Note: I realize the music tour mentioned in this chapter happens about a year late (2002), according to when Thalia and Luke are supposed to be alone together (2001). But this is fiction, so deal with it.

Percy POV

Chapter 9 - I Have Some Nasty Nightmares (Part 3)

I was standing in the middle of what seemed like a jungle. The air was thick and humid, and once again the blackness of night covered my surroundings. However, this time the darkness didn't seem quite so threatening. Nearby, I could see the orange glow of a campfire. I approached it warily, unsure of what I would encounter. From a higher vantage point, I looked down on the camp and realized what I was seeing was long in the past. Two demigods sat across from one another on fallen logs, and I recognized both immediately.

On the left, Thalia was using a stick to bore a hole in the dirt. She must have been at it for quite some time, because the hole was growing quite large. She attacked it with a ferocious energy, as if it were the source of all her worldly problems. She was still young, if I had to guess I'd say probably about 14 or 15 - right around the time her and Luke were together in the wilderness.

He sat on the right, watching her. He had a smile on his face, one which was still uncorrupted by the anger which would come to consume him. His blond hair and blue eyes, together with his casual clothing, gave him a surfer-type look; carefree and calm. For a moment, I was reminded of Will Solace. I guess that's what Luke would have been like before everything happened.

Luke leaned back and spoke. "Hey, c'mon, you're treating that stick like it tried to kill you in your sleep. What's bugging you? You're obviously pretty pissed about something."

For a few seconds, Thalia didn't say anything. She just kept hammering away at that stick. "Nothing's bugging me," she said, with venom in her voice. Her ripped black clothes, dark hair, combat boots and makeup normally gave her an intimidating appearance. It screamed "don't mess with me or I'll kick your ass," louder than anything Clarisse could ever do. Anyone looking at this girl would see she was tough.

Luke laughed lightly, and the sound lightly reverberated throughout the swamp. It made the place seem brighter, more welcoming. "Oh please," he said. "I can always tell when you're mad about something. Even when you're not extracting your vengeance from a stick." He crossed over to sit next to her, and gave her a serious look "Seriously, talk to me."

"This is bullshit," Thalia sighed. "We're being attacked by these monsters every step we take. They just keep coming. What's the goal? Is there even a point to all this?"

Luke retained his smile, but it was mixed with a bit of sadness now. I could see in his eyes, by the way he looked at Thalia, that he wanted her to be happy. It frustrated him, to see her upset. "Truth be told, Thalia, I have no clue what the hell we're doing," he responded. "I'm not sure if there's an endgame here...but I know I can't let anything happen to you."

Thalia gave him that dangerous glare I'd come to know. "I can take care of myself," she said with confidence.

"Not always," Luke countered. "Not every time. And neither can I. That's why we need to stick together, Thalia. We have to watch each other's backs. Like family."

"Family," repeated Thalia, uttering the word like it was a curse. "I don't even know what that means."

"Well, I'm not sure I know what it means, either….it's not as if my Mom was the type to throw me in the back of a minivan and cart me off to soccer practice," Luke joked. "But I think family….might look something like this." From his pocket, he produced two small stubs. "Pop Disaster tour. Blink-182 and Green Day together, tomorrow night."

"You're kidding me," Thalia said, as her eyes lit up with excitement. "No, you're not actually serious. How the hell did you even get these? That tour was sold out before I left home."

"I've always had certain skills in...acquiring unavailable items," Luke said mischievously, laughing. "So I guess I've just got one more question for you," he said, looking straight at her.

She shook her head in disbelief. "And what would that be?"

"Do you have the time…" he said in a singsong voice.

She looked at him in surprise. "No way."

"To listen to me whine?" he belts out at the top of his lungs. I realize something right there and then. Luke was plenty of things, but he was not a singer. This is downright awful. But he continues anyway, oblivious to his own caterwauling.

"About nothingggg and everything, all at once?"

Thalia is laughing now, so hard she's gasping for air as she sits on her fallen log. Luke starts to dance obnoxiously, waving for her to join him, but she waves him off between her fits of laughter. After a few seconds, he grabs her hand and pulls her to her feet. They're both dancing now, and it's tough to watch. She joins him in singing;

"I am one of those...melodramatic fools! Neurotic to the bone…"

I watch from my vantage point as the two perform together. It's easy to see their ecstasy at such a happy moment. They must be constantly feeling some sort of anxiety, being so young, living on their own and fighting off monsters. Times like these don't come along often.

As the song begins to end, the two of them draw close to each other. By the end, they have their arms around each other, standing, as the fire quietly crackles. They both slowly return to reality, still laughing. I expect them to pull away, but neither makes any move. It's Thalia who speaks first.

"Thank you, Luke...for that. You're the only person who's ever given half a shit whether I'm happy or not." She reaches up, takes the back of his neck in her hands, and kisses him. He kisses her back.

My dream shifts into a different scene. Thalia sits alone, in one of the tents the Hunters use on expeditions. She's got her headphones in, but she's got the volume cranked way up and it's quiet in the tent. It's the same song she was singing with Luke all those years before, Basket Case, by Green Day. The memory is clearly on her mind and she seems to have a mixture of anger and sadness on her face. No tears, just plenty of emotion.

Someone knocks on one of the poles that holds up the fabric of the tent, but between the music and her thoughts, Thalia doesn't notice. I hear a girl's voice lightly call her name from outside, but Thalia is still oblivious. The girl lifts the folds of the tent's opening and enters, looking concerned. Thalia has her back turned to the door, so she doesn't notice.

The girl is dressed like a Hunter, armed with a bow and wearing their silvery clothing. She looked like a soccer player, with her long sandy blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and light blue eyes. Strikingly beautiful, she seemed to amplify all the light in the room, making everything brighter. She looked like one of those people that could easily cheer others up. I felt a twinge of sadness, because despite what this girl looked like, she reminded me of my mom.

"Thalia?" the girl says again. She strides across the tent, approaching her, probably to check that she was ok. She tapped Thalia's shoulders, which may not have been the best idea. Startled, Thalia spun around with a knife clutched in her hands.

"Woah, easy girl," the unknown Hunter said with a large smile. "Just checkin' to see if you're alive. If you're planning on stabbing me, we should probably call someone to make sure that knife of yours is sharp enough first." Thalia tried to glare at her, but her resolve crumbled and she smiled.

"You're such an idiot, Jen. Better be careful or I'll skewer you next time!"

I was smiling along with the two of them, but all the happiness drained straight from my body when I heard that name. I hadn't even met Jen before she passed away, never saw what she looked like. I could tell just from the ease of this conversation that these two were close.

"Oh, please don't go to the trouble, eh? I'll just do it myself and save you the nuisance of having to deal with such a predicament."

I should add that Jen had a headband on, one of those Lululemon things girls like. It was red, and had a white maple leaf in the center, positioned at the top of her head. Why anyone wanted to advertise that they had lived their entire life in a snowsuit, I'll never understand. She also spoke with a slight Canadian accent.

"What're you listening to, huh? Is it my boy JB? His new album is awesome and you know it." I was confused at who she meant, but thankfully she helped clear up the mystery by belting out the words to Justin Bieber's Sorry: IS IT TOO LATE NOW TO SAY-"

"Please for the love of the gods stop that right now," Thalia said quietly, but she was smiling. "That damn album is so catchy it drives me insane. I want to hate it, but I just can't."

"Hahaha, you know you love it, you big grump! Ok, not the Biebs? Maybe Simple Plan? You did tell me you loved them. Pssst, they're Canadian by the way. Just in case you didn't know, which you should. Our music industry is soooo better than yours is. I mean so is our healthcare...and everyone is nicer here….oh did I mention our legal drinking age is 19?"

Thalia groaned. I got the feeling this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. "Actually, I was listening to Green Day. My favourite song of theirs, actually."

Jennifers eyes lit up, full of life. "GIRL, play it! I wanna hear."

Thalia removed her headphones, playing the song through the speakers. Her face grew increasingly saddened as the song went on. By the end, she was like a thunderstorm without the lightning, her energy drained. After it ended, I was surprised to hear Jen laughing.

"That is literally the most angsty teen song I've ever heard. Except maybe that Nirvana song - Smells Like Teen Spirit, right? You must have been the most miserable tree in existence."

Thalia returned the laughter. "I did know several trees happier than I was. There was this one guy I knew, Professor Oak-"

"I bet you really pined after him, didn't you?"

Thalia looked around in shock, as if she couldn't understand how this was happening. After recovering, she struck back, making her voice crack like a prepubescent teeny bopper. This was the Thalia I knew and loved. "Fir crying out loud, can you just leaf me alone, oakay?" Both girls started to laugh. My dream faded with the two of them beginning to laugh hysterically, as the tree puns got worse and worse.