Percy

These days, Percy hated waking up. His body was stiff and that’s when he could feel all the pain the most.
He pushed himself up and swung his legs onto the ground. He had to wait a minute for the blood to get flowing to his legs before he stood. He was only 29 years old. To the humans he was at the top of his prime, but because of all the fighting and the wounds he had received as a demigod he felt way past his prime.
Percy stood and stumbled over to a sink and mirror on the far wall. He supported himself by leaning on the sink.
He looked into the mirror. His reflection scared him. He had a decent stubble going and his hair was cut shorter than it had ever been. His shirtless torso was the worst part.
His chest and back was covered in scars from recent fights with stray monsters or the mercenaries who had stumbled upon him. The healing powers of the water were fading more and more each week since Poseidon was in captivity. Without him ruling, Percy’s powers were failing.
Percy wet his hands and splashed water into his face and grabbed a black shirt from a closet beside the sink and headed for the door.
Percy stepped out into the main room. There was a kitchen area with a table and a work bench against the back wall along with a couch.
Will Solace was sitting at the table with a glass of nectar in his hands. Across the table sat another glass of nectar.
Percy walked over to it and sat down.
“Well,” Will said. “You look like crap.”
“Fuck you.” Percy responded.
“Long day at the aquarium yesterday?”
Percy nodded, “It’s getting harder and harder to communicate with the animals. Sometimes it’s like they are speaking Spanish and I only know a basic knowledge. I can’t influence them like I used to be able to do. Maybe once they realize I suck as the main animal caretaker and facility director they could keep me as a janitor.”
“An out of prime you is one thousand percent better than the ordinary human doing that job. You know that.” Will answered standing up. “Also, Chiron had a rough night. He kicked me across the tanker. I’ll let you give him the nectar meds this time.”
Percy downed the rest of his glass and grabbed the container of meds from Will and headed for the door.
They were hiding out at an abandoned boat assembly factory on the Boston harbor. The factory had two buildings. Will and Percy stayed in one building and the other building sat empty. Behind both buildings was a large water tank that had fallen. Inside was Chiron.
Percy made his way to the tank.
The entrance into the tank was a hatch that was on the top of the tank. It would have been for maintenance purposes if the tank was standing. Now it was the front door of Chiron’s “home.”
Percy spun the wheel on the hatch and pulled it open. He stepped into the tank.
In the middle of the room was a table with different maps and a line of flowers. The back wall was in the form of a stable for when Chiron was in horse form. To the left of the room was another table for food and eating. A plate of food from dinner was still there. It was uneaten.
“Chiron.” Percy called. The whirring of his electric wheelchair reached Percy’s ears and Chiron rolled from behind the food table.
“Who are you?” He asked.
Percy went to the table in the middle of the room, “You know who I am.”
The table had a map of Camp Half-Blood on it. Percy hadn’t seen camp since before it was destroyed 11 years ago. A small part of him still missed it.
Percy grabbed a syringe from a drawer on the table and took the meds out of the bag. He filled the syringe and motioned for Chiron to come to him.
“Come on. We’ve got to get you these meds.”
“No. I don’t listen to little shits.” He answered.
“I’m not chasing you again.” Percy said.
Chiron answered by zooming back behind the food table.
Percy walked towards the table and Chiron zoomed from behind the table and shot towards Percy’s right. Percy dove for Chiron but a yellow shockwave erupted from Chiron’s chest. The shockwave froze Percy in mid dive.
The shockwave was a side effect of Chiron dying of old age. Chiron had been around so long and had collected so much energy that when he died it would produce a shockwave that could level a Manhattan city block. If he didn’t take any meds then there would be mini shockwaves that would increase.
Percy concentrated on the water in Chiron’s body and the shockwaves decreased in size. Percy moved forward but it was slowly. The shockwaves still caused him to move slowly.
Percy used the table to shove himself the rest of the way forward and the needle plunged into Chiron’s thigh. The shockwaves immediately stopped and Percy fell onto his back. His breaths came out in ragged bursts.
“Percy?” Chiron asked. “My boy, what happened?”
“You had another attack. It was the strongest one you’ve had in awhile.” Percy answered standing up.
Chiron looked at him, “We need to get me away from here Percy. I am a danger to you and Will as well as anyone else around us. We are lucky I haven’t killed anyone yet.”
Percy turned and leaned on the table. Chiron still didn’t remember what happened.
3 years ago there were around 200 demigods held up in a cave in the desert in Texas. Percy and Chiron ran it to the best of their ability until Chiron’s first attack came. Almost every demigod had been killed. Out of the 200 around 17 were still alive. Percy and Will had decided to hide Chiron after that. The other demigods had gone into hiding. This was their life now.
“Percy.” Chiron said pulling him out of his thoughts. “We need to contact the base in Texas. I need to make sure their training is being run to the best it can be. They are all that’s left.”
Percy pushed off the table and headed for the door.
“There are no demigods left in Texas Chiron. Their dead.”
Percy pushed open the door and stepped out.
“Percy! What did you do?” Chiron called.
Percy shut the door and spun the wheel again and headed back to Will feeling more guilty then he ever had.

Notes