Hey everyone! My shout-out of the week: check out SeaBreeze Daughter of Poseidon's story Nice To Meet You! I Beta it and it's fantabulous!
Hope you enjoyed, my emotions are still reeling from writing this!
"I don't wanna say I'm leaving/ I will stay until the weekend./ And you can take all your things/ The boxes and rings/ And get going…" ~ All The Pretty Girls by fun.
Thalia Grace sighs, turning off Welcome to Paradise (ironic, isn't it?), gathers her blue-laced suitcase, unwrinkles her black tank top, pulls down her black and white pinstriped shorts, and wiggles her toes in her clunky black sandals.
The small passenger jet was cramped, and the rings on each of Thalia's fingers made it tough to grip the seats. People pushed and shoved, trying to get out of this confined space. Some folks were so rude.
Electric blue eyes met duller colors as the gothic girl gave her signature wolf stare. This was going to be a very long first few weeks.
….
Thalia struts with her head held high, pretending her heart isn't aching from the loss of her friends, and signs autographs to a few shell-shocked eleven look at her with bright, shimmering eyes. The punk can't say that doesn't warm her body, but the lack of her friends makes her feel empty.
She may sound like a spoiled brat, but Thalia isn't used to not having a chauffeur waiting for her at the airport. She almost missed Dionysus. Almost.
Yeah, right. Like Artemis would send a limo. If she teaches women how to fight for themselves, why would she send them a ride from a hoity-toity chauffeur business?
So Thalia whistles at the top of her lungs, praying the Big Apple taxi whistle will work in Oakland.
Luckily, the whistle did work. Within two minutes, a rusty orange Ford rears to a stop in front of the punk. Coughing from the exhaust release, Thalia steps into the old taxi.
The taxi-driver has unkempt brown hair and youthful blue eyes. The sign above the mirror said 'Hermes', which was an unusual first name. Those blue eyes… Thalia recognized them from somewhere…
"Oh my god, you're Luke's dad, aren't you?" Thalia exclaimed, remembering her childhood best friend's bright blue eyes.
Hermes's eyes widen, and Thalia hears a sharp intake of oxygen.
"I beg your pardon?" Hermes snaps, or at least tries to. He seems more confused than anything.
"Luke Castellan? Your son? May Castellan, your ex-wife? Do they ring a bell?" Thalia's emotions hardened. She remembers Luke's resentment of his father, May's strange disorder, and her obsession with a man named Hermes.
"You may not speak to me like that. You may be an ultra-rich superstar and I may be a measly taxi driver, but I am your elder." Hermes's voice ran stone cold through Thalia's veins, hearing Luke's fury that bears an uncanny resemblance to Hermes's.
"You never answered my question." Thalia ignores Hermes's rant about elders, and demands answers.
"Yes, Luke is my son and May is my ex-wife. Are we done now?" Hermes groans, obviously irritated.
"No, we're not. You left Luke to fend for himself with a mentally disturbed mother. You are a monster, do you know that?" Thalia growls, not wanting to breathe the same air as Hermes.
"You don't know the story, girl. You wouldn't understand." The taxi driver says, swerving away from an eighteen wheeler.
"But do you know what I understood? Luke's pain of abandonment. His fear for his mother's life because she refused to go to an asylum." The electric blue eyed girl retorted, fed up with Hermes's vague answers.
"How was I supposed to know? I was never supposed meet the Castellans in the first place!" Hermes yells, voice cracking.
"How were you supposed to know? I'm not sure, maybe coming back to check on Luke?! You must've known there was something was off with May!" Thalia screamed back, sticking up for Luke like he was sitting next to her.
"It was my father, okay? Zeus." Hermes was going to continue, but Thalia interrupted him.
"Zeus?! Zeus Theodori?!"" Thalia shrieks, praying that her suspicions were incorrect.
"Uh, yes. That is his name…" Hermes responds slowly, eyes narrowed.
"Oh my god, this is so freaking messed up." Thalia groans and drops her head to her knees, a sudden wave of nausea overcoming her.
"What the heck are you talking about, Thalia?" Hermes was looking at her like she was crazy.
"You're my… you're my… my…." Thalia stutters.
"Just say it!" Hermes snaps, breaking under the pressure.
"You're my brother." Thalia whispers.
"Wait, what?" Hermes eyebrows were scrunched together.
"My dad's Zeus." Thalia murmurs, sighs, and then puts her head back into her hands.
"Oh, well… um…. My mother was Maia Agnes and my father was… unknown. My mother was involved with some gangs in the New York area and mysteriously disappeared one afternoon and never came back. At the age of two, I was adopted by Zeus and treated as one of his own children." Hermes mumbles, uncomfortably reciting it like he was reading it out of book.
"So pretty badly. Am I right?" Thalia says, almost wistfully.
"Uh, no. Zeus was the best father I could ask for, for a while." Hermes says in confusion.
"Whatever. Enough with the sob story, why are you blaming Zeus for leaving Luke and May?" Thalia rolls her eyes, needing to understand why he left Luke.
"So, the Theodoris are extremely powerful and wealthy right?" Hermes says, eyes flitting like he's extremely wary.
Thalia nods, waving for him to continue.
"And Zeus wanted to create as much… offspring as he could to make sure there were enough heirs and employees for the business. So he ordered only one year for each family after the baby was born so you could find another suitable… match. I tried to sneak back from time to time to the Castellan's, knowing May was going through a hard time, watching my son grow to be a young man, but Zeus found out. He was furious, and kicked me out of the business until I could earn one hundred fifty thousand dollars. So here I am, a taxi driver since I never got a college degree. Whoopee." Hermes spoke quickly, like he was trying to get over the topic fast.
"Oh," was all Thalia could say. What could you say? Zeus was as much of a jerk to Hermes as he was to Thalia. He was as much of a victim as she was.
After many awkward minutes, Hermes announces that they had arrived. It was a castle, with Grecian columns and squeals of girl echoing outside of Artemis's sorority.
Hermes and Thalia get out of the taxi, Hermes helping her get her many bags together.
Thalia thanks him, tips him, and says goodbye to Hermes. She takes a deep breath, ready to walk to her new home when something catches her wrist.
Hermes is looking at her with wide, watery eyes.
"Do you know Luke's number, or address or anything?" Hermes asked in a raspy voice, almost pathetically.
"No, I'm sorry. The last I heard from Luke is before I left for California, a note that he was running away and not to go looking for him." Thalia closed her eyes, blocking the tears and the memories of that awful day.
Hermes shook his head and entered the car.
The last image of him Thalia had seen was of him wiping a tear off his face with his grimy sleeve.
….
Thalia Grace stares at the huge castle and sees a girl walking toward her.
Wonderful. The girl who ruined her life was here.
….
Hope ya liked it!
Next Update: 8/9