Famous last words. Nothing could stay perfect forever. Her parents had taught her how to care for Jason so that Thalia was able to help him when needed. These skills were later found vastly important in her and her brother's struggle. It began in late March, when her mother began asking for favors from her dad. Thalia still went to school, and everything was still fine. But one chore changed that all.

"Thalia, honey?" Ms. Grace called upstairs. "Could you get the garbage? The truck will be coming any minute."

"Sure," Thalia called back down. She tore herself away from her schoolwork. It wasn't actually that bad. They'd begun studying mythology in different cultures (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Hindu, etc.) and Thalia had found that she was quite significant in the subject.

She took out the garbage like she was supposed to, but when it hit the bottom of the outside bin she heard glass break in the bag, making her breath catch. Thalia didn't even have to glance in the bag to know what broke. She'd heard that sound often enough before. It was the sound of one of her mom's drinks (that she now knew was called either beer, wine, or champagne) being cracked and splintered.

Her mother had started to drink.

And when her mother had one drink,

She soon had more.

The next incident was in mid April. Thalia's parents had been fighting, and Zeus had stormed out. (No pun intended.) Thalia was crouched in a corner of her room, crying. It was a scary fight that they'd had. It was one of those fights that would make her mom drink. Once she was sure the dispute was over, Thalia wiped away her tears and tried to get to sleep, but it wouldn't come.

The next day at school, Miss Soleil brought her off to the side during break when she'd almost hit one of the other kids on the playground.

"Are you okay, Thalia?"

Thalia didn't say anything. She just looked down at the rubber ground beneath her feet.

"What happened?"

Thalia could feel tears battling their way out of her eyes, surfacing at the corners of her eyes, and finally running a fifty-meter dash to the end of her face, only to fall down the cliff to their deaths.

"Thalia, I will do whatever's in my power to help."

Thalia couldn't answer. The tears that had decided to cut the race short had dried on her face, and her sobs were choking her. All she could do was hug her teacher. That was all that needed to be said. It made Thalia feel better, just having someone there.

What finally drove Zeus out wasn't a fight; it was a war. There was no way that any amount of saying "sorry" or "I need you" would be able to fix it. It happened on the last day of May. The fights had gradually been getting more and more frequent; Zeus' visits becoming less frequent, Thalia's anger and fright building up inside of her more and more.

Thalia had sensed the final battle rousing, so she'd rescued her four-month-old brother, claiming that he was lonely. She readied a bottle of milk then brought him into her room, keeping him safely away from the skirmish, watching as he played as much as he could at that age.

When the shouts arose, the baby began crying. Thalia cradled him to her chest, bringing up her knees so that her forearms rested against her thighs. "Don't worry, Jason. I'm here. I'll protect you with my life. Part of me would die if anything happened to you. Sh, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here," she whispered soothingly to him. She began to sing a lullaby she remembered as if from a dream. It was in a tongue, but Thalia could understand it fine. It was filled with words of hope, thought that were unexplainable, and dizzying rivers of emotion. Though Jason was merely months old, he still managed to look inexplicably confused, as if Thalia were speaking a language from another galaxy instead of a language native to Earth.

Thalia didn't know where the song came from, but she supposed her father must have once sung it to her before he left the first time. She didn't know why she could understand the lyrics, either. Life had recently begun to become a jigsaw with pieces missing; mostly full, but with some holes that showed nothing.

Eventually Thalia heard the heavy footsteps of her father nearing. He wrenched open the door, most probably still furious. "Thalia," he said, "take care of your brother. I will see you soon enough, though I'm afraid only the Fates know exactly when that will be. I'm sorry, but all great heroes have had a troubling past. You will be one of the greatest among this generation. Jason as well."

"Daddy?" she whispered. But it was too late. He was gone for good.