Far From Home

The story ironically starts at home. A quiet apartment in New York, where a teenage boy was cleaning out his room for his college move.

"Oh I just can't believe it!" Sniffling into a box of tissues, was the boys mother, who was ten minutes from full out bawling. "You're just growing so much! I remember when you were just a little baby! So peaceful and calm! Now you're all grown up! My baby's going to college!"

The boy got up from the floor to comfort his mother, "It's okay, Mom! You know New Rome has magical barriers. Well be safe, and I made all the Gods swear they wouldn't abduct me without your consent this time!"

"But Percy!" Sally Jackson just cried harder.

"You know what will cheer you up?" Percy said suddenly, "I've got just the thing! I asked Hephestus to build this just for you...wait here!"

Percy ducked out of his room running into his mother's study where he hid his latest gift. He wanted it to be a huge surprise,but he knew his mom cleaned his room every week. He got the idea from his genius girlfriend, Annabeth, who also happened to be going to college in New Rome, to hide his gift in plain sight.

It had worked.

Percy went over to the shelf where his mother kept her research books and pulled out a thin leather bound book, then he went to the lower one and grabbed an identical looking one.

Only this time when he pulled it out something else came too. Confused he picked a written and folded photograph off of the floor.

It was defiantly the weirdest picture he'd seen. On the right was a teenage girl a year or two older than him, rolling her eyes annoyed like she'd doing something important, and didn't want her picture to be taken. And she looked hot. Not like Annabeth, hot but like the goddess Aphrodite had taken a bath in liquid gold. She had golden curls that glistened in the flash of the camera and eyes like the sun itself.

Right beside her was another girl who Percy nearly had a heart attack over seeing. She was linking arms with the other girl and smiling like she didn't have a care in the world. It was his mother! Sally Jackson!

Next to her was the guy taking the picture. Like it was a selfie. The boy was also really good looking, similar in comparison to the girl. They both were just plain sunny. The boy could've been Apollo, if it wasn't for the black highlights in his hair.

He was tugging one last girl into the picture who looked murderous. If the first girl didn't want to be in this Picture than this girl wanted to kill the boy. She looked familiar too, something about the way her mouth was open like she'd been spitting curses at the three of them, pricked at a memory in Percy.

He knew he'd seen her before. But where?

"Percy?" His mother sniffled dabbing her eyes with a tissue. She stopped when she saw the picture in his hands.

"Who are these guys?" Percy asked confused.

"Where'd you get that?" Sally asked. Percy frowned, she'd seen to panic snatching it back out of his hands and folding it out of his sight.

"It was right in this bookshelf." Percy said, "Who were they? Your friends?"

Her back went did at the mention but she waved it off quickly. "Let's just forget about them okay?"

"Mom-"

"It's that your present?"

Percy looked down again, to where the leather bound books were. "Yeah but-" Percy looked back at his mother's face and his chest tightened. For a second he saw fear on her face, something worse than anything he'd ever seen. But then it was gone. In a flash. Percy choked on his words. His mother never acted like this.

"Yeah." He said, "Hephestus made them with a little magic." Percy managed a smile that calmed his mother down, "They're books that can write to each other. Look!"

Percy gave his mother one of the books then grabbed a pen off the writing desk nearby. He scribbled on the first page of his book.

Sally laughed, looking down the page, "Of course I'll pack you some blue cookies, Percy!" She sniffled again, dabbing her eyes one last time. She couldn't have been happier.

She couldn't have been sadder.

She couldn't have had a clue about what was going to happen.

***

Percy left a couple hours after Paul got home. He mentioned picking up Annabeth to take her out for dinner in the mortal world before they headed to New Rome.

Sally was left cleaning a little bit off the house before she went back to her study to finish the next chapter in her newest book, while Paul was folding laundry upstairs.

Sally finished with the dishes dying her hands and smiling sadly as she put the small blue food dye container back in the pantry. She couldn't help but wonder if that would be the last time she made blue cookies for her little boy.

"You are not suppose to be here." She said suddenly her head snapping up towards the doorway into the living room, "Get out."

A woman stood in the shadows, mostly indivisible. Sally's heart thumped and she wondered just how long the woman had been there.

The woman looked at her, Sally got the feeling she was staring into her soul. Even after all this time Sally never got use to that feeling.

"I said, get out Nyx!"

"I heard you." The woman said finally, "But Father wants to talk to you."

Sally gripped her throw towel tightly, "Its just as it's always been, Nyx. You've been asking for years now."

"And you've been ignoring the question for years now." Nyx stepped from the shadows but the darkness still drew towards her, "Asking was a courtesy, Sally, Chaos is not playing games anymore."

"You will not touch my son!"

"If it were up to me your son would already be dead!" Nyx glittered darkly, "I will get your sons blood, and his pathetic girlfriends too!"

"Don't you dare!" Sally yelled, her hands glowed, "If you touch my son I will kill you!" Steam curled off her fingers the towel dropped from her hands hitting the ground solidly and retaining its crushed shape like it was molded metal instead of cloth.

Nyx stretched her wings, the end feathers brushing the opposite walls with an impressive spand. Sally didn't look the least bit intimated. Her hands glowed with a power she hadn't used in so long. Dangerous, maybe. Necessary, Hades yes.

Nyx stared at her, as if she was disappointed. Or remembering something from so long ago, "What happened to you? We use to be kids. Friends. Hameria would hate you for ruining that."

"I grew up," Sally spit, "Something you should try."

"Of course," Nyx continued like she didn't hear Sally at all, "If Hameria were here to hate you...well I guess the air wouldn't be so thick."

Sally froze. Her heart almost stopped. Nyx grinned the shadows drawing tighter around her like a royal cape.

"Yes." She whispered, her smirk glittering like her dress, "It's been a long time, Sally." She tone dropped turning icy and cold, "He still hasn't forgiven you."

"He won't get my son!" Sally screamed suddenly frantic, "I won't let him!"

Nyx smirked wider, "Too late."

Sally lunged towards her but the Primordial of darkness was already gone. Vanished in the coldness that had surrounded her since they were kids.

***

"Percy you really can't sing!" Annabeth laughed.

"I'm the son of Poseidon! I do what I want!!" He laughed back. He had it all planned out.

He take Annabeth to their wonderful dinner at a diner reserved just for them and then lead her for a wonderful walk on the beach. The beach would be wonderful. The sunset would glow perfectly, casting oranges and pinks that would illuminate his girlfriend's glow. The breeze playing with her curls, her eyes sparkling with light. Wasn't he just a romantic sap? Then he line her up just right...

The velvet box weighed heavy in his pocket. His palm sweating on the steering wheel as he drove. The other clasped in Annabeth's as they sung along to the radio.

His heart pounded. He couldn't stop smiling. He hadn't told his mother yet. But he'd tell her soon.

Percy didn't even need to glance at Annabeth to know she was the one. She was his girl. The One. He knew he couldn't waste another second without her.

Percy yawned shaking off a sudden bout of tiredness.

"Percy?" Annabeth said, her smile fading slightly, "You okay?"

He glanced at her his smile growing bigger, "Never Better!"

She grinned but obviously something was bothering her.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, dread starting to creep into his head. Panic rose in his stomach swelling like ocean waves crashing on rough cliffs. What if everything went wrong? What if she cancelled tonight?

What if she said no?

Annabeth her head but she looked pale, "I'm just...I've got this headache. I don't know where it came from."

Percy shrugged, relief squashing his doubts again. It was fine. Everything was okay. He let go of Annabeth's hand and turned down the radio for her.

"Ten and Two! Ten and Two!"

Annabeth screamed and Percy jerked the wheel nearly driving off the edge of the road. His car revved bouncing off the asphalt then back on with a jolt that almost made him lose control.

"What the actually Hades!" He yelled, turning back to see who exactly was in his car.

"Eyes on the road, Perseus! Gods, who taught you how to drive? You're terrible at this!"

Percy swing his eyes back to the front, in his distraction he totally missed a stop light.

"Who the Hades are you?!" Percy yelled irritated, "How'd did you get in my car?!"

"Apollo?" Annabeth gasped, looking back at the teenager that sat behind them. He gave her a grin, flashing brilliant white teeth.

"Call me that again, Blondie, and you will be in a world of hurt so bad that even your boyfriend won't be able to help you." He said calmly, like he was telling a joke that they forgot to laugh at. His hair shagged out of his eyes revealing his blue irises.

"You!" Percy exclaimed, catching sight of him in the rearview mirror.

"Watch out! There's a curve ahead!" The guy said, "Really where did you get your license? The Dollar Tree?"

Percy dodged around the curve, avoiding another car by a foot. His heart hammered in his chest. His breathing was shallow, like he couldn't get a good breath in. The guy in the back leaned forward happily as if he wasn't even concerned at all.

Percy had seen him before. Just earlier. He looked exactly like the guy in his mother's photograph. Same outfit, a green hoodie with running shorts and shoes. His smile was exactly the same. His black highlights windswept from the commotion. It looked like he'd just stepped out of the picture and found himself in their car.

Except one thing was different.

"Who are you?" Percy asked, "What do you want?"

The guy fake gasped, "What? Sally dearest never told you about me?" He pretended to be offended, "It's not like we were friends or anything! Dude, you should really be stopping for those stop signs!"

Percy swerved again to avoid a car. Annabeth hit the side of the door, their unwanted passenger sliding all the way to the other side. Percy's mind was fuzzy. He didn't remember there been a stop sign. Had there been?

"Sally?" Annabeth asked, she shook her head like she was fighting off dizziness, "What does she... have to do with... anything?"

"Oh, just a bit of everything, Ms. Chase," the guy said, "You're a smart girl. You figure it out."

His eyes. Percy realized. There was something different. They weren't filled with the joy that they had in the picture. They were overflowing with malice. With hatred.

"My mom..." Percy gasped, "Who does... Who does she..." He couldn't finish, he couldn't breathe. He tried to inhale but he wasn't getting anything.

"Oh," the guy said, not at all affected. His eyes gleamed with evil intent, "It's it getting a little hard to breath, Perseus? It must be the air."

"Carbon....monoxide..." Annabeth choked.

"I can't believe it took you this long." He said.

"How...?" Percy's vision blurred he vaguely heard the horns of cars screeching.

"Well, they do call me Aether for a reason." The primordial of air replied. But Percy was already slumped forward on his steering wheel, his girlfriend unconscious on her passenger side window.

"It looks like I'm not the only one Sally's been keeping secrets from." Aether reach forward and placed a hand on Percy shoulder, "You're so far from home, Perseus. It's time you finally came back."

They disappeared in a wisp of wind. So fast even if Annabeth had been awake, she wouldn't have been able to do anything.

He was gone. And there was nothing anyone could do.

The car tumbled off the road entirely and smashed head on into a tree.

~~~
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