Chapter 5

P

E

R

C

Y

The truck bounced up and down as it moved over the uneven dirt road through the forest. There were so many weeds covering it that you could barely tell it was there. It was obvious that no one had used it for a while up until now.

The headlights illuminated a turn coming up on the right. Percy cast a questioning glance over at the blonde kid who's name he'd already managed to forget.

"Just keep going straight, we'll tell you when to stop." he told him.

Percy nodded and then cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, where exactly am I headed?"

"An old abandoned house. That's why we need all of the tools, we're going to fix it up." the other boy spoke up from the back seat.

Percy rose an eyebrow, glancing back at him, "Do you know how to?"

"Sure do." The curly-haired boy said enthusiastically.

The other boy-- Jason-- he remembered suddenly, nodded in confirmation, "Leo's always been good at building things and fixing them."

Right, Leo. Percy repeated their names over and over in his mind, trying to memorize them. He nodded, looking in the review mirror at the scrawny Latino, who was fiddling with something Percy couldn't quite make out.

After a while of driving, Jason practically jumped out of his seat, yelling for Percy to stop the car, and causing him to slam on the brakes so hard that Leo flew forward and crashed into the back of Jason's seat.

Percy glared at him, "Don't do that!"

Jason gave him an apologetic look, but Percy wasn't paying attention to him anymore, instead he was surveying their surroundings.

They had stopped in what seemed to be a random section of the "road."

"Are you sure this is the right place. . .?"

Jason nodded jovially and hopped out of the car. It suddenly occurred to Percy that he was in a forest in the middle of the night with two kids he had just met, and they probably had some sort of sharp tool in one of those boxes, and this was the perfect scene for a murder. He glanced up at the mirror again, the Latino was smiling at him with a mischievous glint in his eye. Percy slid down in his chair fractionally, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

Leo pointed off to the side of the road, "There's a path over there, you can't see it because of the bushes." he explained.

Percy nodded doubtfully as Leo pushed the door open and hopped out of his truck. After a moment of hesitation, he reluctantly followed, wondering if he should call his mom and tell her he loved her. He decided that that would just worry her and probably get him grounded if he didn't actually get murdered, so he decided against it and climbed out of the truck.

* * * * *

One hour, a lot of tripping over undergrowth, and plenty of heavy lifting lafer, they had everything piled inside the house. Percy plopped down on a sheet-covered couch, causing a huge cloud of dust to float up around him. He sneezed about six times and stood up, trying to brush it off of himself furiously.

"How long has it been since someone has lived here?"

Leo shrugged, slipping his thumbs into his belt loops, "We have no idea."

"But seriously, thank you." Jason said sincerely.

Percy nodded to him, "No problem."

"Yeah, thanks." Leo said, looking around, "You should probably get home, you don't want your mom worrying." he looked at Percy, smiling.

Percy pushed a hand through his hair, "Yeah, I guess. Where are you guys gonna sleep?"

"In here, probably." Jason said, "We slept here last night."

"Oh. . ." Percy sounded surprised.

"We've been on the run for like thirteen years, we're used to sleeping anywhere we can lie down semi-comfortably."

Leo nodded, "We ran away from our last foster home just yesterday."

Percy stood silently for a moment, trying to come to a conclusion, "Hey, you guys could sleep over at my place, I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind. She'd just be glad I've made some friends. . . I mean, if you want to."

Leo looked over at Jason with a question in his eyes, they seemed to have some sort of weird silent conversation, and then Jason turned to Percy and smiled, "Yeah, that'd be great, if you don't mind."

* * * * *

They pulled back into the driveway of Percy's house and they all clammered out of the truck, Jason and Leo looked extremely nervous.

"Calm down!" Percy reassured them, ringing the doorbell, "My mom is cool."

"SALLY!" a gruff voice bellowed from inside, "GET THE DOOR."

Percy's fists clenched at his sides and Leo and Jason exchanged a glance.

"I'm gonna kill him one of these days." Percy muttered, his eyes glinting dangerously as rage boiled in his gut for his disgusting step-father.

The door opened and Percy's expression immediately softened, the muscles in his arms and back relaxing. The woman standing in the doorway smiled warmly, she was a few inches shorter than her son and had kind blue eyes that were tinted green in the light, her long brown hair fell a few inches past her shoulders, and she was dressed in jean shorts and a green t-shirt.

She looked from Percy, to Jason, and then her gaze swooped down to take in Leo, before snapping back to her son with a suprised and happy sort of look. "Who are your new friends?" She stepped back, opening in the door wider and gesturing for them all to come in.

"This is Leo, and that's Jason. I met them at the basketb--"

"SALLY! I asked for you to bring me another beer, how long does it take to answer the door?" It was that same voice that had yelled her name earlier.

Looking over his mom's shoulder, Percy glared at an overweight man sitting at a circular table with a couple of other guys, they were all holding cards, and had varying towers of poker chips stacked in front of them. His most noticable feature was the stentch pouring off of him. Leo pulled up the collar of his shirt, covering his nose, and Jason shifted uncomfortably, trying not to gag, and instead keep his face impassive.

Percy moved around his mother, ignoring her soft protests and marched up to him, apparently not at all effected by his beady gaze. "You know what, Gabe? My mom doesn't have to come to your beck and call, your precious beer can wait a few seconds while she does something other than feeding you and your friend's fat--"

Gabe's eyes snapped over to Sally, making the three hairs standing up on his head sway like grass blowing in a breeze. He reached up to smooth them down as he spoke, "Are you really going to put up with this? I'm done with this punk talking to me like that."

"Well I'm done with you talking to my mom like she's your slave, you--" He turned around as Sally put a hand on his shoulder.

"Percy." she said quietly, telling him with her eyes that it was okay. His eyes told an entirely different story. "Take your friends upstairs, they can stay as long as their parents will allow. I'll call you down for dinner when it's ready."

Percy hesitated, his jaw tightening. "If he does anything to you," he said quietly enough that Leo and Jason couldn't hear, "you scream as loud as you can and I will come down here and kick his ass."

He turned and started up the stairs, casting a scathing look over at Gabe. Leo and Jason hurried after him as Sally rushed into the kitchen to grab her mistake of a husband a beer while Gabe complained about her never disciplining her 'delinquent son.'

"Sorry about that." Percy said, his voice dripping with venom (Leo praised the heavens silently that it wasn't directed at him). He shoved his bedroom door open roughly and marched inside, not turning to see if the runaways were following.

Jason entered the room last and pulled the door closed behind him as Percy plopped down into the chair in front of his desk and Leo settled uncertainly on the edge of his bed.

"So, we can get couch cushions or something for you to sleep on so you won't have to sleep on the ground or something. . ." Percy said, fighting to keep himself under control and not throw something breakable like he wanted to.

"Yeah." Jason agreed, "That'd be a hundred times better then sleeping on a hard, dusty floor."

"You didn't mention cold." Leo reminded him.

Jason nodded, "Yeah, it's pretty cold, too."

Percy looked at them with concern, trying not to think about Smelly Gabe. "Are you sure you want to stay--"

Jason held up a hand, "We're fine."

"We've got a plan." Leo added.

"A plan?" Percy inquired doubtfully.

Leo and Jason shared a glance that carried an entire silent conversion, and then started explaining.

I definitely DID NOT forget about this fic until someone just barely voted, what are you talking about? The very idea is absolutely absurd! *nervous laughter*