𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒──𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

[ IV. fools ]

Zehra, Nico, and Percy were sitting on the couch in Percy's mom's apartment on the Upper East Side. That was the good news. The bad news was that the rest of the living room was occupied by Mrs. O'Leary.

Zehra heard a muffled yell from the bedroom. Percy's step-dad Paul called out, "Who put this wall of fur in the doorway?"

"Percy?" A female voice called out. "Are you here? Are you all right?"

"I'm here!" Percy shouted back.

"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary tried to turn in a circle to find Percy's mom, knocking all the pictures off the walls.

After destroying most of the furniture in the living room and probably making Percy's neighbors really mad, the group of demi-gods got the parents out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where they sat around the kitchen table. Mrs. O'Leary still took up the entire living room, but she'd settled her head in the kitchen doorway so she could see the humans, which made her happy. Percy's mom tossed her a ten-pound family-size tube of ground beef, which disappeared down her gullet. Paul poured lemonade for everyone while Percy told his mom about the mission he and Zehra had just returned from.

Sally Jackson's eyes glossed over when Percy told her about losing Charlie. She put one hand on top of Percy's shoulder and then reached her other one out for Zehra's hand. Zehra grasped Sally's fingers tightly, desperate for a motherly touch. She had spent so much time making sure everyone around her was in working condition, but she didn't really have time to check in on herself sometimes.

"Zehra, honey, are you okay?" Sally asked.

No! She wanted to scream. She wasn't okay. None of this was okay. So many losses, so many betrayals. Zehra had never had a very present father, so she grew up fighting her fear of abandonment. Then Luke had left her, and so had Thalia and Ethan. She wasn't sure how many more heartbreaks she could handle. But she couldn't tell Sally that. Especially not in front of Percy.

Zehra gave Sally a grim smile. "I'm alright, Ms. Jackson. Really, I am."

"So it's true." Paul stared at Percy like he'd never seen him before. He was wearing his white bathrobe, now covered in hellhound fur, and his salt-and-pepper hair was sticking up in every direction. "All the talk about monsters, and being a demigod . . . it's really true."

Percy nodded.

"Sorry about Mrs. O'Leary," Nico said, "destroying the living room and all."

Paul laughed like he was delighted. "Are you kidding? This is awesome! I mean, when I saw the hoofprints on the Prius, I thought maybe. But this!"

He patted Mrs. O'Leary's snout. The living room shook— BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—which either meant a SWAT team was breaking down the door or Mrs. O'Leary was wagging her tail.

"Thanks for not freaking out," Zehra smiled.

"Oh, I'm freaking out," he promised, his eyes wide. "I just think it's awesome!"

"Yeah, well," Percy said, "you may not be so excited when you hear what's happening."

Percy told Paul and his mom about Typhon, and the gods, and the battle that was sure to come. Then he told them Nico's plan. This was Zehra's first time hearing the plan as well—her jaw nearly dropped on the floor when Nico uttered the words, "Percy needs to bathe in the River Styx."

Zehra's fist slammed down onto the table. "Excuse me, what?" Steam billowed from her ears. "Have you lost your mind? How would we even get down there? And even if we manage to make it there alive, what makes you think you'll survive the river?"