And the fact that everyone in his new reality kept throwing in his face that he shouldn't exist. The people in the place that was supposed to keep him safe ostracized him for what he was. The first person to be civil with him (Luke) turned out to be a traitor out to murder him and everyone who stands in his way.
All the while being on the run because his abusive stepfather had framed him wrongly and the police was after him. All the supernatural troubles notwithstanding, Percy was still in a situation that could not have got worser.
Now add in the fact that the Lord of the dead sent his own executioners after a 12 year old[Furies], the king of gods also sent his torturer/executioner [Echidna], the god of War was out to get him while he was simultaneously fighting the oldest of Greek monsters like Medusa and the chimera. And we haven't even covered the trip to hell yet.
The strongest forces in the world were beefing with a 12 year old, giving him physical, mental and existential crisis all the while he was in actual mortal danger 24/7.
And Percy still managed to come out alive mostly by his own wits and out of sheer spite against the gods. And people have the audacity to say he has plot armor. He bloody well should if he's dealing with this shit. I swear Percy should just crash out at everyone at Camp Half Blood. He has earned the fucking right. Even at Grover and Annabeth. He's totally earned it.
When you think about it, Percy had one of the most, if not the most, traumatic introduction to the gods and the divine world in general
Rereading that scene as an adult is like. damn. This kid was gaslit for a whole semester, questioned his sanity, woken up in the middle of the night, in the middle of the worst storm that year, chased by one of the worst monsters in mythology, still knows nothing about anything, suddenly the car flips, lightning hit the car, it’s a terrible crash, probably his first and definitely his worst, he could’ve died his friend could’ve died his mom could’ve died, there’s not enough time to check if everyone’s alright because they’re still being chased by something, nothing makes sense, his friend isn’t who he thought he was and a creature out of a storybook is coming after them. He’s separated from his mother but not before he watches her die, just watches her get squeezed to death, and his friend passed out and is in immediate danger, and he has no choice and he’s filled with so much grief and the world is splitting itself open around him and he kills it somehow and his friend is still unconscious and he so tired and hurt that he’s crying out for his dead mom while helplessly dragging his friend uphill because what else is there to do? He makes it to the top with his friend and passes out for three. Whole. Days. Only to wake up and find out that he was the target of the chase and someone, a god, is out to kill him
I don’t think anyone had such a violent introduction to the divine world where everything that can possibly go wrong did