The Silver Ring (PJO)

Chapter 12

The moment I needed Thalia, I couldn't find her.

How befitting.

The first place I checked was at the bonfire. There were only a few hunters present, and all of them seemed to be trying to ruin the mood by glaring at everybody—which kind of worked. Then, I checked the training arena, just in case she wanted to get her late-night training in. When I didn't see her, I checked the amphitheater, wondering if she was practicing her rhetoric.

When I didn't find her there, me being me, I decided to just randomly run through the full area of the camp.

Turns out, it took two hours to run through the dozens of miles of camp. On the positive side, I got a whole lot of exercise. But on the negative side, I still couldn't find Thalia. 

I would've kept on running in circles if my brain didn't decide to think for one and wondered, Is she in cabin eight?

I immediately felt stupid and angry that I didn't think of that earlier, so I wouldn't think I was stupid. Nevertheless, I ran towards the cabin area. 

It took a while to find the silver cabin, since new ones were being added all the time for minor gods that had been forgotten but decided to pop up after having a child or two. But with some luck, I found myself in front of the door, wondering whether the door was booby trapped.

I gingerly approached the door and knocked quietly, as though the door was made of paper. I could hear lots of talking, and it seemed like most of the hunters weren't asleep. I waited for a bit, but nobody seemed to have heard my pitiful knock.

I steeled my nerves and and knocked again, although louder.

The chatter ceased for a few moments, but then started up again, as though the hunters insouciant to the disturbance. 

A few seconds later, I heard footsteps draw closer to the door. On second thought, maybe I should've waited until morning, I thought.

But it was too late. The door swung open a crack, creaking loudly in protest, as though the hunters had purposely rigged it that way. A hunter peeked out, a curious expression on her face. When she saw what gender I was her face turned to one of disdain and anger. "What do you want male?"

"Can I please talk to Thalia?" I asked, not letting her unwelcome tone discourage me.

The hunter scoffed and said, "She's sleeping." A moment later, I heard Thalia shout playfully to somebody inside. I could tell from the hunter's face she also heard as well.

"Just for a minute," I pleaded. "It's urgent. I'm her cousin."

"Do you know Lady Artemis is inside?" she asked. 

I paled at the hidden threat. "I won't take up much of her time. Just tell her Percy wants to talk outside."

Her face changed to one of confusion. "You want to talk to her outside?"

"Yeah?" I asked, confused.

"Fine," she said begrudgingly. "But I'm not making any promises." And then she shut the door before I could even thank her.

I walked a bit away from the cabin, shocked the hunter actually listened to me.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Thalia came out. "You needed me, Kelp Head?"

"Yeah. I had a question to ask you. Two questions, really. Why was that hunter so surprised?"

Thalia laughed. "It's because you're not a usual male. She probably thought you wanted to come inside."

"Oh."

"Why did you come here at this ungodly hour?" Thalia asked. "Not that I mind."

"It's not an ungodly hour. The sun set like fifteen minutes ago."

"Unlike you, I need sleep," Thalia teased. "I need to get up super-early every day. One of the negatives of being with the hunters, but you get used to it after a while. Then it becomes refreshing."

I felt guilty for making her stay up, even though it was for a few minutes. "Have a good night. I'll talk to you tomorrow." I turned around, but Thalia grasped me by my arm, not letting me go.

"Stop being selfless. Ask me what you wanted to ask."

"Thalia, I don't want you to lose sleep—"

"A few minutes less of sleep doesn't matter, Water Boy," Thalia interrupted me. "Besides, you're wasting even more of my time if you keep on resisting. And you know I won't let you go."

Thalia knew exactly how to guilt trip me. "Fine," I sighed. "Does Artemis have a ring on her hand?"

Thalia's eyes lit up, as though the question had helped her figure something out. "Yeah. A few days ago, she teleported back into our temporary camp with it on after a meeting with the rest of the Olympians. She started grumbling about how Zeus had said it was for a surprise . . . Don't tell me what I'm thinking is true," she finished with a tone that indicated she knew what I was going to say.

"Yes," I confirmed.

Thalia laughed and suddenly hugged me. "That's awesome!" Thalia whisper-shouted.

"What do you mean?" I muttered into her hair. "I'm going to die a very painful death."

"Actually, I think she's the best choice for you," Thalia corrected. "Yes, it'll take a bit to make her actually show your emotions, but I have no doubt she'll support you."

"Uh . . . are we talking about the same person?" I asked, wondering if she had tripped and hit her head. "After she figures out she'll either kill or heavily injure me. I don't think that counts as 'caring.' "

"Did something happen with you and Artemis after I left you?" Thalia asked bluntly.

"Yes, but how did you know?" I asked. I was pretty sure Lady Artemis was the only person there, since nobody else came out and beat me up, but I thought there was a chance that I was wrong.

"Lady Artemis came into the cabin a few hours later looking dazed and distracted. And that only happens after she's been around you. She even forgot to check-in with me, and see how we were doing, instead going straight to her room."

"You mean . . ." I trailed off, not wanting to insinuate anything about the man-hating goddess. 

"She's crushing on you," Thalia finished. "Bad."