I finished this chapter sooner than I thought! =D Once again, it's pretty late, and I'm pretty tired, and I'm practically half asleep atm =P
Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, I only own the plot and the OCs.
Enjoy!
Same day, with Thalia
Thalia watched as Percy and Nico turned around and entered the small diner. She took out her wallet once more; pulled out her American Express card, and then walked over to the gas pump. As she was refilling the gas tank, she took a look around the gas station/diner area.
The diner itself was…small—for lack of a better word—it was around the size of a small bungalow. It reminded Thalia of those small diners off the road in the movies. Most of the time, it just meant bad news, and hopefully, this one wasn't one of them.
As her shockingly blue eyes scanned the area, her eyes landed on a group of bikers, most of which were all much, much older than her, and sadly, all staring at her…in a lustful way too…
Thalia shuddered slightly. Ok, this is just like in the movies.
I knew that I shouldn't have let Liz have a horror movie marathon at my place…Thalia thought; annoyed at the fact that she's starting to creep herself out.
Thalia finished refilling the gas tank, and quickly paid for the gas, not wanting to have any more unneeded ideas enter her mind.
She quickly walked over to the driver's side and got in, and drove off to an empty parking lot. When she got out of her car, she heard someone yelling.
"Hey!" Thalia froze slightly and turned around and saw one of the bikers walking up to her. She had to force herself to not let her eye twitch out of annoyance.
"What?" She answered coldly, all of a sudden, her tone of voice changed to the one she used while she was still the lieutenant of Artemis.
The biker grinned, bringing a whole new level of disgusting.
"I've seen ya 'round," He said, "How's 'bout ya ditch those losers ya came with, and we can…get ta know each other betta?" He asked.
"So…you've been stalking me." Thalia retorted. Despite him wearing sunglasses, Thalia figured that he may have looked at her in surprise. He was about to say something, but Thalia cut him off.
"And to answer your question. No, I'm not going to ditch them, and even if I did, I wouldn't go anywhere near you." Thalia shot back. The biker just grinned at her, showing his disgusting yellow teeth.
"Hehe…feisty…I like it." He chuckled as he stepped closer to Thalia, who took a step back.
"C'mon now," He said as he took yet another step towards her.
"No! Get away from me." Thalia growled. She can feel electricity charge at her finger tips and unbeknownst to her, her eyes changed its shade was now electric blue, which was fitting, considering the amount of electricity coursing throughout her body.
The man ignored her and took yet another step. Thalia growled once more and her fist clenched, she could feel electricity running through her veins and concentrated on her clenched fist and she could barely register what happened next. She drew her arm back and gave the creepy biker a good punch in the face—only using a small amount of electric energy—and knocking him onto the ground.
"I told you to get away from me." Thalia raged.
The creepy biker growled and waved his hand over, all the while getting up. Suddenly, Thalia saw two other creepy bikers walk up to her. One has the same creepy smile that the first one had, while the other looked really ticked at Thalia for punching their "leader", while the guy she punched addressed her.
"You know what happens to girls who misbehave?" He asked.
"No, and frankly, I don't really care, nor do I want to find out." Thalia replied, while glaring at the three of them.
The three old bikers ignored her and continued advancing towards her.
"Get away from her!" Thalia didn't know whether to be thankful that she recognized the voice, or to be pissed because she could've handled it herself.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw Percy and Nico walking towards the bikers, Percy looking ticked and Nico looking at them with pity.
"What, she your girlfriend, kid?" One of the bikers asked.
"No, she's my cousin. Now get away from her." Percy demanded, his tone was commanding. One that clearly states: do as I say, or you'll regret it later.
Sadly, none of the bikers heard the warning tone that lay underneath Percy's words.
Probably because their egos are so big, they may as well be deaf. Thalia thought.
"Sorry, but she's mine." He said. Nico's expression went from pitying to one of disgust.
"No she isn't. She doesn't belong to anyone," Nico spoke up, "Now get away from her, or else..." He continued in a warning tone.
The biker who first came up to Thalia sneered at Nico and got into his face.
"Or else what?" He said. Nico wrinkled his nose in disgust. With the guy's yellowing teeth, greasy beard and horrible breath, who wouldn't?
"Or else this." Nico sneered in disgust. Then everything happened in a blur; Nico ended up punching the guys' jaw. The biker stumbled backwards, but he was the caught by the other two. The guy growled and was about charge towards Nico but Percy stuck out his foot, tripping the guy in Nico's general direction, while Thalia stood in front of said demi-god, and gave the biker yet another good punch to the face, this time, everyone can hear a sickening crack.
The biker yelled in pain, and fell to the ground. He struggled to get up, but his face hurt so much that he just lay there, clutching his cheek.
"You really wanna take us on?" Percy asked the other two. They glanced at each other, before glancing to their "leader" and then glanced at the three demi-gods, and shook their heads furiously.
"Thought so, now get out of here." Percy growled. They nodded and helped up the biker that lay on the ground and the three then walked back to the small area of the gas station, in which they were occupying.
The three of them looked at their retreating figures.
"You ok?" Percy asked Thalia.
"Yeah, thanks guys," She said as she turned around to face them, she had a look on her face that was a cross of both thankfulness and annoyance, "But I could've handled it on my own."
"By the looks of things, I would say that you would've had some trouble with them." Nico remarked. Thalia glared at him.
"I had the situation under control, thank you very much." The three of them then began walking back to the diner.
"By the way, Thals, nice punch." Percy complimented as they stepped foot inside the diner.
Thalia shrugged, and nodded her thanks. As the three made their way to the table that Nico and Percy previously occupied, they noticed the hushed whispers and stares from the staff and other customers.
"What's going on?" Thalia whispered to the other two as they took their seats, Thalia having an entire bench to herself; and sitting across from the two younger demi-gods.
"My guess is as good as yours." Percy replied.
"I guess they saw the mini-fight outside. The whole thing wasn't exactly subtle." Nico added.
"Maybe." Soon enough, Jenny came over by their table and asked their orders.
"I'll have a cheeseburger please." Thalia said to the young waitress. Jenny nodded, and looked over to Percy.
"I'll have the same."
"Same here." Nico said.
"Drinks?" The three demi-gods gave the waitress their drinks.
"Alrighty, I'll be back in a few." Jenny said with a smile. As soon as the young waitress left, Nico focused his attention to Thalia and Percy.
"We still gotta figure out who we're gonna see first." He said in a low, serious tone, very aware of the fact that the three of them are receiving a lot of stares from the customers.
"Right." He heard Percy agree.
"So how're we gonna do this?" Thalia asked.
"I dunno," Nico shrugged.
"I say we should go see Hera first." Percy spoke up, but not so loud in which it would raise the other customers' curiosity; if they did hear anything then there may be attempts to eavesdrop in their private conversation.
"Are you trying to get me killed or something?" Thalia whispered furiously, "If she had it her way, she would killed me on the spot!"
"Same goes for Amphitrite, but not only her, she has Triton and an entire army of sea creatures to back her up." Percy retorted.
"At least you have your dad on your side. I don't know what Zeus would've done if he let Hera had her way." Thalia replied with narrowed eyes.
He'll probably turn me into a tree again. She thought bitterly.
"Here you go!" A cheery voice broke through their conversation. Jenny had arrived with their drinks.
"Thanks." Thalia said as the waitress gave her, her drink.
"It's no problem at all. After giving Glen a good punch in the face, and three times at that!" Jenny shook her head, "It's the least I could do." She said with a smile.
"Who's Glen?" Percy asked. Thalia stared at him blankly.
"It's the guy I punched twice," She said flatly, "Percy, she already mentioned that." Percy didn't say anything after that.
"Why?" Nico asked Jenny, not wanting to say anything to Thalia, knowing that it might ignite yet another disagreement.
"Well, let's just say that he thinks he can get any woman he wants." Jenny answered, and she shook her head, "Anyways, no one had ever stood up to him and his gang and all, so it's a relief to see him get a good right-hook." She grinned at the three as she gingerly placed their drinks in front of them.
Jenny lingered at their table for a moment after she had given Nico's drink.
"I couldn't help but notice that you guys seem to have a hard time deciding something…?" Jenny asked nervously. She was met with three pairs of eyes staring at her with a piercing gaze, it made her nervous, but something told her to keep going.
"I just wanna tell you that whenever I have a hard time deciding something, I usually flip a coin and let that choose for me." She offered with another charming smile, before she walked away so she can serve another table.
The three of them stared at the spot where Jenny stood for a moment.
"You know…that really isn't a bad idea." Percy said.
"For once, I agree with you." Thalia said.
"Anyone got a quarter?" Nico asked. Thalia fished around through her sweater pocket and felt a coin in it. She took it out and saw a Canadian quarter. She shrugged and placed it on the table.
"Here's one." She said. Nico stared it curiously, before glancing to Percy.
"Since we're seeing Persephone last, I'll flip." Nico said as he took the coin into his hands.
"Heads—we're seeing Hera, tails—we're seeing Amphitrite. Got it?" He received two nods, "Good." And with that, Nico flipped the coin.
It felt as though it was in slow motion, and Thalia was anxious as to what the result would be. She really didn't want to see Hera, for obvious reasons. Then again, so did Nico and Percy.
She watched as the coin landed onto Nico's palm, he then quickly flipped it over and onto his other palm, while the previous one was on top of it, preventing any clue as to what the result is.
He carefully removed his hand to show…
"Ha!"
"No! Why!"
"Geez, calm down."
"Calm down! I might probably end up getting killed!"
Nico rolled his eyes.
"Wow Percy," He said while shaking his head.
Percy glared at him.
"Hey, you'd have the same reaction too if you had to go see Persephone." Percy replied.
"But I'm not going first." Nico said with a smirk.
"You're only delaying the inevitable." Percy shot back.
"Says the guy who freaked when he found out that we'll be visiting his step-mother first." Percy glared at Thalia, but softened quickly.
Yes, they're going to be visiting Amphitrite first, Poseidon's immortal wife and Percy Jackson's immortal step-mother who hates him for even breathing.
"I just realized…I never really referred to Amphitrite as my step-mom," He said, "It's always been 'Dad's immortal wife'," He finished.
"Now that you mention it…same here…" Thalia shuddered at the thought of calling Hera her step-mother.
Nico just shrugged.
"Hades thought it would be appropriate if I started referring to Persephone as my step-mom." He said casually, but the look on his face proved otherwise.
It was silent for a moment before Nico decided to change the subject.
"Sooo, Thalia, where've you been for the last two years of our lives?" He asked.
"Didn't you see the quarter?" Thalia replied.
"What does that have to do with anything?" She heard Percy asking.
"Did you bother to check where the coin was made from, Seaweed Brain?" Thalia retorted, using her old nickname for him.
"Sorry, Pinecone face." He shot back, using his old nickname for her.
Nico and Percy took a look at the quarter and saw what's written in small letters.
'Made in Canada'
"You were in Canada?" Percy said in surprise as he glanced up.
"Yeah."
"Why Canada?" Nico asked.
"I was born there, ghost boy." Thalia replied. Percy and Nico stared at her.
"What?" Thalia asked.
"You never told us you're Canadian." Percy stated.
"You never asked." She replied.
"Hey Thalia, what's up? By the way, were you born in Canada?" Nico said in a false excited tone, "Yeah, not weird at all." He finished sarcastically. Thalia shrugged.
"Here you go; three cheeseburgers!" They looked up to see Jenny balancing three plates on her arms. She placed each of their foods in front of them, and smiled at the three before she walked away.
"That was quick." Thalia heard Nico say.
"Who cares?" Percy said, "I'm hungry."
Thalia grinned as she picked up her burger and took a big bite out of it. Like Percy, she's also pretty hungry, but she didn't really realize it until after she saw the food in front of her.
"Mmmm….." She tried savoring the food, but decided against it, and quickly finished it.
"You look happy." Nico stated. Thalia looked at him, before ignoring his comment, and continued eating the cheeseburger in her hands.
Nico shrugged and began eating his burger.
The three ate their lunches (or brunch, whatever you guys wanna call it), in a peaceful silence.
When the three of them finished eating, Percy took out the twenty that Thalia had given him, and slapped it on the table. Surprisingly, it was enough for all three burgers and drinks.
As the three exited the diner, Thalia turned to face Percy.
"Any ideas as to where to go?" She asked. Percy nodded.
"Yeah, Montauk," He said, "It's the closest beach near here." He said.
Thalia nodded.
"You know the way?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'll take us there." He said.
"Who said you were driving?" Thalia asked.
"Hey I know the way."
"My car, Percy." Thalia said firmly. Percy shrugged and nodded.
"Alright, but I call shot gun." He said.
Nico opened his mouth to protest against it.
"I know the way, Nico." Percy said. Nico closed his mouth, knowing that Percy had a point.
The three of them got inside the car and Thalia began to drive off. With everyone deep in thought, well, just Thalia, the car was silent. The only noise made was the shifting in the seats, and Percy pointing out which turns for her to take.
"And make a right at the stop sign after this," He said, "After that, you just keep going straight until you see a sign that says Montauk." Thalia nodded and soon enough the car fell into silence once more.
With the soft purr of the engine and the gentle bumps from the asphalt, well, it was enough to make the three of them sleepy.
Despite the fact that it was still midday out, Thalia had trouble keeping her eyes open, she suspected that Nico had fallen asleep, seeing as he hadn't said anything for the last little while—a fact in which she is thankful for.
Thalia glanced over to Percy.
And by the looks of things, Nico isn't the only one who had fallen asleep during the car ride.
"Thanks for falling asleep on me," Thalia muttered sarcastically. With Nico and Percy both asleep—as well as the fact that she didn't go to bed until a little while before two in the morning—she's having a tough time trying to stay awake. It was just so tempting to just close her eyes and let sleep take over.
Thalia yawned tiredly, and her tired eyes began watering. She blinked them back and did her best to stay focused and alert.
I should've gotten some caffeine back there…She thought ruefully.
Thalia sighed, but soon turned into a yawn, and her eyes began tearing up once more. She blinked them back once more, and kept her eyes focused on the road.
She saw the second stop sign that Percy told her about, and she slowed down, until she was at a complete stop. Thalia yawned once more and closed her eyes momentarily.
It wouldn't hurt would it…? She thought.
Thalia, don't fall asleep. A voice suddenly ordered, it sounded like a man's voice. One that was very familiar to her…Apollo…?
Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she found her head resting on the steering wheel, and Thalia noticed that her car was moving forward. Confused as to what was going on, she shifted in her seat. Then all of a sudden, her car slightly lurched forward. Thalia jumped, and immediately removed her foot from the gas pedal, preventing the car from going any further, all of which had slapped her wide awake.
Thalia shook her head and put the car in reverse, before making a proper right turn. She quickly glanced over to Nico and Percy, just to make sure that she hadn't accidentally woken them up, and—much to her delight—they were still asleep.
After her near crash, Thalia didn't really focus much on the road—which was a bad idea, considering what almost happened. The only focus that she had actually gave was that she kept her eyes ahead of her, but that was pretty much it, instead, she was pondering as to what happened, and if she really did hear Apollo's voice in her head, telling her not to fall asleep.
Was it really you? She thought as her brows furrowed in thought. If it was you, then thank you.
If she fell asleep, she would've crashed, and only the gods know how many more problems would occur if she really did crash. She suddenly felt bored, and her eye twitched at the random turn of events.
As she was driving, Thalia slowed down, and pulled out an iPod classic from her pocket, wanting to keep herself occupied as she drove, but didn't want to turn on the radio, knowing that it would end up waking up the guys.
Besides, she thought, they're gonna need all the rest they could get.
On quests, demi-gods rarely got any opportunity to rest, and if they do, it's usually very short lived.
She put the ear buds in her ear. She turned it up slightly, and brought her eyes to the road once more, all the while turning up the volume, and made sure that she hadn't taken off her necklace. After making sure that she's still wearing it, Thalia then sped up, wanting to get to Montauk as soon as she could, mostly so that she could get the temptation of falling asleep while driving out of the way.
October, 11, 2011, On Olympus,
Apollo let out a relieved breath as he saw Thalia lift her head up from the steering wheel. Truth be told, he doesn't know if telling someone to wake up while they're on a quest is against the Ancient Laws. If it wasn't, then he worried over it for nothing, but if it was…then he risked his immortality and godhood. Apollo shuddered at the thought. He already knew what it was like to live as a regular immortal, many of the Olympians already knew how, however, none of them know how to live as a mortal, except for Dionysus of course, he was a half-blood before he was made a god by Zeus.
Suddenly, he heard Thalia's thoughts.
If it was you, then thank you…
He smiled, knowing it was him she was thanking. Apollo didn't say anything, but just continued smiling, unconsciously making the sun shine just a tad bit brighter.
He caught sight of what she really looked like, and she was even prettier than the last time he saw her, two years ago. He always thought that she looked amazing, but now, he was at a loss for words for a while. She seemed a little tired, but that was because that she stayed up a little before 2 a.m. that morning, and almost fell asleep while driving.
He also noted another change about her: her eyes. They interchange between two different shades of blue. When out of bright lights, they were the same electric blue eyes that he had fallen for two years ago, but when she is exposed to bright lights, her pupils became smaller and electric blue changes to sky blue, like in the horizon.
"You seem happy." A familiar voice said, breaking through his thoughts.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw Aphrodite smiling that secretive smile of hers. A red flag immediately popped into his head, and he knew that Aphrodite is up to something.
No matter, he thought, I'll find out eventually.
As the god of prophecy and oracles, he knows the future about anything and everything.
Apollo didn't answer her; instead, he just continued looking at his iPod screen that allowed him to see Thalia without anyone scolding him about it later on. He heard Aphrodite's heels click on the floor and he soon felt her looking over his shoulder, trying to see what he was looking at that was on his iPod. There was no use in hiding it. She always finds out who has feelings for whom.
"Ahh…stalking Thalia, I see." She said with a grin.
"…I'm not stalking her…" He defended. Aphrodite's smile only widened.
"Sure you're not…" She said disbelievingly.
"What do you want, Aphrodite?" He asked, changing the subject. Aphrodite never visits anyone unless it's about some sort of gossip.
"Oh nothing," She said innocently.
"You usually never see anyone," He pointed out. Aphrodite ignored him as she saw what was on his iPod's screen.
"She became quite a beauty, hasn't she?" She began. The sun god can practically hear the smirk that played on Aphrodite's lips. Apollo stayed silent, but he had to agree with what she said.
"Y'know, I bet a lot of men want her. Now that I think about it, she probably has her eye on someone." Aphrodite began. The thought already crossed Apollo's mind countless times, and just by thinking about it… Apollo glared at Aphrodite out of the corner of his eyes.
Aphrodite saw the glare and she laughed.
"I just had to do that!" Aphrodite smirked once more and stepped away from Apollo.
The sun god remained silent. Aphrodite looked at him skeptically.
"Anyways, I came here to remind you not to do anything rash; you know the consequences if you do…even if it is for love." Aphrodite said as she turned around and began walking—more like strutting—away from him.
Apollo let out a breath and turned his attention back to his iPod. Thalia was still driving down the road.
Aphrodite's right, he can barely do anything to help her on this quest without getting in trouble later on. Apollo really wanted to make sure that she'll complete the quest successfully without any life threatening injuries whatsoever, that way; he'll have more time with her.
He wanted to convince her to at least give them another chance. It may sound selfish, but he wanted her more than anything, and if she doesn't, then he'll have to at least tell her that he still loves her. He hadn't realized that he had fallen in love with Thalia until a few days after Apollo found out that she had been booted out of the hunt. It was a cliché thing to say, but he never realized it until it was too late, and Apollo didn't want to make the same mistake again. He wanted to make sure that she knows at least this before anything happens, or else he will feel regret for not telling her this for a long, long time, maybe until the very day he fades…
Apollo shuddered at the thought.
Yeah, he thought to himself, I'm definitely gonna tell her as soon as I get a chance.
He paused for a moment and sighed.
"Easier said than done," He muttered to himself.
I tried to make this chapter longer than the previous one, so lemme know what you guys think of it!
