I got my new jacket. It's quite nice.
Manipulating the Mist is harder than I expected, but not too hard. With a snap of my fingers, I can sort of do it. Just need to practice it a tiny bit more. Chiron says I'm really good because I'm Zeus's daughter. I asked why, and he said that Zeus himself was almost like the Master of Mist. Weird, it never said anything like that in the legends, but Chiron says legends aren't always reliable.
Ate alone. Slept alone. But I had a pocketful of drachmas. And I have friends.
But I still feel a grudge against the Olympians. The "losers" in Cabin Eleven usually have a pathetic look on their faces. They are unwanted and unloved. Very depressing. Why can't their parents claim them? Why? Would my father be like if I wasn't his only child and a potential prophecy candidate?
Maybe Luke was right.
No, no! I shouldn't think that.
I'm the daughter of Zeus, for heaven's sakes! The senior god, the boss, the head honcho, the big cheese, the most powerful immortal.
Would I really betray my friends? Annabeth, with her stormy gray eyes and architect books. Or Grover with his love for enchiladas and bad reed pipe playing? Or Percy? Or Beckendorf? Or Silena? Or the troublesome Stoll brothers? Even the "losers" from Cabin Eleven seem to share a bond with me.
That's because we're all bound by blood. Technically, Annabeth is my niece, and Percy my first cousin. Everyone her is a nephew/niece or a cousin. Mr. D is my brother. (Half-brother. I could never be a "full sister" to him.) One problem. A lot of us are immortal.
Problem? Big problem.
Immortals are selfish. Immortals are greedy. Immortals are immortally selfish and greedy. Face it, I love my dad very deep inside. And if I dig deeper, I'm sure I could even find affection for Hades, my least favorite uncle. (Who does he think he is? Sending hellhounds and Furies after me! Jeez, I'm sorry I was born, I'm sorry you hate my dad. Get a life!)
Like my half-brother, Hermes, has said before, Immortal families are eternally messy.
And I…OMG! Kronos is my grandfather! Great, just great. A lot of kids' grandfathers take them fishing or buy stuff for them. My grandfather wants to wipe out Western civilization (and then probably move on to Eastern civilization, knowing him). Not only that, I'm a pawn for him in his grand game of take over the world chess. No, I'm much more important. Percy and I are "the prophecy kids" which means we're more like, I don't know, bishops. Or rooks or whatever.
Oh gods. I've been ranting in my diary. Time for me to get a life. I wonder what Annabeth is doing.
Day 16Yesterday, I mentioned that the world was a game of chess in Kronos's eyes. Ironically, when I visited Annabeth, I lost to a game of chess she immediately challenged me to. Is this a sign from the Fates?
In other news, the Athena Cabin won the chariot race. I didn't participate. I think Chiron got a little upset, but chariot races aren't my thing. I don't know if it's the horses (cough, Poseidon, cough) or something else. I just feel uncomfortable in a chariot. Zapping people out is a little bit amusing, though.
I spent a lot of the day ditching, mostly on the beach or in the forest. Of course, I was careful not to got into the perilous water. It was kinda hot out, so I didn't wear my jacket. Outside the camp's borders, there must be a heat wave.
It was kind of fun. I remember when Mom and I went to the beach years and years ago, maybe when I was just three or four. She used to pull me back from the ocean and say, "Don't drown in Poseidon's kingdom!" all jokingly, but I know she meant it seriously. I try to envision her again, but it's hard.
I want to find out where she is right now. This very second. Will she miss me?
I was glad I ditched. Chiron understood after I explained everything.
Day 17Today I found Percy and Annabeth in deep conversation. They like each other, it's so freaking obvious, but if I even drop the subtlest hint about it, Percy blushes and looks away, and Annabeth says something like, "Oh, don't be silly, Thalia."
So I left them as is and poked around camp a bit. There was the usual gaggle of Aphrodite kids giggling, whom I ignored. I saw the Athena cabin, and a girl named Minerva Baxter(one of Annabeth's sisters) writing some complicated equation. Sigh, reminds me of school. I'm far behind, I might ask Annabeth or another Athena kid to tutor me.
I was bored to death, so I visited Connor and Travis Stoll. Those messy haired cousins of mine can be annoying, but funny and entertaining. Mr. D hates them passionately, which boosts up my opinion of them. When I approached, they asked if I could help with a prank. I said yes. They laughed and told me the plan. While Connor and Travis and I cause the direction, another kid from the Hermes table, Justin Mercury, would sneak over to Mr. D's table (heavily laden with all kinds of good food) and start a food fight. Simple yet effective. Or so I thought.
That night at dinner, I sat in the Zeus table as always, keeping a sharp eye on Mr. D. Connor and Travis were perfect angels. Figuratively speaking, of course. They didn't make jokes, they didn't even utter a noise. Mr. D stared at them suspiciously, but then relaxed, thinking that they would do no harm.
Boy, was he wrong.
Just as Mr. D was about to do announcements, Connor jumped up and screamed on the top of his lungs. Everyone turned and stared.
Mr. D glared at him. "Is this another one of your silly pranks, little brat?"
"No! No! I...think…I…got…an…itch."
I slapped my forehead and groaned. That was their "distraction?" I had something cooler in mind, something involving lightning bolts.
Mr. D's left eye twitched. Why haven't I ever noticed that? Whenever he gets angry, his left eye twitches, ever so slightly.
"I got an itch, too!" Travis piped up, scratching his head.
Cue some of the Hermes kids. They stood up and started complaining about itching. Good for them, standing up for their brothers. I saw Justin Mercury sneak away from the corner of my eye.
"You insufferable little brats, it's bad enough I'm stuck with you, but wait till I tell your father about this!"
"I GOT AN ITCH, TOO!" I screamed, jumping up, feeling like an utter fool. But hey, I promised Connor and Travis I would help, and I never go back on my word. Even though this wasn't what I had in mind.
Some of the Athena cabin got the hint. They also did the same, complaining and scratching their heads. Percy and some Apollo kids followed. Soon, everyone was doing it.
"I think there's a nasty case of head lice!" Minerva Baxter screamed. Bless her little heart.
Some of the satyrs looked scared. Very, very scared. But we demigods continued at it.
Suddenly, there was a big crackling noise and a bunch of grape vines sprouted from the ground, trapping us. I heard some screams. No! This ruined everything! Justin was frozen in place, his fingers inches away from a pile of corn on the cobs on Mr. D's table.
"SILENCE!" Mr. D screamed. All of us stopped struggling with the grape vines. I stopped trying to bite them off my wrist.
Everyone was silent. But a lot of it had to do with the fact that there were now tight vines on our throats. That was bad. Real bad.
"Mr. D," Chiron started to say. "You can't go around threatening the campers!"
"Yes, I can!" Mr. D whined. (I swear, he has the worst whiny voice ever!)
Then Travis leaned over, took his goblet filled with some kind of soda, and threw it at Mr. D. Connor also did the same. To my surprise, Percy threw his blue Coke next. I guess he hated Mr. D more than he lets on. (And what's with the blue?) I threw my own (regular colored) Coke goblet. Soon, Mr. D was being pelted with them.
Before we knew it, the vines started moving. They moved towards our cabins shoved us into them. Mr. D is angry, very angry. His entire face was a botchy tomato red when we left. Plus, all of us are here in our separate cabins. Whenever I try to get out, there's something blocking the door (probably something grape oriented).
So that's what happened. I'm here in my cabin right now, writing things down. I really, really hope that Travis and Connor don't get punished.
Day 18Some bad news and some good news.
The bad news is that we're being punished. All of us are forced to stay in our cabins for the rest of the week for out little trick. Meals are brought three times a day and we have our goblets with us.
The good news is that we found a way to communicate. Iris messaging. We just wish for water in our goblets and then work hard to make a rainbow, and throw a drachma in. Percy can do that quite easily. Lucky.
A lot of the cabins are besides themselves with glee. It's time someone took down Dinoysus down a peg. Only very few campers are upset. Everyone is congratulating me, even the Ares kids.
Still, not having cabinmates sucks. I'm stuck in here with nobody.
I hear some of the Apollo kid playing music very loudly. Probably so that the other cabins can hear it. I wished they'd stop.
No child of Zeus likes being locked up.
Day 19Being locked in for a long time with nothing to do gives one lots of time for thinking. Mostly, it's about my parents. Mom and Dad.
My father is Zeus, the king of all gods, and one of the Big Three. I never really met him, although he has contacted me before. And I know he turned me into a tree. (A tree! Couldn't he be more original at least!) Mostly, the things I know about him are from myths and stories. I don't know what he looks like either. I went to a lot of places, trying to find a connection to him. The last place I'd been to, the Hoover Dam, was very disappointing. He's been like a great mystery to me, even if he is my dad.
My mother is Cornelia Storm, aspiring, but not too popular and well known, actress. When she had me, she quit the business altogether and became a freaking librarian. I feel kind of guilty, because I ruined my mom's dream about becoming an actress. But like I said, we demigods can't help being born. We never really got along. There was always fighting, and rarely any good times. She always blamed me for ruining her career, her entire life as she told me during one of our screaming fights.
Mom and I moved from apartment to apartment. We used to live in Los Angelas, where she tried becoming a famous actress, but failed. When I was eight, a lot of financial things became hard, so we moved far away, to New York. After an year there, we moved to a broken down apartment in Massachusetts. I hated it, moving around so much and living in rickety apartments. I was the daughter of Zeus, couldn't we afford anything better? I was the dyslexic ADHD kid at school, and I had no friends. (Yes, I know all half bloods have this problem, but it still sucks.)
I later found out about the big oath of the Big Three and how I wasn't supposed to be born in the first place. That was a big blow to me. What kind of kid likes it when they find out that they're not suppose to exist in the first place? I got really angry at my mom, who was the one who told me.
After a while, I met Luke, who was already on the run, and ran away, taking only a few belongings. About two months later, we met Annabeth, who was being chased by some monsters. The three of us were really happy. Except then Hades unleashed his little cronies on me. We decided to go to Camp Half Blood.
But I almost died. Got turned into a tree instead.
So that's my big life story. Satisfied?
Day 20Today it was really boring, being locked up into this cabin. No capture the flag also drove my senses wild. Seriously, capture the flag pwns all!
I read a book called "Eragon" that Annabeth gave me (translated into Greek, of course). It was a good book, but didn't hold my interest for too long.
Next, I tried reading the manga books that Percy lent me. When I was growing up, they weren't quite so popular as they are now. It still didn't interest me.
I played the gameboy Grover lent me. Still not interested.
So I decided to Iris message the other cabins and see how they were doing. They were all having a rocking time, talking and playing and whatever. Kind of depressing. Then I realized that I wasn't the only one without cabinmates.
When I contacted him, Percy was busy staring into the ceiling.
"Hey!" I yelled.
He fell off his bed in surprise, and then turned to me. "Oh. It's you, Thalia."
"Yeah." I said.
Silence. We really didn't have much in common, if you get past the whole heritage and powers thing.
"So. How about them Yankees?" Percy said.
"I'm bored." I complained, bouncing on my own bed. "It sucks. All the cabins are having fun, except us. It sucks being one of the Big Three's children, huh? No cabinmates to talk to and stuff."
"Yeah." Percy said. "I spent part of my first summer in the Hermes cabin. Before I knew about my dad and stuff."
"Really?" I asked, interested. This was news to me. I assumed that Percy had grown up knowing about his father, just as I had.
"Yeah. My first summer was weird. I got accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt (no offense Thalia) and then I had to go across the country to LA and go to Uncle Hades. Jeez, he needs to lighten up."
I nodded. "I used to live in LA, too. And I know what you mean about Uncle Hades. Such a grouch. Always complaining about our dads. And what do you mean about my dad's lightning bolt?"
Percy told me a condensed version of what happened. Zeus's lightning bolt had been stolen and he was accused. Both of his uncles were hell bent on killing him, and the Big Three would've started a war. He, Annabeth, and Grover went on a quest and finally retrieved it. It turned out to be Cronos's fault.
There was something he didn't tell me. I noticed by the hesitation and over casualness of his voice. The person who stole the lightning bolt. It was Luke.
So I got him to tell me more. He told me about the Underworld and meeting Uncle Hades and the Minotaur and his mom and the Furies and whatever. He still skated over some details about some places and monsters, I could tell, but that was it.
Afterwards, I ended the message because it was taking too long and I kept throwing in drachmas. It was a very enlightening talk. One of the side affects of being a tree for all those years was that I missed out on a lot of news.
Day 21Our punishment ends tomorrow. Hooray!
I can't believe I write in this diary everyday. Well, Annabeth casually mentioned if I wrote in my summer log. I snapped and said it was a diary, and then blushed. I can't believe I said that! Annabeth grinned.
In a very long Iris message, the Aphrodite kids and I watched a movie called "The Fall of Troy."
They liked Helen and Paris, and said stuff like, "True love is the most powerful thing on Earth." I stared the actress playing my famous half sister, Helen, who initiated the Trojan War. Huh. I wonder about Helen, about that other daughter of Zeus.
Anyways, I was relieved when the movie was over. A few of the Aphrodite kids sobbed and cried and said stuff like, "No! Paris, don't die!" They use up a lot of tissues.
Yours Truly,
Thalia Storm
Sorry it took so long to update! I got writer's block and didn't know what to do. But I finished it in the end!
What do you think of Thalia's last name? Storm seemed very appropriate. I chose Thalia's mom's name, Cornelia, by random. Also, I hope Thalia's background sounds good, I put a lot of thought into that.
Plus, if you like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, google up "percy jackson blue trident" and click on the first thing that you see. Join the forum! We need new members!