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After Percy and Thalia fainted they were moved to the infirmary wing of the Big House. They were put in the biggest room, the one with only two beds in it, and laid out. Percy on the right, Thalia on the left.
I stood unnoticed between the two beds, looking at their occupants.
Percy was careless with Annabeth. As evidenced by the fact I was even here, in the heart of the enemy camp because of Annabeth's invisibility cap. It fell out of Percy's pocket last time he was on board The Princess Andromeda, and I'd brought it to the battle at Camp Half-Blood.
Thalia was never like that. She'd looked after Annabeth like she was our own daughter. The only wrong decision Thalia made in regards to Annabeth was coming here. We would have been better off far away from this fucking cult, taking our chances with the monsters on the road. This place was a trap.
Not that that was Thalia's fault, really, because she didn't know. I'd told her about Mom but Thalia just…didn't understand. She was only twelve and she was scared that we weren't strong enough to protect Annabeth.
"We could have done it," I whispered aloud, and touched the toe of her boot. They hadn't even bothered to take Thalia's boots off when they brought her here. It made me angry. "We were strong enough then."
Thalia didn't react to my presence. I didn't expect her to. The way that Thalia and Percy had fainted at the same time reeked of divine intervention. Someone didn't want these two awake near each other.
Over the past few days I'd been thinking a lot about what to do and I've come to a grim conclusion. The only way to save Annabeth and Thalia was to leave them here. I was sure that once she woke up and looked around, Thalia would see this place for the cult it was, and she would get Annabeth out of here. And she would change Annabeth's mind about Camp Half-Blood.
But I couldn't leave them both here.
As he'd proved, Percy posed the greatest risk if left to his own devices. I still needed to work on him. The timing had been unfortunate, because I almost had him. While Thalia was deprogramming Annabeth, I could do the same for Percy…and repair what was broken between us.
My knuckles were bruised from how many times I punched Percy in the face. I'd felt his nose give and there'd been blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Thinking of the way Percy's glazed eyes had tried so hard to focus on me, but just couldn't, made a shiver run up my spine. Ugh and the worst part, the things I'd said to him, made me physically cringe. But I was hurt by his rejection and I'd been in his dreams and I'd seen how jealous of Thalia he was…and I used it against him.
There was a lot to fix between us, to say the least.
Looks like I was going to get my chance.
I tucked a folded note into Thalia's boot, for when she woke up, and closed a charm bracelet around her wrist. The chain was silver and it only had one charm on it: a dangling black scythe. We would be able to speak to each other with this. Then I kissed her forehead and murmured: "Goodbye, my love. We'll be together again soon."
I waited a few moments, hoping that Thalia would wake up, but she didn't. Hynos had too tight a grip on her. "Alright," I whispered. "Now Percy."
Percy had grown over the winter. Maybe it was that he was finally getting to eat three meals a day. Even as dead weight, Percy was light. He didn't wake up either, just whimpered once and quieted down.
As I turned to leave, Grover stepped into the doorway. His pupils were horizontal and moved from side to side as he searched for us. He couldn't see, but he could smell us. Grover's nostrils flared as he breathed in our demigod scents.
Thalia: pine and ozone (once unexplainable, now so brutally ironic)
Percy: saltwater and sweet candy (I've been trying to figure out which candy specifically but haven't narrowed it down to only one yet)
Me: hot candle wax and leather (like a fucking sex dungeon; why would Hermes do this to me?)
"Luke," Grover said, his voice wavering and his eyes locking onto my position. He was dead on. So fucking annoying when divine gifts didn't cover the most basic things. What was the point of being invisible if the monsters could still find you? "Luke, they…they're dreaming about you. Both of them."
I didn't say anything, moving silently closer. He was trying to stall me. Grover could smell me but he wasn't a fighter. I'd just have to hit him before he screamed.
"I…I don't have an empathy bond with Thalia like I do with Percy. But he's in her dreams right now, so I know that you're what they're dreaming about," Grover explained. He wrung his shirt in his hands and looked nervous. The wooden floors creaked beneath him as Grover shifted his weight on his hooves.
I didn't know why I was supposed to care. Percy and Thalia have met in dreams before and I knew Percy spied on me in his dreams sometimes, so this wasn't anything new.
"Luke, whatever you're going to do to Percy, please reconsider. It's not too late to make up and make things right."
It was hard to tell if Grover was simply naïve or just lying but either way he was wrong. It was too late for me to switch sides.
As I moved past him, I hit Grover on the back of the head as hard as I could.
Grover dropped unconscious like a sack of rocks.
Percy whimpered in his sleep.
I kissed the top of his head to soothe him. I left the infirmary without looking back. I had what I'd come here for. Percy was back where he belonged: with me.