-Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them-
Jean Paul

"Thalia?"

"Thalia!"

Annabeth called Thalia's name over and over, with no response from the other girl. She was beginning to worry, Thalia just sat beside her looking out over the camp as if lost in thought, her face uninterested, but there was something missing in her eyes. Annabeth had known Thalia since she was a kid, but could never understand how her mind worked, only Luke had ever seemed be able to understand her.

Thalia's eyes had changed over the years, even when nothing else about her had. The rebellious, mischievous gleam in her eyes along with the spark of electricity that had been there during their time on the run had turned into a gleam of anger behind every smile or wink after she came out of the tree. After the battle of Manhattan, there was emptiness, the spark in Thalia's eye was weak, and there was none of the emotion behind the blue that Annabeth had looked up to for so many years.

Now, Annabeth watched as something rekindled in her friend's eyes, the spark had returned, and the emotion behind them was strong, but, something Annabeth hadn't seen before, a mixture of determination, anger, pain, regret and something that she couldn't quite name. Thalia turned to her, and Annabeth winced under the intensity of her glare,

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I-"

"What? Am I supposed to be happy he's back? Did you think I'd go weak in the knees? Start crying maybe?"

"No, I-"

"Why do you think I even want him back in my life!"

"Thalia-"

"Why should I care if he's back? Why should I care if he rots down in hades for the rest of his shitty dead life!"

Annabeth was shocked, she knew Thalia would be angry, but she didn't think she would be this murderous. Even though she knew Thalia would never hurt her, she wasn't eager to continue on such a dangerous subject with the easily angered daughter of Zeus. There was a break in the conversation, after a few minutes though, Annabeth decided to speak up.

"Thalia?"

Thalia was silent.

"Thalia?"

"What do you want from me?" her voice was different this time, softer, it broke on the last word.

"I just want you to come to a meeting, then we can talk about Luke."

"What meeting?"

"Theres a new camper, he's undetermined, but he's much older than twelve, he looks familiar, I just can't place where I know him from. Will you help us?"

The fifteen year old looked down, every now and then a stray spark would dance across her spiked hair, or across the arm of her leather jacket.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

...

Half an hour later, the camp counsellors were all seated in the big house, the meeting room had been moved from the ping-pong table in the basement, to a large room that looked like the inside of a barn. There was a large round table in the centre, with plush seats around it. Thalia was seated in between Annabeth and Percy awkwardly leaning back into her chair to avoid getting hit by any blown kisses or winks from between the two.

After a few minutes of chatting, Chiron entered the room, in his centaur form towering above the table, and it occupants. He gave Thalia a wink, accompanied with a sad smile, which Annabeth saw that she returned, albiet a tad more sarcastically than the centaur had. She focused on Chiron, who after clearing his throat, gave them all a warm smile and began.

"As you all know, when the Battle of Manhattan ended, Percy was granted the wish that all demigod's be claimed by their parents at age twelve. And they have kept that promise, with only one exception."

Murmur of surprise swept over the table, Annabeth glanced at Percy, who gave her a bewildered shrug and then to Thalia, who sat slumped in her seat, looking at the ceiling with a comically bored look on her face. Her attention was brought to a demigod beside Chiron. The demigod teen was dark haired, dressed in neat, dull clothes, his face was one you forget while you look at it, except for his eyes, his silvery blue eyes that captured hers instantly, making her feel safe, comfortable, and sleepy... her eyelids drooped heavily as his eyes burned into hers hypnotically.

He flashed her an endearing smile before Chiron cleared his throat, clearing her head. The demigod looked up at him resentfully before crossing his arms and looking thoroughly sulky.

"Ben is 18, well past the time when demigods are brought to camp and claimed, he doesn't resemble any of the gods or goddesses, which is troubling. I called this meeting to-"

"Hey Thalia," the boy smirked, almost as if there were a joke that everyone but himself were missing out on, "You haven't changed much."

Annabeth followed his gaze to Thalia in confusion, they knew each other? What she saw on Thalia's face left her absolutely dumbfounded though; humiliation, anger and fear were flashing in the punk's electric blue eyes, fear that she didn't have when she fought Luke, fear that she didn't have even when she faced the army of monsters that killed her. The Thalia she knew wasn't afraid of anything, that Thalia stood solid while everything else crumbled, she was sarcastic, she was closed off, she was a pain in the ass, but she was never afraid. To her credit though, she recovered quickly, her face turned to a grim expression.

"Hey Ben."

Ben grinned, but there was something off about the smile, something mocking and sadistic and wrong about it as he looked down at Thalia, even as his face seemed polite and appealing. Suddenly, Thalia jerked out of her seat and marched determinedly towards the door, back stiff, and fists clenched. Startled, no one stopped him as Ben raced after her and cut her off. Stumbling back as he stepped in front of her, Thalia snarled and tried to push past him, but he grabbed her arm and pushed her against the wall roughly.

Thalia didn't move. She looked away from Ben as if just seeing him there caused her pain. He leaned forward and muttered something in her ear, a predator's smile on his face as she closed her eyes, and nodded gravely.

Ben looked back towards the table raising an eyebrow, as if enjoying the attention that he was getting, before turning his attention back to the girl he was pinning to the wall, Thalia again looked away, but made no move to get free.

Ben laughed, and reached out to touch her cheek, then her shoulder, tracing the length of her arm with his fingers. Anger and humiliation burned across Thalia's face as her gaze darted back to glare at him murderously, with a shout she shoved her hand into his chest, her whole fist crackling with lightning. Ben flew against the opposite wall, and crumpled in a heap to the floor trails of energy flitting over his body.

Then Thalia was gone.

Ben stood up painfully, and turned to face the table with the look of an injured animal, and for a split second, Annabeth wondered if he was truly insane, but that thought went out of her head as she caught his eyes, and was suddenly drained of energy. Chiron stuttered for a minute, but managed to choke out that the meeting was closed. Ignoring Percy's shout of protest, Annabeth ran from the room, after her friend.

"Thalia!"

She caught up to her about five minutes later. Thalia stood shivering beside her tree, her face red but blank. Annabeth grabbed the shorter, spiky haired girl into a bone crushing hug, burying her face into Thalia's shoulder. Thalia didn't hug her back, but Annabeth didn't care, as long as she didn't push her off, it meant the hug was welcome. A tear ran down Thalia's cheek, even though her face remained emotionless.

Annabeth sat down with her, still holding the other girl in a hug, because she didn't know what else to do, Thalia had only cried once before, at least once in front of her. Thalia reached up to clutch Annabeth's jacket, but no more tears escaped her. Annabeth didn't speak, like always with Thalia, she had been taken by surprise, she didn't know what to do or what to say, because as much as she loved her friend, she didn't understand her, Thalia wouldn't let her.

Thalia wiped her eyes in disgust, she scowled at the mascara smudges on her hands as if she could burn them off with the heat of her gaze.

"It's okay to cry sometimes Thalia."

"Crying doesn't solve anything; it just messes up my eyeliner."

"Well, maybe if you didn't wear so much..." Annabeth joked weakly, giving her friend a sad smile, "why were you crying Thalia?"

Thalia shrugged, but looked up at her indignantly, "One tear doesn't count as crying."

"Thalia, why won't you tell me anything?"

There was silence. Thalia looked away, seeming to mull something over, Annabeth waited, as the seconds became minutes, she began to get frustrated, then Thalia spoke.

"Stay away from Ben, okay?"

"What?"

"Just... stay away from him." Thalia fixed her with one of her glares, but this time, it wasn't angry, but more like a warning, Annabeth found herself believing her.

"Okay."

After a long pause, Thalia spoke again.

"I want to... I'm ready to see him now."

"Who?"

"Luke."

"Now?"

"yep."

"Alright..."

They walked back to the big house. Everyone had cleared out, leaving them to walk alone. The silence between the two was suffocating. Annabeth had no idea what changed Thalia's mind, or what connection she had with Ben, or even how deep the connection she had with Luke was, and she was anxious about leaving Thalia alone in a room with Luke.

"Annabeth?"

"hmm?"

"Can you come in with me?"

"Why?"

"I'm going to try something, and I need your help," Thalia bit her lip, she seemed to stare past Annabeth as she spoke softly, "it could bring him back."

Annabeth gave her a wary look, she wasn't sure what was going on with Thalia, she was almost fed up with her secrets; the daughter of Athena hated being kept from knowledge of any kind. She opened the door, and stepped inside, with Thalia in tow. Luke was lying on the hospitable bed, his eyes were bruised and sunken, his lips were chapped, and his complexion was pale, even so he managed to look like an angel. A fallen angel.

Annabeth pulled up a chair on one side while Thalia walked slowly around to the other. Luke's head turned toward Thalia but didn't he open his eyes or move passed that. Thalia looked up at Annabeth with an eyebrow raised and an unreadable expression plastered on her face, Annabeth shrugged.

"I'm going to bring him back... and I need your help." Thalia said after a few minutes.

Annabeth was surprised, the tone of Thalia's voice was off, as if she was struggling to keep it neutral.

"What do you need me to do?"

Thalia took a deep breath before answering.

"I'm going to electrocute him," she said simply, quickly elaborating after seeing the look on Annabeth's face, "it won't hurt him, I mean, if I do it right, it'll just remind him of..."

Thalia trailed off looking down as a light blush crossed her face, Annabeth was again reminded of the other girl's secrets, but Thalia hurried on before she could say anything.

"If you smell burning skin, yell. If you see him move, yell. if I move my hand anywhere but from right here-" she put her hand on his chest, right over his heart "-yell. Do not touch me."

"Okay."

"You sure you want him back?"

"Don't you?"

"I don't know."

Thalia closed her eyes. Taking deep breaths, she bowed her head in concentration. A spark of electricity tentatively began making its way down her arm, hesitating at her hand, before skittering over onto Luke's chest, another followed, then another, until there was a steady stream of electricity working into Luke. Luke turned his head, and groaned, but not from pain. Thalia tipped her head back and clenched the rail of the bed in her other hand. Annabeth felt like an intruder in this intimate moment, watching Luke respond to each shock with eagerness, and Thalia clutching the rail as if to stop herself from moving.

Finally Luke's eyes opened, the sapphire blue met electric blue and some unspoken conversation ensued, as Annabeth watched Thalia's face grow softer, before hardening again. Luke's face looked pained for a minute before he broke into a smile.

"Didn't that bring back memories?"

And suddenly it was like Luke never left, and it was just the three of them, a family.

"Your scar is gone." Thalia told him, taking one of his wrists and pulling his hand up to his face to feel the fresh skin. He shrugged.

"I know."

Thalia took a step back, biting her lip, her expression unreadable. Luke's eyes followed her movement, and seemed to understand some hidden meaning behind it. Annabeth was again struck by how out of place she felt, like an outsider. That made her angry for a moment, but she brushed off the feeling, it wasn't logical to be jealous of Thalia. Luke gave Thalia a lopsided smile, but again, there was something behind the smile that Thalia understood and she didn't.

"What did it remind you of?" He asked softly, as if already knowing what the answer was.

"Regrets."

And with that harshly spoken last word, Thalia walked out of the room without a back ward glance, leaving Luke and Annabeth behind.

OKAY!

theres another one done ;)

tell me what you think so far perhaps?

thank you to the review-ers,

I did a little happy dance when i saw your reviews, i won't lie :3

NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON ;)