Missing

Nightshade

Thalia's POV

I sat with my feet dangling over the side of the train. The wind tossled my hair and brushed against my face. It was calm, peaceful, and it was the first time I had felt relatively content. I was helping, I was looking for my friends, I was doing something. Titling my head up I stared at the sky. The stars were bright tonight and I found a sense of peace while looking at them. Reyna was asleep, and she must have needed it because she had slept for a very long time.
The daughter of Bellona was a mystery to me. One moment she was this hard ass praetor the next she looked like a normal teenage girl with feelings trying to figure out her place in this hell hole of a world. I shook my thoughts away focusing on the pictures in the sky. I stared at Zoe's constellation and felt my chest constrict.

"Some job I've done Zoe," I laughed bitterly. I had taken a habit to talking to her constellation. I guess it just felt like somewhere out there she was actually listening and it reminded me of the friendship we could have had. "They're all gone just like my brother. I've messed up again big-time. And I don't know what to do. Lycaon has them somewhere but I don't know anything. Honestly I'm scared. If he's done something to them I'll never forgive myself."

I stared down at the ground speeding by feeling completely lost and alone despite Reyna's company. I was so used to being surrounded by dozens of other girls laughing and talking that the silence was uncomfortable. They kept me distracted from my thoughts, from the things I didn't want to remember. I felt normal and whole around them. "Zoe, I'm so sorry. I've ruined everything you've ever done. If you were here you'd know what to do. If you were here everything would be fine and it never would've happened in the first place."

There was no answer and I felt like someone was choking me. I could feel my bottom lip trembling but I fought back my tears. I wasn't going to cry again. Crying didn't fix anything, crying was useless. I stared expectantly at the sky waiting for something to happen. Despite my best efforts I felt a tear slip down my cheek. "Why do I feel so alone?"

I wiped the tear away hastily chastising myself for crying when I heard shuffling come from the back corner of the train. Reyna sat next to me slipping her feet over the train's edge as well. She didn't say anything and I was thankful. I sighed heavily and Reyna looked at me a curious expression morphing her features. "Do you mind me asking Zoë is?"

I laughed genuinely ,sniffling a bit and nodding. "I guess you wouldn't know her."

Reyna waited patiently as I thought about what to say. "She was a girl I met a long time ago. When I was on the run and with Luke. She was nice, and I admired her and the other Hunters, but...she hated Luke. She said he would betray me that all boys did in the end. I didn't believe her and we got in a big fight. I said she was wrong that he would never do that. When Luke and I left all friendly ties we had were gone. When I came back from the dead Percy said Luke had turned bad. He said we needed to find other demigods before Luke did. Well, one day Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and I had gone to check up on some possible demigods. We didn't know it was Nico and Bianca at the time. Things went good until we were discovered. We got in a fight against a Manticore."

"A Manticore?" Reyna asked impressed.

"Yeah. The Hunters came out of nowhere, helped us fight him off, but Annabeth fell off a cliff with the Manticore and dissapeared. Zoë was back. I hated her even more because I knew she had been right. Luke had betrayed me but I didn't want to believe it until I saw for myself. We went on a quest to rescue Artemis who had been captured by Atlas and to save Annabeth. We bickered most of the way but I realized she wasn't so bad. Only when I was really warming up to her again we got in a fight with her Dad, Atlas. He ended up killing her. She died right in front of us..." I sucked in a deep breath before I continued. "All I could say was sorry. That I was sorry for everything."