I’m on a roll with this!

Chapter Quote:

“Take an eye for an eye, turn your heart into stone, this all I have lived for, this all I have known.”

~Les Miserables

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Chapter 11: Thalia Thunders In

Shiloh 

I may have told a small lie to Luke.

Okay fine…

It was a big lie.  And it had to do with me not “remembering” what happened in the Underworld when he freaking kissed me!  How could someone forget that?!  Well weirder stuff has happened in the Greek world so I guess it wasn’t that farfetched that I forgot it.  But still…

Percy had suffocated me in a hug when Luke and I found all the campers gathered around Zeus’s fist.  It was actually a pretty funny reunion.  I smiled at the thought of it.

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Luke and I trudged through the forest, glad to be on earth again.  We headed towards Zeus’s fist just because that was the last time either of us had seen people.  Upon reaching the area, the two of us were greeted with the sight of the entire camp surrounding Percy and Annabeth and Chiron.  No one spoke a word, no one looked up.  They appeared as if they were deep in prayer.  I tip-toed up behind Percy and whispered, “What’s happening?”

“We’re waiting for you and hopefully Luke to get back from the Underworld,” Percy replied, keeping his head down.  I scrunched my eyes.  I was right here…

My brother snapped his head back, knocking right into my forehead.  I let out a yelp, cutting through the moment of silence.  The entire camp stared open-mouthed in my direction.  My vision spun and I think I may have swayed a little bit, but my brother threw his arms around me in a hug, quickly steadying me.

Once the initial shock was over, the camp swarmed me and Luke.  Not to say I minded, but let me tell you, it was hard to breathe.

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“Shiloh?” Luke interrupted my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“Oh yeah, just thinking about that little reunion yesterday,” I laughed. “My head still hurts from where Percy hit me.”

“Does it need a kiss to make it feel better?” Luke asked playfully.

I blushed. “No, it doesn’t.  Speaking of Percy, I need to go find him.  I’ll see you later, all right?  Bye!”  I tried to leave quickly without making it obvious.  That kiss he gave me had really screwed my mind.  I couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation.  Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad doing this to Luke because I knew he knew something was up that I wasn’t telling him, but I just couldn’t.  I didn’t want him to know.  Luke probably thought I had enough issues as it was already…

Percy was with Annabeth on the beach.  She was sitting in front of him, leaning against his chest which I found adorable.  Of course, I thought whatever they did together was adorable so I have a pretty biased opinion here.

“Perce?” I queried hesitantly.

“Hey Shiloh,” he greeted with a smile.

“I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“Not at all.  What’s up?” Annabeth replied.

“I need to ask you to do something for me.” I sat down next to them.

“What is it?” Percy looked at me curiously.

“A while back, I asked Luke if he would want to see Thalia again and he said he did if he ended up staying here on earth with us, and now that he is, I was wondering if one of you could call her and get her to come here.  I’d do it myself but she doesn’t really know me and she might find it strange.  I’ll explain what happened though.”

“Sure.  I’ll try and find out where she is,” Annabeth offered. “Think you could distract Luke for a bit while Percy and I explain what went on?”

“Maybe Percy should go distract Luke.  I’ll help you explain since I probably know more,” I offered, desperately hoping she’d agree to it.  I thanked the gods when she did.

“Annabeth, Shiloh will meet you at your cabin.  I need to talk with her for a second,” Percy said.

“Sounds good.” She gave him a quick kiss and walked away.

Once she was out of earshot, Percy turned to me and asked bluntly, “What aren’t you telling me?  Something happened in the Underworld.  Did Luke hurt you?”

“No!  He didn’t hurt me.  Surprised me maybe… but didn’t hurt me.”

“So you do remember what happened?”

“Yes…”

“And Luke doesn’t know you do?”

“No.”

“Mind explaining to me why you’re hiding secrets from a guy that I think might actually be the one that-”

“Don’t go there, Percy.  I’ve been stuck with this for three years.  I think I’d know if he was the one, don’t you think?”

“What did he do to you Shiloh?” My brother demanded.

I crossed my arms tight to my chest.  I always did it when I was uncomfortable or trying to calm myself down. “He… he kissed me.”

“He did what?!”

“Shhh!” I hushed, swatting his arm. “You’re going to draw attention to us.  And you heard me.”

“I thought-”

“I know, I did too.  It’s probably just another sick trick by that stupid goddess but needless to say, it’s sent my brain into a bit of a frenzy.  I mean can you blame me?  I’m not trying to push him away on purpose, but I need some space for a while until I can look at him without blushing from my head to my toes when I think about it.  Keep it quiet until told otherwise.”

“… Fine, but you need to tell him sooner or later, okay?  Or else you’re going to lose him.”

“No, if he finds out I’ve fallen for him, he’ll leave me.  It’s happened with all the rest.  He can never know if I want to remain friends with him, and I do.  Promise me you’ll stay quiet about this,” I pleaded.

Percy sighed. “I promise, but will you at least think about what I said too?”

“I will.  Now I better hurry and go help Annabeth.  Love you Perce.” I gave him a quick hug and dashed off to the Athena cabin.  When I got there, Annabeth was there talking to a dark-haired girl in an Iris-message.

Thalia.

When the daughter of Athena saw me, she introduced me to the daughter of Zeus.

“Why did no one tell me Percy had a sister?” Thalia demanded.

“I would’ve told you if I knew you,” I joked.

“Well it’s nice to meet you.  So what are you holding back Annabeth?  You look about ready to explode.”

“Maybe you should explain this Shiloh…”

I groaned silently.  Of course this would be left up to me.  Then again, I’d offered to help.  I was seriously considering just saying screw it and getting the hell out of there. “Okay, there’s someone at camp who would love to see you, and I’m going to assume you would want to see them too.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s a guy.”

“I need more info than that.”

“Um, he’s really good looking.”

“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”

“He almost got all of us killed in the last war.”

All the color in Thalia’s face drained. “No… that’s not possible.”

“It shouldn’t be but it is.  If you can maybe come here, I’d be glad to explain everything to you and get you to him.”

“Y-yeah.  Just give me a minute.  I’ll be there ASAP.” Thalia waved her hand through the Iris-Message, cutting it off.  Annabeth and I waited patiently in silence.  About two minutes later, a shuffling sound behind us made us spin around.  Thalia stood there with Artemis.

“Lady Artemis, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” I said, bowing.

“You too, Miss Carter.  I know what your answer will be, but my offer still stands about you joining the Hunters.”

“I would if I could, my lady.”

Artemis smiled. “Very well.  Take care of my lieutenant here.”

The three of us closed our eyes as the huntress flashed out of the room.  When we opened them, Thalia was staring at me inquisitively. “What did you mean when Artemis asked if you wanted to join the Hunters?”

I gave her a tired smile. “I’ll explain that if you promise to keep it a secret.”

“I promise.”

“Then let’s get started.  We have a lot to cover before Luke comes back.”

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Luke 

I hung out with Percy for a good hour and a half.  We had a sword-fighting match which he only barely beat me at.  He pulled the same trick Shiloh had last week so I should’ve seen it coming.  Then we had a race on the rock-climbing wall.  I beat him at this, redeeming myself.  Then the two of us went to the archery range where we both sucked immensely.  We quit pretty fast after I nearly shot an arrow into my foot (don’t ask).

“Luke!” Annabeth shouted.  I turned around.  She was walking towards me from the cabins.  I glanced over her shoulder and saw Shiloh going into the forest.  I wanted to follow her.  I needed to talk to her.  Something was bothering Shi that she refused to tell me, and it was affecting our relationship.  I’d noticed she’d been pushing me away, and I wanted to know what I’d done.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Percy offered, already walking after his sister.

“Thanks Perce,” I said, although I really wished it was me going instead of him. “So what’s up Annabeth?”

“There’s a surprise waiting for you in your cabin.  You should go see,” she answered cheerfully, a smile on her face that went from one ear to the other.

“All right…” I said, giving her a wary grin.

“Oh go on!  It’s nothing that will kill you!  Most likely…” Annabeth gave me a shove.  I chortled and did as she said.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Maybe Percy’s hellhound finally chose to think I was a good guy now and didn’t want to use me as a chew toy, or maybe the Stolls were giving me an early birthday present, but to see the first girl I’d ever loved, lounging on my bed, picking at her nails, was not what I expected.

“Th-Thalia?” I stammered, shutting the door.  Her head whipped in my direction.

“Luke…” She breathed.  She stood up and walked over to me, simply staring in awe.  Without warning, she slammed a fist in my chest, then another one and another one. “You son of a bitch!  What were you thinking!  I thought you were dead!  For two months!  And all you can say when you see me is my name?!  I hate you!  I hate you!  I hate you!”  Thalia threw her arms around me, gripping me tight.  I felt my arms go around her waist.  We stood there embracing for a good while.

“I’m sorry, Thalia.  I’m so, so sorry.  I didn’t want you to know I was alive until I knew whether or not I was going to stay at camp because I didn’t want to hurt you more than I already have.  Hang on, how did you know I was here in the first place?”

“Annabeth called me.”

“How did she know to call you?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care.  Now, first things first, I swear on my life if you ever pull some stupid stunt like what you did again, I will murder you with my bare hands.  Got it?”

“You won’t have to worry about that,” I said, giving her a genuine smile.

“Oh screw it,” she muttered before planting a kiss right on my lips.  Shock coursed through my body.  This wasn’t my first kiss.  That had been Shiloh, and I’d felt like I was on fire when that happened.  Maybe it was because Thalia was a daughter of Zeus that I felt shocks, but I couldn’t know for sure.  However, once my surprise subsided, I willing returned it.  It felt good to be back with Thalia.

“Hey Luke?”

“Hmm?”

“So, I’m not a Huntress of Artemis anymore so I have a question for you?”

“And what would that be?”

“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

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THALIA’S BACK!!!!  What does this mean for Shiloh and Luke?  And what is Shiloh so afraid of?  All these questions will answered soon!  Review :)