Chapter 1: Thunderbolts (1/4)
Almost there, I just need to get to bed and pretend to be asleep. Or actually a nap. Zachariah thought as he sneaked inside his cabin on his tip toes.
He lived on Hermes' Cabin, a Cabin for Hermes' demigod children and unclaimed demigods. Which Zachariah was the latter.
His bed was close to one of the windows, which made it easier to sneak in and out. Although, he really needed to get in quickly and silently. He climbed through the window into the room that had a few other boys sleeping in it. The major downside of this cabin is fact that it's packed at all times. Luckily for him, he has an exclusive bed for himself.
The bed has his initials carved on them, which differentiates it from the other beds. There was a small mirror besides it which he used to check himself for any signs of a fight. If someone notices, he's screwed.
He took off his glasses which revealed his blue eyes. He didn't really need them to see, they were for another reason. Which was to hide his eyes, that had an unnatural blue color. But the glasses' lenses make them look like normal blue eyes. Everyone thought it was necessary, but he was kind of annoyed, since his eyes are considered as his best feature. Or his only good feature, since everything else about Zachariah's appearance could be described in a single word. Plain.
Absolutely nothing, just my ugly face. He thought as he started to take off his clothes and go to bed.
The space close to the window was his, there were some things in there. Like his posters of rock bands and some tech that he got on his trips outside of the camp.
After taking off his clothes, he laid on the bed with just white trunks and covered himself with the blanket. Zachariah was about to close his eyes to sleep. Only to be interrupted. "Hey, Zach." He heard someone whispering.
Zachariah opened his eyes to see who it was, it turned out to be one of his friends. Grover Underwood, who was supposed to cover for him. "Please, tell me that they don't know I left."
"Umm..." Grover made an embarrassed face, which signals that he didn't do a good job.
"Scale of one to ten, how mad were Thalia and Annabeth?" Zachariah asked, as he needed to know how bad he was going to get beat up by them.
"Ummm... Annabeth was a six, and Thalia was... a ... nine" The nine didn't sound very convincing, which made Zachariah even more nervous.
"Should I face them now... or tomorrow?" he asked with a worried face.
"Thalia is waiting for you, I suggest you don't make her wait any longer." Grover spoke in a genuinely worried tone.
Zachariah sighed.
Zachariah quickly put his clothes back on and made his way to Zeus's cabin to face Zeus's daughter herself. Okay, maybe she won't be too upset. He thought in worry. But as he got closer and closer, he could see her from afar. And she looked angry. Oh boy, she looks mad. "Ummm... do you think you ca-" Zachariah tried to ask Grover, but when he turned around to do it. He noticed that Grover is running away. "Coward!" Zachariah yelled at him. Although, maybe I should follow his example and run too.
"Zach!" He heard her yelling his name.
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to run. As he saw her approaching him with fire on her eyes, not literally, of course.
"Hey, Thalia, look I can explain- AAAHH!" Zachariah tried to talk his way out of the situation, but Thalia ignored his words and grabbed his arm, which sent a small amount of static shock throughout his body on contact. It wasn't enough to cause any serious harm, but it still hurted.
"I told you not to leave the camp by yourself! But you never listen!" Thalia yelled at him after he fell on the ground due to the static shock.
"Aahhhh." Zach just winced in pain. "What... is... the. .. deal... anyway?" He asked really slowly. Especially if you're just going to hurt me more than the monsters do. Zachariah thought sarcastically.
"The deal is that I didn't fight all of those monsters to keep you safe just for you to keep being a reckless moron!" She yelled at him again in response.
Zachariah stood up from the ground. "Thalia, I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself no- AAAHHH!" Before he could finish what he was going to say, she shocked him again.
"Shut up!" Thalia yelled at him. "I'm not done with you yet!"
Daughter of Zeus indeed. She's as controlling as he's known to be. But why the hell am I the target? Can't she just order Annabeth or Luke around for a change. Zachariah spoke internally as he laid on the ground tired. I'm probably gonna get an annoying lecture from Annabeth too.
"Zachariah!" Oh Goddammit! Unfortunately for Zachariah, the situation just got worse as someone else decided to join his torture party.
"Hey... Annabeth... how's it y-" Before he could finish what she was going to say, Annabeth threw a bucket of very cold water on him. "AAAHHHH! Cold! Cold!" Zachariah started to yell, as the night wasn't exactly warm.
"Nobody told you to sneak off again, now suck it up." Annabeth spoke coldly towards him.
"Ahhh! Seriously, will you two just get off my back! Who the hell cares if I sneak off or not?" Zachariah asked in a deep frustration while trying to wring his wet clothes.
"We care, because we know how much of a reckless idiot you are." Annabeth was quick to reply. "What was it this time?" Annabeth asked while folding her arms.
"Ummmm, nothing." Zachariah tried to hide the truth.
Suddenly, he looked at Annabeth and realized that she had his backpack in her back. She opened and pulled out his revolver. "One bullet is missing, and you're not dumb enough to waste a bullet made of celestial bronze."
Dammit. He scratched the back of his head. "It was... just a weak monster." Zachariah tried to talk with a forced smile.
"Zach!" Thalia spoke in anger.
"Okay, fine," Zachariah decided to admit. "It was a Manticore."
The moment he said that, Annabeth tossed the bucket at him. Which Zachariah managed to dodge.
"A Manticore! You stupid idiot! I should-'' Thalia yelled at him again and was about to shock him again. Until she got interrupted.
"Okay, that's enough." They all turned around to see Luke standing there. "You guys are being really loud, and pretty much everyone is hearing." Luke told them.
Zachariah looked around and noticed that there was a considerable audience of people, watching him being scolded.
"Look, can you two finish scolding him tomorrow? It's kind of cold out here and they all have training in a few hours." Luke pointed out.
Thalia and Annabeth stared at one another before they replied. "Fine, but I'm keeping his backpack." Annabeth spoke.
"What?! No way! Everything I own is in that backpack! " Zachariah was quick to protest.
"Shut up!" Thalia yelled at him.
Zachariah wanted to argue, but he knew that it was pointless and that Thalia would only shock him again.
They all decided to go back to their cabins but Zachariah is still very frustrated by Annabeth taking his backpack.
They entered Hermes' Cabin, and changing his wet clothes, they went to Luke's room. Where he told Zachariah to sit down on a chair on the wall.
"You can't keep doing this." Luke told him as he sat down as well.
"Why not?" He asked. "Fighting is the only thing I'm good at, and considering that I don't have any special powers like you guys, I don't think I'm much of a use if I don't keep sharpening my skills." Zachariah folded his arms and looked away. I'm really not in the mood for this.
"Look, you can lie as much as you want. But I know very well what this is about." Luke replied as he leaned on the chair that he was sitting.
"Oh, please tell me then."
"You're hoping to be noticed by whoever is your Olympian parent." Luke pointed out with a stoic expression.
Zachariah opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know what to say. Because Luke was right. He looked down in embarrassment.
"Listen, Thalia, Annabeth and I... know how disappointed you were, when no one claimed you." Luke touched his shoulder. "But you have to understand that you don't have to keep putting yourself in danger for it."
Zachariah took a deep breath before speaking. "Luke, you don't understand." He started to tell him while Luke listened closely. "You, Thalia and Annabeth... know who your parents are, even if you guys have problems with them, at least you know who they are. Me? I don't know who is my Mortal parent or my Olympian one." He explained to Luke while looking a bit upset. "I didn't even know what I was until you and Thalia found me."
Thalia and Luke found Zachariah sleeping on a beach while they fled from a monster that was chasing them. They grabbed Zachariah and carried him away from there after he actually saw the monster. He traveled with them ever since.
Luke also took a deep breath before replying. "Do you know why Thalia is like that with you?"
"Because she can't stand when someone doesn't do what she says." Zachariah answered. For as long as Zachariah can remember, between him, Luke and Annabeth. He's the only one who has a habit of disobeying Thalia.
"Well... partially that, but there's another reason." Luke responded while scratching his head.
"Which is?" Zach asked while raising his left eyebrow.
"You see, Thalia's mother was an unstable person. She was an alcoholic and had a tendency of acting like a spoiled child." Luke started to explain. "Thalia and her mother had a terrible relationship, but Thalia mostly stayed with her because she didn't trust her to care for her brother."
"Did she ever tell you about him?" Thalia never really spoke about him.
"Just bits and pieces, Zeus sired Jason while on Roman aspect, Jupiter. Making Jason an Roman demigod." Zach didn't know that. "I'm not sure what happened to him, but whatever it was, it was Thalia's last straw and she left her mother for good after that."
"But... what exactly does that have to do with me?" Zach asked in confusion.
"A lot to be honest, Thalia told me that you reminded her of her brother on more than one occasion and your stunts to get attention from whoever is your Olympian parent feels a lot like the stunts that her mother did to get attention after Zeus left her." Luke pointed out.
"So...you're saying..."
"Thalia is like that with you, because I think she views you like a little brother like she did with Jason, and personally, I don't think that she can handle losing another little brother." Luke explained. "I mean, I still remember how much she freaked out when she heard what you did when we arrived at the Camp."
When Zachariah, Luke,Annabeth and Thalia arrived at Camp - half blood. They were being chased by a horde of monsters, and Thalia decided to sacrifice herself for them to escape since the monsters were after her. But Zachariah refused, and went back for her.
"You never told us, not even Thalia what happened there." Luke mentioned. "Why?"
Zachariah looked down a bit. "I... don't really know what happened myself."
When he went back, he found Thalia wounded and unconscious. He saw that the hellhounds were about to finish her off. Zachariah stood in front of her, ready to face them. But something incredibly strange happened, the hellhounds didn't attack him. They just stood there, looking at him. The three Furies were also there and tried to attack Zachariah. But something even more confusing happened, the hellhounds shielded him from them. Zachariah then carried Thalia into the camp while the furies tried to pass the hellhounds.
Zachariah never understood what happened. Thalia was gravely wounded but she survived. When she fully recovered, she shocked Zachariah for not doing what she said. But hugged him afterwards.
"Look, I'm not gonna pry or force you to tell me." Luke responded. "But, I want you to understand that, Thalia, Annabeth and I... we love you, okay." Zachariah looked up again. "And, I know that it must be horrible not knowing who your parents are, but... you shouldn't have to work to have whoever is your father or mother's attention. Because... do you think that they would even care if you died?"
Zachariah made a sad face, because he already knows the answer to that.
"You wanna know who would care if you died? Us, we would be devastated if you died, especially over something like this." Luke assured him. "Especially Annabeth, since you're her personal hero."
Zachariah chuckled at that. "What?" He asked in disbelief. "She constantly calls me a reckless idiot."
"In her defense..."
"Oh come on!"
"Sorry, but seriously, she has an immense respect for you since the day you saved Thalia." Luke elaborated. "She literally told me herself." He revealed. "Don't tell her I said it though."
Zachariah was genuinely surprised. Because he can tell that Luke isn't just lying to make him feel better. Suddenly, Zach started yawning.
"You're probably tired, go to bed." Luke told him. "I'll talk to Annabeth about your backpack tomorrow."
"Thanks Luke, good night." Zach then stood up from the chair and made his way out of the room.
"Good night Zach." Luke replied before also standing up and closing the door of his room.
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Very special thanks to FluffyKittyCat2 for being my beta for this story.