Favorite : Change for the both of us

Chapter 16

Percy's POV

Well, I may have sorta lied when I said I'd be better in the morning. I wake up at half-three with a shout of pain. If my stomach hadn't been eating itself again, I'd've found the way Poseidon woke up in a blind panic funny. But it wasn't funny because it really hurt. My painkillers have worn off. Luckily, Poseidon brought some upstairs with us and half an hour later I'm back to sleep.

We wake up again at nine, and I'm nothing but feverish. No pain, just a little bit of dizziness and nausea, but overall I'm not ill any more. It's a sigh of relief for both me and Poseidon. Even better, it's the weekend, so we have nothing to do but lounge on the sofa, watching movies and eating buttered popcorn. I try to make the point that it's extremely lazy, but Poseidon doesn't seem to care. Neither do I, really. The only thing missing are my friends, but I want some time with just Poseidon today. All day.

Too bad it doesn't stay like that.

There's a knock on the front door. It's noon, so there's nothing odd about it. Poseidon is about to get up to answer it, but I'm already on my feet.

"It's probably the postman," I say. "I'll get it,"

Poseidon sits back down. "Alright. Be quick, then. I'm only pausing this thing for thirty seconds,"

I nod, running to the door in order to be back within the thirty seconds. I open the door, expecting to see an overly-happy man with short-shorts and a bike (our postman is weird) but instead I'm faced with a horribly familiar face.

"Kronos?"I blink.

An instinct is screaming at me to close the door, lock it and run to Poseidon. This man is crazy, a voice is screaming inside my head. But I've been faced with things like this before, when I lived with mom. It's never a good idea to run away from people like this guy. He'll find a way inside until he gets what he wants.

So rather than running, I stand straight, grasping the door handle and basically sending the message 'you're not coming in, I'm not going out' as I glare at my 'grandfather'. I smother my panic beneath a blank mask of none-existent emotion.

"Where is your father?" Kronos asks smoothly, looking bored. "I want to talk to him,"

"I can pass on a message," I reply, sounding just as cool. Focus on keeping my face as blank, yet as brave as possible.

Kronos quirks an eyebrow. I quirk one back. Two can play at this game, bud. My dad hates you. You're not talking to him if I can help it.

"Don't be foolish, child," Kronos says after a few seconds of just staring at each other. "Let me inside. I simply request a word with my son – is that too much to ask?"

"Let's see – oh, yes, it is too much," I say. I can see that my antics are sort of getting on his nerves. Still, I continue. It's not as though Kronos can hurt me with Poseidon in the other room, anyway. "Last thing I heard, my dad hates you. If there's one thing he'd rather not do, its look at you. So you might as well leave now,"

"This is a childish game you're playing," he rolls his eyes.

"Then admit that I'm the winner and you're the loser,"

Kronos glares at me with hatred. I grin at him cheekily, unable to resist the temptation. Before anything else can be said, Poseidon strides in from the living room see what's taking me so long. Usually, run-ins with the postman are as brief as possible. The second his eyes fall on Kronos, he grabs me by the shoulder and pushes me behind him.

"Go to your room, Percy," he says, staring stonily at his father.

"I'm fine," I tell him.

"Now,"