Betrayed But Never Forgotten

Three broken souls

Annabeth's pov

The city swallowed us in darkness as we walked, our footsteps echoing off empty streets. An hour of silence, broken only by distant sirens and the hollow sound of our breathing. No monsters had found us yet – strange, but I was too numb to question our luck.

New York's lights beckoned in the distance, a constellation of artificial stars that once meant home. Now they just looked cold, unreachable.

"Where are we going?" Piper finally broke the silence, her voice small against the vastness of our exile.

"My mom's place." Percy's words were barely a whisper, the first he'd spoken since we left camp. His shoulders were hunched, as if carrying an invisible weight.

"Do you think she'll take us in?" Piper asked, stepping around a puddle that reflected our tired faces.

"Why wouldn't she?" I tried to sound confident as I moved under a flickering streetlight. "Sally loves Percy more than anything."

Piper hugged herself against the night chill. "Both camps hate us now. The gods too. What if... what if they got to Sally first? Told her things about us?"

"My mom's not like that," Percy said, but I heard the tremor in his voice, the hint of uncertainty that scared me more than any monster.

We fell back into silence, each step bringing us closer to what we hoped would be sanctuary. The city felt different tonight – hostile, as if even the buildings knew we were outcasts.

***

"Percy, knock," I urged softly. We stood outside his mother's apartment, the hallway's fluorescent lights making our shadows look like strangers on the wall. Percy had frozen the moment we arrived, his hand raised but not touching the door.

Finally, he knocked. Shuffling sounds came from inside, and the door flew open to reveal Sally Jackson, her face lighting up for one beautiful, hopeful moment – before transforming into something I'd never seen before. Something hard. Cold. Foreign.

The slap echoed in the hallway like a gunshot.

Percy staggered backward, his hand rising to the angry red mark blooming on his cheek. But it wasn't the physical pain that made his sea-green eyes fill with tears – it was the look of pure disgust on his mother's face.

"How dare you come here," Sally's voice trembled with rage, "and put our family in danger? Especially after what you've done?" Her words cut through the air like knives. "I hereby disown you as my son. Stay away from my family – all of us."

The door slammed shut with the finality of a coffin lid.

My hands shook with the effort of restraining myself. Everything in me wanted to break down that door, to shake Sally until she remembered who Percy was – her son, her hero, the boy who'd saved the world so many times.

Percy turned away, but not before I saw the tears spilling down his face. He wiped them away with a shaking hand. "Do you guys have anywhere to go?"

"Maybe... maybe I can convince some of my family to take us in," Piper offered, but her voice held little hope.

Before Percy could move, I pulled him into a fierce hug, feeling him shudder against me as he tried to hold back sobs. "It'll all work out," I whispered into his shoulder, tasting the lie in my words. I didn't know if I was trying to convince him or myself anymore.

We followed Piper down the stairwell, each step taking us further from our last hope of sanctuary. Out into the indifferent streets of New York, where the wind carried the bitter taste of betrayal.

No home. No money. No family but each other. And somewhere in the darkness, I could have sworn I heard laughter – ancient and cruel, like the gods themselves were mocking our fall from grace.