Thalia's POV

While we were in Apollo's sun chariot, I had a flashback of the day I first arrived at the hunt as its new lieutenant. The very day that Kayla became one of my closest friends.

*Flashback*

Dare I admit it; I was scared, and nervous. It was that day when I, Thalia Grace, felt like crying. Well on the inside, but on the outside I remained that tough, brick wall that I always was. My face showed a mask of happiness, as well as care freeness. I was going to the hunt, officially meet my sisters and tell them that Zoë Nightshade, their former lieutenant was dead, and that I was the new lieutenant. I was positive that they wouldn't like me, definitely not after I had said no to them before. I sighed; this was too much for me … with Nico and everything else. Lady Artemis and I stopped.

"Thalia, we are here. Do not worry; I am sure that the hunters will like you." Lady Artemis said to me reassuringly.

All I could do was nod solemnly at the goddess. We entered the camp and sure enough, every one of the hunters were glaring at me. They all started asking questions regarding my presence, and where Zoë was at the same time. It was obvious that Lady Artemis was distressed; there was no way for her to hide her pain from losing Zoë. Lady Artemis sighed, then looked at one of the hunters … Jennifer. I had met her before, back then when the hunters had attempted to recruit me. At that time, she was one of the newest members of the hunt.

"Jennifer, where is Kayla?" Lady Artemis asked. "I have something very important to announce."

"She is in the bathroom. I will call her and see if she is done. If you do not mind me asking," She said as she smiled at Lady Artemis, and then glared at me, "what is she doing here?" Artemis clearly looked disappointed.

"Jennifer, you will NOT address Thalia in that manner, or I will have to punish you."

"Yes Lady Artemis," Jennifer said as she bowed, then walked away to get Kayla. I swear I could have heard her mutter something along the lines of "stupid Zeus kid" about me but I chose ignored her. Artemis had me sit on a log and all the other huntresses sit on another log across from me. A couple of minutes later, I saw Jennifer walk in with a girl who looked perky, or just really, really happy. She was practically skipping with each step. The girl plopped down on the log next to me with a huge smile on her face.

"Hi, my name is Kayla and I'm a mortal who can see through the mist!" She said, while she bounced up and down on the log. "What's your name and who are you?" She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"I am Thalia, daughter of Zeus," I said as she giggled.

"Ooh! That's so cool!"

I heard Lady Artemis clear her throat behind us, but she looked happy that I was at least getting along with someone.

"Hello girls, I know that you have a lot of questions for me." Lady Artemis said. "I will answer not all, but most of them." She took a deep breath before speaking again. "Zoë, is in peace now, she is with the stars, the stars which she has always love."

Everyone knew what that meant. They all looked sad, those who knew Zoë were crying, while others who weren't that close sill bowed their heads for the hunt's loss.

"Thalia is here because she is now going to take the place of Zoë, and is now the new lieutenant."

Everyone gasped, and started screaming all at once. I could hear the hunters saying "why?" "She will never take her place!" But worst of all "why would you give her another chance? She already said no! For a boy before!" Well the last one was from Jennifer so I just yelled back at her.

"The past is in the past, GET OVER IT!"

Lady Artemis looked at everyone, clearly not amused. She cleared her throat and there was utter silence at the goddess's command. "If any of you have problems or want to ask me about something, my tent is always open." With that said, all of the hunters, walked into Lady Artemis's tent, leaving Kayla and I outside.

I was surprised that Kayla didn't follow the other hunters into the Lady's tent. I was even more surprised when she hugged me tightly.

"I'm glad you're the new lieutenant," she whispered to me. "Although what happened to Zoë is a pity." She let go of me and smiled. "I hope that you could become my new friend," she said as she giggled.

I laughed along with her. "Yeah, I hope so too."

*End of flashback*

Thalia's POV

We said our thanks to Apollo and walked up the Half-Blood hill to get to Camp. Once we got to the top, I saw Annabeth sitting down against my tree, reading a book probably on architecture. Ecstatic to see my best friend, I told the hunters to inform Chiron of our arrival.

"Annabeth!" I yelled as I ran toward the tree.

"Thalia!" She said when she looked up from her book to see me running full speed at her. "Oh my Gods, how long are you staying here at Camp? How are you? I missed you so much!" The words seemed to jumble out of her mouth, which is very rare for a child of Athena. They usually say everything like it's a speech.

We hugged each other, and then finally let go after a couple of minutes. "I see you're excited to see me," I said. "To answer your list of questions, first of all, I don't know how long we're going to stay here at Camp, second of all, I'm fine." I said with a big smile on my face. "Lastly, I've missed you too Annabeth." Without turning around, I could already sense someone running towards us. Well actually, you wouldn't need a hunter's senses to figure out that it was Percy. He was so clumsy! I could hear a bunch of twigs snapping before he reached us.

"Hey wise girl, I was hoping we could go swimming?"

Annabeth pretended to think about it.

"Please?" He added.

I laughed at the two of them, and he finally looked at me blankly before realizing that I was there.

"Oh! Hey Thalia!" Percy said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, Pinecone face, what are you doing here?"

You see, Percy and I got have gotten a lot closer, but we still have our signature fights … well, a lot of them. He's like a brother to me.

"Well the hunt's here," I replied with a 'well duh' tone.

"Ohh," was all Percy said.

Annabeth looked at him, while shaking her head. "You are such a seaweed brain! Why else would Thalia be here?"

"Well, I'm your seaweed brain! How am I supposed to know these things?" He said playfully, and kissed Annabeth full on the lips.

"Okay lovebirds, I'm going to go now." I said.

"No!" Percy yelled.

"And why not?" I asked.

Percy being the idiot he is tried to give me a very dumb excuse of why I should stay with him and Annabeth. You know, he could have just said he missed his dear and lovely cousin. Sheesh!

"Uhh cause um oh! Yeah, because you haven't said hi to Nico yet."

I flinched once his name was said. I hate the fucking kid.

"I heard my name," someone said.

We looked over at where the sound of the voice came from, and there he stood, the fucking devil himself. I glared at him, and once he turned his head realized I was there, he glared back at me with equal loathing.

"Wow" Percy whistled, "Why is there so much tension here?"

Nico and I both glared at that kelp for brains. Being the man that he claims to be, he shrieked, and hid behind his girlfriend. Once he was in his "safety zone", Nico and I went back to glaring at each other.

"Dead boy" I sneered at him.

Nico pretended not to care and ignored me. I HATE HIM! HIS NERVE TO IGNORE ME AFTER EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED! He shadow travelled and half a second after he did I struck a huge lightning at the spot he was just standing in. I angrily stormed to the Artemis cabin leaving Annabeth and Percy with their mouths wide open like a bunch of idiots.

Once I reached the cabin, I swung open the door, and slammed the door so hard that it almost fell off the hinges. All the huntresses that were in the cabin looked at me with questioning faces, but knew better to ask me anything when I was in this kind of mood. I jumped face down on my bunk and fell asleep thinking of my past and its secrets that kept on haunting me.

Annabeth POV

Oh my Gods! Thalia almost hit Nico with a huge lightning strike. I wonder what's going on between those two. I mean they just saw each other and already start glaring? It seemed very unusual and weird to me.

"Hey, Seaweed brain? What do you think is going on with Thalia and Nico?" he smirked

"Wow, I am shocked my wise girl doesn't know?" He fake gasped, while and I hit his head. "Ow! See this is why I am losing my smarticles! I don't know okay? Something just seemed wrong. Ow! Stop hitting me!" I laughed at his antics.

"You idiot there is no such thing as smarticles!"

"Let's go swimming now," he said.

"Sure," I said. Once those 4 letters escaped my mouth, he ran to the beach like a 3-year-old boy. While I chased after Percy, I couldn't help but swear to myself that I would eventually figure out what was going on between Thalia and Nico, no matter what.