Chương 94: Thalia and Annabeth

A/N: If you reach 200 powerstones in 24 hours I'll upload another chapter. Also, if you want to support me and read up to 10 chapters in advance and secondary novels go to my patreon.

Patreon.com/Joanjudo Stories

https://discord.gg/uHeQfS2NBf

Thalia POV

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling out, hesitant yet hopeful.

"Thalia?"

I turned, my eyes landing on a girl with curly blonde hair and startlingly grey eyes. There was something familiar about her, but I couldn't quite place it. Still, I managed to shoot her a grin before replying.

"Yeah, and you are?"

What happened next caught me completely off guard. The girl launched herself at me, wrapping her arms around me in a fierce embrace. I stood there, frozen, unsure how to react. It was then that I noticed her entire body was shaking, trembling against me like a leaf in a storm.

"I can't believe it! How did you—? When did you—?" She fired off a barrage of incomplete questions, her voice muffled against my shoulder. I felt a warm wetness seeping through my shirt—she was crying.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her, one hand moving to stroke her hair in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. "It's okay, it's okay," I murmured, though I wasn't entirely sure what 'it' was or why it needed to be okay.

After what seemed like an eternity, she pulled back, her eyes darting all over me as if she was trying to memorize every detail. It was more than a little disconcerting.

"So, who are you?" I asked again, trying to keep my voice gentle. There was something naggingly familiar about this girl, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Her face fell, a mixture of hurt and confusion clouding her features. "You don't remember me?" She pointed at herself, her voice small and uncertain. "I'm Annabeth. Did you lose your memories or what?"

As soon as she said her name, it was like a switch flipped in my brain. Suddenly, I saw not the teenager standing before me, but a vision of a seven-year-old girl, barely half my height, clutching a celestial bronze dagger with determination beyond her years. My eyes widened in shock.

"Annabeth?"

A smile broke across her face, relief evident in her eyes. "Yeah, it's me."

I couldn't help but stare. The little girl I remembered had grown so much. It was then that the true weight of my time as a tree began to sink in. Ozzy's appearance hadn't quite driven it home, and Chiron and Mr. D didn't age, but seeing Annabeth... It was undeniable proof that more than five years had passed.

The realization left me feeling disoriented, like the ground beneath my feet wasn't quite stable. Everything felt off-kilter, as if the world had shifted on its axis while I'd been bark-deep in chlorophyll production.

Annabeth's voice pulled me back to the present. "So," she said, a hint of hesitation in her tone, "how did you stop being a tree, exactly?"

I blinked, realizing I didn't have a clear answer to that question. All I knew was that somehow, Ozzy had been involved in my return to human form. "Ozzy did it," I said simply. "I have no clue how."

At the mention of Ozzy's name, I noticed Annabeth's face scrunch up, a flicker of something—annoyance? discomfort?—passing over her features.

"What?" I asked, curiosity piqued by her reaction.

She looked away, seemingly uncomfortable. "It's nothing," she muttered, "just that Odysseus and I don't really get along."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. Ozzy and Annabeth were two of my best friends in the world, and the thought of them not getting along was deeply unsettling. "Why not?" I pressed, needing to understand.

Annabeth's gaze dropped to the ground, her fingers fidgeting nervously. "It's just that when you di— when you turned into a tree, well, Luke and Odysseus got into an argument. They never really got along, and I chose Luke's side, because..." She trailed off, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

The mention of Luke sent a complex swirl of emotions through me—anger, betrayal, and a lingering fondness that I wasn't quite ready to examine. I wanted to ask Annabeth how she felt about Luke's betrayal of Olympus, but something held me back. It didn't feel like the right time to broach such a sensitive topic.

Instead, I decided to change the subject. "Wanna go on a quest again?"

The effect of my words was instantaneous. Annabeth's face lit up, her small grin spreading into a full-blown smile. I could see the excitement coursing through her, manifesting in a slight tremor of her body and her clenched fists.

Without warning, she grabbed my hands, practically bouncing with enthusiasm. "Yes, please! I really wanna go on a quest!"

Her excitement was infectious, and I found myself grinning back. "That's great then," I said. "In a week, we'll be leaving with Lailaps, okay?"

Once again, I noticed Annabeth's face scrunch up at the mention of one of my old friends. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened during my time as a tree to cause such tension between the people I cared about. Still, I decided not to push the issue for now.

"Let's talk more about this tomorrow, okay?" I suggested, giving her one last hug before making my way towards my own cabin.

As I walked, the reality of my situation truly began to sink in. So much had changed in what felt like the blink of an eye to me. The camp looked mostly the same, but at the same time it didn't.

I reached out, running my hand along the rough bark of a nearby tree, marveling at the sensation against my skin. It was strange, being flesh and blood again after so long. Part of me still expected to feel the wind rustling through my leaves or the steady flow of sap through my trunk.

Entering my cabin, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. Everything was exactly as I remembered it, yet it felt like stepping into a museum exhibit of my own life, sure I didn't remember my time as a tree but I still had been gone for eight months while on my quest.

I sat on my old bunk, the springs creaking under my weight. I looked up at the ceiling, my cabin's ceiling. Lightning sparking from one part of the room to the next, it honestly made me feel nice, lightning did that to me, I always enjoyed it whenever a lightning sparked close to me, it made me feel alive, something which I desperately needed as of now, you know since I was a tree for the past six years

I closed my eyes, I didn't think about Ozzy, about Luke stealing the bolt, about Annabeth and how much she'd grown only the faint sound of thunder that permeated in the room from the lightning that sparked around.