Athena's Daughter

Chapter One

All characters belong to Rick Rordan, he owns it all.  This is what I think will happen next after The Son of Neptune. Please let me know what you think and if I screwed up on some of the facts, please say so!  I'll fix it.  I'm writing this from memory.

Chapter One

JASON

Jason starred down at the ground below, his brow furrowed in concentration.  He didn't want to miss it.  His hands tightened on the railing, his knuckles turning white.  Soon.  It was so close and yet the minutes ticked by slowly, prolonging the moment till the last possible second.  They were already behind schedule.  The ship had decided to have a few problems that Leo had had to repair before they had been able to leave.  They were a day behind and yet the ground stretched out before them full of farms, cities, homes, roads, cars and everything else you could think of.  Everything but what he wanted to see.  He knew they were close, he could feel it in his bones, in the air, but every minute that went by felt like an hour.

"How are you holding up?"

Jason turned to see his sister standing slightly behind him, her eyes full of concern.  He studied her for a moment.  They had been reunited a year ago, but after having grown up believing himself to be alone in the world, he still couldn't believe that he had family.  "I'm okay," he said, trying to keep the uneasiness out of his voice.

"Piper sent me over," she admitted.  Jason sighed.  His girlfriend.  Just thinking about her brought a slight smile to his lips but it didn't last.  "She's worried about you."

"She shouldn't have sent you over,"  Jason growled, the words coming out harsher than he intended.

"She didn't have to, she just gave me an excuse, I was trying to find one," Thalia shrugged.  "You've been different the last few days, frankly the last few weeks, but the last few days have been absolutely the worst."

"I'm fine," Jason said sharply. 

"You're nervous," Thalia shot back, but there was no anger or annoyance in her voice, just concern  and what he thought might be understanding.

He turned back to look at her again.  She was dressed as usual in silvery and black clothes with her short black hair spiked and her typical skull earrings.  It was an odd look, one that he had asked about once.  She had explained that she had always dressed in more of a punk gothic style and that the silvery elegant style of the hunters in which she was the lieutenant wasn't really her style.  So she put her own flair to it.  What you got was a beautiful girl who couldn't seem to decide if her style was rebellious or elegance.  It was strange.  Jason sighed and then nodded in confirmation of what she said.  "I'm excited to be going back, to be going home, but I'm afraid that it's going to be different.  That it's no longer going to feel like home anymore," he explained.

"An understandable fear," Thalia agreed.  "One that I think Annabeth shares, I share."

"But your not going home," Jason frowned.

"No but…were going to Percy, Jason.  He has gone eight months with a lost memory or at least that's the worst case.  Annabeth fears that it might have changed him, that he wont be the man she loves or that he wont remember her or worse that he does, but doesn't want her anymore because he's found someone else," Thalia explained her gaze looking past Jason as if she was trying to see ahead to what was coming to brace herself for the unexpected.

Jason processed that and nodded.  It made sense.  "What about you?"

"Percy and I, well, it's safe to say that we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.  He frustrates me, because he doesn't always seem to get it, I don't.  Anyway, Percy and I don't mix well.  Don't be alarmed if the moment that we land Percy and I almost instantly get into a disagreement, it's natural,"  Thalia explained.