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𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙛𝙪𝙡. They had another chariot race, which Annabeth and Percy won. Tyson left to go visit Poseidon.
(Andy was a little miffed when that was announced.)
The real surprise happened when the Fleece finally finished its healing work. In the middle of the night, Annabeth had been on tree-guarding duty, and had sent her partner running to get Chiron. Apparently the Fleece was so powerful, it healed Thalia, who fell right out of the tree and into Annabeth's arms.
Andy had never met Thalia before. She'd come just about a year after the whole debacle had happened.
The daughter of Zeus was pretty tall, with short black hair and an abundance on freckles. She was lithe and strong, and wore lots of dark clothes.
Andy got to have a small conversation with Thalia in the infirmary the day after she was healed.
She had barged into the room, startling the healer on duty. The Apollo kid left the room. Thalia had just stared at her, confused.
"Hey," Andy said. "I'm Andy Castillo."
"Thalia."
They shook hands.
"Daughter of Zeus, right?"
Thalia nodded. Andy clenched her jaw.
The more she thought about it, the more Andy realized her views aligned with Luke's. The gods were never good parents, and they probably never would be. Andy agreed that they were neglecting, and rude, and so incredibly annoying. Always using demigods for small tasks that they could accomplish easily? It just didn't make sense.
But then again, the gods were their parents. Andy had never had a solid parental figure. Her mom? She could go rot in the Fields of Punishment. Her dad? Well, she didn't really know. She hadn't had enough conversations with the guy to know what he was like. She didn't even know his name, for Hades's sake.
That's part of the problem, she realized. He only talked to me during my dream to tell me I needed to accept my powers, which I didn't really know existed. He wouldn't even claim me, or tell me his name.
She cleared her thoughts. There was nothing she could do about it now. And besides, as much as the demigods in Camp didn't enjoy her presence, she wouldn't betray them. She wouldn't be like Luke, or her mom, and turn her back on them.
Andy realized Thalia was waiting for her to say something. Andy sat down in the seat next to her bed.
"So," she began, "you sacrificed yourself to save your friends. Now, Grover and Annabeth? Those I can somewhat understand. But Luke? He didn't really turn out the way you hoped, huh?"
"Why are you here?" Thalia demanded. "I don't want to talk about Luke!"
"I mean, betraying you to join Kronos and his army of monsters?" Andy asked. "That's pretty cold."
