Hey guys I hope you enjoy this chapter, I doubt people will be that surprised by who the woman is but hey, I didn't forget about her, and someone did say a while back that they hoped Thalia would get to meet her. Also featuring sheepish Percy and Annabeth getting told off so that's fun.
Percy appreciated Thalia's attempt to protect her, but she was darting back around the older girl and throwing herself into the newcomers suddenly open arms. "La-"
"No now-" a pair of warm arms wrapped around Percy, "None of that thank you very much darling, I'm your grandmother-" Percy heard Thalia's sharp gasp. "Call me grandma."
"Alright grandma Rhea." Percy pulled back slightly, "Our friends-"
"Don't fear for them-I transported them away from the threat further up the beach out of sight of the monster and the mortals working with him." Rhea patted Percy's cheek gently, "And the Ophitaurus is with them. Though I imagine they're worried about you both-"
"Y-you're our grandmother?" Thalia's voice was hesitant as she stared at Rhea, and the Titaness gave Thalia a very gentle smile.
"Yes my dear, I am Rhea."
"You-you saved our friends?"
"Of course. I may not interfere often, but I don't want my husband to return to power and I love my family very much." the warm hand on Percy's shoulder made her relax, pressing into the tall Titaness' side, relief flooding through her.
"Thank you." Thalia's voice was quiet, "I-" and Percy realised there was shame there too, "I'm sorry-"
"Now now child." Rhea shook her head, "None of that. No harm was done in the end, Persephone stopped you from making a mistake. And I can't say I blame you for being upset at your father-I may love my children but they are by no means perfect." she reached out, one arm still wrapped around Percy as she pressed the palm of her hand to Thalia's cheek.
"You're not angry?" Thalia almost whispered the words, "I almost... If Percy hadn't stopped me I might have killed the Ophitaurus."
"You might have, but it didn't happen, and I trust that you've learned your lesson?"
"I-" Thalia gave a slow nod, looking down, "It's my fatal flaw... I.." She shook her head, "I don't-I can't say no to power." her voice was bitter, "I don't know what to do I don't- that's a real bad fatal flaw-"
"It is. So learn how to resist it." Rhea told her gently, "My dear child, it is possible to overcome your fatal flaw if you stay aware of it-and remember to keep your friends close. They will help you."
"But if I'm the child of prophecy... I won't make the right choice-"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Rhea smiled gently, "And in any case... things may not be as simple as they seem in that regard-"
"What does that mean?" Percy tilted her head, "Grandma Rhea-"
"Never you mind Persephone. Right now isn't the time." Rhea's voice was soft, "Now, I believe we should get you both back to your friends-and remember my darlings-you are both so strong-not just in terms of your power but your hearts-don't ever let them break you-hope is not lost for either of you, no matter how dark the future may seem at times."
"What does that mean?" Thalia's brows furrowed.
"Oh I wish I could explain." there was a sadness in Rhea's eyes, "But you must find out yourselves when the time comes." her hand left Thalia's cheek, curling around the girls arm and pulling her into the hug too. "My sweet granddaughters -they expect too much from you-from both of you. You're so very young to suffer such heartbreaks." she pressed her lips to the top of Thalia's head, and Thalia just looked stunned-Percy wondered what it must feel like for her-clearly she'd not had a great mother if she'd ran away, and Zeus had never been there for her.
How would it feel to have an adult act like that if you'd never had that before? She could see Thalia rapidly blinking away tears and she felt a surge of pity for the older girl.
"What do we do now then?" Thalia asked after a long moment.
"I will send you to your friends. Remember children-I love you both very much." and then there was a bright light and Percy stumbled-Rhea's arms around her were gone and she heard a set of relieved cries along with a loud;
"Moo!"
Then a pair of arms were wrapped around her and Percy hugged Annabeth back instinctively, pressing her face into the other girls curls as Annabeth almost sobbed, "Oh thank the gods. What happened? Where's Thalia?"
"It was Lady Rhea." Percy looked around quickly. They were under the Golden Gate bridge, tucked away, hidden by several rocks-she could see Bessie a short distance out in the water, and the others all looked relatively unscathed. "She saved us."
"Queen Rhea?" Zoe looked startled, "But she very rarely interferes-"
"You'd be surprised." Percy let out a weak laugh.
"Rhea? That-I think that's what Nico called this one lady back in the casino-"
"Yeah that'd be her, that was after I met him there." Percy smiled sadly at the memory, "She promised to look after him until you got back."
"But where's Thalia?" Grover's voice was nervous, "You two didn't kill each other did you?"
"No?" Percy frowned, "She was with me- I don't-" and then Thalia was there in a short burst of light, blinking rapidly and stumbling as she looked around.
"Woah that was weird."
"Thalia!" Grover hugged her tightly, "We were all so worried."
"I'm fine. Grandma Rhea just wanted a last minute word with me." Thalia's expression was thoughtful, "Nothing bad-just..." Thalia shook her head, "It doesn't matter right now."
"You're both okay?" Bianca asked quickly, "We were so worried-"
"We're fine." Percy gave the most reassuring smile she could. "We were more worried about you guys." she noticed that Zoe was eyeing Thalia wearily and she resisted the urge to wince-because yeah, she definitely got why-and Thalia clearly noticed it too because she looked away, an ashamed look on her face. "I'm sorry-"
"What for?" Annabeth's voice was suddenly slightly strained and Thalia gave her a look.
"You know what for... I..." she shook her head, "I can't be near-" she snorted, "Bessie- right now."
"Thalia-"
"No Annabeth.. I... if Percy hadn't dragged me away I might have done it and I don't want that." Thalia gave a weak smile "Thanks for slapping some sense into me by the way Percy."
"Don't mention it." Percy gave a small shrug, "Seriously-none of this is up for further discussion-Thalia didn't do it, and she's not going to do it now. But we do need to figure out what to do about Bessie. We need to get her somewhere safe."
Annabeth frowned before straightening slightly, "Percy he's been following you all the way here-he can move between different bodies of water."
"I-yeah." Percy nodded, "I mean, he has to be able to."
"So maybe we can coax him back to camp." Grover finished for Annabeth, "That's perfect, then Chiron could get him to Olympus-"
"But he was following me." Percy pointed out hesitantly, "Will he know where to go?""Moo," Bessie said forlornly.
"I… I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."
"But Grover-" Percy stared at her friend, "That... you can't breath underwater or anything-"
"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."
He jumped into the water, swimming over and whispering something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.
"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he'll grant us safe passage through the seas. Let's face it he usually gives you whatever you ask for-"
"Something this big will require more than a prayer."
"A sacrifice." Thalia agreed, "Something big-it has to be."
Percy bit her lip, mind racing before she shrugged off the lion skin coat-she could feel everyone's eyes on her as she did and Grover spoke up.
"Percy," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin… that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"
And that made Percy's gaze flick to Zoe, who looked away, a pained look on her face.
That explained why Zoe had thought she'd know-Hercules was one of the most well known heroes ever-except from the sounds of it he was no hero.
"Hercules was nothing but an arrogant asshole who doesn't deserve my spit. I am nothing like him." and Zoe's gaze snapped back to Percy, her eyes going wide with shock, "I don't need a lion skin coat to survive. Or to lie and cheat." she ignored the confused noises the others were making, giving Zoe a small tight smile, and Zoe looked almost like she was going to cry as Percy turned to the water, closing her eyes and letting out a breath. "Hey dad, I need a favor. Please help me get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea." Then she tossed the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.
The sacrifice had been accepted-not that Percy had ever doubted it. She gave a soft smile. "Thank you dad."
"Well." Grover's voice was tight, "There's no time to lose I guess. You guys should Iris Message Chiron to let him know we're on our way."
He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.
"Be careful," Annabeth's voice was soft, "Be careful Grover okay?"
"We will," Grover said. "Okay, um… Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."
"Moooo?" Bessie said.
"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And… it's long. Oh, let's just start."
"Mooo!"
Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breathe underwater! Just thought I'd mention—" Glub!
"Don't worry." Percy caught the concerned look on Bianca's face, "My father won't let my best friend drown-he likes Grover-well I think he does."
"He gave him that flute." Annabeth shrugged, "And he thanked us both for helping save your life, so he definitely doesn't dislike him. He should be okay."
"Right." Percy nodded, "So, we Iris call Chiron and then we head straight to Mount Tam?" and Zoe's expression was tight again.
"Yes, and we have to get there by sunset?"
"Why?"
"Because the Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."
"And if we don't get there tonight then we'd have to wait until tomorrow and it'll be too late for Lady Artemis to convince Lord Zeus of the threat." Annabeth finished.
"Right." Bianca blinked, "Uh, that's pretty far-"
"One thing at a time-" Percy held up her hands, "One thing at a time okay. We call camp first to warn them-"
"Chiron is going to kill us." Annabeth muttered, "He us going to kill us for running away-"
"Yeah but we didn't have a choice and we still don't." Percy declared, "So." she slipped her bag off her shoulder and dipped into it, pulling out a handful of drachma's "Who's gonna make the call if I control the water to make a rainbow?"
"I can do it." Thalia offered.
And a moment later Percy was focusing, Annabeth stood next to her as she created a fine spray of mist that formed a rainbow-both of them not so secretly were hoping that they'd be out of sight of Chiron.
Once the rainbow was steady enough Thalia tossed the drachma into it, her voice steady, "Oh Goddess accept my offering, Chiron at Camp Halfblood." and the mist shimmered-and there was Chiron at the archery range in camp with Lee Fletcher-the Apollo Cabin counsellor-and Lee's eyes widened, "Chiron! Behind you-" and the Centaur turned, his own eyes going wide.
"Thalia! By the gods is it good to see you-do you have any news on your progress?" and Percy winced when she got a good look at him, the Centaur looked exhausted and stressed. That made her feel guilty-he was bound to be worried about them.
"We're in San Francisco." Thalia said quickly, "Uh... a lots happened, too much to explain right now-" her eyes flicked to Bianca and then to Percy and Annabeth-who given the fact that Chiron hadn't commented on their presence he probably hadn't noticed yet, "But Grover is headed back to camp with the Ophitaurus."
"What?" Chiron's eyes narrowed then. "Where are they?"
Percy winced, inching around so that Chiron could see her and giving a small wave, "Uh, hi."
"Yeah." Annabeth followed her, both of them wearing very sheepish expressions as Chiron gave them an incredibly disapproving look.
Well, so much for avoiding getting told off.