Chapter Six: I Road Trip With My Ex

Zoë Nightshade

"Getting kind of cozy there, Zoë?" Phoebe asked with a wink.

I could feel my face burning, blushing. "It is not what thou thinks."

"So you and Thalia didn't reconcile?"

"Well... we may have. A bit."

She nudged me. "See, it's a good thing that I talked to her."

"What?"

Phoebe looked panicked. She covered her mouth. "Oops."

"What did you say?" I asked, trying for a calmer tone of voice.

"I... um..."

"What did you say?"

"Sheesh, I just told her that you didn't hate her. She said something about you hating her, so I told her you didn't, you know? And I told her she should apologize."

"She still has not gotten around to that," I muttered.

"Whoa." Phoebe blinked. "Holding hands before a full apology's been made? Zoë, girl, you've got it bad."

I grunted. "It is hard not to. Thalia is fascinating." More than fascinating. That is too light a word, in all honesty.

Phoebe smiled. "Come on. Let's go inside and get some sleep. Bianca told me we have a big day tomorrow."

"Yes. Oh!" I remembered. My pack appeared on my back, and I pulled the special shirt that the Hermes cabin leaders asked me to deliver. "Master Stoll and Master Stoll wanted me to give this to you," I said, handing it to her.

Her eyes lit up. "Fall Hunting Tour 2002! Sweet!" Without hesitating, she checked to see that nobody was watching. I myself turned around and gave her privacy as she slipped the standard Hunter uniform blouse off, only to replace it with the collectible shirt. "Perfect fit!" she announced. "How do I look?"

"Happy."

Phoebe laughed, and we slipped into our cabin together.

Bianca and the others were already asleep. "Hey, see you in the morning, fearless leader," Phoebe said as she climbed into her bunk. I pulled up my own silver sheets and tucked myself in.

I woke to screaming, loud, horrible screaming. I raced to Phoebe's bunk, where she was writhing in pain. Her skin was covered with sores and hives, and the air smelled like grass around her. "Centaur blood!" I hissed. "What is this?"

"The shirt!" she gasped between screams.

"Take it off if thou can!"

In great pain, she removed the shirt, and I saw what I had missed originally. The inside of the tee shirt was coated in a golden-red sap that was, indeed, centaur blood. "I am so sorry," I told her. "I should have looked."

"Not your fault," she managed.

"Yes. It was. I have failed thee."

She grimaced and shook her head. "Hermes boys."

By now, the rest of the cabin was awake. "Magia, Sabina... take Phoebe to the Big House. This recovery will be long and hard. She needs to stay there for a few weeks until she is better."

"But what about Artemis?" Phoebe cried.

I looked into the eyes of my best friend and best tracker. "The best thing thou can do for our Lady is rest. It would not do to have her short a handmaiden when we save her."

"True," Phoebe smiled. "Especially me. I'm downright irreplaceable."

The twins led Phoebe to the Big House. The other Hunters looked to me for instruction. "Return to sleep," I told them. "We all have long days ahead, questing or not."

Most of my sisters obeyed. They each retreated to their personal beds. However, Bianca pulled on my blouse. "Zoë," she said. "I can't sleep after that. I'll catch a nap in the car, okay?"

I nodded. "Then come, Bianca. We have much to discuss."

The two of us walked out of the cabin, through the camp, only stopping at the dining area. "What's gonna happen to Phoebe?" Bianca asked, upset.

"She will rest, and get better."

"Can't they cure it?"

"It cannot be cured. Not quickly, at any rate."

"But how did it happen?"

I growled at the thought. "A foolish prank- those Stoll brothers from the Hermes cabin. Centaur blood is like acid, everybody knows that. They sprayed the inside of that Artemis Hunting Tour tee-shirt with it."

"That's terrible!"

I sighed. "She will live, but she will be bedridden for weeks with horrible hives. There is no way she can go. It is up to me and thee."

"But the prophecy!" Bianca argued. "If Phoebe can't go, we only have four. We'll have to pick another."

No! Nobody else is destined to go on this quest! We must not choose another! "There is no time," I said, making an excuse. "We must leave at first light. That's immediately. Besides, the prophecy said we would lose one."

Bianca gave me a look. "In the land without rain, but that can't be here."

It is not. "It might be!" I argued, more with myself than with Bianca. "The camp has magic borders- nothing, not even weather, is allowed in without permission. It could be a land without rain."

"But..."

Oh, why not just tell her the truth, Zoë? "Bianca, hear me. I... I can't explain, but I have a sense that we should not pick someone else. It would be too dangerous. They would meet an end worse than Phoebe's. I don't want Chiron choosing a camper as our fifth companion, and I don't want to risk another Hunter." When I'm dead and gone, it will be bad enough on Lady Artemis. Why add to her pain?

There were a few beats of silence, then Bianca said, "You should tell Thalia the rest of your dream."

"No. It would not help." Why should I give her reason to hate me? More reason, I should say. Why should I tell her about my family, that I must confront them, that I will likely perish?

"But if your suspicions are correct about the General..."

"I have thy word not to talk about that!" I cried. "We will find out soon enough. Now come, dawn is breaking."

We hustled back down from the dining pavilion. We were nearly down when I heard breathing, very close. I concentrated, my Hunter senses trying to pinpoint the source of the nearby breathing. Slowly, I reached for my bow, ready to take out whatever dared to watch me.

"The lights of the Big House are on!"

Bianca's words broke my concentration. "Hurry!" she added.

I followed her away from the pavilion and back into Artemis's cabin. By the time we got there, my sisters were up and about again. "You going, Zoë, Bianca?" Jenn asked. "It's going to be light soon."

"Just grabbing our packs," Bianca answered. "How's Pheeb?"

Jenn shrugged. "Well, she's in pain... but last I heard, Chiron decided that it was only mild. Between the fact that it was a bit diluted and our healing abilities, she'll be up in about two weeks. Not at all bad, considering."

"That is good. I entrust thee and thy sisters to take care of her, emotionally as well as physically, when Bianca and I are gone. Spread the word, please, Jenn."

She saluted. "On it."

Bianca handed me my bag, and we sprinted to the meeting point, where Thalia stood. She did not see us; she was concentrating on the lone pine tree, stroking it with one hand. She was moving her mouth silently, but her face was at such an angle that I could not read her lips. I frowned, wondering what she was doing.

"Hi, Thalia," Bianca said.

Thalia looked sharply over. "Hi," she said, her voice a little annoyed. "It's light. You two were nearly late."

"Sorry," I apologized.

Chiron trotted up the hill. "Zoë, Thalia, Bianca... where's Grover?"

We looked at Thalia for an answer. She shrugged. "I dunno. He said he'd be here."

"I'm here! I'm here!" someone bleated. From behind us, I saw the satyr tromping up the hill, out of breath. "Sorry! I got caught up in the woods, Juniper needed some assistance... not that you guys... girls... need to worry about Juniper or anything, the mission is more important..."

"Will thou please stop blubbering so that we may begin before the solstice?" I asked.

Chiron frowned. "Bickering isn't the solution. 'Campers and Hunters combined prevail,' remember?"

"Speaking of..." Thalia asked, "where's Phoebe?"

My face darkened. "I'll tell thou on the way."

The centaur nodded and handed me the keys to the camp van. "I'd prefer that you not get our van blown up, but this is, after all, a demigod and Hunter mission, so I know that might be impossible. Zoë, you're driving. You and Thalia are our combined quest leaders. Do either of you have a problem with that?"

"Nope."

"No," I responded.

"Then may the gods be with you. Hopefully literally, when you return." Chiron cracked a small smile at his cleverness, then dismissed us with a nod.

We climbed down the hill and boarded the van, I in the driver's seat, and Thalia next to me. Bianca took the second row, where, as she had planned, she promptly fell asleep, and Grover did the same on the back row. I placed the keys in the ignition and began to drive, heading into Manhattan. "We could really use an idea of where to go," I muttered.

"Let him sleep some," Thalia advised. "I'll navigate. We can keep each other awake."

For some reason, my mind would not let that comment be taken innocently. I blushed. "Well. Thalia... what have the last seven years been like for thou? You seem young for thy age."

She frowned and hung her head. "That's 'cause I am."

"What?"

"When you and I... separated... we wandered around for maybe another six months. Then Grover found us. Told us we were old enough to begin training. He tried to lead us to camp, but he wasn't good at it. He got lost, and after a few instances of this, the monsters caught up. I... I played distraction so Luke and Annabeth would be safe. I would have died from it, but then Dad took pity. He turned me into a tree, that pine on the top of Half-Blood Hill."

I gasped. "Then how is thou..."

"Luke poisoned me."

"Then thou should be dead! What is this miracle that allows you to be human again?"

"Percy," she said softly. "Percy found the Golden Fleece, along with Annabeth and Grover, and a girl from Ares cabin, Clarisse la Rue. They were very brave. When the Fleece was placed on me, the magic worked to expel anything that wasn't supposed to be there naturally. Like me."

If I could have looked at Thalia without taking my eyes off the traffic going into the city, I would have. However, I finally had an opening into the city, and I had to take it.

"What about you, Zo?" she asked. "Bet the Hunters have had all manner of amazingly awesome adventures."

"Not anything greater than usual, up until now," I said. "We found Jenn two years after thou left us. She is an interesting girl; mortal, but incredibly interested in mythology. Had she not been female, I have no doubt Athena would eventually have taken a liking to her. She is now our fastest runner." I cracked a smile. "She was crucial to beating thy team in capture the flag."

I would have bet a million drachmas that Thalia was pouting. "Thanks for bringing that up," she said.

"We had an interesting run-in with a group of koboloi who posed as Lord Dionysus in order to confuse us. Half of the Hunters refused to even raise their bows in fear that one of them was the real god. Later, we went on a wild goose chase for the Cadmean Vixen, before Phoebe and Jenn remembered that it had been cast into the stars long, long ago. That was not so funny, except in hindsight..."

Thalia laughed softly. "Sounds like you guys have a lot of fun."

"We do," I said. "Oh, Thalia! We could have been sisters."

"Sisters," she sighed. "Now that's just not the best term at all."

Her lips brushed my cheek and I shivered. "I've missed you, Zoë," she said. "But we were never destined to be sisters."

"You could have been a Hunter, though. We could live forever, together. Like the stars."

"You're a star, not me. You'll be the one twinkling forever. I'm... I'm destined to go out. Artemis is lost. I can't recant my decision now. Even if I could, I doubt she'd take it."

"I think that she would," I said desperately. "We will find her and ask."

There were moments of silence. "Okay," Thalia whispered eventually.

Except for that word, there was no more speaking until we were at the Maryland border. Thalia, too, fell asleep- I got the feeling that she rarely rose so early.

"Morning!" Grover yawned eventually. "Where's breakfast?"

"In the rest stop we shall break at as soon as the others rise."

That took only about half an hour. Thalia was a light sleeper, I knew, and began to get up as soon as Grover spoke one word. Within fifteen minutes, Bianca was well-rested, and needed only to use the restroom.

I pulled over at the first stop I saw. "Five minutes," I said. "Go relieve thyselves and get thee some breakfast. Meet me at the front of the store so we may purchase our meal."

I went to the back quickly, eager to get some coffee and one of the fresh blueberry muffins I saw advertised. While grabbing one, I saw Thalia next to me, reaching for a chocolate donut. She leaned over, to whisper in my ear. "I took the liberty of asking Grover to do a tracking spell," she informed me. "He'll tell us when he gets out of the restroom."

We walked back to the front with our food, where Grover and Bianca waited. "Zoë!" he exclaimed. "The... err... map... told me that we needed to continue south."

"South?" I exclaimed. "Not west?"

"South," he confirmed.

"I don't believe this. Surely thou art a new tracker and not so good at it yet?"

Thalia's eyes burned. "Zoë... do you think I'm lying when I say Grover's good at this stuff?"

Too late, I remembered that Thalia was fiercely loyal, and she may have taken that as an insult towards Grover. Quickly, I paid for the food, eager to get back in the van before she truly blew up.

"Grover, are you sure?" Thalia asked, purely for my benefit. Her voice was the slightest bit too sweet, almost spitefully so.

"Well, pretty sure. Ninety nine percent. Okay, eighty five percent."

I shot Thalia a look, as if to say "See?"

"And you did this with acorns?" Bianca asked.

"It's a time-honored tracking spell," Grover explained before continuing his muddled explanation. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I did it right."

"DC is about sixty miles from here. Nico and I... we used to live there. That's strange, I'd forgotten."

"I dislike this," I said, desperately trying to explain myself to Thalia. "We should go straight west. The prophecy said west."

"Oh, like your tracking skills are better?" Thalia snapped.

That did it. I loved Thalia, but to insult my skills was to insult my mistress. "You challenge my skills, you scullion? You know nothing of being a Hunter!"

"Oh, scullion? You're calling me a scullion? What the heck is a scullion?"

"Whoa, you two, come on! Not again!" Grover cried.

Bianca sighed. "Grover's right, DC is our best bet."

If my own sister was going to gang up on me, I would have to surrender. "Very well. Let us keep moving."

However, the spirit of grumpiness had already fallen. "You're going to get us arrested, driving, I look closer to sixteen than you do," Thalia muttered.

"Perhaps, but I have been driving since automobiles were invented. Let us go."

We climbed back into the van and continued in an angry silence.

Where do I stand with her? I wondered.

Author's Note: That was a big chunk of pure original content; what did you think? Pretty good? Bad? Review with your opinions, please!