Short and boring chapter, sorry guys. Anyway, thanks for all of you who reviewed (MidnightRose24, Abdhaprincess, Santa Plaus, Supersweet47, Pippy2468 Claimed by Hades), it really means a lot. Here is chapter 3!
Chapter 3
Kylie's Warning
Thalia's POV
"I had a nap." was the first thing that Rachel said when I reached her.
"Did you have another dream?" I asked, scared to hear the answer.
"Yes."
My heart began to pick up its pace.
Rachel explained, "It was the same one that I had before, except I could hear what everyone was saying."
I stared at her urgent face. "What did we say?"
"Well first off," she began, "the Artemis scene. I was wrong about something, Thalia. I told you before that it was you who your mom was holding, correct?"
"Correct."
"Well, that's not true. Your mom was holding a boy. A young boy named Jason, if I can remember properly."
I felt my jaw drop. "Jason?"
"Yeah," she said, "I take it you know him?"
I nodded dazedly. "He was my brother. He died when I was little. What were they talking about?"
Rachel closed her eyes, trying to remember. "Your mom was asking Artemis for a favor. She was begging Artemis to keep him safe or something."
"Keep him safe?" I asked. "From what?"
"More like, 'who'" she said. "Her words were something like, 'Zeus has promised him to her so that she will leave me and Thalia alone. But I just can't lose him –'"
"What did she say next?" I asked, intrigued. I hadn't heard about my brother Jason since my mom told me he'd died. My mom refused to give me any information on him, and she died in a car crash, drunk, I might add, before I could get it out of her.
"Then she said something about only being able to trust Artemis, or something like that." Rachel continued. "I'm not sure Thalia."
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and looked back to where Nico was sitting on a tree stump, waiting for me to come back. Something about his facial expression had changed, though. When I had last seen him he was laughing hysterically in the driver's seat of Apollo's car. Now he looked stony. Scared almost. When he saw me looking at him his eyes widened and he looked away hurriedly. I opened my mouth to yell something at him, but Rachel stopped me.
"Stop, Thalia." she said. "You'll talk to him later. Trust me."
I brought my eyes from Nico, who had gotten up from his tree stump, over to Rachel who was staring at me. "Look." I said finally. "I don't want to deal with this anymore, Rachel."
Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, that I know for a fact that I am loyal to Artemis. I've never thought about disobeying her and I don't plan to do so now. I just…" I looked back over to Nico who was walking away. "I just don't want to deal with this anymore. If you have any more dreams about Jason, feel free to tell me but I really don't want to hear about Nico right now."
She sighed. "I won't tell you if you don't want me to, but I think you will find my dream interesting."
I paused, curious as to what she was going to say but unsure if I wanted to know. Finally, I made my decision.
"No thanks." I said quietly. I don't want to worry about it right now.
Rachel's face drooped but she nodded understandingly. "Alright. But, you're not going to be able to avoid it, Thalia. Things like this are inevitable."
I just turned around and walked back down the pathway to the Artemis cabin, not bothering to say goodbye. Slamming the door behind me, I gasped. I wasn't the only person in the room.
Nico's POV
As soon as I was out of Thalia's sight, I took off as fast as I could towards my cabin. I didn't know why, but for some reason I was just scared. Turning to look behind me, I tripped over a tree root, stumbled a few feet, and then fell, sprawled out on the ground.
"Ohh…" I moaned. My hands were all cut up from the gravel and I felt a bruise already forming on my jaw. Sitting up, I saw that I was already near my favorite entrance to the woods. Not wanting anyone to see me looking this pitiful, I stood up and stumbled into the safety of the dark forest.
My heart was racing and my head was throbbing. I didn't understand. Why would Thalia kill me? I mean, yeah, we have our little arguments but it's brotherly, practically. Not for real.
I dragged my feet over to my favorite tree and yanked myself up onto the most comfortable branch.
"Oh my gods." I groaned. "This is a nightmare." I leaned my head back against the trunk and just breathed. Everything made sense now; why Thalia looked so nervous during practice, why I won every duel (you know, the part that wasn't my skill). Even Apollo's visit probably had something to do with this, that's why he let me in his car, to get me away so he could talk to Thalia.
"I don't want to die." I whimpered, my eyes getting watery. "There's so much I want to do." I hung my head and allowed a few tears to trickle down my cheeks. "I've never cheated on a girl!"
For some reason, that thought sent me over the edge and I started crying. For real. Which is not something I do often. But I didn't care. I was going to die; Not from some heroic battle with a chimera or a sphinx. Not because I sacrificed myself so we could get through the junkyard of the gods. But because one of my only friends got sick of me.
Thalia's POV
I stared at the other girl in the Artemis cabin, unsure of what to say.
"Hey Thalia." Kylie said breaking the awkward silence.
"Hi – erm – Kylie." I said, aware that my hair was sticking up in five directions at once.
She was sitting on her bed icing her arm. She had gotten it all stitched up and fixed with surgery after Artemis had amputated it, but she still had to ice it every day after sword practice to keep it from hurting. I had always felt bad for Kylie. I mean, she had been dumb to break Artemis's oath, but she was a new hunter, she barely knew better. Because of it, though, she had become the hardest working of us all, determined to prove to Artemis that she could still be a good hunter, even with a stub for an arm. She motioned me over.
"Yeah?" I asked, dropping my armor bag on the floor.
"Come sit." she motioned to an open spot on her bed.
I sat.
"I'd like to talk to you a little about one of your friends." She began, brushing her sweaty blonde hair back behind her ear.
"Which friend?" I asked. Despite being a hunter I still had a boatload of friends: Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Nico… Uhhh…
"Nico." she said.
I scowled. "What? What could possibly be so important that you need to talk to me about Nico?" I growled as I said his name.
"Don't be mean to him." she said sternly, suddenly. "He did nothing wrong. This is your fault."
"My fault?" I pointed to myself. "What did I do?"
She shrugged. "You made yourself too vulnerable."
I opened my mouth to object but she interrupted. "You are a strong girl, Thalia. You have the power of both Zeus, and the power of your strong mother…"
"Strong?" I snorted? "She was an alcoholic, she wasn't strong-"
"Shut up, she was stronger than you think. She used alcohol as a way of dealing with her problems."
"What do you mean?" I asked, caught a little off guard.
"Well," said Kylie. "She had to deal with you and Jason; And Hera, my gods. Her and her demanding requests."
"What are you talking about, how do you know this?" I asked.
"That doesn't matter. What does matter," Kylie said pointing her ice pack at me, "Is that you are still weak."
"Weak? How am I-"
And you know who makes you weak?"
"Who?"
"Nico."
I didn't show any emotion in my face.
"What? What about Nico?"
"You and Nico." she said exasperatedly. She continued in a low voice. "I know about Rachel's dream, Thalia."
I sucked in my breath. "What, does the whole world know about it?"
She shook her head. "I overheard you guys talking about it. Please listen to me."
"What?" I asked through clenched teeth.
She looked me in the eyes. "You need to be careful Thalia."
"I already know that." I insisted with a snort. "I've been told that since I was born. 'Watch where you're going, Thalia.' 'Be careful who you associate yourself with, Thalia.' 'Don't turn out like your mother, Thalia.'"
"Well, now you get a new one." said Kylie her eyes turning angry. "Don't let Artemis find out that you're in love with that Nico boy, Thalia. Because, I'll tell you what:" She leaned in really close and looked me in the eyes.
"It won't end up pretty if she does."
Oh, and I almost forgot; I got four new reviews so here are four PJO/ HP pickup lines/ yo mama jokes:
I must be the oracle, because I can see your future is with me!
We may not be in Flitwick's class, but you're still charming!
Your mama's so fat she tried to eat Cornelius Fudge!
Are you Nico Di Angelo? 'Cause everything you do is AWESOME (my personal favorite)!
