Percy Jackson: Guardian of the Hunt

Chapter 11

Percy

You know how sometimes you wake up with a jolt for no reason? Like, when you don't have bad dreams but you still wake up with a jerk?

That's how Percy wakes up. The ground underneath is soft and he guesses that he's lying on a blanket. He vaguely remembers climbing down the tree to sleep next to Thalia. Why, even he doesn't know. The only thing he does know is that there were very less people in the world who actually, really cared about him and Thalia was definitely one of them.

Besides, holding grudges were not his style and even though he was pulling a Nico more and more (brooding, being an insomniac, running away and so on) he thinks that he would never be able to do that one Nico thing; he just couldn't hold grudges.

Percy blinks away the sleep in his eyes and looks up to see a dark blue sky, dotted with stars. He'd slept till night? He remembers feeling tired and wanting a nap but he didn't think that he'd sleep that long.
A sharp breeze drifts by, nipping at his exposed arms and face. Percy shivers. As if someone had read his mind, he momentarily feels hands on his shoulders and then something soft is being draped over him.

Percy looks up to see a huntress, looking down at him with a gentle smile. He's surprised it's not Thalia.
It's only then Percy feels the warmth of a merry fire and the sound of voices and indistinct sounds of metal against metal. The hunters had arrived before he'd woken up.

The girl looks familiar and yet not so familiar at the same time. He's seen her around at Camp, before he'd left it and then he's also seen her during bonfires at the Hunt. She was probably one of those very few people who had not been angry at him. She looks older than him, probably 3 or (33 years, Percy's ADHD brain supplies unhelpfully).
Percy sifts through his head to find her name and he grasps it when she sits down across from him, "Crystal, right?"

She looks surprised as he feels and then she smiles, her gold-green eyes glittering eerily in the glow of the fire.

"Thalia has gone to see Lady Artemis and she told me to take care of you when you woke up" Crystal explains and Percy nods.
Of course Thalia did that. She was probably still guilty about the whole Phoebe-thing. Percy is snapped out of his thoughts when a bowl of soup enters his vision. It has floating pieces of meat (he doesn't know what it is but doesn't question it either) and the bowl's blue in color.
"I'm not hungry," is the first thing Percy says. As if to betray him, his stomach growls and Percy shoots it a glare.

To his surprise, Crystal laughs, "Seems like your stomach disagrees. I'm sure you could use something to keep your stamina up." Percy nods again. He starts spooning up the broth and eats in silence. It tastes good and he finishes it in a matter of seconds. He feels eyes on him the whole time and he crushes the urge to squirm.

"I'm sorry," Crystal says suddenly and Percy looks up, confused.
"I'm sorry for staring at you," she amends, "You look a lot like my brother." Her eyes turn fond and wistful and Percy somehow knows that the said brother was younger and was no longer alive.

"He was mortal?" Percy asked, setting the bowl aside. Crystal nods, "He was more like my step brother but I considered him my own."
"Is that why you were nice to me before and the reason Thalia chose you to look after me?" Percy blurts. He knows it's sort of rude but hey, he's ADHD, don't judge him.

"Yes, that's part of the reason. But what makes you think Thalia chose me?" She raises an eyebrow, "I volunteered," she turns to look at her sisters and Percy is left to gape. "Why would you do that?" He asks finally.
"Because I wanted to," she says it like it was the obvious answer and Percy, for the life of him, can't understand. "I've been in the hunt for a long time, Percy. I was one of Zoë's friends. Everybody knows the story about how she died. And I'm glad that she realised that there still some men who are good in this world." She says and directs the last part at Percy, who looks away at the intense gaze.

"My step father wasn't the nicest person. He hated me and my brother," Crystal says and Percy knows where this is going.
"He beat us around. A lot. But one day he went too far and..." She shrugs, "I had to bury my 16 year old brother at 3 AM."

Percy's too horrified to speak.
"I ran away that day and some nice looking woman named Iris contacted me through a shimmery screen and told me to get to Camp." Crystal finishes.
They sit in silence before Percy finds his voice, "I'm really sorry. I know it's not going to make anything better but I am." Crystal gives him a half smile.

Percy remembers the days when Smelly Gabe had been too drunk. He never hit him everyday or anything like that but when he was drunk? Those were Percy's worst days. Smelly Gabe had even broken his arm once. Sally had had to secretly take Percy to the hospital to get him a brace. He remembers how safe he'd felt in his mother's arms; how comforting it had been. He remembers her smile and her soothing voice.

It makes Percy's heart ache. He misses her and Paul everyday. He didn't even know whether they'd been buried or not. Percy's thoughts are broken when a voice yells, "Hey, Chris!"
Percy looks up to see Thalia jubilantly waving at Crystal. She hasn't noticed that he's awake yet. Crystal waves back just as excitedly. "Thanks for looking after him, Chris. You would have had a hard time if he was..." Thalia stops and looks at Percy with wide eyes. Percy resists the urge to laugh, "Awake?" Percy finishes for her.

"Oh, no problem, Thals. This squirt is quite fun." She says, ruffling Percy's hair, who's wrinkling his nose at being called 'squirt'. He looks up at Crystal and gapes at her height. She's at least a head taller than he is!
"Why is everybody taller than me?" Percy whines. First Nico, now Crystal. Crystal laughs at his expense while Thalia cracks a smile and Percy feels light. Crystal bids them goodbye and leaves Percy alone with Thalia who looks like she wants to be anywhere other than where she was now. Then she takes a deep breath, "Percy, I'm so sorry for what I did."
Percy, needless to say, feels amused, "For what? For punching me or for kicking me out or for not believing me or for calling me names?" He teases. He'd been hurt by it before but he'd guessed that Thalia's reaction was warranted.

Thalia, however doesn't take the joke, she winced, "For all of that. I'm sorry for hurting you. I should have believed you. I should have known that Phoebe was trying to get you kicked out. I should have-"
Percy sighs loudly. "Okay, you're forgiven. Now sit down." He yanks her arm and pulls her down next to him. Thalia gapes at him incredulously, "I'm forgiven." She states, "Just like that?".
"Yes, Thalia, just like that, you're forgiven."

When she still looks uncertain, Percy sighs again, "Thals, I'm used to it by now. And I understand what made you act like that. I really do. It's fine. You're here and I'm here. Let's just forget about it and get on with our lives." He says in one breath.

But if course, Thalia being observant she was, only caught on to the first sentence, "You're used to it by now? Percy, that's not how it's supposed to be. You need to be able to trust me. I know everybody betrayed you and I'm sorry for that. I promise I won't betray you again. I'll kill myself before I do that." She vows.

Percy snorts, "Technically, you can't kill yourself but yeah, I get it." Thalia laughs and snags an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in for a sideways hug, "When did you get so smart?" Percy feigns being hurt, "Excuse you but I've always been smart!". They laugh again, leaning against each other. "Where were you though?" Percy asks once they've calmed down. "Well, Artemis called..." She tells him that he was supposed to go to Olympus but since he'd been sleeping, Artemis had said that he could come tomorrow.

"For what?" Percy asks even though he sort of already knows. And Thalia shoots him look that says she knows but still answers, "To decide Phoebe's punishment."

Percy squirms, "I don't think...I don't want to do anything. She-" Thalia shoots him a look of disbelief, but Percy continues,
"-probably had a reason."

"A reason to get you kicked out?"
Percy shrugs, "Yes, Thals. I'm​ not really sure why. But I say we first find out what her problem was."

Thalia sighs and her shoulders sag, "Fine, if that's what you want," she pulls Percy in closer, and it's just on that side of painful but it's comforting too, "You're too nice for your own good, Perce."

Maybe he is. And he doesn't regret it.
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Yo peeps! 'Sup? How's everyone doing? I'm doing great.
I actually wrote this chapter as soon as I'd published Chapter 10 but it still had some changes to go through. I've already decided how the story's gonna end and I think it might be ending soon.
I'm still not sure, so we'll see.

Hope y'all liked this chappie!