Chapter 11

"Thalia's alive"

No matter how many times she'd hear it, Annabeth was absolutely certain she'd never understand the depth behind those words. Thalia, her childhood friend, the one who died in a car accident, who turned out to be her current boyfriend's cousin, was alive.

Doesn't that sound a bit far-fetched?

She must've gone into shock, because the next thing she saw was Percy waving his hand in front of her face, calling her name.

"Earth to Annabeth?"

Annabeth let out a shuddered breath. "What the fuck do you mean? How is she alive? She died in a car accident almost five years ago!"

Percy looked scared. He should be. Annabeth was two steps away from choking him!

"Look, it was as much a surprise to me back then. Imagine attending your cousin's funeral, and the next moment getting a phone call from said dead cousin. I thought I was hallucinating!"

In retrospect, this definitely seemed like something Thalia might do, but it was going to take a while before Annabeth could grasp the gravity of the situation.

"So where is she now? Why didn't she contact me? Did she ask you to tell me this? When can I see her? How did she fake her-"

"Wisegirl" Percy exclaimed, "Calm down!"

Percy looked scared honestly. He kept glancing sideways, as if expecting his cousin to materialize out of thing air and strangle him.

"Thalia didn't tell me to tell you, but I couldn't bear to keep the secret within me. I felt as though I was betraying you. You bared your soul out to me, I knew I should've told you then, but Thalia forced me to keep my mouth shut. Last I heard, she was living in New Jersey. She didn't contact you because she has this weird plan to take Luke down. I think she wanted to surprise you, that's why she kept silent, so do me a favour and act surprised please."

If Percy didn't look so scared and cute, Annabeth would never have forgiven him. But this was her Seaweedbrain, and he looked earnest. So she put her hand on his and nodded. "I won't tell anyone Seaweedbrain. Trust me like I trust you."

Percy smiled. "I honestly thought you'd kill me. And that line you said sounded like something that might've been in this movie. You sure you aren't plagiarizing Wisegirl?"

Annabeth smirked. Trust this man to shift the conversation in a second. "You really think I'd plagiarize?"

"Right where are my brains? Oh yes, I have seaweed instead!"

Annabeth couldn't stop her giggles.

However, despite this happy moment, her mind drifted to her friend who turned out to be alive. What was Thalia planning? Why didn't she tell everyone she was alive?

More importantly, how would Luke react to this if he came to know?

Annabeth turned to look at Percy, who was narrating a story about his sister and the time at the park recently, and Annabeth decided that she would think about it when the time arises. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy her meal and listen to her boyfriend.