Wild Heart ⋆ Riordanverse¹

xiii. home

xiii. home

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THEA HAS BEEN SPENDING A LOT OF TIME WITH TYSON—EVEN MORE THAN PERCY HAS. Percy doesn't want to spend time with Tyson and she can't blame him. She can't imagine having a cyclops for a half-brother. Because suddenly Percy isn't the cool son of Poseidon who fought the Minotaur and went to the Underworld, he's Percy the son of Poseidon who has a monster for a brother.

She doesn't have any siblings, at least not ones that she knows of, but Charlie is practically her brother. Still, it isn't like she can understand what Percy is feeling. She punched Jessica from the Aphrodite cabin for teasing Percy but it did no good except for a few bruised knuckles.

Charlie is nice enough to Tyson and even if he clams up occasionally the cyclops doesn't seem to notice in the slightest. The rest of Charlie's siblings aren't as accepting, but Tyson seems just as happy having only Charlie to teach him how to make things in the forges. Thea isn't too good in the forges, mediocre at best, but she helps in any way she can just to spend time with everyone. Which includes Tyson, too, apparently.

Thea goes on border patrol, too, as often as she can. Tantalus had ordered that it be stopped but a few campers still continue it behind his back, mostly members of the Ares and Apollo cabin and a few from Athena, but that's it. Their previously large ranks are down to less than fifteen.

She helps Charlie and his siblings with their chariot even if it is against the rules because technically Thea isn't in any cabin, she's unclaimed. She won't participate in the race but it doesn't matter, she just wants to keep herself busy.

Because if she has only a few seconds to think her mind is spiraling out of control, her nightmares will get worse, and everything will burn up in flames. She has to keep busy to stop from thinking about the fact that camp will be gone in under two years.

This leads her to her current predicament: shoveling out the pegasi stables. It isn't awful, Thea has done dirtier jobs, but it isn't something she looks forward to. She doesn't have to do it, but she always likes the pegasi and takes every chance she can to spend time with them. Her favorite is one named Achilles, a mean-looking pegasus that resembles a brown Hanoverian. She isn't sure how he got braids in his mane since everyone at camp is terrified of him, but they're there.

"What's up?" Thea refills his water bucket. "You're one mean motherfucker, you know that?"

Achilles' lips flap in that way horses always do. "I mean it in a good way. Like, wow, you could probably kill me, y'know?"

Thea has never thought horses could be judgemental, but Achilles certainly is.

"Yeah, I know."

She finishes filling the water buckets and turns back to Achilles. "Behave. No more biting people."

Achilles drinks his water and doesn't even spare her a glance.

"Well, screw you t—" Thea blinks in realization. "...That isn't the chariot race."

Chariots don't screech. Not like birds.

She takes off, unsheathing her sword in the process, and races toward the track. She can see the birds swarming in the air, diving toward the crowd as they scream and try to fight them off. Stymphalian birds, from Hercules' sixth task.

And they're swarming the Hephaestus cabin's chariot.

"Charlie!" she screams, slashing wildly at the birds around her as she scrambles up the track. "Nyssa!"