Becoming Greek
Just say goodbye. Look in my eyes so that I always will remember. Frozen in time, always be mine. Baby boy, you'll be young forever. I'll be over here; you'll be over there. Ima shed a tear but I really don't care. Frozen in time, always be mine, baby boy, you'll be young forever
—Young Forever, Nicki Minaj
I. DISCOVERY
I was used to being uncomfortable. I was used to being on edge. I had been on the battlefield more times than most Romans. I had quested more than any living Roman. I had led demigods in battle, organized raids, and a thousand other things most demigods couldn't lay claim to. I had even defeated a Titan.
And yet I felt skittish, almost scared, around the Greek demigods.
I told myself it was unreasonable, that they were just like me—children of the Gods. That, however, wasn't completely true. Every night, as I stared at the ceiling of Zeus's cabin, with my father's Greek aspect staring expectantly at me, I warred with myself.
They are demigods, just like I am. I told myself this over and over, but every time I did a thousand questions would pop up in my head, a thousand reasons why I wasn't like them. They were Greek; I was Roman. They didn't like structured societies with clear leadership, but I did. They followed who they thought should lead; I expected to be elected, to hold a clear position among them with benefits so that I could be of use.
I never knew how I fell asleep, but I always did and never seemed to be tired the next morning. I guess Juno was making sure I got my sleep forcefully. Sometimes I resented her. Even though she was my patron and my strongest link to the Gods since my father had handed me over to her care, I despised her on some level. She had taken me away from everything I had known. Not once, but twice, and in doing so she had caused my sister grief the likes of which I hope I will never know.
My sister. Thalia was often with me, Artemis having allowed her to hand over temporary leadership to some Hunter—Phoebe, I think—so that she could help me adapt to Camp Half-Blood smoothly. If any good had come from my abduction from Camp Jupiter, it was meeting Thalia all over again. I had been a baby when I had been taken from her and our mother. I had ultimately been the reason she had ran away.
I always felt conflicted about that topic. On one hand, I knew I couldn't be held accountable for being taken by Juno at the age of two, but the guilt that flooded me every time I remembered was insistent. On the other, my being taken had set tons of things in motion. Thalia had met Luke Castellan, and he had gone semi-insane when she had been turned into a tree. I never knew the guy, and no one ever wanted to talk about him, but I could tell as much from bits and pieces I managed to gather. When I really wanted to punish myself with what I knew but didn't quite believe was misplaced guilt, I told myself that in a way the Second Titan War was my fault.
Which was ridiculous, but that has never stopped anyone, much less someone dealing with depression.
Over time, I became aware of a problem I hadn't foreseen. The campers were not balancing on the point where they would give me a chance before judging if I was fit to lead. Most didn't want to follow me, and the ones who did were slowly coming to the realization that they would have to choose between their friends and I. It didn't take me long to find why the sudden change in attitude had happened.
Unsurprisingly, the cause was Annabeth Chase.
After a long three months away looking for her missing boyfriend, she had returned to camp defeated, desolate, and a crying mess. When I had first seen her, I had felt sorry for her, but mostly I was agonizing over Reyna. I knew I had left someone behind at Camp Jupiter, but I didn't know who she was exactly, nor what our relationship was like. Were we friends? Were we boyfriend and girlfriend? Were we in some in-between awkward but thrilling state?
Was she, like Annabeth, driving herself onto the ground looking for me? What would she think when she learnt that I was with Piper? Until I detected the sudden shift in attitude towards me, I didn't think of Annabeth at all as a person per se. I thought of her situation in relation to my own.
The change in my popularity forced me to take stock of the politics of Camp Half-Blood. Their system was utterly perplexing to me. I was instinctually geared to gain power by appealing to crowds, by using loopholes to rise in station. Here, that was impossible. I had to gain individual support, which in turn would gain the support of others if I was lucky. I had to be friendly with pretty much everyone, and the had to admire me, if I couldn't get them to like me.
The Greeks placed an unwise amount of leverage on personal relationships, on past history. Annabeth Chase commanded much more respect than I did. She was a daughter of Athena, whom the Greeks respected, and a great commander. Most importantly, she was Percy Jackson's girlfriend. That, more than anything else, made her a force to be reckoned with.
To be honest, even if she and Percy Jackson had hated each other like Poseidon and Athena, Annabeth would have garnered more respect than I did. I was a Roman, the champion of Hera's Roman personality. No matter whose son I was, Annabeth had me trumped.
The thing was that Annabeth wasn't launching an anti-Roman campaign or anything of the sort. She was just ignoring me, which prompted most of the other campers to do the same. If anyone had replaced Percy Jackson, it was Annabeth. Sure, maybe they would come to me if a Giant and his army set their sights on the camp, simply because I had fought Krios; but once Percy got back here, I would be totally forgotten.
I was beginning to think that Percy Jackson was going to have a Hades of an easier time taking my place in Camp Jupiter than I was going to here.
Thalia tried her hardest to get Annabeth to come out of her shell. Not only was it bad for her to cry herself to sleep at four in the morning and wake up at six; it was also terrible for the camp. The campers were looking up to her, but she was completely unconcerned about leading them. She didn't want the responsibility, and apparently didn't care that the Greeks were taking sides on who to follow, or whether they should follow anyone at all.
Many just wanted to march to San Francisco and cause enough of a ruckus that the Romans would show up, hopefully leading them to Percy. Chiron refused to allow such a thing, which didn't stop anyone until the Gods became involved and sealed everyone at camp for about a week. No one mentioned the idea ever again.
Slowly, I distanced myself from the Greek campers. Juno and Hera weren't happy with me, but they didn't go so far as to force me to communicate with them. They let me be, having little to no contact with anyone but Piper, Leo, Thalia and the Hephaestus campers working on the Argo II. My pride was wounded. I knew—though it pained me to admit it even to myself—that Percy Jackson was a remarkable guy, and that the Greeks were getting the bad deal out of all of this, while the Romans were getting a very good one.
I was the son of Jupiter, the King of the Gods, but I had not ever faced Kronos in any sense of the word. I knew that Percy hadn't defeated Kronos by fighting him head on, but still, the guy deserved some credit. I wasn't used to conceding that other people were better than me at more than one thing, but I knew that making myself out to be better than Percy would be stupid.
So I didn't comment when a camper bemoaned Percy's disappearance and cursed Juno to Olympus. I didn't flinch when the campers' eyes followed me warily, or sometimes accusingly. I didn't even react when someone realized they were treating me unfairly and shot me a guilty look. I became indifferent to most of the campers. My heart yearned for Camp Jupiter. My distress at night grew worse.
Every time I contemplated the idea of escaping this place, my resolution broke before it had truly solidified. It happened so often that I became aware of the way my thoughts suddenly blanked out before I gained a sense of hopelessness combined with duty, of all things. I may have been a Roman, and I may have felt a need to do what was best for my people, but I was also a son of Jupiter. I wasn't used to being ignored or disregarded completely. Back home, my place in the Fifth Cohort guaranteed my being ridiculed once every blue moon. Everyone, however, knew the only reason I wasn't in the first was because I had gotten to camp as a child, unable to get recommendation letters at that young age. The occasional derisive comment was most often than not tinged with fear. No one here seemed to care that I could whip the entire Hermes cabin's butts even if they came at me together because apparently Percy Jackson could take on Hermes and Apollo and Ares if he tried hard enough.
As if that would stop me from killing them if I really wanted to.
I was skeptical of what everyone said about the son of Poseidon. People back home had tended to make out my fight with Krios fair. It hadn't been. I'd had the advantage, and I'd had the brains to fool him into destroying his own throne. I was confident that while I wasn't in a position to brag, neither could he without coming across as a jerk.
By looking at the disparity in my feelings, the drastic change from one second to the next, I soon uncovered Juno's involvement in my thoughts. She had been watching me more closely than I had expected. She was stopping me from thinking dangerous thoughts. I wasn't too bothered by the fact. She was my patron, my link to the Gods, and I considered myself lucky to not have her trying to kill me like every child of Jupiter's did.
Juno's reasons for constraining my thoughts were more distressing. I understood why she didn't want me to escape—for that's what I called it, I would never say I considered running away. Doing so would have damaged the relationship between the Romans and the Greeks before anyone but I had any say in them. Was it possible that Percy Jackson was having as hard a time as I was taking my place? During the next few weeks, I played with two conflicting theories.
The first was the idea that he had already replaced me and that the only reason Juno kept me in Camp Half-Blood was because she had already deemed me a failure, and her plan relied solely on Percy Jackson's ability to unite the two camps. The second was that Percy was doing as terrible a job as I was, and we were about to start WWIII. Shameful as it was, I didn't know which of my ideas I would prefer coming to fruition. If it was the first, I was a failure. If it was the second, I was still a failure, but so was Percy Jackson. Unfortunately, the second included the death of thousands of people.
My depression didn't need more fuel than it already had.
The weeks went by both too fast and too slow. There were times when my hours sparring with Thalia went by so fast I was taken aback. Other times, they made themselves endless. Nonetheless, my time with my sister was never badly spent. She was the lone ray of hope in my dark, dreary world. Leo was my best friend, but he was always busy with the Argo II. Piper was my girlfriend, but moments were her felt like a betrayal to the girl I knew I'd left behind at Camp Jupiter. My sister was here for me, and there was no guilt when I hugged her or fell asleep together. She was my sister. Say what you would about incest in Greek Mythology, it was restricted to the Gods.
Thalia always tried her best to get me to talk to people, but she understood after a very short time that I didn't want to talk to anyone I wasn't already comfortable with. I wasn't going to beg anyone to follow me. If they wanted to follow the example of a girl too dependent on her boyfriend, then so be it. That was fine by me. I wouldn't lower myself that far.
If Annabeth wanted to be a bitch—even if it was unintentional—and if everyone wanted to follow her example, who was I to deny them the right? When western civilization fell, I certainly wasn't going to get the blame. She would. I used to like her, but her attitude had ruined my life for the past half year, so I wasn't feeling too forgiving.
When Nico di Angelo arrived from the Underworld with news of an army marching to Camp Jupiter, my peace—fragile and flimsy as it was—was shattered. I fell into a panic, and I urged Leo to work on the Argo II all the faster. I helped more than ever. I barely slept, and Juno didn't disagree with my priorities this time. I became a master of the winds, able to control them even when distracted. I lifted heavy pieces of metal to wherever Leo wanted them placed. I didn't complain when drills were made to test the ship's ability to stay suspended in mid-air. I was as cooperative as I could possibly be.
It wasn't enough.
Despite my best efforts, the Argo II wasn't ready to depart to California in time for the battle. I hoped they were prepared. I hoped they had enough forces to repel the bane of Neptune. I prayed to Jupiter for the Roman camp's safety. I prayed to Pluto for his help in freeing Thanatos. I prayed to Juno so that she would guide Percy Jackson. I prayed to Mars and Bellona to keep Gaea's army from succeeding. I prayed to Neptune the most. I prayed he would help his son defeat his bane. I prayed for Percy Jackson desperately. Whether I would get to be happy again was in his hands. I wouldn't be able to bear it if my home was destroyed before I was ever to reach it again.
Several times I was driven to tears in times of indescribable rage. I couldn't go help in the battle. Juno would not let me, and after many hours of screaming and cursing her in Latin, I became aware as I was attempting to destroy the statue of her in her cabin of why she didn't allow me to help my comrades. The realization came to me out of nowhere, which is the norm. I understood that Percy hadn't proven himself to the Romans. The only way he would do this was by defeating his father's bane.
Why was he unproven? I had earned my place at Camp Half-Blood, but my efforts had been thwarted by Percy's stupid girlfriend. I knew there was no one who would do such a thing to Percy in Camp Jupiter. I didn't have my memories back, but I knew this with a certainty I found disconcerting at first. Why was he unproven?
Slowly, I came upon a most terrifying thought. She wouldn't. She wouldn't! Juno would never do such a thing! Even if I tried to reassure myself, I knew I was right. Percy hadn't received a quest yet. I hadn't realized until now that his quest would have been something so momentous that I would have heard about it in some way. I had heard nothing. The quest to free Thanatos was his. How long ago had Juno dropped him in the Wolf House?
In that moment, I hated my patron. How could she play with the lives of my friends—friends whom I couldn't remember because of her—like chess pieces?
The time finally came for Leo, Piper, Coach Hedge, Annabeth and I to leave on the Argo II. Annabeth, of course, refused to stay. I couldn't take back my invitation to come with us to the Roman camp. Thalia said she would catch up with us when we arrived at the camp. Apparently, she had to check in with the Hunters before joining us for our quest to Rome.
I wore my praetor's toga the day we were to arrive at Camp Jupiter. As I looked down at the plains bellow me, I started to remember bits and pieces of my life. I had been so close when I had fought Enceladus. Mount Diablo was only a few miles away from the Camp. Instinctively, I knew how to get there. I had known Camp Jupiter was bigger than Camp Half-Blood, but only now did I realize how much bigger it was. The Greeks numbered a hundred and fifty including the newbies. The Romans, I now remembered, were closer to five hundred.
Terminus at first refused to let us through, but in the end we were allowed to meet the Romans at the Forum, if we left all our weapons in the ship, which would hover above New Rome. Annabeth ran at someone who was probably Percy Jackson, but I only had eyes for Reyna. She had dark brown hair, which curled slightly at the ends. She was tanned and her eyes were a nice, soft brown that reminded me of chocolate. She was beautiful.
I walked towards her entranced. In the back of my mind, I knew Piper was about to burst into tears, but I didn't think about her. Reyna was coming towards me, also, as if she couldn't believe it was really me. "Reyna," I whispered once we were less than an arm-length apart. My hand rose on its own account and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Oh, Jason." She launched herself at me. I caught her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face on my shoulder. She didn't cry, and she didn't kiss me. "I'm glad you're back."
So was I. I felt, for the first time in half a year, like I belonged. This was my place. With Reyna, as the praetor of Camp Jupiter. I remembered then that most praetors ended up getting romantically involved because they spent so much time together. I wanted that.
A cry of laughter drew me from my personal bubble. I saw Annabeth, and I was struck by how different she looked right then. She was smiling. No longer did she look like a living doll, like something more fitted to the Underworld than to the world of the living. There were still bags under her eyes, and she looked pale despite the tan she's once possessed, but her laugh was beautiful.
I almost forgave her because of it, but she's made me go through too much to just forget about her idiocy because she was sad over her boyfriend's disappearance. From what I heard, it wasn't the first time Percy Jackson disappeared for a long period of time.
And speaking of Percy Jackson…
When I'd imagined meeting him, I thought I would first register this majestic aura around him that said he was so holy and pure. When that didn't strike me first in my imagination, the following usually was the oh-so-green eyes the Aphrodite cabin seemed to find so mesmerizing. I didn't notice any of those qualities because my eyes zeroed in on his clothes.
He was wearing a toga identical to mine, a deep royal purple color.
He had taken my place as praetor. For a long time I hadn't thought of the possibility. I hadn't succeeded in replacing him, so it would only have been fair that he wouldn't either. But if the toga was any indication, I didn't have a place in Camp Jupiter anymore. When I'd prayed for the salvation of the Roman camp, and for Percy Jackson's success, I'd never stopped to think about what that would mean for me.
I knew now. I'd been replaced.
I looked at Reyna accusingly, but she only dropped her eyes to the floor, unable to meet my gaze.
Becoming Greek
My friends received me with open arms, thankfully. As I talked to them, I gained more and more of the pieces missing from my life. There were gigantic holes, of course. I couldn't remember any of my childhood but slowly the names of everyone I'd known before in the Fifth Cohort came back to me.
I made the mistake of asking about Percy, which set off everyone in a ten-seat radius. At the same time, everyone started talking. I heard the word 'eagle' mentioned quite a bit, as was 'awesome' and 'Polybotes.' After a headache and lots of screaming, I finally got the short version from Dakota: Percy had carried Juno through the Tiber and killed two Gorgons with his 'awesome' water powers. Percy had won the War Games for the Fifth Cohort with Hazel and a son of Mars. Mars had assigned a quest, the three had gone to free Thanatos, and they had came back for the battle. Hazel had become badass in the ten months I was absent, and now owned a super horse who could apparently curse like a sailor. Frank Zhang could turn into animals. Percy Jackson had a pet hellhound, a Cyclops for a brother, had recovered the eagle, and had killed his father's bane with only Terminus for help.
I felt like a loser all of a sudden.
I found out that Percy Jackson was very good at shutting up Octavian. I'd only recently remembered his name, but for much of the last few months I'd been aware of a legacy of Apollo I disliked. Only recently did I regain the knowledge of his name. Percy was incredibly good at cutting off the augur before he was able to make any point, and by some small miracle we were out of Camp Jupiter before Octavian could impede our quest.
I was sad to leave behind the place I'd thought of as home for a long time. As I stared at the rapidly receding outline of Camp Jupiter, I wondered if I would see it again, or if I would die in my attempt to defeat Gaea and her Giants. The sun was setting in an extraordinary display of Apollo's power. The sky was dyed pink, red and purple. I wondered if Apollo was doing it especially for us.
A voice behind me startled me. "Do you know when Thalia will catch up with us?"
I composed myself, and decided I didn't have to turn around. "No." I thought my tone was too severe, so I added, "I don't think it'll be long, though."
Percy came up besides me. "Why?" He leaned back on the deck's railing, gazing at me sideways.
"She's only checking in, and it's been a few days. It wont be long." I repeated.
He nodded absentmindedly. We stayed quiet until he said, "I'm sorry about the praetor thing. It just happened."
I tried to hide the fact that I sighed. I didn't know if he noticed. "It's okay." It was true. That didn't mean I was okay, but that wasn't what he'd asked.
Percy looked at me. He had this penetrating stare that I'd seen in Juno and Chiron. Reyna couldn't pull it off, and I certainly didn't either. It didn't bother me as much as Chiron's and Juno's did. I wondered why to distract myself from his study. Even though it wasn't as terrible as being under Juno's glare, he made me uncomfortable. I settled on thinking that I didn't find him examination as disturbing as Juno's because I didn't think he would try to manipulate me with whatever he got from me.
He left without another word, and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.
Thalia caught up to us hallway through Texas. She sent a lightning strike crashing meters from the Argo II to let me know she was near. I didn't know why she didn't just fly herself up to the ship. All children of Zeus and Jupiter, no matter how weak—and Thalia wasn't weak—could fly. She didn't want to, which always puzzled me.
I manipulated the winds carrying the Argo II, forcing the ship to fall steadily to the ground bellow. It took Leo seconds to find me. He gave me a lecture worthy of a school principal, chiding me for bringing down the ship myself when I could have achieved mu purpose just as fast by using the controls. He left in a huff towards the control panel, presumably to check if I had damaged anything.
I waited for Thalia at the deck. Percy joined me, a hand clutching his head. He was walking unsteadily, stumbling over his feet every few seconds. He glared at the floor. "What a monstrosity," he hissed.
I chuckled despite myself. In the beginning, Percy and Leo had poured over the Argo II happily, making adjustments to the ship that the Hephaestus cabin hadn't been able to make. Percy had known what was missing instinctually, and his involvement had reached a point where he was fixing stuff before Leo even knew it had to be fixed. Mommy Leo hadn't been pleased his child was being fussed over by someone else so much.
Leo hadn't had to worry. Percy had lost any and all interest in the Argo II when he'd been reminded it would fly for half of our journey.
Percy looked up, startled. He blinked then crossed his arms over his chest. "Couldn't you have been more gentle?" I tried to suppress a smile, but I knew I failed. "Why did you drop us?" Percy asked grudgingly, still eyeing the ship distrustfully.
I tried to keep myself from chuckling. "Thalia's coming."
Percy seemed to forget his utter contempt for the Argo II. A curious expression crossed his face before he pressed his lips together and his face went… well, blank.
I looked around. Had he sensed something? Was there some monster nearby? Was there a Giant nearby? Try as I might, I didn't see anything out of place in the landscape around us. There were only green plains. "Is there something wrong?"
Percy blinked and looked at the floor. "No. Everything's fine." An awkward silence settled over the two of us, which I thought was too bad. For the first time, I'd been having a good time around the son of Poseidon. Something had happened that had caused him to clam up. I thought it was vastly ironic that the moment I was being open with him, he closed himself off, just the way I did every time he tried to talk to me. I was slightly annoyed, and I wondered if he felt like this every time I brushed him off.
But then this wasn't a matter of being best friends. If we didn't work together, then western civilization would end. We had to set the example, so I resolved to push him. I wracked my brain for something to ask me. Small talk wouldn't work; I had to come up with something useful, something that got the two of us talking. I looked up at the sky and inspiration struck me. "Can you make storms?"
If he'd done it to me, I knew I would have reacted icily, simply because I would have wanted him gone from my presence. Percy only looked surprised. "No. I don't think I can."
I cocked my head to the side. "Are you sure? Poseidon's Stormbringer."
Percy looked thoughtful. "I don't know. I can make hurricanes around me. I can produce earthquakes, but I've never tried to bring about a storm. I haven't wanted to touch anywhere near Zeus's domain."
I nodded. "Poseidon's and Zeus's domains overlap. I'm sure you could get a storm here if you tried hard enough. Lightning, though…" I gave him a rueful grin, which he returned.
"I know." Percy laughed. "If by some miracle I managed that, Zeus would hunt me down."
I didn't deny that. Even in his Greek form, my dad didn't like sharing.
We lapsed into silence. It wasn't comfortable, but neither was it stifling. I didn't feel like I was suffocating. It wasn't long before I became able to make out my sister's rapidly advancing form. She was running at speeds I'd thought impossible. I guessed it was one of the perks of becoming a Hunter. I still didn't like the thought of her remaining a virgin forever, though. I didn't know if I was the overprotective kind of brother, but I didn't want her to spend her whole life prancing around with a band of girls who hated men. That wasn't healthy.
Thalia jumped onto the deck, something which she wouldn't have accomplished—freaky Hunter powers or not—if she hadn't been a daughter of Zeus. She had controlled the winds so that they would carry her over. It was the kind of thing most demigods wouldn't notice, but I was terribly aware of the wind currents shifting around me.
She crashed into me, her arms wrapping around me. "Jason!" We fell to the floor, both of us laughing.
"Get off!" I pushed her away, but she only kicked me back down.
"You lose, Jason." She stuck out her tongue at me, mocking me, when she was pulled off me. I raised myself on my forearms. Thalia was struggling against Percy, who was holding her inches from the ground. Thalia was kicking and screaming, trying to get him to release her. Then slowly, my sister stopped complaining and looked back at Percy. All of a sudden, I began to blush, my eyes trailing down to the floor, feeling as if I was intruding in a very personal moment.
I told myself that was dumb, that my sister was an eternal maiden, to my chagrin. When I looked up, however, I didn't feel as if I was intruding in a personal moment. I knew I was. Before there had been this melancholy radiating from the two of them, but now there was something telling me those two wanted to rip the other's clothes off.
My blush probably intensified. I looked away, on edge. My sister was destined to be a virgin forever. She shouldn't have been looking at Percy Jackson in that way. I was as confused as I was embarrassed. I didn't want to get involved in my sister's personal life.
My heart beating wildly in my chest, I stood up and walked into the ship. Percy and Thalia didn't notice, which made me feel all the worse. Before I closed the door to the Argo II, I hesitated. Should I call at them, act like nothing had happened and break them apart? Should I push them away from each other and demand an explanation—one which I knew I had no right to demand? Should I just leave them be?
I took the easy way out of this. Throwing out the window the concern for my sister, I closed the door and made my way to my room, where I stayed for the rest of the day.
Piper came looking for me after I'd missed dinner. She brought with her a plate loaded with fruits and vegetables. I frowned at the plate, hoping she wouldn't expect me to eat it. I was relieved when she shoved into my hands a hamburger. Seeing the food made me hungry. The two of us sat on my bed eating. I could tell Piper was worried, so I made her tell me what was wrong as I tore into the hamburger. Her fruits lay forgotten as she went on about love.
"I don't know, Jason," she said. "I'm feeling… giddy, and that makes no sense. I can't stay still." She was gesturing with her hands, something I'd never seen her do before. "It's so frustrating!" Piper kept on the same vein until I'd finished eating. Admittedly, that wasn't long. "Do you have any idea what could have caused this?"
I deliberated. "When did it start?" I hoped I didn't look too interested.
"Couple of hours." She bit her lip. "You've got something?"
"But how long?" I hoped my words didn't sound as forced as I thought they did.
She counted with her fingers. "About four, I think."
I looked at the digital clock on my bedside table. 6:30. "That would be about two." Thalia had arrived a little before that time. Was she causing whatever it was Piper was feeling? "You sure you aren't just nervous about the quest?"
Piper bit her lip. "Maybe."
"Get some sleep. I'm sure it'll help." I held my arms out to her. She snuggled up to me. "You want to sleep here?" I kissed her forehead, and after she'd murmured her assent, I said, picking up the plate and wrappers, "I'll come back in a sec."
I made my way to the kitchen, all the time wondering about Piper, my sister and Percy. Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite. Love was a part of her as much as the sky was a part of me. Was she as aware of the relationships between people as I was about the wind currents miles around me? Could her sudden nervousness—happy nervousness—mean the two of them had had sex? I almost ran to Percy's room in a panic, determined to ask, before I composed myself.
I shouldn't pry, but Thalia was my sister. I wasn't freaking out because I thought Percy was right for her. I thought he was a great guy, if I ignored he'd half replaced me at Camp Jupiter, which I was. I was freaking out because my sister had vowed to remain a maiden forever. She couldn't lose her virginity! What horrible things would Artemis make her go through if she broke her oath?
I took in a deep breath, counted to ten, and was about to open the door leading to the kitchen… when I heard voices. And normally, this wouldn't have meant anything, but whoever was inside was whispering. More importantly. I recognized Thalia's voice. The other voice was male. By elimination, I knew who she was talking to instantly. There were only four guys in the Argo II. One was Leo, whom Thalia couldn't stand. Thalia didn't know Frank, and I doubted he would voluntarily stay alone with her talking if he'd only met her a few hours before. She wasn't talking to me, which left only Percy.
Morals forgotten, I set my ear to the door, hoping to catch some of their conversation. I was disappointed to find that Percy was talking about his quest to free Thanatos. I'd been wanting to get a first-hand account on that some time this week, but I didn't want to get it this way. Someone was bound to ask one of these days, and I didn't want to worry about slipping up when it happened. No way was I going to confess eavesdropping on them.
I was bout to barge into the kitchen when the voices suddenly dropped in volume. At first I thought I'd made a noise, so I scrambled to get away from the door and act as normal as possible. When neither Percy nor Thalia slammed the door open, my curiosity was piqued. What had happened? What were they doing? I leaned against the door, straining to hear something.
By Pluto, wasn't there a God of eavesdropping or something? If so, then I wanted some help over here.
My prayers were answered. Thalia's voice reached my ears. "Annabeth's been worried sick about you." I recoiled from the door, and I thank whatever God was watching over me at the moment that I didn't make any noise. I'd completely forgotten about Annabeth. Percy had a girlfriend, which I hadn't bothered to factor in during my four-hour long brooding session this afternoon.
"Yeah," Percy Jackson replied. All in all, I thought that was a pretty stupid thing to say. I had a freaking door in between us, but I could still feel the tension coming from those two. Maybe Aphrodite had taken it upon herself to make me sensitive to that kind of thing for a little while so that I would uncover the whole forbidden romance between these two. Or maybe I was just making stuff up, and was going insane.
"How are things going with her?" I thought there was a slight tremble to Thalia's voice.
"Fine." Seriously, what a jerk. I could have understood this kind of reaction from someone with no experience, but to my knowledge Percy had been chased after by no less than four girls. One of those was Calypso; another was Queen Hylla's badass second-in-command. What was wrong with him? I may have been a virgin, and I may have only ever had one girlfriend—that being Piper—but I didn't think I would be this stupid around a girl.
"I'm glad." I had no way of knowing for sure, but I thought Thalia was biting out her words, speaking behind gritted teeth.
Silence, before Percy said boldly, "Are you, really?" I almost gasped at his audacity. That was more like something I expected him to do. I frowned, wondering what I wanted to get out of this. I may not have wanted my sister to be a Hunter, but I didn't want her to die by Artemis's hands. Why was I rooting for Percy Jackson, damn it? My only concern was my sister. I inspected my feelings, trying to determine if someone was inside my head. I was pretty sure Aphrodite had played a role in my lapse of reason, but I would never know for sure.
Pity. I would have liked to know if I was turning into a girl.
"You don't know how hard it's been, Jackson." Something crashed into the door I was leaning on. I scrambled back, wary. Thalia had slammed Percy against the door. I almost walked back to my room. They were too close, and I didn't want to risk discovery more than I already had, but something kept me rooted to the spot, listening in.
"No, I don't, but then this is the price you pay for being a coward, right?" Percy said bitterly.
Thalia growled. "Shut up."
Another crash. The door creaked. "No! If you'd been woman enough to face the prophecy, we'd be together now."
"The Gods weren't ready. I couldn't." Thalia choked on a sob.
"Liar." Percy's voice was harsh. "Liar."
Once again, there came a crash, but I suspected they'd fallen to the floor. I heard rustles and heavy breathing. I wondered what they were doing when I heard a high, drawn-out moan.
Oh.
Once again I was confronted with the choice from this afternoon. Did I interrupt? Did I leave them to themselves? I stuck by my decision earlier today, and turned back. I hoped my sister knew what she was doing. I hoped she knew what was best for her; I certainly didn't. I wondered how I would explain to Piper why I'd been gone so long, or why I still had the plate and wrappers with me.
Becoming Greek
A/N: Yes, I know I should be writing something else, namely Song of the Sea. To be fair, this was supposed to be published way before SS. BTW, The Song of the Sea got nominated for Best Romance on the Phoenix Awards. If you like it, go vote. I don't know how that works as of yet, but just informing you... This story will probably have only two other chapters. I hope there's no more.