Redemption

Percy

"I can't believe it. I thought you were dead!"

"I...I gotta go." She said. She darted into the door behind her. I couldn't let her get away. I needed answers. I ran and jumped over the counter and into the room. She was slipping on a leather jacket when I let my impulses run  wild. I ran and tackled her to the ground.

"Percy! What in Hades are you doing!" I snapped out of it and hugged her.

"Elena, where have you been? The whole camp, we've been worried. You should have seen Annabeth..." Annabeth.

"I have to go, Percy."

"Why did you leave? What are you doing here? I need answers, Elena."

"Percy I..."

"Please, Elena." She looked at me.

"Not now. I have to keep working. Meet me here at five o'clock. That's when I get off work. I'll tell you everything then." I nodded and got off her.

I helped her up. We walked out. My mom still wasn't back. I walked out and into the coffee shop. I found my mom sitting at a table, waiting. She saw me and frowned seeing as I came empty handed.

"You didn't get any?"

"Mom, I have to stay here for a while."

"How long?"

"Until five."

"Percy..."

"I found Elena." She looked at me shocked.

"You said she died."

"I thought she did. Please mom. I need answers. I need to tell her about what happened to..." Annabeth. I still couldn't say her name out loud.

"I want you to call me when you're done and I'll pick you up, okay?"

"Okay mom." They called her name and she grabbed her drink.

"Stay safe, and don't do anything stupid."

"I won't. I love you."

"I love you too." She walked out of the coffee shop.

I sat down outside the candy shop. I was bored out of my mind. Being ADHD and having to sit and do nothing for a few hours was rough. I kept checking the time on my watch. Tyson had made me another one after the Titan war, but I never got to use it when fighting Gaea. Finally there was only ten minutes left until five. I decided to get myself some jelly beans. I walked into the empty store and headed to the jelly beans. I filled a bag of blue jelly beans and walked up to the register.

"Five fifty." Elena said. We couldn't look at each other. I gave her the twenty and she gave me my change back. She looked around.

"I'm gonna close up. You wait outside." I nodded and stood outside. She walked out with her leather jacket on over her uniform.

"Where do you want to..."

"I know a place a couple blocks down. They've got good burgers." I nodded and followed her out the station.

We walked to the parking lot. She pulled out a set of keys from her pockets and walked up to a black fiat. She got in the drivers side and I got in the passengers side. She drove for five minutes before she pulled up to a diner. We got out and walked to the entrance. I held the door open for her.

"Elena! The usual table?" A woman walking past asked her.

"Table for two, Mary." She looked at me and smirked.

"Oh. I see. Well, table for two. Follow me." She said.

"Your friend seems to think we're on a date." I whispered.

"I come here alone, most of the time." I nodded. We sat down in a booth across from each other. Mary sat the menus down.

"You still like coke?" She asked me.

"Yeah."

"Two cokes, make one of them blue please." She told the woman.

"They can do that here?"

"They can do just about anything. This place is run by halfbloods. Can't you feel the magic around it? It's got magical borders, just like camp does. I found it after the war, when I ran."

"Speaking of that. Why? Why did you fake your death?" She looked guilty.

"It's a long story. Please, don't judge my decision too harshly. I did what I thought I had to do."

"Why would you ever think you had to leave? You had so many people there who were devastated when we got the news."

"Percy, I did something. Terrible. I couldn't face you all after what happened."

"Elena, just tell me what you did."

"You remember Colin, right?"

"Yeah, undecided, just like you." She shook her head and laughed.

"No. Not like me."

"What do you mean? You stayed in the Hermes cabin for years. You told everyone that you hadn't been claimed."

"I only told a few people. Percy, my father is Hades."