Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.

"Even the one moment you thought was your eternity fades out and is forgotten and dies."

- Jean Rhys

I was currently staring the house of horror I had to call home for a year, hopefully for the last time ever.

No offense to anyone living in San Francisco, but I am so done with this place.

"Percy, you okay?" My mom asked me softly, putting her arm around me.

I blinked away the tears. I didn't even realize they were there. "Yeah mom, I just... We survived. He's gone. I still find it hard to believe."

She hugged me tightly and stroked my back. "It's okay Percy. I promise, Gabe's really gone. It's just us now, okay? He won't find us, not in New York. He'd never go back there. We're safe now. We're safe."

I nodded my head and hugged her back in front of the car.

We're safe.

We were finally free.

-Line Break-

I fell asleep on our way to New York. Even though our lives were free from him, my definitely dreams weren't…

"Mom!" I shouted helplessly, running towards my unconscious mother's figure, slumped down on the ground. That bastard. He hit her. He really hit her. How long has he been doing that? When did he start?! He promised. Godsdammit, he promised!

Please, gods, let her be alive.

No matter how much I ran, I could never reach her. She was always a couple of feet further from me. Every time I got close to the unconscious figure of my mother, she'd be dragged further away from me by an invisible force.

But then, suddenly, I felt something grab me. Hard. Painfully hard.

I didn't have to look back to know who it was. His smell gave him away.

"What do you think you're doing pretty boy?" He growled out, his face uncomfortably close to my ear. "We're not done here."

I shook my head, refusing to look away from my mother. "Leave me alone! Let me go!" She was getting further and further away from me. If he didn't let me go she'd disappear! Didn't he care at all? But I already knew the answer to that question.

He pulled me away from my mom, and pushed me to the ground.

"No one talks to me like that." He bellowed. "No one."

I blinked.

I looked into his eyes, they were filled with glee and malice, his intentions perfectly clear. Oh gods… He looked demonic.

"Please!" I shouted desperately, she was all but a dot now. I had to check up on her! She's all I had! I couldn't lose her…

The grin he wore was straight up predatory, and it sent shivers down my spine. I knew that grin. It never meant anything good for me.

He tsk'ed, eyes glinting. "Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson. Don't worry, if you're a good boy it'll be over soon."

My eyes widened.

No.

Please no.

Make it stop!

Someone, anyone, please...

Make it stop...

I woke up with a start. Gods, I hated those dreams, why'd they have to be so realistic? Never mind, I knew why.

I looked to my left, and saw my mom driving. She was okay. We both were.

Thank gods.

I let out a breath of relief. We're safe. I had to keep reminding myself that we were safe. Sometimes I worry that this is all just a dream, and sooner or later I'd wake up in my shithole of a room, with him standing over my bed with that same predatory grin on his face.

I shuddered. Gods, please, just this once, let everything work out for the better…

She looked over at me, and gave me a hopeful smile, I just… I couldn't take that away from her, so when she asked me… "Hey honey, did you sleep well?"

I mustered the best smile I could and said, "Yeah, better than usual.".

What else could I say?

It was the usual.

-Line Break-

We used to live in New York, with Gabe, until last year. We had to move to San Francisco, because he owed some dangerous people a large amount of money. But now that he's finally, finally, out of our lives, we were free!

"Well, it's certainly smaller than our other home…" My mom noted. "I hope you don't mind Percy." We were currently standing in the doorway of our new home, tired from the drive, but definitely happy to be here.

"Don't worry mom, it's perfect, absolutely perfect." I responded sincerely, and I really meant it.

Yeah, this one-bedroom apartment is a hell of a lot smaller than our two story house in San Francisco, but it didn't have him, which makes it the happiest place on earth if you ask me. Hell, I wouldn't have minded living on a dinghy if it meant getting away from him.

She beamed at me. "Really?"

I grinned. "Really really. Besides, I'm just glad to be back in New York!"

"Yeah, I've missed this city too!"

"Now that I think about it though… Something is missing." I noted.

"What? Did you forget something?" My mom asked worriedly.

"No, I just think it would feel more like home, if there were a couple of homemade blue chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven." I said with a grin.

She snorted. "Nice try mister, but it's late, and you've got school tomorrow!"

I groaned. "Aw come on, mom! Do I really have to go? I mean, who's going to help you unpack?"

She shook her head. "Nuh-uh-uh, you're not going to argue yourself out of this one Perseus. You have to go to school, your education is important!"

I sighed, and furrowed my eyebrows. She used my full name, damn. "But… What if something happens? To you? "

Her face softened. She grabbed both sides of my face, and started stroking my cheeks. "I wish you wouldn't worry so much about me Percy… I'll be fine, I promise, okay? We're safe now, he's gone. I want you to go enjoy your youth! Be young, and free! Or however that song goes. Time flies by so fast, I don't want you to miss out. Any more than you already have."

"I just… You're all I have left mom. I can't lose you!" I admitted.

She smiled, and it felt as if someone wrapped a quilt around me. "You won't, okay? Don't worry so much, it's my job to protect you, not the other way around. Just do me a favor."

"Sure, anything."

"Go to school tomorrow, and make some friends, all right? It's a big world out there, so go out and explore it! It'd be a shame not to experience it."

I sighed. "What if I don't make friends?"

"Don't worry, you will."

"And what if can't?"

"You're a great kid Percy. Don't overthink it."

"I don't know, but… I'll try. No promises though."

She smirked. "That's my boy!" And then she shooed me towards the bedroom. "Now go to sleep! That's an order."

I gave her a two-fingered in return. "Ma'am yes ma'am."

-Line Break-

I've never really liked school.

Shocker, I know.

But the fact is, I hated it.

There are many reasons for that, take your pick. People judging me, for every single thing I did, for how I looked, acted, talked, walked, you name it. Teachers, immediately giving up on me the second they laid eyes on me, assuming I was just another lazy, good for nothing delinquent. And my ADHD and dyslexia, definitely wasn't doing me any favors either.

But if there's one thing, I hated more than anything else, it was all the attention I always got.

My mother used to talk about how handsome my father was (is?) and how much I looked like him, and I absolutely hated it. Why would I want to look like someone who gave up on our family? Someone who left us at the mercy of a monster? I have to live with the fact, that every time I stared at myself in the mirror, my father's sea green eyes would always be staring back at me.

Worst of all, because of how I looked, people constantly expected something from me. It's like I owed them my time or friendship, or whatever. They'd expect me to lead them, or do them favors, when all I want, all I ever wanted, was to be left alone. And whenever I ignored them, they'd turn on me, as if I thought I was better than them or something. They'd bully me, and all around just make my life even more miserable than it already was.

Let's just say middle school was rough guys.

Attention is dangerous. It could, would, get you beaten up, or worse.

That's the one useful thing that monster taught me throughout the years.

The more you got of it, the more danger you invited in your life.

And I've had my fill on danger, thank you very much.

Which was why my freshman year of high school was glorious. I learned my lesson, kept my head down, and covered most of my face with a beanie and a hoodie, wore glasses, and avoided everyone I knew from middle school. But then we had to move to San Francisco, and I made the same mistake as I did in middle school. And now here I am, back at Goode High School.

What if someone recognized me from freshman year? Worse, what if someone recognized me from middle school?

I snorted. Fat chance. I was a ghost during my freshman year, and gone for a year. There was no way anyone would remember me. I tugged my beanie lower, made sure my hoodie was covering my head, and entered the building.

-Line Break-

High school seemed a lot like the Middle Ages to me.

There were the people at the top that everyone followed, because they have all the power, but the only reason those people have all that power in the first place, was because everyone followed them.

It was a vicious cycle, one that I didn't want to get involved with anymore. I've learned my lesson when it comes to being at the 'top', and how easily you could fall to the 'bottom', and I was having none of it. This year, I'm aiming to repeat my freshman year and be one of the people in the middle again. Popular enough not to get bullied, but not so popular that everyone knew who you were. Just a normal high school life. Yeah, that was the dream. I just had to survive this year, and next year and I'd be home free.

Which meant I had to avoid the so-called aristocracy at all costs. It isn't hard to locate them really. You just had to look out for the people everyone made way for.

And it looks like I've found them.

It was a group of three people (although from my experience there were usually more of them) walking across the hallway, everyone staring at them almost reverently. It was absolutely ridiculous, but whatever. I vaguely recognized them from my freshman year.

They were all good-looking, as you'd expect: two guys, and one girl.

One guy quite honestly looked like a Roman statue, but tanner, with his regal features, a jaw that could probably cut glass, close-cropped blond hair, sky-blue eyes, and well-muscled arms and legs. If I remember correctly, his name was Jason.

The other guy was smaller, Latino, with curly black hair, dark brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful, elf-like face, with a mischievous and impish smile on his face, and a diminutive stature with a slim and relatively scrawny build. I think his name was Leo.

The girl was absolutely beautiful, as you'd expect. She seemed to be of Native American descent, with chocolate-brown hair, that was uncharacteristically cut choppy and unevenly. I couldn't tell you what color her eyes were though, because they seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope, going from brown to blue to green. A guy could go crazy trying to decide the color of her eyes, but man, what a way to go. Her name was Piper, I think.

They walked past me, and stopped to talk to the blonde-haired girl next to my locker. I couldn't recognize her from this far though, not that it mattered.

I sighed. Of course one of them had a locker next to me. Why did I expect otherwise?

I didn't know what to do: either I risked having to make contact with them, and with it potentially lose my peaceful year, or keep carrying all my books in my bag until recess, thus compromising my back.

You know what, screw it, my back could handle another couple of hours carrying books. I ducked my chin and gazed down at the floor, and started walking towards my first class of the day, English.

-Line Break-

When I entered I immediately chose the desk that was in the back, by the window, and dragged the desk neared to the corner, setting my notebook on the top of the desk and sat down at the same time as the bell ringed. I placed my skateboard under my desk, tugged on my hoodie and leaned backwards, careful not to make any eye contact with the people that were already there.

The door burst open, and that same group of this morning entered. Of course they were in the same English class as me. The gods really hated me. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I accidentally made eye contact with the blonde girl. Oh gods, now I remember who she was. She was even more beautiful than I remembered.

She had long, curly honey blonde hair, pretty similar to a princess, tanned skin and a slender athletic body. To be honest, she kind of looked like a typical California girl, except for her eyes. They were absolutely mesmerizing. It was like staring into a storm, dangerous and exhilarating at the same time.

Annabeth.

I'd never forget her name.

I broke off our eye contact, because nope. I was not going to get involved with anyone, least of all her, this year. Nope. Nope. Nope. This girl screamed danger, with a capital stay-the-hell-away, and the last thing I needed was to (heaven's forbid) have a crush on her. Again.

I sneaked a peek at her, and she was looking at me with narrowed eyes, confused.

Ah hell no. Please, for the love of gods, don't tell me she remembers me. Anyone but her.

I hid behind my English textbook, hoping, praying she would lose interest and leave me alone.

For once, it seemed like the gods answered my prayers, because Piper said something to her and she seemed to have lost all interest in me.

I let out a sigh of relief. Heh, looks like that peaceful year is in the bag.

Suddenly I got this bad feeling at the pit of my stomach, and I saw a black raven outside the window. It seemed to be staring at me, cawed the moment I laid my eyes on it, and then flew away. Welp, that probably wasn't a good sign.

Ohh crap, I just jinxed myself, didn't I?