Chapter 23 - I Lose Another Friend

By the time I felt more steady, Frank, Hazel and Leo were back on the ship and ready to explain what had happened on Delos.

We all sat around the table, Percy on one side of me, Piper on the other. They had really meant it and weren't going to leave me a second sooner than I wanted.

Frank started the meeting. "So, the good news is we found the Curse of Delos." He held up a yellow daisy.

I wanted to laugh, or cry, or scream, but all I could manage was, "That's it?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah. It's called the Curse of Delos because it rooted Delos to the ground. But we still had to have Apollo pick it for us for it to be ready for the Cure."

"So, we have the Cure?" I asked them. All three shook their heads and my heart plummeted.

"We need to find Asclepius, Apollo's son. He can make the cure. But it's ok, because Apollo told me where to go, and I told Festus, so we're heading there right now."

I nodded, slowly. "Ok…. Leo, did you find out about your idea?"

He swallowed. "Um, I got some more information, but I think I still need to work it out by myself."

He wouldn't meet my eyes. Neither would Frank or Hazel. Something had happened on the island, something they were worried I would figure out. The silence in the room stretched out as I studied the three of them. They were definitely hiding something.

"Ok." Jason broke the silence. "So who gets to go see Asclepius?"

We decided that Jason, Piper and Leo would be the three to go see the healer-god tomorrow. Leo called them the OGs. I rolled my eyes at that, since technically, Percy, Grover and I were the OGs. Actually, scratch that, Luke, Thalia and I were the OGs. Leo figured that the best bet to find the god was to get the ship in the air and find the hidden entrance that way, so he went to grab some tools and meet me in the engine room.

Hazel pulled me aside as everyone was leaving the mess hall.

"Annabeth, I need to tell you something else Artemis said. About Nico, and the statue."

My heart started racing. "Is he ok?"

Hazel shrugged, but I could tell she was extremely worried. "Best I can tell is he's alive. Artemis said he was, anyway, and I don't feel his spirit in the Underworld. But Artemis said there was a -" She swallowed hard. "A massacre. A lot of Hunters died. Orion hunted them down, and I guess they were trying to help Reyna and the statue…. She didn't really elaborate on what happened."

Thalia. My only thought was Thalia. I tried to calm my racing heart. "Did she…. Say any names?"

Hazel shook her head. "Is everything ok?" She asked me, looking worried. "You look scared."

I took a deep breath. "My… my friend, Thalia. She's the leader of the Hunters. She's…. My oldest friend. She found me when I was little and rescued me and…."

Hazel pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

I held her while I cried. Losing Luke had hurt beyond measure but I had already lost Thalia once. Surely the gods weren't cruel enough to make me lose her again. I remembered Bob's warning that there would be more sacrifices along the way.

Percy came over to us, looking concerned. "Is everything -"

I pulled away from Hazel and explained, "Artemis said a lot of Hunters were killed helping Reyna with the statue. We don't know if Thalia was one of them or -"

Percy looked like he'd been punched in the gut. Despite their rather contentious beginnings together, he and Thalia had grown to love and respect each other. He pulled me into a hug. We stood there for a while as the rest of the crew left the room to give us space. They didn't understand, but Percy did. Losing Thalia, who should've been immortal, who should've outlived us all, was an extra hard loss. It wasn't just the loss of a friend - it was like the world had been shaken. Compared to her, we were all so weak, so vulnerable. Could the rest of us survive this if Thalia had not?

Percy and I went back to my room and talked for a long time. We discussed our favorite Thalia memories. Percy told me again about their massive fight that could've destroyed Camp if they hadn't stopped. Percy had been blasted with lightning, but didn't seem to hold that against her. I heard a knock on the door. Jason stood in the doorway with three magic goblets. I wasn't sure what he was doing there, when he said -

"Hazel told me…. About how Thalia might be…."

It hit me. Thalia was his sister, even more than she was mine. I beckoned him inside. He smiled gratefully and sat in my desk chair, handing us each a goblet.

"We were telling our favorite stories of Thalia." I explained to him.

He nodded. "I was hoping that was what you were doing. I…. I don't really know her. And I'd like to. And now….." He took a deep breath. "Stories may be the only way to do that." He looked at Percy. "How'd you meet Thalia?"

Percy grinned. "Annabeth knew her first - she rescued Annabeth when she was a teeny-tiny demigod, living on the streets. But that's not my part of the story. I met Thalia when I was thirteen. Annabeth and I had this quest that summer to go rescue the Golden Fleece. You've heard that story?"

Jason nodded.

Percy continued, "Yeah, so the fleece healed the tree. Which was great, and what the Camp needed and all, but it worked 'too well'. Annabeth was on guard duty -"

"All of the sudden, the tree started shaking. Like violently." I picked up the tale. "It was like the tree was giving birth, and then, Thalia fell out of the trunk. The tree was still whole, like it hadn't even changed a bit. But Thalia was there on the ground. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was having a vision, or a hallucination, or something, but… she was really there. She looked almost the same as I remembered her, but a little older. Like a year or two had passed since I saw her, but she hadn't aged for every year she was gone. Anyway, I was scared. Terrified. I screamed. I didn't even think to blow the alarm, I just screamed. She wasn't moving. I checked her pulse and it was there, but barely. Then Chiron and Percy and everyone else came up and they got her awake -"

"And I didn't even realize who she was. I asked her her name, and realized that maybe Kronos was manipulating us, bringing her back."

I shrugged. "He might've been. Trying to control the prophecy and all that. But it worked out that time, cause I got Thalia back."

Percy nodded, brushing a lock of hair from my face. "Annabeth tended to her at the Big House like she did me when I got there. They had a lot of catching up to do."

I nodded. "Thankfully, Chiron arranged it so we both went to the same boarding school that fall." I smiled at the memory. "Anyone ever tell you she loved volleyball?"

Jason shook his head and smiled. "She did?"

I nodded. "She was a beast on the school team. She was great at running, too. And gymnastics. She even tried fencing while she was there, but didn't like it since she couldn't exactly use killing techniques."

Jason and Percy both grinned at that.

"She…. was really troubled that semester." I said, remembering it. "I was the one who told her about Luke, how he had turned. She hadn't believed it. Chiron showed her proof and I think it hurt her in a place the healers couldn't reach. She was angry. Like, really angry. I asked my mom for help, something that could help my friend. And the next day there was mail for me, from Olympus. A flyer for the Hunters of Artemis. I had no idea what my mom meant, because Thalia didn't exactly like the Hunters. But she must've known that it was what Thalia needed, to heal and have time to figure herself out. That winter, after a quest where the current leader of the Hunters died, she joined up and was instantly given the second in command by Artemis herself. She's seemed a lot more at peace since then."

Jason nodded. "That makes sense. Can you tell me more about, uh, when she was younger? Like, before the tree thing?"

I nodded. "First, though?" I held out my glass. "A toast."

Percy and Jason raised their glasses.

"To Thalia, wherever she may be." I announced. "A great sister to all of us."

Percy and Jason smiled and repeated, "A great sister to all of us." We clinked our glasses to that.

After Jason, Percy and I had spent enough time remembering Thalia, I went to find Leo in the engine room.

"Leo? You here?"

"Over here! Kinda stuck!"

I went and found him wedged under part of the engine.

"Hey Annabeth! I think I must've gotten too macho -"

I grabbed him by the belt and yanked. Leo had gotten stuck this exact way many times during the building of the ship and I was used to yanking him out of tight spaces by now. It was a bit harder this time - my arms were still weak from Tartarus - but at least his pants stayed up. They didn't, always.

"Hey, so I need you to -"

"Stop."

He looked at me, with nervousness in every line of his body.

"Leo. I can't force you to tell me your plan. But I do know this - if you've got a plan, don't you think you should probably tell the person who's best at making plans?"

He sighed and shrugged. "I don't think you'd agree with it if you knew."

I sat on the floor across from him. "You're planning something that'll get you killed, huh?"

His head shot up. "How'd you -"

"Lucky guess. You confirmed it."

He glared at me. "Not fair."

I shrugged. "Now, want to tell me what's up so I can try and help you NOT die?"

He was quiet. I've never seen Leo quiet.

"Let me…. Think about it." He told me at last.

I nodded. "Go ahead. For now, let's fix the engine. But I won't forget about this conversation, Leo."

He nodded again. I stood up and turned my back to him, ready to get to work. Suddenly, I felt arms encircle me. "You're the best, you know that?"

I smiled and leaned into the hug. "Don't do anything stupid, Valdez."