Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. If I did, I'd be famous! :]
As soon as she woke up, Thalia crouched down low. She tensed up all her muscles so she could spring up from her resting spot, ready to fight.
From her spot she could see the monster clearly. The evening moon shone a beam on a head filled with thick wriggling worms. Thalia knew they weren't worms though. They were vipers, she guessed. However she didn't want to get too close to find out.
Creeping around the edges of the bush in front of her, she carefully removed one of her hunting knives from its sheaf. Her Lady, Artemis, had given two special knives to her in commemoration of her "birthday." These special knives allowed Thalia to conduct electricity within them, much like her spear. Thalia adored her knives. They had a special silver leather handle and the blade was double sided: One side was serrated and the other was so fine, deadly and sharp it could slice through the thinnest silk fabric.
She quickly charged one knife with electricity, feeling the flow leave her fingers to go to the tip of the sharp blade. The blade glowed a brilliant blue hue, slightly crackling.
Whilst waiting for the blade to charge to its maximum power, she observed the creature.
She was an old wrinkly thing with large scaly rooster feet, bat wings and a pair of huge bronze boar tusks protruding from the corners of her mouth. Thalia recognised what type of monster it was easily. She had remembered it from old picture books her school had shown her. The monster was a gorgon, a loud, noisy screeching gorgon.
The gorgon turned around slowly to face Thalia's direction. This was Thalia's cue, the right moment for her to strike.
Throwing her blade with precision, Thalia's aim was true, showing the precise aim of a Hunter. With a soft thunk the blade sliced cleanly through the middle of the gorgon's chest.
The gorgon didn't even blink. It didn't seem to notice the blade or the fierce jolt of electricity that was let out upon impact. Instead, she gave a wide toothy grin, flashing her rotting teeth. Then with ease she wrenched the blade out of her flesh with a horrible squelching sound.
Thalia reacted upon instinct. Because the gorgon seemed completely fine after Thalia's meant to be killing shot, she knew Thalia's exact position. Thalia quickly pulled her Mace canister out of her belt and lunged towards the gorgon. She quickly tapped her bracelet Aegis and watched as it expanded ever so slowly. Hopefully her shield would distract the monster.
Luckily, it did. Half way through the lunge, the gorgon froze at the sight of her sister's head on the bronze shield. Even though it was an engraving on an inanimate object, Medusa's face had that kind of effect on people and monsters alike.
Taking advantage of the stunned gorgon, Thalia pulled Aegis away and using the momentum plunged her now expanded Mace canister spear through the gorgon's forehead. She twisted her spear and sent shocks of electricity through the monster.
With a final chicken like screech, the gorgon seemed to grow fatter. Her wrinkly skin stretched out and grew bubbly. She rose up into the air for a few brief moments before letting out a scream as she exploded in to golden dust, leaving behind a few pieces of grubby clothing.
Thalia quickly stomped on the thick dust, kicking it in all directions far apart from each other so to stop the monster from forming back together again. Monsters forming back together again was another big problem. That had started happening a little while after Percy disappeared.
The cool evening breeze swept through the woods, picking up all the left over dust and blowing it away from her. She sighed in relief.
Picking up her spear, she shrunk it back down to its canister form. She then retrieved her knife which was covered in green gloop. Urgh... She then closed Aegis.
As she closed her shield, the moonlight reflected on her shield and showed something shiny near her feet. It was a badge. She bent down to pick it up. Words were flashing across the middle. It read, "Welcome to Bargain Mart. I'm STHENO."
"Strange," she mumbled, noting down the name. "Well, time to move on." She let out a long yawn before continuing to walk to the middle of the forest.
╰ ╮¤°.¸¸.·´¯`»® ®«´¯`·.¸¸.°¤╰ ╮
Half an hour later, Thalia found herself in a clearing carefully shrouded in Mist. To mortals the clearing looked empty, but to Thalia she could see shimmery silver tents and a variety of animals seeking the protection of the Hunters.
Home.
She allowed herself a small smile at the prospect of sleeping in her own tent and sleeping bag for the first time in two weeks. Buh-bye leaf litter and bugs!
The camp was quiet. The animals were all peaceful, snoozing away. A few wolves looked at her hungrily and as she shot them a glare, they turned away.
Thalia decided to tiptoe into the camp to her tent since it was already late. As she snuck in, she accidentally stepped on a thin branch which was quite unnoticeable to her before. The branch broke with a loud crack.
She groaned inwardly as she felt something sharp and cold get pressed on the nape of her neck. She quickly ducked down and regretted it immediately, as the point of what she suspected was a knife scraped a thin piece of skin off. There was no time to worry about that though. She swung her right leg in a clockwise direction, knocking down her assailant successfully as she turned around. Her attacker gave a startled yelp and Thalia groaned again in annoyance.
Soon there was a large crowd of girls surrounding her, pointing their bows directly at her chest.
Thalia spat her hair out of her mouth and stood up slowly, spinning around in a circle and taking in each of the girls. They wore silver parkas with matching silver combat boots. As soon as the girls saw her face, they lowered their weapons and gave a loud squeal, rushing to hug her.
She laughed as her sisters greeted her.
"Oh, Thalia, we thought you were dead too!" Phoebe told her.
Thalia felt confused. "Why would you think that?" She asked her friend.
The other girls stared down at their feet, shuffling nervously around their lieutenant.
Phoebe bit her lip. "After you left, Artemis..."
"Yes?" Thalia asked again, telling her to continue.
"Artemis disappeared."
A/N: Yes! Thalia fought off the monster and is now at her camp, the one and only place she feels she belongs!
Next time...
"What do you mean we have to go to that place again?" Jasmine, a blonde haired Hunter asked with disgust.
Thalia sighed. "We have to go there Jas. Camp Half-Blood is our only hope."
~ SKYE & GWEN. :]