Thalia exhaled shakily. Percy was looking at her expectantly, hand outstretched to help her up the water staircase he'd built into the lake, and she couldn't help but be impressed before the smirk he was giving her ruined it. Stepping up over the water steps and straight onto the dock, she ignored the offered hand and strode off towards the Big House. Camp was disturbingly empty over the winter, and the heavy flakes of snow which drifted through the air were beautiful but she was too amped up to really appreciate it. Apollo drifted away in the sun as soon as everybody was off the bus - probably busy, being the sun and all.
Bianca and the Hunters were already well on their way to Cabin Eight. Nico wasn't terribly happy about that and stomped along after Grover as the poor satyr tried his best to cheer the kid up with a tour of camp. Percy, seemingly realizing that Thalia wasn't in the best of moods, walked over to the forges to talk to Beckendorf about something.
Thalia missed Annabeth like crazy, and it hadn't even been eight hours yet.
Chiron trotted up to her from the Big House, wearing a puffy sweater. Thalia blinked. The text on it read, 'Olympus High, Class of 1824.' Briefly she wondered if that was B.C. or A.D. then realized that it didn't make much sense to date things by Christ - it was the Greek gods who were real, after all, not the Christian ones. She blinked again. Chiron had asked her something.
"Sorry?"
"I see you have returned, my dear. Who is with Grover?" The centaur asked, guiding Thalia towards the warm parlor of the Big House. Inside, Dionysus sat in a comfortable armchair, pondering his cards next to the fire. On the coffee table before him was a game of something or other that Chiron had clearly paused to come greet the bus.
"Oh, that's Nico di Angelo. He and his sister are the half-bloods Grover found."
"Wonderful. So you were successful, then? Where is Annabeth?"
Thalia's face gave it away.
Chiron's face fell also, and he turned somberly towards the picture of last summer's quest with Percy and Annabeth, framed on the wall. "Ah. I am… I'm sorry, my dear."
"Oh dear, another one lost? More's the pity," Dionysus grumbled to himself.
"What do you mean, 'another one?' Who else is lost?" Percy asked. Thalia nearly jumped out of her skin. How the hell could someone that size sneak up on anyone, much less an ADHD demigod with senses heightened by years of street living?
Chiron grew even sadder still, but before he got the chance to answer, Grover trotted in, Nico in tow. "The Hunters are all moved in!" He chirped. The centaur simply stared at Grover for a second, before turning to the young boy next to him.
"You must be Nico, then? It's nice to meet you, young man. Welcome to Camp Half Blood. I'm sure you'll find a home here." He glanced over at Grover. "Grover, ah… would you show our guest the camp orientation film?" Grover looked quite put out, but nodded acceptingly, leading Nico away under a barrage of questions. The teacher of heroes turned to the two standing demigods, sinking into the wheelchair that magically folded his horse body into it. "Now then, you two. You had best get started, because I feel like this will be a long story."
When Percy and Thalia had finished the story, Chiron looked quite troubled. Turning to Mr. D, he said, "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately. We have no time to lose."
Thalia and Percy both volunteered at the same second. A second later, Dionysus snorted. "Absolutely not! The chances are quite good that this Annie Bethany girl is dead, and even if she's not, I see no reason to risk further half-bloods in a foolish errand to save her. We must simply expect her to rescue herself, if she is as resourceful as you say."
Thalia was fuming, but beside her, Percy stood up, enraged. After some choice swear words, he pointed an accusatory finger at Dionysus. "You're just a… drunken-"
The wine god's eyes glowed purple. "Finish that sentence, boy, and you'd be lucky to remember your name." Percy stood stock still, his rage and indignation not allowing him to cede ground, but what little self-preservation he possessed stopping him from finishing. Thalia wanted nothing more than to stand up next to Percy, to back him up, to tell Dionysus exactly where to stick his wine bottles and pinochle games, but she couldn't bring herself to face down the rage of a god the same way Percy somehow did. The silence hung thick in the room, and Thalia could almost feel the hearth fire dimming as its fire was swept up by the clashing rage of the demigod and the camp director.
The silence was broken when Zoe entered the room, the door swinging shut behind her. Whether she was oblivious to the tension or simply choosing to ignore it, she turned immediately to Chiron. "The Hunters are under orders to stay at Camp from milady, but we grow anxious. I would seek to occupy their thoughts elsewhere. The traditional Capture the Flag game, perhaps?"
Chiron leapt on the opportunity to keep Percy from getting turned into a dolphin, or perhaps a grapevine, and agreed hurriedly with the huntress. "Yes, a friendly game would be a welcome distraction. Perhaps tomorrow morning, if the Hunters are amenable? And besides, it is tradition. Perseus, Thalia, perhaps you could notify the campers?" He suggested. Percy was already well out the door, and Thalia sighed before walking after him. Weirdly, though, Percy wasn't heading for the cabins and the campers, but Thalia couldn't be bothered to chase him.
She rounded up the few campers that remained over the winter and told them the news. There were a few Ares campers, two Hephaestus, the Stoll twins and a few other Hermes kids, plus a few scattered others. Great. They were outnumbered, even including Nico, and nobody looked especially enthused to play in the cold and dark against the famously badass hunters.
They still had about five hours before the game would start, though, so Thalia set the Ares campers to work planning, set Nico up with Beckendorf, and pondered a catnap. She began to walk back towards Cabin One, but her feet had a mind of their own, sending her back into the Big House and up the stairs, then up the creaky ladder into the attic.
The Oracle's mummy sat still, silent, by the attic window. Thalia felt like an idiot. She'd never done this before. Was this how it worked? Could she ask for a prophecy and then just get one? The stories she'd heard from Annabeth didn't really address this. Instead, Thalia walked over slowly, passing various memoirs and memorials. A lucky hydra's foot, a broken sword, a scarf that smelled like strong perfume - she paused. The plaque under the scarf read, "Aphrodite's Scarf, Waterland Water Park. Recovered by Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."
Annabeth had never mentioned Aphrodite or her scarf.
Privately, Thalia had needled Annabeth a bit about her fairly obvious crush on Percy. The chariot racing, the Capture the Flag games, the constant arguing about nonsense stuff - Thalia could tell there was some romance there. Maybe there was more than some, going by this scarf - but then maybe not.
She was at the Oracle's rocking chair, now. The mummified woman stared blankly out the window. Thalia cleared her throat, coughed. Nothing. "Hey, uh, Oracle lady. How can I get Annabeth back?"
The silence of the attic lingered thickly in Thalia's ears. She worked her jaw a few times, feeling her ears pop as the atmosphere thickened around her, and she realized she was getting pissed. With a deep breath, she shook her head, looked up at the Oracle again. Nothing.
Disappointed but unsurprised, she decided she might as well go find Percy. She thought for about a half second, then realized she knew exactly where he'd be.
Percy was sitting on a boulder on the beach. It was weird, for Thalia, to see the normally proud demigod slouching and staring out forlornly at the sea. Sure, Percy wasn't always happy - but he was very rarely sad, or downtrodden in any significant way. Yet there he was, miraculously dry despite the rain, a picture of defeat. Thalia stood a few paces behind, uncertain whether to intrude by speaking up.
He made that decision for her.
"What do you want, Thalia?"
She winced at the bite in his voice, and it hit her just how much he was hurting. He'd essentially thrown his best friend off a cliff by being impulsive and overconfident, and now he was stuck at camp instead of rushing off to save the world. Sure, Thalia wanted nothing more than to run off and turn over every stone and blade of grass on the continent looking for Annabeth - but she didn't feel directly responsible for what happened. Percy did.
"You're the team captain for Capture the Flag, tomorrow."
Percy snorted. "No I'm not."
Thalia looked at him. "Yes, you are."
Percy grumbled, but turned to face her. "Why aren't you captain? You're better at it than I am." Thalia privately agreed, but she couldn't really say that, so instead she just offered a compromise.
"We can… co-captain, or something. Whatever. You need to stop moping."
Percy looked like she'd slapped him. She didn't care, though.
"Moping around feeling sore won't help get Annabeth back. You need to train, to figure out a way to get Chiron to give us a quest. That's how we're going to bring her home," Thalia said, sounding more confident than she felt.
Percy shrugged and patted the rock next to him. She sat down after a moment, staring out at the sea, and she had to admit it was a nice spot. The two sat silently for a minute. Percy fiddled with Annabeth's Yankees cap - it had fallen sometime when the girl launched herself onto the manticore, and Percy shuffled its brim left and right in his fingers.
"Hey, I'm sorry, about… I didn't mean…" Thalia didn't really know what Percy was even apologizing for. She nodded anyways though, and tossed a pebble into the surf. "Anyways," Percy concluded, "I'm sorry."
Thalia bit back a heated response and looked over at the son of Poseidon. He was at once massive and tiny, a full six inches taller than her and with an extra fifty pounds of muscle but simultaneously so slouched and vulnerable that he looked the same size as her.
"Hey, I'm sorry too," she said, biting her lip. "My mom… you asked about her, before. She died in a car crash, when I was a tree. She was drunk, and… well, I shouldn't have been that rude about it, you didn't know." Why the hell was she telling him this? She was pissed at him. He'd gotten Annabeth lost or killed and he'd nearly made Mr. D burn down the Big House. Now he was sulking on the beach. What in that situation told her 'emotional confiding time?'
"Is that why… the bus? Driving?" Percy asked, cautiously, like she was as fragile as he looked. "Because your mom died like that?"
Thalia should have felt angry at that, she knew. It really wasn't his fucking business, and it was a rude question to ask. But she understood why he asked it, and she would have done the same, and it wasn't like he could help being curious. So instead, she simply shook her head. She wasn't about to tell him that she was afraid of heights - but the bus thing really wasn't because of her mom, so she figured telling him that extra little bit of truth couldn't hurt.
"No, not really. We weren't that close. I ran away from home as a kid, and she never, uh, never really missed me. Best years of my life were running away from everything with Annabeth and Luke, but then," she trailed off, and Percy simply sat there, letting her figure things out.
"It's just all so unfair," she said, and hated the way her voice cracked. "I wish…"
Now it was Percy's turn to nod. He wished too. Every half-blood did. The mortal kids always wished they could do something more exciting with their lives, more meaningful. When the stakes were real, though, when it was your life on the line and the whole world on the other end, it sucked a lot harder.
"Hey, how old are you, anyways? Like, was it legal for you to drive the bus?"
Thalia giggled despite herself, and then punched Percy hard in the shoulder when he looked shocked that she could giggle. "I, uh… I guess I'm still fifteen? Like, I've only been alive as a human for fifteen years. But I spent six years in the tree, so I could be twenty-one? Maybe?"
Percy nodded. "So you could buy a beer?"
Thalia shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Maybe I'm somewhere in between? I don't look like I did at fifteen. Maybe I aged a little slower in the tree but I still aged?"
They made eye contact, shrugged, and hopped off the rock. Neither of them was particularly sure what to do until the night - it felt wrong to do anything fun with Annabeth gone. Percy turned to her awkwardly.
"Hey, uh… do you fish at all?"
Thalia laughed. "No, not at all."
Percy gave her a crooked half-grin, still sad but putting on a brave face. "Wanna try?"
Thalia didn't end up doing much fishing. She didn't mind getting wet, per se, but she didn't enjoy it, and she sure wasn't waterproof the way Percy was. The water was also insanely cold, with ice occasionally bobbing down and careening off rocks. Besides which, she wasn't much good with the rod, apparently, and had gotten rather sick of snagging flies in rocks and trees and bushes and everything.
"Percy, it's wintertime. Surely there won't be any fish?" She called downstream, to where Percy stood thigh-deep in the creek, patiently watching his fishing fly swim along underwater from behind aviator shades. He glanced up at her, smiling broadly.
"Yeah, but that's not the point!" He called back. Picking the line up from the water, he flicked the fishing rod, and as if by magic, the fly rocketed up the stream just barely above the surface. Then, with nary a splash, it dropped back under the surface and snuck into an eddy behind a rock. "Look around. Isn't it beautiful?"
Thalia took a moment.
Snow drifted down from puffy clouds overhead. The evening sun shone through a small break in the cloud cover over the water, its orange glow filtering through the trees to warm her just enough. Strong pines lined the banks of the river, and little waves of water crested eternally in front of the rocks in the stream's flow. An owl watched silently from atop one of the nearby trees, and a coyote padded silently around, keeping an eye on the demigods while it sniffed after whatever prey it could find.
It was beautiful.
That night, Thalia had a nightmare. It wasn't the typical demigod nightmare, either, where monsters chase you and you face mortal peril. Those were easy.
This one was dreadful.
Annabeth was on a dark hillside, oppressive fog hanging low around her, thick and gray. Thalia knew she was dreaming, but she still couldn't breathe - the heavy atmosphere felt like it was crushing down on her lungs. Thalia searched frantically for a hint of sky, but could find none, and an uneasy feeling settled over the daughter of Zeus.
The blonde daughter of Athena was struggling up the hill with a limp. She leaned heavily on a stick for a crutch, working up a barely-visible gravel trail past decrepit marble columns, splintered and cracked as though a great war had leveled them many years ago and they had been abandoned to the elements. Still, though, they were massive - even the most damaged was three feet across, and taller than Annabeth by at least a foot.
"Thorn!" Annabeth called into the fog. "Why have you brought me here? Where are we?"
There was no answer, but as Annabeth crested a small rise in the hill, she gasped and raced forward, abandoning her makeshift crutch. "Luke!"
The young man was gasping for air, on hands and knees. The fog grew darker still as it swirled around him, almost like a predator searching hungrily for a gap in the warren of its prey. "Annabeth! Help…" He sucked in wind, tried to raise himself, collapsed to the ground. "Help me, please!"
Annabeth ran forwards.
Thalia was torn. She knew, intellectually, that Luke had betrayed both of them, poisoned Thalia's tree, exploited Annabeth several times now, and was working with a Titan hell bent on destroying the world as she knew it.
On the other hand, it was Luke.
Thalia opened her mouth to call out, to beg Annabeth to stop, to leave him be, but the girl was already on her knees beside the demigod, hand reaching out to caress his scar from Ladon, and Thalia understood that too. She missed Luke like crazy, missed her friend and companion and helper. She didn't agree with tearing Olympus down, perhaps, but she damn sure sympathized with feeling abandoned and alone and used.
Annabeth's hand paused. "What happened, Luke?"
Sweat poured down from Luke's brow as he tried to push himself further upwards, to rise to his hands and knees again. "They left me here… abandoned me. Tricked me," he gasped, turning pleading blue eyes up to meet worried grays. "Please, it's killing me."
"Let him die," came a bitter voice. "He's a traitor, Annabeth."
She didn't react, but Thalia sure did, whirling around to see Percy standing in the mist, glaring helplessly at what was unfolding before them. He met her eyes, blinked, then shrugged, raising his eyebrows.
"Why should I help you?" Annabeth questioned, and Thalia couldn't help but be proud of the steel in her voice as she asked the question. Luke winced, sensing the same - but it didn't stop him.
"You shouldn't. I've been awful to you… but if you don't, I'll die." As he spoke, a crack appeared in the… fog… above Luke, and a rumbling noise echoed around the hillside. The cloud roof began to crush downwards upon both of them.
That seemed to settle it for Annabeth. She crawled under the fog with Luke, and her muscles tensed as she braced alongside him to lift the ceiling. Once she was kneeling, Luke grinned at her, suddenly much less worried about the weight of whatever it was they were lifting.
"Thanks, Annie."
Annabeth gasped with exertion. "Help me hold it!"
"I knew I could count on you," Luke continued, rolling out to the side and standing up, dusting himself off. "Don't worry, help is on the way. It's all part of the plan."
Annabeth screamed impotently, one knee buckling as she was forced downwards into a kneeling position, like a Romanian squat.
"In the meantime," Luke finished, "Try not to die."
Thalia sat bolt upright in bed, the soft lights of Cabin One glinting off the massive golden statue of Zeus which watched over her.
This was bad.
Thalia couldn't sleep for the remainder of the night. Every time she lay down, she remembered Annabeth trapped on her knees in the oppressive fog, carrying what seemed like an insurmountable weight, and simply couldn't bring herself to calm down enough to get any sleep. As a result, when breakfast came around, she shuffled into the brazier line like a zombie, her mind a million miles away, until Percy pulled her out of line for a moment and whispered, "Come sit at my table." She blinked but he was already sitting at the Poseidon table with Grover, holding a hushed conversation. After a mumbled sacrifice to Zeus, praying for his forgiveness, she walked over to the Poseidon table and slid in on the marble bench across the table from Percy.
After a few moments of not being evaporated by a pissed off sea god, she relaxed, and looked at Percy questioningly. She expected a smile, or a grin, or maybe a smirk. Instead, he looked deadly serious.
"Did you have the same dream I had last night? Annabeth, the cave?"
She nodded.
Percy and Grover looked at each other. "This is not good," Percy started, "Especially with what Zoe dreamed last night."
Thalia gave them both a questioning look. "How do you know what Zoe dreamed about?"
Percy cracked a smile. "Well, so Grover was creeping on the Hunters-"
"I was just… making sure they were okay!" Grover protested feebly.
"- And about 3 in the morning, Zoe comes running out of the cabin and goes straight to the Big House. Naturally, Grover follows her, and when Argus let her in, she talks to Chiron." Percy continued, wholly ignoring his satyr friend's protests. "Apparently she wanted permission to leave camp."
Thalia nodded. "Well, that would make sense, right? She wants to go help Artemis."
"Exactly," Grover agreed, "But Chiron reminded her that she needed Artemis's permission to leave camp. And Zoe said that… that how could Artemis give them permission if Artemis was lost?"
Thalia shook her head now, confused. "Wait. What do you mean, 'lost?' Like, she doesn't know where she is?" Percy's look told her all she needed to know. "Shit. You mean, like, kidnapped." He nodded.
"That's what Grover and I think. But… who the hell could kidnap Artemis? She's pretty badass."
"Kronos?" Thalia suggested uncertainly. "Also, how the hell did we have the same dream?"
Grover paused and looked at Percy for a moment. Percy looked back with a glare, and the two seemed to have a silent conversation. Empathy link, maybe? Thalia was almost jealous before she realized she'd hate to share her head with anyone in that way. Then, Percy turned back to her and shook his head. "No, Kronos isn't back yet, he's still in that thing on Luke's boat. But I think our dream, and Zoe's dream, I think they're connected somehow."
Grover nodded in agreement, and then paused awkwardly. "By the way, uh… I found something else in Annabeth's bag, guys." The satyr pulled out a brochure, a little crumpled and with a bite taken out of one corner. At Thalia's accusatory look, he bleated nervously. "I was hungry, okay? I didn't realize what it was until later." She took it gingerly and opened it up.
"'A Boy-Free Tomorrow,' Thalia read aloud, 'Health Benefits and Immorality.'"
"Uh, I think that's 'Immortality,'" Percy supplied helpfully.
Thalia looked up. "She was going to join the Hunters?"
Before they could get any further into the discussion, Chiron stood up at the head table, clearing his throat. "I'd like to remind everybody of the rules for our upcoming Capture the Flag match. Please, no maiming! This is a friendly match for good will between the Camp and the Hunters. All magical items are allowed, of course. The creek will be the boundary line, with the Campers in the western woods and the Hunters in the east. I will act as referee and medic. Now then! To your positions, everyone! The game will begin on the horn's sounding!"
They'd planned this somewhat last night. Percy headed up the defense, which consisted of Nico, Beckendorf, and two of the Ares kids. Meanwhile, Thalia led the offense, with the Hermes kids as scouts and the remaining Ares campers backing her up on the main force. The plan was pretty loose, too - it boiled down to "Don't let Nico die, get their flag, keep ours," but that was good enough for the campers. Maybe if Annabeth were there… Thalia stopped that thought before it could grow any. She'd be after Annabeth soon enough. Right now they had a game to win.
"Alright everyone!" Thalia announced. "Plan is simple. Percy, you're leading defense. I'll be leading the main raiding party, and Silena, you're going to lead the diversion."
"Right," Percy took over. "I'll be roving on defense. Beck, Stolls: keep sharp and stay close. There's too much ground to cover alone, so only focus on what matters. Nico, you're with me. Nobody leaves their post… unless there's a good opportunity, anyways."
Thalia coughed. "Nobody leaves their post."
Percy nodded sagely. "Right, nobody leaves their post, unless-" He yelped as a small bolt of lightning zapped him. Thalia hadn't even meant to do it.
"Sorry," she said, as he glared at her. She wasn't. Before the two could hash it out, though, the horn bellowed across the woods.
Silena's group tore off into the woods to the north, and after a few moments, Thalia left Percy and the rest in the dust, her entourage following shortly behind her as she headed south. Launching herself across the creek, she felt the winds push her across and upwards slightly. That had never happened before - but she didn't have time to be surprised at the development of her abilities, because the main party of the Hunters was coming towards the creek in formation. There were about six of them, of the total of thirteen, but Thalia couldn't really afford to confront them - and Zoe wasn't leading that group. Instead, Phoebe was.
Just then, Silena's group came tearing across the clearing, close enough to catch the group's attention but far enough that they were safe. The campers continued on their path and ran as hard as they could deeper into the woods, with the Hunters following close behind. Thalia and her little group split in the other direction, heading deeper into the woods.
Soon, they came upon the base - and the other group of Hunters, who immediately engaged them in a heated duel. Thalia blasted one with lightning, and an Ares kid through a javelin at another, who was promptly knocked out - but they returned fire with fart arrows which billowed yellow smoke into the air. Her group scattered and Thalia dove for the base, rushing towards the flag.
A flash of black hair snatched the flag when she was just ten feet away. "Percy!" She roared. "What are you doing?"
But he was already racing off, and while Thalia did her best to follow him, she simply couldn't match his stride. Across the river, she could faintly see Zoe approaching with their own flag, and she swore. Stepping to the side, she sent a bolt of lightning at the huntress wearing the tiara. Zoe sidestepped it effortlessly, but she was nearing the creek, and an idea popped into Thalia's head.
"Percy!" She called again, pointing. "The creek! Make it rise!"
He paused in his stride, then nodded. Throwing the flag to Thalia, he outstretched both hands to the river, and it began to reverse its course, flowing uphill. It rose into a wall of coursing currents, at least ten feet high. Zoe skidded to a halt, pondering her options. Behind her, Beckendorf and the Stolls drew nearer. There was no way she could realistically traverse the river now, though, and throwing the flag across was illegal.
Thalia had no such problem, and simply barrelled towards the river, praying that Percy would understand what she wanted - and have the talent to pull it off. She was too close to the river now to slow down, though, and she heard Nico cheering intensely as she catapulted herself into the air. This time, she focused as hard as she could on forcing the air to lift her up and carry her forwards through Percy's wall of water. Just as she reached it, though, it collapsed, leaving her free to fly across the boundary and land victorious on their own side.
Rather than be elated at her victory though, she whirled around to scream at Percy, ignoring Chiron's rather stunned announcement of their victory.
"What the hell were you thinking?" She thundered. Percy, for his part, looked exhausted and slightly sheepish. "You were supposed to play defense, Percy, not go tearing off after the flag!"
"But I got the flag, Thalia! There were too many hunters on you!"
Thalia fumed. She really wanted to wipe that indignant look off his face. "Oh, so it's my fault now?" she screamed across the river which Percy had allowed to relax into its banks once more.
She didn't hear his response for the static in her ears, and she roared. A streak of lightning blasted across the creek, nearly as large as the one she'd hit Thorn with only a few days ago. Percy flew backwards twenty feet and slammed into a pine tree with a hollow 'thunk.'
She panted. "I'm sorry - I didn't mean -"
Percy stood up slowly. Suddenly, the creek overflowed its banks, and at least a hundred gallons of water dumped themselves onto Thalia. "Yeah, I didn't mean to either." The creek began to froth and clumps of ice joined the water as a tornade began to form, Percy marching towards Thalia to give her another piece of his mind - only for the water to collapse back into the creek as Percy stared at something behind Thalia.
It was the Oracle, and she was glowing green.
Hey, by the way: Please feel free to let me know if you're enjoying this, or if you hate it. Any criticism/advice/support/hatemail is welcome.