Even though the Second Titan War had come to a close, Sally Jackson knew she could never sit back and finally breathe easily. She had been warned, as all the other mortal parents who knew they were in a relationship with a deity, who could see through the Mist, that a life of a demigod is never easy. Percy might be safe now, but sooner or later he would probably be whisked off on another suicide mission.

Still, Sally would go through it all- the comments behind her back when she was a single mom, the marriage to Gabe Ugliano, the heart attacks at hearing everything that had happened to Percy- she would go through it all again, step by step, just for her son.

And hey, he did kick some godly ass in the second Titanomachy.

Sally stopped outside the chocolate store. Percy and Annabeth were coming over to stay for a few days. Hopefully Annabeth liked chocolate.

Beauregard's Chocolates was empty, perhaps because it was a little early. Sally always bought candies and chocolates from Mr. Beauregard (though Gabe used to complain that the chocolates she brought home tasted like cardboard). They'd met many years ago, when Percy was a baby and Mr. Beauregard was just starting up his store and bonded over the fact that they were both single parents. Sally knew Mr. Beauregard had a daughter a few years older than Percy, but she'd never actually met the girl before.

Mr. Beauregard sat behind the counter. His face, half-hidden behind the jars of sweets and boxes of chocolates, appeared gaunt and his cheeks were sunken. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes. He looked like he'd aged ten years.

The tiny bell that always rang whenever someone entered the store tinkled, but Mr. Beauregard did not look up. His gaze was fixed on a square photograph he held.

"Mr. Beauregard?" Sally said.

The man jumped at Sally's voice. "Oh, hello Mrs. Jackson," he greeted. "The usual blue chocolates?"

"It's Mrs. Blofis now," Sally replied. "And yes, the bluest you can find."

"Wow, congratulations." Mr. Beauregard's smile was genuine, but it didn't dispel the sadness in his dark eyes. He placed the photograph gently on the counter before producing a box of blue chocolates.

Sally sneaked a glance at the photograph. A dark-haired girl of about eighteen years stood arm-in-arm with a burly, dark-skinned boy. Both of them were grinning at the camera.

"Is that your daughter?" Sally risked a question.

"Silena," Mr. Beauregard sighed. "She died a few weeks ago." He gestured at the boy. "That's Charles Beckendorf, her boyfriend. Very nice boy. Very handy. He fixed and upgraded all my electrical appliances when he came to stay." Mr. Beauregard chuckled, before his expression changed again. "He died, too."

"She's a beautiful girl," Sally said. She shot the photograph one last glance. She noticed something. Both Silena and Charles were dressed in orange t-shirts. Sally couldn't make out what was written on them, but around their necks were strings of colourful beads. Sally had seen those enough times on Percy and Annabeth.

"Camp Half-Blood?" Sally muttered.

Mr. Beauregard perked up at that. "How'd you know?" he half-whispered. His eyes were wide.

Sally's throat tightened. She remembered Percy giving her a brief explanation of what had happened during the Second Titan War, minus the part where she and Paul went commando, of course. She recalled him telling her about the death of one of Aphrodite's daughters- Silena, who had also been forced to work as a spy for Kronos.

"Is Percy a demigod as well?" Mr. Beauregard whispered.

Sally nodded. She didn't know why, but seeing Mr. Beauregard in his grief, caused her vision to blur with tears. She couldn't imagine how it would be if a camper showed up at her apartment and announced that her son was dead.

"Wow, who knew," Mr. Beauregard muttered. "Was he... was he involved in the war?"

Sally quickly nodded, digging around in her bag for cash. She wanted to get out of that shop as fast as possible.

"Which one of them?" It took Sally a while to figure out that Mr. Beauregard was asking about Percy's father.

Sally handed the money over. "Poseidon," she said, as Mr. Beauregard tapped at the cash register.

"Big Three? Silena told me their kids face a lot of danger," Mr. Beauregard said, handing Sally her change and packing up the box of chocolates.

Sally nodded again. She wasn't sure what else she could do. She couldn't laugh, she still had her 'Big Three' son while this shopkeeper had lost his 'non-Big-Three' daughter.

"Son of Hephaestus," Mr. Beauregard gestured at the photograph. "Your boy dating anyone?"

Sally couldn't help smiling. "A daughter of Athena."

Mr. Beauregard smiled as well. As Sally turned to leave with her blue chocolates, she decided she should say something.

"Sorry about Silena," she said.

Mr. Beauregard sighed, but then he shrugged. "I guess it could be worse. If I couldn't see through the Mist, and Silena died, they couldn't explain it to me. They might manipulate my memories or something, make me forget I ever had a daughter."

Sally nodded, wished him all the best, and left the shop. Though she had read all about their powers and seen all types of monsters during the second Titanomacy, she couldn't help wondering if the gods could really take away someone's memories and manipulate them, just by manipulating the Mist. Also, why would they want to do something like that?

Sally shook her head. Of course the gods would act like that when it was necessary. Why were these random questions bothering her?

She headed for the subway station.

To Mr. Beauregard, Ms. Fletcher, Ms. Castellan, Ms. Yew, Ms. Beckendorf, Mr. Nakamura, and all the other mortal parents whose children perished.