Working With The Thief (Percy Jackson)

Part II, Chapter Thirteen: This Might Bite Me In The Ass In About 4 Years

Percy Jackson

In case you were wondering, I did not get a good night's sleep that night.

Shocking, I know.

It's almost like I'm on a quest or something.

I'd barely fallen asleep on my own when there was a bang from up on deck, which was more than enough to wake me up.

Getting up, I threw my shorts back on and grabbed the first weapon I could reach— not even thinking about Riptide being in my pocket. I opened the door to see Silena and Tyson both running up to the deck as well, though Clarisse was still down here.

Why...?

"Did a child of mine really lower defenses to a level of letting an attack in?" But I know a bastards voice when I hear one. He sighed. "I can't believe you child! I bless you with the powers of summoning the defeated and you use it for what? So you can relax and not do anything? You've been hanging around with that Aphrodite girl too much, Clarisse. You've gone soft, kid, too damn soft! If you continue like this, you're sure to fail. Even an idiot can see that."

I stopped myself in the hall. Poking my head into the room, I'm glad I ended up not knocking on the door.

Although Ares wasn't physically here (which is good for his safety, let's be honest), he was on an Iris Message with Clarisse.

And if I remember correctly, Clarisse has never gotten the chance to talk to her dad before. This would be the first time she's properly met him. Spoken with him, really.

But all he was doing was lecturing her and telling him that he's disappoin in her choices. In her choices of friends.

Telling her that she was bound to fail.

It pissed me off enough to hear it, but it pissed me off even more to see that Clarisse was struggling to keep herself together the longer he spoke.

She was crying.

"Y— yes, Father, I'm so—"

"Don't call me Father." He cut her off, which was cruel even for a god. "you've earned no such right."

"Yes... Yes, sir." She went on as I grabbed a pillow that has gotten tossed on the ground. "S— sor... Sorry, sir, I won't—"

"Speak, child! If you're blubbering and muttering, it's no wonder you can't get anything—"

I threw the pillow, narrowing missing Clarisse in order to go through the Iris Message and end the call.

"Says the half ass of a man who won't go into the tunnel of love because he's afraid of a net and a camera." I announced my arrival, hoping that story would make Clarisse feel a little less bad about what just happened with her father. "For the person having an affair with the goddess of love, he's pretty fucking awful at showing it."

As she turned towards me, something on Clarisse's face caught my attention.

There was a little red smudge on the top of her forehead, near her hairline. Which, for a split second, I was worried it was blood, but the shade of it...

Did Silena actually give Clarisse a kiss goodnight?

"Hey!" Clarisse tried to argue, but even Mr. D could've acted more caring than she did right now. "He's still... Well, I guess he doesn't want me to call him my dad or my father, but..."

"He's a bully, Clarisse," I insisted, watching her take a breath. "Don't let him convince you that he's really done stuff for you— especially if that's the first time you've spoken to him, okay? What's the uh... What's the mark on your forehead?"