Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of these characters. They belong to Rick Riordan
"Hey guys, you're back later than I expected." Annabeth sat in front of the kitchen counter facing the doorway, busily typing away at her laptop. Her messy golden hair was tied into a messy bun, thick rimmed glasses on her face. She looked focused on the screen in front of her. A cup of coffee stood next to the laptop. Judging from the bags under her eyes, Jason would guess she had stayed up most of the night.
Percy slammed the door angrily. Annabeth jumped, staring at them worriedly. "What happened?"
Jason sighed and plopped down on the couch hard, running a hand over his face. Percy stared at him, seemingly waiting for Jason to explain. He guessed he was taking too long, because Percy started speaking.
"We were being followed, Annabeth! Guess by who? T-"
Jason cut him off with a look. He was sure Percy had seen Thalia's clear as day warning not to tell anyone. Percy narrowed his eyes at Jason, but kept quiet anyways.
"Who?" Annabeth asked, clearly not liking being left in the dark. "It was just some thug that wanted to get our money," Jason said quickly. "We chased him all the way to Harlem, the lost 'em on some highway." It wasn't exactly a lie, he told himself.
Percy stared at Jason harshly, as if it was his fault.
Percy had no reason to be mad at him. What could have possibly done? Call up Thalia and invite her for tea? Obviously Jason was disappointed too, but he wasn't going to be unreasonable and blame Percy for something as stupid as that. But Percy seemed impulsive, and Jason had a feeling he would stop at nothing to accomplish something he was determined about no matter the consequences.
Annabeth's eyes cut between the two, easily reading past his lie, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she closed her laptop and stretched. "There's obviously something on between you two. I'll leave you two to discuss." She hugged Percy."Night Jason."
There were a few moment of silence. Jason couldn't take it anymore. "Dude, what do you want from me? I wasn't going to let you kill yourself trying to catch her. Have some common sense; she was too fast. If you did manage to cross the street, she would've been long gone. Please stop blaming me for something as obvious as that. You want someone to blame? Blame Thalia!"
Percy could have easily kicked Jason out if he wanted to. But Percy sat there, unmoving. When he looked at Jason there was no anger. "I thought this would've been my chance. I havens seen her since I was fifteen; that's four years Thalia's been MIA."
The raven headed boy looked out the window, seemingly ignoring Jason.
Even if Jason knew she was alive, he still felt guilty asking. "What happened to Thalia?" A splay of emotions danced Percy's his face. He was silent so long that Jason even doubted he had heard the question.
"I provoked her. Everyone did. Being Zeus's kid isn't easy. Everyone expected something better out of her, not matter how hard she tried. Then some would just wait for her to fail, like it was a sick game. After losing Bianca di Angelo, then Zoe..." He shook his head. "We had an argument and she finally snapped. Everyone thought she just went to go cool off, but she never came home. When they went to check her room, most of her stuff was gone."
Tears welled up in Percy's eyes. He stared out the window, but Jason could see he was reliving the memory in his head.
Percy took a deep breath and continued talking. "They sent out search parties, but mostly came back empty handed. A week later, during a meeting, Artemis entered. She," his voice wavered "...she confirmed that Thalia was dead. She said they found her body in New York Harbor." Percy finally lost it, angry tears trailing down his cheeks. He hit the coffee table, a long crack appearing in the middle. "I could have prevented it! When I found out she was dead...everyone turned on me."
Eventually he started calming down. "But now, she's not dead. Artemis lied. I don't even know what to feel, Jason. I've been living with this grief for years. It's been even harder on Nico. Zeus hated me from the beginning, but after Thalia, he's just been working me to the bone, setting me up to fail." Percy spoke softer, "I thought I could end this cycle of hatred, Jason. I thought I could finally be able to forgive myself. I see Thalia, and I let her out of my grasp."
Jason didn't know what to say. This was the most he'd heard from Percy and Annabeth combined on the subject of 'Thalia'.
There was a loud crash upstairs. Almost immediately, Percy's eyes went to the staircase. A second later, he went upstairs, Jason following.
Annabeth stood in the hallway, her face pale. She was shaking so bad that her knees buckled, but Percy caught her just in time. She must have leaned on the podium, when a vase used to stand. Shattered glass littered to floor.
Percy and Jason shared a look. She head heard their conversation.
After Annabeth's mental breakdown, Jason was drained emotionally, physically, and mentally. Percy continuously ran his fingers through his hair, pacing around the living room.
"I can't believe she heard all that," Percy turned to Jason, biting his lip. "I understand she just now found out Thalia was alive, but why did she freak out like that?"
Percy shook his head. "Annabeth was the closest to Thalia. As far as she was concerned, as well as everyone else, Thalia had ran away. Only her close family members knew how she died. She was devastated for months. I'm pretty sure I'd be in a messed up mental state too if I found out how my best friend supposedly died, then finding out she wasn't dead, and the person you trusted most kept that from you."
When Percy put it that way, Jason felt stupid for even asking about her breakdown. Someone as strong as Annabeth was breaking down like that, it was a wonder why Percy wasn't the same way right now. Percy had even admitted he was the reason she ran away and that he had felt unbearable guilt.
Then Jason remembered that Percy had broken down, just in a different way than Annabeth.
"We'll find Thalia," Jason vowed. Percy stared at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was crazy, thinking that they had a third chance, but he didn't care. Being pessimistic wouldn't help them right now. They just had to hold onto hope.
"Percy, how long have you lived here?" Percy stopped pacing and stared at Jason, his eyes conveying how irrelevant he thought that question was. "A year," he answered anyway.
Jason was on a roll and he wouldn't stop by one unexpected answer. He tried another approach. "You work in the Empire state building with Zeus, right?" Percy nodded warily. No one had told Percy that Olympus Industries was in the Empire state building, but he had figured it out himself.
"That's pretty close by to this apartment. Obviously Thalia's been to where her father works, right?" he waited for Percy's confirmation. He nodded once again. "So she's already pretty familiar with the area. I bet she's been watching all of you guys for a while now. But only when she saw her brother had her coming even closer, risking getting caught. And she did."
He waited for this to sink in, then continued. "There's a chance she could be back tomorrow. When we were chasing her, she was leading us somewhere. I have a suspicion she wants to talk. If she does come around again, we'll have to follow. But we can't tell anyone. Deal?"
Percy mulled this over slowly. Finally he smacked Jason's outstretched hand. "Deal."
A/N: I'm kind of sad to say that I'm losing viewers by every chapter. Is my story really that bad?
Anyways, I gave you a chapter with some explanations. Maybe next chapter I'll explain further about Annabeth and what's going on with Leo. I promise whoever's reading that I will finish this story no matter if no one reads it. I am not a quitter (most of the time).
And, I know it says Jasper in the summary, but not every part of this story if going to be about that. We're getting there. I'm sorry if I disappoint with the whole Piper/ Jason thing, but I'm not just trying to make it a love story. Of course, things will happen between them, but some of the chapters will probably be about Jason finding out the truth. I'm at least trying to get to chapter 9/10 where all you wonderful readers will know everything. Maybe the romance will start then.
I am not purposefully leaving you with cliffhangers and questions. It just comes naturally. I guess I learn from uncle Rick *Cough* Mark of Athena* cough cough* Just be glad that I'm not leaving you with a year full of suspense. I'm not that cruel.
One more thing before I go; BunnyFromAbove: they are regular mortals in this story, not demigods. Some stuff might happen where you question if mortals are actually capable of doing, but otherwise, they have no powers.
Oh, that's another thing I'll start doing if more people review. Ask questions in your review and if they're not answered in the next chapter, then I'll answer them myself. (Questions that don't require spoilers as an answer)
Please rate and review. Bye!
~greakfreak302
