Wild Heart ⋆ Riordanverse¹

xi. cyclops

xi. cyclops

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SURPRISINGLY, THEA LIKES CAMP HALF-BLOOD. When she told Percy that over email, he emailed back not even an hour later, asking if she had "been replaced by a monster who actually liked people." He was right, the Thea he first met was scrappy, constantly angry, and chronically tired.

And she still is, but she's at least happy. She has friends, something she never had before, and she has her cousin. She has somewhere to sleep at night where she doesn't have to worry about monsters or her screams from nightmares attracting the monsters. She has people who understand her, or understand her for the most part. It's nice—refreshing, even, after being on her own for so long.

The flip side of that, though, is that she had an entire year to herself. While she discovered new hobbies, she discovered more about herself, things she would have been fine without knowing. She doesn't like people touching her shoulder unless she knows them well enough. She doesn't like salads because the texture is too weird for her. Her nightmares about the chained man in the dark are getting gradually worse and he's beginning to speak to her.

She told Annabeth about the last one, and she thought maybe it was a minor god trying to contact her. They aren't sure. Thea told Charlie, which only worried him further, and he had no idea either, all he said was to talk to Chiron, which Thea most certainly would not do.

But it's fine, the creepy man from her dreams doesn't mean anything, even if he is saying things that don't make any sense. It's fine, she's fine, it's all fine.

Everything is fine except for the kid wrapped around her leg. His name is Reggie, another unclaimed from the Hermes cabin, and he's seven, the youngest camper to arrive since Annabeth. He has nightmares nearly every night, and since he thinks Thea is "the coolest demigod ever," he always comes to her for comfort. And she does not know how to comfort.

"Do you ever have nightmares? You never scream like everyone else."

She pats Reggie's curly hair as she sits down on Travis' bunk with him. He won't mind, he's at sword practice anyway. "Of course I do, everyone gets them. I'm just . . . not as loud as everyone else."

"Why?"

Why does he have to ask so many questions?

"Because when you're running from monsters, you can't be loud." That isn't the right thing to say, it only seems to upset him more. "...Look, Reg, nightmares are just part of us, okay? You grow with them and they grow with you. Eventually, you'll get used to them. They won't even scare you anymore."

"Are yours not scary?"

"Not really, just confusing." She bumps her shoulder with his. "Come on, Reggie, isn't that kid waiting for you?"

"Sam, yeah." He wipes at his nose with the back of his hand. "Thanks, Thea."

He hugs her tightly and her eyes go wide with surprise before she hesitantly returns the hug, patting the small boy on the back. When he runs out the door, she lets out a sigh of relief. She never wants to do that again, it was terrifying.

"Dang, who would've thought?"

She startles and falls off of the bunk to grab a sword that is still on her bed. "Dammit, Charlie!"

Her cousin laughs, a deep, cackle-like laugh. "Gods, you should've seen your face. Priceless."

"Ha-ha, very funny." She gets to her feet and fixes a strand of hair that had come loose while she straps her sword to her back. "One day, I'll stab you, and it won't be funny then."