I've had some extra time this summer and ended up reading the Percy Jackson series again! It reminded me of this story that I started like 11 years ago and never finished. I went through the first chapter and edited it to make it less cringey and make more sense. I did it with the second chapter too. Hope you guys like it!
Chapter 1: The Confession
It was another boring morning at Camp Half Blood. I was sitting right outside my cabin, enjoying the beautiful winter weather and the beautiful winter sunrise. The clouds were overcast, and the air felt cool and crisp. I waited for the rest of the sun to come back up, taking in several breaths of fresh winter air. Once the sun was up, I slowly got up and walked quietly to my bed, nearly tripping over a shield and a sneaker. I looked at the digital clock on my nightstand, 6:45. I glanced around my empty room; Tyson was still in the water making swords for who knows what, and no other Poseidon kid had showed up. But I still wanted to enjoy my winter break.
I took another look at my empty room and saw the Iris fountain. It had been fixed by Tyson a while back. When I looked at it, I thought about Annabeth. She was still in Olympus, still designing buildings, still far away from me. Every day that passed it pained me, we had both grown dependent on each other, for capture the flag, taking down monsters in the woods, her helping me with Greek, me helping her with combat skills. But the Iris connection hadn't been working lately, so I hadn't talked to her for a while. I sat there for what must have been a long time because I heard the 7:00 breakfast conch horn. I got up slowly and opened the door. Outside teenagers of all sorts of sizes were heading toward the pavilion. I started to walk up there myself, noting the array of new cabins that have been built around the main cabins.
When I got up the hill to the pavilion, I saw Chiron standing there with a look on his face showing that he had something important to tell the camp. I disregarded that look and sat down at the Poseidon table. I took my breakfast over and did my burnt offerings, then sat back at my table and started eating. After minutes of stuffing my face with food Chiron went to his man/horse form and got the camps attention.
"Attention!" Chiron yelled, the pavilion was soon hushed, "I have excellent news. The hunters of Artemis are making one of their trips to Camp Half Blood and should be here by noon!". There was excited whispered chatter going on between the teens. "Also, our long-awaited return of Annabeth Chase is near, I have received word that she will be here with in a day or so." At that my heart rate spiked. Annabeth. I thought for a while, and Thalia, I added. It'll be good to see her too. When I was done with eating, I headed out for my 8 o'clock class, and that class was Greek Mythology.
After learning absolutely nothing and zoning out for long periods of time, I hastily walked out of the class and to my 10 o'clock class, weapon making with the Hephaestus cabin. When I got there the kids there didn't look so happy to see me. Last time I was there I made a huge gaping hole in the forge. Ever since then, well... never mind.
After that class was done, I had archery, which I should be banned from because I really suck at archery.
"Ah, Percy," Chiron said when I arrived at the station "join the other campers and try to actually aim at the target's general direction this time. Don't worry but try not to kill someone like you almost did last time. Just aim and pull back. It really isn't that hard."
I nodded in embarrassment and took a bow and a couple arrows. Alright, I thought to myself, just pull back and... I looked up in astonishment. "Chiron!" I yelled "Chiron! I finally did it! I got a bull's eye!"
"No, you didn't Seaweed Brain, I did. Yours went flying in the forest." I turned around and saw Thalia standing there with a bow in her hand a huge smirk on her face. She was dressed in her original silver parka and some black skinny jeans with her combat boots. She was also growing her hair out long; it was a little past her shoulders in curvy strands. There were a couple of minor scars on her face, one on her nose and another on her cheek. But other than that, she looked just like herself, energetic and confident. We walked up to each other and had a quick embrace, "Good to see you." I said.
"You too. You're ridiculous for thinking you're that good at archery." She smirked.
"I keep on hoping I'll be that good." I smirked back. "So where are the other hunters? They should be with you, right?"
"Yeah," she said "They're at the pavilion eating. We had a long way to travel to get here, and a couple of nasty run-ins with some monsters."
"Is that how you got the cuts on your face?" I asked
"The one on my nose. The other ones are from a branch that smacked me." I stifled a laugh. "Hey it's not funny, it really hurt."
"Oh sorry. It's just that you out of all people to get hit by a tree, it is actually funny once you think about it." Thalia walked up to me and gave me a gentle, but painful slug on my arm. "I guess it is kind of funny." she mused. I smiled, good old Thalia. She smiled back, "I'm going to go to the Artemis cabin to drop my stuff off, see you at lunch." And with that she turned and walked away, and for some reason I couldn't help but check her out.
"Percy," I jumped.
"Yeah Chiron."
"You are ridiculous for thinking that your good at archery."
"I know."
As I sat down at my table for lunch, I noticed that the hunter's table was packed; a couple of girls were nearly falling off. Thalia was in the middle laughing, having a good time with her immortal friends. I looked back at my table. All I had for company was an empty table and an empty plate. I looked over at the Ares cabin and got some sneers and snickers, same with the Hephaestus table. This sucks. I looked over at Thalia again, but she was busy eating her cheeseburger. I looked at her more closely. She looked different, I couldn't put a finger on it, but she looked almost like an Aphrodite kid. I quickly looked away and mentally slapped myself. She's my friend, nothing more.
After the awkward incident at lunch, I walked back to my cabin and sat on my bed. I checked my digital watch, 12:56. I decided that since I didn't have anything else to do, and I was tired, that I was going to take a nap. A couple minutes of staring at the ceiling I slowly fell asleep. I fortunately didn't have any dreams. After what seemed like hours of sleeping, a knock on the door woke me up. After several minutes of knocking, I got up and opened the door. I wasn't surprised, Thalia.
"Hey sleepy head, Chiron wants the camp gathered at the Arena. He's going to explain what we're doing tonight. It's probably going to be capture the flag though."
"Alright, wait for me; I got to get my shoes on." After I got my shoes on, we walked in silence. I decided it was getting a bit awkward and broke the silence "Have you grown?" I asked. The question obviously took her by surprise.
"Percy, I'm immortal, remember? I don't grow physical, only mentally. Why?"
"You seem different. When was the last time I saw you, a couple months ago when we were fighting Kronos, right? You could easily change in that time."
"Change for the better or for the worse?" She asked.
"Better," I replied. "You seem, ah... more mature I guess."
"As in..." she pushed
"I don't know."
"Yes you do, I know you Percy. What's on your mind?"
"You seem more beautiful." I finally cracked.
Thalia was silent. She thought for a moment and replied. "It's the longer hair, isn't it?" She smirked and we both laughed. I'm glad she was able to play it off. I wasn't sure why I told her what I was thinking. Must have been my ADHD. After a couple more moments of walking I looked over at Thalia. She was looking down in thought, as if there was more she wanted to say.
"Your hair has been getting longer too." She finally said. I had a feeling she wasn't thinking about my hair at all.
We finally arrived at the arena. "I'll catch you later" Thalia said as she walked away and joined her fellow hunters while I joined the rest of the campers. I tried making some small talk but it didn't turn out too well.
After a couple minutes of waiting for everyone to arrive Chiron finally walked over to the center of the Arena. "Ladies and Gentlemen! We are here to formally welcome our guests, the hunters of Artemis." Cheers erupted in the crowd of about 20 Greek demigod teens. We had fewer numbers than normal. Mainly because most of the campers wanted to go home after the huge battle in Manhattan a couple months ago.
"And to celebrate their arrival," Chiron continued, "we're going to play Capture the Flag right after dinner, even though it is only Tuesday. Hunters vs. campers."
More cheers erupted.
Chiron continued to talk about the rest of the winter program and other things that I zoned out on. After sitting in the arena for thirty minutes, Chiron dismissed us to dinner. And I figured I must have slept for 3 and a half hours. I caught up with Thalia, who was surprisingly walking by herself. "Hey" I said.
"Hey," she replied "We're going to kick your guy's butts, for the, what? 70th time in a row?"
"Fifty-seventh actually. But I'll tell you this, we're going to win because I am now invincible, so ha ha ha." I bragged with triumph.
She looked at me, as if she was sizing me up. "But we're still going to kick your butt's." She concluded.
"Whatever," I said in defeat. "I can't argue with you."
"I know you can't," she smiled back "So what have you been doing the pass couple of months?"
"Nothing really, just going to school, failing every test I take. Failing to get a job that I wanted. All that fun stuff."
Thalia looked amazed, "You seriously tried to get a job? Where at?"
"Some burger place. The manager managed to find out about my track record of being expelled and causing huge problems, so he declined."
Thalia still looked amazed, "That's not the only reason why you didn't get the job." I gave her a puzzled face. "You didn't get the job because you don't know a lot about cheeseburgers. If you would stick with me for a week or so you'd be a cheeseburger expert."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You're addicted to cheeseburgers." I smirked.
"I don't think addicted is the word."
"What did you have for breakfast?" I asked jokingly.
"A cheeseburger" she said as we approached the dining area "and I'm going to have another one right now. See you at capture the flag." and she walked away to her table. I kept on looking until she sat down. As she sat down, she turned and saw me still looking. We both blushed and quickly looked away.
What am I doing? I asked myself
I sat down at my table and ate my dinner. When I was done eating Chiron gathered up everyone and got us situated for Capture the flag. I looked up into the sky, grey clouds were rolling in threatening to rain, but I concentrated on what Chiron had to say.
"You know the rules, Creek is the boundary line. I will be the battlefield medic and referee. NO killing or intentional maiming!" After making our way to the woods the campers and I got set up with our swords and shields. The hunters were already long gone.
"So, what's the plan?" A kid from the Hermes cabin asked the group.
"Well," I stepped forward "since I am invincible, I think we should charge down the middle with everyone behind me. Then we'll have smoke in the background for effect, and we can have some satyrs playing some epic music on their pipes." I looked at everyone, and they looked concerned.
"Ok, uh we'll consider that." the Hermes kid said. The campers shuffled their feet around.
An Athena camper stepped forward. "Here's the plan. We'll have five on the flag, five on border patrol, five on the right, five down the middle." He looked at me, "And you on the left. You're the flag runner." I nodded. Soon after Chiron blew the conch.
War cries were heard all around the creek. I stealthily began to make my way over on the hunter's side. Once I was on their side I broke out in a sprint. Surprisingly no arrows were shot at me. I must have been pretty far to the left. It looked like almost the very edge of the forest. I was almost to their flag. I kept scanning left and right to the point where I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me. Just then I ran into a huntress, like really hard. I was sure I could have given her a concussion. As we collided and made our painful way to the ground Thalia landed on me, our faces inches apart. She seemed a bit dazed from the fall. But she was very aware that she was on top of me.
"Are you alright?" I finally asked. I studied here face more closely, noticing her cute freckles splashed on her nose. I brushed a stray piece of hair off of her face and behind her ear. I repeated my question. This time she gave me a small nod but remained laying on me. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you." I waited awhile.
"Do you want to go to the infirmary?" I asked
"I like it here." That answer took me by surprise, but I liked it as much as she did.
"Me too."
"If anyone asks, my excuse is that I was knocked out and you couldn't move me because you're too weak." We both let out a little laugh. I'm sure her heart was racing just as much as mine. We spent a few minutes just lying there.
"Um, Percy?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I tell you something I've been holding in for a long time? I just need to get it out of my system, and I won't see you for a long time after this."
A thousand ideas rushed into my head. What does she want to tell me? I thought. My mind was racing so fast I must have forgot to respond because Thalia's face started to be filled with doubt. "Yeah, of… of course." I managed to get out "You can tell me anything."
She got up from on top of me and sat down. I sat up too and we were sitting right next to each other.
"Ok. Percy. I wish I could leave the hunt, I just don't want to upset Artemis and I don't want another God pissed at me." she paused a taking in a shaky breath. "I don't want to see you die when I'm still sixteen. I don't want to live forever and not know how it feels to be loved by someone. I don't want to see you and my friends age without me. I definitely don't want to be a teen forever. I don't want to constantly be attacked by monsters," she paused and thought hard about what she was going to say next. Her words slowly found their way out of Thalia's mouth "But I want to be with you… and be loved by you…. and not be attacked by monsters. And I want to live a real life with you… and just be with you."
I took in what she said. She wants to be with me? I awkwardly put my arm around her, trying to take in what she had just told me and trying to think of how to respond. We must have sat there a few minutes, taking in what had just happened.
"Don't cry." Way to comfort her. I thought
Thalia didn't move.
"I'm here for you" I quickly added "How long have you held this in for?".
She seemed to have composed herself and looked up at me. Her electric eyes were red. "A couple months after I joined. I was going to leave after we defeated Kronos, but Hera knew what I was going to do, and she sent me a message… advising me… that I shouldn't do it." I thought about how the statue of Hera had fallen on Thalia. It never occurred to me that Hera was after Thalia all along.
"I'm sorry you're put under this situation. No girl should have to go through this in her life." I said reassuringly. "I never liked Hera." *Boom Boom*
"Crap, they're listening to us we have to go now." We both got up and started walking back to where we thought the other campers and hunters would be at. The game had to have been over by now.
After seconds of walking toward the creek it started to rain.
"Really dad? Just one confession and you make it rain?" she yelled to the sky. *boom boom* It started to rain even more. "Ow!" Thalia shrieked. "Hail? Now that's just mature! Someday I'm gonna get him." she whispered to me. It was almost dark outside I could barely make out a tree that was ten feet away. I just realized Thalia didn't have her jacket with her. She was drenched and began shivering. The cold weather from outside the camp had made its way in. Someone or someone's were upset with what had just happened.
"Thal, you're cold. Do you want my coat? Because I don't get wet."
"No, I'm fine. I don't care."
"Do you feel better now that you've told me your feelings?" I tried to play it cool, but my mind was spinning. Hundreds of possibilities flew into my mind. Me and Thalia? Being together? We had our differences, but we also had a ton in common. We were great friends. Really really great friends.
I looked up at her face, her cute face.
"I'm not sure." I reached in and felt her forehead.
"Thal, you're real cold, you need my jacket." I started to take it off, but she stopped me.
"Percy don't. I don't care." she insisted. The ground began turning into mud. We slushed forward.
"You're shivering. I can't just let you freeze."
"I'm not cold."
"Yes you are! Here's my jacket." I began to take it off.
"No!" she yelled.
Silence.
She sighed, "I'm fine. Sorry for yell-" she let out a hacking cough that sounded terrible. I stopped walking and turned to face her, and she looked at me. The look on her face told me that she wasn't okay.
I couldn't think straight. I was feeling impulsive and that's saying a lot for me. I felt awful for Thalia's situation – in love with me but being so far out of reach. Sworn to an eternity of running around with other teenage girls. Deep down I knew she never really belonged with the hunters. We stopped walking. I found myself getting close to her, leaning in. I felt a spark as our lips met and I knew it wasn't because Thalia was a daughter of Zeus.
Thalia kissed back almost immediately. It had only been a couple seconds when Thalia broke away and whispered to me, "We shouldn't be doing this."
We looked into each other's eyes. Trying to read our emotions. Trying to stop leaning in again. But we couldn't. We kissed for a little while longer until we broke for good. We both looked down.
"Now will you please put on my jacket?"
"Whatever." she said as she took it. We walked in silence except for Thalia's cough that she was starting to develop.
"This conversation never happened." she coughed again.
By the time we met up with the hunters and campers the rain was absolutely pouring. The water was now at least an inch above the ground. The wind picked up, trees were swaying back and forth. The rain was almost blowing sideways because of the heavy winds. Some campers held up torches or flashlights. Others were trying to get a head count and make sure they weren't missing anyone. Everyone was trying to get out of the rain. We were greeted with a couple of suspicious looks, but the weather quickly drew the attention away from us. Chiron walked up to us and shouted to everyone that the game had been canceled because of the unpredicted weather that had gotten inside the camp. We made our way towards the cabins once it appeared that everyone was accounted for.
Chiron trotted up to us, he looked distraught. It was never a good sign when inclement weather entered the camp. He noticed Thalia.
"My dear you're soaking wet. Where is your parka?"
Thalia said that she had forgotten it.
"You don't look that good." He noted. Moments later Thalia let out yet another hacking cough.
"Let's get you inside the infirmary." He told Thalia.
He turned to the mass of hunters and campers, "Head to your cabins immediately and get some sleep!" he shouted. He looked towards me "Percy you should get some sleep as well." I nodded. Maybe it was the difficulty seeing through the heavy rain, but I got a couple of sour looks from the hunters. My heart started beating insanely fast, faster than when I was kissing Thalia. Do they know? What was I thinking!? What about Annabeth?
I rushed inside my cabin and lied down on my bed. I couldn't sleep. Thalia's words kept on running through my mind. The huge storm outside my cabin didn't help either.
But I want to be with you… and be loved by you…. and not be attacked by monsters. And I want to live a real life with you… and… just be with you.
Hi guys! Thanks for taking time to read this first chapter, I hope you liked it!