Missing

Voices

Reyna's POV

Thalia seemed a little more distant as of lately. On our trip to the next base she'd smiled the whole way but it wasn't the smile that reached her eyes. It was the one that was fake, the one that hurt to look at.

She'd seemed a little more jittery as well. Little things caused her to have a nervous response. I wasn't sure what it was and as the day lengthened it got progressively worse. She had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep the last night or so.

Her hair was messier than normal, her clothes were rumpled, and sparks occasionally coursed down her arms. The others didn't seem to notice or at least not mind much but it worried me. This wasn't normal. At least for people like us it wasn't.

Despite this, we'd managed to travel without incident which meant there was no particular reason for Thalia to be on edge. But I knew better. It wasn't always the things on the outside that could hurt a person. She hadn't talked to me since after the encounter with Lach. A majority of it was fuzzy in my head, and that was probably from being asleep. If anything, at least Lach had given Thalia some privacy in their conversation.

Ultimately, we'd settled down for our last night before the next base when I was startled awake. Looking around anxiously my gaze settled on the shaking form of Thalia who rested next to me.

"Thalia?" My voice was quiet but harsh enough to gain her attention. Her eyes were the only thing visible in the faint light of night. They held a quiet sort of panic. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." Her voice was light not as deep as usual, she was hiding something.

"Then sleep," I said it despite knowing there was something wrong. The truth was I didn't want to push her to talk anymore. It obviously made her want to talk to me less.

"I c-can't. It'll be w-worse," She said sitting up. Resting her head in her hands I could see the faint form of sweat on her skin.

"What? Are you sick?" I asked glancing about making sure the others hadn't woken.

"No," Thalia insisted. "It won't leave me alone."

"What? There's nothing here." I said studying the surrounding area just to be safe.

"You don't hear it?" Thalia asked a look of fear flashing on her face. "Gods I'm going crazy."

"No. Just explain. What are you hearing?" Genuine concern crept in. Demigods hearing things wasn't a good thing, and if anything it explained why she'd been so edgy.

"It's a voice." A shiver ran down her spine. "I've heard it since we left. I thought it would go away."

"Whose voice? Do you know it?" I questioned, my voice still a whisper.

"No," She shook her head. "I don't know it but it's nice in a scary king of way."

"How so?" A red flag seemed to be waving in the air. That was a bad sign. Thalia just shook her head and ignored me.

"It's fine go back to bed." She turned her back towards me and faced the small dwindling fire. Sparks shot off of it creating little pops in the dark. Slipping out of my sleeping bag I scrambled over to her and plopped down in the space next to her.

"Is that why you've had a hard time sleeping lately?" She glared at me but didn't say anything. After a moment she conceded and spoke.

"Yes." The reply was short and agitated.

"Well walking into a base tomorrow facing supposedly the worst of our enemies on no sleep is not a good idea," I responded, picking up a stick and tossing it in the fire.

"What do you suggest I do? I'm not a kid," Thalia snapped angrily, forgetting to keep her voice down. "It's not like I can crawl into bed with my mom or Jason, even Luke, and pretend they can chase the nightmares away. "

"No but you've got me. And I'm much better at fighting things than they are." Thalia growled something incoherent under her breath before rubbing her temple with a shaking hand.

"Go away." She whispered.

"Alright fine," I shrugged, getting up but she grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "Not you."

"Then wha-oh." I nodded biting my lip in worry.

"Sorry, it's the voices." Thalia said tapping her head and smiling lightly. It was a horrible joke but I could tell she was trying to change the obvious subject.

"It's er fine." Clearing my throat I laid down. "Well if you aren't sleeping I am."

"Fine by me." Thalia said before shivering again. I tucked my arms up beneath my head trying to find a comfortable position. Giving up I just rested on my stomach head turned to the side. Closing my eyes I tried to focus on something other than the pressing issue.

There was nothing to listen to except Thalia's agitated breathing. Sighing I focused on something else. I noticed that there was the clinging scent of earth but that was because we were out in the wilderness. Beneath it was the smell of pines. It was faint but lingered the slightest amount. Mixed in with it was the smell of a fresh breeze. A clean cut smell, something nice that would clear the head and to tie it all together the smallest of scents was mint. It was pleasant and I nearly smiled.

"Reyna?" It was Thalia again.

"Hm?" I was too lazy to speak let alone talk to her.

"You don't think I'm mad do you?" She asked her voice strained and the true weariness behind her words crept in.

"No. Just tired." I said opening one eye to look at her. She nodded and with a sigh laid down and curled up into a little ball next to me. She turned her back towards me like before. I opened my mouth to say something but thought better of it and sighed.

Breathing in I noticed the mixture of smells was stronger and more intense now. It took me a moment to figure out as to why when I realized what I had made sense of earlier was the lingering smell of...well of Thalia. It was enough to make me forget what I had been thinking of previously and for some odd reason I felt more awake than before.

Thalia fell asleep for the first time I assumed in a long while, her breathes short and even. I watched as she slowly relaxed less tense than before, the thin layer of sweat that had clung to her was now gone. Sitting up I studied her face to see that there was still a worried look painting her features.

Sighing I settled back down and closed my eyes. I was nearly asleep when I felt something brush against my hand. Without looking I reached out and ran my fingers over it. It was her hand made up of long thin fingers, soft skin, and callouses across the palm. Her hand twitched before her fingers tangled with mine.

Smiling lightly I fell asleep a little while later and didn't wake in the night again.

A/N My apologies for that chapter being so short and for not updating as much. My school Musical recently started and any and all free time has now been taken up by that and school work. So again my apologies I hope to update more.