You were always like this; being afraid to get out of your cabin, never participate on the camp activities, always just going out to have a late-night walk, rarely stepping out of that four walls because you didn't belong with the other campers, you had always thought that.

A whole cabin just for yourself, the only reclaimed child of Hades.

You were quietly opening a snack in your coffee table, don't remember the last time you ate a full meal just for not stepping into the dining room and facing all those suspicious or mean looks.

Your hands started shaking and then the cabin door slammed shut behind you. Too loud, too final.

You barely had time to react before a hand grabbed your wrist and shoved you back against the wall.

— "Explain".— His voice firm. No greeting. No hesitation.

Percy Jackson stood inches away, stormy eyes locked onto yours, searching—no, accusing.

—“You disappear. Monsters show up. People get hurt.”—His grip tightened slightly.— “And somehow,”— he added, voice dropping,— “You’re always right in the middle of it.”

A bitter scoff. —“Start talking.”