Knights of Nine

ONE

ONE

Percy ignored the doorbell when it rang but groaned when knocking followed, pounding hard on the door. He slowly peeled his open and with a yawn he pushed himself off of the couch and stood. A curse escaped his lips as his foot collided with the coffee table and he fell to the floor. The annoying sounds continued and he hurried up and headed for the front door. He opened the door bleary eyed and frowned at his step father's face.

Paul had a few bruises bandages on his face and his hair was disheveled as he stared at his stepson.

"Paul? Don't you have keys?" Percy asked him annoyed. "Wait, where's mom?"

"I wish you had phone," Paul muttered stepping inside. He hurried into another room before hurrying back out a minute later with a bag and Percy's shoes in his hands. He tossed them to Percy who raised an eyebrow but put them on nonetheless.

"What's going on?" Percy asked finally completely awake. "What happened to your face?"

"Come on," Paul responded. Percy noticed the man was shaking slightly. Blood was on his shirt and one of the lenses on his glasses was cracked but the man ignored it as he looked around nervously. "The cab is waiting."

"What about your car?"

Paul shook his head and lead the way out of the apartment. Percy followed close behind as they headed to the cab. In the cab Percy looked back to Paul who bounced his leg up and down impatiently as he stared out the window.

"What happened?" Percy asked his step father quietly.

Paul ran a hand through his already messed up hair. "On our way back from dinner a-a drunk driver ran a light..."

Percy's eyes widened full of worry. "Is she okay? Both of them?"

"They have to be."

~~~~

"Seaweed Brain!"

Percy gave a sideways glance to the Iris Message which appeared beside his head. In it Annabeth stood with her arms crossed looking annoyed. He looked back down at his sandwhich uninterested. "Yeah?"

"That's all I get? You were supposed to be here on Olympus at noon! It's almost six-"

Percy slashed a hand through the connection.

"You were... talking to a person?" Paul guessed sipping his coffee.

Percy nodded. "Annabeth. I was supposed to go to Olympus earlier..."

Paul said nothing but swirled his coffee clearly not interested in the hot beverage. Slowly Percy stood up from his chair and dumped his sandwich in the trash despite the fact he hadn't taken a bite. "I'm gonna head over there, maybe pissing Zeus off will make me feel a bit better..."He took a step toward his mother in the hospital bed and before kissing her on the forehead. "I'll be right back mom."

"Don't piss him off too much," Paul told Percy as his stepson headed for the door.

Percy's lip twitched into a small smile. "No promises."

~~~~

Percy stepped out of the elevator on to the 600th floor and glanced around. He had somewhat expected Annabeth to be standing there ready to chew him out for being seven hours late to this super special meeting. Whatever, at least he showed up. Honestly he just wanted to stay in the hospital all day but he figured he'd just make an appearance at the meeting before leaving again, he'd receive less yelling from the girlfriend that way.

He slowly walked toward the council room. He could hear loud excited chatter as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Inside the large room was crowded with talking and laughing people. Percy scanned the area and eyes turned to him and people waved before they went back to talking to other people. He wove through the crowd searching for Annabeth so she could fill him in on what had happened.