Half Human

Chapter 12: Coffee Talks

Percy walked into his mother's apartment to find her, his stepdad, his sister, and the ghoul-friendly Will Solace having coffee together, watching an episode of Judge Judy. Will's mask was on the couch beside him, all silver and gold and godly, but Hades's broken mask was missing. Percy couldn't even remember if they had grabbed it from that blood-soaked ground.

"Percy!" Sally got up from the worn couch and hugged him close. She looked as worried as she always was when it came to him and almost dying. 

"Mom," Percy held her close. "I'm okay."

Paul got up and patted his shoulder. "It's good to see you, Percy."

"You too, Paul."

Sally broke the hug and fixed his cross necklace, centering it on the loose chain. "How'd it go?"

Percy shrugged, rubbing at his new wrist brace. "Broken wrist, concussion, nothing worse. Made myself seem worse off for the show."

"Did they see through you?"

He shook his head.

"Good, good." Sally took his wrist in her hands and looked it over before gesturing to the couches. "Sit. I'll get you some coffee and aspirin."

"Yum, my favorite mix."

Percy moved and sat by Will, the couch having been empty beside him. "Hey, how are you doing?"

Will looked up from his mug of coffee, his blue eyes full of exhaustion and fear. "Okay, depending on how it went on your end."

Percy sat back and propped his feet up on the coffee table. "I told them the truth, but also not the truth, but they think it's the truth. I said I was fighting you on her orders not too far away, and she was fighting Hades down there. And by the time you ran away, she was dead."

"You sure they believed you?" Will asked.

Percy nodded. "I'm sure. They've never had any reason to be suspicious of me in the past. Athena always put in good words for me, in her own way. Like 'he's not a moron', or 'he's at least better than my last partner'."

Will looked down at his lap. "So...are you staying in your job?"

Percy nodded. "But I'm getting my own partner, I'm going to be in charge. I'm only going to hunt down homicidal ghouls, just as I would homicidal humans. They promoted me for surviving a situation that Athena didn't."

Will's lips twitched. "Cheater."

"I know."

Sally came back into the room and handed Percy a mug of coffee and a few pills. "Here, Percy."

"Thanks, ma." Percy took the pills before sipping at the coffee. "So, how's Nico and Hazel?"

"Asleep, last time I checked," Will answered. "Nico's still pretty bad off, but he'll be okay. Hazel's healed up."

Percy grinned at him. "So, you love Nico, huh?"

Will's ears turned red. "I forgot I told you that."