Chapter One

Thalia POV

"Thalia, I don't see why not!" Annabeth said, trying to convince me to come back to Camp.

"I'm a Huntress now, Annabeth."

"Yes. And why did you become a Huntress in the first place? So you wouldn't be the child of the prophecy. The war is over now; there isn't any prophecy concerning you or Percy!"

"I can't just ditch them! Not now! I'm their lieutenant. And they're my family now. At least, they're as close to family as I can get," I told her in an attempt to reason with the stubborn girl.

"That's not true! We're your family! Percy, Grover, Nico, Juniper, and I!"

"Annabeth-"

"Thalia!" Phoebe called, "we're leaving now! Hurry up!"

"I…I gotta go. I'll see you later." I turned away and jogged to where the Huntresses remaining were clustered. I never looked back. I didn't want the look on Annabeth's face to change my mind.

"Huntresses! Pack up your things! You will be at Camp for the next two weeks!" Artemis shouted, her voice echoing over our campsite.

Camp? For the next two weeks?

"No whining!" she said before anyone had a chance to.

I hadn't seen anyone in four years. Four years. They all probably looked completely different now. And Annabeth and Percy…they would be two years older than me. And Grover and Juniper…well, I really have no idea what they'll look like. How do satyrs and nymphs age?

"When are we leaving, my lady?" I asked her.

"As soon as my brother gets here," she told me with a hint of disgust in her voice. "That should be in fifteen minutes."

I nodded, but in my head I was groaning. Another ride in Apollo's sun chariot? Kill me now. I hated heights as it is, but Apollo's driving made it that much worse. Let alone when he made me drive.

As I headed out of the moon goddess' tent I heard her mutter, "Zeus never gives us any warnings about these meetings."

As I packed up my clothes, all I could think about was the last time I had seen Annabeth. I hope she won't be mad at me…I don't really think we were on the best of terms when we parted.

All I really remember about it was how she was trying to convince me to stay at Camp; there was no need to be a Huntress anymore and that she, Percy, Grover, Juniper, and some other person were my family.

I couldn't help but think that maybe there was no reason to be a Huntress now. Maybe I-

No. I quickly shook that thought out of my head. The Huntresses have always been kind to you, Thalia. They've always been the family you never had. Everything you need is right here. You can't just leave them after everything they've done for you.

"Almost ready, Thalia?" Amelia asked me. I shared a tent with the tall, auburn haired girl. She was a mortal, but if you had to choose a godly parent for her, it would be Hermes. Her hazel eyes were always glinting mischievously.

"Yeah," I answered as I tightly re-braided my black hair. I always wore my hair like this – it was easy to do and it kept my hair out of the way.

I exited my tent with Amelia to see all of the other Hunters had gathered by Artemis with their bags.

"Try not to kill anyone at Camp, okay girls?"

"What about seriously injuring?" Kelly asked, and Artemis smiled. Kelly was a blonde haired girl who had been here even before I joined.

"That's fine," Artemis said, her silver eyes gleaming.

Then, the sun chariot arrived.

We all groaned. Anything concerning the egotistical sun god was never a pleasant experience for the Hunt.

"Hey ladies," Apollo started to say, but was soon cut off by his sister.

"No flirting, no talking, no eye contact, no physical contact, no winking, no kissing, no hugging, and absolutely no dawdling whatsoever. Get my Huntresses straight to Camp."

"Sis, you tell me this every time. I think I should be able to remember it by now." Artemis looked at me, nodding slightly.

"Hi Apollo," I greeted with a smile. It was painful, believe me.

"Hi, Thalia," he replied with a smile of his own. I mentally gagged.

"See! You just talked, flirted, and made eye contact with a Huntress!" Artemis cried. "You have no self-control. At all. Just get out of my sight before I strangle you."

"But you can't-"

"I'll find a way," she assured him.

Apollo nodded and started to turn his head our way and open his mouth when he quickly closed it again and snapped his head back, remembering his sister's rules. He headed towards his sun chariot, which was currently in the form of a bus. Before climbing into it, he turned to look at Artemis once more.

"You really think very highly of me, don't you?" he asked, his voice thick with sarcasm.

"No," she stated flatly, and turned towards us. "Win in Capture the Flag for me."

With that, she took on her immortal form and we all shielded our eyes. "Love you too, sister dearest," Apollo muttered. Once the light faded, Artemis was gone.

"Let's go girls!"

"You aren't supposed to talk to us," one of the Huntresses told Apollo coldly.

"Oh, never mind what I'm not supposed to do!"

"Bye, ladies! Have a nice time at Camp!" Apollo called after us. Of course, we ignored him and trudged towards the Artemis Cabin to unpack our stuff.

"Okay guys, schedule starts tomorrow," I announced when everyone was unpacked. "Do whatever you want today."

Being the Lieutenant of Artemis, I was in charge of making sure that everyone knew where to go, what do, etcetera.

Chaos erupted in the cabin as every member of the Hunt tried to make their way towards the door. "Try not to hurt anyone!" I shouted, trying to make myself heard over all of the noise.

Once everyone had successfully evacuated from the cabin, I decided it was finally time to go see Annabeth. Really, I was dreading it. I didn't know how she'd react to seeing me. And I guess it was kind of bittersweet for me to see her as an eighteen year old. I still remember when she was seven and we were all on the run. Her, me, and Luke…

No. I wasn't going to think about Luke.

I walked up to the Athena Cabin and was about to open the door when the door opened.

"Thalia!" Annabeth cried.

"How did you know I was coming?"

"Chiron told us you guys were coming. I assumed you would come to see me," the daughter of Athena explained.

I sighed. "You know me to well."

"Well, you haven't changed," she said, breaking the silence.

"And you have." We both laughed. Annabeth definitely had changed. She was definitely taller, and her hair, although still in the same old ponytail, looked a little bit longer. "I can't believe you're eighteen now."

"Gods…it feels weird…to be older than you, that is. I remember back when I was seven…you seemed so big to me then." She was avoiding mentioning Luke, too. I guess I wasn't the only one.

"Hey we should do something," she said suddenly.

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know…go to the beach?"

"And who is we?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Who do you think is we?"

"Okay, just making sure you didn't go and befriend barbies while I was gone."

"…Barbies?"

"Aphrodite kids," I explained.

"Well, not all of them are that bad…Silena…"

"Silena was the exception. Now are we going to the beach or what?"

Annabeth laughed, and told me to go get changed and that she would go round everybody up. I obeyed orders, and headed back to my cabin, happy that Annabeth and I were still good friends.

A/N Hey guys! New and improved Chapter One. I will have chapters two, three, and four up as soon as possible! Thanks for reading, please review!