The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1)(101)

“I knew we should’ve burned down his mansion,” she said. “That man’s a menace. But we were so intent on following Lycaon—Well, I’m glad you got away. So Hera’s been … what, hiding you all these years?”

“I don’t know.” Jason brought out the photo from his pocket. “She left me just enough memory to recognize your face.”

Thalia looked at the picture, and her expression softened. “I’d forgotten about that. I left it in Cabin One, didn’t I?”

Jason nodded. “I think Hera wanted for us to meet. When we landed here, at this cave … I had a feeling it was important. Like I knew you were close by. Is that crazy?”

“Nah,” Leo assured him. “We were absolutely destined to meet your hot sister.”

Thalia ignored him. Probably she just didn’t want to let on how much Leo impressed her.

“Jason,” she said, “when you’re dealing with the gods, nothing is too crazy. But you can’t trust Hera, especially since we’re children of Zeus. She hates all children of Zeus.”

“But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?”

The color drained from Thalia’s face. “Oh, gods. Mother wouldn’t have … You don’t remember—No, of course you don’t.”

“What?” Jason asked.

Thalia’s features seemed to grow older in the firelight, like her immortality wasn’t working so well. “Jason … I’m not sure how to say this. Our mom wasn’t exactly stable. She caught Zeus’s eye because she was a television actress, and she was beautiful, but she didn’t handle the fame well. She drank, pulled stupid stunts. She was always in the tabloids. She could never get enough attention. Even before you were born, she and I argued all the time. She … she knew Dad was Zeus, and I think that was too much for her to take. It was like the ultimate achievement for her to attract the lord of the sky, and she couldn’t accept it when he left. The thing about the gods… well, they don’t hang around.”

Leo remembered his own mom, the way she’d assured him over and over that his dad would be back someday. But she’d never acted mad about it. She didn’t seem to want Hephaestus for herself—only so Leo could know his father. She’d dealt with working a dead-end job, living in a tiny apartment, never having enough money—and she’d seemed fine with it. As long as she had Leo, she always said, life would be okay.

He watched Jason’s face—looking more and more devastated as Thalia described their mom—and for once, Leo didn’t feel jealous of his friend. Leo might have lost his mom. He might have had some hard times. But at least he remembered her. He found himself tapping out a Morse code message on his knee: Love you. He felt bad for Jason, not having memories like that—not having anything to fall back on.

“So …” Jason didn’t seem able to finish the question.

“Jason, you got friends,” Leo told him. “Now you got a sister. You’re not alone.”

Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it.

“When I was about seven,” she said, “Zeus started visiting Mom again. I think he felt bad about wrecking her life, and he seemed—different somehow. A little older and sterner, more fatherly toward me. For a while, Mom improved. She loved having Zeus around, bringing her presents, causing the sky to rumble. She always wanted more attention. That’s the year you were born. Mom … well, I never got along with her, but you gave me a reason to hang around. You were so cute.

And I didn’t trust Mom to look after you. Of course, Zeus eventually stopped coming by again. He probably couldn’t stand Mom’s demands anymore, always pestering him to let her visit Olympus, or to make her immortal or eternally beautiful. When he left for good, Mom got more and more unstable. That was about the time the monsters started attacking me. Mom blamed Hera. She claimed the goddess was coming after you too—that Hera had barely tolerated my birth, but two demigod children from the same family was too big an insult. Mom even said she hadn’t wanted to name you Jason, but Zeus insisted, as a way to appease Hera because the goddess liked that name. I didn’t know what to believe.”

Leo fiddled with his copper wires. He felt like an intruder. He shouldn’t be listening to this, but it also made him feel like he was getting to know Jason for the first time—like maybe being here now made up for those four months at Wilderness School, when Leo had just imagined they’d had a friendship.

“How did you guys get separated?” he asked.

Thalia squeezed her brother’s hand. “If I’d known you were alive … gods, things would’ve been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north, toward the wine country, to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never took us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous. I was holding your hand, walking you toward this big building in the middle of the park, and …” She took a shaky breath. “Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn’t want to leave you alone with her, but it was only for a few minutes. When I came back … Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said—she said you were gone. She said Hera claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn’t know what she’d done. I was afraid she’d completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you’d just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. For the next few days I was hysterical. I don’t remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we fought. She told me I’d betrayed her, that I should support her, like she was the only one who mattered. Finally I couldn’t stand it. Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was just too painful.”