Percabeth's Child: Children of Olympus Book #1

Chapter Ten: I Blow Up a Clock

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That evening, after joining the campers for dinner, the hunters retired to their bunks. They didn't really know what to do, as they were used to spending their whole day busy.

Thalia had an idea, though. It wouldn't involve the other hunters, though. Just her and... someone else.

She knew she shouldn't do it. She knew that she was breaking the oath she had made when she became a hunter, but she did it anyway. She walked along the street until she found the house that she knew her brother and his friends lived at, and knocked on the door.

"Thalia?" Jason's eyes widened as when he saw her standing there.

"Hello, brother." She smirked at his surprised expression.

"Come-come in! I... wasn't expecting you."

Thalia shrugged her shoulders. "I don't need anything fancy."

"Did you eat already?"

"Yeah. But dessert's always nice," she hinted, smirking again.

"No problem. These plates will give you anything you want. Just imagine it. Same with the cups." Jason handed her a plate and glass and she set them down on the dinner table. After slipping off her boots, she pictured a huge slice of red velvet cake loaded with frosting, and, ta-da, it was there.

Jason called up to the others, saying, "We have a guest!" before joining her at the table.

"So," Thalia said, licking frosting off her finger,"What have you been up to?"

"Nothing much. Helping Percy teach sword fighting lessons like usual. Why'd you stop by?"

"Wanted to," Thalia shrugged again.

She turned her eyes towards the stairs, which Frank and Leo were making their way down with Hazel right behind them. Leo was rattling on about some machine he was building, and Frank seemed totally lost.

"I even installed a feature that allows it to be controlled by voice or hand mot-" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw Thalia sitting there, his hands still in the middle of doing some sort of gesture from his explanation. He locked eyes with Thalia, and they sat there staring at each other for a moment too long. "Hi," he said softly. Thalia smiled weakly back at him.

Thankfully, if something was awkward was happening, the others didn't seem to notice.

"Thalia!" Piper cried. The last time that Thalia and the hunters had visited camp (after Demigod City was built and the eight had moved in together), Thalia had become good friends Hazel and Piper. She didn't know Frank very well, though, because she had kept more true to her oath of staying away from boys (with the exception of her brother). She had already known Percy and Leo.

As they all settled around the table chatting, Thalia noticed that something was wrong.

"Where's Annabeth?" she asked quickly. Percy sighed.

"She's..." Percy began.

"...alive," Jason finished.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It's a long story," Percy said. "But, basically, she took in the power of a goddess. She's in a coma, not getting any worse or any better. She'll most likely be that way until we find a way to get the power out of her."

Thalia's eyes widened. "She took in the power... of a god?!"

"Yup," Percy replied.

"Will she be okay?"