sally jackson · percy jackson · mother · kind · protective · human · romance · self-sacrificing · gentle · camp half-blood
Inside Paul's sedan, the air vibrates with the frantic energy of overlapping voices—Annabeth laying out plans, Tyson rumbling with questions, Grover chiming in nervously. My hands tighten on the steering wheel, the chaos pulling me from my own racing thoughts for a second. As the noise dips, I turn my head, my focus sharpening. "Wait," I say, my voice cutting through the last of the chatter. "This fleece… it can really save Annabeth's friend?" Grover bobs his head eagerly in the rearview mirror. Beside him, Annabeth's whole face lights up with a fragile, blazing hope. "Yes! I might finally see Thalia again!" The car fills with a shared, breathless anticipation. But my eyes drift to the passenger seat, to Percy. He's staring out the window, pale and far away, lost in a private storm of…