Finally, the last monster lay dead on the floor; well, technically the mound of yellow dust now lay on the floor in place of the recently dead monster. Thalia Grace slung her silver bow over her back, to the place where it resided when it was not being used to whoop monster ass. The monsters had been a tough challenge for herself, and a couple of her fellow Hunter's of Artemis. Artemis had been the only one who had known of the ancient monsters. According to their patron goddess, they had escaped from the Doors Of Death, while they were still standing wide open. Silently, she thanked Athena and Poseidon for creating Percy and Annabeth, for they were the ones who had closed the gates. After realizing what she had just thanked the god and goddess for, Thalia shuddered inwardly. At least no more of the foul fir-breathing things could flounce through the gates of hell and into the mortal world.

Thalia bent down, retrieving the arrows that had once stuck into the now-vaporized monsters; it was a force of habit. Even though Artemis, because she feared for their safety, had given all of her maidservant's auto-filling sheaths of arrows Thalia still retrieved her arrows when it was safe. Retrieving her arrows always felt like something Annabeth would do if she were an archer; something smart.

Sitting down on a discarded, fallen log, Thalia assessed the damage done by the monsters. It's big, stupid claws had slashed through the leg of her silvery camo pants, her brand new combat boots had a tear by her ankle, her silvery jacket (which she had just replaced) was torn in three places, and her white shirt had blood all over it. Fantastic. She needed all new clothes, except for the shirt. She could wash the blood out; sadly, she was very experienced in that field. The monster had left a bloody gash on her leg, which she was not ready to deal with. One of her fellow Hunters Olivia, daughter of Athena, sat down next to her. They were both silent. Olivia had a similar gash on her arm. Quickly, but not too quickly, Thalia reached into her silver bag and pulled out a zip-lock baggie of what appeared to be crushed cookies. The two girls knew better; they knew it was ambrosia, food of the gods. Thalia offered the ambrosia to the smaller girl beside her, secretly glad to get rid of it.

"No, Thalia, I can't take the last of your ambrosia. I'm okay, really!" Olivia smiled at Thalia, but when she attempted to hand the baggie back there was no denying the wince that the movement had caused.

"Seriously, Olivia, just eat it. I don't want it. If you don't eat it I'm leaving it here for the birds or something." Thalia gave Olivia a glare that would have made even Nico DiAngelo weak in the knees. Seeing as he was the son of Hades, that was quite a feat. Slowly, and quietly, Olivia ate the ambrosia. She would never share it with anybody, but to Olivia it tasted like Maltesers. They were a British candy that she used to share with her fully biological sister before the day she died; before the day Olivia joined the Hunters.

Thalia shoved herself off of the log and stalked away. Later, she would apologize to the younger girl. Olivia would kindly smile at Thalia and assure her that it was okay, and she understood. She understood a lot more than Thalia knew, but Olivia did not know everything. She didn't know Thalia's biggest secret; she didn't know Thalia still had some inkling of feelings for Luke Castellan. Olivia didn't know that Thalia hadn't eaten Ambrosia for almost a month because it hurt too much, because to her it tasted like Luke's favorite candy. Whenever the Ambrosia entered Thalia's mouth it exploded into vivid memories of Luke, Annabeth, and herself all huddled around the campfire. The twelve-year-old Thalia and the fourteen-year-old Luke would steal candy, and share it with the seven-year-old Annabeth, not telling her it was stolen. When those memories came flooding into her mind she could only think of Luke. She could only remind herself that Luke had betrayed everyone she loved, including herself. And now he was dead. And she still loved him.