Chapter Twenty-Four

Jane

"Percy Jackson?" I roll the name over my tongue, but it tastes weird in my mouth. "Should I know who that is?" Thalia sighs, and props her head on her hand. Something tells me I'm missing something very important. I haven't heard of any heroes in Ancient Greek times with that name, of course there was Perseus, but no one ever abbreviated it really. Jackson also seems like a very modern last name. I had made a point to research Greek myths since I often ran into monsters depicted in them, and Percy Jackson isn't ringing any bells.

"He's a son of Poseidon, and he might be the most powerful demigod alive." Thalia starts,and when I raise an eyebrow at her, she gives me a blank look, as if she's could miss the obvious question. Thalia's a lot of things, but she's not one for false modesty, and she's definitely not insincere, from my experience, if she has something to say, nothing is going to stop her from saying it.

"I can't really picture someone more powerful than you Thalia, you know, since you're: the daughter of Zeus, the lieutenant of Artemis, the best archer here, and, not to mention, that little detail of being immortal." I tick off, but Thalia's blank expression doesn't falter.

"Do you remember all the crazy weather and all the accidents in New York over the summer?" Thalia asks. Even though I have no idea where she's going with this, I think back on it, and have a vague recollection of an insane storm system wrecking havoc. It didn't really hit Phoenix though, so it was one of those out of sight out of mind situations. I'm pretty sure that was the time period before Zach and I were together. He was with that blonde girl Lindsay who wore a lot of see through shirts…

Thalia clears her throat and I nod quickly in response, a little blush creeping up my face. Day dreaming might not be the best plan now. It could be worse though, I could've gone off on a mental Zach tangent in front of Artemis. I could've gone on a rant about it too. Thankfully, that didn't happen and I can avoid that humiliation, at least for now.

"You wouldn't have been aware of it yet because of the mist," Right, the all-powerful mist which makes our lives simultaneously ten times easier and ten times more harder. "but there was a war going on in Manhattan." This I've heard a little about, just in passing or in hushed conversations about fallen hunters but I'm not totally oblivious.

"With Kronos and that son of Hermes, right?" Thalia flinches, and she closes her eyes for a second. I immediately regret opening my big mouth. Thalia was around for that war, she probably lost friends in the fighting , maybe even at the hands of the Hermes kid.

"Percy Jackson was the leader of our side, and he almost single-handedly won us the war."I swallow; picturing in my head the kind of leader it would take to take down the Titans,who have more power than even the gods. "He turned sixteen in the midst of it," Sixteen…sixteen?! I just turned sixteen, and I haven't exactly fought in a war yet. "He was also a very close friend of mine, and is dating a girl I consider a younger sister. I have no idea how she hasn't killed the bonehead yet, but I'm happy for them." Thalia smiles a little to herself at a memory that is clearly quite fond to her. I wonder a little what memories make me smile like that, but I don't get much time to think before Thalia refocuses.

"I knew him before I joined the hunt and we still keep in contact now. That's why Lady Artemis chose me to explain this topic to you, like most things, we have to follow extremely strict protocols as to our interactions." I nod, that makes sense. If Artemis is going to expect me to investigate Zach and Marcus, I need to know how I can do that without breaking my oath. It's not like my life wasn't complicated as it was, you know, being: a demigod with a strongly disliked and uncommon father, a hunter, and a leader of a task for Artemis. Thalia clears her throat and reaches across the space between us to gently place her hand on my knee.

"I get that it's different for you, I know that you and Zach were a thing before all of this happened, and I know neither of those boys have any idea who you are. But you can do this, it'll be tricky, but you can do this." She assures me, and looking at her determined face, an unfamiliar feeling washes over me.

Support is a strange thing. It building it means to hold in position so as to keep from falling, sinking, or slipping. As people with chaotic lives, we know it means more. It means being a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, and confidant to spill everything to. I haven't had that since I lost my mother. They way Thalia is looking at me now, something shifts inside of me, and I feel supported. I take a deep breath, and feel a tiny bit of tension leave my shoulders.

"If I'm not sure about something or whatever… could I ask you about it?" She grins at me, almost as if she expected that question. Something about that grin makes it a little easier to breathe, and I feel a little more the weight leave my shoulders.

"Of course." She waves it off, as if I shouldn't have even thought about it and the plows on, "Now you're not stupid, so you realize there can't be any sort of physical intimacy between you." I blush a little at the thought. Yeah, that might be just a tiny violation of the oath. "You're supposed to reject the company of men, but since the goal of this is to find the figurative needle in the haystack, and both of your suspects are male, we have to get a little more specific."

Thalia clears her throat and stares me down for a moment before continuing. "There can't be anything romantic, no glances, no feelings, no flirting, no gestures, not even a teeny tiny attraction." I swallow a little at that. "I get that there might be lingering memories where Zach is involved, but you can't even think about them, not when you're in such a precarious position." I nod in agreement resolving to keep my thoughts as pure as a Nun's. This should be interesting. "Do you think you'll be able to do that?" Thalia asks.

"I should be, Zach and I started as friends, so I should be able to go back to thinking of him like that," I remind myself; for a long time the most romantic claim I could make about him was that I wouldn't kick him in the groin without being provoked. I still say that suggesting we light a mouse on fire was a valid reason to kick him. Thalia nods, more to herself than me, and pauses for a moment to gather her thoughts.

"Naturally, you have to limit all physical contact." Thalia instructs and then grins to herself for a moment. "I hugged Percy once after a battle and I barely got out of that unscathed." It seems like such a happy memory for her, and I'm hit with irrational jealousy. Thalia has such a strong perspective on who she is, and seems so confident, all the time. Compared to her, I might as well be as secure as your average ten year old.

"No holding hands, no hugging, no arms around shoulders, no heads on shoulders, no ruffling of hair, no sitting on laps, no hands on knees or thighs, and for god's sakes, no kissing." Thalia continues rattling off, and then pinches the bridge of her nose on the last one."We lost a hunter in Minnesota because she kissed a guy dressed up as Santa Claus on the cheek," Thalia seems physically pained at the reminder of that incident. "Artemis took offense, as it was the second time the girl had displayed iffy conduct." Thalia adds, and having felt Artemis's offense firsthand, I pity that girl. "Ironically, she now spends her days as a reindeer, but that's beside the point." To me, it seems to be its own point, and since I don't want to be Jane, the red-nosed reindeer, or gods forbid something worse, I have to be extremely careful in the next few days.

"I get that you're new to the hunt, but you have to understand, anything that can even be brought into question as being a violation of the oath typically is. Everything you do around those boys has to be so platonic that they think you're their long-lost sister." Thalia eyes flash with that same electric intensity I've seen over and over since I joined the hunt, and a chill runs down my spine.

"So basically, no physical intimacy, no romantic thoughts, little to no physical contact in general, and act like their sister," I list off, and I don't think I missed anything so that should be a good sign. Thalia nods in approval, and smiles encouragingly to me before refocusing.

"Now, I want you to report to me nightly on new developments so we can create a game plan for how we can get this situation resolved. If neither of these two boys is the demigod we're looking for and a maiden's involved, then we have to get her out as quickly as possible." I start feeling a little more confident, now that I have Thalia on my side, but her next words stop that train of thought in its tracks. "Now you need to go see Artemis to give her an update, and if I were you, I'd be thinking very repentant thoughts."