AN: Here's the next chapter, I'd like to say thanks to all supported my side about the last chapter's rants. You guys have no idea how much that inspired me to keep writing this. 19 Reviews in a single day, maybe 20. I've never gotten that many reviews at one time. So a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm hoping the chapter is up to your expectations. The chapter felt like it needed more, just didn't know how. But I'm definitely looking forward to writing the next chapter. Truthfully I don't think I have a beta-reader anymore, so there probably be some mistakes in here.

Though here's the question, do you think Sally should stay for the next chapter?

Everyone headed towards the kitchen

But, Percy was the first into the kitchen. When everyone got there, the kitchen was a complete mess.

"Wow dude really?" Nico asked.

"Yep sorry where's the blue food die?" Percy asked. Athena walked up to a cabinet and took out blue food die.

"Here, you're more destructive your Father." Athena handed the food die to Percy.

"Thank you and I know." Percy washed everything and made everything go back into the right place with Nico's help of course. Percy finished his blue pizza and started to share with Nico.

"Can I try a slice?" Nico asked.

"Sure." Percy handed a slice to the son of Hades and he took bite.

"Not bad, actually improves the taste" Nico said before sitting on his lap and curling up on Percy's chest as Athena got some more pizzas for everyone else. As soon as dinner was over they went back to the throne room and sat down in their original seating arrangement.

"My Dinner Goes up in Smoke." Chris read.

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.

"Eww you could have dried her off." Aphrodite said.

Percy shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't know at the time I could absorb water to make the skin dry."

She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),

"It's Pan not goat boy he'd hate it, if you called him that." Grover said.

and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.

"I hate that thing." Most of the demigods said.

"Hey I built it." Hephaestus said.

Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."

"Whatever."

"And I thought I had a problem holding grudges," Nico commented.

She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it was my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.

"Man, think if Percy started a plumbing business, he'd be rich." Chris said.

"Yeah not happening, I'd like it better to teach Marine biology." Percy said.

"You do know you'd have to go to college right?' Athena said.

"Yeah but I love it and it's something I can do right and not mess up. Besides I study it."

Athena looked impressed.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

"May is not a what, she's a who." Hermes muttered.

I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.

"Got a point, hate it when they don't do that." Clarisse said.

I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Should I be jealous?"

Percy swatted Nico on the bad of the head, "No, I was just simply surprised at the time."

They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.

"In a way, they are." Poseidon commented.

"Might as well be." Artemis said.

"Hey I think they knew he was Uncle P's son before anyone else knew." Apollo said.

I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.

"Um I wouldn't do that son." Poseidon said.

"Why?" Ares asked.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"That's why." Percy said.

"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."

"So you freak out with the Naiads and not anything else?" Conner asked.

"Yeah." Percy said.

Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"We're not mentally disturbed kids!" The demigods shouted.

"Sorry but in the normal eyes we are and I was still getting use to the information." Percy said.

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"I think you know hero." Hestia said poking the flames.

"I think you know."

I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.

"God," I said. "Half-god."

Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

"That's ... crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

"No." The females said.

"Don't even; you do it too but Artemis, Hestia and Persephone." The males said.

"But those are just—" I almost said myths again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, I might be considered a myth.

"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"

"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Which is dangerous if we're offspring of the big three." Nico said as he put his head on Percy's shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Then who's your dad?"

Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.

"Very." Annabeth said.

"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"Who's your mom, then?"

"Cabin six."

"How is he to know that?" Hera asked.

"Meaning?"

Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

Athena smiled at her daughter. "Couldn't be more proud."

Okay, I thought. Why not?

"It's new to me so you can't get mad." Percy said.

"He has a point. Anna" Thalia said.

"And my dad?"

"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew."

"Oh I know all right." Sally said.

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"I didn't have to when we were alone she said and I quote "Thanks for the tour Poseidon." And she left but not until after I asked her out." Poseidon explained.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out who you really were." Sally said.

"My dad would have. He loved her."

Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.

"So glad I didn't open my mouth." Anna said.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"

Some of the Olympians looked down.

"And that's how the war started in the first place." Thalia thought.

Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

"Do you all really feel that way?" Hera asked.

"Yeah." The demigods from the past admitted.

"Not anymore, things changed, you all visit all of us after the war." The future demigods said.

"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force.

The four glared at Anna. "NO I mean they don't give a powerful enough saint to keep them in camp year round. I'm not saying you're not powerful." Anna said.

The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off.

Everyone looked down with sorrow for those who didn't make it.

A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"

"Luke nearly casted Percy's life." Anna thought.

"Practice fights. Practical jokes."

"Never again. Chiron was furious and it was scary." Travis and Conner said.

"Don't ever do that boys the joke is only funny when it doesn't hurt." Hermes said giving his boys a stern look.

"Practical jokes?"

"Sorry." Conner and Travis said.

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"So ... you're a year-rounder?"

Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.

"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

"Why did you come so young?"

"Again trespassing on a sensitive subject." Annabeth said.

"It's not like I knew," Percy sighed.

"It's like me asking about your step-father Percy," Anna said.

The Throne room went dead quiet as they watched for Percy's reaction.

Percy's hands were clenched as Nico wrapped an arm around him since earlier they switched positions where Percy was on his lap. Without a word Percy left the room with Nico right behind him, not before shooting a glare at Anna.

"Anna, you shouldn't have brought that up." Thalia said gently. She didn't want to come out mean to one of the girls she knew before Camp Half-Blood. But anyone could see Percy was still struggling.

"What does my ex-husband have to do with this," Sally asked confused. Her baby boy was hurt somehow and she didn't know why.

"Sally do you know if Gabe hurt Percy in any way?" Hestia tried to ask gently.

"No," was her quiet answer. "I couldn't bear let anything to happen to Percy, what happened?"

"Percy should be the one to tell you, not me." Poseidon said sadly. He wanted to tell Sally, but he felt it was Percy's decision not matter how much he wanted to protect his son.

"Let's continue reading, Nico will bring Percy back after he's calmed down," Hades said.

She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."

"No need to snap." Apollo said.

"Sorry." Anna said.

"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"

"Not a smart move." Dionysus said.

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."

"Unless?"

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"

Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.

"No, lost my daughter because of my brother." Zeus growled.

"Other brother." Poseidon said.

"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"

"Ambrosia."

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"

"I doubt he did," Thalia said.

"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

She clenched her fists.

It was then that Nico and Percy walked back in. Percy looked to be in thought, not sad but not happy either.

"Hey, it's okay. You're going to be alright," Nico whispered in his ear.

Percy gave a small smile, "Thanks Nico."

Not hearing anything else from the couple did they continue reading.

"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."

"You've been to Olympus?"

"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"But... how did you get there?"

"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.

"Sorry about that." Annabeth said to herself.

"You are a New Yorker, right?"

"Thousands of New Yorkers don't know about that." Nico smirked.

"Oh shut up." Thalia said.

"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen.

Zeus thought for a minute and then yelled. "WHO STOLE THE MASTER BOLT?"

"Don't even think it was Percy." Poseidon growled.

"If it was, we would know you did!"

Poseidon and Zeus stood up and were going to start fighting.

"Don't even think about having a war!" Athena and Hera yelled.

"You stole it!" Zeus yelled.

"I did not!" Poseidon yelled.

"ENOUGH!" Nico yelled, shadows hugged his frame trying to get away with an aura of darkness deathing the room, fear just radiating around the room.

The two gods' attention was directed at the son of Hades

"I don't give a shit if you're both gods. We're reading a book about my boyfriend that's titled the "Lightning Thief," don't you think we'd figure out it was stolen by who! And the book is in his point of view, which points out that Percy doesn't know anything about being a demigod at this time," Nico screamed enraged.

Nico clenched and unclenched his fists in an effort to calm himself down before sitting down as his father looked at him with pride.

Nobody said a word; never had a demigod went up against a god. Then Athena broke the silence.

"I agree with the spawn of Hades, you both are acting like immature toddlers and you need to control that temper of yours Zeus," Athena lectured.

"Be lucky you didn't get a spear." Dionysus said.

"This is true." Zeus and Poseidon said after their shock worn off. They didn't say anything more; the earlier scene had stopped them from getting angry at the two demigods.

And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares.

Athena and Ares glared.

And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.

But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

I shook my head. I wished I could help her,

Percy got smiles from Annabeth and Athena.

but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.

"Of course." Artemis said.

"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"

"Too young and I wish you wouldn't go." Athena said.

I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.

"I was," Anna smiled.

Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my Minotaur horn.

The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.

"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."

I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.

I said, "Thanks."

"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"

"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."

"None of did at first." The demi gods said.

"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."

The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.

"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.

He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me,

"Better not." Poseidon and Nico said.

but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."

"The wing-footed messenger guy."

"Not the best way to describe him but better then a cherub." Apollo smirked.

"Will you drop that already?" Dionysus said.

"Nope."

"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."

I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.

"Yeah to take you down." Clare thought.

"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.

"Once."

Thalia and Anna flinched.

I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.

Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."

"Family is very important." Hera said with a smile.

He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.

I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"

Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."

"We all do." The demigods said.

"But we'd never meet Rachael if we didn't." Nico pointed out.

The future demigods nodded and smiled.

"What do you mean?"

His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests.

Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."

"Somebody special?"

"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, its dinnertime."

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.

Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"

The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.

We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.

"Reminds me of Jupiter." Grover said.

"Grover has a crush." Silena said.

Grover blushed "Actually she's my girlfriend"

"Aww," Silena cooed.

In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.

"Hopefully not anymore." Hermes said.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.

Athena smiled at her children.

"I love how you look like all of your children." Aphrodite said.

Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."

Dionysus sighed.

I said, "Cherry Coke."

The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.

Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke."

Sally smiled.

The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.

I took a cautious sip. Perfect.

I drank a toast to my mother.

Sally teared up a little bit.

She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...

"Oh no tell me he isn't?" Sally asked.

"He is." Poseidon said sadly.

"Oh I blame you and your loyalty."

"I know so do I."

Poseidon and Sally were splashed.

Everyone laughed and Poseidon dried them off.

"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.

I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.

I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.

"Come on," Luke told me.

As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.

Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

"Yes we do and I'm hungry." Apollo said.

"You just ate dinner." Artemis said.

"So"

Artemis just sighed.

"You're kidding."

His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.

Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."

I was next.

I wished I knew what god's name to say.

"Sorry." Poseidon said.

"Its fine dad, now stop before Mom smacks you head." Percy said. Poseidon looked to see Sally's hand raised.

"I will to." Sally said.

"The sad thing is I know you will." Poseidon said smiling.

Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please.

"I will." Poseidon thought.

I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.

When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.

It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.

"Not really we just like its smell; it's Athena's food we live on." Hephaestus said.

When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats.

The gods glared.

"Don't, it wouldn't be camp if he didn't and it's fun because the Stoll get pay back and we get a show of him running after them." Katie laughed.

"Thank you Katie." Dionysus said.

The demigods were shocked.

"He got your name right." They whispered.

"I know." Katie whispered.

Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.

Ares smirked.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."

Chiron murmured something.

"Err, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

"Yah my kids sing now." Apollo said smiling happily.

Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.

"Who else would?" Artemis said.

We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.

My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.

"Wished my mom could do that." Clarisse mumbled.

When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.

That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.

I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.

"Oh no." Poseidon and Sally said.

Chris marked the book. "Who's next?"

Before anyone could say anything there was a white flash, once it died down a few people were gone. Beckendorf, Chris, and Annabeth and Clarisse from the past, along with a note resting on Nico's lap.

"We've returned the demigods from the past so they can resume their time. Be warned that another memory of Perseus' will be played.

The Fates."

The scene between Nico and Percy after they left the room:

Percy had rushed out of the room with Nico trailing behind before they came to an empty room. Percy leaned against the wall before all punching it in frustration, before Nico caught it with his hand.

"I know you're upset, but don't hurt yourself. You know she didn't mean it," Nico said softly.

Percy sighed in defeat, "I know, but the reminders of it hurt."

"Percy look at me."

The older demigod turned his gaze from the wall to his boyfriend. "It hurts to see you in pain, but I promise you this. You're step-father will never get to you again, not if I have anything to say about it. You aren't alone in this; you've had a bad childhood. I did too since you did tell me about that dream of yours. I won't let you feel alone again."

Percy gave a true smile, "I know and I'm glad you're here. I'm just worried about if my mother finds outs, she'll be heartbroken."

Nico cupped his face, "She loves you, and it's a mother's job to worry about you."

Percy smirked, "Who are you and what have you done with the Son of Hades. I never remember you being this sappy."

"Whatever Percy."