Sorry for the lack of updating…
I was rather depressed and couldn't bring myself to write for quite a long time…
I got hormones toward the end of December tho, and they're helping a lot now #^-^#
Anyway, just hoping this gets to be a little more regularly scheduled now that I can think straight
I don't own Percy Jackson, wish I did, but I don't. So I'll just content myself with playing around here.
Contrary to Tease's warning, no one seemed to notice the two of us. That may or may not have been due to everyone watching a team of hunters stomping the Ares cabin at basketball, but the lack of attention came as a definite relief. We found Thalia sitting under a tree, grumbling to herself.
"Umm… Thalia?"
"What do you want?!", she snapped at us, "I've lost two of my friends in an incident related to you hunters, so I'm not exactly in a patient mood."
I paused for a second. Two friends? But only Annabeth had been… It clicked mid-thought. "Wait, so you really think of me as a friend? I honestly hadn't been certain.", I said, as a small smile slid up my lips.
Thalia, however, obviously still hadn't recognized me. "What?! I don't even know you. But thanks to your incompetent band of assailants, I've lost Annabeth and Percy." Three seconds later, Thalia had her own click, "Wait a sec… Percy? Is that you?"
Tease jumped in, "Well, actually, she goes by Pearl now."
Thalia gave me an appraising look. "Not bad. Not bad at all… Pearl was it? I mean, I guess a goddess would be able to pull off something like this, but yeah, I'm impressed."
I felt my face reddening. "Did you mean what you said though? You really consider me a friend?"
"Of course I meant it, Perc- I mean, Pearl. Hades, this is gonna be harder than I thought. Look, you're a friend, okay? You're an infuriating idiot who always jumps into things without thinking, but yeah, you're a friend." Thalia started to look visibly upset, just about on the verge of crying.
"What's wrong?"
She took a couple deep breaths before responding. "It's just… After I come back I found out that Luke has gone off the deep end. Now Annabeth is gone. I met you, but you're going to leave soon with the hunters. Everyone I touch ends up disappearing… Maybe things would just be better if I didn't exist. The gods certainly seem to think so…"
I sat down by my friend and put a calming arm around her. "Don't be ridiculous, you've had a lot of bad luck, but it's certainly not your fault that Luke was a bad egg, or that Annabeth is missing, or that I joined the hunters. That was all out of your control. The last two are really my fault.", I sighed, "And with the prophecy, it could just as easily be me. Who do you think the gods are going to pick a fight with, Zeus or Poseidon?"
Thalia let loose a ragged laugh. That was a good sign. "Per- Pearl. You're not the person in the prophecy. Don't you get it? You're never going to turn 16. The one who might destroy Olympus is me."
I didn't know what to say to that. Partly since I was in a bit of shock and relief at not being "The one" for once. And partly because really, what can you say to something like that? So Tease joined us in our spot on the hard frozen ground, and we just sat there for a while.
Eventually, however, I remembered why we had come to talk with Thalia in the first place. "So when are we going to go rescue Annabeth?"
Thalia's sad face darkened. "We're not."
"What do you mean, 'We're not'?! Of course we're going to save Annabeth!"
"No Pearl, you don't get it. Mr. D. isn't going to let us leave. When I told him what happened to Annabeth, he wouldn't even deign to use her name. She's been here for years, but that poor excuse of a god seemed to think that she's not worth our time, unless we get a prophecy."
Dinner was, in a word, interesting. Most of the tables were business as usual. Thalia had to sit alone at her table. The Stoll brothers were clearly doing their best to cheat Nico out of whatever small amount of money he had. No, what made it interesting was the hunters.
The Artemis table really was the only one to be having a good time. At first I'd instinctively headed towards to Poseidon table, but Tease grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and dragged me back to sit with the hunters. Most of them weren't exactly friendly, but they weren't yelling at me, or calling me a boy, so it was still a decent improvement. A large girl, Pheobe, was teaching Bianca how to arm wrestle. Bianca lost every time, but seemed to be having fun, the rest of the table cheering her on.
Chiron again announced the "Good-will" capture the flag competition tomorrow, which roused at least some interest.
Of more interest to me was what happened when I left my offering to the fire. For the first time, I didn't smell the sea breeze. What I got instead was hard to describe. It was like the night itself. Cool wind whispering. Dew in the grass. Crickets chirping. And moonlight.
I don't know why, but I started to cry, just a little. Maybe a lot. Tease came over and put an arm around me. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yes. I don't know. Maybe. It's just… I didn't feel my dad… Is he, I don't know, is he ashamed of me now?", I blubbered.
Somehow, she was able to understand what I said. "No Pearl. He's not ashamed of you. You'll always be a child of Poseidon. But you don't belong to him now. You belong with us, with Artemis. So when you gave up that offering, Poseidon rightly declined, it wasn't his to take, not anymore."
I don't remember much of what else happened that night, not even the strategy meeting. I fell asleep pretty much immediately, but then I was faced with a nightmare, of epic proportions.
Annabeth was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog. It almost seemed like the Underworld, because I immediately felt claustrophobic and I couldn't see the sky above—just a close, heavy darkness, as if I were in a cave.
Annabeth struggled up the hill. Old broken Greek columns of black marble were scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.
"Thorn!" Annabeth cried. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?" She scrambled over a section of broken wall and came to the crest of the hill.
She gasped.
There was Luke. And he was in pain.
He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, fog swirling hungrily. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched and drenched with sweat.
"Annabeth!" he called. "Help me! Please!"
She ran forward.
I tried to cry out: He's a traitor! Don't trust him!
But my voice didn't work in the dream.
Annabeth had tears in her eyes. She reached down like she wanted to touch Luke's face, but at the last second she hesitated.
"What happened?" she asked.
"They left me here," Luke groaned. "Please. It's killing me."
I couldn't see what was wrong with him. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.
"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth asked. Her voice was filled with hurt.
"You shouldn't," Luke said. "I've been terrible to you. But if you don't help me, I'll die."
"Let him die, I wanted to scream. Luke had tried to kill us in cold blood too many times. He didn't deserve anything from Annabeth.
"Then the darkness above Luke began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling. Annabeth rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. She held it somehow—tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and Luke just with her own strength. It was impossible. She shouldn't have been able to do that.
Luke rolled free, gasping. "Thanks," he managed.
"Help me hold it," Annabeth groaned.
Luke caught his breath. His face was covered in grime and sweat. He rose unsteadily.
"I knew I could count on you." He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to crush Annabeth.
"HELP ME!" she pleaded.
"Oh, don't worry," Luke said. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."
The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing Annabeth against the ground.
I sat bolt upright in bed, clawing at the sheets. There was no sound in my cabin except the gurgle of the saltwater spring. The clock on my nightstand read just after midnight.
Only a dream, but I was sure of two things: Annabeth was in terrible danger. And Luke was responsible.
I bolted awake, in an ice cold sweat. And I wasn't the only one. Across the cabin, Zoe was sitting up too, panting just like me. She looked around the cabin and met my eyes. Silently, she got up and strode over to me.
"Did you also see our lady Artemis?"