( Chapter Nineteen ━━━ Kept Me Safe And Sound At Night ! )
Fifteen minutes passed before we were back on the streets of Manhattan. Percy was in a full on trance. I knew he was probably still in shock from seeing our father for the first time and now finding out that his mom is back.
"Do you want me to go back to camp so you can see your mom by yourself?" I asked, not comfortable leaving him alone, but I knew he would be fine with his mom.
Percy looked up at me. After a few moments of silence, he shook his head. "I want you to meet her," he said.
I smiled at him as he waved down a taxi that we took to his mom's apartment. We rang the doorbell when we reached the right one and in only a few moments, there she was. She smelled of peppermint and licorice. She was beautiful.
"Percy! Oh, thank goodness! Oh, my baby!" Sally exclaimed, squeezing her boy tightly.
I would have been lying if I had said that my eyes weren't a little bit clouded with welling tears. I forced them back. I was not going to cry in front of my brother's mom the first time meeting her. She explained to her son that she had shown up at the apartment that morning and that she didn't remember anything about the Minotaur. I was kind of thankful she hadn't acknowledged me yet. I guessed it would be kind of awkward to meet your son's half-sister when she wasn't yours to begin with.
"Oh, who's this, Percy?" his mother asked and I found myself staring into the beautiful blue eyes of Sally Jackson. My breath caught in my throat as Percy gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me up a bit.
He gave his mother a small smile and looked between the two of us. "Mom, this is going to sound crazy, but this is Amara. She's my sister."
"Poseidon kid," I added softly and she simply nodded.
She gave me the warmest smile that made my heart flutter. "It's very nice to meet you, Amara. I hope I get to know you better."
"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Jackson," I told her.
She shook her head a bit. "Sally is fine, Amara."
I nodded, a small smile playing on my lips as I looked between the Jackson's. My smile faded quick when a rude voice echoed in my ears. "Hey, Sally! That meat loaf done yet or what?"
Sally closed her eyes and shook her head. "He isn't going to be happy to see you, Percy. The store got half a million phone calls today from Los Angeles. . . something about free appliances."
Percy glanced at me. "About that..."
Sally gave a weak smile. "Just don't make him angrier, all right? Come on," she said, turning to go inside. She stopped for a second and looked back at me. "You too, Amara."
I stepped into the apartment behind Percy. We were ankle deep in garbage, I couldn't even see the carpet. The sofa was covered in beer cans. Dirty underwear and socks hung off of the lampshades. The mess sort of reminded me of my old apartment. My mom never cleaned up after herself or anyone else that she had over.
Percy's stepfather, who I knew as Gabe, sat at the table with three of his friends. They were playing poker."
When Gabe noticed Percy, his face turned redder than Ares's eyes. His cigar fell from his lips. "You got some nerve coming back here, you little punk. I thought the police—"
"He's not a fugitive after all," Sally interjected. "Isn't that wonderful, Gabe?"
The man looked between Sally and Percy before his eyes landed on me. "Bad enough I had to give back your life insurance money, Sally," he muttered. "You bring your fugitive girlfriend along too? I saw her in the papers too."
"Not girlfriend," I said, shuddering in disgust. "And also not a fugitive."
He seemed to narrow his eyes a bit at me before looking back at his wife. "Get me the phone. I'll call the cops."
"Gabe, no!"
"Did you just say 'no'?" Gabe asked, his eyebrows raised. "You think I'm gonna put up with this punk again? I can still press charges against him for ruining my Camaro."
Sally tried to argue with him, but Gabe raised his hand, making the woman flinch. Hell, I almost did too, remembering the slaps my mother would give me every so often.
An anger expanded within me and I knew it did in Percy too. The boy stepped toward Gabe, taking his pen out of his pocket. I stepped forward, ready to defend Percy, but also ready to drag him away.
Gabe just laughed. "What, punks?" he asked both of us before focusing on his stepson. "You gonna write on me? You touch me, and you are going to jail forever, you understand? You too, little girl."
I clenched my jaw at the nickname, holding on to Percy's shirt to pull him back a bit.
"Gabe, they're just kids," one of his friends interrupted.
"Just kids," Gabe mimicked and his friends laughed.
"I'll be nice to you, punk," Gabe told Percy, showing off his tobacco stained teeth that made me want to hurl. "I'll give you five minutes to get your stuff and clear out. After that, I call the police on both of you."
Sally took Percy's arm. "Come on. We'll go to Percy's room."
I followed them as Sally pulled her son away. The bedroom had been filled with junk. There was a rotting bouquet of sympathy flowers and stacks of car batteries.
"Gabe is just upset, honey," Sally told her son. "I'll talk to him later. I'm sure it will work out."
"It'll never work out, Mom. Not as long as Gabe's here."
As Sally explained to Percy that she could take him to work with her for the rest of the summer and find a boarding school in the fall, a package appeared on his bed. I swear it hadn't been there a second ago. The cardboard box was battered and the right size to fit a basketball, except there was no basketball in that box.
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With best wishes,
PERCY JACKSON and AMARA ADAMS
I held my breath a bit. Over the mailing address in black marker, the address to Percy's apartment was written, along with the words: RETURN TO SENDER.
Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are true children of the Sea God.
I looked between Sally and Percy. "I know it's not my business, but do you want him gone?" I asked Sally.
"It isn't that simple, Amara, and I appreciate the concern—"
"Mom, just tell us," Percy said. "That jerk has been hitting you. Do you want him gone or not?"
The woman hesitated before nodding. "Yes, I do. I'm trying to get up my courage to tell him, but the two of you cannot do this for me. You can't solve my problems."
The two of us glanced at the box. We could solve her problem. I knew Percy wanted to open the package, place it on the table, and take out what was in it. It's what a Greek hero would do in the stories. It's what Gabe deserved. But Poseidon had told us that a hero's story always ended in tragedy.
"I can do it," Percy told his mom. "One look inside the box and he'll never bother you again."
Sally seemed to understand immediately when she glanced at the package. "No, Percy," she said. "You can't." She stepped away.
"Poseidon," I started. "He called you a queen." Her cheeks flushed a bit.
"You deserve better, Mom. You should go to college and get your degree. You can write your novel, meet a nice guy, live in a nice house. You don't need to protect me anymore by staying with Gabe. Let us get rid of him."
I nodded quickly as Sally wiped a tear from her cheek. I barely knew her, but a sense of protectiveness flooded through my veins. It was probably because I knew she meant so much to Percy.
"You sound so much like your father," she said. "He offered to stop the tide for me once. He thought he could solve all my problems with a wave of his hand." The woman looked between her son and I. I felt like I was intruding a bit and that I should have probably left.
Percy pressed his lips together. "What's wrong with that?"
Her eyes searched inside Percy. "I think you know, Percy. I think you're enough like me to understand. If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself. I can't let a god take care of me... or my son... or my son's sister. I have to... find the courage on my own."
The sound of poker chips and swearing seemed to echo through the walls. ESPN played on the living room television.
"We'll leave the box," Percy said. "If he threatens you."
She nodded, her face pale. "Where will you go, Percy?"
Percy looked at me and then back to his mother. "Half-Blood Hill."
"For the summer... or forever."
Percy sighed softly. "I guess that depends."
They locked eyes, somehow speaking with just the eye contact. The relationship of a mother and son. Sally leaned down and kissed Percy's forehead. "You'll be a hero, Percy. You'll be the greatest of all."
The comment made me a smile a bit. Once she finished with her son, Sally turned toward me. Surprisingly, she pulled me into a gentle, maternal hug. I swear I could have started bawling my eyes out in her arms.
"You'll be great too, Amara," she whispered in my ear.
When she pulled away from the hug, I nodded. "I'll watch over him during the summer," I told her and she gently squeezed my wrist where Colton's bracelet still was.
Percy took one last look around his bedroom before we walked with Sally to the front door.
"Leaving so soon, punks?" Gabe called. "Good riddance." I clenched my jaw in anger and pressed my hand to Percy's shoulder in case he tried to charge the man. "Hey, Sally," he yelled. "What about that meat loaf, huh?"
A look of anger flashed in her eyes. Perhaps we were leaving her in good hands. The ones she had.
"The meat loaf is coming right up, dear," she replied. "Meat loaf surprise."
She glanced at us and winked.
We stepped out of the apartment. The last thing we saw before the door closed was Sally staring at Gabe, almost contemplating how he would look as a garden statue.
AUTHOR SPEAKS !
amara, percy, and sally >>>>