Glory of Hera [On hold]

Chapter IX

Chapter IX: 3rd PoV
I'm the early hours of a normal Friday morning, a teenage girl and her two friends burned a shroud for her brother.

If asked her name, the girl had a different name then she would've told you yesterday. Lou Ellen Smith.

Her face was blotchy, her green eyes red-rimmed. You could tell she had lost someone. But nobody knew who, aside from her friends.

Even if she had changed her name, nobody knew. No one noticed when she took her brother's bed in the Hermes cabin. No matter who you asked, anyone in camp would say she hadn't been there for very long, despite the many beads on her necklace.

That evening Lou Ellen stayed in her cabin, being comforted by Katie. She hadn't said a word to Percy since he came back carrying the body of her brother.

The son of Hera was suffering from intense survivors guilt and couldn't bare to be in her presence either way. He slowly made his way down to the first campfire he'd attended. He always kind of avoided the others campers, they didn't notice anyway.

While the Apollo cabin sang some dumb song, Percy noticed a small girl sitting in the fire. She was swaying slightly to the music, eyes closed, faint smile on her lips. Percy knew everybody at camp, everybody. But he had never seen this girl.

After the campfire, he stayed behind. As he walked closer to her, her eyes snapped open, revealing cocoons of fire. A warm fire, friendly fire. They were eyes that seemed familiar. Eyes from a dream, or a distant memory.

She smiled and he felt happy. She hadn't even said a word and Percy felt as though he were home, as if she was home.

"Not many notice me in the fire, young one. I haven't seen you around before, are you new around here?"

It felt odd hearing the words come out of the mouth of a twelve year old. Though, she didn't seem like an average girl.

"No, I've been here longer then just about anyone who's still here," Percy choked back tears as he realized that after Lou's death, he was the camper who'd been here the longest.

"In fact, I have been here the longest, except for Chiron. I'm Percy Jackson, undetermined."

Her eyes widened, "Percy?" The way she said it made him feel as though he were in a dream. So much love was in her words. So much kindness.

She embraced him tightly, "You've grown up so much. You can call me...Tia," After saying the name, Tia smiled as if she knew something he didn't.

"Tia? Why would you want me to call you Aunt in Spanish?"

Her smile only grew. "That may be, but Tia is also my nickname. Don't lose hope, child. And don't blame yourself for the death of your friend. Your time will come. I'm sure I'll see you again soon Percy Jackson." With one last blast of caring energy, Tia disappeared in a wall of flames.

Who was she? Perhaps an immortal daughter of Hephaestus? That would explain the flames.

Regardless, Percy needed to talk to Lou Ellen. Despite what Tia had said, Percy knew Lou's death was his fault. He only hoped his family would forgive him.

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"You idiot!" Lou Ellen shouted. "It's not your fault, it's mine! I should've stayed and helped you fight."

The daughter of Hecate has slapped him after his pronouncement and there was a very clear handprint on his cheek. She quickly waved off the retort Percy was forming and kept talking,

"And of course we're still friends feather brain! We always will be."

Percy wasn't sure where she'd gotten the nickname from, but he had a feeling it would stick.

The two of them hugged tightly and Katie felt as though she was intruding on something private. She slowly backed away and was almost out of sight when something grabbed her sweater.

Percy roughly pulled her into the hug as well, "Going somewhere, Katie Kat?" She almost cried when he used her old nickname, she had missed it so much. If only...

If only Lou had been there.

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Over the course of the next months three friends devoloped a schedule for spending time together. During meals, Katie would surreptituosly join the Hermes table and eat with the people she cared about most in the world. During war games, they refused to participate and hung out by Thalia's tree.

Percy and Katie were still the only ones able to hear her speak. It made sense for Katie, she was a daughter of Demeter, but none of her cabin could hear the former daughter of Zeus's words. Besides, how had Percy been able to hear it? It was mystery they forced themselves not to dwell on, because the more they thought about it the less it made sense, and they didn't want to lose Thalia.

Over time, though she remained close with Percy and Lou Ellen (who they had started to just call Lou), Katie found herself not able to hear her tree-bound friend anymore. Eventually, she forgot she ever had heard it speak, writing off as a childish game. She was thirteen, after all, and playing games was simply not dignified.

Percy, who continued to talk to his favorite pine, was startled by the suprising question she asked one cool autumn morning.

"Percy?" she had said hesitantly, as though afraid she would anger him. "Do you ever think of just, giving it all up. Leaving the gods behind, or even...standing up against them?" It seemed spur of the moment, but Percy had known her for years, he knew the way she thought. Everything Thalia was saying had been meticulously planned out.

"Not really," He lied. In truth, he had thought about it quite a lot, especially now that he was older. "Why do you ask?"

There was a long silence, evidently she had been expecting a different response from him. "Oh, no reason," she answered, finally recovering her voice. "I've just been hearing whispers from nature spirits. They say war is coming. Someone is rising, someone powerful. Powerful enough to overthrow the gods, even. But he needs followers, spies, people to watch from the inside."

Realizing she had maybe said too much, Thalia quickly backtracked. "But of course, I would know nothing about that... nothing at all. Just silly rumors that's all"

If he were anyone else, Percy might have been getting suspicious at this point in the conversation, but the teen had such blind faith in all of his friends that he wasn't. And Thalia was acting the same as always, she sometimes said odd things. Nothing was the matter.

If only he knew how wrong he was.

A/N: Hmm, something's up with Thalia. Wonder what *whistles innocently*. I guess you'll have to read on to find out. Stay awesome!

Team writing's blasting off agaiiiiiiiiiinnn. (Meowth, but we'll be back soon)

-Peeves and Marri