"I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead."

"No you're not." Grover Underwood sighed, "Take a deep breath Percy. You're going to be fi-"

"No!" Percy stopped mid pace that he'd been doing ever since he got home. His hood was down, and his sleeves rolled up exposing his forearms were the white scars were still visible. "I'm not going to be fine! They saw my face, Grover! They recognized me!"

"Breathe, Percy." Grover said, "Or your anxiety will spike, and you'll go into shock."

"Goddamnit." Percy smiled his fists on to the table top. His chest heaved with the effort to take a breath.

"Percy, listen to me." Grover said getting off the couch, and placing a comforting hand on Percy's shoulder, "You said the guys were beating up a kid in the park, right?"

Percy nodded hastily, taking another huge breath.

"So obviously they aren't that high up in the Monsters Hierarchy, if actually part of it at all. No one is going to take their word for it. You are perfectly safe."

Percy glanced at him. His head was pounding. He had a hard time believing it. That he was safe. He was never safe. He would never be safe.

He couldn't.

Not since that night.

"Percy," Grover said, his voice comforting. He knew what he was going to ask. The hardest thing for Percy to give. "Trust me."

Percy put his head in his hands. His eyes watered and he sniffled. The silence of the house at night was sinister. He felt like crying. Always felt like crying, nowadays. Death did that to people. Seeing people die...it made life real. He use to think that everything was like the action movies his dad worked on. Then it actually happened, to him, and it was like waking up for the first time. His life was so pitiful.

Useless.

Worthless.

He looked over at Grover and slumped completely against the table top. "I'm trying." He exhaled, harshly, "I'm trying."

Grover nodded, distantly. He patted Percy's arm. "Come on, let's watch some movie or something? I'll make pizza."

Percy followed him to the lounge of the apartment. He took a deep breath, steeling his nerves, like he'd been taught. He could imagine his dad standing right beside him as he practiced for his next role in some fisherman movie reminding him how to act happy even when he was far from it.

Percy forced a smile, something that he'd gotten better at in the past months. "Sure, what movie?" He asked.

"How about you pick?" Grover suggested, walking towards the kitchen. Percy heard him pull out pans and an ingredients. All natural stuff. Percy almost genuinely smiled thinking of his only friend's obsession with nature.

Percy shuffled through the his minimal choices for movie night. A couple savaged Disney Movies, a old comedy that didn't make sense, and a really old Christmas movie.

"So, I was thinking about proposing to Juniper." Grover voice flowed from the other room. His attempt to change the atmosphere of the house.

"Dude you're only like 24." Percy called back his voice pretty much void of emotion.

"25, thank you very much!" Grover laughed, for some reason, "but man, her eyes, Perce, her eyes! They're like glowing stars!"

Percy swallowed hard, "They're eyes, Grover." He said, "Just eyes."

"One day you'll understand." Grover called, "When you get your own girl, you'll know."

Percy snorted, "Yeah, sure." His smile slipped off his face. In his heart he felt a pang of sadness. One day seemed so far away. Actually it felt like never.

He remembered Annabeth, the way she'd freaked at him earlier. He wished he could go back and say sorry again. She didn't deserve that, even if it was by accident. Just like the first day they met, when he told her to stop trying to stalk him. It was meant like a joke to get her to back off.

The entire school took it the wrong way.

He tried to apologize, but just like every other screw up he'd made it couldn't be fixed. He couldn't take it back. Not the words, not the glare, not the gun, or the bullet that hit his dad in his chest four months ago...

"Percy?" Grover asked right behind him. Percy glanced up at him. He clicked together two DVD boxes, and randomly picked one.

"Pizza's in the oven. You got a movie?"

Percy looked at the box, "Finding Nemo."

Grover smiled, "Good choice, kid."

Percy grumbled, as he slipped the DVD into the DVD player. "I'm not a kid."

"Your 17." Grover collapsed on a couch and put his feet on the coffee table kicking over a couple books, "That's still a kid in my book."

Percy laid on the opposite side of the couch flipping upside down abs staying at the world in a whole new perspective. The movie started with the watery title screen.

"You know, Nemo in Latin means nobody. So it's Finding Nobody." Grover grinned.

It felt like a direct connection to his love life. Finding Nobody. Percy couldn't help but think that it was appropriate.

***

"Percy, get your suitcase."

"What?" Percy shook his head, sharing off the sleep that he'd just been in. His mother had slammed open the apartment door with an alarming sound. Her hair was messed up, and she was throwing things everywhere.

"PERCY NOW!"

He jumped having never heard her yell at him before. Something had happened. He didn't spend time to question it. He bolted into his room yanking his suitcase or of his closet. It was always packed, ever since he heard about his dad proposing to his mother. The suitcase slammed to the ground, knocking into the mini dresser. The picture of him and his best friend, Rachel Dare fell to the ground.

"Percy!" His mom yelled again. Percy left the picture. Sometimes he wished he hadn't.

He raced out of his room, hearing the door slam open again. His mom was starting to freak him out. She never acted this crazy before. And this was a woman who dyed everything they ate blue.

"Sally! Percy!" Another voice called through the house. Percy felt a swell of relief come over him. The man in the middle of the room wore a causal Hawaiian shirt and shorts, with windswept black hair. You'd never guess that this guy was actually one of the most influential guys in the country.

"DAD!" Percy yelled. Poseidon grabbed Percy into a quick hug, but just as quickly he pulled away.

"Percy, where's your mother? It's time to go, Now." Poseidon looked worried, like he hadn't slept in days. Which was not good for an actor.

His mom ran in carrying two different bags, his dad swept her into a quick hug and a kiss.

"The car's outside." His dad said, "It'll take you to the beachside cabin Montauk. Everything's been prepared. My main man, Grover, will meet you there tomorrow."

"What about you?" His mom asked.

"I've got, Argus, as my personal body guard."

"What's going on?" Percy finally asked.

Poseidon and Sally shared a look, as if sharing thoughts. Poseidon nodded and he patted her shoulder looking afraid to actually let her go. But he did anyway and he took a bag before ushering Percy out the door.

"We changed the date of the signing." Poseidon said. Percy felt his heart thump heavily against his chest. "We're signing tonight."

Percy wanted to scream. Horror filled through him. They were signing now?!

"Percy please just relax." Poseidon kept a reassuring grip on Percy's arm. "Everything will be fine. It's maximum security, there is no possible way the Monsters will be able to sabotage anything. Our fortune will be able to help thousands." Poseidon looked at him with his sparkling green eyes. Percy tried to keep his emotions in check. He didn't want to lose his father. Not after all his mother had went through to keep him safe.

His drunk step father that beat her at night, the long hard hours at the candy shop just to keep food on the table, the calm understanding whenever he messed up, which quite frankly was a lot.

And now they were going to be in more danger than ever before.

The exited the back stairs and hit the ground floor. No one was in the parking lot. And the frigid air rippled with a dangerous aura.

"Percy," his father said again, "If anything does happen to us, you need to know we revised the contract to our family instead of just me."

Percy wasn't sure he heard right. "You mean, if you and Mom die, I can sign the contract?"

"But I won't die." Poseidon promised.

He shouldn't have made a promise he couldn't keep.

It happened so fast Percy thought he'd already died. The gunshots cracked like mini explosions and he fell to the asphalt. The bullets ripped the air right next to his head and a strangled gasped hissed through his teeth. His arm scraped the road in a burning pain tearing his skin.

Yells and screams exploded from everywhere. Or maybe it was just his imagination. The parking lot was empty. And yet suddenly there were people with guns shooting every which way, someone grabbed his bag and another person grabbed his arm.

"Get the kid!" Percy felt disconnected. He didn't know what was going on. He tried to fight off who ever grabbed him. Where was his Dad? What happened to his Dad? To his mom? They were right next to him.

They dragged him to a car but before they could do anything, the car widow cracked with a dozen bullet holes. Metal pellets whistled by his face, and Percy knew they weren't meant to miss. The guy who'd been dragging him yelled out once and got cut off as he dropped to the ground, the back off his skull bleeding through his blond hair.

Percy was almost too shocked to move.

The guy was dead.

He was dead.

"Move!" He was tackled out of the way of a magazine of bullets. He hit the asphalt with a thud skidding back five feet landing under the cover of another car. His head hit the ground heavily he had to have spaced for a couple of seconds.

The girl who'd tackled him wasn't much younger than him. She had olive skin and complementing black hair that shined in the moonlight. Her eyes were a comely brown that would've been beautiful filled with an elegant passion.

Percy would know. Her eyes were wide open.

And they were lifeless.

Around the other cars came another kid. A younger one, maybe by a year. He looked terrified, he wrote an oversized brown aviator jacket. But instantly Percy knew this kid was this girls brother.

He'd been yelling something, possibly to the girl but he choked on his words when he saw them. Disbelief hit him in the chest and he stumbled to the side. His eyes closed for a second but when they opened it they were filled with tears.

"Bianca?"

***

Percy woke with a start. His chest thundering, way too fast. He gasped trying to retain his oxygen he kicked off the covers choking.

Ten minutes later he rolled to the side and buried his had in his pillow. Slick tears sunk into his covers. He cried. His chest heaved. He sobbed for that night, when everyone thought nothing could go wrong and it costed his Dad's life.

That boy who lost his sister...

He remembered waking up in the hospital a white bed, thinking he was undoubtedly dead. He almost cried when he found out he wasn't. He remembered seeing his mom's face, pale, cold, like she was already gone when she was just in a coma.

He remembered signing that contact that day in the hospital, the feel of the pen in his hand as he gave away most of his family's fortune to help protect the people from the Monsters.

He remembered sobbing because it hurt so much. In his room alone the pain was so sharp he could feel it cutting his skin. The day he met Grover. The day he moved states.

Percy rolled back over abs let he tears fall more rapidly. The moonlight broke through the blinds but his vision was so blurred he couldn't see.

His alarm clock read something like 2:53. Percy stared at the ceiling for the rest of the night.

He rolled once to stare at the wall opposite of his bedroom door right when Grover walked in to wake him up. He didn't want Grover to see his tears.

"Yo, Perce, come on." He called opening the door loudly, "Time for school, I'll drive ya!"

Percy mumbled an okay.

"Juniper and I can pick you today if you want. We've got a fun day planned, after school. Trust me your not going to want to miss this!"

Grover closed the door but opened it right back up with a second thought. "Oh and Happy Birthday, Perce!"