Chapter Text
The immediate aftermath of Thalia’s awakening was little more than a blur. Mr. D stepped into the circle right as Percy helped the disoriented daughter of Zeus sit up and whisked her away to the Big House without a word.
Nobody else moved, not even the Apollo healers who would’ve usually wanted to check over a new arrival—did Thalia count as a new arrival?—seemed to be able to bring themselves to follow.
Percy stood up slowly, shivering in the night air. He hadn’t even put on shoes before racing up the hill, still wearing the sweatpants and shirt he always wore to bed.
“I’m sure we’ll get an…update in the morning,” he spoke to the assembled campers. “For now, every—everybody should go back to bed.”
For a moment, nobody listened, before Beckendorf gave a tiny nod and turned on his heel. The son of Hephaestus shooed his own siblings down the hill, and the rest of the campers took that as a sign to head back to their own cabins. Annabeth’s siblings had to walk her down, as she seemed to be too stunned to move.
Percy stayed at the top of the hill and he wasn’t surprised at the warm presence that brushed up against his shoulder.
“Did you see it?” Lee asked once they were alone.
“Before Grover woke me up, yeah. Didn’t piece it together until I was halfway up the hill. But how—I mean…”
“The Fleece healed the tree,” Lee said. “I guess it did more than that. Healed Thalia herself.”
Percy let out a heavy breath. “This is a good thing, right? So why…why doesn’t it feel like a good thing?”
“I feel it too,” Lee murmured. “Dread. Like something’s been set in motion that we won’t be able to control. Something that won’t end well.”
“Glad it’s not just me,” Percy said.
“Do you…” Percy paused, biting his lip anxiously. “Do you think he—the Titan Lord—do you think he knew this would happen when he had Luke poison the tree? Like…he knew we would go for the Fleece, and either Luke would get it and use it to bring him back or we would get it and use it to bring back Thalia.”
Lee’s breath caught as he considered the possibility. “He had to have known this would happen if we got our hands on the Fleece. He had to have considered it. But why? I mean, surely Thalia coming back is bad for him. Annabeth always talked about how strong she was, why would he bring back such a powerful enemy?”
“Maybe…maybe he doesn’t think she’ll be an enemy. Maybe he thinks Luke can get to her.”
“That…would be bad.” Lee turned to face him, worry shining in his blue eyes.
“Yeah,” Percy said. “That has to be his plan. He’s going to try and turn Thalia to his cause. He’s—he’s giving himself another chance to control the prophecy, since he knows I won’t ever turn on the gods.”
“It makes sense,” Lee whispered. “The only people Thalia knows right now are Annabeth and Luke, she doesn’t have the connections with the others that you do. Luke has a better chance at convincing her to betray the gods than he ever had with you.”
“We’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t get the chance.” Percy sighed, another shiver wracking through his body as a cold breeze blew through the valley. Lee must’ve felt it because he looked up and down Percy’s body with a frown.
“Percy Jackson, did you really run all the way up the hill barefoot in your pajamas?”
Percy’s ears pinked, “I was in a hurry.”
Lee gave an amused snort, and Percy almost groaned in relief when the son of Apollo wrapped an arm around Percy’s shoulders and drew him in so Percy could soak up Lee’s own body heat.
“You’re literally the best, have I ever told you that?”
“You could stand to tell me more often,” Lee’s voice was light, but when Percy looked up there was a blush riding high on his cheeks.
Lee dropped him off back at cabin three before heading to his own cabin. Percy didn’t bother trying to go back to sleep, heading instead for the saltwater pool in the bathroom and floating mindlessly in the water until the conch horn blew to signify breakfast.
It was obvious as soon as Percy reached the pavilion that Thalia was all any of the campers were talking about. He spotted the Aphrodite cabin with their heads pressed close together as they gossiped. Even Beckendorf, who usually stayed out of any and all drama or gossip, was talking fervently with his siblings and sending glances in the direction of the Big House.
All conversation stopped when Thalia herself stepped into the pavilion. The daughter of Zeus seemed not to notice the telling silence, making her way leisurely to the Zeus table and plopping down.
The tables in the pavilion were arranged in a semicircle numerically, which meant that the Zeus table was at one end of the line and separated from Percy’s table by only one other, the perpetually empty Hera table.
Usually, Percy sat facing the rest of the tables so he wasn’t completely cut off as he ate, but this morning he’d strategically placed himself on the other side of the table. This meant that when Thalia sat herself down at her own table, they were left staring directly at each other.
It was uncomfortable, especially considering Percy knew the rest of the camp was staring their way—at least they were almost certainly focusing on Thalia instead of Percy, which was a welcome reprieve—but Percy wanted the chance to observe her rather than place her at his back.
Thalia narrowed her eyes at him, though he couldn’t tell if that was because she’d already heard about him or because she recognized him from last night, so he wiggled his fingers at her in an awkward wave.
She looked at him for a moment longer and then dipped her head in a short nod and returned to stabbing her food.
The rest of breakfast was tense, the campers at Percy’s back speaking in furtive whispers and sending glances that he could feel even without looking. Thalia could clearly sense all of the attention on her but the only sign that it was bothering her was the heavy tension in her shoulders that worsened all throughout breakfast.
Towards the end of breakfast, Mr. D stood up and made the usual announcement for a new demigod arriving at camp, but Percy noted that, unlike usual, the god addressed Thalia with the correct name on his first try.
Mr. D started to say something else before he cut himself off suddenly, and Percy looked up from his meal in confusion—he hadn’t bothered to turn around when the god had started speaking before and so he wasn’t sure what had caused the sudden stop.
He caught sight of Thalia, who was staring over Percy’s shoulder with a faint expression of shock on her face.
Percy furrowed his eyebrows and was preparing to turn and see what had her caught so off guard when familiar sensations brushed up against him.
Waves curled over his arms and a light rain misted Percy’s skin despite the sunny sky. The earth cracked under his feet as saltwater bathed his tongue.
Oh, shit.
Percy’s mouth opened in wordless surprise as he pieced together the reason Mr. D had cut himself off so suddenly.
“Nephew.” Poseidon spoke calmly into the silence as though unaware that every single being in the pavilion had turned into statues at his appearance.
Percy’s hand slapped over his mouth as he tried to keep from bursting into laughter.
Thalia’s eyes flitted over to Percy at the movement, narrowing as she caught sight of his shaking shoulders and wide eyes.
“Uncle,” Mr. D drawled, clearly trying to pretend he hadn’t completely frozen up at the appearance of the God of the Sea. “To what do we owe the pleasure of this…visit?”
Percy dropped his hand, letting Thalia see the full extent of his amusement.
Just wait, he mouthed silently at her. This is gonna be great.
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
Percy spun around on the bench to see his father standing tall next to the brazier in the center of the pavilion, staring up at the head table with an unimpressed look on his face.
Percy schooled his expression as best he could, adopting the same look as his father.
“I am here on behalf of my brother,” Poseidon said. “In the wake of his daughter’s awakening, he’s seen fit to…revise the current staff at this camp.”
Mr. D raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair and popping a grape in his mouth. “Oh? Revise how?”
“Reinstating Chiron to his rightful position, and returning this vermin to where it belongs in the Fields of Punishment.” Poseidon’s voice when he spoke about Tantalus was nothing short of venomous.
Several campers startled at Poseidon’s words, turning to look at each other in astonishment—whether it was about Chiron’s return or Tantalus leaving, Percy couldn’t tell.
“What?” Tantalus said. “You can’t just—I was placed here at the order of the King of the Gods because Chiron couldn’t be trusted—”
“You would do well to keep your mouth shut in my presence,” Poseidon snarled, and even Dionysus seemed to pale at the rage in his tone. “You think I don’t know what you’ve done? The way you have treated the children at this camp who are supposed to be under your care? The way you have treated my sons?”
Percy felt the gazes of everyone in the pavilion turn his way but he didn’t look away from Tantalus, tilting his jaw up challengingly at Tantalus’s furious glare.
All Percy had done was tell his father about the way Tantalus treated them—as far as he was concerned, whatever happened to the bastard now was his own fault.
“Whatever the brat told you—”
“My son told me everything I need to know. And I have, in turn, spoken with the rest of my family. Those with children at this camp are…most displeased with how you have seen fit to treat their children.”
Tantalus paled, mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“As such, Zeus has removed you from your place here and offered the position back to Chiron.”
“No, no—you can’t…I haven’t even—”
“You must be thirsty,” Poseidon said, an undercurrent of dark rage clear in his tone. “After all these years with nothing to drink.”
Tantalus’s eyes widened. He started choking. The nymphs and satyrs around the head table scrambled away as water—saltwater, Percy could tell—spewed from his mouth.
Only Mr. D stayed still, doing an impressive job of ignoring the man drowning on dry land next to him and popping open another can of Diet Coke.
Tantalus grasped his throat, desperately trying to purge the water in his lungs and drag air back in.
It was futile. For every drop of water that spilled from Tantalus’s mouth another sprouted in his lungs.
Tantalus’s eyes bulged and he stared out at Percy pleadingly as though begging him to ask his father to stop. Unfortunately for Tantalus, Percy had no intention of asking his father to stop.
He’d wanted Tantalus dealt with and Poseidon had obliged. Percy wasn’t about to complain about the method even if it was a little dramatic for his tastes.
The sea water swirled around Tantalus’s feet, rippling up and encasing him completely.
The water evaporated and Tantalus was gone.
Silence reigned.
Every camper looked a strange mix of horrified and happy at Tantalus’s ending.
Poseidon seemed oblivious to the looks, just nodding to himself with a satisfied gleam in his eyes.
“You’re not my father’s usual errand boy,” Mr. D commented casually.
A vindictive smirk flashed across Percy’s father’s face, “I volunteered.”
The God of the Sea turned, giving Percy a pleased look that he returned with a grateful dip of the head, before evaporating into mist.
Percy let out a heavy breath as the eyes of everyone turned on him before standing up.
He clapped his hands together awkwardly. “Right, well…I’m just gonna…”
There was really only one thing Percy could do when his dad had made a scene like that.
Percy snatched an entire full platter of brisket from the table next to him and unceremoniously dumped it in the brazier.
“Thanks, dad.” Percy said loudly before continuing the rest of his prayer in his head.
That was so fucking cool, holy shit, dad. Also, that thing you said last summer about how your brother should’ve been the god of theater—you have no ground to stand on. That was the most dramatic thing ever. Insanely cool and maybe a little horrifying to witness but also incredibly dramatic. Thanks again, dad.
The sea breeze that swept through the entire pavilion felt distinctly amused to Percy.
Percy turned on his heel and strolled out of the pavilion to head back to his cabin. It was the weekend, which meant mornings were free time for all the cabins, and Percy decided he wanted to spend all of it hiding away from everyone’s stares.
He paused in the entrance, trying to decide if he wanted to swim in the pool or take out his sketchbook. He hadn’t drawn much recently—there’d been no reason to draw before coming to camp because he’d been having the same fucking dream—but it might be nice to put some of his most recent dreams to paper.
Percy flopped on his bed, curling up against the wall and placing his sketchbook on his knees. Reality faded away as he put pencil to paper and his brain floated outside of his body in the way it usually did when he started drawing.
He startled back into his body when a loud knock came from the doorway. Percy flipped his sketchbook shut and shoved it under his pillow while calling for the person to come in.
He’d been expecting Lee or Silena, or even Annabeth or Grover, so he was surprised when Thalia Grace stepped through the doorway.
She took in the cabin carefully—the stone walls with luminescent coral stretching over the entirety, the soft rugs Percy had bartered from the Aphrodite cabin last summer, the shimmering curtains—and gave an annoyed huff.
“Man, this place is loads better than the Zeus cabin, what the fuck.”
“I can’t imagine he would put a lot of thought into making it comfortable for his children,” Percy said carefully.
Thalia snorted. “Oh, not at all. The entire place is designed to look like you’re on a cloud in the middle of the sky. It’s the worst.”
Percy made a disgusted noise. “That sounds horrible.”
Thalia turned her gaze away from the various trinkets Percy had scattered in the wall cubbies and appraised him cautiously.
Percy simply sat on his bed and let her look him over.
“Annabeth and Grover spent half the morning talking about you,” she said eventually. “Felt like I had to come talk to you, even if only to…”
“Get a read on me yourself.” Percy finished. “I get it. I’d do the same, if I was in your position. But I gotta say, it’ll be nice to have another one around. Now we can both be freaks instead of just me.”
Thalia sighed, plopping herself down on the empty bunk bed closest to the door. “Are they always like that? So…so judgy? Gods, all they’ve done all morning is stare at me and whisper. And they didn’t even seem to care that I could see them!”
“They’ll settle down eventually,” Percy said. “But then you’ll do something or something’ll happen and it’ll remind them all over again that you’re a child of the Big Three and the result of a broken oath and super powerful and blah blah blah. And then they’ll go back to staring at you like you’ve got leprosy again. It’s a whole thing.”
“Ughh, this sucks.” Thalia groaned.
“Tell me about it. But at least we’ve got each other now. Maybe we can—can help take the heat off of each other on occasion so it’s not so bad.”
Thalia tilted her head at him. “Why are you being so—so chill? We’ve only just met and you’re talking like—”
“We’re the only known living children of the Big Three,” Percy shrugged. “We don’t have any siblings—any demigod siblings, at least—and we’re the results of a broken oath. The others…they don’t—they don’t get it. They don’t know what it’s like to be set so far apart just because of their father, to be constantly looked at and judged, to be—be put on this pedestal. I just figured…”
Thalia drummed her fingers on her thigh, electric blue eyes staring at Percy intently before she talked again. “They’ve all got siblings to look out for each other. We’ve only got the two of us.”
Percy smiled. “Exactly.”
Thalia left soon after to track down Annabeth, but Percy felt relieved that they’d come to an understanding.
He’d been worried that they’d be pit against each other just because of who their fathers were, that Thalia would jump right into the rivalry and they’d both end up fighting all the time.
Percy hadn’t wanted that, and he was immensely glad that Thalia had come by to meet him and given him the chance to talk with her.
They didn’t need to be enemies—they didn’t need to be best friends either—they just needed to look out for each other because they didn’t really have anyone else.
Now, don’t get Percy wrong, he had plenty of friends to look out for him. But none of them were children of the Big Three, none of them really understood the way it set him apart from everyone else—the way everybody just naturally looked at him when he wanted nothing more than to fade into the background.
That night at dinner, Percy sent a portion of his sacrifice to Kymopoleia, informing her that he was back at camp and free for storm lessons whenever.
Faint riptides curled under his feet and wind whipped through his hair, telling him that he’d receive a visit from his immortal sister sometime in the near future.
The next morning brought back the return of Chiron, to which all of the campers cheered raucously. The news Chiron gave them was equally as good, and also a little surprising. Apparently, the chariot races were still on for the rest of the summer months, which meant Percy and the others would have a chance to steal the golden laurels from the Ares cabin.
Percy wondered if Annabeth would be open to teaming up this round, seeing as Percy was alone in his cabin again and thus needed a partner to compete.
Or maybe he could ask Thalia? She wouldn’t have a partner either, and it’d be easier to split up the no-chores reward with only one other person than an entire cabin.
Hmmmm. Percy would bring it up to Thalia first and if she said no he’d ask Annabeth.
Thalia seemed cautious when he mentioned it, but then Percy reminded her of the no-chores for a month reward and how much more of the reward she’d get if she split it with only one person and she agreed.
Percy’s chariot from the first race was still workable, but the two of them redid the paint job to represent both of their cabins.
It was…maybe not comfortable, but certainly not as awkward as Percy thought it would be spending time with Thalia repainting the wood.
She had a wicked sense of humor and a sharp mind, but Percy gave back as good as he got. Percy wasn’t sure the two of them would ever be best friends, but he could see them becoming something akin to family. He’d never really had siblings before, except for Tyson, who’d been a friend before Percy had known they were related, but he thought that he and Thalia had the potential for a sibling-esque relationship.
Kymopoleia swung by that evening, appearing in his cabin and giving him a heart attack.
“Mother of—” Percy flung himself off his bed and almost sent himself face first into the floor.
“Brother,” Kymopoleia grinned. “You ready to learn how to make some storms and annoy our father?”
Percy’s lips twitched upwards. “Always.”
She whisked him away to the middle of the Atlantic and they floated idly on the surface.
“Now, you said before that you summoned the storm because you got mad. That’s all well and good—rage storms are some of the best—but you need to know how to call a storm regardless of your mood.” Kym cupped her hands in front of her and Percy’s eyes widened in awe as a miniature storm formed in her palms.
“We’ll start small, hand storms and the like, and then gradually increase in size and intensity until you can call storms like you did the other week and not pass out immediately afterwards.”
“I’d really like to not pass out after summoning a storm, yeah.” Percy leaned in closer to Kymopoleia’s hands, flinching back when lightning shot out of one of the storm clouds and zapped him in the nose.
Kymopoleia snorted as Percy rubbed his nose and pouted.
“Okay, so how do I do that?” He gestured to the swirling storm in Kymopoleia’s hands.
“Cup your hands like this,” Kymopoleia told him. “And then just…picture it in your mind. Call it to you. Demand it. The sea doesn’t like to be restrained—storms even less so—but you’re the son of the Stormbringer. It’ll obey you. Just call to it.”
Percy furrowed his eyebrows and reached for the saltwater in his veins. Pressure built up in his gut, and he tugged harder. He pictured fierce winds and chilling rain all swirling together in dark clouds.
For several long moments, nothing happened.
And then, in the center of Percy’s cupped hands, a mass of clouds formed. It was small, but it was there.
Percy let out a short laugh full of awe and wonder before focusing harder on the miniscule raincloud.
The mass got bigger, swirling together faster and changing from a light gray to a darker hue.
Within no time, Percy had a miniature storm spinning over the entirety of his palms. Small flashes of lightning zipped up his arms and made his fingers twitch, but Percy kept his focus on the mass of wind and rain.
“Don’t let it get too big,” Kymopoleia cautioned. “That’s the hardest part about storms. They can slip away from you, get a life of their own, go on a whole rampage if you’re not careful.”
Percy thought back to the storm he’d summoned on the quest, the way it had felt freeing and terrifying in equal parts. Like he’d given life to something and had barely managed to keep his fingers around it, clinging on to control lest it slip away and immediately turn back around to lash out at him.
Percy dug his claws in when the storm threatened to outsize his hands, compressing his power into his palms and tightening the leash around it.
The storm darkened, growing in intensity but keeping its size limited to his palms.
It was tiring, energy draining from Percy faster than the ocean touching his skin could replenish, and eventually Percy let the storm dissipate.
He flopped back into the water with an exhausted groan.
“Your stamina’ll build itself up gradually,” Kymopoleia informed him cheerfully. “Give it a couple years and you’ll be calling storms like the one before with no problem.”
Her grin turned sharklike then. “Say, I think the Atlantic is due for another hurricane, wanna stick around and see a real storm?”
Percy knew he should ask to go back to his cabin and get some sleep, but the prospect of seeing Kymopoleia create a real hurricane in the middle of the ocean was too exciting to pass up.
It was exhilarating.
The waves built up to enormous heights—enough that anyone other than a child of Poseidon would’ve been doomed—and heavy rain lashed against his skin.
Wind whipped through the air fiercely, driving the chilling rain outwards in a swirling mass of water.
Anyone else would’ve been scared out of their mind, but Percy just tipped his head back to the sky and watched the hurricane rage.
Kymopoleia dropped him off back at his cabin just minutes before the conch horn blew. Percy knew he’d pay for his lack of sleep later, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret the night out.
Thalia narrowed his eyes when they met each other at the chariot, clearly clocking the deep bags under his eyes.
“You’re not gonna pass out on me, are you?”
Percy rolled his eyes, “I have insomnia you bitch, one night of no sleep is child’s play at this point.”
“You are a child,” Thalia muttered. She dodged his retaliatory hit and returned to her last minute check of the chariot wheels.
Prince and Ghost, the same pegasi Percy had conscripted last race, flicked their tails eagerly as they stepped up to the line.
Percy had promised them that no demon pigeons would derail the race this time, and also that the two of them would receive a frankly ungodly amount of sugar cubes and apples.
As such, the two pegasi were absolutely chomping at the bit to get the race started.
Percy stepped into the chariot and took the reins in his hand.
He and Thalia had decided that Percy would be better at driving the chariot, which left Thalia as their fighter—a position she seemed more than happy to be in.
“We’re gonna win.” Percy muttered to himself as Chiron prepared to sound them off.
“Of course we’re gonna win,” Thalia snorted. “Don’t think we’d ever live it down if we didn’t.”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Percy agreed.
Chiron gave the starting signal and they were off.
Hooves thundered into the dirt as the chariot lurched beneath them.
The Hermes chariot sidled up next to them, obviously trying to take them out the same way Apollo had been taken out last time.
Percy was ready, though. He pushed the pegasi harder until they were half a chariot length ahead of Hermes. Then, with a wicked smirk at the Stoll brothers, he veered directly into the Hermes chariot’s path. Connor yanked on the reins, trying to stabilize the chariot, but it was too late.
The Hermes chariot tipped sideways and sent both brothers spilling into the dirt.
“Nice one,” Thalia yelled.
“I try,” Percy shouted back with a grin.
The Ares chariot thundered up on their other side, careful not to make the same mistake as Hermes had.
“Your turn,” Percy shot back at Thalia. Clarisse was crouched in her own chariot, spear crackling with electricity that Percy knew wouldn’t have any effect on the daughter of Zeus, her dark eyes gleaming at the prospect of a fight.
“On it.”
Thalia readied her own spear, and Percy heard the distinct sounds of the two girls clashing as he put his focus on the pegasi.
An angry shout came from next to them, and Percy turned his head in time to see the Ares chariot driver fly out of the chariot and hit the dirt from a well-placed jab of Thalia’s spear.
Clarisse lunged for the reins with a curse, but her chariot veered too far off course. By the time she got the horses under control she was too far back to have any real shot.
Thalia let out a gleeful cackle that Percy found himself echoing.
The Apollo and Athena cabins were embroiled in a nasty looking fight a chariot length behind them—Percy was fairly certain he witnessed Michael whack Malcolm straight in the face with his bow—which left the Hephaestus cabin to Percy and Thalia.
Beckendorf was grinning as they came up alongside the Hephaestus chariot, and Percy knew his friend had more than a few dirty tricks up his sleeve.
Unluckily for Beckendorf, Percy and Thalia had a few tricks of their own.
Percy knew the second Thalia pulled her party trick because the entire front end of the chariot sparked like somebody’d attached jumper cables to the inside and cranked the wattage up as high as it could go.
Beckendorf’s eyes widened. He lunged for the dashboard but it was too late. The Hephaestus chariot stopped dead in the racetrack.
Thalia had completely fried their circuits, leaving them completely dead in the water, so to speak.
The two of them had debated for a long time on whether Thalia could even use her lightning on the entirely metal chariot without frying the two charioteers, but an entirely unsubtle question to Silena had given them the information that the inside of the chariot was completely insulated to prevent circuitry issues from shocking the charioteers.
They’d also debated whether or not using their abilities was cheating, but Percy had gone over the official rules with a fine-tooth comb and found nothing explicitly prohibiting them from using godly abilities.
Although, there probably would be a rule stating exactly that added after this race, if Percy and Thalia managed to pull a win.
An enraged yell came from the Apollo and Athena standoff, and Percy watched as Michael sent Malcolm tumbling out of the back of the chariot.
Annabeth, defenseless without her fighter, was quick to follow—a fact Percy knew she would be spitting mad about in the days to come.
“We need to get close,” Thalia shouted as Michael knocked a blunt arrow. The Apollo cabin was most dangerous from a distance, they both knew.
Michael sent the arrow flying, and Percy had to force himself not to duck.
A shadow fell over him and he heard the arrow ping! off the side of the bronze shield Thalia erected above them—a replica of the legendary Aegis with the head of Medusa molded into the bronze. It wouldn’t turn people to stone, but Percy knew it was more than enough to have most people turn their heads away if not retreat entirely.
Percy pushed Prince and Ghost harder, guiding them until they were brushing up alongside the Apollo chariot.
Percy chanced a glance over at the Apollo chariot, locking eyes with Lee at the reins and sending him a cocky smirk. Lee stuck his tongue out in response and Percy knew that if Lee had a free hand he’d be using it to flip Percy the bird.
Michael snatched a spear from the side of the chariot, discarding his bow now that they were in such close quarters, but he made the costly mistake of actually looking at Thalia—or, her shield. Immediately, his face paled and he turned away.
Thalia took advantage of his momentary weakness, whacking him in the chest with the length of her spear and sending him reeling into Lee.
Lee lurched forward, cursing as his brother sent him off balance. Before they could get the chariot back under control, Percy removed a hand from the reins and uncapped Riptide, slashing through the reins and separating the horses from the chariot.
“Oh, you fucker!” Lee shouted after Percy as they sped ahead and left the Apollo chariot in the dust.
Percy and Thalia rocketed over the finish line with no other chariot anywhere near them—the Ares chariot was the only one still in the race, anyways, and Clarisse was too far back to have a shot—and the crowd erupted into raucous applause.
Percy and Thalia shared a high five, where Thalia used the opportunity to give Percy an electric shock and he responded by kicking the back of her knee and almost sending her into the dirt.
Chiron gave them a vaguely disappointed look as he awarded both of them the golden laurels, though Percy couldn’t tell if it was because they were still swiping at each other or because they’d singlehandedly taken out all but one of their competitors with ruthless efficiency.
Annabeth was grumpy the rest of the day, still grumbling about her loss, but the rest of the charioteers recovered from their thorough trouncing by lunch.
Thalia and Percy split the reward equally, each taking two weeks with no chores.
For the rest of the summer, camp settled into a new routine. The rest of the demigods adjusted to having another child of the Big Three around, and Percy and Thalia tried their best not to get drawn into a petty rivalry like most people seemed to want them too.
It wasn’t easy. Despite their mutual understanding of each other, the two of them had quite a few ugly clashes.
Particularly in regards to Annabeth.
Thalia was, understandably, protective of the daughter of Athena, but she was also more than a little possessive. She didn’t like the fact that Annabeth had lived almost six years without Thalia—that Annabeth had spent more time mourning Thalia than she’d even known her.
She especially didn’t like the fact that Annabeth had gone on a world-ending quest with Percy the past summer, traveling across the country and stopping a civil war between the Olympians with Percy and not Thalia.
They had a fair few arguments about it that almost always ended in a trip to the arena where they could get out their aggression in a healthy way—Chiron liked to say that violence was hardly a healthy way of solving problems, but it seemed to be working great for Percy and Thalia so far.
Annabeth was struggling with it all, too. She’d admitted to Percy in one of the few times they’d managed to hang out without Thalia hovering around them that sometimes it was hard to be around Thalia.
The daughter of Zeus was one of the most important people to Annabeth, but she was also a constant reminder of the other demigod Annabeth had arrived at camp with. The one that had betrayed everyone, tried to kill Percy, and then poisoned Thalia’s tree—sometimes, Annabeth didn’t sound nearly as mad about all of that as Percy thought she should’ve been, but he figured it was hard to hate someone who’d been as important to her as Luke had been, so he cut her some slack with it.
But regardless, Annabeth was difficult to spend time with over the summer without risking an argument with Thalia, so Percy pulled back slightly from his friend—just until Thalia settled into things a bit more and stopped being so possessive.
He spent most of his time with Silena and the rest of the Aphrodite kids, planning spa days and gossip nights and beach trips, and with Lee, who Percy managed to drag out to several beach trips and even a spa day with the Aphrodite cabin as well as hanging out just the two of them a bunch of times.
Silena spent a lot of time giggling with Drew every time Percy brought Lee to a hangout, but he couldn’t figure out what they were laughing about and they refused to tell him.
Percy also spent a fair amount of time with Clarisse—always in the arena, because she refused to hang out with him like a normal person. They spent hours sparring, getting to know each other better in the only way a child of war seemed to be able to—bloody teeth and broken bones and aching muscles.
Lee tutted every time Percy and Clarisse showed up in the infirmary with more broken bones, but the two of them were enjoying themselves, so Lee had no choice but to roll his eyes and heal them every time they beat the shit out of each other.
The rest of summer slipped by quickly, and before Percy knew it they were fast approaching the end of summer.
Percy’s dreams had calmed down considerably since Thalia woke up, but it was still rare for Percy to get a full night’s sleep—most often he woke after only a couple hours and spent the rest of the night in the pool. His most recent set of dreams had been focused on the two children of Hades that had been hidden in the Lotus Casino. He watched them play cards and bungee jump and race around a place where time stood still.
When he wasn’t dreaming of the Lotus Casino, Percy woke in a cold sweat with Polyphemus fingers gripping his arm and being slammed into the side of a mountain. Percy tracked down Lee after those dreams often, trembling hands and numb fingers, asking for Lee to check him over just one more time. Lee was always calm and methodical, checking over every inch of Percy and confirming that Percy was very alive.
Lee ended every check up by placing Percy’s hand on his chest so Percy could feel his own beating heart.
“Feel your heartbeat, Perce. You’re not dead. Your heart’s beating. You’re alive.”
“I’m not…I’m not dead. M…my—my heart’s beating. I’m—I’m alive.”
Lee was patient, taking as much time as Percy needed to convince himself he was still alive.
Two weeks before the end of summer session, Percy ducked into the pegasi stables to spend time with Melody and draw in his sketchbook. Melody was always happy to have Percy chill in her stable—sometimes she even laid down next to him and let him curl up against her flank.
The world faded away around him and his mind floated—something that had become increasingly common in the weeks since Percy’s return from the quest. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t like how often his brain left his body.
Everything dissolved into a strange buzzing, the warmth coming from Melody’s flank seeping away.
Percy floated, time slipping through his fingers as he penciled out a sketch.
Something warm grasped his fingers, pulling him gradually back into himself.
“...ercy…hear me…”
Warmth flooded back into his veins slowly, the ringing in his ears fading until he could make out Lee’s calm voice speaking to him.
“Can you hear me?”
Percy’s vision cut back in, allowing him to see the son of Apollo kneeling on the floor of the stable in front of him.
“Mmmph.” Percy couldn’t quite get his mouth to work, but Lee seemed relieved anyways.
“Hey, Perce, you back with me?”
Percy made another noise, settling back into his body until he could feel the way his fingers ached from being clenched around his pencil for so long.
“Sorry,” Percy said once he figured out how to speak. “Lost track of time, I guess.”
“Is it always like that?” Lee asked, furrowing his eyebrows and gesturing to the sketchbook laying across Percy’s legs. “When you draw—are you always so out of it?”
“Not always, but more often recently. Don’t know why. ‘s fine, though. I always snap back when I’m finished drawing.”
Lee didn’t seem reassured, looking deep into Percy’s eyes for several long moments before glancing back down at the sketchbook.
“I don’t like it,” the son of Apollo muttered. “I don’t like how it’s almost as if you’re not even there. Like…”
“It’s not my favorite thing either,” Percy said. “But it just happens, can’t stop it. And I always come back to myself, so it’s not as bad as it could be.”
Lee frowned but relented with a heavy sigh. “Come on, then. You need to eat.”
Percy let Lee pull him to his feet, stumbling slightly as his legs protested movement after being curled up for so long. “Is it lunchtime already?”
Lee pursed his lips. “Almost dinner. You missed lunch. The others and I have been trying to track you down all afternoon.”
Percy blinked, “I’ve been drawing all day? I came down here right after breakfast.”
That…was concerning, to say the least. Percy had never spent so much time floating outside of his body while drawing. That had always lasted an hour or two at most.
But now Percy had lost half a day, curled up with his sketchbook penciling out drawings he couldn’t even recall.
“That’s not good,” Percy said. “It’s getting worse.”
“We’ll look into ways to pull you out of it,” Lee told him. “In the meantime, you need food.”
Percy nodded, letting Lee drag him out of the stables.
“Wait, it took you all afternoon to think to check the stables?”
Lee blushed. “It was one of the first places I checked.”
Percy raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t check very thoroughly, did you?”
“Oh, shut up. You were practically invisible with Melody curled around you. She’s the reason I checked again, must’ve gotten worried when you didn’t respond for several hours cause she sent that insane pegasus to track me down and practically drag me back down to the stables.”
“Insane…oh, Blackjack?”
“Yeah, that fucker.” Lee wrinkled his nose. “He stampeded through the cabin area and almost knocked me flat on my ass.”
Percy snickered but made a mental note to take both Blackjack and Melody for a ride—if they hadn’t brought Lee back to the stables, who knew how long Percy would’ve been there for.
Lee dropped Percy off at his table, pointing at him threateningly and making him promise to eat a big dinner.
Percy lifted his hands in surrender, knowing better than to argue with Lee when he got all doctory.
For the last two weeks of summer, Percy made sure to let Lee know when he was going to draw so that the son of Apollo knew where to find him. He hadn’t had any more times like in the stables since, always coming back to himself with an hour or two of starting.
The night before Percy and the rest of the summer campers were scheduled to leave, Percy had another dream about the children of Hades.
This dream was different from the others. It started in the Lotus Casino just like always, but then Percy witnessed someone come into the hotel and actually remove the children of Hades. Someone had taken them out of the hotel.
Percy didn’t know why. Hades’s children had been hidden in the Lotus Casino for decades, at this point. Why would he take them out now?
One thing was certain: Percy and Thalia were no longer the only children of the Big Three on the playing field.