When she was only seven years old, she woke up in the body of a dead friend one night. Of course, back then she had no clue who the older girl was to even consider her a friend. She had to be at least a pre-teen, her uneven and spiked hair the shade of pure black. She was tall, with strong features, with blue eyes that were that rare color of lightning you see during raging thunderstorms.

She reminded her of those heroines that her mother would tell her of in her stories. In her black punk attire, she glared defiantly at the beasts chasing them, as if daring them to hurt her companions.

As the lightning flashes ahead of them, she can see the pale oval of her face, so young, so beautiful, so rebellious. So alive.

Her name was Thalia.

The weather flapped on them, as if it were letting off someone else's anger. The earth shook beneath her feet, causing her to loose her footing multiple times. Shadows were moving quickly upon them, but once they passed through the threshold to the camp, they would be safe.

With the adrenaline pumping through her, it was the adventure she wanted, the heat, but she kept those thoughts inside as she grasped onto a little girl's hand.

The hills were slippery, thanks to the rain that poured down viciously. Combine that and the thundering steps of the earth-shaking monsters, and the group of four were running down clumsily like drunkards.

Ahead of her, a blond boy was gaining speed to a goat-legged kid, his bronze weapon giving off light in the never ending darkness. He was panting as heavily as the rest as he smacked away at the foliage that obscured their path.

She gave the small blonde a reassuring squeeze, her throat tight with emotion she refused to let out. "Almost there, Annabeth," she muttered urgently. She swallowed thickly. "Almost there...just a little more to go..."

Suddenly, the goat-like boy cried out in relief. "There it is!" he announced. "Were almost at Camp!"

Thalia kept surging forward, not letting her get ahead of herself. She knew this was going to end well.

Almost immediately after, a roar ripped through the air. It was followed by the sound of something large being uprooted, and all of a sudden she found a tree hurtling towards them. She sucked in breath, and the blond boy hollered, "Look out!"

She threw the little girl—Annabeth?—to the ground with her, and the blond boy ducked, too. But the other, who was still distracted by the fact they were so close to a safe haven, realized the warning said a little too late. The tree slammed into him, bringing out a scream from him as his legs were pinned under the trunk.

Annabeth ripped herself out of the tight grip and flung herself to the tree, pulling uselessly at the branches. "Grover!" she wailed. "Luke, help him!"

Luke pushed himself off the ground and stood beside the immobilized boy. "Grover, are you okay?"

Grover tugged at his legs and clawed at the ground, trying to pry his way out. "My leg!" he said, frantic. "It's stuck!"

Thalia still stood in the place where Annabeth left her, rooted to the spot. Her body was tense, ready for action that was sure to come. In the distance, she could make out the faint outlines lumbering towards them at a rapid pace. Another howl bounced off the trees, which finally caused her to spring into action. Grasping onto whatever little courage she could find, she faced her friends. "Keep going; I'll hold them off."

"No, Thalia," Luke protested immediately. He limped over to her with Grover hanging off his shoulder. "They'll kill you."

In response, she slung off her bag and tossed it to him. Without taking her eyes off of the duo of monsters, she moved to stand protectively in front of the group. "Go, Luke!" she ordered. "Go! I'll be right behind you!"

Without any other arguments, she unsheathed her dagger and charged bravely forward. As she glanced behind her one last time, Annabeth was unmoving from her place as the other two started running. "Annabeth, come on!" she heard vaguely.

The monsters pushed away the topmost branches with more ease than Luke had earlier. It amazed and annoyed her that something so huge could do such simple acts with even more facility than she could. "Stay back!" Thalia screamed as she backed away from them. She whimpered the smallest bit as she stumbled over a fallen tree branch, but instantly got back up. She glared up at them, taunting them silently. She slashed her knife forward as one of the giants tried to swat at her.

"Thalia, come one!" Luke pleaded as she twirled away from them. Before she could even go three steps, she felt something a enclose around the collar of her leather jacket. She felt the scream that had been lodged in her throat let loose as she soared through the air in the opposite direction she wanted to go gracelessly. She could see the fading figures of Luke and Grover pulling Annabeth back as she screamed in unison with her. "NO! THALIA!"

She was surprised when only a gasp escaped her when she flung into the ground. Her teeth jarred together and she scrunched up her face, tight with pain. Of course, her head had to slam right up against a rock. Her eyes snapped open as she heard the thunder, her breath coming in short, barely audible pants.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but instead, her last breath came out in a puff of mist. She released the tension from her body as her head lolled uselessly to the side, causing the single tear to run down her dirtied face, leaving a skinny path down her cheek.

The ground beneath her still body started to inch up her clothing. The grass stretched up and latched itself to her body similar to a magnet, little flowers wounding themselves through the chains and band buttons of her jacket. Thin, though rapidly growing roots twined around the locks of her unruly hair and her fingers. The colorful underbrush completely enveloped her until her body was just a mere mound sticking out of the earth. Then the roots that had been wrapped around her body suddenly shot up into the sky, higher, higher still, until it seemed it could touch the heavens. The needles of the growing pine bursted to life like fireworks.

Like Thalia, Pallas could still smell the ozone thick in the air, feel the raindrops pelting her skin—bark? It was only darkness, a nightmare black all around. She could still hear the murderous roars of the monsters as power emitted from Thalia, and barely make out the yell from one of the remaining three: "C'mon! Let's go!"

When she woke that night, somewhere near midnight, she thinks she woke up the whole apartment with her screams of complete, utter anguish. Her mother came in within seconds to comfort her, and every time she grazed her fingers over her daughter's scalp, the very place Thalia had hit her head, she would wince, imaging the pain stabbing once again.

The difference between reality and the dream was that the sun was up, there were no more winds knocking down everything, and Pallas was still breathing and human. And Thalia was gone.