Thank you for reviewing! I definitely will, thanks for the encouragement! Any way I forgot the disclaimer last chapter so I will be doing that now as well as the one for this chapter. By the way, JRezaei, thanks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, all rights go to Rick Riordan. (and just to be safe I'm doing another one for my last chapter)

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, all rights go to Rick Riordan.

Thank you for reading, U got 2 get down 2 get up

Thalia's POV

Percy's changed so much! What happened to that boy with a sparkle in his eyes? What happened to his proud posture? What happened to his self-confident smile? What happened to his funny, sarcastic nature? What happened to the boy I knew? Sure he looks the same, black hair, green eyes, but what happened to him on the inside? What happened to my cousin? I looked over at Percy from across the lunch table. He had a soft grin on his face, like he was afraid of smiling. He would laugh occasionally, but it was always strained and forced. The worst part is is that no one else seemed to notice his change, except for maybe Nico. Hazel and Jason didn't know him as well so they would assume he was always like this. But he wasn't. The thought keeps coming back to me.

"So Percy, I guess we all have gym together at ninth period, huh?" Jason stated.

Percy nodded his head. "I suppose we do."

"Prepare to meet the power of the Leo!" Leo said dramatically.

Percy cracked a smile, and just for one second, I could see a glimpse of the old smirk he used to wear. "Oh, you bet I will." He raised his eyebrows slightly. I almost caught my breath, there is the Percy I know! However that Percy was gone in a flash, replaced by this new one. I sighed. I missed the old Percy.

Five minutes into lunch Annabeth leaned over to me. "Hey, Thalia, can I talk to you for a minute?" I looked at her quizzically, but nodded in agreement. She smiled then leaned over to Nico. He nodded as well. We all stood up with some excuse about getting more food or something. Like I cared.

As soon as we were out of sight, Annabeth pulled us behind a bush. She looked behind her, then back at us. Okay... well this is a little creepy.

"What is it, Annabeth?" My patience finally worn thin.

She turned to look at us. Annabeth took a deep breath. "Guys, have you noticed a change from when you last saw Percy? I mean, face to face?" Well that was unexpected.

Nico nodded slowly after a minute of silence. I sighed and nodded as well. "Yeah. The last time I saw him face to face was..." I trailed off thinking. When was the last time I saw him? At least three years ago. "- I think it was three years ago." Nico made a quick nodding motion with his head.

Annabeth took a deep breath again. "Okay, this is going to sound really weird, but I promise I'm not stalking Percy." What? What is she talking about?

"What are you talking about?" Nico voiced my thoughts.

"Okay, okay. I might've sorta looked up Percy online." Seeing our faces she quickly explained. "I wasn't trying to stalk him or anything! He just seemed like... I don't know... like he wasn't being real, I guess. Sorta like he was playing up a facade, or something." She trailed off, gauging our reactions to her observation. I don't know how she caught on so quickly, then again she is a daughter of Athena. I glanced over at Nico. He had a thoughtful expression on his face, and he was nodding a little.

"Yeah... he does seem like that. I don't know if you noticed, Thalia, but he seems a little off." Nico turned to look at me.

I sighed. "Yeah, really off. I've been thinking that for the past few days."

"I wish I could figure out what made him change like that." Nico said sadly.

"Yeah, me too." I said. It wasn't until Annabeth cleared her throat a little that I remembered she was there. Both Nico and I looked up at her.

"Um, well, I might have a way we can find out." She scuffed the dirt with the toe of her converse. "When I was searching online, I was thinking about pieces of information that linked the Percy I was reading about, to the Percy I know now. I only found that his backstory is the same, his appearance," She looked at us slyly. "-his cousins and best friend." I sucked in a breath. Of course, Grover! Why didn't I think of that before?

"Of course!" Nico and I said in unison.

Annabeth smiled again. "Well, I had this idea." She paused for a second. "We need to be discreet about it, of course. We can't let Percy find out."

"Well tell us!" Nico waved his hands around in the air.

"What if, say, we all wanted to go to camp for a day to get some clothes or something? What if we accidently ran out of gas on the way there, say in Long Island?" I started to grin a little. "And what if we accidently find Percy's old home on Montaulk?"

"And if we accidently run into his best friend, Grover?" Nico asked, grinning from ear to ear. Annabeth nodded with a smile. "Well you can count me in!"

Annabeth turned to me. I grinned, "I could use a road trip."

_Line Break

The rest of the day crawled forwards until I was left with only ninth period. Gym. Let's see if there's still some of that could old Percy in there. I thought, watching him come out of the boy's locker room.

"Okay, cupcakes, listen up!" Coach Hedge bellowed in the middle of the gym. We all made a semicircle around him. "We are playing a game of capture the flag. Now I know some of you are quite competitive in this game." He pointedly looks at all the demigods in the room. You see, Coach Hedge is a satyr. Long story short, he never got his searchers license so he was sent here with us demigods to make sure we behaved. For some odd reason Hedge looked over at Percy for a second then looked away with a confused expression. Odd. "And as much as I like a good ol' fashioned fight, we do have school rules. So here's the thing, no punches, no kicks, no elbowing or anything like that." He rolled his eyes while he was saying this. "Annabeth and Sloan will be captains. The flag has to be visible at all times. The jails will be on opposite side of the room by the locker doors. If there is a jail break there is no freedom walk. If you want to be safe, then you gotta earn it and not just walkout when someone else does the work. Okay, I think that's all the basics, captains, choose your teams!"

Annabeth and Sloan, the school bully, stood in front of the other students. You could tell that everyone had mixed feelings about the teams. Some people wanted to be with Annabeth because she was the best strategist, while others wanted to be with Sloan because he was a big time jock.

"Sloan, do you want to pick first or should I?" Annabeth turned to look at Sloan.

"I'll pick first. Drew." Annabeth rolled her eyes, the only reason he picked Drew was because he had a crush on her.

"Okay, Jason."

"Jacob."

"Thalia." I smiled and walked over to her side.

"Silena."

"Nico."

"Piper." Sloan smirked once he said Piper's name. I narrowed my eyes at him, while Jason full out glared. Piper looked annoyed that she had to play against us, but she walked over to their side.

"Thalia."

"John."

"Frank."

"Jackson." The name rung out. I was now fully glaring at Sloan. Percy walked slowly over to their side and stood next to Piper who gave him an encouraging smile. Annabeth had also narrowed her eyes like the rest of her team.

"Hazel."

"Josh."

"Leo." They finished calling names.

Coach stepped forward. "Okay, now that that is out of the way, you have three minutes to hide your flag and figure out strategy. Go!" And with that we all huddled together as a group. Our flag was bright red, while the other team had a neon looking blue. We all turned to Annabeth.

"Okay, guys. We got the whole team here, but Sloan snatched Piper and Percy." Jason shot another glare at Sloan. "Calm down, Jason. We'll get our revenge by crushing these guys under foot." Jason smiled at that, as did we all. Let me say this once, no one messes with my friends, especially Sloan. "Okay, so Sloan picked all the jocks, and cheer leaders. We know what to expect from them. The only wild card is Percy, since we know that Piper isn't going to help Sloan at all. I doubt Percy really likes being with Sloan, but he doesn't seem like the type to just surrender without a fight." We all nodded with agreement. "Here's the plan, I'm going to send the fastest and quietest over to their side to find the flag. We're not trying to do this dramatically. Sloan will send the cheerleaders and some of the bigger jocks over here to collect the flag. I bet he and most of the rest of his team will stay on the other side since Sloan likes numbers. We need some of the better fighters to stay here and deal with those dumb cheerleaders and stupid jocks. I'm not too worried about the cheerleaders, but if the jocks are over here then I want some of our stronger fighters here defending the flag. Also if Sloan sends Percy or Piper over here, well I just don't want to take chances." Annabeth took a glance at the clock, two more minutes. "Okay, I want the flag to be put at the top of the bleachers. Frank, Jason and Hazel, you guys protect it. One of you stand on the ground and walk around, pretend to be protecting the flag. If that person sees anyone come within a meter of it, I want them tagged and brought to our jail. The other two will be hiding next to the flag. If someone get up there, tag them and send them straight to jail." They nodded. "Good. Now Leo and Nico. I want you guys to be searching for the flag. You two are the quickest, there for you should be able to stay away from the bigger protecters. Thalia and I will also be looking for the flag. Now incase one of you gets tagged yell. I don't care what, but just make sure others know." Annabeth took a big breath. "Okay, if the unexpected happens, like Sloan sends all his jocks over here, then I want Thalia and Nico to come back and protect the flag with Hazel, Jason and Frank. Leo and I will keep going, looking for the other flag. If something really weird happens, like Piper tries to tag you, act on instinct. Okay, that's it. Go team!" We scattered.

You see, most gym capture the flag games would be easy. I mean, hello it's an open gym and everyone can see everything. But Goode spent a fortune on our gym and now ours is a lot bigger than most. It is almost as big as a football field with various obstacles in the middle. Coach can take them off the floor for basketball or something, but they are just usually sitting in the middle of the floor. They create a jungle of ropes, pools, balance beams and nets. Honestly, it's like an obstacle course from camp.

I ran with Annabeth to the side of the gym, while Nico and Leo went to the other side. Hazel, Frank and Jason all went to the back of our side, probably to set up their stations. I spotted Piper in the middle of the floor. She seemed to have been put on offense. I couldn't see Percy, but I'm sure he was somewhere around here.

"Okay, cupcakes, times up! You've got the whole period for this game, so I better so you sweating by the end of this! Now, BEGIN!"

The jocks rushed forward with the cheerleaders like Annabeth said. Piper stayed behind. I could see most of the smaller jocks still hanging around the back of the gym, along with Sloan. Leo and Nico slunk around the side of the room. Piper spotted them and made a half-hearted attempt to catch them. But I couldn't focus on them. I had a job to do. Annabeth and I both ran for the line, tagging people as we went. Normally, in high school games kids cheat. A lot. But with a coach like ours, who has uncannily good eyesight, no one cheats. We played that to our advantage, sending a lot of cursing jocks and pouty cheerleaders to our jail. Sure we didn't get them all, but they had thinned considerably. Annabeth and I dashed over the line and started to run from some of the jocks who were chasing us. We could see Leo and Nico sneaky around further back, still undetected. One look from Annabeth and I knew we were going to play 'distraction'. I sighed, I didn't like that, it was so boring! Then again, we probably were more noticeable then Leo and Nico. Might as well help them out a little more.

"Hey, Sloan! You to slow to catch a couple of girls?" Annabeth yelled. Sloan turned red and ordered Jacob over to wear we were standing. Idiot. I smiled.

"Oh is the little baby scared? How bout you try catching us yourself instead of sending others to do your dirty work, huh?" I asked. Sloan took a step forward. I inwardly grinned.

"I could catch a couple of little girls!" He sneered, a step behind Jacob who was making his way to us. "Josh, stay put. We're going to teach them a lesson." Josh nodded and turned around looking out for any other players. Well I guess he isn't a complete moron. Jacob and Sloan started to chase after us, they were incredibly slow. I actually laughed at their attempt.

"Thalia, focus. We still need to get Josh away from the flag."

I nodded. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well," We jumped over a balance beam still at the same pace. "Nico and Leo are still over there. And how many people do we need to get the flag over to our side?"

I smiled. "One."

"Exactly, if we get Nico to distract Josh long enough for Leo to steal the flag, then we're set." She had a thoughtful look on her face for a second. "Reyna could've been helpful right now."

"Yeah, to bad she had to go back to Camp Jupiter so suddenly." Annabeth looked like she was about to say something but then we were interrupted by Sloan.

"Come back here!" He was red in the face and gasping for breath. Ha, sucker.

"What? Having trouble catching a couple of 'little girls'?" I asked, slowing down a little.

Annabeth looked at me, "Come on, if we some how get Josh to join in the chase without having to get Nico to help, then we'd have all the more chance. I still haven't seen Percy once, and that is starting to worry me." Oh yeah, I haven't seen Percy either. Oh oh. If he's anything like the athlete I knew, then we're in trouble if we don't get this flag fast.

"Yeah, let's get Josh's attention too. We need to hurry, because if I remember correctly, Percy is one heck of an athlete." I notified Annabeth. She nodded and we headed back to wear Josh was standing.

Unfortunately things were not going as smoothly as hoped. When we got back to Josh, leaving Sloan and Jacob in the dust, we found Leo screaming something about underpants and running around like a chicken without it's head. Wow, Josh is now the smartest jock I know. I thought as I saw Josh not even trying to catch Leo. Instead he was focusing on keeping Nico away from the flag.

Annabeth snorted, "He's smarter than we gave him credit." I nodded. "Okay, so we need to get Josh away so one of us can get the flag."

"If you haven't noticed, Annabeth, Leo is already trying. And if Leo's insults can't get his attention, then I don't know what can." I said, watching Leo try another joke only to be met with silence.

"Oh, Thalia. He may be focused, but he is still a boy. And what do boys have?" I looked over at Annabeth with raised eyebrows.

"Excuse me? We aren't in health class, Annie."

Annabeth turned red, "I didn't me it like that! I meant that no matter how much he wants to suck up to Sloan, he still has hormones!"

"Okay, so what do you purpose?"

"I say that I'll go up to him and do whatever it takes to distract him, then you run in and steal the flag. If he gets in your war, hand it off to Nico and tackle him head on. I wouldn't normally volunteer for that kind of stuff, but I really want to win this game and you," She looked at me with amusement, "would probably deck him before he could come within a meter." That is true, I do seriously hate boys. Except for my friends of course... though Nico is on boarder line right now.

"Okay, Annabeth, let's do this fast. I want to rub it in their faces."

_Line Break

"Hey, Josh." Annabeth walked up to Josh really slowly while I hid behind a bleacher. Nico had disappeared somewhere and Leo was still screaming at the top of his lungs. Who knew what he was saying, he switched to Spanish halfway through the game. (Again, not trying to be racist, it says it in the books) I wasn't sure where Sloan and Jacob were, but at that point I didn't really care.

"Oh hi Annabeth." Josh was still watching for Nico, but it was clear that Annabeth had his attention.

"So, Josh, Sloan set you up on defense?" Annabeth batted her eyelashes, while I was almost hurling. "Wow. You must be, like, really good!"

"I'd say so." He said with a cocky smile, obviously forgetting that Annabeth is on the opposing team. Idiot.

"Well I just did." She giggled. "So if I told you that I had no plans for the weekend, what would you say?"

Josh was now completely focused on Annabeth. He didn't even notice me sneaking around behind him and reaching for the flag. "Well I'd say I would pick you up at seven."

Annabeth giggled again, slowly walking back while Josh followed. "And I'd say..." I grabbed the flag and snuck back through the bleachers. I gave Annabeth the thumbs up sign. She smiled then looked back at Josh.

"What would you say?" Josh asked, still unaware that I was a good yard away, with his team's flag I might add.

"I'd say, GO THALIA!" She turned around and sprinted towards the line. I was already sprinting. 10 yards, 8 yards, 5 yards, 3 yards, 1 more! I looked up to see Percy also running towards the line, our bright red flag clasped in his hand. How in Hades? I turned to look at Annabeth, her mouth was agape. She snapped it shut and shouted for me to run faster.

As I shot to the line I saw Percy a step ahead of me. NO! Then suddenly Percy was on the floor. No one had touched him or anything. He was just laying on the floor, stock still. I skidded to a stop.

"Percy?" I asked, my voice shaking. He didn't respond. "Percy!" I was suddenly kneeling next to him, the flag was tossed aside.

"Percy, are you okay?" Nico asked as he kneeled down next to me. Jason, Hazel and Frank came running up, I barely registered that they were sweating and out of breath. I reached out my hand and gently touched his shoulder. He flinched back as if he was shocked. But I didn't shock him! I swear I didn't!

"Percy?" I asked again. This time his head came up a little.

"Oh, uh sorry guys." He shakily pushed himself up into a kneeling position.

"What happened?" Hazel asked gently kneeling down.

Percy looked scared for a second. "I, uh, just tripped. Um yeah, I tripped over my own feet, I'm really clumsy." I frowned. The last time I saw him he had more agility then me.

"Your sure nothing else happened?" I asked, not quite buying his whole, Oh-I-am-so-clumsy act.

He nodded his head, "Of course I am, Thalia." He stood up and if anyone else was watching, they wouldn't have seen anything wrong. But I know him better than anyone else, there for I caught the slight grimace as it flashed over his face. "Well, we better go get changed, I don't want to stay here all afternoon." I looked around. It was only then that I realized that everyone else had walked away to change except for the group of demigods. (Minus Drew of course)

"Guys did you see him trip over his feet?" Piper asked. "Because I sure didn't. And I was right behind him."

Jason nodded in agreement, "Your right, Pipes. He seemed well in control of his feet, and his hands for that matter." Jason mumbled the last part. Everyone was silent, thinking over what they had witnessed.

"It doesn't seem likely that Percy would trip. He probably had just as much grace as us." Annabeth thought aloud.

"Plus he was captain of the Rhode Island swim team, he wouldn't just flop over." Nico added.

Frank sighed, "As much as this is going to bug me for the rest of the day, Percy did have a point. I really do need to change, plus I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

As the others left, Annabeth, Nico and I stood in the middle of the gym.

"Okay, guys. I was thinking of leaving next weekend, but because these odd events, I think we should go this weekend instead. Find Grover faster, and figure out what's up with Percy sooner." Annabeth toook charge.

"Okay, deal." Nico and I said in unison again. I punched him, it was annoying. We all slowly walked back to our locker rooms, thinking of what we might find out about my cousin.

_Line Break~

"So guys, how did Percy get the flag exactly?" Annabeth asked with her eyebrows arched. We were all sitting by our favorite ice cream shop, Blue Ice Cream Blizzard. We had invited Percy to come, but he quickly declined, saying something about having to help Gabe with something. Like get a bear from the fridge, cause he's to fat to get one himself. I thought with malice.

"Yeah, you guys are demigods, too!" Leo laughed. "Plus you had a great vantage point." Jason, Frank and Hazel all looked down in shame.

"Leo's kidding, guys." Piper comforted. "We're just curious on how someone was almost able to beat one of Annabeth's plan, that's all."

Hazel took a breath. "Okay. Well we decided that Frank would be on the ground and Jason and I would hide by the flag. Frank got quite a few out, but there were more than expected."

Jason nods, "Percy is so much faster than I thought. I had to get out of my hiding spot to fend off one of the jocks that got past Frank."

"And I was taking care of a few cheer leaders. Then all of a sudden, Percy is standing right next to the flag. I was about to tag him out, but then he did a flip off the bleachers!" Hazel continued.

Frank sighs, "Then when most of Sloan's offense team was in jail I turned to see Percy dodging Hazel and Jason's attempts of tagging him. He really is quite fast. Then when he had an opening he bolted."

"I think you all saw the rest." Jason says.

After a second of silence Leo chuckles. "You guy's got beat by a mortal? No offense guys, but that is sorta sad."

"Hey," I said, looking up from my rocky-road ice cream. "Percy may be a mortal, but he is pretty athletic." I didn't like how Leo called Percy a mortal. Not that he wasn't, it was just that it didn't sound right.

"She's right," Nico supported. "You guys probably don't know his athletic back round."

Leo raised an eyebrow, "Then enlighten us on all the great physical achievements Percy has accomplished." The rest of our friends leaned in to hear. Annabeth seemed a little more eager than the rest, but I could've been imaging it.

Nico didn't even blink at his sarcasm. "Percy was the captain of the Rhode Island State swim team. They competed in the Nationals and won, thanks to Percy's round. He was captain of the sparring and lancing team, too."

"Of course then there are all the physical training camps he went to during the summer. We don't know all of them, but we do know that he went to a different one each year and came out on the top of his class." I put in. I smirked at Leo's slack jaw, obviously he wasn't expecting anything like that. I turned to the others and they all had similar expressions of awe.

"Then there's the military school he just got back from, the one he's been going to before he started here. I'm pretty sure he's trying out for the swim team next week. Like he even needs to try out, every school on the East Coast has been notified of Percy's achievements." Nico added. He turned to Leo. "That enlighten you?" I chuckled and high-fived Nico.

"Well guys no matter how fun this has been I need to go home." Annabeth stood up with her cup of vanilla ice cream. She pointedly looked at Nico and I, reminding us that we needed to pack for our weekend trip. Like I could forget. I rolled my eyes and quickly nodded at her. Nico did the same. Well, this is gonna be fun...

_Line Break

The week passed by in a flash and soon enough I was stuffing last-minute-essentials in my bag, getting ready for our weekend trip to 'camp'. Or at least that's what we told our parents, well that's what Annabeth told her parents. Nico and I lived together in an apartment near the Empire State building. It was actually pretty nice, with a big spacious living room, a nice kitchen and two separate bedrooms. Anyway we were ready and heading out in a few minutes. I stuffed the last things inside then ran down to my car.

"Ready, Nico?" I asked as I started the engine. Nico sat in the passengers seat, looking at a map.

"Yeah, by the way, Annabeth is going to have to help us with navigation. This is confusing as Hades." He muttered, still scanning over the map.

We pulled into Annabeth's driveway. She ran out in the next few minutes, calling good-bye to her father. She threw her bags into the trunk then slid into the car.

"Hey, guys." She greeted as we pulled out.

"Hey, Annabeth. You ready to find Grover?" I asked. I could see her nodding in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, I did a little research on my computer. We should head to Percy's old town first. It's called Portsmouth. Apparently one of the original towns in Rhode Island. Established in the 16 hundreds."

I rolled my eyes at her facts. So daughter of Athena. I thought. "That's great, but how do you get to Portsmouth."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and proceeded to point out various roads and highways to take. Nico marked them on our map, making it a lot easier to read. I felt a little excited I was going to finally start figuring out what happened to my cousin. All I need is a little help from Percy's dear friend and my own memory. Then I'm sure with Annabeth's help we can piece it together. I thought as we slowly made our way to Portsmouth. I will find out what happened to Percy Jackson.

AUTHOR'S Note

Sorry for not posting for a while. This took longer than expected. Review if you'd like, but you don't have to. I never really wanted to either. Okay, I will be posting chapters hopefully with more action. Take it easy, U got 2 get down 2 get up.