Thalia's POV

Thankfully, the Hephaestus cabin managed to convince Apollo his chariot would be good to go by tomorrow if he promised not to hurt Jason. Hey, problem solved; new and improved sun chariot for the god and a not barbequed baby brother for me. I consider that a win-win situation.

It was now 10:30, so there was huge clump of people making their way towards the lake for the next event; sand castles.

Every person from their cabin had to participate once before any of them could go again, so I sent in Leah and Emily. Since this particular event required two people, Percy, Nico, and Jason were allowed to pick one other being to help them out. Nico picked Leo Valdez and Jason picked me. I only accepted after making sure that I would still be able to participate in a different event as well. Percy was about to choose his partner when a huge creature came into view, coming towards us. He looked so familiar…

"Tyson!" Percy shouted, running to give his half-brother a hug. "Are you ready to build some sand castles, big guy?"

Tyson just smiled, "Whatever you want Percy!"

When we got to the lake we were greeted by eleven large piles of sand and a variety of plastic gardening tools including buckets and shovels. In front of each pile of sand was a name plate with a cabin name on it. Jason and I started making our way over to the pile labeled ZEUS/JUPITER as Chiron's voice rang out through a megaphone.

"Competitors! To your sand piles!" Everyone who was not competing was directed to a cluster of collapsible picnic tables. "On your marks, get set, go!"

Nobody's POV

"-go!" And they were off. Some of the campers pulled out blueprints while others ran straight for the tools. The campers not competing watched and cheered for their teammates. Looking over at the competition, Percy was probably the furthest ahead, having already sculpted a base, while the Ares' cabin's representatives were arguing, their sand untouched.

After twenty minutes, Chiron announced the end of the competition and the judges walked over to the sculptures. The Zeus cabin had created a poorly constructed lightning bolt. The Demeter cabin had created a sand garden. Unfortunately, they had failed at the art of sculpting plants. The Ares cabin…..still had not touched their pile of sand. Athena's cabin had formed an elaborate castle with windows and everything. Apollo's cabin was disqualified for 'inappropriate use of sand'. The Artemis cabin had also created a standard castle, similar to the Athena cabin's castle but not nearly as stuThis immediately brought about a round of 'Cheater!' and 'Copycat!' which the judges ignored. The Hephaestus cabin created an amazing, nearly lifelike rendition of Hephaestus himself. The Aphrodite cabin had simply drawn hearts in the sand. The Hades' cabin had created….It appeared to be a castle. If you squinted. A lot. The Poseidon cabin created a seascape with dolphins and mermaids and ponies. A great idea, not so greatly sculpted. The Hermes cabin had actually succeeded in burying a very angry Clarisse in the sand.

The judges went around, closely examining each creation. Well, at least Rachel and Grover did, Mr. D just laughed at everyone's poor attempt.

Rachel snagged Chiron's mega phone. "Listen up people! Ok so as a unanimous decision; the winner is Annabeth and McKenna from the Athena cabin! Second place is awarded to the Hephaestus cabin and third place to the Poseidon cabin! Major props to the Hermes' cabin though, that really is an accomplishment there! Ok so everyone needs to be at the strawberry patch in five minutes, and, uh, nice job everyone!" The last bit was clearly sarcasm.

Nico's POV

Ok, so pretty much I'm screwed. Sand castles just aren't my thing, imagine that. Now a strawberry picking contest, surprisingly plants don't take well to the son of Hades. Actually, I don't have much hope until my own event.

Ok Nico, time to play offense. Percy, Jason, Annabeth and Leo are the only ones ahead of me, so just make sure they don't win anything else and I might actually have a chance.

Everyone had now joined together at the fields. Chiron told us that we would have seven minutes to pick as many strawberry's as possible. They would be measured by weight and the winners would be announced.

The whistle blew. It was go time. I didn't even bother taking a bucket with me, I just ran over to where Percy was quickly picking and made all the plants in a thirty meter radius of him shrivel up and die. I then hurried over to Jason before I got hit. The plants around him began to die as well. A blond haired, grey eyed boy wasn't to far away and I will the plants by him to die too. A surge of exhaustion swept over we and I had to sit down to keep myself from collapsing.

The Demeter kids were obviously going to win this one. The boy was easily bending the plants to his will and having them drop their fruit into his basket. The Hermes' girl was snatching fruit out of everyone else's baskets without them noticing. The Hephaestus kids had made some sort of contraption that was picking strawberries a mile a minute while the boy from their cabin just sat there. The Ares girl wasn't having much luck going at it the old fashioned way, but she seemed determined to win. The boy from the Athena cabin was running trying to reach some plants that weren't dead, as was Jason, and Percy. One of the Hunters, I think her name was Diana, was working quickly. Wow, she was kind of pretty… No, focus Nico. A girl from Apollo's cabin was humming some tune that was making the strawberries grow in size. The girl from the Aphrodite cabin was inspecting each berry and only putting the ones in her basket that were "pretty" enough. Just as I was regaining my strength, I heard the whistle blow. Time was up.

While we were waiting for the results to be announced I spotted Percy and Annabeth having some sort of serious conversation. And cue the Nico. I quickly shadow traveled to behind Annabeth, snatched her hat out of her back pocket, then shadow traveled away before she could see me. This just might be helpful.

"Alright everyone," Chiron said through his megaphone, "the winner is-"

A/N;;

Answering reviewer questions, answering reviewer questions, answering reviewer questions, yeah! (To the tune of Finding twitter questions by Smosh.)

TO SWEEETLY BLISSFUL: Thank-you very much for your critique.

TO SLYSHINDI: Thanks.

TO MAERAD-OF-PELLINOR28: I agree, but then again they're really strong.

TO BEST GYRL: Dude, I know. Thalico is like an epic fail. Just say no.

TO 14YOUTUBE: Thanks, that means a lot.

TO LUCIA DIANA- NINJA QUEEN: Pssh, heck yes. (:

TO READIN'ONCLOUD9: Thanks.

TO IAMANNABETH: Nope. All suggestions are open though!

TO WINONABCD: Thanks.

TO FALAFALAFAPANCAKES: Dude, your pen name makes our pen name look as lame as Katy Perry. Thanks for the review.

Ok so, if somebody reviews our story for 5 new updates, we'll write a story of your choosing. You can choose the book, plot, characters, pairings, everything. So the reviews only count if they're for the latest chapter. Just puttin' a little incentive out there for ya.

Hahaha cliffy! Just had to say that cuz I hate it when people say that!

OK NOW GO REVIEW!