The Jacksons (completed): Book 2 - Percy Jackson Fanfiction

~ Chapter Seven: NERO

"I don't love you!" Percy yelled. "Rachel, I'm sorry, but Annabeth is my life! She always has been and always will be. We have two beautiful, beautiful children together. Do you... do you seriously think I would jeopardise that for a silly fling with some delusional nutjob?"

If he was expecting a reaction, Percy was mistaken. Rachel simply brushed her fringe out of her eyes and calmly walked back to where she had sat at the head of the table. Percy could smell her perfume, clinging to his clothes. He felt sick.

"I had no idea you felt that way," he admitted, reluctantly sitting back down.

"This way," Rachel corrected. "My love for you is still very much present. Something so precious does not go away in a mere eight years. I fell in love with you when we were sixteen, after two years of getting to know you. Three years later, you had children. Now, we can be together. Forget your children. Forget her. Start a new life with me."

"What? Rachel, are you out of your -"

"Hear me out, please. I have money. Lots of it. We can begin our eternity to together based on it."

"Rachel -"

"Of course, you will have to contribute too. As Annabeth is a rather successful architect, I'd be truly surprised if she had no money stowed away. And you're a teacher at the camp and in New York. Two income families must be -"

"You're -"

"- reasonably capable of paying all expenses required. We can put the money together and catch a flight midday tomorrow. You'll simply have to call in sick and tell Annabeth not to worry her pretty little head about you. After all, you'll only be jetting to Majorca with your true l-"

"RACHEL!"

Rachel stopped talking, astounded. Her eyes welled with tears as she saw Percy's nostrils flare with anger.

"I do not want to go away with you!" he shouted. "I will not spend MY family's hard-earned money on some sleazy getaway with a woman I don't love! Get it into your thick skull, Rachel. I LOVE ANNABETH. That will never change, Rach. I don't want to hurt you, but asking me to leave my family - my beautiful family who I adore - and use our savings - for our children's FUTURE - that's too far!"

Percy stood up and walked towards the door. He held the doorknob, ready to go, but knew he had to say one last thing. "This is me, walking away," he said firmly. "Get used to it. Goodbye, Rachel. I'll see you at Camp."

And just like that, Percy Jackson left, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare was alone in that big empty room. Finally dropping her calm façade, and displaying her tear-stricken grief as the love of her life would never be her true friend again until the very day she died.

I gasped, my body numb. Dad and I shared a look.

"That was my memory," he whispered. "You... you've just been inside my head. You've seen my memory!"

This was too much. "Dad, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -"

"That was private." He continued to speak in a low and scared tone. "Nobody has ever seen -"

"Please Dad, it was an accident!" I insisted. "I didn't suddenly just wish to look through a little window in the side of your head, did I? I'm sorry. I really am. That was your private thought and you're grieving..."

I swallowed, not sure whether I should say my next words. "Dad... now that - now that Rachel is dead... do you regret turning her down?"

Dad gazed at me and I have never forgotten that look in his eyes of sheer sadness. "No," he said. "I don't regret it, not at all. I still love your mum and you kids very much, Nero. That won't change because of Rachel's death, I can assure you." He gulped. "Nero, it was like... you didn't just see my thoughts. You read them. It was like I had a little image of your face in the back of my mind, reading every thought that I... well, thought. Like they flashed up on a screen before you and you read them, like a transcript. Like subtitles."