Chapter Text
The first night it happened, it felt like they were dreaming.
They were alone. Well most of them were, Leo and Piper, and Nico and Hazel were the lucky ones.
Percy suspects ‘lucky’ was a strong choice of words, nothing about this was lucky.
In fact it was incredibly unlucky.
But when has Perseus Kaimana Jackson ever been lucky.
Percy recalls saying good night to his mum and Paul, before finding himself wrapped up comfortably in his twin sized bed messaging Annabeth. He would like to clarify that the crooked grin on his face was not due to pining, and that his cheeks were not flushed red whenever Annabeth insulted him. Annabeth was talking about a guy she met when working at the library earlier that day.
Percy was not jealous.
He saw the time on his phone change to four zeros and felt his stomach drop. He had observed that his phones data had disappeared and the noise of the town that usually kept him restless was gone. Weird?
The eeriness of the situation quickly got to him and paranoia begin to clutch at the corners of his mind. Quietly, but achingly loud in the silence of the night, he pulled open the beside table that was next to his bed. He reached in a withdrew a butterfly knife gifted to him by his mother who had acknowledged that they did not live in the most safe area.
He gripped the unsheathed-blades handle tightly in his fist and prised back his bedsheets. Tediously, he climbed out the warmth of his bed and light on his toes, stepped out of his room.
The harsh light of the tv had dissipated. Worry crept up behind Percy as he prowled to his mothers’ and Paul’s’ bedroom. With his empty hand, he pushed the door open and found the room empty.
Percy struggled to push his increasing panic down. When he tried to turn the light on - it rendered useless. So he took out his phone and used its flashlight as a light source.
His parent’s phones however, sat on their bedside tables. When he went to check them, he spared a quick glance at the empty double bed, they also had lost connection.
He left their bedroom and tread towards a window in the living area. When he peered out the glass the streetlights of the twin were all off and no other residential buildings had their lights on.
It was pitch black underneath him.
Percy retrieved his phone from where it sat in his pyjama bottoms pocket. He turned in his flashlight on once more and directed it at the streets below him.
What the fuck?
The close that perimeter led his family’s apartment was inhabited by; eight-foot tall, humanoid creatures. One of their heads snapped towards Percy’s light and in a matter of seconds all of the monstrosities stared at him through the glass.
Despite being four floors above, Percy didn’t feel like he was the most safe.
He turned off the torch and slowly realised that the sky was crimson and the moon hung full - despite only being crescent yesterday.
This has to be a dream.
Or maybe all the late night conversations with Annabeth and Thalia had caught up to him. But those creature, they looked so… real.
Whether or not Percy was delusional or deep in the depths of psychosis. He still prioritised his safety, there was no one else here to prioritise instead. So he began to fortify his home.
Percy was happy he took PE as he begun to shove a sofa against his front door and pushed a bookshelf against the window ,in his room, that led to a fire exit.
If this was a dream none of this would matter if he moved around his furniture a bit.
He closed the curtains that hung in front of the windows.
A slight gasp of air left his lungs as he was relieved to see none of the demons were looking at him. Unfortunately, that were closer to the walls of the apartment then they were previously. Worrying.
He grabbed a blanket and pillow from the sofa and took them inside his bathroom.
He stuffed both items into the bathtub and tried to find consort in being in the only room without windows. Percy kept his sights on the bathroom door while he continued to grasp the knife in his hands.
As he begun to feel more safe, he began to get bored. He’s much rather be disinterested than think of the current whereabouts of his family, and frankly, the whole neighbourhood.
Breathe.
At some point during the time Percy kept out of sight of the monsters, he brought out his phone and was trying to gain connection.
He had tried to message his mother, Annabeth, Paul, even Thalia who was currently cities away. All of them ended in the same way, a single tick and notification bar declaring that the lack of connection denied him a right to message.
For fucks sake.
At some point, Percy grew weary, the adrenaline rush that was this dream, or delusion, had disappeared and was replaced with tiredness that sat heavy on his eyelids.
The last thing Percy remembers was him holding his family aumakua, a turtle, loyal, determined and protective, in the form of a necklace around his neck. Then his mother’s voice in a memory.
“Hold fast Perseus,”
“I will Mum.” He whispered into the silence.
He drifted off.
The blaring sounds of his alarm awoke him. 7AM.
It was a dream, thank the gods.
“Percy, hurry up.” His mother called from outside his bedroom.
Percy got changed into a vest, blue flannel and shorts and his Vans. Quickly he drew on his eyeliner and changed his nose ring.
He ran out his door and greeted his mum with a fight hug.
“Oh hello sweetie.” She said from in front of him as he gave her a hug from behind her.
“Hi mum.” He responded.
Kissing her on the head before taking his food and saying a quick prayer in his native language before eating.
When he was done, he rushed to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Then: Percy said farewell to his mum and Paul, took his skateboard from its place by the door, left his apartment and descended down the elevator.
He departed his block and placed his hand on his pocket where his knife was stored, he was still bothered by the idea of those demons. He sent a quick message to his friend about his arrival time before skating to Pantheon School.
Later when Annabeth asks why he was drifting off in maths, he blames it on a fire drill, “We all had to awake from deep slumber and exit into the freezing slumber.” Annabeth replied ,snarky, by saying.
“It’s nearly sumner Seaweed Brain, it was 25°c outside last night.”
Despite her sarcastic responses she gave him a look where she knows something you don’t. Percy notes the out of place eye bags beneath her hazel-grey eyes.
She placed a blonde braid behind her ear and Percy turns away and blushes.
That night, when it turns midnight again, Percy finds himself in the bathtub with the feeling of a head rush again.
“Fuck!” He half-shouts, before muffling himself.