Legend of Perseus 2: Mission: Bermuda (Completed)

~Chapter 25~

I woke with a start to find that Annabeth was long gone, having put a blanket over me. There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission. "Percy!" he stammered. "Annabeth ... on the hill ... she ..."

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annabeth must have been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened—I ripped off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins. I threw on some clothes while Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. "She's lying there ... just lying there ..."

I ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover right behind me. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas.

I heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

"Is it true?" he asked Grover.

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed me by the arm and effortlessly lifted me onto his back. Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was bloodred.

"Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

So it did work, she has finally returned. I just hope she becomes a friend rather than an enemy. Now I needed to figure out if i wanted her to join the Hunters of Artemis or not. Before I go back to school I will need to go get my sister from the Lotus hotel and the Di Angelos from the school later.

"The Fleece," he said. "The Fleece did its work too well."

We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her.

Blood roared in my ears. I couldn't think straight. Annabeth had been attacked? But why was the Fleece still there?

The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece.

"It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."

Then I realized Annabeth wasn't the one lying on the ground. She was the one in armor, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. When Annabeth saw us, she ran to Chiron. "It... she ... just suddenly there ..."

Her eyes were streaming with tears, but I still didn't understand. I was too freaked out to make sense of it all. I leaped off Chiron's back and ran toward the unconscious girl. Chiron said: "Percy, wait!"

I knelt by her side. She had long black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth—a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I'd never heard of.

She wasn't a camper. I didn't recognize her from any of the cabins. And yet I had the strangest feeling I'd seen her before.... Oh wait I saw this girl in my dream, the one that foolishly opened the sarcophagus. Now that I got a closer look, Thalia was alot younger than in the books, they said that she was 15 when she awoke and yet the girl here was no younger than 12 or 13. She was exactly my age.

"It's true," Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "I can't believe ..."

Nobody else came close to the girl. I put my hand on her forehead. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning.

"Hey," I said softly, leaning in closer to her unconscious form. "Hey. You in there?"

Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open, and I could feel the weight of worry settling in my chest.

"It's okay," I continued, keeping my voice gentle, knowing there was no need to shout. "You gotta wake up, alright? We need to know you're okay."

This time, her eyes slowly opened, revealing a hazy gaze, like a window fogged with raindrops. Despite the cloudiness, I saw past it, and awe filled my chest at the deep, pure blue that they were. Electric blue, almost. I recognized those eyes anywhere. She was a daughter of Zeus, to be sure.

The girl stared at me in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. "Strangest dream ..."

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," I assured her. "You're okay. What's your name?"

Thaough I already knew it, even before she said it.

"I am Thalia," the girl said. "Daughter of Zeus."

"Thalia, are you alright?" I asked, concern lacing my words.

"I... I think so. Who are you?" she responded, her confusion evident in her voice.

I couldn't help but smile. We had only met once before, so it was natural that she wouldn't remember me.

"I'm Percy," I replied gently. "You don't know me. You were asleep for a long time, but now you're back. We found the Golden Fleece, and it brought you back."

Thalia still looked puzzled, but a small smile graced her lips. "Being a tree is tough," she murmured before her eyes rolled back, and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

I couldn't contain the burst of laughter that escaped me. It was a relief, a release of tension that had been building up inside me. Thalia was alive again, the tree was healed, and everything felt right in the world.

In that moment, I knew that things were about to start getting alot more difficult. It was time to start doing what I came to this world to do.