Troubled

77

chapter seventy-seven
percy

The days leading up to Christmas were all a blur.

Every day I slept until noon, ate my mom's amazing blue food, watched trashy shows, texted with Rachel and Grover, passed out again and then repeated the cycle.

Today was not unlike any of those days. Christmas Eve was tomorrow, meaning more time with Paul's family, which I didn't mind, but it also meant I had to get dressed out of pajamas, which I did mind.

After wiping the drool off my face and sitting up I peered out my window, which revealed snow was falling onto the city.

I pushed away any thoughts of the snow and winter, specifically last winter and any memories with a certain blonde girl, and grabbed my phone.

It was blown up with notifications. A few from Grover, frantically asking me for my opinion on what he got Juniper for Christmas (he had gotten her a tree), and a text from Rachel asking me for my holiday plans.

After deciding Rachel's message could wait, I replied to the frantic Grover and assured him that Juniper would like the tree he got her, even if it was a bit of a strange gift.

I wasn't lying to Grover as I'm sure Juniper would enjoy the tree. Grover was big into nature, along with Juniper, and apparently he'd gotten her a Juniper tree, which made me laugh.

"Good morning, Percy," my mom greeted with a large grin as I entered the kitchen, a plate stacked with blue pancakes awaiting me. "You look tired, you sure you don't just want to go back to bed?"

I shook my head and waved off my mother's concerns as I dug into the plate of blue pancakes. "Nah, mom, I'm fine. Where's Paul?"

"At work," she replied.

I frowned. "The day before Christmas Eve?"

She nodded. "You know Paul, he's crazy about work. The break makes him anxious, and one of his students emailed him about some groundbreaking research, I don't really remember, he told it to me at five in the morning before he left."

"Ahh, okay," I replied. It wasn't unlike Paul to be overly interested in things like research and all that academic stuff.

"He told me to call him if I needed anything, but his family isn't coming anymore, so there's not really much to prepare for anymore," my mom said with a shrug.

I set the fork down and furrowed my eyebrows, clearly confused. "What do you mean they aren't coming anymore?"

My mom's face turned red. "Oh no, that's what I was forgetting. I can't believe I forgot to tell you this—Paul's family got snowed in!"

Paul's family was from some town in the Midwest I'd never heard of, but they described it as being very cold, so I wasn't surprised that they were snowed in.

"So Christmas is just us this year?" I asked.

"Yes, but don't worry I'll still make the food, we'll still do all the traditional Christmas-y stuff," my mother assured me with a wink. "Sorry to drop a bunch of news on you at once, but I've gotta run."

"Where are you going?" I asked as I watched her rush across the room and start placing on her coat and scarf. "Nearly everything's closed!"

She shook her head. "Not everything. I just have to get a last minute present, don't worry about it. I'll be back in an hour tops. And you can call me if anything goes wrong, and Paul's work number is on the fridge!"

She ruffled a hand through my hair and smiled at me one last time before rushing out the door, clearly in a hurry.

After finishing my pancakes I washed the plate off and then headed to the living room where I put on some reality television show that was mind numbing.

A buzz from my phone awoke me from my television trance. I sighed as I peered at the clock. I'd been staring at the screen for nearly half an hour now.

I sighed as I grabbed my phone, expecting another panic text from Grover, and opened it, and I nearly had a heart attack as I read the message and who it was from.

Annabeth: I'm outside your apartment.