ATLOP: Trial by Fire

Moms and Step-sisters

Did you all miss me? I've been gone awhile.

Good news! The quality of the story as a whole for spelling/grammar has gone up! I've spent the last however long editing all the chapters :D That also means there shouldn't be a delay on updates again for a good while.

Sadly you guys won't be getting the April Fools fun I had planned, though if you join the server it will be there.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: Percabeth4Life

Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/3tGNJhu

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I met with Annabeth and Grover at the bottom of the building.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth said, reaching out to steady me, then faltered when I flinched back.

It was nothing against her but if I felt one more thing on my skin I'd scream.

"Just... too much."

"Let's get you outside, or wait, is outside too loud? Uh, do you know what would help?" Grover hovered beside me, and despite how gentle his presence is, I still wanted to groan at the scent of freshly cut grass and the faint taste of sweet berries. It was just too much.

"I just... need space... lots of it..."

I need someplace with nothing, no immortal stuff just plain old mortal nothingness. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I was pretty sure I knew a place.

Home.

"Where should we go?" Annabeth asked gently.

"I need... home... Metua, er, father, um, Poseidon-ore... Him... yeah... He said Hades-ton returned my mom."

"That's great!" Grover cheered, then winced when I winced. "Sorry."

"Yeah, so, uh, home."

"Right, home," Annabeth said. "Let's grab a taxi."

We moved slowly outside. I was flinching at the smells and sounds that my city had. Too much, Pontus my head hurt, and my skin felt raw and I felt nauseous. I just needed to lay down at home and recover. This was too much.

We settled in the taxi and Annabeth used her Lotus card to pay the fare to get us to my apartment. I mumbled the address for her.

I blinked and we seemed to be there. I shook my head, I was out of it.

I was just so tired and everything was too much, and now I felt stiff too like... why.

"We'll wait outside, Percy," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, you go see your mom. We'll wait for you. So will the taxi," Grover moved to pat me on the back, then seemed to think better of it.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Thanks."

I stumbled up to the apartment, ringing the doorbell.

I heard movement and grimaced as I rolled my shoulders at the stiffness there. This day had just been too much hadn't it?

The door opened, and I honestly nearly cried, my mom stood in front of me, whole and unharmed.

I fell into her arms, my amazing mother, smelling of peppermint and licorice. The weariness and worry seemed to evaporate from her face as soon as she saw me.

"Percy! Oh, thank goodness. Oh, my baby."

She wrapped me in a tight hug, and even though it made my skin crawl right now I still hugged her tightly back, blinking back tears.