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Paul normally drove Percy to school in the mornings, but Percy overslept and Paul had to leave without him that morning. Percy understood of course he didn't want Paul to get into any trouble because of him. So Percy rushed through getting ready grabbed the bagel his mom made him for breakfast and his lunch before rushing out the door. Bagel held in his mouth and shoved the lunch box Paul bought for him in his backpack. His mom's gentle laughter followed him out of the apartment.
The school wasn't far and if Percy took a few shortcuts he might even make it to class on time. He jumped over the railing instead of walking down the stairs, they were only on the second floor and the ground was that far down, and hit the ground running. He took every shortcut he knew and was almost to the school when he heard a low growl.
Coming to a stop in front of the alleyway he looked down to see a little boy backed into a corner by a hellhound. Their satyr guide was lying on the ground just behind the hound out cold. With a sigh, Percy knew he'd be late for class, and stepped into the alleyway dropped his backpack against the wall, and uncapped riptide.
"How about you take on someone who's armed?" He called to the hound as he got closer.
The boy looked like he wanted to yell for Percy to run but was too scared to make a sound. The hound turned to Percy rage in its eyes at being stopped from enjoying a nice easy meal. Percy needed to lure it away from the kid and the satyr. Really he needed to take care of this fast. That satyr needed help.
With a growl, the hound lunged Percy dodged just enough that its claws wouldn't kill him, but would still cut him. That the hound think he'd be an easy kill. The claws cut down his arm and blood flowed down his arm quickly. Percy held back a smile when he dashed out of the ally and heard the hound hot on his heels. Just like he wanted. Ducking the next ally Percy waited for the hound to catch up.
He didn't plan on the hound shadow traveling to attack from behind him, and his lack of planning for that resulted in him getting pounced on from behind. Hitting the ground hard with the hound on top of him Percy reached out looking for water nearby. There was a manhole nearby leading to the sewer. Percy grabbed the water flowing under it and shoved it at the hound right before it snapped its teeth at him. The water sent the hound flying into the wall and held it there as Percy got up. Grabbing riptide from where it fell when he was knocked down Percy quickly killed the hound before sending the water back to the sewer careful not to get any of the water on him. While healing his cuts would be nice he didn't want to smell like sewer water all day.
Heading back to the ally he found the kid in he saw the boy sitting next to the satyr. The boy was crying his hand lightly shaking the satyr. Percy walked over doing his best to send a feeling of needing help to Grover across their link. The boy lashed out when Percy walked over swinging a fist at him wildly. The blow missed but Percy held up both hands so the kid would know it was safe.
"I'm here to help. Did your friend here tell anything," Percy paused trying to think of how to ask if he knew about demigods and camp without saying the words. If the kid didn't know yet and got attacked before finding out there was still a chance the mist would hide them again.
"About Camp Half-Blood and how I'm some kinda demigod?" The kids asked looking at Percy.
"Yeah, that." Percy smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring while leaning closer to make sure the satyr wasn't bleeding out or something. They seemed okay. Percy didn't see any blood.
"I didn't really believe them, but yeah they did."
Percy nodded. He knew how hard it could be to believe there were gods and goddesses out there, and that one of them was your parent. He remembered his first summer and how long it took him to really grasp and understand everything.
"I get that. I'm going to call one of my friends to help out your pal here, alright?" Percy didn't wait for an answer before heading back to his school bag and grabbing the water bottle his mom always made sure he had.
Forming a rainbow was easy since he had gotten used to his power to control water and tossing in a coin to call Grover was simple. The boy watched him while he did. Grover popped into view in a bit of a panic.
"Percy, are you okay? It felt like you were trying to use the link to call for help!" Grover's voice was high-pitched and worried. Percy could see him tossing items into a bag while he talked.
"I found a satyr and a demigod being attacked by a hellhound. The hounds died now and the kid is fine, but the satyr is knocked out cold. Could you send help?"
Grover blinked calming down. He stopped packing the bag.
"Yeah, where are you?"
"Right down the street from my house."
"I think there's a satyr in the area. Can you wait like five minutes?"
"Yeah."
They shut off the call and Percy sat next to the kid while they waited. The kid told him all about how he met his satyr, and they were best friends. Rambling on about their life and home and school, and how their friend promised camp would be even better. How they would have a family that loved them. Percy hoped they would be claimed soon. He hated the thought of them waiting for a parent who didn't care about them.
When the other satyr got there the kid hid behind Percy half dragging their friend with them. The new satyr smiled at the clear care they had for their friend before explaining they were there to help. After a bit of back and forth, Percy was able to leave and the trio made their way to camp.
Percy got to school as the bell tolled for second period, but headed to Paul's class instead of where he was meant to be. Paul kept a first aid kit in his desk drawer if Percy needed it, and he did. Paul should be out of his room at this time so Percy wouldn't have to explain anything. Getting past the locked door was easy, and grabbing the kit Percy set to work patching himself up. The cuts on his arm went from his shoulder to his elbow. He winced as he cleaned them with alcohol wipes before covering them with something that said it would help prevent the cuts from getting infected.
The sound of the door opening made him look over as Paul walked in. The man blinked at seeing Percy sitting in his desk chair before noticing the cuts on his arm and the bump on his head. Paul's eyes grew wide and he reached for his cell phone in his pocket.
"Wait! It's not as bad as it looks!" Percy said jumping up from the chair and rushing over to Paul. "You don't need to call mom."
"Percy your shirt is covered in blood. Did you hit your head?" Paul reached up lightly touching Percy's head clearly more worried about this than Percy himself.
"It's fine. I keep a shirt in my locker in case I get attacked on the way to school, or y'know at school. I'll change into it after I wrap these cuts and the mist won't let most of the teachers see the bump on my head."
For some reason that didn't seem to reassure Paul the way Percy thought it would. Everything was fine and when he got home and took a shower everything would heal up anyway so why did it really matter? Paul seemed to want to say something but shook his head and led Percy back to the chair.
"I'll patch you up, but we have to tell Sally what happened when we get home." He also muttered that he wasn't ever letting Percy walk to school again, but Percy didn't think he was supposed to hear that part.
Paul tended to the cuts with much more care than Percy really thought was needed. Checking that nothing was wrapped too tightly and carefully checking that there weren't any rocks in the scraps or cuts. The period was over by the time he was done, and Paul wrote Percy a note for his next teacher in case he was late to class after changing shirts.