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How did it get to this? It was just a normal day... how did it get so far?
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Percy yawns and blinks his eyes open. He didn't have a nightmare this night. He didn't have nightmares since the giant war, but today is the first time he isn't surprised, for some reason.
The apartment is quiet. Birds chirp outside his window and the busy streets of New York are as loud as ever.
Percy sits up and looks around his room in his mom's apartment. It is smaller than his room in New Rome but so much more comfortable. So much more familiar.
Slowly, Percy puts his feet on the cold wood floor. The sun from outside shines trough his window but somehow Percy can tell that this is not Apollo's usual happy sun. It seems more like someone ripped Apollo's happiness out of him, which reflekts itself in his sun.
With a frown, Percy walks out of his room into the kitchen. 'No one's here?' Percy thinks surprised. Usually his mom is making breakfast and Paul is trying to feed an energic Estelle her baby food.
But today, everything is quiet. Percy hears the tick of the clock on the blue wall. 'It took so long to find the perfect colour...' Percy thinks with a frown. Why was he so weird today?
He shrugs it off and quickly changes. He wants to go shopping. Buy some clothes for his little sister and some little things for Paul and his mom.
He throws on baggy jeans and a blue hoody (that's two sizes too big for him). The front of the hoody is lettered with: "I sea you". To finnish the look, he pulls on a green beanie and a black bag belt where he stuffs his money and a couple of Drachmas.
___
At the mall he first went shopping for Estelle. The baby shop was decorated in various colours and stickers and Percy went straight to the blue onesies.
After ten to twenty minutes of searching Percy settled on a blue onesie and cute little grey shoes. Percy grabs the things and goes to the counter.
The casheer is reading a magazine and doesn't even look up when he greets her.
"Uhm... hi?" He asks. The casheer doesn't look up and Percy is growing frustrated after a couple minutes of just standing there.
Percy tryed everything to get her attention. Nothing worked. He just figured that it must be a bitchy Karen and annoyedly leaves the shop.
___
Strangely enough, the same thing happened in every other store he went. Now Percy really wondered if one of the God's got pissed off enough and turned him invisible. An angry god could do many things. Like harm ones family.
Oh no...
He needs to get home quickly and hope that his parents and Estelle are sace at home.
___
"Mom! Paul! Estelle!"
Percy barges trough the door and franticly looks around until he sees his parents and his sister on the couch.
Sally was crying and Paul was trying to comfort her, which didn't really mean much, since he was also crying.
Estelle lays asleep next to them.
The demigod let's out a relived breath as he sees his family unharmed but his relieve is quickly replaced by concern as he notices his mother's sobbing.
Suddenly everything seemed distant. Percy couldn't hear. Couldn't move. Only watch as after minutes, or hours of sobbing, Sally and Paul stand up and get out of the apartment with Estelle.
Percy's vision moves with them to the car. They are getting in. No, they are on the road. No, they are at Camp. Why were they at Camp?
Suddenly they were inside a mourning circle around a huge fire. A body was wrapped in a shrout.
Suddenly he could move and see again. He remembered that no one could see him. No one could hear him.
Annabeth is crying beside the shrout. Was it one of her siblings? But Annabeth was full on screaming and sobbing. She didn't cry like that. Not on any other burial of her siblings, nore that of Luke.
He slowly walks up next to her and knees next to her. He notices that the head of the body isn't covered by the shrout but doesn't think much of it. Percy faintly hears Chiron saying something to the circle of demigod's and his parents and sister.
Wait...
His parents and sister? Why were they here?
Annabeth was clawing her face off and murmurs her last goodbye's to the body in the corpse.
"Why did it have to end like that, Seaweedbrain?"
Percy froze. His gaze slowly slowly wandering down towards the face of the corpse.
Why was lying in the shrout?