Pertamis

Chapter 23

Percy's POV

Avery fell asleep with her head on Thalia's chest. Thalia was laying down gazing at the stars. I hid my smile. I looked around and saw everybody around the fire, either sleeping or gazing at the sky.

If I wasn't imagining anything. Leah, Thalia and I were the only ones awake. I sent a quick glance to Leah and she gave a slight nod. She went to the tent and walked back out with a small box.

"Thalia?" She glanced over at us. She seemed to feel the seriousness of what we wanted to talk about.

"Talk." Her voice was a slight bit nervous. Leah opened the box and pulled out a necklace. It was silver wolf pendant. She passed it over. Thalia hesitantly took it. "What is this?"

"The necklace is something we give to non-werewolves that are important to the pack." I started. "It tells other wolves that you are part of my pack and if other monsters see it they will know not to mess with you."

"Are you saying I can't take care of myself!" Her arm jerked out with the necklace. You could tell she was trying not to wake Avery though.

"He's not saying anything." Leah instantly defensive. "He's just letting others know that you're part of our pack, even if your a hunter."

"To my kind, this is a way of uniting two people besides unions and alliances. The person gifted with the necklace is able to choose her three most trusted companions and they will be bound together and welcomed into the pack."

"That sounds complicated Kelp Head. When did you start talking about those things."

"Long time ago." I replied with a small smile. "All you have to say is I accept and the three trusted companions names need to be said out loud and then the necklace will do the rest."

Thalia looked thoughtful. As she did I noticed her tracing a small pattern on her thigh. I couldn't follow along with it but I think it had to do with the situation.

"Can I save a companion?"

I nodded my head. She continued to think. Then she looked determined. She took a breath before speaking.

"I accept. Joy and Nico." I smiled at the mention of the son of Hades. The necklace glowed. I've only seen this once with my father. Red, blue and black lines of something flowed out of it. Looked like smoke, but I really don't know what it is. The blue surrounded Thalia while the red surrounded Joy. The black went off looking for Nico.

Thalia gasped loudly waking up Snow. Snow then gasped at the 'smoke' surrounding the two hunters. Then it just stuck itself to the hunters. Thalia grabbed a tree next to her, but it snapped underneath her grip. Her eyes glowed more then they usually did with a slight silver ring around the irises.

Joy rolled over when it happened and her eyes snapped open. She yelped and tried to run away from the smoke and wipe it off herself. She continued to run around yelling at us for help.

Everybody was awake now, and we were all laughing. I grabbed her jacket as she ran past me. She screamed as the rest of the red smoke surrounded her and sunk in. She let out a groan and shivered. Her eyes opened and hers also glowed more and had a silver rim.

"Dude I feel so much stronger!" I chuckled.

"I know." I then explained about the necklace Thalia had and what had happened. "I don't know what that stuff was because I've only seen this happen once. Nobody' answered my question so I'm just gonna call it smoke. The smoke gives you access to our abilities. The strength, enhanced senses, talking to specific animals, and sometimes shifting. This usually depends on the person but I think you guys would be able to access shifting. It has to do with your connection to nature."