dark green eyes but that's not what drew me in. As the light from the door fell across his body I caught sight of bruises and cuts everywhere on him. His jeans were slashed and bloodied in a few places and his shirt reminded me more of floss than an actual piece of clothing.

My internal instincts went off, telling me this guy was dangerous "It's late, goodnight." I said before closing the door. With an amazing amount of agility he grabbed the door right as it was about to slam and seemingly without effort, yanked it out of my hands. "Wha-" I was at a loss for words and hurriedly scanned the living room for weapons. Finding none I returned my attention to the boy, who was now making himself at home in the kitchen.

"If you don't get out now, I'm calling the police!" I said, putting as much force as possible into my words but he seemed unfazed and simply took a bite of Sally's infamous blue cookies.

"I'm not joking around here, I will call the police!" I said again but he merely stood there against the kitchen sink and looked me up and down. I didn't know what to do. Could I follow out with my threat? Yes I could, stealing myself I sad "Fin-" before I could finish he cut me off.

The boy's whole aura changed. His suddenly relaxed, his eyes turned an ocean green and he smiled. In an insta-second the boy went from intimidating to looking like any other teen.

"Sorry about startling you." He said and I stood there, completely taken aback. "You just surprised me and all, I didn't know you were going to be here."

I tried my best to appear strong "Look, if you were trying to break in, there really isn't anything for you to take, so maybe you could just leave." Instead of getting the desired affect the teen only laughed.

"My mom always did make delicious blue cookies. I'm Percy and you must be Paul, it's nice to finally meet you." He reached out a hand for me to shake.

For a moment I was too stunned to do anything but stare. Finally I pulled myself together enough to shake back but just as I was about to grab hold of his hand he pulled away "You probably don't want to grab this until I've cleaned up."

I had completely forgotten about his appearance. The hand he had extended was the cleaner of the two; dirty, bloody and scratched but unlike the other was not drenched in blood. "Maybe we should get you to the hospital?" I said

He shook his head and gave me a crooked smirk "This is nothing, a quick shower and I'll be fine."

I raised my eyebrows "Are you sure? These look pretty bad!" I was worried but again he seemed unfazed.

"Trust me, it's fine. These cuts really aren't that deep and all the dirt is making it worse than it actually was." He said.

"Is Sally going to be mad that I didn't take you to the hospital?" I asked, more afraid of Sally's wrath than anything else.

He seemed to pick up on my feeling because he grinned and said "Nah, she won't be mad at you and as for me, she's used to it."

That caught me off guard "Used to it?"

His smile didn't waver but he seemed to get annoyed. As quickly as it came, it passed. "I'll explain later. Right now I need to deal with these." He waved his hands at his body, indicating his cuts.

"Do you need help?" I asked. This whole situation was completely foreign to me.

"Maybe." He said. Popping an entire cookie in his mouth before pulling what was left of his shirt over his head.

I couldn't see much. The kitchen light was off and there was only a feint glow from the living room TV. "Can you turn on the light." He asked and I nodded.

The instant I turned on the light, I half wished I hadn't. Before, all I could see were minor scratches and a few that looked like they needed tending to. Now, with his shirt off and the light on, I could see one major slash from shoulder to pectoral. "You need to go to the doctor!" I said, fearing that he had already lost too much blood.

"I'm fine, like I said; this isn't that bad." Percy explained calmly as he reached for a dampened cloth.

At first I thought it was water on the rag but as he put it on the cut it bubbled. "What is that?" I asked.

Wincing, we answered "Alcohol." proceeding to clean all of the deeper cuts in a similar fashion.

I was surprised at the control he had over the pain. Most teens would have been at the hospital long ago and would definitely not be pouring peroxide on their wounds.

The rest of the night was awkward but uneventful. After Percy was done cleaning his wounds he had eaten the rest of the cookies, said goodnight and walked to his room. For about an hour after that I sat in the living room dumbfounded. Maybe Sally was right and Percy hadn't intentionally caused all those accidents, he just really didn't seem like the type. Paul really didn't know anymore and eventually he fell asleep soundly on the couch.