Inhuman (Percy Jackson & the Avengers)

Chapter three

You leave your friends and once you're done

Don't regret what you build your life up

It was a month after Annabeth's death. Percy was walking down the streets to the store. His mom had sent him down to buy some flour and blue food coloring to bake her famous blue cookies and, because Percy needed to move. He had been stuck in the apartment for the past couple of weeks. He hadn't been feeling well enough for school. Or even going outside of the apartment, but Sally had forced him to start therapy with Dr. Raynor, so now he had to move outside no matter what. Which reminded him, Dr. Raynor would be thrilled to know he had moved outside.

He walked into the store and headed to the section with the baking stuff. He grabbed some flour and went to the shelf with food coloring. His eyes searched for the bottle with blue food dye in and quickly found it. He took one and walked over to their candy section and picked out some blue sour rolls. He still didn't eat much, but he ate more than he did at camp, which probably was good, but Percy didn't really care, but the food had to be blue.

When he turned around, he walked into a back which caused Percy to drop his bag of blue candy. The man turned around to look at who had bumped into him. Percy kneeled to take his candy.

"S-sorry, I didn't see you." He said with a low voice and stood. He looked at the man who just gave him a soft smile.

"It's okay kid. That stuff happens." He laughed slightly. Percy nodded and walked away. He walked over to the counter and laid the stuff there.

The lady behind the counter scanned the items and smiled. "That'd be seven dollars." She informed him. Percy gave her the money and left the store. He hurried down the street, and the whole way home he looked over his shoulder, expecting to see the blond-haired man run after him. But he didn't, and when he reached his mom's apartment, he was still surprised no one had come after him. Not even a monster.

He walked up the stairs and opened the door to their apartment. He froze when his eyes landed on the wall that had a scratch mark that wasn't there when he left. No, it wasn't there when he left. He slowly walked a few steps into the apartment and noticed some red liquid on the floor. Why was there juice on the... Percy dropped the groceries. Time seemed to stop as he realized what was actually on the floor. He looked up with a panicked look.

He rushed into the living room and yelled. "Mom?!" No response. "Paul?" Again, he received no response, he stormed to their bedroom, but they weren't there. He even checked under the bed and in the closet just to make sure. He then rushed to his own room only to freeze in the doorway.

Paul was lying on the floor, his skin pale and his chest not moving. Percy moved his eyes to his bed where his mom was. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed. Her head hung low as she was bleeding from her stomach.

"Mom?" His voice cracked and he rushed over to her with tears in his eyes. "Mom? Can- Can you hear me?" He asked her. "Mom, stay with me, please." He begged and lifted her head. Her eyes stared into nothing. His breathing was uneven as he tried to stop her bleeding. "Mom please." He cried. His hands were shaking as he put pressure on the wound. "Please." He whispered. "I need you." 

A teardrop fell and landed on her hand. Then another one fell. And another.

"Mom don't go, you can fight it. Come back." Percy wailed and tried his best to stop the bleeding. "Please just stay, I can't lo-" his voice cracked. "I can't lose you too." Percy shook his head, "Stay." He cried as he watched his bloody hands was pressed against her stomach.

She couldn't be dead. No. No! Percy yelled for his mom, he tried shaking her lifeless body, hoping she would wake up. He tried to heal her wound with water but failed. He tried pinching himself, hoping to wake up from this nightmare. He tried everything. But she didn't wake up. He looked over at the lifeless body of Paul. There was claw marks on him and on the door. His mother had them too. Whoever did this had to pay. They would pay for what they had done.

Percy slowly dragged himself out of his room and crawled into the kitchen. He stood and leaned against the kitchen counter and picked up the phone. He slowly dialed 911 and put it to his ear. He didn't care if he attracted any monsters. He had already lost everything. He would attend his mom's and Paul's funeral, and then he would end everything. There was no reason for him to stay here anymore.

"911, what's your emergency?" A woman's calm voice said over the phone. Percy closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. "Hello?" The woman's voice asked after a few seconds. Percy realized he hadn't answered her.

"Uh..." He swallowed. "M-my mom and my s-stepfather..." He started crying again.

"Yes?" The woman asked softly.

"They... They..." He stammered, not being able to say the words.

"What about them, sweetie?" She asked softly.

"They're dead," he whispered and closed his eyes.

"Okay," she said. "What's your address?" The woman asked. Percy told her the address after taking another deep breath. "Okay, we're sending an ambulance now. What's you name, sweetie?" She asked.

"P-Percy," a tear crawled down his cheeks and landed on the floor. He sniffled.

"Okay, my name is Marina. How old are you, Percy?"

"Seventeen," he said. He shouldn't be crying. He was too old for it, but he just couldn't stop.

"Okay, everything's going to be okay. Now you probably don't believe me, but everything's going to be okay." She assured him. Percy sniffled and looked out the window, he could hear the sirens now.

They were here.

"Okay Percy. They're at the apartment now. I'm going to leave you to them. And remember, everything's going to be okay." Marina said.

"Okay," Percy whispered.

"Goodbye Percy," Percy put the phone on the table and sat down on a chair at the dinner table. He was slightly dizzy. A knock on the door got his attention. Two police officers walked through the open-door Percy had forgotten to close when he arrived home.

"Hello," a brown-haired officer said. "Percy, right?" Percy just nodded; tears were still streaming down his red cheeks. "Which room are they in?" He asked.

Percy raised a shaky hand and pointed. The officer nodded and motioned to someone to the room. Four medics ran in and rushed into his room.

The officer walked over to Percy and kneeled in front of him. "I'm officer James Bettany, and this is Garrett Fond." He pointed to the other officer, Garrett smiled at him, but Percy just stared. Why was he smiling in a situation like this?

"So, Percy." Officer Bettany got his attention again. "I know it's hard to talk about, but I want you to describe to us what exactly happened. How did you find them?" Bettany asked, Garrett found a notepad and a pen in his pocket, ready to write anything important down.

Percy swallowed and slowly started to explain how he had been out shopping for his mom, he pointed to the dropped flour, food coloring and candy on the floor. Then he explained how he had found his mom and Paul in his room. The only interruptions between his story were the sobs and the words being stuck in his throat. The officers did not say a word under the story, knowing that the teenager would break down completely if they interrupted him.

"Thank you Percy," James said and gave him a small smile. "We will do our best to catch the killer." He told him. Percy looked at him with dead eyes. Like they could catch a Greek monster. "Do you have any family you can stay with?" He asked. Percy shook his head. He didn't have anyone now. Of course, he had his dad, but it felt wrong staying with him. Besides, Poseidon probably wouldn't let him stay there in the first place. Percy didn't want to stay at camp either. It didn't feel right.

"Okay, we'll take you to the station and see what we can do about it." Garrett said and stood up from a chair. Percy nodded, he got the chance to pack a bag before going, so he just grabbed the essential stuff he needed, such as changing clothes and a photo album his mom had made. He then followed them out to the car and then they drove to the station. Percy looked through the window with empty eyes. He had lost everything in under a month. He fiddled with the strap of his small bag with his belongings in and stared at the buildings. He felt empty. He had lost everything. Everything.

Percy fell into a dreamless sleep, while leaning his face against the window.

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Posted in honor of Percy's birthday and that the series premieres on 20th December 2023!!!