*Cue Back in Black by ACDC* I'm excited for this story… I hope you all are too. This one means a lot to me, and I think that if you uncover the hidden meaning- you will too. Behind all the drama, of course ;) Anyway, please enjoy this story, and check out my other ones. They're not horrible, I guess.

~GoGreen43

Taken

Chapter 11- The Investigation

-Thalia POV-

It has been two weeks. It's like I'm slowly drowning with no way to surface. I wouldn't wish this on to my worst enemy. I'm feeling like I'm losing everything.

Annabeth is my best friend. She's basically like my best friend version of a soul mate, and I can't imagine my life without her. I remember when she figured out that my mother was in a bad place, and she wouldn't let me take care of her alone.

Without my best friend, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing anymore. I just feel so lost. It's unfair.

"Thalia, you okay?"

I jumped at the sudden voice, and turned around to see Jason standing in the doorway to my bedroom. It was obvious that he was trying to look as unconcerned as possible, but I knew better than that. The fact that he actually spoke to me meant that something must have been wrong. It was then that I realized there were tears streaming down my face.

And I never cry.

I hastily wiped the tears from my face and got up to check the mirror and see if my eyeliner was currently making me look like a raccoon.

"Don't worry about your makeup, its fine," Jason said, a smug smile crossing his face. "Why do you wear so much makeup anyways? You never did before."

I glared at him. "Why are you talking to me? Shouldn't you be sucking face with one of your whores about now?"

Jason's smile only widened. "I thought we should have some bonding time. I was going to drive you to school… but if you want to walk, be my guest." He gestured to the window that overlooked a fire escape… and showed that it was pouring rain outside.

"I own an umbrella, jackass. Go drive your shitty car by yourself."

He nervously laughed, and rubbed the back of his neck. "This wasn't exactly how I planned this conversation to pan out."

I stood up and walked over to him. We were now only three feet apart, and it felt as if there was electricity in the air between us. Not the good kind- nope. Not at all. Definitely the bad stuff.

"So tell me, Jason, how exactly did you plan for this to 'pan out'? You haven't said a word to me in two weeks, so why would you start now?"

"Well, you should know, Thalia, that your friends happen to be worried sick about you. They think you're going to do something stupid, and I told them that you're not that kind of girl. They told me that I was wrong. I would like to know what that was about, too. It's not every day you hear second handedly that your sister tried to commit suicide!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Tears were in his eyes now, and I realized that this was the first time in a long time that I had seen him express emotion. "Who told you that?"

"When? When did that happen? And why does it seem like I'm always the last to know?"

"Who told you that, Jason?"

His hands wiped over his face as he turned around and started to pace. I still couldn't get my leg muscles to move. "Why would you do that, Thalia?"

"It was two years ago, Jason! You tell me why!"

"Oh, don't blame me." He stopped pacing and turned to face me, ehe "God, Thalia! What were you thinking?"

I couldn't help the fit of rage that overcame me. "What was I thinking? What is mom thinking when she drinks herself away every night and doesn't eat during the day? What does she think? Who does she think she is, making us raise ourselves? Huh? I'd like to know the answer to that question!"

I knew I hit a sour note when Jason's face turned red. "Mom does her best, you know that! You're nothing but a selfish bitch!"

My hand immediately made connection with his face, and a sound of a smack was the only thing to be heard in the room.

"How dare you. You come into my room and call me a bitch? Since when has this been okay, Jason? Since when was it okay to call your sister a bitch? Since when was it okay to do this to me?"

A single tear fell from the corner of his eye, and his face contorted into pain. The look in his eyes made me remember the Jason that I would carve pumpkins with on Halloween, stuff myself with on thanksgiving, and open presents with on Christmas morning.

I saw my brother.

I put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a small smile. "I love you, Jason. But you need to get your shit figured out."

All of the sudden arms were wrapped around me and I was smothered by the scent of my little brother. I felt a wetness start to creep into my shirt as he buried his head into my shoulder. His shoulders were shaking and he was gasping breaths. He was crying.

"I-I'm so sorry, T-Thalia… I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore… I just feel so lost."

I rubbed circles on his back and hummed into his ear, slowly easing the two of us to the floor. I kissed the top of his head, and took a breath in his hair. I smiled a bit, glad to know that he was showering properly.

"We both are, Jason. We both are."

After a few minutes of sitting there holding each other, I was starting to get bored. I mean, I love my brother and all, but I didn't exactly want to miss school. God knows what would happen when Annabeth comes back and sees my grades.

Annabeth…

"Jason, we need to get going. I need someone to drive me to school," I said, my voice sounding raspier than I would have liked.

Jason's head shot up off of my shoulder and sprang up, obviously feeling stupid about showing emotion. He wiped his eyes and looked at his hands like the wetness was an acid that was designed to slowly kill him.

"You ready to go?" he asked, helping me up. I nodded, wiping the tears from my own eyes.

"Do I look like a raccoon? Cause I feel like one now."

Jason's eyebrow quirked and he smiled. "All I see is my sister for who she truly is."

I sprinted over to the bathroom to check my face in the mirror, and saw that I did in fact look like a raccoon. Damn makeup.

"Very funny, Jason. Very funny," I mumbled, grabbing a pad to wipe off all the eyeliner and mascara that had spread all over on my face.

"Why don't we walk today?" Jason asked, popping his head into the bathroom. "The rain cleared up, and I don't want to deal with the traffic."

"Sure, why not?"

Jason grinned then walked out of the bathroom as I started to reapply my eyeliner. It really wasn't weird starting to talk to Jason again. If anything, it was like we had picked up from where we left off. But at the same time, there will probably be some problems with hurt feelings and shit.

As soon as I was finished, I turned off the lights and jogged to the kitchen, where Jason was waiting for me. He tossed me a peeled orange with the same grin he had when he left.

"We should get going," he told me. "Mom is asleep in her room, I checked."

I nodded and picked at the orange with a small smile. I had my Jason back. But Annabeth…

"Let's get going," I said, throwing a large chunk of the orange into my mouth. And grabbed my backpack.

Jason held the door open for me, and I laughed when he bowed to me. Yeah, I definitely have my Jason back. He followed me out the door, and we walked down the stairway with a comfortable silence. We continued on into the streets of Manhattan still in a comfortable silence… surrounded by noise.

"I miss my friend too, Thalia," Jason voiced. "It's okay to be sad."

I looked up at him with a small smile. "I'm not sad, Jason. I'm just worried. She was there for me when a lot of people weren't."

I swear I saw a single tear escape the corner of his eye before he turned his head away from me. "I'm really sorry, Thalia. I'm probably going to be spending the rest of my life trying to make it up to you… but I will. I promise."

I wrapped an arm around him in a half-hug, but it was hard considering he was wearing his backpack. And the fact that he's like twenty feet tall. "I've already forgiven you, Jason. No hard feelings."

He looked down at me, and the look in his eyes made me take in a hard breath. We stopped walking, and he pulled me over to the side of the walkway. "Uh, yeah, I think its fine to be mad at me for what happened to you. You tried to kill yourself, Thalia! And I wasn't there!"

My confusion turned into anger. "Why can't you let it go? You weren't there, but Annabeth was! She didn't know who I was when she saw me on the bridge. She stopped, talked to me, and got me help. I don't really like talking about what happened, which is why I never told you. It's not like you would have stopped making out with one of your bitches to listen to me anyways!"

Jason looked like he took a slap to the face. His voice took a complete 360 and turned into a mutter that I had to strain my ears to hear. "I wasn't there, Thals. I wasn't there."

"Annabeth was there, Jason. She saved me. But you can be here with me now. We need to find our friends. Together."

He nodded. "Yeah, we do. We should get to school, too. I think we're well on our way to skipping first hour."

I laughed, and started walking with a new hop in my step. "So… how did you find out about 'the incident' anyways?"

"Uhm…" I looked up to see he had a blush on his face.

"Oh my God, did you sleep with one of my friends?"

His face turned to one of shock. "What? I'm not that stupid, Thalia!"

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips. "So who was it?"

He coughed a bit, and turned his head away from me. "Piper," he mumbled, turning back to look at me with an expectant look on his face.

"So you got a little crush on Piper, huh?"

Jason scoffed, but his blushing face betrayed him. "Yeah, right."

We moved in a comfortable silence for a while, and Annabeth's disappearance started to weigh on me. I mean, sure, I have Jason back… but what happens if we don't get Annabeth back? Or Percy Jackson? I know that Jason and Percy are pretty close. If Jason loses Percy… I don't know what would happen.

"You know that Percy's got a crush on Annabeth?" Jason asked, a small whimsical smile on his face. "That's why he can't stop messing with her. He doesn't know how to properly speak to girls. I guess he's used to them falling all over him."

"And you're not?"

"Touché."

We made small talk the rest of our journey to school. I forgot how funny Jason could be, and I think I missed that the most. He was easy to be myself around. A perfect younger brother.

We walked into the school when there was a frenzy of students rushing to get to their next class. Jason and I slowly walked to our second hours, which happened to be right next to each other… and on the opposite side of the school.

I didn't have to avoid anyone, which I enjoyed. People in this school knew to keep their distance, or I will beat them up. Happens all the time.

I knew the moment Jason noticed this was when one of his fellow football players was walking down the hallway and was about to stop and talk to Jason, but he realized that I was there. He turned around and practically ran away.

"What did you do to these people, Thalia?" Jason leaned down to ask. "They're all scared of you."

I smiled. "You were wondering why I wear makeup earlier," I joked. "This is why."

All of the sudden, I saw a streak of red and was knocked to the floor. "Thalia!" I heard Jason exclaim.

The person who knocked me to the floor started to speak at a rapid pace. "Where have you been all morning! I thought you were taken too! Oh my, I'm sorry for hitting you… are you okay?" My vision cleared up and I realized that it was Rachel Dare.

"Rachel… what's going on?" Jason asked, helping the both of us off of the ground.

I gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Rachel's a friend, Jason. But that much was obvious." I turned to face my new friend. "What happened, Rachel?"

"You don't know?" Her green eyes were full of fear. "Percy's mom was murdered in Cancun a few nights ago, and it was just released this morning that it has a connection to his kidnapping!"

My eyes went wide. "Sally? She was murdered?" Jason asked, his voice frantic.

Rachel shook her head. "No, it was his step mother, Amphitrite. The investigators found a note that was signed L., though. I'm worried… if they murdered his step mother, then what might have they done to Percy and Annabeth?"

Jason and I shared a look and dragged Rachel to Mr. Brunner's room. He was in the middle of giving a lecture to his class, but as soon as he saw us at the door, he knew something was up. "The rest of the notes are online in a pdf file on my website. Mr. Argus will escort you to the computer lab for you to further your knowledge in Ancient Greece. I expect these notes to be completed by tomorrow. Good luck."

Mr. Brunner nodded to Mr. Argus who was seated in the back of the classroom, who then took control. Once they all were gone, Jason and I walked with Rachel in tow to meet with him in the classroom. I sat on top of a desk, Rachel properly sat in one, and Jason was pacing.

We probably looked like a mess.

"What on earth is going on?" Mr. Brunner asked, looking at Rachel with some slight confusion.

"Rachel, tell him what you just told us," I said, nodding at her.

She nodded back, her expression turning into one of pure business. She started to explain to Mr. Brunner about what had happened to Percy Jackson's step mother a few days ago and how some investigators think that it had been related to the kidnapping.

Mr. Brunner showed no emotion through her whole debriefing, and when she was done, he simply nodded. "That's very interesting Miss Dare. You said that the note was signed with an L?"

She nodded, her freckled face turning a dark shade of red. I expected her to do something shy and hide behind her hair, but she didn't. I guess I underestimated this girl.

"Very interesting indeed," Mr. Brunner confirmed, before wheeling to his desk and typing something. The silence was awkward to say the least. I felt like he already knew what Rachel told us… but wouldn't he share that kind of information with us?

"The others should be arriving to this room any minute now. I sent an email to their teachers to get them out of this period. What Miss Dare has told us brings something new to light. I will explain what I mean as soon as the others arrive."

Rachel looked at the three of us curiously, obviously wanting to know what he meant by 'others,' but she was smart and kept her mouth shut.

It didn't take long for the others to get here. Juniper and Piper seemed surprised to see me here, while Nico, Leo, and Grover seemed surprised to see Percy's ex-girlfriend here. I guess today was just full of surprises.

"Rachel? Why are you here?" Grover asked, and everyone pretty much turned to look at Rachel.

"Yeah, why are you here?" Piper repeated, a perfectly manicured eyebrow raising.

"Guys, let her talk." Everyone looked at me in shock. Besides Jason- but that's not really the point. "She obviously has something to say, so let her say it."

Rachel gave me a shy smile before turning to the others with the same business-like look she had earlier. Then, just a she had explained to Mr. Brunner, Jason, and I, she explained what had happened to Percy's step mother.

"Holy shit," Nico muttered, his eyes wide.

Rachel just nodded in response, and started to play with her curly hair. "I just hope they're okay."

No one talked, all thinking the same thing. None of us wanted to know what would happen if Annabeth or Percy weren't to come out of this. I don't know what I would do…

Jason coughed, cutting through the tension in the room. "Uh, Mr. Brunner, you said that you had something to tell us… something that pertained to what Rachel said."

Mr. Brunner nodded at Jason, and took off his glasses, as if inspecting them for a speck that wasn't there. "Something like this has happened before."

We all looked at him in shock. "What do you mean?" I spoke, my voice hoarse.

Mr. Brunner's eyes turned glassy as he stared off into space. "First, I must tell you that Annabeth was not alone the first time she was taken."

No one knew what to say. Juniper and Piper had a hand over their mouth, covering up a gasp, and the boys were gapping like fish. And me? Well, I was mad.

"What do you mean she was not alone? Why didn't you tell us this earlier!"

Mr. Brunner looked down, ashamed, and didn't speak. So, I did.

"I thought you told us everything we needed to know!"

He snapped his head toward me with a glare. "I did tell you everything that you needed to know, Miss Grace. You did not need to know that Annabeth had someone with her before. But now you do. Which is why I am verbalizing it now."

Jason spoke up, "Why wasn't any information about the other person in the police reports?"

"It was a complicated situation, Mr. Grace. Annabeth had no recollection of her time in the Gallows with her captor. The person who had been with her was her half-brother, Malcolm. He was a son of Athena, as is Annabeth. Malcolm had said he was going to run away, so Athena and the police thought nothing of him.

"Annabeth only remembered two years ago that her brother was with her, and she has been receiving help from a psychiatrist ever since. The more she can remember, the more help we had to find her captor."

Rachel cut in, "Uh, so what happened to her brother?"

Mr. Brunner's face turned grave. "A year ago, Annabeth remembered that he had been killed. He sacrificed himself so she could escape."

"There was no body?" I asked, my eyes wide.

Mr. Brunner nodded sadly. "There hasn't been a body that fits his description."

"Holy shit," Nico repeated.

"You could say that again," I mumbled.

He heard me, and opened his mouth to repeat it, but luckily Jason caught him in the act. "Bro, don't."

Nico just shrugged, and went to stand back in the shadows. Grover and Leo were leaning against the wall behind Jason, who still was pacing. Piper and Juniper had copied Rachel and were sitting in the desks, while I sat on top of one.

"So how does this relate to Amphitrite's murder?" I asked, leaning back onto my palms.

"Annabeth's two young siblings, Matthew and Bobby, who were just newborns at the time, were smothered in their bassinettes late in the night. A note signed by L was the only thing the police were able to find.

"Athena had two other kids?" Piper asked, her eyes wide.

"No, these children were the offspring of her father and step mother," Mr. Brunner explained.

"No wonder why she doesn't talk to them anymore," I shared, a hand coming to my face. "She's never talked about having brothers before, though. This is news to me."

"It's news to all of us," Juniper agreed.

The bell sounded, signaling the end of the class period. Mr. Brunner looked at his watch. "We cannot speak in here for the rest of the day. I suggest that you get together later tonight and see what you can come up with."

Rachel looked at everyone with an amused smile. "Even me?"

Leo barked out a laugh and clapped her on the shoulder. "Sure Dare, even you."

"Where are we going to meet at?" Jason asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thals and I don't exactly have a lot of space in our apartment…"

Piper shook her head, "We can go to my house after school. Someone's gotta bring the food, though."

"I'll bring tacos!" Rachel exclaimed. "If you don't want some Taco Bell tacos, you can bring your own food."

"I'll text Jason my address and he can forward it to the others, right Jason?" Piper asked, and Jason's blush soon followed.

"Uh, yeah."

"Perfect! We'll meet up at my house after school!"

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoo

"So, you and Piper?"

Jason and I were walking together to Piper's home, which really wasn't very far away. It was a really sweet penthouse that probably costs a few million dollars. Good news her family is rich.

"Me and Piper what?"

I looked up at Jason with a knowing smile. "You're avoiding the question! So it's true!"

Jason scoffed, and fiddled with the phone in his hands. "We just text every now and then. It's not like we're dating or anything."

"So you like her?"

Jason playfully glared at me. "What do you mean by like her?"

I laughed and slapped his chest. "You're hopeless, Jason. Just tell her you like her! I know Piper, and if she flirts with you and takes the time to text you- she's got a crush on you."

He smiled a little bit, and we continued to walk in silence. It was then that I put two and two together. "Let me guess… she was the one who told you about what happened two years ago!"

Jason nodded. "She asked me if you were okay, and she seemed pretty concerned. I asked why it mattered, and she told me. I pretty much walked strait into your room after, and well, you know the rest."

I nodded.

We arrived to Piper's home within a few minutes, and the doorman recognized me from the previous times I had been to her home, and let us in. "Hello Ms. Grace, Ms. McLean told me that you and a few others would be coming."

I smiled at him. "Thanks Theo, having a good day?"

His smile became more loose and sarcastic. "Always, Ms. Grace."

The elevator took us to Piper's floor, and directly into her penthouse. It was cool, really, because the house itself had two floors. Which was a lot for living in New York.

"Piper?" I called, walking towards the living room.

"In here!"

Jason and I walked into the living room space to see everyone else there with the police reports and tacos filtering the tables and floor.

"Been busy?" I asked, taking a seat next to Juniper, who was sat by Piper on the floor Rachel was laying on the ground in front of us. The guys were on the other side of the table, and that's where Jason took his spot.

"Yeah, very," Rachel said sarcastically, chomping on a taco. "You know, I thought this was going to be more exciting."

"Well, I don't exactly know if I should be mad or glad about that statement," Piper joked.

"Oh my God."

We all looked up to see Leo, who was holding a picture taken from the security cameras before Annabeth had been taken the first time.

"What is it?" Jason asked, taking the photo from his hands. Leo pointed to something on the picture, and Jason tensed up. "You guys should take a look at this."

Everyone went and huddled around Jason to see what Leo was pointing at.

I gasped.

Standing on the corner of the street with an umbrella in his hands was a young Percy Jackson.