Blade's Edge || Deception Book II ||

Chapter 43: An Overdue Conversation

"We need to talk," a voice said from behind me.

I sighed, turning around from the dessert table ladened with sweets of all different kinds. "I was expecting you, Thalia."

Thalia nodded, and though she was now . . . glowing the way all Hunters did, her eyes seemed older. "Not here though."

"Of course not," I agreed, grabbing a pineapple tart. "I'll meet you. . ." I glanced around the pavilion, noting the crowds of nymphs and satyrs dancing in the courtyard, the nine muses in the corner playing music, and the gods interspersed throughout. There was literally no place we could talk in private. After a few moments of hesitation, I said, "Take the west hall from the courtyard and turn left after the second hallway. I'll meet you outside the door in that hall. There's only one, you can't miss it."

Thalia nodded and vanished back into the crowd, heading for the west hall of the courtyard. I tried to squash the nagging sensation in my gut. Did Thalia want to question me about Olympus? Or, even worse, my relationship with Luke?

I shook my head, dislodging the thought with a bite of the pineapple tart, though I hardly tasted it. It doesn't matter. I owe it to her to answer any questions she asks. As with Percy, but I'll talk to him later. I smiled as I saw him surrounded by the gods, looking quite flustered. Busy, indeed. "Paper bag, please," I said, smiling when a bag appeared on the table. Daughter of Zeus or not, no one could resist a few good sweets.

Dusting my hands, I picked up my bag and skirted the crowd along the perimeter of the courtyard towards the west hall, making sure to stay out of sight. The last thing I needed right now was for one of the gods to come and interrogate me about one of their particular children. Thankfully, no one stopped me, though Aphrodite caught sight of me from where she was gossiping with a few minor gods and gave me a meaningful wink, which I pretended to not see. "Gods, what a nightmare," I muttered aloud as the sound of the party lowered to a tolerable level once I was a few hundred metres down the hallway. "If it wasn't for the food, I'd be outta here."

"One would think you'd enjoy this," Thalia said, arms crossed over her chest as she materialized from the shadows of one of the silver wolves guarding this wing with their ever-watchful cobalt eyes. "I mean, after what, seventeen years?"

I ignored her jab, knowing full well where it was coming from and the fifteen years of pain she'd experienced. She fell into step beside me as I stalked down the hall and turned the corner of the second hallway.

"Did you know," I said as I pushed open the door, its hinges still smooth even after two years of unuse. "When I was six, I destroyed the entire training arena on Olympus?"

Thalia was silent, not sure where I was going with this.

"And then, at ten, I drew blood from Ares. Fought Ladon and won when I was twelve."

"So you think you deserve this?"

"My point," I said, walking into the room and surveying the bare, white walls and the bed in the far corner, the only other furniture, a nightstand, and bookshelf with less than a dozen books in it, "is that the gods had no other choice. I'm a shadow-walker, Thalia. The first since the fifteenth century. The gods brought me here to train me. To protect the world from me. To protect me from myself. I was six when I nearly destroyed a part of the palace. I couldn't control my powers. Imagine what would have happened if I'd been left in the mortal world."

"But why you? The gods never cared about us. They always turn a blind eye. No immortal interference. But you were made an exception. Why?"

"Hah, as if I know the answer to that," I said, turning to meet her gaze. "I spent thirteen years inside this room, the arena, or Hades' castle. As if I'd know why I got dropped off on Olympus' doorstep when I was three."