SUNSPEAKER, percy jackson.

0𝟐𝟑. bittersweet reunion

chapter twenty three
bittersweet reunion

BEFORE THEY WENT BACK INTO the maze, they would go see Percy's mom. Lennon was happy Percy was getting a chance to see his mother but she couldn't help but be a bit nervous. She'd heard a bunch about her but she had yet to meet her.

Traffic was heavy but they'd made it to Percy's apartment around noon. As soon as she'd opened the door, Sally Jackson enveloped Percy in a big hug. Lennon smiled at the sight.

"I told them you were all right," Ms. Jackson said as she pushed back from the hug. She had her hands on Percy's shoulders and was looking over him as if inspecting for injuries.

Percy gave his mom a smile. "Hi, mom,"

She shook her head at him. "Oh, don't 'Hi mom' me. You were missing for two weeks," Jokingly she glanced over at Lennon and Annabeth. Making a look that said What am I going to do with him?

Then she reached over and gave Annabeth a hug. Lennon stood awkwardly to the side as they greeted each other.

"Annabeth! How are you? Keeping him out of trouble?" She sent a glance towards Percy who huffed at his mother's words.

The blonde laughed a bit. "Trying to,"

Ms. Jackson chuckled at her words and then set her eyes on Lennon.

She stepped forward, "Hi, I'm—"

"Lennon! Percy's told me all about you," she gave the girl a hug, much to her surprise. Then she lets go and says with a conspiratorial smile, "He can't stop talking about you actually—"

"Mom!" Percy says with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. "Shoudn't we get inside?"

Ms. Jackson chuckles and nods. "Yes. It's nice to finally meet you Lennon. You can call me Sally,"

Lennon nodded. "It's nice to meet you too,"

"Now come in, I made cookies,"

Eventually, they were all sat down at Sally's kitchen table. She had a plate of blue cookies set out for them. Percy had told her about their thing with blue food but she'd never gotten the chance to have any of it.

They caught her up on their quest so far. Percy explained most of it, and he seemed to leave out anything that made it seem dangerous. From time to time Lennon and Annabeth would chime in too.

The girls laughed when Sally said, "I can't get him to clean his room, but he'll clean a hundred tons of horse manure out of some monster's stables?" after hearing about their time at Geryon's ranch.

"So," Sally said when they finished telling the story. "you wrecked Alcatraz Island, made Mount St. Helens explode, and displaced half a million people, but at least you're safe."

"Yep," He agreed. "That pretty much covers it."

"I wish Paul were here," she said, half to herself. "He wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, right. The school."

Lennon remembered Percy telling her about how he'd encountered empousai at his high school orientation. And that he also left things in flames.

"What did you tell him?" Percy asked.

Sally shook her head. "What could I say? He knows something is different about you, Percy. He's a smart man. He believes that you're not a bad person. He doesn't know what's going on, but the school is pressuring him. After all, he got you admitted there. He needs to convince them the fire wasn't your fault. And since you ran away, that looks bad."