In this chapter, Thalia meets a girl who joins her quest for a little bit. I think you'll like her! :)
Thalia pushed aside brambles, cursing in Latin. She wasn't used to traveling alone. Without Phoebe or Alexis, another one of her favorite Sisters, she was weak.
No, she told herself, I'm not weak, nor will I ever be. I am the daughter Zeus; I cannot be defeated.
But she had been, nine years ago.
She pushed that painful memory aside, focussing on the thought of Luke. She /would/ see him again. That was really all that mattered.
Thalia jumped suddenly, hearing movement in the bushes around her. She pulled out her silver sword (a gift from Artemis), never one to hesitate.
A small figure emerged from the bushes. it was a girl, around the age of nine, with red hair in a messy braid down her back to her waist. Her eyes were green and fierce and she wore all black. A nail gun was held in her right hand, and her left was a fist.
Thalia's expression softened slightly upon sight of the young girl. "Hi," she said, easing up on the steel in her voice without completely extracting it. As far as she knew, the girl could be a monster.
But monsters didn't carry nail guns.
The redhead's eyes widened and she held her nail gun as if she were about to fire. "Get back, monster!" she yelled.
Thalia laughed. This girl had gut; a perfect demigod, if that's even what she was. "I'm Thalia Grace," she continued. "Who ate you?"
The girl didn't loose her grip on the nail gun. "Amara Ashlee," she said, almost as flatly as Thalia's sarcasm tone. "I'm a demigod. You monsters just /love/ to kill us; rip us limb from limb and devour our flesh." Amara took a step forward and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Am I making you hungry, monster?"
"Actually, I'm a demigod, too," Thalia responded. "A daughter of Zeus even."
Amara's eyes widened. "Truly?! I'm only a daughter of Demeter. But I did learn how to strangle people with vines," she said thoughtfully.
Thalia put her arm around her new friend's shoulder. "Amara, I think you and I are going to get along /just/ fine," she said with a grin.
It was later that night when they came.
Thalia had expected it, though. You can't write the goddess Artemis and her Hunters a note saying you quit and expect them not to find you. She blinked and found herself face to face with Alexis. Alexis had blonde hair, green eyes that were almost always narrowed, and wore midnight blue, very different from Thalia's spiky black hair, icy blue eyes, and punk style.
But their freckly noses were about the same.
"You're in trouble," Alexis said, stretching out the word and smirking. "Artemis is pretty ticked."
At that very moment Artemis pushed her way through her cluster of Hunters towards Thalia. She was in the form of a ten year old (which was kind of unnerving for Thalia to have to look up to a girl she had to crouch to see) with copper-colored hair and fierce grey eyes that reminded her of Annabeth.
"Thalia Grace!" Artemis exploded. "What the heck is Wong with you?!" she then proceeded to cuss her out, and a couple of the younger, newer recruits plugged their ears and winced.
Thalia grimaced. "I'm sorry, Sister Artemis," she apologized. "But-"
"No buts, Thalia! When you took the Oath, you agreed to be a maiden. Now you say you wish to seek out a... A /boy/, who you say is only a friend?!" Alexis was right; Artemis /was/ ticked. "Sister," The goddess said softly, after taking a breath to calm down a bit. "Please. Men are vile and trashed the earth enough. We don't need them walking into /our/ lives."
"But what about the Trials?" Thalia blurted.
"Come," Artemis seethed. "How you found out about the Trials I do not know, but we will discuss this elsewhere."
The goddess led the daughter of Zeus far away from the Hunters, who were introducing themselves to a very overwhelmed Amara, who was beginning to murmur cuss words to her nail gun.
"Thalia, the Trials are difficult. You do know that, right?" She sounded truly concerned.
She nodded. "Yes, Sister. But Luke will help me through them."
Artemis sighed. "About Luke..."
"I know he was against us and almost made me destroy Olympus, but Percy got word to me that he had been possessed by Kronos! I was so excited I cut him off there! Luke shouldn't be bad anymore, Sister Artemis, Kronos is gone!" Thalia beamed.
"But..."
"Sister, please," Her voice was pleading. "Let me try to complete the Trials. We can! I promise!"
Artemis sighed. "Fine. You will find Luke in the Underworld. But you will need this." She reached around her neck and pulled out a silver crescent moon pendent on a black leather cord. "Present this to Charon and Hades. They will understand what to do."
Thalia smiled in relief. "Thank you, Sister. But... Why is Luke in the Underworld?"
Artemis adverted her eyes. "He is... Receiving his punishment for last year." She bit her lip.
Thalia grinned and ran off to meet up with Amara.
Artemis sighed and closed her eyes. She didn't know why, but something kept her from telling Thalia that Luke was dead.
Thalia was a little irritated with Phoebe and Alexis. Because of their 'kindness', Amara now had a sapphire-encrusted dagger. And now she wouldn't shut up about it.
"And look at the way the sun catches the blade!" She gasped.
Thalia groaned. "Sure." Then /she/ gasped. "Oh! We're here!"
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