Disclaimer - I don't own PJO and I never will
*THIS HAS BEEN EDITED*
Thalia POV
The hunt had to stop in Wyoming because Lady Artemis was summoned to an emergency meeting on Olympus. Again. Which was really a huge inconvenience, seeing as how we were in the middle of hunting the Chimera of all things. You know, the big ugly fire breathing Chihuahua? And it was just starting to get interesting. We had finally pissed it off to the point of leaving that stupid Chihuahua form and turning into an actual beast. But then the stupid gods had to go and get in the way of our hunt. So that sucks.
What's even worse is that Lady Artemis didn't think we were strong enough to take it on by ourselves! Like, yeah freaking right. We were the best hunting force in the history of mankind. Plus, Percy had killed this thing on his first quest – and he's a boy. Also, she hadn't told us what the meeting was about, not even me, which hurt a little seeing as I was her lieutenant and all. More alarming was the fact that usually milady didn't keep anything from us, but by the look on her face when she left, whatever this meeting was about wasn't a good thing. She had left a little over an hour ago, and she was still up there. I was actually beginning to worry a little bit, because a meeting had not taken this long since before Olympus was closed, and I had no idea what could possibly be important enough to have Lady Artemis stop such a fun – sorry, I mean dangerous – hunt. And I know she's a great powerful goddess, but we're family, so we're allowed to worry about her.
At the moment though, I was wandering through the woods around camp, pondering what to do if milady didn't return soon. Honestly, I'd probably just order the girls to move out so we could continue our hunt. I mean come on, what's the worst that could happen? As I was walking, I was trying to take the time to admire the forest. Ever since I had obtained Lady Artemis' blessing, I had loved being in forests even more than I already did. I was trying to take in the beauty around me, but I couldn't shake this strange sense of foreboding that I was feeling. I was hoping nothing had gone wrong at the meeting and that it was just my dad being his usual dramatic self, but I wasn't so sure.
Suddenly, the bushes to my left rustled and out jumped one of my sisters, Jessie. When she saw me she let out a sigh of relief. "Lady Artemis wants to see you," she said. I opened my mouth to reply, but she cut me off before I could get a word out. "She says its urgent." I shut my mouth and gave her a quick nod of thanks before immediately setting off at a dead sprint towards milady's tent. It wasn't long before I reached the camp and after weaving my way to the center, I found myself standing outside Lady Artemis' tent. I knocked quickly on the wooden post next to the opening and soon heard Lady Artemis yell, "Come in!"
When I entered the tent, I saw Lady Artemis sitting on her bed with her normal fierce, yet somehow neutral expression. When she noticed me she beckoned me over to her, and I sat down on the rugs in front of her. "Thalia," milady said, "I'm going to be very blunt with you okay?" I silently nodded, beginning to wonder what this was about. Maybe she found out about those cookies I stole. Or even worse, what if she found out about that time when we stopped in Oregon and I – "Perseus and Annabeth have fallen into Tartarus." Excuse me? "They what?", I asked. Because surely she couldn't have said what I thought she just said. They couldn't possibly be that stupid and unlucky. There isn't even an opening to Tartarus that I know of. There's absolutely no way that's true. I refuse to believe it. But then, she told me how. And the thing was – I could picture it happening. It's so like Annabeth to have a plan that freaking brilliant, although I'm surprised she didn't see the web. And it's so like that stupid Kelp Head to agree to jump into the pits of hell (kind of dangerous you idiot) to keep her safe. Him and his stupid loyalty. And their stupid love – ughh – I told them it would get them killed one day. Killed.As in dead. Percy and Annabeth. Gone. Oh my gods my two best friends were dead. In that moment, my world stopped. I could faintly hear Lady Artemis trying to console me, but all I could focus on were the beats of my heart.
Percy and Annabeth, the two people closest to me, had fallen into Tartarus.
Thump.
Tartarus, the deepest pit of hell on the planet.
Thump.
Percy and Annabeth.
Thump.
Tartarus.
Thump.
They were gone.
Thump.
Gone.
"–alia. Thalia. Thalia listen to me." It took me a while, but when I finally stopped hyperventilating I noticed that Lady Artemis was shaking me. "What?", I snapped, letting my anger overwhelm me. "What could possibly be so important that you can't allow me to grieve for my own family?" I expected her to tell me the hunt needed to pack up and move on, but what she said surprised me almost as much as before.
"They aren't dead, Thalia."
"What do you mean they aren't dead? They're in hell, in case you weren't aware." I could hardly even believe I just took that kind of tone with milady, but I didn't have time to reflect on that. There were much more pressing matters at hand.
"Percy and Annabeth are alive, Thalia. I don't know how anyone could survive that fall, but somehow they did. And they're going to try to make it out of the doors of Death."
I looked up at her, realization slowing dawning on me. They were alive. There was hope – not much of it, but it was there. And where there was hope, the hunt was there. We were going to meet them at those doors…
Death be damned.
A/N - Let me know what you guys thought about this by leaving a review. They really help motivate me to continue writing. Thanks!
-runwild14
