2. Lee

Thalia rarely saw Apollo after that, except when he turned up during the day to bug his sister. Each time she saw him, however, he seemed a little lighter, and she put their conversation away in the recesses of her mind.

Until, that is, one hot summers' afternoon, when one of the hunters came bolting into the campsite, wide-eyed and out of breath.

"Apollo …" she gasped out, as she reached Thalia.

Thalia sighed, reaching out to steady her. "Lady Artemis isn't here, Ariana. He's going to have to …"

"No," Ariana said, catching her breath. "He wants to talk to you. He's not happy."

Thalia frowned. "Right. Erm, tell Lady Artemis where I am, if she gets back before I do."

Ariana nodded, and Thalia strapped on her bow and strode into the woods. She found Apollo in a clearing not far from the campsite, his back to her and his head bowed.

"Where is he?"

Thalia started at the sudden question. "Who?"

Apollo turned to face her, his eyes burning with anger. "You know who. Where is he?"

Thalia swallowed hard. "Luke? I – I don't know. I haven't seen him in months."

"But you have seen him, haven't you?" Apollo asked. "Since we last talked?"

Thalia took a deep breath. "Yes. He approached me one night while I was on patrol. He asked me to join him. I told him I wouldn't and that the next time I saw him I would put an arrow through his heart." She looked at him for a few minutes, read the emotion in his eyes, and her heart sank. "I should have done it then, shouldn't I?"

For a moment, Apollo didn't answer. Then the anger bled from his eyes, leaving nothing but pure, unadulterated pain. "Kronos attacked camp. My son is dead."

The world seemed to vanish around her, her stomach swelling into her throat and her heart dropping to replace it. She had no idea what to do or what to say and, in the end, she didn't have to.

By the time her brain had kick-started again, her bow lay abandoned on the ground and her arms were wrapped around her half-brother's waist.

She could feel him shaking as he held her in what was probably a forbidden embrace, but a much needed one, judging by the tears that fell into her hair.

Soft footsteps behind her signalled another arrival, but to her relief, Artemis's voice was somewhere between bewildered and amused, rather than angry.

"Do I want to know?"

Only when Apollo released Thalia and lifted his head, did her eyes widen, all amusement vanishing. "Brother, what happened?"

Thalia squared her shoulders. "Lady Artemis, I need to request a leave of absence. There has been an attack on Camp Half-Blood and I need to check on my family."

Artemis looked at her brother. "Your children?"

Apollo shook his head and she reached out a hand to touch his arm. "Go, Thalia. We will keep camp here for a little longer."

Thalia bowed and whistled, her wolf bounding to her side, and they took off. Thankfully, they had made camp not that far from New York, and as they ran, she felt the blessings of both Artemis and Apollo landing upon her, almost propelling her to the camp border.

Peleus lifted his head, but settled, recognising Thalia's energy. She rested her hand against the pine tree, feeling her own spirit within it.

The borders had not been breached.

Her wolf whined and she patted his head, scratching behind his ear. "Guard the boundary," she said softly. "I will return."

Thalia jogged down the hill towards the house. The closer she got, the more she could see the chaos that had been left behind by the attack.

She scanned the scene for any sign of Annabeth or Percy, but her gaze fell first upon a group of kids clustered around something on the ground.

With a sinking heart, she recognised one of them as Kayla, a girl who had come in at a very young age, not long after Thalia herself had woken, and promptly been claimed as a child of Apollo.

She was crying.

The others must have been her brothers and sisters, and Thalia sped up, joining the group to see one of their brothers desperately trying to heal another.

Lee Fletcher was the oldest child of Apollo at camp. He was studying music at NYU, Thalia remembered, and he was the only person, before she had joined the Hunters who had tried to talk to her about Luke.

He had called Luke his best friend.

Lee's second-in-command, Michael, was crying as much as Kayla, but he was still trying to talk to the boy trying to heal Lee.

"Will … Kiddo, you need to stop … You'll burn out."

None of them had paid the slightest attention to Thalia's appearance.

Why should they when their brother was dying on the ground?

None of them wanted to stop Will – and with good reason. Now Thalia had a name, she knew this kid. He was young, yes, but he was the best Healer at Camp Half-Blood, and if they'd already lost one sibling …

Or had they?

Thalia looked around at the rest of Cabin 7. There didn't seem to be any missing faces there.

"Michael?" Thalia said softly.

Michael started, his eyes finally moving from Lee to land on her. "Thalia? What are you doing here?"

"Is the cabin all accounted for?"

Michael frowned in confusion, swiping at his streaming eyes, but nodded. "Yeah, we're all here."

Thalia nodded, leaning down to grab Will's arm. With the enhanced strength of a huntress, she dragged him to his feet, away from his big brother, breaking the connection.

"No! Please, I have to help him … I have to heal him, please you can't …"

"Will, listen to me," Thalia said firmly. "There is nothing you can do. He's dead."

Will glared at her angrily. "You don't know that!"

"But your father does," Thalia said, refusing to rise to it. "He came to find Artemis. He told us that his son was dead. I'm sorry, Will. Not even the greatest Healer can resurrect the dead."

Will seemed to crumble, and Michael caught him, passing him off to Kayla and another of their sisters.

"Thank you."

Thalia shook her head, staring down at Lee's motionless body. "Don't thank me, Michael. I should have killed him when I had the chance."

"No one blames you for that," Michael said, crouching beside his brother. "Could you help me get him into the infirmary? We've cleared out a treatment room for the … for the bodies."

Bodies.

More than one.

Thalia nodded, and they carried Lee's body through into the house. Michael gave Lee two drachmas for safe passage and they wrapped his body in a golden shroud.

There were no Athena shrouds, Thalia couldn't help noticing.

"How did they get in?" Thalia asked.

"The Labyrinth," Michael answered. Seeing her befuddled expression, he managed a very small smile. "Annabeth is probably your best bet. I think I saw her near the lake."

Thalia thanked him and fled the infirmary with a flood of relief, which only got bigger when she found Annabeth talking to Percy, both of them looking bruised, battered and exhausted, but very much alive.

Percy saw her first and opened his arms with a grin, and she didn't think twice about crashing into them.

"Twice in one summer, Jackson," she growled. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

Percy had the nerve to laugh, but she didn't release him, tugging Annabeth into the hug as well, resting her chin atop the girl's head.

"Thank the gods you're alright."

Percy's laughter died, and he pressed a kiss to her temple, something she would never allow any other boy to do.

Once she had assured herself of their continued existence, she released them in favour of interrogating them.

Between them, Percy and Annabeth told a story that had Thalia's mind spinning and, finally, her heart breaking.

"So he's really gone now?"

Annabeth nodded, staring at the ground. "When we found his body, I thought that was the worst but … then he opened his eyes."

Percy jumped to his feet. "I need to … I need to go and talk to Grover."

Annabeth sighed huffily as he left. "I don't know what's wrong with him."

Thalia did. It was obvious in the way Percy scowled every time Luke's name was mentioned (especially if it was by Annabeth) – just as it was in the way Annabeth looked like she wanted to kill something every time Rachel's name had been brought up.

However, she was a hunter, so she would leave the match-making to Aphrodite and her children – judging by the way two girls from Cabin 10 had sighed dramatically when Percy ran off, they probably already had it in hand.

Chiron offered Thalia the chance to stay for a few days, but she declined. She did not truly belong here anymore, and now that she was assured of her family's safety, it was time for her to return to her camp.

She bid everyone goodbye, collected her wolf from the base of the tree, rousing him from what appeared to be an excellent dream, judging from his grumbles, and they set off back in the direction of the hunters.

Even without the urgency of her earlier journey, they arrived back in record time.

In fact, Apollo and Artemis didn't seem to have moved since her departure, which they may not have done.

They were sitting on her log, Apollo's head on his sister's shoulder, and she was stroking his hair gently.

She looked up at Thalia's approach. "Report?"

"Several fatalities, a lot of injuries," Thalia answered. "Annabeth and Percy survived."

"Was it just Lee?" Apollo asked, lifting his head.

Thalia nodded, sitting down on his other side. "Michael accounted for the others. Will was trying to resuscitate when I got there."

Apollo flinched. "Was it bad?"

Thalia hesitated. Percy had seen what had happened to Lee, and it certainly matched up with the injury she had tried not to look at when she helped move him. "A giant …"

"How did a giant get into camp?" Artemis interrupted.

"The Labyrinth," Thalia answered tiredly. "Kronos led an army in. Apparently, there's an entrance in the woods."

"Wait, Kronos led an army?" Apollo asked, momentarily distracted.

"Luke's dead," Thalia said, forcing her voice around the lump in her throat. "Kronos needed a body."

Artemis cursed under breath – in English. Thalia couldn't help smiling at that. Apparently her hunters were as much of an influence on her as she was on them

"My son?" Apollo asked.

Thalia nodded. "He got hit on the head with a giant's club, it caved his skull in." She rested a tentative hand on his. "If it's any consolation, I don't think he even knew what hit him."

Apollo turned his hand over to grip hers. "Thank you."