'Heat'
31-Aug-2030, 1430R
Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunt, Daughter of Zeus
Hunters of Diana
Long Island, New York, USA
If the heat wave we were experiencing wasn't bad enough, many of the girls were still whining about what happened the day prior.
Jocelyn, Karen, and much of the rest of the Hunt were pissed, only shutting up about it because I told them to—unsurprisingly. Carly, Jess, and Helen seemed okay with the loss, though they were basically the only ones that didn't get smoked, shot, blinded, or blown up, so that may have had something to do with it—also unsurprisingly.
What did surprise me were the few that didn't seem to feel either way, with Cass being the most prominent of the third group: the one made up of Hunters that not only didn't shoot Percy on sight in North Dakota, they never expressed any sort of hatred towards him. In fact, this small group seemed scared of him... though based on what I'd seen and heard, I couldn't quite blame them. I'm not saying that he's the best fighter in the world, but he's certainly different—and as many around me have observed, people fear things they don't understand.
As for me, I was somewhere in the range of the aforementioned trio that was mostly unharmed, despite having gotten smoked, shot, and blinded. We lost, I hated it, but I wasn't affected by it. While my pride said otherwise, a small part of me couldn't help but be impressed by the strategy—apparently one brought about by Percy himself, according to gossipping campers.
The whole thing wasn't just brilliantly planned, it was brilliantly executed. It appeared that, in the brief time he'd worked with us, he figured out the strengths and weaknesses of the Hunt. The flashbangs, the smoke grenades, the flares, the weird training grenade things, the close-quarters combat, the loud music, the taunts—with all of it, the campers had rendered us useless.
Hell, it's not even like Percy took part in the action that much. From what I heard, he was actually in their "HQ element" most of the time before he and Tyson reinforced the team of Ares kids in the end.
That's all well and good, but why can't I get last night out of my head? Or Operation Azrael? Or the Killdeer Mountains incident?
It's not like there was anything fascinating about what he did, or who he was. He wasn't as smart as an Athena kid, as fast as a Hermes kid, or as strong as an Ares kid. But he still managed to maintain a decent standing in all three qualities, and even more significantly, was a leader.
Is this why I'm constantly defending him... no, I'm doing that on my own, not because it's Percy Jackson.
Honestly, the Hunters have said some messed up things that I've just tolerated because I didn't have the time to dwell on it—Artemis kept us busy, after all. Hell, they've even bad-mouthed my brother, especially after they heard about the whole incident with Piper through the grapevine (and yes, I one hundred percent believe that was Piper's fault).
Must be because his fighting is so different.
Which was undoubtedly true. I had never seen guns used by any demigod or anyone in our world. When Percy showed up with his arsenal—a rifle, grenade launcher, machine gun, and everything else—a small part of my brain broke, and I'm willing to bet the same happened to everyone else that saw him. Well, except for Tyson, considering that he just seems willing to go along with whatever's happening.
Speaking of the cyclops, he was running around the camp with a hellhound (Mrs. O'Leary, I think) with a harpy flying after them—Ella, or something, one of Tyson's friends from long ago—as they played something or the other.
Birds of a feather stick together? Ugh, too on the nose.
"Lieutenant!" someone called suddenly, revealing herself to be none other than Lady Diana. "We shall be leaving soon."
"Wait, what?" I asked, jarred from my thoughts as I stood from my place on Artemis Cabin's front steps. "Just like that?"
"Well, yes. There appears to be hunting opportunities on the western side of the... US of A, I believe it's called. A province—no, state—by the name of Nee-Vah-Day."
"Er... Nevada?"
"Pluto's helm, I don't know anything because of that blasted woman! Artemis, you imbecile!" Diana growled, tapping her own head before wincing in pain. "I don't believe I thought that through. We shall leave in an hour's time."
"Er... in the daylight?"
"Well, I was thinking of asking Apollo for some transportation."
"Wait, are you serious?" I exclaimed. "You're asking your brother... for help."
"Yes, why not? I've done it plenty of times."
"Milady, your... other self despised the idea of asking your brother for help."
"Thalia Grace... be honest with me, has Artemis been making my brother's life miserable?"
"Well..." I thought over my words before taking a leap of faith. "She's been making everyone's lives miserable."
"I surmised as much... stupid bitch!" she hissed before she gasped. "Wait, I said it correctly, did I not?"
"... yeah, 'bitch' is right."
"Excellent! Inform the girls!" she said with a smile before turning around and walking back to the Big House, a slight... was that a skip in her step?
"About us moving out or you cussing correctly?" I called after her.
"The former, Lieutenant! The former!"
Huh, I think I just might like this goddess.
Following orders, I informed the rest of the Hunt, eliciting several noises of excitement with a few of confusion, with a decent bit of both turning to discontent when I dropped Apollo's name. But I suppose that was to be expected from this band of weirdos, to say the least.
I quickly went over to the dining pavilion, where the Little Three were sitting and discussing plans for the upcoming school semester. After saying some quick goodbyes, I began jogging back to Artemis Cabin before realizing that I still had to say goodbye to Percy. Even if it was annoying that he wouldn't get out of my head, I did throw a fit at his disappearance and sudden reappearance, so I was obligated to practice what I preached.
"Say, Jason? Have you seen Percy?" I asked as I arrived back at the pavilion.
"Uh, I think he and some Ares and Hermes guys went to the beach. Something about a bachelor party," he replied after a moment of thought.
Makes sense. Good way to beat the heat, I suppose.
Thanking him, I began the jog to the beach. What my eyes beheld there, right on the sands of Long Island Sound, was something I felt I shouldn't have been watching, but I couldn't pull my eyes from.
It was a bunch of half-naked sons of Ares and Hermes—including Chris Rodriguez, the groom of the apparently upcoming wedding—playing football along the beach while music similar to what they used last night blared from a speaker further nearby (AC/DC, I think). If that weren't weird enough, it seemed like both teams were simultaneously playing offensive and defensive with two balls at the same time. And as much as I was supposed to swear off the company of men, I couldn't exactly deny... something within me was duly impressed by what I saw. Not just at the sheer speed and aggressiveness at which they played, but the way they looked too.
Nope, nope, nope, a bunch of shirtless boys is nothing to worry about. You've got the oath. Yeah, this is fine. They're just trying to beat the heat, it's fine. You're here for another reason—oh HELL no!
And if my luck wasn't bad enough, Percy was also in the fray—his fractured ankle apparently having healed. While he wasn't exactly as toned or muscular as some of the other boys in the chaotic group (i.e., no extremely defined six-pack or anything to that degree), he was certainly fit: a lean, mean, fighting machine, so to speak. The scars on his arm, face, and neck weren't helping my situation either. Nor were his leadership skills, which seemed to continue off the battlefield as he threw the football to a teammate and tackled an opponent in rapid succession, shouting commands even as he crashed into the water.
It was only when I noticed a few girls—Aphrodite, I suspected—some distance up the hill to my right did I realize that maybe I was standing and staring like a pervert... or an idiot.
Okay, just relax... it's just Percy... why in Tartarus is it so hot?
"Yo, anyone order the Lieutenant of the Hunt?" one of them asked aloud, making the whole group turn towards me.
"Oh, what's up, LT?" Percy asked, raising the sunglasses from his eyes to reveal a tan that made him look like a raccoon. I tried to focus on that, but it failed to take away from the rest of him.
DAMMIT!
"Er, you got a sec?" I asked hesitantly, oddly nervous under the eyes of the rest of the group.
"Is this important?''
"Kinda."
"Take five, team!" he shouted before jogging towards me, much to the disappointment of the rest of the boys, but they nonetheless settled down, with some diving for the ocean and others going for water bottles. "Hey!"
"Hey, yourself," I replied as nonchalantly as I could while keeping my eyes on his face and avoiding the rest of his body. I felt like a pervert every time my eyes glanced down and an idiot every time I brought them back up. The Fates must've been laughing their ugly heads off, sending Percy here to test me.
Put on a shirt, damn you!
"What's up, LT?" he repeated, snapping me from my thoughts.
"Uh... I'm leaving."
"Wait, what? C'mon, Rodriguez and La Rue are gettin' hitched tomorrow!"
"Yeah, but... Lady Diana made the call. We're heading out soon."
"Ah... actually, c'mon for a second!" he said, putting on some flip-flops and a T-shirt (mercifully) before lowering his sunglasses, waving for me to follow. Silently, I obeyed as we walked back to the Poseidon Cabin, getting some odd looks from the Hunters and a few campers. Carly—who was about to collapse a tent with her, Cass, Helen, and Jess's gear inside it—looked at me with an expression that said, "what is going on?"
I motioned for her to cut it out before ignoring the rest and focusing on what laid ahead as Percy had me wait outside his cabin while he went in and got something. After a few moments, he came back out with a handheld radio, like the ones he used for communication.
Wait, not a radio...
"Sat phone," he explained, handing it to me with a small Ziploc bag filled with batteries, tools, a booklet, a notepad, and pens. "It's connected to a network that'll let you make a call from most anywhere. Use it sparingly and try not to have too many obstacles overhead when you're doing it. Here are some batteries, tools, and an instruction booklet for the device. Notepad and pens because... well, they're useful for intel, I guess."
"Wait... but why?" I asked, after a moment of looking between the phone, bag of stuff, and him. "Why are you giving me this?"
"C'mon, Thalia. Didn't you get pissy at me about not keeping in touch? Well, now you can too! Also, in the event you need me to save your ass again..."
"Oh, shut up!" I scoffed, lightly shoving back the chuckling son of the sea. "That will not be necessary again, I guarantee it."
"If you say so. But those that live by the sword and bow get shot by those that live by the gun," he replied with a shrug. "Just saying..."
"You don't need to remind me," I bit out, feeling myself wince at the injuries sustained last night, even though I'd been fully patched up between then and now. "But what're you saying, I need a knight in shining armor?"
"Hmm, nah, he'd be too slow, too obvious. Maybe a gunfighter in dirty cammies, though!"
His remarks weren't flirtatious in any way—they didn't sound like that, at least—being nothing but an extension of his humorous, teasing side. But it still ended up as yet another image I couldn't get out of my head: Percy Jackson, in all his gunfighting glory (maybe even riding Blackjack), pulling my ass from danger again, indebting me to him more than I should be.
What is the matter with me?!? It must be the heat... yeah, the heat's just getting to my head.
"Yeah... only problem is the lack of happy reception I'd get from your compatriots. They ain't fond of me, I'll tell you that."
"Perce, I'm pretty sure they're not fond of anyone, with the feeling being mutual. Between you and me, I don't like a good few of 'em myself. Though I'll say this... they make Nightshade and all the ones before the slaughter in Puerto Rico look pro-male!"
"Yeah, I kinda figured... well, clock's tickin', LT. You better get rollin'," he prompted, nodding towards the Artemis Cabin. "You got a lotta cats to herd."
"'Cats?'"
"Uh-huh. You've got a job to do, get goin'!"
"Uh... right. Thanks," I said, turning around and beginning the walk back before he stopped me.
"Oh, Thals! Just outta curiosity, where you headed?"
"Nevada," I replied, whipping around while continuing to walk backwards. "Courtesy of Apollo Air, I guess."
"Just don't torch the country again, alright? The Northeast is crazy, the Midwest has tornadoes, and the West... yeah, they've already got their own fires!" Percy teased.
"Go to hell, Jackson!" I shot back before turning my back on him.
"Been there, done that!"
Shaking my head, I quickened my pace to the Artemis Cabin, grabbing my gear and collapsing it in my tent—thankfully one I had to myself—before stepping outside with the others. A few gave me questioning looks, but they went away when I looked back, motioning for them to cease and desist.
"So... what's up?" Carly asked, a curious look on her face.
"The sky, what else?" I grumbled, trying to conceal my nerves.
"Ha! Good one!" Helen giggled before realizing I was sarcastic. "Oh... nevermind."
"Don't mind her... what was the deal with you and What's-His-Face?" Jess interrupted, elbowing her way into the conversation.
"What, Percy? Old friend of mine that loves disappearing, apparently," I sighed with a roll of my eyes. "Complete lunatic."
"Which is why he gave you a radio?"
"Sat phone."
"Uh-huh... so he gave you his number?"
"The heck? No!" I protested, looking around for any eavesdroppers before turning back towards the daughter of Aphrodite. "Shut that love child crap down, now!"
"Easy, Lieutenant," she replied, raising her hands in surrender. "Just curious."
"Nosy is what you are, Jessica. Now stop it."
"But why would he even give you a phone?" Carly asked, her tone suspicious. "There's something you're not telling us, LT."
"Don't call me that."
"But Percy calls you that," Helen remarked. "He calls you 'LT' all the time... easier than saying Lieutenant."
"I said not to call me that!"
"Hey, you heard her! Stop!" Jessica intervened. "We shouldn't be calling her that... that's Percy's pet name for her."
"Listen here you little—" I hissed before I was cut off by the calls of Diana.
"Come! Let us depart!" she shouted. "Iam venationes meae!"
With no idea what the goddess even said in the latter shout (probably some Roman thing), we began our exit, walking over to the clearing between the woods and the dining pavilion, waiting for Apollo... apparently. As the sun beat down on us, all I could hope for was that Apollo had some air conditioning in his vehicle.
"Now might be a good time for you to avert your eyes!" Diana shouted. Just like at Westover Hall, we shielded our eyes as Apollo parked the Sun Chariot (i.e., a divine sports car), resulting in a large patch of grass being burnt.
"Hey, sis!" he called, grinning as he hopped out. His appearance—much like Diana's—looked older than his Greek variant, and he'd exchanged the camouflage I saw at his temple for cargo pants, a T-shirt, and sunglasses. "Heard you needed some transport!"
"Um... I thought you would have something... bigger. This iron chariot—or car, whatever it's called—can't hold more than two."
"Oh, one second..." With that, he transformed his ride into a bus identical to the one I drove all those years ago... a memory that still sends shivers down my spine.
"Apollo... this is a giant box of metal and glass... on wheels."
"A bus, sister dear. Load it up, ladies!" he ordered, his easygoing tone mostly gone as he turned to face us. "C'mon, c'mon, we gotta roll now! Oh, and Lieutenant... you're absolutely not driving this time."
"Wouldn't think of it," I muttered, embarrassment washing over me as I scuttled past him and got myself and my things on the bus. Unfortunately, I ended up in a window seat right next to Carly, with Helen and Jess in the seats in front of me.
"We're going up in the air? Sick!" Jess said, looking back at us with a grin. "Whaddaya think, Helen?"
"I don't know..." the young mortal girl murmured nervously beside Jess.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. We're getting driven by the god of the sun... who said something about you 'not driving this time,'" Carly remarked, looking towards me.
"I'd rather not say," I replied, looking away as I tried to deal with the knot in my throat. If it wasn't bad enough that I was stuck with these three, we were about to go up in the air... and I still hated heights with a passion, despite having hung around Jason for some time. He tried to explain to me that it wasn't that bad with an active demonstration... I became the camp laughing stock for some time because of how much I screamed. And we weren't more than forty feet in the air.
"So... we're doomed?" the daughter of Epione clarified.
"Well—"
"Uh, you've got a visitor, LT," Jess interrupted, pointing out the window.
"Jess, I told you—" I began, halting at the sight of a waving Percy out the window.
What the—
"Heights freaked me out too! It'll be okay!" he shouted with two thumbs up. "Seriously, Thals! Don't worry!"
"That doesn't help at all!" I yelled back through the open window, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.
"If I can make it, so can you! You're the freakin' daughter of the Greco-Roman Thor! Loosen up and embrace the goddamn sky!"
What does that even—
"Ladies and... ladies, stand by for takeoff!" Apollo shouted from the driver's seat. "Di, you sure you can handle this?"
"Please," his twin scoffed. "It can't possibly be as bad as the time in Corsica—"
"OKAY, LET'S GO!"
Now, I have no idea what happened during "the time in Corsica." All I knew is that this was somehow going to be worse as Apollo pushed the pedal to the metal, with us accelerating faster than I've ever done so before. We rocketed away from Camp Half-Blood in a ball of fire as I squeezed my eyes shut, trying my absolute best not to scream in a panic like everyone else around me.
Okay, not everybody else. Jess seemed to be the only one not crapping her panties at this as she threw her arms up as though on a rollercoaster. As for Diana, she had continued to loudly bicker with Apollo, and I could only pray—hell, to just about anyone but Hera or Aphrodite—that the rest of us would survive.
"If I can make it, so can you! You're the freakin' daughter of the Greco-Roman Thor! Loosen up and embrace the goddamn sky!"
Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and looked out the window, where a birds-eye view of America greeted me. Briefly, I recoiled in fear as the buildings and roads grew smaller as we ascended. But then, we shot through the clouds and slowed down. When looking again, what met me were clouds and clear, blue skies, the view barely even obstructed by the flames of the Sun Chariot-Bus of Doom.
Fear remained within me, and yet... it was oddly beautiful. It was like a field of cotton hovering above a shallow sea, the contrast of colors reminding me of a university.
Wait, what? No, I've been hanging around Athena kids for too long.
No, not that... it reminded me of a mural I once saw, long ago while on the run with Luke and Annabeth. My sense of beauty and art, admittedly, was never on par with that of someone like an Apollo or Aphrodite kid. But I recalled it as being beautiful... just like this bird's-eye view. A childlike wonder filled me as I gazed out through the window—still nervous, but not nearly as much as I had been in the past. As for the heat that had been plaguing me the whole day, despite being in the literal sun, the warmth was comforting rather than burning.
I think I began to fear heights a lot less... but why the damn Hades did Percy have to be involved and get in my head? And why couldn't I get him out?
Are the Fates testing me? Or is it the gods' doing? Or freakin' God? Or am I just really unlucky?
I have no idea how realistic any of these thoughts are.
But that aside... another short update. No action, just trying to flesh out the characters a bit—as well as see how a Huntress feels about the whole thing. Also, does anyone notice the fact that Thalia acts more like a platoon sergeant than an LT? Lieutenant Grace? More like Sergeant Grace, am I right?
... never mind. It's more difficult to be a comedian with a keyboard rather than a microphone. Oh, and Diana has no idea what's going on. She's still trying to understand modern American vernacular and the modern world in general. And is quite possibly succeeding... barely, but still.
Thanks for reading and make sure to leave a comment! Next up: Chris and Clarisse get hitched!
Until then,
- ADF-2