Author's Note: (You are now entering the Twilight Zone, where author's notes aren't annoying!) Hey, what's up? It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry I couldn't update regularly, like I told you, I was on vacation, but now I'm back so here's chapter 13!Oh, and thanks for the reviews! I love reading them :)
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER HAS A DREAM WHERE THALIA RELIVES A TERRIBLE MEMORY. THIS MEMORY IS VERY SAD, AND I'M JUST WARNING YOU NOW.
Thalia hated this. She hated a lot of things, but this was the top of the list. Well, you know, at the moment. That stupid bed in that stupid cabin was the only escape. She hated the way it felt. To be weak, and powerless. And there was nothing she could do to stop this feeling from creeping into her mind. And she hated that Artemis even thought to kick her out. After all, she had given up everything and joined her stupid hunt. She was angry. Very angry. Mostly at Artemis. She didn't want anybody thinking they could play with her emotions like that, even a God. She wanted to get revenge on Artemis, make her feel the way she did; discarded, unwanted, and unneeded. But she was a Goddess. A pretty powerful one at that. If Thalia even tried anything she would be turned into a boar or something. You know, something they could hunt down. She'd seen it happen, and it wasn't pretty.
She was so frustrated. So she ended up on the floor that night. Why? She was so mad, she burnt her bed to ash. Luckily, the cabin was made of stone, and couldn't be burnt as well. "AAARRRRRRHHHH! I HATE THIS CAMP!" Thalia cried.
She pushed her self up. Luckily, there as a large surplus of beds right there in Zeus cabin. Good thing Zeus could keep it in his pants. She flopped down miserably on the closest. I hate this bed, I hate this cabin, I hate this camp, I hate the hunt, I hate my LIFE.She thought. It didn't take long to fall asleep because she was so tired already.
The dream started like this. This place was somewhere Thalia recognized. A place she never wanted to go back to. Her mother's house from when she was a kid. Thalia's dream-self groaned. Just beautiful. A trip down memory lane. She thought maybe after her mother's death, they would've cleaned the place up, but no. It was still a wreck. But ... there was something weird about it. It looked too much like it used to. She would of thought it would at least have police tape around the front door. But it looked ... the same. Decrepit, but the exact same ... weird.
She went inside to see something that made her jump back. A 4-year-old version of herself playing with some toy. It didn't make any sense, since demigod dreams weren't from the past, but it was happening. Wait, that was a teddy bear in her hand. They didn't have enough money for a teddy bear, Thalia remembered her Mom telling her ... Then she remembered. She had managed to keep it a secret until ... uh oh. 'Hey, kid. Hide that thing now, Mom comes home early from the supermarket! Come on, go!' Thalia warned her past self. Too bad she couldn't hear herself.
"Kay Cubbles, now we're going to play superheroes! I'll be the super hero, an' you be the sibekick." Little Thalia told her bear. Thalia remembered having trouble with the letter 'd'.
'Seriously. You can go play in your room, okay? Mom's coming back any minute! Just GO NOW!' Thalia tried lifting her up by the armpits, but her hands just went right through.
"We're gonna be heroes! We'll save the worlb from the evil boctor ... uh, evil! Yeah. Br. Evil is trying to kill all the kitties and boggies! We gotta stop him!"
'Okay, that's cute and everything but, you. Have To. Go. NOW! Please, this is when you start to realize everything sucks. Arrrgh! This is so useless, you can't hear me, can you? ... Or maybe you're ignoring me ... Hey me, I've got cookies!' Nothing. She didn't respond. '... Okay uh, oh! I've got !' Still nothing. 'Gods, if you could hear me, you'd give in to those.'
The 4-year-old Thalia was racing around the room fighting invisible enemies. Thalia would have been embarrassed if anyone else could see this. "Woo hoo! We beat up the bab-guys, Cubbles! We're heroes! When my Babby (Daddy) hears what big heroes we are, he'll come back ... and we can be a family ... maybe Mommy will feel better with Babby here ..." Thalia grimaced at this. Such high hopes. Only to be crushed.
Just then, Thalia heard a car pull up in the drive way. 'Oh Gods, no. COME ON, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! GET OUT OF HERE! GO! RUN! PLEASE!'
Apparently, little Thalia hadn't heard the car, because she said, "... Come on, Cubbles. Let's play something bifferent. Oo, what 'bout space abventure? You like that game, Cubbles? ... Me too."
Both Thalia's dream-self and 4-year-old Thalia heard the key jangling in the slot. "No! Cubbles, hibe!"
Too late. Thalia's mom slammed the door open. She was drunk. Again. She gasped, "You little Brat! You stole a toy!"
"N-no, I-I-I founb it. On my birthbay, by the park. It was wrapped, an' it hab my name on it and everything!" She defended. What? I don't remember that ...
"LIAR! GIVE ME THAT BEAR!" Thalia's mom screamed.
'WAIT! I remember now, she's telling the truth! Just check her trash, the tag should still be in there, it has my name on it! I just don't remeber who it was from ...'
"NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE CUBBLES! HE'S MY BESTEST FRIENB I EVER HAB EVER!" Thalia screeched.
"Your bestest friend, huh? Well then that's different. I'LL BURN HIM! NOW GIVE ME THAT BEAR, BRAT!"
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! I WON'T LET YOU! HE'S MINE!" She ran into the bathroom and locked the door.
'Bad move, Kid. You're cornered.' Thalia remembered sadly.
"I'LL KILL YOU AND THE BEAR, IF YOU DON'T COME OUT HERE!" Thalia's mom said, stumbling over to the door.
"NO, YOU WON'T BECAUSE I WON'T LET YOU! CUBBLES IS MINE! He's the mostest special bear ever, a-an' he protects me at night, ..."
Thalia's eyes widened. She remembered this speech, and she mumbled along with her past-self. 'And he makes everything all right because daddy gave him to me. It even said so on the tag on my fourth birthday.'
Thalia's mom stopped banging on the door. "Your father? No way, you're lying so you can keep the ******* bear."
"No I'm not! It said in a fancy writing, th-that I could read! It's Babby's (Daddy's) special writing."
"That's the worst lie I ever heard! You're too stupid to read anything!" Thalia's Mom screamed.
'I'm dyslexic, you jerk! It was ancient Greek, and I bet you know it! I hate you so much!' Thalia yelled to the Mom who couldn't hear her.
"But it's true!"
"I've had enough of your lies! GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW, OR I'LL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING I MIGHT REGRET!"
'Liar. You never regret anything you did to me.' Thalia told her, tears welling up in her eyes.
It was quiet for a second, then the 4-year-old Thalia poked her head out of the bathroom. "Like what?"
"Not this." Thalia's mom ripped open the door and snatched the bear from the Thalia's tiny hands. The 4-year-old tried jumping desperately, all the while screaming and crying. It was so painful to watch, Thalia turned away in disgust and utter sadness, tears glistening in her eyes.
'Why'd you have to drink mom? ... Please just tell me ... All my life I tried to figure it out, but I never could ...' Thalia whispered, her back turned to the now burning bear. Thalia's mom had taken out a lighter and dangled the child's toy over it until it's leg caught fire. Her cruelty when she drank had no boundary.
"CUBBLES! NO! MOMMY HELP CUBBLES! I'LL BE THE BESTEST LITTLE GIRL EVER, JUST HELP CUBBLES! PLEASE" The little girl begged.
"See what happens when you hide things from me, Thalia? Your precious bear is up in smoke because of you!" She said throwing the bear across the room into a dieing potted plant. That wasn't a good idea obviously, since she just set the thing aflame. Some of plant's leaves caught too, but Thalia's mom didn't notice. She stumbled out of the room, to go feed her addiction, and Thalia rushed to the sink and turned the tap. She brought out one of her sippi cups, and unscrewed the cap. She filled it to the very top, and ran over to the plant. She poured it on the plant and ran back for more water. She continued this about four or five times, until the fire was completely out. Then she cautiously fished around in the bottom of the bowl. She slowly pulled out the remainder of the bear, her bottum lip trembling. The one leg was completely gone, and the rest thankfully just singed. Stuffing was laced with dirt from the plant.
"Cubbles ... b-bon't worry, I've got you. I-I'll clean you up, an' put tape on that leg, an' everything'll be good, okay?" She cooed, tears dripping onto the bear. "Mommy won't hurt you eva again ... like she hurts me ..."
The dream thankfully finally ended. Thalia's eyes flew open. She thought,
What the Hades was that? I thought demigod dreams were supposed to be from the present, not the past. And ... Zeus, he ... he gave me that bear. He put it by the place he knew I'd go ... What does that mean? ... He's still not around for me, but ... does he care? Did he?
Percy had it all planned out. A fool-proof plan to win back Annabeth, and solve all their money problems. He had stayed up extra late to think this one up, but it was finally ready. Tomorrow he would put it in action. It would be dangerous, and there was a great chance he wouldn't come back, but if he could pull it off, everything would work itself out somehow. It had to. It would. If not, he'd be all out of options.
D-o-n-e spells done! Oh, and my mom owns a daycare, and I haveheard a kid who can't say the letter 'd', so I'm not bluffing, she's based completely off her. Even the bear's name is based off her bear. She always comes up to me and says, Look at my Cubbles! She's so cute. By the way, Jamaica is such a beautiful place. So alive, and full of wonderful plant-life. Oh, and along with England, they too drive on the other side of the road. Who knew? The first few times we drove here, I freaked out because I thought we were going to crash into on-coming cars. Oh, and a pack of Skittles, in Jamaican money, is around 50 bucks. Translated to American, that's less than a dollar, but still ... wow ...
P.S. I loved it there, but I'm glad to be back home. Especially since lizards and cockroaches don't come into your house here. I'm not freaking kidding, they come into your house and make it their own.