CHAPTER ONE
find out who you really are

Percy Jackson didn't want to be a half—blood. Being one was dangerous and scary and most of the time it got you killed in the most painful and nastiest of ways. Percy wished he could have turned away while he still could, because once he knew who he was... they sensed it too and they came for him.

But before all of that, he was a normal kid. A quiet kid. A kid that had a wild imagination as most people in his life would say. He could see things that other people couldn't, they were so real to him, like they walked right out of the stories his mom always told him.

They were so real one minute, and then the next...

Percy always felt lonely and isolated at school, when he was at home it was different. His mom and Selene were there. Selene was like that one older sister that is always irritated by the younger brother in the movies. The Jackson boy constantly teased the girl and despite her irritated expression, he always seemed to find the slightest pull on the side of her mouth that she tried to hide.

Selene moved in opposite them when she turned eighteen. Percy had thought it was rather young to move into a place all by yourself but his mom said that not everyone grew up the same way he had. He guessed that was why Selene always had that lonely look in her eye.

Percy had that same look but not so much at home anymore after Selene came into his life. But, at school he still did. For a while. Then he met Grover. They had a lot in common. And not just because they were both at the bottom of the food chain. It felt good to talk about things with Grover, it seemed like he was the only person at school who tried to understand him.

Until that changed too. When one of them decided to come for Percy.

♘ ₊. 🏹 .₊ 𓏢

New York was cold and wet. Selene Perez was suddenly very thankful for her heating. Her apartment was always dark, only a few candles lit up the place. The fire twinkled in her eyes as she sat on her couch watching Brooklyn Nine Nine on the TV. The light reminded her of Atlas sometimes.

Atlas was her best friend. Something he would say if people asked, she felt the same but never often admitted it. Selene didn't like people to know her weaknesses so she never spoke of them out loud.

Moments like these, she missed him the most. Not like she would ever admit that to his face but nonetheless the emotion was there. She had lived in New York for two years now, the only time the pair had seen each other was on the rare occasion through Iris Messaging. And, every single time they did so, Atlas spent the first ten minutes babbling about how much he missed her, what New York was like, and if she missed him too.

Selene only answered one of those questions.

She was grateful for his companionship, it kept her sane in the time she spent in Camp Half—Blood. Selene wasn't sure how he was able to stay there even when his training finished and the others had moved on, like how she did.

The one thing Selene wasn't grateful for though, was Percy's stepdad, Gabe. She hated that sorry excuse for a human more and more every day. Every time he opened his mouth, she wished she was watching paint dry. It would be quieter.

"There's nothing wrong with the plumbing in this building. Maybe you should see a doctor".

"How do you know I'm not a doctor, huh?". Yeah. That was Gabe. A groan left the girls mouth as she turned up her TV, trying to drown out the yelling from the apartment opposite.

"Have you considered eating more fruit?".

Clearly that had offended Gabe, "Hey! I eat plenty of fruit. Have you considered eating more fruit?". The yelling got louder as the door opened but then slammed closed behind Eddie, the plumber who was leaving.

"Oh! Hello, Percy".

Percy? The girl sat up and looked behind her to the door with furrowed brows. The kid should be at school.

"Hey, Eddie, sorry about that", she could hear the embarrassment in his tone, no doubt he was avoiding eye contact too.

"I'm walking out, you're walking in. I should be apologizing to you". There was a few beats of silence then loud footsteps retreated from their part of the hallway and down until they merely echoed in the distance.

Selene took the opportunity to get up and walk to her door, the hinges creaked as she swung it open to reveal the blonde boy with the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. "Hey, kid. Thought you weren't coming home 'till the weekend?".

The boy in question turned around with his suitcase in hand, backpack on his back and smiled stiffly, "...I got expelled".

"You got what?", Selene's eyebrows rose up high and Percy looked away sadly. It was hard for him to admit certain things to her, he wanted to make her and his mom proud. Percy idolized Selene from the moment he met her, she never let anything get to her (or from what he could see anyways). She was like the big sister he wished he always had.

"Something...", he began, not looking at her, "keeps happening to me. And nobody understands and now I've been expelled and mom is probably really mad at me and I-".

Selene stepped out of her still mildly—cold apartment and embraced the boy tightly. Her skin lit up on fire, she became extremely overstimulated at the touch but she pushed the feeling away and hugged Percy. She knew how he felt, to be told that what you see is just a figment of your imagination. That what you believe is real... simply isn't.

Percy dropped his suitcase, the wooden floor creaked at the weight of it, and hugged her back. Her skin was always cool compared to his, he found it odd but welcomed it. "It's gonna be okay, kid. Your mom isn't going to be mad, she understands you better than any one of those idiots at that school. I can come with you... if you want?".

Selene didn't realise the severity of the situation. She didn't know that one of them came for him. That they finally knew who he was and tried to kill him.

The boy nodded against her chest before they pulled apart, he then picked up his suitcase and sighed heavily. Selene stood behind him and waited patiently until he opened the door and they both stepped in. The sound of the TV buzzing was the first thing they heard, then, they heard and saw Gabe, "W- Hell, Hello. Welcome home, genius", the name came out forced almost like he wanted it to be an insult, then the man looked to the woman standing protectively behind the boy, "Selene, always a pleasure".

Selene mustered a small smile but it was more of a grimace, "Gabe, nice to see you haven't moved since the last time I saw you... two days ago".

Before Gabe could reply at the jab, Percy looked around, "Is my mom home from work?".

"Oh, is that all you got to say to me? Huh? After failing out of school?". The man spat out, pretending to be a father figure when everyone else in the room knew he was just a loser who liked to pick on Percy.

Selene walked around the apartment and picked up several empty beer cans and threw them into the bin by the kitchen. "I didn't fail out of school", Percy pushed back.

"Your principal called, and that's what he said. He said you got kicked out".

Percy looked from Gabe to Selene in slight astonishment, "They called mom's cell. You answered mom's cell?", he leaned forward on his feet to look at Gabe with narrowed eyes.

"I answer whatever's ringing", his easy breezy attitude was starting to aggravate both Percy and Selene, the latter watched on quietly, leaning against the countertop. "So, what'd you get kicked out for, hmm?".

The Jackson boy looked down, "He said I attacked a kid on a field trip". Selene looked away from Gabe to Percy and her lips parted a little.

Oh.

Maybe she should have asked follow up questions...

Gabe's eyebrows rose and he nodded with pouted lips, "Okay. All right, if... But still, if you're gonna live under my roof, you gotta live by my rules".

"Your roof?", Selene and Percy asked at the same time in the exact same tone. "My mom is the only one employed here", the boy continued.

"Excuse me? I have a job. What does it look like I'm doing right now?".

Selene tilted her head, "Sitting on your fat ass", she muttered to herself.

"Losing at imaginary poker", Percy replied to Gabe's face.

"You would think that because you're a child, and you don't understand things like-".

"Where's my mom?".

"I don't know. I don't know where your mom is. I'm not Nostradamus".

What? Selene thought to herself with confusion written on her face, watching the two converse silently.

"What are we doing, Percy?", Gabe exclaimed, "Every time! Wow! Wow!".

Percy walked off, leaving the man to sit by himself in front of the TV. Selene rolled her eyes and followed the boy, he had by then found his mom sitting outside the window on the metal makeshift balcony. Rain poured down onto her but she let it, eyes closed, lips moving to the lyrics of the song playing in the background. New York traffic and sirens wailing echoed into the distance.

"Mom...", Percy tentatively spoke and the woman turned around upon hearing his voice and immediately shot up at the sight of her son, climbing back through the window, "I'm really sorry. I tried this time. You know how hard I've been trying, but this time, it really wasn't my fault. It really wasn't my fault", he reiterated but Sally didn't care. A lot like Selene had done previously, she pulled the boy to her and hugged him, her hand came up to rub the back of his head soothingly as the other held his body close to hers.

"I'm all wet now", Percy whispered into her neck and Selene felt a small smile pull at her lips. Sally looked up at the girl and smiled at her, thankful she was here for Percy.

"I'm sorry. I'm just very glad to see you. I found Gabe on the phone with the headmaster", Sally turned off the music and grabbed a yellow towel to dry herself with. "He told me what he thinks happened with Nancy Bobofit. I told him I believe my kid. It was a real short call".

Percy smiled a little to himself, relieved that his mom believed him, "Hey, all that matters is that you're home, okay?", Sally spoke to him again. "And that I had enough time...", she leaned over to grab a small bag off the shelf, "to pick up your welcome home gift".

Percy took the small bag and looked at it, sadness still lingered on his face. Sally must have noticed it and shuffled on her feet, "Mr Brunner called me, too", she looked behind her son to Selene, who's eyes snapped to the mother, "He told me about Grover. Do you want to talk about it?".

Selene had been right all those years ago, Sally did find out who she was. Mr Brunner — Chiron had contacted the mother to tell her that he would be watching over Percy whilst he attended Yancy Academy. He also mentioned that Selene was also in fact a half—blood and had been watching over them for a short while now.

The mother was surprised, Selene had been so young at the time, but, soon after she realised that the girl was stronger than she thought she was and she couldn't think of a better person to look after Percy.

Percy remained silent to his mother's question, "Is there something else you wanna talk about?", Sally asked and suddenly Selene felt out of the loop. That maybe something had happened that she wasn't yet aware of.

The boy looked to his mother with unsure eyes, his lips moved but no words came out until eventually he tried to explain, "Something happened to me. Something has been happening to me. More than just mind wandering and it got worse and... I'm scared", his naive eyes gazed up at Sally, his fears and confusion were so apparent it made both women's hearts hurt.

He didn't know like how they knew.

Sally looked at her son for a few moments then looked away, "Gabe?", she yelled.

"Mom?", Percy asked confused.

Empty cans clattered and heavy footsteps pounded until Gabe came over to them, "I don't know how anyone expects me to get any work done-".

"Percy and I are leaving for Montauk", Sally spoke over the man, she gave a brief look to Selene that told her she was coming too. "I'll... I'll have the car back by Sunday morning".

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Since when are you going to Montauk?".

"I called to reserve the place as soon as I got off the phone with Yancy", Sally raised a hand to her face, clearly fed up with the conversation already.

Gabe pulled a face, "Who's Yancy?".

Selene closed her eyes and shook her head, "The school", Sally spoke with the same tone as the girls face.

"Okay. And why exactly am I okay with this?".

"Because on my way home on Sunday, I'm gonna stop at D'Angelo's and pick up sandwiches in time for tipoff, but if you make this miserable, I'm gonna go anyway and then I'm gonna eat my sandwich and yours while I listen to the game on the radio".

"You know I hate watching the Knicks alone".

"So do I!".

"W- Make sure they put the hot peppers on my sandwich, please?".

"Not if you're gonna ask like that".

"I said 'Please'".

Sally's eyebrows rose and lips parted and gave Gabe a stern look. Meanwhile, Percy and Selene stood next to each other looking between the two with slightly wide eyes.

Gabe sighed and looked down, "Please", he then met Sally's eyes again, "could you have them put the peppers on my sandwich".

"You got it". Sally smiled sweetly before walking off to gather her things.

Gabe watched her go then pointed his finger at Percy, "Take your shoes off before you get in my car. You understand me?", the boy looked at him weirdly but Selene narrowed her eyes while the stepdad walked away.

"We have a lot to talk about, but uh, that storm out there, it's getting angrier, so let's get ahead of it. We'll talk at the beach, okay? Pack your bag. Let's go", she said to Percy and then walked to Selene, "Pack yours too, I'll meet you by the car", the two nodded to each other in silent conversation.

They would finally tell Percy everything.

A pit in Selene's stomach began to make her feel ill. Her mind wondered if Percy would see her differently, all the lies she had told him, all the times she told him that he was different just not in the way that he thought. Every single time she downplayed what he saw.

The Lopez girl never cared about what people thought about her. So why did she now?

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