Title: my best two years
Summary: Sequel to 'fly away from here'. Thalia's world is over. Jason's has just begun, even if neither of them know about it.
It felt like the air was imploding around her, rushing past her ears without any wind.
No. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be gone.
He was with his mother. She wasn't even drunk today.
He couldn't be freaking gone!
Thalia glanced over at her mother, who clutched her knees to her chest like some little kid and sobbed. Her eyeliner was dripping down her face. Pathetic was all that went through her mind.
It's all about her. She never cared about him at all.
"Can't you shut up!?" She yelled, but it came out more like a shriek, her voice cracking around the lump in her throat.
Mom glared at her venomously, her mouth tightening in the way it did when she was really angry. She had shouted louder then she had meant to. She wasn't sorry. Mom deserved it.
She left for two seconds and he was gone! How could anyone lose a baby that fast? How freaking incompetent could Mom possibly be?
"Do not disrespect me, young lady. My son's just been taken from me, in case you haven't noticed. Get in the car."
"What? No! We need to call the police so we can find out who took him, since you obviously didn't see because you were probably GETTING DRUNK AGAIN!" Thalia screamed the last part just to be annoying. This part of the park was deserted, mostly, and she would have preferred an audience, but nevertheless screaming at Mom seemed to relieve a tiny bit of her fury.
Her anxiety was another matter. Where was her brother? Who the heck would take a two year old kid? The full force of the situation hit her hard and she felt tears appear in her eyes abruptly.
"Thalia, get in the car now."
"Would you just shut up?" Jason was gone. How was that possible? She had promised to keep him safe, had promised to take care of him. She had let her guard down for five seconds, had let him out of her sight for a minute, and he was gone.
How could she have left him with Mom? How could Mom be so stupid? How could he be gone?
It wasn't fair. Every two year old was left on their own for some amount of time. Her baby brother was the one to get kidnapped. She was supposed to protect him.
Thalia sniffed.
"Thalia Rosanna Grace, get in the car now, or I swear I will—"
"I don't care what you do! I never have!" She shouted. "You could never do anything for me or Jason and now you've...you've freaking lost him!
"I'm not getting in the car. I don't care what you think. What are you gonna do, not cook for me? Ground me? Call my daddy?"
"Thalia, get in the car before I make you!"
"How? You've already lost the only person in this 'family' that I actually—"
She was stopped by a hard slap across the face.
"GET IN THE CAR!" Mom yelled. "I'm not asking twice!" The little vein above her left eye was popped out. Thalia just glared. She didn't care that Mom hit her. She should be lucky Thalia wasn't hitting back.
Mom's face softened slightly, growing more annoyed then angry. "Look what you made me do! Thalia, I'm sorry. I shouldn't lose my temper."
"I've heard that before." Thalia snapped.
Mom looked like she was trying not to be livid. "Please get into the car before we get into an argument."
"My brother is gone. Someone kidnapped him, in case you weren't paying attention. We have to call the police. Do I look like I care about your arguments?"
"Where did you get your smart-ass mouth?" Mom hissed.
She was only twelve years old, but she had always been outspoken. She felt like she could say whatever she wanted to Mom—not because she was so disrespectful, but because she really didn't see Mom as any kind of authority. What kind of authority spends Monday mornings calling in sick and puking in the sink?
She had memories of times when her mother would brush her hair. Her mother had had the most beautiful voice in the world. But now her hair was short, and Mom's voice was raspy with smoke.
"I am going to call the police now." Thalia said in the voice that got kids on the playground following her orders. Mom wasn't a kid on the playground, but it seemed to work—far beyond what she had expected. Her eyes filled with tears again and her face softened. She had dyed her hair brown a few months ago, and she ran her hands through her pale roots, letting her hair fall around her face.
It didn't change Thalia's feelings, but she waited for Mom to say her piece. There was always a piece, but her brother had never been gone before. Rage bubbled up inside of her.
But Mom knelt on the ground in front of her so that she looked up into Thalia's eyes. Thalia did her best scary glare but Mom ignored it and put her hands on Thalia's shoulders. She considered shaking them off, but got distracted when Mom started talking.
"This is a very grown-up discussion we are having right now, Thalia. You have to trust me."
"Right." Thalia rolled her eyes and this time she did shake her mother's hands off her shoulders, but her mother replaced them. It had been a long time since her mother's face had been so close to hers. She had dark circles and long, spindly wrinkles framing her eyes. Her skin looked bone-dry and her mascara like brittle spider's legs.
"Thalia, I'm serious. I know you're scared and upset. I am too. I love both my babies."
Thalia would have opened her mouth at the hypocrisy but Mom went on. "Please just listen to what I'm saying, okay?"
She had been on the offensive for so long that her thoughts swayed. It would be so nice to believe her. So nice to trust her mother again. To trust someone other then herself.
Not that she would, but...she was tired.
"Be fast," she snapped.
"Thalia, I'm not sure how to say this. I had hoped your father would be having this conversation with you. But your father is from a different world then ours."
A world of rich people who never ran out on their kids. Guess he broke the tradition.
"He is a god, a Greek god, Lord of the Sky."
The air around Thalia imploded again as she almost desperately searched her mother's face for any sign of a joke. She looked perfectly serious—but she couldn't be, could she?
No. No. This wasn't happening. This couldn't all be happening in one day. No, no, not. Her life was normal, too normal for this.
Her mind sped up. Zeus. Her father's name was Zeus. Zeus had been king of the Greek gods—
It was impossible. Impossible. She stumbled backwards, shaking her mother's hands off her shoulders. She was crazy. Had it been the drinking? Something Thalia hadn't caught onto yet?
"Are you high?" She half-shrieked, backing a good distance away from her mother. Her mother's eyes widened, her arms outstretched, palms up. Pleading. Offering.
"But your father's wife—a horrible woman—she wanted my baby boy. She took my baby as an offering. Hera took my baby. There was nothing I could do! She took my baby! Thalia, you don't understand—Hera took my son and you—what are you doing?"
How could she have ever considered trusting her mother again?
It was at that moment that Thalia lost the last few, stubborn shreds of respect she had had for Mom.
"Are you on drugs? Do you take drugs at home now too?" Thalia shouted. Nothing was too low. "Did you sell him? Did you kill my brother?" Her mother looked angry now, moving closer towards Thalia. "Get away from me! What did you do to him? I never wanted to leave you alone with him, I knew you could never take care of him!" Her breathing was so fast it felt like she wasn't breathing at all. Her hands were shaking.
She had been walking backwards, and then she tripped. Pain flashed across her elbows and the back of her head where she hit it, then it faded as she scrambled up. But she didn't get up quickly enough for her mother, who grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Thalia Grace, do not act like I am insane. I'm perfectly fine and I'm telling you the truth, and it bothers me why you don't think of my feelings on this. You're being very cruel—"
Thalia pushed her mother as hard as she could, and teetering in her heels, she fell back on the sidewalk with a cry of indignation. She walked up to her mother, who had never before looked so outraged. She looked Mom straight in the eyes.
And she screamed at her, "What did you do with my brother?"
Then everything was quiet. Thalia waited for a response. Mom breathed heavily. She looked angry, but also almost...scared.
She was scared of Thalia.
The thought gave her some pleasure that she knew was wrong. Thoughts of the day chased any of it from her mind.
Her mother said nothing and Thalia walked away. There had to be some kind of a clue. There had to be something. Her mother was insane. She saw things that weren't there and she had lost Thalia's precious baby brother.
Oh, Lord, what if something happened to him? Where was he? Where was he? She ground her hands into fists.
Her mother staggered up, and Thalia ran into a more populated section of the park. Her mother had parked far away from the other people in the park, so she was unsurprised no one had heard the shouting, but now she rushed up to a mother with two children—a brown haired little girl about five, and a little boy who looked so much like Jason it sort of hurt.
Her baby brother...
She swallowed against the lump in her throat and stared at the lady until she noticed. "Um, can I help you?"
"I'm really sorry, but have you...did you happen to see...I can't find my b-brother. He's two, and he has blond hair, and blue eyes, and—" Thalia could feel despair overtake her as the adrenaline rush of arguing with her mother faded. Her mouth trembled. The mother's face showed concern. "He was wearing...a..." She tried to remember. "A blue shirt, and black pants I think. And he can run already."
"And you can't find him, sweetie?" The lady enquired.
"Mommy, who's that?" The little girl asked loudly. The mother shushed her lovingly.
"A girl who can't find her brother. Sweetie, I haven't seen any little children anywhere without parents."
"He has a scar on his mouth." Thalia said quietly, because she was afraid she would start crying if she talked any louder.
"Do you need me to help you find your mommy or daddy, sweetheart? I'm sure they can help you."
"No, no..." Thalia walked away. "Thanks," she said lamely over her shoulder, and the mother's eyes followed her, concerned but distant, preoccupied with her own children. Thalia felt jealous.
Where was her baby brother?
There was a man, sort of old and wearing a propeller hat, selling ice cream on the sidewalk and she ran to him.
"Hello there, sweetheart, what can I get for you?" He asked her with a smile.
"I can't find my brother. He's two, he has blond hair and blue eyes and a scar on his lip, and he can walk. I don't know where he is have you seen him I can't find him." She blurted. The old man looked concerned.
"I don't know. I haven't seen any children around here without parents or guardians. But where is your mother, young lady? Or your father? Surely you weren't with him alone?"
"No." She answered, and started to jog off.
"Young lady!"
She didn't look back. She found an old lady with a yellow sweater and a bag of birdseed. "Excuse me, have you seen my little brother? I can't find him. He's got blond eyes and blue hair and—no, wait, blond hair and blue eyes, and a scar on his mouth, and I think he was wearing a blue shirt, and he can run already."
The old lady blinked. "I haven't seen anyone like that around here, honey."
What had happened to her baby brother?
"Are you sure?"
The world was collapsing. This was not happening. It couldn't be.
"Yes. Do you need to use my phone, so you can call your mommy, or if you think the police—"
Yes, that was what she needed to do. Call the police. Tell them that Mom was crazy and she couldn't find her brother.
"Yes, please—"
"No thank you." Thalia spun to see her mother walking down the sidewalk towards them. "Thalia doesn't need anything. Thank you for your time."
"It's really no trouble, if she's missing her brother—"
"We're not missing anyone, thank you very much." Mom sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "I'm her mother. Come on, Thalia."
"No." Thalia walked away. Her mother followed.
"Thalia, we are going home. This has been a hard day for everyone."
"Did you just let him wander off while I was gone? He must still be here! They can't...you can't have—he has to still be here!"
"Thalia, Jason is gone. And I would appreciate it if you could stop making this all about yourself and get into the car. Like I said, we have all had a hard day. I lost my son."
Thalia gaped at her. "You lost—Jason is gone and it's all about how you feel? I'm trying to find my brother. I don't...I don't know what you think you saw, but Jason must have wandered away and I need to find him."
Before her mother could say anything, Thalia turned and ran to the other side of the park. Her mother wouldn't race her and cause a scene.
She asked everyone in the park—more then twenty five people—if any of them had happened to see a little boy with blond hair, blue eyes, a scar on his mouth, and a blue shirt. No one had.
Her mother seemed to have left her alone, but she ran into the expanse of woods that surrounded parts of the park. Maybe he was here. Jason loved trees, and climbing them—a habit he had picked up in the last month or so to her consternation. The only reason Thalia would ever climb a tree would be for her brother, but she had never needed to. He never fell.
"Jason?" She called. The woods weren't dark. She could see for herself there was no one here, but she called anyway and continued through the forest, looking behind stumps and logs and searching the ground for any sign of clothing or footprints or anything that might reveal him passing through. Most of the time, though, she was peering into the trees, searching for any sign that he had climbed one.
She looked for a long time and chanced a glance up at the sky, craning her sore neck. It had been one-ish when they had started on their picnic, and it had to be at least four now. It was autumn. The sun was close to going down.
"Jason?" She called louder. It wasn't like him to run away. He never, ever ran away! Never before had he wandered off from Thalia—he had always looked back, making sure she was still there, calling, hesitantly, 'Thayuh?' behind him as he scaled a tree.
"Jason?" She was shouting as loud as possible now. She was coming to the end of the wooded section. There was no other place in the park that she couldn't scan with the naked eye.
Maybe he went to the playground. Panic had been building up at her since Mom had said Jason was gone, but now it was overwhelming. She bit her lip hard to keep from crying.
A girl about her age with a sparkly rainbow shirt was sitting on the swings, not swinging. "Have you seen a little boy about two?" Thalia asked quickly. "With blond hair, and blue eyes, and a scar on his mouth? He's my brother and I can't find him."
I can't find him. The words sounded so defeated. She had to find him. He had to be around here somewhere.
The girl shook her head. "There are a lot of little kids over there on the other playground for kindergarten and under." She offered, and Thalia nodded and ran away.
She checked the big kids' playground anyway—under the plastic cave, ran up top and checked on all the platforms, the jungle gym, the ladders and the poles. He wasn't there. She climbed down and went towards the other one.
A little boy, about five, with red hair was sitting by himself on the sidelines. "Excuse me," she said, using the little kid voice she used on Jason. "Have you seen a little boy...two, with blond hair and blue eyes and a scar on his mouth on this playground?"
The little boy shook his head and didn't say anything. "Okay," Thalia said, and ran up anyway.
"This playground is just for kindergarten 'n below," a girl with big front teeth told her.
"I'm looking for my brother," Thalia snapped at her, and continued searching. It was mostly the same layout as the other playground—not too many places to hide. She got down on her hands and knees and looked into the blue plastic tunnel that ran underneath the slide.
"Jason?" She called, just in case he was still here.
Still nothing. Where else could she search?
That big building! Maybe he had climbed inside. She glanced at the front—imposing, but it made her uneasy. You don't belong here, it seemed to say.
Nevertheless, she was going inside—
Her mother grabbed her shoulder and she spun around. Where had she been all that time? Had she just not cared?
There was a cigarette in her mother's mouth. "I told you to get in the car. I've given you your time, Thalia. Satisfied? Now get in the car."
Thalia contorted her body to free herself, shaking wildly, but her mother held her fast. "Young lady, you are coming with me right now in the car—" people were beginning to stare, but none of them did anything. Thalia pushed her mother away, but she was prepared this time and held firm, wrapping her body around the girl like she was hugging her. Thalia couldn't remember the last time Mom had hugged her, but this wasn't it.
"Let go of me! Mom! MOM! We can't leave. Get off me!" Now almost everyone in the park was staring. A man approached, about Mom's age, looking concerned.
"Excuse me, ma'm, but is there a problem here?"
"I can't find my brother—"
"No, sir, thank you, though. My daughter doesn't want to get in the car after a long day, but I assure you—"
"I can't find my brother!" Thalia screeched at the top of her lungs. The man looked extremely concerned, but Mom just blinked calmly. She was a good actress. Her career hadn't been built on that for nothing.
"My daughter's confused. I assure you we have this situation under control." She lowered her voice. "She likes to make believe but sometimes she takes it a little too far."
Reluctantly the man backed away, muttering apologies. It would have been too awkward to do anything else.
"Thalia, get in the car."
"I'm not going anywhere with you. You're insane!" She yelled, and Mom glanced around to see everyone staring.
"Thalia, we are going home now. Please stop being difficult." Mom said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Then, with great difficultly, she lifted Thalia and began to walk towards the car. If Thalia couldn't get away, the least she could do was make it as difficult for Mom as possible. She squirmed and twitched and kicked her feet wildly and slapped Mom in the face once or twice for effect.
But she couldn't get away, and as they came closer to the car, panic began to seize her. Words she never thought she'd say poured out of her mouth. "Mom, Mom, please, we can't—we can't actually—Mom, Jason's gone, we can't just leave, we need to call the police! Please, Mom, please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll get in the car after we call the police, Mommy, I promise. I—MOM! I'm sorry! Please just let me call the police! Mom! MOM!"
Mom ignored her protests. "We can't call the police because Hera took my baby, Thalia. They won't find him. I'd appreciate it if you would stop with the hysterics. I have had a very hard day. I just lost my baby, if you weren't aware."
Thalia broke away from her mother when she loosened her grip to open the car door, and she ran as far away as she could. But the park was emptying. The sun was going down. It was chilly.
"Thalia, get in the car." Mom looked really angry now.
"No, Mom, it's getting dark! He'll be cold! We have to find him! Mom, we have to find him! Please, we have to—"
Her mother's arms closed around her again, and this time, anger made her strong. She deposited Thalia in the backseat of the already open car and locked the doors behind her. Thalia glared at her as she sat down in the driver's seat.
Then her mother locked all the doors again and started crying as she pulled out of the parking lot. "My poor baby, Thalia," she whispered as they pulled away. Thalia rested her head on the cold glass of the window, searching desperately for anything as the park got farther and farther away.
Soon it was out of sight and her face crumpled. She wouldn't give her mother the satisfaction of seeing her a keening, sobbing mess, so she cried silently. The only indications that she wasn't normal were the sharp, quick intake of breaths coming from the backseat.
Her little brother...
How could he be gone?
_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
It was late at night by the time they got home. Mom unlocked the doors and Thalia ran out and into the house as fast as she could. She grabbed a landline from the kitchen before Mom would notice and sprinted into her room. Then she slammed the door loudly, making sure not to say anything to her mother, and sat against her bed on the floor.
"Hello, nine one one, what is your emergency?"
"My brother's gone. We were in the park today and I left him with my mom for one second and when I came back he was gone."
The operator must have heard the panic in her voice, because she said, "Calm down, sweetie, it's okay. What's your name?"
"Thalia, who are you talking to?"
She covered the receiver. "No one!" She uncovered it. "My name is Thalia Grace."
"How old are you?"
Thalia wanted to tell her, didn't you hear that part about my baby brother being missing? But she only said, "I'm twelve."
"Okay, sweetie, and where do you live, and can I have your telephone number?"
She gave her address and phone number impatiently, tapping her fingers on the floor of her bedroom. The operator nodded. "Okay, Thalia, I'm Olivia. Is your mother or father here?"
"Yes, but you can't talk to her. She's part of the problem. My little brother is gone. We were going to the park—in wine county, I think it was called Lupus Domus. And it was my mom, and my brother and I who went, and I left my brother alone with my mom for like five seconds when I went to get the picnic basket and when I came back, he was gone. And I looked all over the park for him and I couldn't find him."
"Okay, Thalia. What about Mom, did he wander away from her, or—"
"Look, what my mother said isn't making any sense and I don't think she understands what's going on," Thalia's voice cracked.
"Calm down, sweetheart, it will be okay," Olivia soothed. "Now, I'm going to connect you to the county police. I want you to tell them what you told me. Now, you're sure that this happened, and you aren't just making up a story? Because if you are, you can get in a lot of trouble..."
"I just need to find my brother," Thalia repeated.
"Then please hold."
She did, and she was quickly connected to another lady.
"Police department," she said.
"My brother's missing." Thalia said impatiently. She was getting sick of people who didn't pay attention to what she was saying.
"Okay, how old?"
"Two."
"And this is your brother?"
"Yes." Thalia practically growled.
"And why do you think he was abducted?"
"My mom and he and I went to a park in Sonoma and I left to get the picnic basket out of the car while my mom and him were at the picnic table. And when I came back he was gone. I only left them alone for five seconds. He wasn't anywhere, I ran around all day looking for him—"
"Okay, hang on. And how old are you?"
"I'm t-twelve."
"Okay. Can we speak to your mother?"
"No. She doesn't know what's going on. She doesn't make sense anymore. I think she's crazy."
"You were in a park in Sonoma Valley? Can you tell me the name?"
"Wolf House."
"That's several hours away. Did you drive back without filing a report?"
"I wanted to call, but Mom made me get in the car. She told me we couldn't. She was saying things that didn't make sense."
"Okay, what's his name?"
"Jason. J-A-S-O-N. Grace. G-R-A-C-E. And his middle name is Aeneas. A-N-um, hold on—, A-E-N—"
"That's okay, I only need the middle initial. And what is your name and address?"
She gave it. She heard footsteps coming up from the door again. "Thalia, is that the phone?"
"No!" She said, covering receiver.
"What is his birthday? Your brother's?"
She gave it.
"How tall is your brother?"
"He's, um...a little bit less then three feet tall." She remembered that time she had taken him to the pool and the water was just a little bit higher in the three foot end than his head.
"And is he black, white, or Hispanic?"
"White. He has blond hair, and blue eyes."
"You say he's around thirty seven inches tall, do you know how much he weighs?"
"Um, like twenty or thirty pounds. I don't really know." Thalia was beginning to panic again. Her brother was gone and they were worried about how much he weighed? She should have paid attention. Now she would never find him because she had never put him on a scale. Jason, when you come home (please, please, you have to come home) I'm going to never let you out of my sight again. I swear. I'll drop out of school and you won't go back to daycare. I'll kick Mom out of the house and—
"Okay, do you remember what he was wearing the last time you saw him—"
"I dressed him that morning to go, and he was wearing a blue shirt, and it had a picture of a dump truck in front, and his pants were blue. Jeans. He was wearing jeans. And his shoes were sneakers and they were red."
"Okay, okay," the operator murmured to herself as she typed. "Does he ever try to run away?"
"No, no, no, never. Um, and he has a little scar on his mouth."
"Oh, okay. And have you guys been getting weird phone calls, anyone hanging around, any threats or suspicious activity?"
"No."
"And what is your birthday?"
She gave it.
"And your mom's, and her name?"
She gave it.
"And your father, do you know who he is, is he involved in your life?"
"He used to be. He left after Jason was born." She said bitterly. "His name is Zeus Liaklos. He wasn't here the entire time I was a kid. I don't remember him much growing up, but he came back when I was ten—"
"Okay, I'll put that down. And your father, er, as far as you know, is the natural parent of both you and your brother?"
"Yeah."
"And your mother is your natural parent, as far as you know, of both of you?"
"Yeah."
"So no stepparents, adoptions, foster parents, no problems you've been having with your grandparents or anything that you know of?"
"My mom said that my dad's wife took him. But I didn't think my dad was married. She—she wasn't making sense, and I think she's crazy. She said that dad was a god and that my brother was...payment."
"Uh huh. Is your mother being physically harmful to you or do you feel like she will be?"
"No. I don't think so."
"Okay. Alright, okay, we've got officers on the way, I don't want either of you to leave the house. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Good. Okay. Just hang tight, okay sweetheart?"
"Okay."
The officer hung up.
Thalia set the phone down. She did not realize she was crying until the first tear rolled down her face and her throat began to ache. She swallowed hard.
He was coming back.
He was.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
When everyone was gone, it was around ten in the morning. They had been there all night and promised to return soon with more questions for Mom, more suspicious glances at one another as she explained that she had never told Thalia that her father was a god, that she had been called away for one second by spilling her drink, and when she had looked back, her son was gone.
They had not left things promisingly. "You really should have contacted the police as soon as you found out that he was missing," turned, over the course of the visit, into, "I find it troubling that you did not immediately contact the police," and had ended with, "Typically the rate of success for finding missing children is higher the sooner a parent calls the police. By now, he could be out of the country. I would not be too hopeful, ma'm. I'm sorry."
Thalia wasn't supposed to have heard that but she had been listening at the door, and her heart had turned to ice. He had to be returned. Missing kids came back all the time, right? All the time. She was normal. Her brother was normal. They were way too normal for this to happen to them.
Now, she was exhausted and miserable. She lay her head down on the kitchen table.
Mom slammed her hand down on the surface, making her jump. She looked up into her mom's furious blue eyes. "You!" She cried, pointing at Thalia, like her anger was choking her, keeping her from saying more. "You little brat! How could you?"
Despair gave way to anger, red-hot and thoughtless. "How could I? What about you? They say there's less of a chance of finding him because of the wait—"
"You betrayed me," Mom snapped, opening a can of beer with a jerking motion. "My son was taken from me, and instead of supporting me, you call the police on me. You called the police on me! How could you?"
"My brother was kidnapped!" Thalia cried.
Her mother took a swig. "And I told you what happened, and you chose not to believe me. That doesn't mean you had to call the police."
"Mom, you're insane!" Thalia yelled back at her. "You're completely insane! Jason wasn't kidnapped by a god. Dad was not a god. And you are not the victim in this. Don't you ever—" she stopped. What was the use? "I'm going to my room."
"No, you're not. Ungrateful child, do you know how much I've sacrificed for you? My career—"
"Oh, why didn't you just get rid of me then? Obviously you've never liked me very much!" Thalia shot back loudly, but Mom was yelling now too.
"Thalia Rosanna Grace, you are the definition of selfish. I never thought you capable until now of such cruel words. What did I do to make you hate me so much, huh? What did I do to you to make you such a hateful creature?"
"You let my brother get kidnapped—my baby brother!"
"Don't be a smartass, Thalia, it doesn't suit you at all. You're grounded, by the way."
"Don't you even care about Jason at all?" She screeched, anger still guiding her every word and movement. She knocked Mom's beer over the counter with her elbow as she turned abruptly. Mom sent her an angry look and stormed out of the room.
-/-/-
Three days passed.
An angry silence was the only contact Thalia had with Mom at the time, but she refused to let herself think about what would happen if Jason wasn't there. Every time the phone rang, which was often, she was sure it was the police calling to say that Jason had wandered to the ice cream man, followed a boy he had been playing with, gotten lost and found a policeman...
This couldn't really be happening to her. No. Nonononono.
But every phone call was either the police with more dumb questions that weren't helping (Thalia usually crossed her fingers, glanced at Mom passed out on the sofa, and told them Mommy was in the shower now, could she take a message?), or journalists—not just trashy papers like usual, but actual ones, though Mom wasn't famous enough to make the front page—or Mom's old B-list actor friends. They sent flowers and heat up meals. Mom stayed at home all the time, which was weird and not great. Jason wasn't there to get ready for bed, which was worse.
Jason wasn't there in the morning to feed breakfast to.
Jason wasn't there to drop off at daycare.
But he would be. He would be. She would bring him back with force of will if nothing else. He would be.
Three more days passed.
Any calls dwindled. The police told Thalia to stop calling every day. She told them to find her brother. They were pretty short with her after that.
Three more days passed, and Jason was officially missing for more then a week, but not really, because Thalia knew that he was coming home, coming home any minute, maybe even tonight.
She hadn't been going to school, and they called, and she lost her temper and screamed at the secretary who was actually very nice and then felt bad about it later.
One more day passed, which made ten, of sitting in her closet reading old tabloids featuring Mom, usually with titles like, Beryl Grace Arrested For DUI; Celebs Behind Bars! Stealing, Lying, Drinking; Charges Dropped After Beryl Grace's Alleged Fight.
That had been life, going to school every day knowing that your mom was in the papers they sold by the cash register at the grocery store, her face in the margins like the C-list celebrity she was, always doing something stupid to get the press' attention. That was still life, only now the articles were about her missing son and the fact that the police were suspicious about his mother. Thalia wasn't good at reading, but somehow those magazines were something of an obsession. Maybe she was a masochist. She wasn't quite sure what that was, though.
She just sat in her closet, by herself, holding one of Jason's blankets, and hated her mother with everything in her.
-/-
That night, she had a dream.
Thalia had always had weird dreams before—a scary one about Dad, but different, with brighter eyes and in a strange place, arguing with so many different people with words she didn't understand—one about her mother, calling around confused for her brother on what looked to be the ruins of some old-time city—one where she herself was running, running, running—and suddenly she was pushing someone away, away to their death, and she didn't know them, couldn't see their face, but it was someone she loved...
This one was the worst ever.
She was sitting in a pine tree, even though she didn't climb trees. She had never liked heights, and Jason's tree climbing habit had terrified her.
A woman sat next to her. She looked like the kind of mom Thalia had always envied the other girls for having, the kind who packed lunch and threw birthday parties. But she looked angry.
"He's dead, you know," she said, conversationally, looking out into the forest as if she didn't even see Thalia. "You'll never see him again."
Thalia's stomach turned to fire and her mind turned to ice and her heart turned to a church bell, pounding so loudly she could barely hear the woman sigh loudly and turn away.
She woke up in a cold sweat, screamed into her pillow, and cried the rest of the night. That morning, she went to school because she didn't want to spend any more time in the house with her mother, but the entire time she went, she stared at the wall and worried.
The police now only called so they could say that they had.
Ten weeks later, the case was marked no longer actively pursued.
She packed a backpack, put on her warmest sweatshirt, took fifty dollars out of Mom's purse, grabbed one more thing from the house, and left forever.