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“ThaaaaaliaaaAAA!”
“Oof!” One, two, three small bodies landed on top of her, and Thalia groaned, refusing to open her eyes out of sheer principle. “Go away, squirts, I’m not done napping!”
“If you’re talking, you’re not napping,” Annabeth pointed out, the little know-it-all. Off to Thalia’s left, Luke sniggered, singularly unhelpful.
“And if you’re not napping,” Percy piped up, squirming around and digging his pointy little elbows into her stomach, “Then you promised to help us finish painting the house!”
“Yeah, Thali!” Her eyes snapped open. “You promised!”
She didn’t recognize the voice. And yet, somehow, she knew it anyway. Arms shifting, Thalia pushed herself up from the soft grass. Annabeth slid off her chest; Percy rolled down from stomach to lap. And wrapped around one of her legs, Jason grinned.
...what?
“The beast awakens,” Luke said dryly, standing over them, wearing pale blue overalls and a white t-shirt smeared with splashes of bright paint. “Come on, if break-time’s over, let’s eat and get back to it.”
Again: what??
Stunned, Thalia let the trio of little kids grab and pull and push her fully upright. Luke caught her with a steadying hand when she almost tripped, noticing her own overalls and black shirt, equally paint-stained. Turning around, she gaped at the two-story house behind them: alone in a sunny meadow, grass and flowers and butterflies all around, the wood siding a bright cheerful yellow and the window shutters all different vibrant colors of the rainbow.
“We gotta finish my room, and then Jason’s!” Percy insisted, bouncing along ahead of them. He looked- he looked like when Thalia first met him, small and soft and clueless, no armor or weapons or Camp necklace to be seen. Annabeth, too, was tiny, and smiling without a hint of calculation in her eyes, her hair loose and fluffy instead of secured in more practical braids. And Jason-
Gods, Jason.
Same trusting little grin on his face, full of adoration when he looked up at her. A proper kid’s face, actual cheekbones showing past the layer of baby fat. Even the same scar on his upper lip, from that time he tried to eat a stapler and panicked Thalia so badly with the wailing and the blood-
This isn’t right
They all led her around to the house’s back porch, shaded from the sunlight, where a woman she vaguely recognized was setting out trays of peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies on a folding table. A woman who- who looked like Luke, when he went and stood next to her. “Thanks, Mom,” he said, and she smiled and kissed his forehead, and it wasn’t right, Thalia knew it wasn’t right-
The screen door swung open, another woman stepping into sight, and this one Thalia recognized from photographs in an apartment turned shrine even before Percy went darting up to her, cheering over the pitcher of blue lemonade in her hands.
This can’t be right
May Castellan and Sally Jackson moved around each other easily, comfortably, helping the younger kids with paper plates and plastic cups, Luke smiling like he’d never raged about a parent driven insane thanks to the gods, Percy beaming like he’d never needed to grieve his mother’s loss, Annabeth normal and happy and Jason alive-
You know this isn’t right
Thalia took a step back.
A hand touched her shoulder.
“I hope this is alright,” said a voice that made her freeze. Beryl Grace looked down into Thalia’s eyes, softly smiling, actually sober, and held up a container of ice cream- “This is still your favorite flavor, right?”
Yes
No
It is
But this isn’t-
“Thali!” Jason called, “Mama!”
And Thalia
Broke
Thunder crashed, and lightning struck the ground around her. The world turned dark, the house vanished, the kids and Luke and May and Sally all disappeared in a blink, and when the hand on her shoulder tightened, Thalia snarled.
She woke up to rain landing on her face.
Thunder rumbled, nearby but not directly overhead, as Thalia pushed herself upright with a muttered swear. Jacket, check. Pendants, bracelets, knives, check. One hand still gripped her spear, crackling with electricity - nearby, some monster’s smoking ruin dissolved into golden dust. Check.
Just a nightmare. A dream. A perfect dream.
If a few tears mingled with the raindrops on her cheeks, no gods who might have been watching mentioned it.