Estelle

Chapter 10

Hi!

This is a long chapter! I hope you like it!

thanks to @JuanitaNightshade for your OC! She is in this chapter and she will be in a few more!

Bye!

"Thals!" I exclaimed. I turned around to give her a big hug, but she pushed me back, put me in a headlock and held a knife to my throat. "Never call me Thals." She said, deadly calm. I laughed and took a page out of Annabeth's book; I Judo flipped her. I then uncapped Riptide and pulled it out of my pocket in one fluid motion holding it to her throat. "Ok Thals" I said jokingly. At that moment heard an arrow being notched right behind my head. I froze in shock, hoping they didn't think I was a threat. "Put. The. Weapon. Down." A girl behind me said very slowly. "If you move, I will shoot you in the head, idiotic male" The last part stung; only Annabeth can call me an idiot and get away with it. I rolled my eyes and said "Thals can you please tell the girl to not kill me?" "Nah" she said, "Selena would just be doing me a favor."

"Selena." I said tears welling in my eyes "That's a very beautiful name." "Oh, thanks." She said, sounding surprised.

I stood up and held my hand out for Thalia. She slapped my hand out of the way and got up herself. I turned around to look at the girl behind me. She had long brown hair tucked neatly into a braid, olive green eyes that sparkled with intelligence and a smirk on her face that reminded me of Leo when he was about to pull a prank.

She still had her bow pointed to my face, but it didn't seem as threatening as before. "Hi!" I said sticking my hand out. She ignored it and instead asked, "Who are you?" I put my hands on my hips and shook my head in fake disbelief. "Not even a 'nice to meet you' or a 'Sorry I threatened to kill you'. Wow Thals, I know the hunters are mean, but this is a new low." Thalia rolled her eyes and muttered " I've known him for almost 17 years and he is the exact same." "I heard that!" I said in mock hurt.

Selena was watching us go back and forth in confusion; probably trying to figure out how we know each other, and how an adult male could make fun of the lieutenant of Artemis and get away with it.

"Love you Thals." I said while leaning in to hug her. She accepted the hug and said, "Love you too." Then she zapped my arm and said, "Don't call me Thals!" I laughed, "I missed you." "I didn't." she sassily replied. I swung my arm over her shoulder and smiled "So... what are we doing first?" "Hold up." Selena said crossing her arms. "You never answered my question, who are you?" "I'm Percy." I said simply. Thalia electrocuted me on the arm again. "Percy! That is not enough information." "Owie." I said, sticking out my bottom lip while rubbing my arm. "That's no way to treat me." "First of all," Thalia said, "Stop being such a wimp; it's not like I shocked you that hard. Second, I'll treat you however I want!" I gasped dramatically and I was about to protest when Selena interrupted, "Shut up! Just tell me who you are!"

Thalia and I stared at her shocked. "Sorry." She mumbled "Not to you, Male. Sorry to lieutenant Thalia." "It's okay I get. Percy can be really annoying sometimes." "Hey!" I yelled in protest. "Scratch that, all the time" Thalia corrected.

"Okay let's get back to the introduction" Selena said,

"Fine, my name is Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, slayer of Medusa, fell off the Saint Louis arch, battled Ares and won, retriever of Zeus's Master bolt, survivor of pit scorpion... Thalia" I whined "Do I really have to say it all?!" She smirked, "Yep." I groaned, "Fine, that was when I was twelve.

Let's move on to thirteen." I inhaled deeply, "fighter of Canadian cannibals, half brother of Tyson, rider of Rainbow the fish pony, survivor of the princess Andromeda, survivor of Monster Donuts, survivor of Charybdis and Scylla, survivor of the Sirens, defeater of Guinea Pig lady aka Circe, sailor of Queen Ann's Revenge, defeater of Polyphemus, savior of Grover the bride and Clarisse the bride, friend of Hermes, savior of Blackjack, finder of the Golden Fleece.

The winter of when I was thirteen, I survived a Manticore attack, finder of Neeks and B-Bianca, met Artemis, met Apollo, flew in the sun school bus." Thalia winced remembering her panic attack. "One of the five to go on a quest to save Artemis... "Not really" Thalia interrupted "Fine, snuck onto the quest to save Artemis..." "That's not the only reason" Thalia interrupted again, wiggling her eyebrows. I blushed remembering the real reason I went on that quest. "Anyway, became BFFs with Bessie aka the Ophiotaurus, blah blah blah, killed some monsters, held up the sky, saved Annabeth and Artemis, tricked Atlas, stopped Thalia from betraying us." At that Thalia glared at me.

"What do you mean Thalia betrayed you!?" Selena asked incredulously, "Almost betrayed us." I continued "W-watched the hunter Bianca s-sacrifice herself." Thalia gave me a hug, "And watched the old lieutenant of Artemis, Zoe Nightshade get killed by her own dad."

I clenched my teeth thinking about Atlas. "Bianca and Zoe were two of the bravest people I have ever known." I looked over at Thalia and I was surprised to see tears welling in her eyes. "At least Zoe will always be remembered." Thalia said in between sniffles. I thought of the Huntress and reminded myself to find her in the sky tonight. We sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes until I decided I should probably continue.

"When I was fourteen. I searched the Labyrinth, helped to find Pan, watched Pan fade, fought some more monsters, Got Rachel to guide us, met Hera, freed the One hundred Handed One aka Briars, met Hephaestus, ran away from Kronos aka Luke, met Quinton aka Daedalus, fought Telkhines, blew up Mount Saint Helens." Thalia wiggled her eyebrows again, and I turned a deep shade of purple. "Went to Ogygia, met Calypso, almost got killed by Annabeth, beat an army of monsters with the rest of camp, watched the labyrinth die, became the owner of the Famous Mrs. O-Leary."

"Okay, that's enough." Selena said, rubbing her temples. "I should have specified. How do you know Lieutenant Thalia?" "Well, Pinecone Face and I go way back." I said. "I was on the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece, which evidently brought her back to life." Thalia mocked gasped, "you said two big words in one sentence! I'm so proud of you!" She put on a cheesy smile and started clapping. I ignored her and continued, "At the beginning we... well let's just say we weren't besties." Thalia snorted, "That's an understatement." I said. I thought back to Capture the Flag; that was a nightmare. She ended up soaked and I ended up fried. "But soon we realized we were the exact same except I had better taste in clothes, music and everything else." Thalia quipped. I rolled my eyes. "We're also cousins." I added. "You know you could have just said that in the first place, right?" Selena asked, "Yeah but that wouldn't have been any fun!"

We left the tent, Thalia and I bickering about who has a better sense of style while Selena face palmed and rolled her eyes. Finally, we stopped bickering and Thalia asked, "Where's Annabeth? You two are normally joined at the hip." All the emotions washed back over me at once. Guilt, anger, desperation, longing and most of all sadness, heartbreaking sadness that went deep into the core of my entire being.

I had forgotten for just a moment. I had been so happy to see my not-really-older-cousin, that I had entirely forgotten everything that happened. I felt incredibly guilty.

"Percy?" Thalia said, worry edging into her voice. "Where's Annabeth?!" My eyes brimmed with tears, and I finally snapped. All the pent-up emotions I had been keeping inside of me were finally let out. I fell into Thalia's shoulder sobbing. I knew this probably was a weird sight. A grown man crying into the shoulder of a fifteen year old girl, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore. Thalia tried to console me by saying "It's okay Percy, everything's going to be alright." I knew she didn't believe it. She was just trying to be strong for me.

It's funny how you can go from joy to sorrow in a split second.