Chapter 64
"And the brothers kept their word——no kids?"
Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo——he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia . . . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault."
Grover hesitated. "Percy, James, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."
He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where we'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters.
She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others.
So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill.
As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
We stared at the pine in the distance.
The story made us feel hollow. A girl Percy's age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters.
So a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"
Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."
"And you found us. Chiron said you thought we both might be something special."
Grover looked as if We'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't . . . Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you guys were——you know——you'd guys never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're guys are probably children of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods/goddesses, like Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"
We got the idea he was reassuring himself more than us.