Storm Rising

Chapter 20

Percy's POV

I must have heard her wrong. My ADHD or dyslexia must be acting up. The war with Gaea is over. My mom and stepdad live in a safe neighborhood. Nothing wrong was supposed to happen to them. My mom was a nice lady.

"Percy?" Bianca says softly, squeezing my hand. "Are you okay?"

My tongue is stuck in my throat. I can't respond. Finally, I force my mouth to form the words.

"Are you sure?"

Bianca nods slowly. "I'm so sorry,Percy."

I can't take it anymore. Slowly, tears begin to fall down my cheeks. The others walk away, giving me time alone. Ivory and Nico go over to the fire where they begin cooking meat. Ricky motions to Triton and the two walk over to begin separating the remaining greens. Reyna joins them. Hazel wraps her arms around me in a comforting hug. She doesn't say anything, just uses her hug to comfort me. Hazel kisses me gently on the cheek before letting me go and Frank hugs me and whispers, "I understand," It's comforting to know someone else has walked this dark road without parents. Actually probably everyone here has. Ivory, Nico, Bianca, Hazel, Frank, Ricky and probably Reyna have all lost their mortal parent. Triton has lost his father to a greater evil. The whole time, Bianca holds on to my hand. Once Hazel and Frank have given their hugs, Amphitrite sits down on the other side of me.

"Percy," Amphitrite says, wrapping her arm around me in a motherly gesture. "I visited your mother once."

My head snaps up. "When?"

"After the giant war. The Argo 2 was flying home. After I had seen all you had done for Olympus, I wanted to see the mortal woman who raised you so well," Amphitrite explains.

I look up at her waiting for her to finish.

"She welcomed me into her home, not even questioning it. Triton came with me," I look over at Triton to see he is glancing up at me. "I talked with her and Paul for a while. As much as it pains me to say, I can understand why Poseidon loved her. She was a wonderful mortal, a kind and beautiful woman. Always so kind and understanding, she was nice to us even when we were rude and cold to her. Even the harshest monster and god would not have the ice cold heart to kill her."

Ice cold heart to kill her, ice cold heart to kill her, the words tumble around in my rain. Kill her, kill her. I leap to my feet, startling everyone in the room.

"I must find who killed her and avenge my mother's death."

Bianca's POV

After Amphitrite told us about visiting Sally, I felt tears run more freely down my face. Even though I had never met Sally, I could tell how compassionate she was just from Amphitrite's story. And Paul, Percy's stepdad. How he had helped Percy in school, got Greek version of textbooks, and excepted Percy for who he was. Nico had told me about he and Percy visited Sally and Paul, before he went into the Styx the first time. Nico considered Sally his second mother. I expected Percy to keep crying. Percy is one of the strongest demigods alive, but a parent's death right after the other parent betrayed you, unimaginable.

Instead, Percy leap to his feet, scaring me. I could feel a cold aura rolling off him. It was darker than Hades' wearing his helm of darkness. He turned to look at me. I tried not to flinch at his eyes. They had changed from a sad sea green to a cold blue. Blue fire with gold flames rolled through his eyes. It almost seemed as if he were the first cold fire ever to be made. He radiated cold, anger, hate, and a need for destruction.

"I must find who killed her and avenge my mother's death," Percy said with no emotion in his voice.

"No Percy! You can't," I began to cry again. Seeing his mother's and stepfather's dead bodies would break him. I seen how destructive he had gotten when Anna-, she, had gotten hurt. I couldn't even dream of what he would do to the murder of his parents.