A/N: Another chapter (finally)! Sorry about that! There were email complications and I just acquired a nasty Computer virus! Hurrah…Anyways, if anyone sends me a review with what they think that any of the song lyrics mean in my story then they get…brownie points or something. So R&R!
In the dark I can't fight it til it disappears And now the party's over, Now I've got myself looking like a mess
But in the daylight
I taste you in my tears
And every body's gone
I'm left here with myself and I wonder what went wrong
And now my heart is broken
Like the bottles on the floor
Does it really matter?
Or am I just hung over you?
Standing alone
Here at the end try to pretend but no,
I put up my fight
But this is it this time (this time)
Cuz' I'm here at the end, tryin to pretend
Here at the end, tryin to pretend
Oh, ohhh
Hung Over ~ Ke$ha
The War Counsel was serious business. All of the senior counselors from all of the twelve cabins were gathered in the rec room around a Ping-Pong table. Clarisse was sitting next to Silena, who was across from Katie. Ironically, Katie was seated next to Percy, Olympus' "Little Hero."
Katie had had years of practice of keeping her composure around the other demigods, but she wasn't so sure about Silena's ability. Yeah, it sucked having your boyfriend killed by your "allies," but it was all for a meaningful purpose, wasn't it? She shot Silena a warning look, but the distressed girl was too busy sobbing into Clarisse's shoulder to pay any notice.
Next to Katie, Percy spoke up, mentioning the spy. Inwardly, Katie stiffened when Silena simultaneously began to sob louder.
"I would think that the spy might be someone from the Hermes cabin, you know, one of Luke's siblings," Katie said, trying to shift the attention away from Silena.
The Stoll brothers began arguing with Katie. She rolled her eyes. They were so juvenile. Besides, she had more important things to worry about, like how to keep Silena from blowing their cover. After all, there was more than one spy.
Katie tucked her hair behind her ears and thoughtfully glanced at her silver charm bracelet, the one with a silver scythe charm that was identical to Silena's.
Thalia was pissed off and feeling slightly hung over. She swallowed and grimaced. Things had certainly taken a turn for the worst last night. It was still early, however, and no one else was awake yet. Thalia shuffled into the bathroom to brush her teeth and to rid her mouth of her morning breath. No way in hell was she ever drinking again.
Thalia gripped the basin of the sink and squinted into the mirror. She had never been one of those superficial girls who cared about their appearance but, this morning, Thalia had to admit, she wasn't looking so hot. She frowned, taking in the large purplish bags under her eyes due to a lack of sleep.
Absentmindedly, she wondered how Nico was doing. He had certainly had a hellish night which was partly her fault, Thalia reasoned guiltily. Maybe if she hadn't stormed out on him so fast and was able to control her raging temper, then perhaps he wouldn't be laying on the couch right now with a bloody shoulder and a raging fever. The ImPercinators didn't exactly have the sort of medicine that Nico needed to ward off the threat of a looming infection. Thalia chewed her lip worriedly.
She wasn't so sure if she was really mad at Nico after all of that. His romantic advance had been…surprising, but she shouldn't have overreacted.
It seemed like being a hunter of Artemis had really complicated things for her. At the time, it had been necessary to promise herself to Artemis. It had been the only logical thing to do. After all, she was had been about to turn sixteen…the age of the prophecy.
But was she even really sixteen? Getting turned into a pine tree had certainly…changed things. She remembered the vow. I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt. Simple words, really.
But in reality, Thalia had bonded herself into an eternal future of loneliness. Maybe, if she wasn't a huntress, she would have been able to interpret Nico's feelings for her sooner…but, let's face it, Thalia knew next to nothing about the opposite sex, besides the obvious fact that they were no good and should be avoided at all costs.
Someone was knocking on the bathroom door. "What?" Thalia said, snapped out of her reverie.
"I have to pee real bad!" It was Connor. Thalia rolled her eyes. "Hold on a sec." She opened up the bathroom door and had to jump aside just as Connor barreled past her and shut the door. Thalia did have to admit that as much as Connor tended to annoy her with his antics, he kept things amusing and lightened the mood in times of sadness.
Katie Gardner was a bad person. She was sure of it. She just couldn't stand to be around all of…them again. They were all so good and she wasn't. How on earth was she supposed to face them again, after all she did?
But, then again, they had no idea about what had happened to her these past three years. So, technically she could have stayed and pretended to be one of them…but she just couldn't.
Katie stared down at her chest. She was still wearing that girl's t-shirt that was emblazoned with some punk-ish band on it. Green Day. That was the name of the band. She felt like she should know exactly who that band was and the name of the girl who owned the shirt but, for some reason, she just couldn't remember.
Of course, Katie remembered Luke quite clearly. Before everything had happened, she used to be quite smitten with him, just like nearly all of the female population in Camp Half-Blood. She recalled with a blush his cerulean blue eyes and side-swept blond hair that fell just so on his forehead.
She had even believed him too, what a fool she was. All of those late night rendezvous really had ulterior motives to them, as it turned out. What could she do but agree with him? He was so…enticing and convincing. How could she not believe him?
Albeit, her feathers got ruffled when she found out that he was also canoodling with that Silena girl. But, Luke, once again, convinced Katie to just go with it and work with her. So, naturally, she did.
But then, Luke left once the camp found out his true intentions. But not before he gave Katie and Silena matching silver charm bracelets so that they could stay in touch with him about the going-ons in camp.
Absentmindedly, Katie looked down at her wrist. Why was she still wearing that thing? Angrily, she stopped by a trash can and wrestled with the clasp, yanking it off of her wrist. In an angry rage, she held it aloft in her hand and dropped it. It landed with a satisfying thunk. Good riddance.
Thalia decided to cook pancakes for breakfast. For some reason, cooking always helped her to relax. That struck her as odd, however, because cooking was what complacent housewives did, and Thalia was anything but.
She stirred the batter in a small silver bowl with a rubber whisk. Dipping her finger in the batter to taste it, Thalia felt like it was missing something. Chocolate chips. Those were the best kind of pancakes. But unfortunately, she didn't have any. They would just have to make do. Vaguely, Thalia remembered how her mother used to make her pancakes before…things got bad. She ladled the first few pancakes on the skillet and heard them sizzle.
While they were cooking, Thalia got out the thermometer to take Nico's temperature. He was still asleep on the couch. Hesitantly, she headed over to him, feeling awkward. It felt like she was intruding on something. Shaking off her unease, Thalia stuck the thermometer under his armpit. Thank goodness he was wearing a tank top undershirt. Nico stirred slightly in his sleep but didn't wake up.
After a few seconds, Thalia heard the finished beep of the thermometer. Thalia frowned. 103.4. That was almost a degree higher than last time she took his temperature. She had to get him some medicine, a fever reducer perhaps.
Thalia sighed and glanced at Nico's face. He looked surprisingly peaceful despite the thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. At least he was getting adequate sleep, she mused.
Behind her, Connor emerged from the bathroom and crinkled his nose. "Um, Thalia…I think your pancakes are burning!"
"Oh crap!" Thalia rushed over and was dismayed to see charcoal pancakes in the skillet. Dismayed, she scraped them into the garbage and began cooking a fresh batch.
Everyone was feasting on pancakes. Connor cautiously poked at his heaping stack with a fork. "These aren't burned, are they?" he inquired with jest.
"What do you think?" Thalia countered with a hint of amusement.
Connor chuckled and began shoveling pancakes into his mouth. Thalia laughed in spite of herself.
"You know," said Annabeth, who was seated across from Thalia, "These really are quite good!"
"Thanks," replied Thalia. At least this had turned out right. "Do you think that we should wake up Nico and give him some breakfast?"
Rachel frowned. "I'm not so sure if that's a good idea. His body's probably trying to sleep off the fever.
"Oh. Okay then. Also, I was thinking, we should try to get Nico some medicine. Something to reduce his fever would be good."
"We don't really have much money…" Rachel trailed off, finding it slightly unethical to steal medicine.
"But Nico needs this," said Thalia.
Rachel's brow furrowed. "Well, I suppose it couldn't really hurt…"
"Okay!" Connor exclaimed, visibly excited to go on another "mission." "I'll go with you!"
"Okay Connor," Thalia said with a grin. "How was I supposed to know that you would be the first one to volunteer?"
The duo headed toward the nearest Duane Reade. Thalia exhaled, feeling a little nervous.
Connor glanced at her. "No matter what, don't show your nerves. Just act casual, so that no one will be suspicious." They were at the entrance. "Just follow my lead," Connor said with a wink and pulled open the door. Thalia took a deep breath and followed him in.
The drug store was relatively busy. There was about a total of ten customers in the store, not including Thalia and Connor. She obediently followed Connor to the section that carried medicine. They glanced up at the shelves.
Connor reached up and grabbed a bottle of aspirin. "Will this do?" he inquired.
"Yeah that's fine. How about some sort of antibiotic, just in case."
"Okay," Connor scanned the shelves again and grabbed another bottle. Thalia shook her head in tacit agreement. She turned her head away from Connor as he discreetly pocketed the bottles.
"Alright, now we just walk out, make sure that you break into a run though as soon as we get out there. This is why I like to bring Nico, for easy exits. Oh, and make sure you keep your head down so that the cameras don't catch your face," he added as an afterthought.
Thalia felt her heart rate quicken as she followed Connor to the exit with her head bowed. She heard the alarms go off, a blaringly obnoxious noise. In front of her, Connor broke into a run; Thalia followed suit.
The streets went by in a blur as the duo ran through the streets. They ended up running through Central Park.
Suddenly, several things happened at once. Thalia, just for a moment, glanced behind her to make sure that they weren't being followed and ran smack into a girl. They both wound up on the ground.
"S-sorry," said Thalia scrambling to her feet. She helped the girl to her feet. The girl was wearing a black Green Day t-shirt, just like the one that Katie had been wearing…Thalia looked into the girl's startled eyes.
It was Katie. "Well, this certainly changes things," Thalia remarked.
A/N: Once again, thanks to my beta Kaleidoscope Flowers who puts up with my careless mistakes and to my lovely reviewers: Stefaanyxo99, XxVioletSorrowPercabethxX, ..123, Stinkyacorn, MythScavenger, Beat mo1327, thehockeyfan, Kahlan the Dream Spirit, StarofCalamity, tonycat623, white water1, and bubzchoc!