i don't own PJO
Thalia's P.O.V.
I was delirious. Delusional. Off my rocker. A little insane. I've lost track of how long I've been down here but the amount of fights I had to witness wasn't anything I'd wish for. Yes I like fighting but when you see the son of mother earth and the god of the sea, the earth-shaker… you gain a whole lot of compassion.
Was he a god, demigod, or monster? No, his behavior makes him a monster to me whether that's what he physically is or not. He's taken down centaurs, giants, demigods, and other creatures. Then I started having episodes of seeing things where they shouldn't be, where they didn't belong. Such as my brother, Jason.
I've been meaning to tell Percy about him but I can't say it. How do you tell your boyfriend that you left your two year old brother with your unstable mother for two minutes -because you thought you could make it back in time before she did something stupid- but it ended up two minutes too long and he was gone. He was taken by the goddess Hera, supposedly. Gods can't have direct involvement with heroes, except for Artemis with her hunters. Hera, though she may hate me, couldn't have taken my brother. He's probably gone now.
So why was my mind torturing me instead of protecting me? I could see the guy Luke pretended to be. I wasn't close enough to see if he had a scar. Just the same squared jaw, blonde hair, and electric blue eyes. He didn't look gentle like he did when he was a baby but he was a little orderly even for a kid. He stood in the rope line on the side of the fighting platform. He was maybe the fifteenth person in line. He had a ways to go. He seemed to glance at me- no passed me. I used what little strength I had to turn and see where he's looked.
There was a girl with choppy brown hair with some longer strands that were braided. I couldn't make out her eye color but she was tan. A shade or two darker than Percy or Annabeth like she was Native American or had some Hispanic background, maybe. She was wearing a thin holey jacket that looked old and worn and faded, dirty jeans with a pair of dirty sneakers. Yet, she managed to make the clothes seem not so bad.
Next to her was a Latino boy with elfish features. I thought he had the elfish looks like Luke, a child of Hermes but no. He just had pointed ears and that maniac look in his brown eyes that said This kid will light a match with no hesitation. Wow, I'm so out of it I'm making up names for faces of a guy I didn't even know. He had curly brown hair with his tan skin. He was fidgeting with some gadget in his hands.
The two were tired up about twenty feet away and there were staring intently at Jason. He's not Jason! Jason's gone, move on. I scolded myself. I let a few tears roll down my face a moment of letting myself show weakness. I swear not to make a habit of it though.
Annabeth's P.O.V.
"Percy!" I called after him. He raised down a tunnel path after picking up a half eaten cheese burger wrapper than muttering something about Nico and ghosts. When I caught up to him I was blind by non other than… the sun. We were in some grate thing with a cow staring down at us. Not any cow, a bright red cow, one of Apollo's sacred cows.
"A cattle guard." Grover said.
"A what?" Percy asked causing me to roll my eyes. Does he ever listen?
"A cattle guard. They put them on gates of ranches so cows can't get out. They can't walk on them."
"How do you know that?" Percy asked resulting in an indignant huff from Grover.
"If you had hooves, you would know too! They're annoying."
"So how do we get out?" Percy wondered and Tyson hit the guard with two hands and it went flying out of sight then we heard a clang and a startled moo. Tyson blushed.
"Sorry, cow!" she apologized. Then he started by lifting Grover out and soon we followed.
We got a view of the ranch on rolling hills under the hot sun.
"Sun cows," I said out loud for Percy's benefit.
"What?" Really was he not paying attention again? I don't know how Thalia does it. He's lucky he's cute enough to keep her.
"Sacred cows of Apollo." Grover informed him for my sanity.
"Holy cows?" he asked with a serious face until he registered the pun he said and he grinned.
"Listen," Tyson ordered. We heard the baying of dogs and it got louder. Then a bush rustled and two dog heads produced growling then stalked out of the bush to reveal one body for the two heads. It appeared to be a greyhound but with two heads.
"Bad Janus dog!" Tyson cried.
"Arf!" Grover told the them and raised a hand. The dogs bared their teeth then a man followed behind them coming towards us. He had white hair covered in a straw hat, white braided beard, wearing jeans and a don't-mess-whith-Texas t-shirt, and a ripped off denim jacket that showed off his muscles. He had a crossed swords tattoo and a pretty large club there.
"Heel, Orthus." he commanded the dog. "What've we got here? Cattle rustlers?"
"Just travelers, we're on a quest and should be going now," I said trying to get us out of here. His eye twitched.
"Half-bloods, eh?"
"How do you know-" Percy started.
"I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena; Percy, son of Poseidon; Grover, a satyr, and Tyson is a-"
"A cyclops. I can see that. I know about half-bloods because I am one, sonny." he responded to Percy's incomplete question. "I'm Eurytion, the cowherd for this here ranch. Son of Ares. Reckon you came out of the Labyrinth like the other one?"
"The other one?" Percy asked. "You mean Nico di Angelo?"
"We get loads of visitors from the Labyrinth. Not many of them ever leave." he said darkly.
"Wow, I feel welcomed." Percy said and I wanted to elbow him in the face.
"I'm going to say this once, get back in the maze before it's too late." I decided to speak up before Percy did something stupid.
"We're not leaving until we see this other demigod." I insisted.
"You leave me no choice, missy. I got to take you to the boss."
I didn't feel like a hostage but I knew this wasn't just like a trip to the manager at Walmart asking for help on my returned item. And unlike Walmart, their was no AC. We were sweating in no time. There were some fire breathing horses staring intently at us and Percy shivered. I'm fine with not knowing their thought.
"What are they for?" Percy asked the cowherd, jutting his chin in the direction of the horses.
"We raise lots of animals for different clients. Apollo, Diomedes, and… others."
"Like who?"
"No more questions." The ranch house came to view.
"It looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright!" I gasped and Percy barely looked interested.
"Here are the rules, don't break them: no fighting, no drawing weapons, and no making fun of the boss' appearance."
"Why, what does he look like?" Percy asked.
"Welcome to the Triple G ranch." a new voice said and a man stood before us… with three chests. Two arms and four armpits, I'm guessing he has to point the tip of deodorant. He had a mustache like villains from old films and a smiled that was what an evil babysitter would have. Like Vicky from Fairly Odd Parents, was that the shows name? It's been years.
I hope you liked it. I used Annabeth's P.O.V. to show how she's transcending into the ways of the hunters to find the flaws in boys but also giver her sarcastic and ADHD personality a ride for a bit.
Review please!