"When. Did. You. Do. It?"
Percy sighed, "it came naturally to me. I could always tell the difference between mana and my natural powers. It's because of my scenting powers."
Lie Successful!
"Great, just great," Thalia sighed and lowered her head, "just another reason you should be the prophecy kid instead of me."
"Come on Thalia don't say that. Remember what I said, power isn't everything."
"Yeah well you can say that, but what difference does it make? If I can't get stronger....what good am I?"
Thalia looked depressed beyond belief. Percy got up and pressed a hand on her shoulder, "remember what I said? I will always be there to help you sparky. I mean it."
The daughter of Zeus shook her head, "yeah sure. But you can't always be there Percy, I need to stand up for myself."
Percy smiled, "then let me help you."
"How?"
Percy sat down right in front of her and took Thalia's hand into his own, "okay this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to guide you through this. I'll use my mana scening abilities to help you separate the two. And I promise, I won't leave you until we got this down."
Thalia looked saddened, "you really think this would work?"
Percy smiled, "trust me."
Thalia sighed, "Gods your happiness is infectious," she shook her head and became focused, "okay. Let's do this."
Percy nodded, "right. Close your eyes and imagine your core." Thalia did so and Percy could feel her mana core being accessed, "now pull the mana out, but remember, don't use anger, anger takes the control out of your hands."
"Then what do I use?"
"Use will power," Percy said, "that's how Nico did it. He wanted to catch up to his sister and that drive pushed him forward."
Thalia nodded and started to concentrate again. She closed her eyes and began to focus again. Percy felt her connect with her mana core again and pull the mana out. It was going smoothly, Thalia was pulling out the mana slowly, and she was in control. But just then it suddenly slipped out of her control and exploded outwards.
"Percy look out!" Thalia shouted as a blast of lightning exploded out of her body smashing into Percy's chest sending him flying across the air.
Defence— 296,171,000
Percy groaned as he picked himself up. His chest tingled with the after effects of the lightning attack and a big hole was burnt into his shirt. Percy looked at the defence lost and saw that Thalia's attack had done 5,000 HP damage.
'Damn, note to self, do not piss off Thalia,' Percy then got up just as the daughter of Zeus arrived with a panicked look on her face.
"Oh my Gods Percy I am so sorry. Are you alright?1 Do I have to bring someone? Please tell me you're okay?!"
Percy smiled, "I'm fine Thalia," he then looked down, "wish I could say that about my shirt."
Thalia blinked as she touched his chest, "you took a direct lightning strike to the chest...and you lived? What the hell are you?"
Percy smiled, "powerful. Now please stop touching me long enough so that I can change."
Thalia blushed and immediately removed her hand. Percy took of his jacket and burst shirt and opened his inventory.
"It's called Marble skin," Percy explained as he threw the burt shirt away taking out a new one, "that spell is the reason I'm alive. It's also what I want to teach you once you got the hang of your mana."
Thalia nodded blankly as she looked to the side with a blush on her face. She quickly snuck a peak at Percy's body as the demigod put on his new shirt, 'damn..... I want that.'
"So, why did you lose control?" Percy asked turning to Thalia only to find her staring at his abdomen with a glazed look, "ah, Thalia?"
The daughter of Zeus blinked and looked at Percy, "ah... what was the question?"
"I asked, why did you lose control? You were doing very well," he then put his jacket on as the two sat down.
"I...well I did like you said. I used willpower. But when I pulled it outwards...I kind of lost my concentration."
Percy nodded, "right, well we have to work on that," Percy then extended his arms causing Thalia to look at them in surprise, "what?"
"You want to do this again?" she asked unbelievingly, "I literally just zapped you with lightning, and you want to go again?"
Percy shrugged, "I barely felt it. And yeah, I do want to go again. Remember my promise, we are only going to leave when you access your mana. So yeah, I'm with you all the way sparky."
Thalia smiled as she held his hands, "thanks. And don't call me sparky."
Percy chuckled, "right. Now close your mind, and focus." Thalia did so and slowly Percy could feel her mana being pulled out. It was being jerked up and down, it felt like Thalia was raging a war inside herself.
Percy could smell the scent of ozone fill the air, 'I think she's going to blow again.' Percy was just about to tell her to stop when suddenly Thalia squeezed his hands tightly. Percy could feel the doubt rolling off her, so instead of telling her to stop, he pressed back.
Suddenly the war in her mind stopped, Percy felt her mana being pulled out smoothly. There wasn't a trace of lightning as Thalia brought out her mana and expelled it outwards.
Thalia opened her eyes, "did I do it?"
Percy nodded, "yeah. You did it."
"Thank the Gods," Thalia's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fainted. Her body fell forward onto Percy as the demigod caught her.
'Damn, it must have taken more out of her than I thought,' Percy realised. He decided then not to disturb her, after all she did deserve it.
One hour later;
Percy rested next to the Fist of Zeus with Thalia's head on his lap and a book on hand. This one was different from all the others, this one was Argo's personal journal. So far Percy couldn't make head or tails of it. Argo had written the book in several different languages. Percy could understand the parts written Ancient Greek, but that was it. Everything else was unrecognizable.
'Maybe I should give this to Annabeth to translate,' Percy decided as he put the away, just then Thalia started to stir.
The daughter of Zeus got up and rubbed her eyes, "how long was I out?"
"An hour," Percy replied getting up before helping Thalia as well.
"An hour? Why didn't you just put me in my cabin?!" Thalia asked surprised.
Percy shrugged, "you can't enter another cabin without the permission of one of the cabin's members."
Thalia sighed, "I see. Sorry about this, for future use, I hereby give you permission to enter my cabin."
Percy smiled, "thanks."
Thalia then blinked, "wait...did you have me on your lap the entire time?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, couldn't have you sleep on the ground could I?"
Thalai blushed in embarrassment, "r-right. So...I ah, I did it."
"Right, let's test it out," Percy said. Thalia nodded and began to feel for her mana. She latched onto it and pulled it out. Percy could feel her mana pout out of her body and mix with the air around her. Percy smiled, "I think you just got a new power."
Thalia blinked, "what do you mean?"
"Try controlling the air around us," Percy said.
Thalia looked confused but did as he said. She poured mana outwards and then tried to control the wind. Suddenly big blast of wind knocked both of them off their feet. Thalia fell on top of Percy who groaned at the surprising gust of wind.
"Well, that was surprising. You definitely are stronger than Timmy at this," Percy said as he looked up to see Thalia just a few inches above him. Their faces were so close Percy could feel her breath on his skin. She smelled like pine trees, her hair fell down tickling Percy's face. He couldn't help but stare into those electric blue eyes and soon found himself lost in them.
The moment lasted for a minute before Percy snapped out of it, "ah....so you can control the wind."
Thalia nodded, "right." she got off him and helped Percy up, "so, how did I do that?"
Percy patted the dirt of his jacket, "well mana you see works with everything. Think of it like glue, you apply it on some substance, you can control it. Now that isn't always the case, you can't just simply stick your mana at everything and expect it to work. For instance if I put mana into my arms and focus on creating earthquakes, I can create literal earthquakes. You on the other hand are the daughter of Zeus, meaning you can control lighting, and as we see now, wind."
Thalia nodded taking all this information in. "So, this is it? This is why you wanted me to unlock my mana? To unlock more of my godly powers?"
Percy shrugged, "partly yes, partly no. I didn't actually know that you could control the wind, I never really thought of it. But it is a welcome bonus. But I did want you to unlock it so that I could teach you the different spells I know."
"You mean like that Rock skin spell of yours?"
Percy nodded, "precisely," he then opened his inventory and pulled out a scroll and gave it to Thalia, "I have written down the entire spell in this scroll. It have clear instructions and tips on how to do it. I would try and help you, but I think it would be better if you tried to learn it on your own. After all you still need to get the hang of controlling your mana, and that's something I can't teach you."
Thalia nodded and took the scroll putting it inside her jacket pocket, "thanks for this. And sorry about...you know knocking you over."
"Really? I thought you would be more sorry about hitting me with lighting."
Thalia grumbled, "you are the one who wanted to sit next to me and hold hands."
Percy laughed, "fair enough. Oh, and I am curious, how did you manage to control your mana in the end?"
Thalia blushed, "that's none of your business."
Percy shrugged, "okay....want to get dinner?" Thalia nodded and the two began walking out of the Forest.
"You did great today," Percy began, "its going to take Nico and Bianca longer to get it, after all they just discovered how to use their godly powers. Hopefully by then I can teach you a lot more."
Thalia nodded, "right.....hey Percy can I ask you a personal question?"
Percy nodded, "shoot."
"How is.... How is your relationship with your dad?" Thalia asked, "I man do you guys talk?"
Percy wondered for a while, "well, only when we need to. I talked to him two days ago, and before that I talked to him while on my quest. So...I think we get along pretty okay. But that's mostly because we are so alike. He knows not to interfere too much and I know he may not always have time for me."
Thalia sighed, "yeah, that's what I was afraid off."
"What happened? Zeus giving you trouble?" Percy asked with a smile.
"No....yes. He's... he tried to reach out to me a couple of days ago. Wanted to set things right. God damn bastard."
Percy chuckled, "I'm surprised he let you get away with that. Last time I insulted him the sky rumbled with thunder for hours."
"Yeah well I'm his daughter, I can call him whatever I want."
"Right, so Zeus wanted to talk. What happened?"
"I didn't want to talk to him. Bastard ruined my mom's life, than mine. And he thinks all he has to do in walk in give a few tickets and suddenly expect everything to be alright again."
"Thalia.... Having a God for a dad is tough. Sometimes you want to kick his ass, but you know you can't because....well he's a God. But they do have their own way of showing that they care, at least of their own kids. You see I noticed that the Gods love their kids, they hate everyone else, but they love their kids. So.. no, you don't have to forgive him. I don't expect you too, no one does. But you gotta understand that he's different than us. The Gods don't' see emotions the same way human do. Some, Like Hermes and Artemis, are level headed. But other...well mostly the Elder Gods are kind of crazy. Heck my dad is bipolar as fuck, Hades is paranoid and holds a grudge, and your dad is man whore."
The sky roared out with thunder as Percy pointed up, "he also apparently get's his feelings hurt really easily."
Thalia chuckled, "yeah I guess you're right. Sigh, I kinda regret not going with him now."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "going with him? Going where?"
"Oh right. Remember I told you he gave me tickets?" Percy nodded, "well they were for this band I like, Green Day. And he wanted to spend that time together. I told him to screw himself, but I kind of kept the tickets."
"I don't' see what's wrong," Percy said, "just go by yourself, or take someone with you."
"I would, but they are for tonight," Thalia said pulling out two blue passed out of her back pocket and handing them to Percy.
Percy looked at the tickets in surprise, "the concert starts in half an hour. And these are platinum! They would get you back stage! Plus this gets you into the after party!"
Thalia sighed, "yeah, I know. I was excited too, but then I realised I hid to go with Zeus and well.... You know."
"Well we can't just waste them!" Percy said, "these things look super exclusive! Like the kind only movie stars get!"
Thalia rolled her eyes, "yeah, I know. But it's not like we can just go there. Like you said the concert is in half an hour."
"Yeah, but the concert is in New York. We can easily make it."
"Percy it takes longer than half an hour to reach New York."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "woman I once ran across the country to Las Vegas in half an hour. Believe me, I can be in New York in minutes."
Thalia's eyes widened in surprise, "you mean I can still make it."
Percy narrowed his eyes, "you mean we can make it. Right?"
Thalia looked surprised, "you want to come with?"
Percy nodded, "yup. It's either that or you go with Zeus. So which is it?"
Thalia thought about it for a few seconds, "what about food?"
"I have a drouffe stored up, we won't go hungry any time soon."
Thalia nodded, "alright, let's do it."
"Great, hold on," Percy opened his inventory and put the tickets inside. He then grabbed Thalia and lifted her bridal style.
"What are you doing!?" Thalia asked with a blush growing on her face.
"I'm putting you in my inventory. What? You thought I was going to carry all the way to New York? Oh, and you might want to close your eyes, it helps with the transition."
Thalia immediately closed her eyes and Percy put her inside. He then took out his goggles and put them on activating his helmet.
The son of Poseidon then took off at a comfortable speed and ran towards the exit passing the barrier in a gust of wind. Percy reached the highway and zoomed past vehicles before quickly spotting New York in the horizon.
Percy reached the city and quickly ran towards Midtown. The concert was held at Madison Square Garden, and obviously it was crowded as hell. The moment Percy arrived he saw that the entire hall was surrounded by people. Most were trying to get in, somewhere trying to buy tickets of others, and a few were caught sneaking in.
