The Unclaimed

Chapter 38: The Grace siblings

"You're related to Thalia?" I asked in shock. He nodded. "Isn't she a daughter of Zeus?" He nodded again. "But you're a son of Jupiter?" He once again nodded. He may have been much older than me but his lack of useful responses was really starting to get on my nerve.
"Jessica," Thalia's voice echoed from the campsite. I looked up at the tall blond man.
"Hold that thought," I said and held up my hand to try and make him wait. I sprinted towards camp. In the process of looking for Thalia I ended up colliding with her.
"Holy crap Jessica, you can't disappear like that," Thalia scolded me. "I woke up and found you missing from your bed and no where in the campsite. You nearly gave me a heart attack. Jessica, Jessica are you ok?" Around this time she caught sight of the paper in my hand and her face paled. "Did you already face your monster? Wait where's your bow and arrows? What is going on?" My mind was racing as I tried to figure out what to say. Just as I was about to speak, his voice entered the conversation.
"I think I can help with some of those answers," Thalia's eyes lit up but I didn't have much time to see how else she reacted because at the sound of his voice I spun around on the balls of my feet.
"I thought I told you to stay," spinning back around so I was looking at Thalia, I continued onto a mini-rant. "Do you know this fool? He's claiming to be your brother but all of the evidence is pointing to him lying. First off his father is Jupiter and yours is Zeus. Secondly you're good answering questions, he on the other hand is not." Once I got the energy out of me, I started feeling a little guilty for all my yelling so I turned around so I was looking at Jason again. "I do owe him though because he did save my life; for that I am thankful." Jason looked down at me with puzzled eyes and I could hear Thalia chuckling from behind me. From the corner of my eyes I could see that some of the other hunters were starting to come out of their tents. A few looked mistrustful over Jason's presence but for the most part they looked ok with him being here. I felt a hand fall onto my shoulder.
"Jessica do me a favor and take Jason back to our tent," I looked over my shoulder at her skeptically. "I swear on the River Styx that he is my brother. I'll join you to shortly; I just need to tell Artemis that he's here and catch her up on what's going on." Feeling a lot more at ease with Thalia's reassurance, I motioned for Jason to follow me. Walking past the other hunters I saw them all eying the sheet of paper in my hand. When we got to our tent, I held the flap open for Jason and motioned for him to enter first. I trusted Thalia but I still felt more comfortable being able to keep my eyes on Jason. When we both were in the tent I sat on my bed and he sat on the chair in the middle of the room.
"So I'm assuming you're the newest hunter," Jason said clearly trying to break the awkward silence. "Jessica right?" I nodded in response.
"Why are you here?" I asked. "Don't hunters and males normally not mix to well together?" I continued. "Though scratch that, I am glad you're here because otherwise I'd be dead right now. So thanks for that." He chuckled.
"No worries," he told me. "As to why I'm here, I'm on my way to Camp Half-Blood and I figured I'd come see Thalia because our paths don't cross to frequently." I nodded in understanding.
"Why didn't you just fly to camp from wherever you were?" I asked him. "It would be faster than traveling by foot and since your Zeus's son it's not like he would crash the plane." It was around this time that Thalia entered the tent.
"This one's quite the curious isn't she," Jason said to Thalia while he was laughing. Thalia nodded.
"She's very smart as well," she said in response. "So as much as I'd love to catch up with you, we have to keep traveling west soon so this little chat is going to be cut short. Now would either of you like to explain what happened this morning?" Jason and I exchanged a look. I started speaking.
"So as you know I woke up before you today," Thalia nodded in recognition. "I didn't feel like I could fall asleep so I decided to go get some fresh air." I looked down at the ground in shame. "I had a brain fart and forgot to grab any of weapons. I walked a bit past the camp and sat down; I just wanted to watch the sunrise." Thalia looked back over at my sheet of paper.
"But what happened next?" She asked softly. "There's clearly more to the story considering you have a new hint and Jason apparently saved your life." I looked at Jason and decided to let him continue the story.
"Like I told Jessica here, I'm currently on my way to camp and I decided to come visit you," Jason started. Before he could continue, Thalia interrupted him.
"How'd you know where we were?" She asked him skeptically; I looked at him, curious to hear his answer. He hesitated but then responded.
"I'd lie but you'd call me on it and then kick my ass," he said truthfully and Thalia nodded in approval to his answer. "I am on my way camp and I did want to check up on you but I am not here by some coincidence. I Iris-messaged Chiron the other day and found out that you guys were traveling west. I called in a couple of favors with Hypons children and tracked your dream to figure out where you were." Thalia crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.
"Seems like an awful lot of effort just for a sibling reunion." Jason looked down to avoid eye contact with Thalia. "What's the real reason you're here?" Jason looked up, he looked tempted to try to lie but changed his mind. His eyes flickered over to me and the went back to the ground.
"You came to see what I'm like," I blurted out. "Didn't you." His head shot up and an impressed look appeared on Jason's face. He looked over at Thalia.
"You're right, she is smart." Thalia nodded. He looked back at me. "I'm not going to lie. You've been the talk of both camps for the past two years. When I heard you got a quest, well I wanted to meet you." I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or creeped out.
"I guess you probably didn't expect to have to save me from a cyclops at our first meeting," I said pretty ashamed. He had probably been expecting some incredibly smart and powerful fighter and not me. He shrugged.
"Everyone has mental breakdown every now and then," he reassured me. "I'm just glad I got here in time to save you." I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah you certainly arrived with good timing." He laughed.
"You're a witty one aren't you?" I shrugged modestly. "How's your quest going so far?" He asked me.
"Oh you know, just gave some monsters searching to kill me everyday." I began sarcastically. "My dad wants me to fail so much that he'd rather me be dead than figure out who he is.and there's the fact that you little brother has no clue who I am because a stupid Ares camper wanted to bait me into fighting so he knocked my brother out cold." Jason's facial expression hardened.
"How you're being treated is low even for being related to a god." Jason said truthfully. "Do you have any leads as to who your father is?" He questioned.
"Based off of everything that has happened my list is down to Zeus, Hades, or Ares." His eyes widened as he listened.
"I'm extra glad that I saved you now that I know you could be my half sister," he said while trying to lighten the mood.
"Don't be," I warned him. "If we are siblings than your probably on our fathers bad side right now." It as Jason's turn to shrug.
"I'm used to being on gods bad sides." He said truthfully. A look of deep thought appeared on his face. "What did you mean when you said she had her next hint," he asked Thalia.
"Every time she beats the monster of the day, she gets a clue about her father." Thalia answered. "What did today's say?" She asked me. I felt blood rush to my face.
"I haven't read it yet," I said sheepishly.
"Read it already then," she explained. Jason nodded encouragingly. I unfolded the sheet of paper and read,
"So the Grace boy has rescued you from death,
But no worries, you will soon take your final breath.
Your fathers will to fight you may possess,
But he still wishes for you to have little success." Both Thalia and Jason fell silent; I didn't blame them. If I had been in their place than I wouldn't have known what to say. We sat there in silence as minutes ticked by. Finally Artemis walked into the tent. She took one look at our faces and then said one word,
"Explain," so we did.