First off, I'm sorry… I know my portrayal of Thalia was probably rather OOC. She's one of the few characters I feel like I really struggle to portray well. I will say though, I don't think I ever had her say that she actually 'hated' men. That was just an observation from the brochure by Luke.

I do not own PJO/HOO

…..

Accismus ~ feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it

…..

Move over 'guy from the Dos Equis commercials', because my father was actually the most interesting man in the world, I'm fairly certain. Or at the very least- he was.

My dream put me in an angelic city, which I could bother to describe, but it would take forever and would be rather pointless. Just take my word for it when I say it was magnificent, although the plumes of smoke and piles of rubble were odd.

From where I stood, I could see a tall figure looming before me. It was a woman, that much I could tell, even though she was facing away, with her back to me. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she appeared to be watching with a terrifying interest as another figure approached her from the city.

Even before she spoke, I knew who she was. The hair, the powerful and intimidating aura, the oddly normal jeans, and white blouse; pretty straightforward.

"Well, Percy," My grandmother Athena said, "You will stay mortal."

She said it not so much as a question, but rather as a statement of fact. If I had any control over my dream body, I probably would have blinked confusedly. Wasn't he already a demigod, and by definition not really a mortal?

"Um, yes ma'am," he replied politely.

"I would know your reasons."

'For what?' I would ask if I could.

The boy hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I want to be a regular guy. I want to grow up. Have, you know, a regular high-school experience."

"And my daughter?" Athena asked, her tone sharpening.

"I couldn't leave her. Or Grover. Or- "

What sort of choice would require him to leave my mother? What would prevent him from being as regular as a demigod could be? What could be so great as to justify such conditions?

'Spare me.' Athena stepped closer to him, and it seemed like her aura became that much more powerful and intimidating. It almost made it impossible to think of this woman as my grandmother. "I once warned you, Percy Jackson, that to save a friend you would destroy the world. Perhaps I was mistaken. You seem to have saved both your friends and the world. But think very carefully about how you proceed from here. I have given you the benefit of the doubt. Don't mess up."

And with that, the goddess exploded into a cloud of fire and smoke. Before the image could clear, it vanished, and transformed into a different picture altogether. One that I vaguely recognized.

The pavilion was dimly lit with a few torchers. Off in the distance, I could hear the faint sounds of singing at the campfire, but it did little to draw my attention from what was taking place in front of me. From where I hid in the bushes (Why? I ask) I could make out a solitary figure, a boy, sitting alone at one of the tables in an otherwise empty pavilion. The details were pretty difficult to make out, but I had no doubts as to his identity.

The air was filled with a deep solemnness, as if a horrible, painful event had just taken place. At the same time however, it also felt like relief. Suddenly, another figure slipped into the torchlight, and I caught a glimpse of golden curls sliding into the spot next to the boy. I couldn't make out what they were saying, as she handed him a plate with a mess of blue stuff on it. I thought it might be jell-o.

After some chuckles between the two of them, they split whatever was on the plate, and ate it. From where I was in the bushes, I still couldn't make out anything they were saying.

That was when I noticed that the singing had stopped. I suddenly found myself surrounded on all sides by people- kids, to be specific, of various ages. One girl seemed to be the leader of the pack, as they crept stealthily through the bushes around me.

"Be quiet, Connor!" A voice said, a boy it sounded like.

"Speak for yourself, Travis!"

"Will you two shut it!" Some girl snapped, as the group settled themselves in.

"Make me, Katie-Kat," Came the first boy's voice, in a flirtatious manner.

"Clari- " The girl began to call out, until the sounds of muffled grunts could be heard.

"Alright, alright," The boy said. "We get it…. stealth mode."

I wasn't sure how the boy and the girl in the pavilion didn't hear them, since nothing about the group was really stealthy. Maybe it was because, when I looked back, they appeared to be in a deep conversation. I still couldn't make out any of their words, however.

"Can we go yet?" Came a random voice from further back in the bushes.

"Not yet," A commanding, and rather deep girl's voice whispered back. "Not until it happens."

"What happens?"

"What do you think, idiot?"

"You mean when those two lovebirds finally- "

"Ssshhh," The girl silenced everyone around her. "Look."

All of our attention, including my own, was suddenly drawn back to pavilion, where both the boy's and the girl's voices had abruptly gotten a bit louder, such that we could just make out what they were saying.

"You're laughing at me," The boy complained, though he didn't sound upset at all.

"I am not!"

"You are so not making this easy."

And that's when it happened. The moment we, (and by 'we', I mean everyone else in the bushes) had been waiting for.

The girl laughed, a carefree, joyful laugh, and then she put her hands around the boy's neck. "I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it."

I was almost tempted to look away when she leaned in closer to kiss him. Knowing that, in actuality, those were my parents, made it a bit weird to look at.

Of course, that's when the girl in command of the little spy group decided to break the silence. I watched as she emerged from the bushes, a large, muscular girl, with an aura similar to that of Alek's. "Well, it's about time!" She barked, and suddenly the entire group of eavesdroppers poured out of their hiding spots, running past me, and into the light of the pavilion.

The boy shouted something, but it was drowned out by the raucous shouts of the crowd. The girl who instigated the entire thing spoke out again over everyone, however. "The lovebirds need to cool off!'

"The canoe lake!" One of the boys from earlier shouted.

I stared as the boy and the girl, who, though they had been hoisted on the shoulders of the crowd, looked like nothing more than shadowy figures. They held hands all the way down to the lake, as I followed slowly behind the mob.

I saw it coming, really. After neither of them resurfaced within the first ten seconds, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Throwing a son of Poseidon into the lake- genius, really. Must be nice having control over water, but I wouldn't know now, would I?

At least I didn't have to watch whatever was going on down there under the water, as I felt the dream begin to fade.

…..

I woke up in a barn. A damp, creaky barn that looked like it had been there since the middle ages. Trying to sit up, I placed my hands on the ground and felt the moist hay on which I had apparently made my bed. My shoulder, though it was pretty much healed, and the pain was mostly gone, was still pretty sore. I groaned a bit.

"Easy there," Carolyn emerged out of thin air, and caught me before I stumbled. "Your shoulder is still healing."

"Where are we?" My mouth was dry, and I sounded like a frog being squeezed to death.

Without missing a beat, Carolyn pulled a water bottle from her bag, and handed it to me. "We're just outside of Seattle. We arrived last night, and you passed out pretty quickly."

"What about Alek and Erica? Where are they?"

"They left a couple hours ago to do some recon and explore a little bit. See if they could possibly go ahead and locate this seer that Aphrodite spoke of."

"Tiresias," I pulled the name from my foggy memory banks.

"Yeah, that guy." She made me sit down on an old crate in the middle of the barn, and then produced a bit of ambrosia for me to munch on. "They asked me to check on your shoulder when you woke."

"Do I have to take my shirt off again?" I queried grumpily, as I shoved another bit of ambrosia in my mouth.

"Only if you want to," Carolyn replied, "But I was just gonna roll up your sleeve this time."

I didn't say anything, and she took that as my answer. While she inspected my shoulder, I decided to distract myself from her fingers sending tingles down my spine by bringing up the elephant in the room… or at least one of them.

"How do you feel- knowing what you now know about your curse?"

"For the first time," Carolyn answered without hesitation, "Hopeful."

"Really?"

"Yeah. As it weird as it seems, I've never had a reason until now to believe that I would ever be rid of this thing." An almost disbelieving chuckle escaped her mouth. "Good thing I ran into you guys, huh?"

"Literally," I joked back. "Shoutout to Athena, I guess."

Carolyn laughed, a real one this time. "Goodness, I thought you were so annoying back then."

"Back then?" I asked facetiously, "It was only like a few days ago."

"True, but it's felt like forever."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Was I really that annoying?" The question was asked a bit playfully, but behind it all, there was a genuine curiosity.

Carolyn seemed to consider her reply for a bit, before saying, "In a weird way, yes."

"How so?"

"You just seemed so… don't take offense to this please, but you came across as a bit stuck up, sort of a know-it-all."

It made sense that she would think that. By this point, she had finished checking my shoulder, and was now standing in front of where I sat on the crate. She cocked her hip to one side, and crossed her arms in front of her.

"And what did you think of me? I know you didn't like me much to begin with."

"Who said anything's changed?" I returned bravely.

Carolyn raised an eyebrow, daring me to press further. I wisely chose not to.

"I guess I just found you somewhat reckless and impulsive… a bit unruly."

The brunette girl found this statement to be very interesting apparently, as she took a small step closer, leaning down a bit, so that she was almost at eye level with me, but not quite. "You know what, Luke? I bet you could use some more unruly people in your life."

"On the contrary- " I began to say, but she cut me off by placing one of her fingers on my mouth, shushing me promptly. My eyes flitted up and down, trying to avoid her captivating brown eyes. Instead, I focused on literally anything else, like the fact that she was wearing another pair of Nike running shorts, and that her large white shirt contrasted incredibly with her deep tan.

"I bet, that deep down, you actually find an unruly girl like me quite invigorating."

I swallowed nervously, as Carolyn removed her finger from my mouth, inviting me to reply. "How so?" Was all I could say.

"You tell me."

Somehow, as if drawn in by an invisible force, we had inched closer together.

"I'm more interested in pleasantness," I whispered, as our faces were only mere inches apart at that moment.

"I can be pleasant," She whispered back. The inevitable seemed to be… well, inevitable, at that point. Some of Aphrodite's words came flying into my head. 'Some drastic measures will have to be taken, but rest assured, you love life will be quite fun to watch.' I was starting to wonder what that meant for me, and whether this was part of the plan.

But then the barn door swung open, and we jumped apart.

"Gods of Olympus," Erica screamed in frustration, as she stormed into the barn, followed closely by a pretty angry-looking Alek.

"What happened?" I asked, hoping my face didn't look too red.

"We got attacked," Alek supplied, just as I noticed the blood on both of their faces and arms, "Cyclops, a gang of them."

"Oh, that's not all that happened!" Erica then yelled. Her tone sounded somewhat accusatory. She then pointed a finger at Alek. "This guy almost got himself killed- on purpose."

"So what if I did?!" The son of Ares shouted back. "What does it matter? I tell you actually- it doesn't!"

"How can you say that?" Erica cried. "I thought we had gone over this!"

"Yeah, well… something else came up." With that, he stormed off to the other side of the barn, where he could sit in solitude.

I had been watching this whole ordeal in shock, as Alek walked away, leaving me to pick up the pieces of Erica that he left behind. She may have been silent, but her eyes were flooded with despair.

"Hey," I said, walking up beside her. I hesitantly placed an arm around her shoulder.

"I don't understand," She whispered, as she stared at the spot where Alek had previously stood, "I thought we had gotten through to him. What changed?"

Having taken a moment to think about this, I connected some dots, and came to the only conclusion that made sense. "Silena," I told Erica, "He thinks she's going to leave, and join the Hunters. The only person who's always known, and cared about him."

Realization poured over the blonde girl, and she shook her head. "Thalia- she said she was going to camp… to see Silena. To recruit her."

I nodded in confirmation.

"But- " Erica stuttered, "Why can't he see that she's not the only one who cares about him, who knows what he went through, who truly believes that he's not what he thinks he is?"

Unfortunately, I didn't have an answer to that one. From my perspective, it was easy to differentiate between the real monsters, human or not. For some traumatic reason though, Alek could not. And I didn't see how to make him realize that he was not one of them.

I had come to see that human monsters really were the worst kind. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, they were the true terrors. At least you could easily identify an actual wolf.

Glancing back at Carolyn, I saw that she fidgeted awkwardly in her spot where she stood next to the crate. She gave me a half-hearted smile, and my chest pounded unevenly. I turned back to Erica.

"Any sign of the seer?"

She shook her head. "No, we got attacked before we had been in the city even half an hour. I don't see how we're supposed to find this guy anyways."

"We'll figure it out," I replied, trying to be encouraging, "In the meantime, eat some ambrosia, and heal up." I then shot a joking smirk back at Carolyn.

"Who knows- maybe we'll just run into him."

I know, I didn't actually show the underwater kiss. But honestly, I felt weird just writing about it, and ultimately decided against it. Besides, it would be pretty awkward for Luke just be sitting there for no reason watching his parents make out at the bottom of the lake.

I think we should just let Percy and Annabeth keep that moment to themselves, and themselves only. They deserved it.