Seek and destroy (8)

Small drops of water hit the ground, but there was no trace of clouds in the clear night.

"What... Luke was...?"

The excitement in the air was almost palpable. Sammy looked at Thalia in utter dismay. She couldn't believe what Thalia had told them. Luke being kidnapped and taken to who knows where by a monster they didn't know.

"I was too late," Thalia continued, "When I saw that monster take him away, there was nothing I could do."

Annabeth, who heard the whole story, frowned, trying to understand the behavior of that strange beast.

"You said you found Roy dead, didn't you," Annabeth asked.

Thalia nodded.

"He was slumped on the floor, and his neck was in an unnatural position. Most likely that monster broke his neck. That wouldn't be surprising. He seemed to have incredible strength if he was able to charge Luke and flee at high speed."

"But... Why did the monster kill Roy and kidnap Luke," Sammy asked, "It doesn't make much sense."

"Probably because Roy shot him," Annabeth replied, "and that made him angry. But this presents us with a new possibility. Luke may still be alive."

Thalia looked up in surprise. She didn't want to think about her friend being dead, but she didn't want to have false hopes either.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Think about it. It makes sense. If he wanted to, he could have killed Luke at any time, but instead, he went to the trouble of picking him up and carrying him while he was still alive."

"So... he might still be alive," said Sammy, with slight hope in his voice.

"Wait, if your friend can be alive, then so can Tommy, right? -asked Jessica.

Annabeth gave her a sympathetic look.

"I don't want to give you false hope, but... there is that possibility."

Everyone was silent. They knew they were holding on to a tightrope, but they couldn't help it. Their loved ones were in mortal danger, or dead, no one knew. Despite Annabeth's encouraging words, Thalia couldn't help but look at everything with pessimism. Misfortunes seemed to haunt her constantly in her life, and it seemed to do nothing but hurt the people around her. The people she cared about.

"It's my fault," Thalia said, self-deprecatingly, "If only I had gone with him....".

She kept her head down, with a firm grip on her hands and her jaw clenched tightly shut. She didn't notice someone walking toward her until she could see their feet in front of her. She looked up and met Percy's disapproving gaze.

"Percy...?"

"How long do you plan to stand there wallowing in your self-pity?" he asked, his voice hard.

"What?" asked Thalia, frowning. More confused than annoyed.

"You heard me. There's a chance Luke is still alive, hold on to that. It's better than sitting there, wallowing in your own misery. What we have to do is clear, find that son of a bitch and send him to Tartarus as a pincushion. Now, are you going to stand up and do something about it or am I going to have to kick your ass again to get you to do something?"

Thalia looked at Percy in shock. It was the first time she had ever been scolded like that. Luke had never said anything like that to her for fear of getting his ass kicked. She had always been the one with the more dominant personality between the two of them, but clearly that didn't matter to Percy.

She looked away and smiled in amusement. She scratched the back of her head, a gesture she made whenever she felt embarrassed, though she didn't know it herself.

"It's okay. I understand. Gods, sometimes you're impossible. If we were in another situation, I'd kick that skinny ass of yours."

Percy grinned cheekily at her.

"The last time you tried that, it ended up with your ass getting kicked. Besides..." Percy turned around and showed his ass. "My ass isn't skinny. It's sexy and it's one of my biggest charms, isn't it, Annabeth?"

The girl was surprised and a strong blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Huh? Well... I... it's just that..." she mumbled incomprehensibly.

"Yes, I think Percy's butt is the sexiest," Sammy exclaimed, amused.

"Oh, please," said Thalia, rolling her eyes, "You're obviously favoring him."

"That's not true! If you don't believe me, why don't you touch it yourself?"

"Hey!" said Thalia, this time she was blushing heavily.

"Yeah, go ahead, Thalia, do it," said Percy, with a cheeky grin as he pulled her sexy ass close to him -Give it a good squeeze. Don't blame me if you like it afterwards.

If possible, Thalia's blush doubled.

She shouted and began to chase after him to hit him.

As Percy ran away from an angry, but blushing Thalia, the pair of siblings looked on with different expressions of astonishment. It seemed incredible to them how just a few minutes ago they were in a somber mood, but right now they were having fun like the children and teenagers they appeared to be.

A nostalgic smile graced Jessica's features.

"They remind me of us," she said, as she watched Thalia jump on Percy in an attempt to hang him, "We used to fight the same way when we were kids."

"Back then, it was Tommy who always used to pick on you," said Alan, sharing the same smile.

Jessica looked at the floor sadly. Alan, noticing that, put a comforting hand on hers.

"He'll be fine," he said, "Tommy has always been the strongest of the three of us. Remember those times when he would come home late from work because he was working overtime? He always came back with a stupid grin on his face. This time will be no different."

His words seemed to have the desired effect, as a smile stretched Jessica's lips.

"Yes, you're right. I have to believe in that."

She took one last look at the group of kids and didn't know how to react when she saw Thalia being spanked by Percy as she apologized.

That group of kids were weird.

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AN: sorry for not posting this weekend, I was pretty sick so I wasn't on the mood to write anything.