The Skeletons In The Closet

Chapter Ten

Jason's POV

This vision started out much the same as mine did. Thalia stood in the kitchen, twelve years old, with a two year old me balanced on her hip, screaming my head off.

"That's why you don't eat staplers, dummy," Thalia told me, trying to press a wet cloth to my bleeding lip.

Pretty much everyone could be seen dying of laughter.

I saw my mother walk into the kitchen. She was seriously hung over, I could tell that much. "Shut him up! I'm trying to sleep!"

Thalia shot Mom a glare and didn't say anything.

The scene shifted and Thalia and I looked pretty much the same, so I assumed it had only been a few weeks later, a month at most.

"We're going to the Wolf House for a picnic," Beryl said suddenly. "A picnic?" Thalia asked. Anyone could tell she was super suspicious.

It skipped to the three of us sitting on a picnic blanket. "Thalia, dear, can you grab the picnic basket? I forgot it in the car," Beryl asked in a monotone voice, not looking at Thalia.

The look on Thalia's face proved her distrust for her mother. She didn't trust our own mother to take care of me. She didn't want to leave me alone with her.

Now, we already saw this from my point of view. Now it's Thalia's turn. The present Thalia had a scowl on her face as she remembered the events from years ago.

We walked with Thalia back to the car, looking over our shoulders at Beryl and mini me when Thalia did. They were soon out of sight though. Thalia reaches the car and got the basket before heading back.

When she got there, it was just Beryl sitting on the blanket, looking distraught. I was nowhere to be seen.

The picnic basket clattered out of Thalia's hands. "Where's Jason?" She asked. Beryl didn't answer, but kept looking at the ground.

"Where. Is. Jason!" Thalia screamed, attracting the attention of some other people at the site. "She took him," Beryl muttered.

"Who took him, Mom?" Thalia was in hysterics, searching the area for me. She screamed my name, checking behind rocks and trees.

She was sobbing and screaming when Beryl dragged her back to the car. "I never should have trusted you! I never should have left you alone with him! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

Thalia was forced into the car and Beryl drove her home. We found ourselves inside the house again, seemingly right when Thalia and Beryl arrived home.

Thalia ran inside and grabbed the phone. She was blubbering and sniffling, her face wet with tears as she dialed 911.

The police arrived soon after to investigate and Thalia ran the next morning.

The world faded to black.

I found myself on a hill. I recognized it as Half-Blood Hill. Except it was missing the pine tree. I turned and saw four figures running my way. "So this is how it happened," Percy said.

"Yep," Annabeth agreed, pointing out her seven year old self. I remembered Annabeth's past cut off right here. I guess from that point on it was Thalia's story to tell.

As the figures got closer, I identified them as Thalia, Annabeth, Grover, and a blond boy who had to be Luke.

They were being chased by a horde of monsters.

There was a whole pack of hellhounds, beady red eyes and fanged snarls shown through the darkness, reflecting from the moon high in the sky.

All three Furies shrieked from above. The four were running as fast as they could. Annabeth stumbled and cried out, falling to the dirt ground. Luke didn't waste a second and scooped her up in his arms. "C'mon!" He yelled.

"We're not gonna make it," Grover wailed. Thalia looked over her shoulder at the oncoming army. She had a look of steely determination in her eyes. "You guys go ahead. I'll hold em off." She deployed her terrifying shield and turned to face the enemy.

Luke hesitated. "Go!" She screamed at them. I could see the tears in Luke's eyes as he turned his back on Thalia and continued on. Annabeth twisted in screamed in his arms, desperate to get out. "Thalia!" She screamed. "THALIA!"

Thalia screamed in anguish and brought out her spear, brandishing both the spear and the shield at her enemies. But her moment of triumph didn't last long.

A hellhound got the jump on her. It bit down around her middle and shook her viscously. She screamed in pain and anger, trying to bat it away with her spear.

It finally let go, sending her careening sideways to the ground. One of the furies, the second one, came at her. She picked Thalia up and dropped her—right where the pine tree stands now.

The Fury dove, pouncing on her chest for good measure. Thalia wheezed, jerking upward at the impact. The Fury flew up and back, examining her good work.

Thalia relaxed back into the ground, bleeding out into the grass as Annabeth screamed her name in the distance.

Then the strangest thing happened. Something shimmered down from the heavens. It almost looked like fireflies. Thalia began to change. Her fingers stretched and hardened into bark, burrowing into the dirt. Like the roots of a tree.

And before our very eyes, a pine tree sprouted from the dirt. From Thalia's blood. It really was magical. It swam with the firefly-like magic and the trunk of the tree grew stronger. The branches elongated, like hands reaching for the sky.

And from those branches, lush green pine needles grew. They covered the tree and from the very core of the trunk a blue light pulsed outwards, encompassing the entire camp before fading away. And thus the Camp's protective borders were born as the daughter of Zeus died.

Looking around I saw that both Annabeth and Thalia were crying, both for their own reasons, probably. Nico stood slightly in front of Thalia in a protective manner.

I went over to hug Thalia and she buried her face in chest, holding me tight. And it was there that I felt comfortable and safe, in my sister's arms, with the pine tree and the stars behind me.

Who's next?