Percy Jackson and the Heir of Slytherin [Book 2]

35) Karen

Over Christmas break, I got closer to the Edwards than I expected. Howie had walked in on me when I was changing. He'd been coming to tell me about breakfast, but had ended up seeing my scars instead. He'd stared for a moment, then nodded sadly, but he didn't pity me. He stopped disbelieving the stories his siblings told about me. I helped Henry out with some potions homework, and he'd looked at me as if I were the most amazing person ever. Holden had seen me get away with pranks against the Weasley's multiple times, and seemed to hold me with high respect. I had let Heather, Hattie, and Hindi put makeup on me. They'd immediately saved a picture so they could show Silena. Haley, of course, was already one of my best friends. Harper was in the year above me. He didn't seem so far away when it came to the other's ages. I worked on some chores with him, then we pranked Harrison. Harrison seemed to believe I was a god of sorts. He's not that off. Heath and I had played Quidditch in the yard once and now we were sports buddies. Harmony and Hannah had been arguing over a doll, so I fixed it and they came to me for every little problem now. Hunter had watched me warily until I gave him one of my cookies. Hayden and Holly had adored me ever since I met them at that bakery ages ago.

They'd all become very protective of me.

Me and the older kids (Harper and his older siblings) were at the store getting groceries. I'd grabbed a bag of off-brand Fruit Loops for Hunter. Suddenly, someone had grabbed my wrist hard enough for it to bruise.

I'd pulled away immediately, and turned to see a Karen.

Everyone knows about Karens. They're these whiny ladies who sit on a high-horse made of insults to workers and requests to see the manager.

"I was going to grab that cereal, boy!" She screeched at me.

"I did grab that cereal," I deadpanned, holding the bag close to me.

I recoiled as the woman tried to grab for the bag. She missed the bag, instead scratching my face and hand with her ring. I hissed, surprised at the sudden pain.

"Percy?"

I looked back and saw Howie standing in front of the rest of his siblings, anger reddening his face.

"Is this your son? You're terribly young to have a child. Maybe if you could raise him right, he wouldn't be such a disruptive member of society. Did you know that he stole that bag of cereal right from my hands—"

"No I didn't!"

"—and then he tried to kick me! I had to push him away and ended up scratching him with my ring. Now, if you tell him to give me back my cereal, I'll continue as if none of this happened. I won't even talk to the owner of the store. I know her, you know."

I stared at the Karen, baffled at how terrible a person could be.

Suddenly, I was being pulled away slightly. Henry had grabbed my elbow and was walking me back towards the rest of them. Howie was glaring at the woman.

"Hey! Wait! That's my cereal! It's for my daughter! She's hungry! She's only 10! What else is she supposed to eat?!?" The woman screeched, lunging at me and the cereal again.

As I stumbled backwards into Henry, Howie caught the woman's arm and glared down at her, "I don't know what your daughter is gonna eat, but if you don't stop, you're going to be eating my fist."

The woman suddenly screamed and fell to the floor, sobbing and holding her arms in front of her. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! THIS MAN IS TRYING TO KILL ME!"

Immediately, a worker rounded the corner with the store owner in tow. All they saw was Howie standing in front of me with his fists clenched, and a woman on the floor.

"CALL THE POLICE! THIS MAN JUST TRIED TO KILL ME!" She screamed again, laying the tears on thick.

"It's already done," another customer said, holding the phone up to his ear. Howie's expression didn't change, but I was suddenly very worried about him.

"D-does the store have cameras?" I asked, looking up at the owner, who had come to see what was going on.

He nodded, "We do. I just hope we can get all of this straightened out without too much trouble. The police will come, they'll help."

The woman paled at the mention of cameras, but didn't say anything.

Eventually the police came, hands on their guns. The customer who had called the police immediately pointed at Howie, and they went to handcuff him.

"Wait! Wait! Watch the cameras before you take him! Please! He didn't try to kill her!" I said, scrambling away from Henry and in front of the cops.

I stared at the cops, wondering where I recognized them from for a moment. Then I realized they worked with Luke.

"Officer Reid! Officer Morgan, please, just look at the cameras! The lady attacked me first, and Howie only touched her when she tried to hit me!"

Officer Morgan frowned slightly, but said, "Well, we should watch the videos before we arrest the wrong person, right, Officer Reid?"

Officer Reid nodded quickly, then went to go talk to the owner. Soon enough, the owner motioned for us to follow. Everyone went, including the woman.

The cops watched the video. I heard Officer Morgan mumble, "Luke's gonna be pissed."

At the end of the video, the woman cried, "The boy threatened me, told me to do all of it! He said he'd kill me if I didn't!"

Officer Morgan gave her an unimpressed eyebrow, "What is a small twelve year old boy going to do to a grown woman?"

The woman gaped for a moment before trying to say something. Officer Morgan interrupted her, handcuffing her and reading her the Miranda rights.

Officer Reid walked up to us, got some information from Howie, then told us we could go. As we were walking out of the room, the owner stopped us.

"I'm so very sorry. Karen has been causing us quite a bit of trouble lately. We'll pay for your groceries, for your trouble," he said, smiling softly at me and Howie as she said this.

Howie nodded, but all I could think about was how the woman's name was actually Karen.

I'm not sure how this happened, but I've written several chapters of a completely new story? Like, it just happened, and I'm not sure how. It's basically a PJO/HoO mortal au. It surprised me. I like the plot (even though there isn't much of it yet) and I like how I've added in the events of the books into it. Like, trauma, dudes. Gotta love trauma. And it really surprised me. I'm confused. I'll give you the rundown. The seven are starting their first year at Olympus High, and they don't really know each other (Percy and Annabeth know each other from something when they were twelve) and they've each got problems. Like, Jason's dad sucks ass, Percy's abused and has a whole bunch of trauma, Annabeth's mom thinks it's bad her daughter is traumatized, Piper hates her face, Leo runs away a lot, Frank's mom just died, Hazel keeps remembering her past, and it's just... it surprised me how I did things. And then they've all got this connection to Ares. Also, because I love the gay, the ships are Jercy, Pipabeth, and Frazel (ain't no splitting them up), and later Caleo, but that wouldn't be in the first book, I think. I don't want too many outsider characters yet. And I don't even know what's going on. I just surprised myself. Whatever. This is weird. Also, I got bored and made it a cover.

Also, on a much less important note, my parents are thinking of buying a house. It's nowhere near definite, but we rent, and in the long run, it'd be more expensive. If we did get that house, it would be the ninth house I've lived in. I'd also like to note that I've never even lived in a different town. I've lived in eight houses in the same freaking town. Oh, and Briana is not going to be heard from for a month because he doesn't have his phone. It's kinda sad. Emblem is real bummed. Uhhhh, for my Spanish class, the teacher is just listed as 'Staff'. I don't know why.

Anywho, I love you all so so so much, you're my favorite people, I hope you have a neat Tuesday, and I'll see you on Thursday.