The Blood

Bonus Chapter - Thalia POV

"Jason, stop with the makeup and get your butt down here. Gods, you're worse than a girl sometimes," I exclaimed.

My little brother was taking forever to shower and get ready. It was Friday night, and we decided to watch last year's WWE wrestling finale. I loved to watch these fights because it was so interesting. Wrestling made beating people up a socially accepted sport.

"OH MY GOD, THIS ISN'T A BEAUTY PAGEANT," I shouted again. I was standing at the bottom of the stairs while shouting for my brother.

Jason was so annoying at times.

It shouldn't take someone, especially a guy, this long to shower. Literally, sprinkle some water on your face and put on some dam pajamas. That's it.

"Will you relax, Thalia? I wasn't even taking that long," Jason exclaimed while running down the stairs.

"Oh, please. I waited almost forty minutes."

"You could've just started the program. We've already seen it, so I wouldn't have missed anything."

"Yeah, and hear you whine about not waiting. No thanks," I countered. I smirked while jogging to the living room with him behind me.

Our dad was away on a business trip, which meant that we had the house to ourselves. There was no one to bother us and tell us what to do. Jason was a rule follower, but I wasn't. I liked my freedom no matter where I was.

I grabbed a blanket before starting the finale.

I also wanted to watch with Jason because he winced at the punches at times. That is, Jason is a baby who still gets disturbed by some of the fights.

"It's freaking hilarious that you struggle to watch this," I chuckled.

"I'm doing fine, Thalia," Jason replied quickly. His ego would prevent him from accepting that he was weak at something. "However, WWE can be graphic at times."

"THAT'S THE POINT," I shouted into his ear.

"AHHH, I hate you sometimes," he yelped in surprise. His hands frantically slapped his ear to fix his vibrating eardrums.

I continued to laugh while watching the wrestling match. As you can tell, I am a great big sister. I make fun of Jason when I want to, and I annoy him when I'm not making fun of him. Ours is the true definition of sibling comradery.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang loudly.

I looked at Jason in confusion. We weren't expecting anyone today, and most of our friends call before coming over. As I mentioned, we had a strict father, so our friends respected our decision to have people over invite-only.

Then, the doorbell rang again. Whoever it was seemed to be inpatient.

"Were you expecting anyone?" I asked Jason while getting up. He made no effort to get up, so I was assuming that the answer is no.

The doorbell rang again, which irritated me. "Hold on a minute," I shouted. Our home was a medium-sized house with a few bedrooms, and it took a few seconds to walk to the door.

A bloody visual was waiting on my front porch.

I gasped as I stared at the boy with bruises all over his body. His black eye was throbbing right in front of my eyes. He could barely open his eyelids to reveal his pure sea-green eyes. Blood covered his arms and stomach.

It looked like a lot, and it looked very painful.

"Jackson," I whispered in shock.

Percy stepped forward so that he was standing in front of me. His body was trembling as he gazed at my face. Tears were streaming in his eyes. Suddenly, his knees buckled as he started to collapse.

"Percy, I got you," I said firmly while catching his body.

"Jason. JASON," I shouted frantically. I tried my best to support Percy's limp body, but he was larger than I was since he was a well-fit young man.

Blood stained my shirt as I held his arm around me. I had no clue what was going on, but this looked bad. Really bad.

How did this even happen? How did he get so beat up?

"Percy, stay awake. JASON, get over here," I shouted again. Jason ran over with panic on his face. The fear in his eyes grew when he saw his best friend.

"Get a towel or sheet so that we can put him down," I ordered.

Reluctantly, Jason ran upstairs while I clung to Percy to keep him up. However, it was a better idea to take him to the hospital.

"Percy, hang on, we'll take you to the hospital."

"No," he groaned. "No hospitals because they'll want an explanation, and I can't give them any answers. Please, just help me."

"What happened?"

Percy took a shaky breath while arching his body again. It was shaking and sweating, and I was doing my best to support him. Finally, Jason came back with several blankets. He laid them on the hand-wood floor before helping me place Percy down.

Jason brought the first-aid kit and ice packs next.

"Here, Percy," Jason whispered as he pressed the ice pack onto Percy's face. He immediately winced and retracted.

"It's all right, bro. Just breath."

Percy wasn't actively bleeding anymore. He had scratches over his arms and back, but those weren't too bad. I was applying pressure to his stomach just in case the slice leaked.

However, the bleeding had stopped, which was good.

"What happened, Percy?" I asked again. My voice was strong as I pulled away from him. He was leaning back against the wall while breathing heavily.

"I have a really bad step-dad," Percy said quietly. Tears flowed out of his dull eyes. He looked broken and hopeless. It was pretty clear what he was saying.

Percy Jackson, the playboy of Goode High, dealt with pain regularly.

He has an abusive parent.

It was hard to look at him because of the bruises. The nastiest bruise was on his face. The black eye didn't look good. He had another dark bruise against his right ribs. Several bumps, light bruises, and slices were all over this body.

I shook my head while placing an ice pack against his chest. Jason was trying not to cry. He and Percy were very close. However, Jason wasn't expecting anything like this.

He helped Percy upstairs and to the shower. Percy was barely speaking, and I don't think that I've ever seen him so quiet. I wasn't sure what to think.

Jason and I waited outside the bathroom for Percy to finish.

He came outside in a towel. His hair and body were wet. Even though I wasn't into guys, I couldn't deny that Percy had an excellent body. He had a swimmer's body, and wet hair suited him well. However, his appearance was disturbed by the bruises and cuts.

He quietly dried himself while I left the room. Jason was helping him with cleaning up and getting dressed.

I walked back inside after finding a stick-on bandage.

Percy groaned and huffed while putting on his shirt. The act of wearing a shirt required you to stretch and contract your body. Clearly, it was hurting his bruises, not to mention his face.

"I have a bandage for you, Percy. Your other cuts aren't that bad, but the one on your stomach is concerning," I expressed. I quietly plastered the bandage against his taut abdomen.

He winced while I pressed the bandage down. My eyes lingered on his bruised ribs. Several inches of blue contrasted against his light tan.

"Why are you dealing with this, bro?" Jason asked sadly.

"I have to deal with this," Percy whispered. He winced while wearing his shirt before sitting on the guest bed. "My mom has aggressive lung cancer, and Gabe pays for it. As long as I use his money for bills, I have to take his punishment."

Percy didn't look at our eyes. I watched the water flow down his face, but he was trying to hide his pain from us. However, it was fruitless because we saw all of it.

I also realized that no one knew about this besides Grover. It made sense why Grover always supported Percy and his actions.

"I'm a player because I use sexual experience for pleasure, pain relief, and distraction. I don't want to bring any girl into my personal life; no one should share my pain nor should they be within Gabe's lens," Percy explained.

Then, he looked up at me. "I know that you hate me for being a playboy, but this is my way of coping. I'm not a bad person."

I could see the emotions breaking him. He was depressed and in pain. His mother has cancer for gods sake. This deal with Annabeth stole his coping strategy against all of it.

I didn't know what to say or think.

"Can I please stay here? I don't want to go back there tonight."

He sounded like a boy on the verge of breaking. I hated seeing him like this. His annoying, arrogant facade was better than this young man right here.

"Absolutely, Percy. We also have dinner. Please make yourself at home. We got you from now on, okay? You're not alone," Jason expressed.

Jason's gently rubbed his best friend's back. I nodded in agreement.

I knew that I couldn't tell Annabeth or anyone else about this. This was Percy's life and his decision. However, I always thought of him as an arrogant and pampered boy who liked to fool around. I was so wrong.

I was going to help him with anything that he needed.

"Percy, we have a jacuzzi in our basement. The hot water and steam will help with your injuries. It'll help you heal and feel better," I expressed.

"Thank you, Thalia," he whispered. "You're a good big sister."

I practically melted at his comments. He wasn't even fighting with me. He accepted my help with grace, which I appreciated. I had no idea how he was dealing with his awful life. His mom (the only family member that he has left) has cancer, and his step-dad is a deadbeat drunk.

With everything that he was going through, I couldn't blame him for dating a lot of girls. His heart was in the right place, and he tried not to hurt his girlfriends either.

I was starting to understand that Percy was a good guy. It wasn't his fault when his ex-girlfriends were getting hurt. Even Annbeh agreed with this sentiment.

However, now, I really understood Percy as a person.

Experiencing the pain that he was feeling helped me with widening my views on the world. We don't live in black and white. A lot of people exist in a murky gray.

"I feel bad about intruding on your Friday night," Percy said while we walked downstairs. Percy was walking slowly and with a limp. He was clutching his chest to support his injuries.

"Shut up, Kelp Head, don't be stupid," I responded with a reassuring smile.

For the first time that night, Percy smiled back. Then, he winced. Facial expressions were hurting his black eye, I realized.

"Seriously, Percy, we are here for you. I'm sorry about all the times that I criticized you. One, your dating lifestyle is your decision. Two, you're validated, bro, to cope and live," Jason said firmly.

"We are both here for you," Jason continued.

Percy's eyes watered again. I could only imagine all the thoughts and memories that were flowing through his head. He reached out and accepted Jason's embrace.

They were the same height, and his head rested on Jason's shoulder in exhaustion. But, I did notice that he was feeling better.

I joined Jason in consoling Percy. Seeing all the pain and emotions that Percy was going through made me feel 'icky.' I was just very confused, and my thoughts raced with ways to help him.

Maybe, it was time to break the proposal.