Once again, this is a piece I wrote quite a while back. I decided it doesn't quite fit in the Inevitability universe, even though if you've read the others you'll see little flavorings that definitely lean toward Inevitability.

Basically it occurred to me that if Percy can talk to horses, maybe other demigods can talk to animals from the domains of their patrons. One thing led to another and all the sudden I had a story where Thalia became bird girl. Anyways, enough of me.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Once again: No infringement or ownership claims on anything here. Just an idea I had about someone else's characters. Nor am I making anything but hopefully smiles off of this story.

Birds fascinated her when she was little. They used to chatter outside her window day and night. Sometimes, if she strained hard enough, she could make out words, upbeat and chipper. Friendly. Meaningless babble really. Far too quick and clipped for a kid to understand.

But they were her friends. Her life was a Disney movie made real. Talking birds singing her to sleep and serenading her mornings. Sometimes they would even perch on her fingertips and twitter a salutation before flying off with freedom she envied. While she'd staunchly rejected all things pink and girly ever since her mother forced her into a pink tutu on a brief(thank the gods) pageant craze, she still had the little girl fantasy of being a princess. Maybe if she prayed hard enough, her prince or maybe even her father would swoop in on a white stallion and save her from her abysmally depressing life and evil mother.

Entering school age she would laugh with her friends and ask them if they could hear the birds talk too. They said they could. She swears they did. Her friends were impressed at how the birds gathered around her like she was the Pied Piper, singing for her approval and delight. One girl, Leah, excitedly raved every day, itching to get outside to recess and sing with the birds. Thalia would say Leah was her first best friend. They'd invite one another to play all the time and Leah didn't mind all the strange things that always happened around Thalia. Leah could see them but she still wasn't scared. At most she was a little uneasy when something truly odd happened but that faded and soon they would be giggling like nothing ever happened. And whenever Thalia was over at her house Leah's mom always had a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies waiting for her that melted in her mouth like butter only a thousand times better. Thalia wondered why her mother never did the same often but the only time she ever dared to ask her mother backhanded her across the face, her breath sour as she raved that she was not an unfit mother.

And then one day it was like her class collectively decided she was weird. Whispering and staring like she was some exotic beast instead of a peer. They'd refuse to share books or food or toys with her, convinced they'd contract weirdness from her, as if it were a disease. Her recesses weren't fun anymore. The birds that collected around her heels were weird now and she had crazy cooties, thinking that they were talking to her. It broke her heart but Leah stuck around. She stayed with Thalia and the two played quietly every day on the edge of the field, away from the cruel comments and disapproving frowns.

But inexplicably one day, Leah too abandoned her and there came a nasty note in the mailbox from Leah's father warning Thalia away from his daughter and telling her she wasn't welcome over there anymore.

And then she's all alone, though Leah sometimes watches her from the sidelines as the kids chant "Bird Turd" whenever they're bored with everything else and decide to pick on the freak. Leah looks sometimes like she's going to jump in to Thalia's defense but she never does. And her sad eyes make Thalia lose heart.

Thalia banishes the birds away from her, desperate to be normal. To be accepted by the others. She throws rocks at them every time she sees them and ignores their chatter till it no longer sounds like words to her ears. And eventually the skies are empty. She's insulted them. Driven off the only friends she had.

But the nickname sticks, even once the kids no longer know why they call her it. And Thalia still can't make friends.

So Thalia cries.

Sometimes monsters were better than people. At least monsters made a little bit of sense.

It's years later and enter Luke. She hates him immediately, practically on sight. He's cocky and has an easy smile and enjoys manipulating and teasing her. And he reminds her unconsciously so much of the kids in her class she can practically see their featureless faces taunting her. His personality is just like theirs and she's wary of it.

Sure he tries to be nice to her sometimes, but so did Leah and look how that turned out. So nice sometimes but it's an act. She knows it's an act. He wants to break her. Build her up and tear her down. So she doesn't let him in. He's hired help. Someone to watch her back when she sleeps. Nothing more. Not even human but an animal. She doesn't even really realize how she treats him. Not really.

But he starts to grow on her regardless. Like a disease. It's little at first. A smile. A light laugh when they defeat a monster. A look of concern and an "Are you alright?" when she gets hurt or a hand extended down to her when she trips or gets knocked over. A sense of camaraderie develops first. They aren't friends, but they're at least brothers-in-arms. They look out for each other. But she doesn't fully open up to him. She shuts down whenever he brings up anything more personal.

If Thalia had to pick the turning point in her relationship, it would be the day she caught him spying on her. She'd reverted to the mornings she'd had as a child. Mornings where the birds trilled beautiful tunes to her and perched on her shoulders. She loved morning watches because it gave her the chance to enjoy their songs and sing a few of her own back to them.

There was the snap of a twig and the birds flew away. And she pulled back the branches to a thick bush and found him watching her, looking rather chastised. At first she was angry. She roared at him so loud the rest of the birds fled away in fright and a storm cloud gathered overhead.

But she didn't hit him. She stormed off to cool down. And after an hour or so he came to find her and apologized in a voice that was so sincere she hated him. Because how could she be angry with him when he talks like that? She wanted to hate him but he had to go and be nice to her. Couldn't he just be mean and nasty so that Thalia could just go on hating him? Hate came so much easier to her than…anything else.

And then he said something that shifted her opinion of him. "It's pretty cool you know. That ability of yours." She glared at him. At the sincerity in his voice. Not a hint of sarcasm. Not even on his face. She looked at him and she saw admiration.

She huffed angrily and gave him the cold shoulder, but a part of her, deep, deep down, fluttered at the flattery.

Not terribly long but then it's just a little drabble isn't it? Anyways, like it, hate it, or otherwise, drop a review quick and lemme know what you think.

~Crisi