thun·der·ing (Adj.)

DEFINITION: very great; extraordinary

SENTENCE: I plan to write a thundering novel someday that everyone adores.

Thundering;

t-h-u-n-d-e-r-i-n-g

Thundering.

Disclaimer: Rick is a thundering dude; I am not him.

a/n: I have been planning out the next few chapters, and there are some holes and questions that are left unanswered. I will fill them in using different POVs because Percy isn't present at the time. Any requests? Thanks! xoxo - IBD

"Aether is the god of air and sky." Chiron explained once we got to the Big House.

"Dude, that's so legit!" Derek elbowed her in the ribs. "What about me?"

"Mr. De Angelo tells me that you are the son of Nyx, the goddess of shadows and night."

"Shadows?" Cleo burst into laughter. "Great! When the rest of us are done doing real work, you can entertain us with a puppet show!"

After a few seconds, he stormed out, and Cleo was left giggling her face off.

"You will resume your training tomorrow, and everything here at camp will go smoothly." Chiron told us. "No one is getting any special treatment."

"Where will she sleep? If Zeus feels the same about his cabin as he does his throne..." Grover reminded him.

"Oh no. You're not sticking me in the Hermes cabin again... and I haven't even said if I'm staying!" she snapped at him.

"But you must!"

"I'll - think about it." she turned around and walked outside.

I took my chance and slipped out behind her. "Hey Cleo-"

"Listen," she turned around and pointed her finger at me. "If you're going to give me the speech about how much nicer it is here, I don't want to hear it."

"I'm not." I held my hands up. "Scouts honor."

She looked me up and down. "You weren't a scout."

I sighed. "Can we just start over?"

"You've got five minutes of my time." she folded her arms. This was definitely not going to work.

I tried anyway. "Hi, I'm Percy."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Cleopatra."

What an odd name; hey, I shouldn't be talking. "Like the Egyptian chick?"

Big mistake. "She wasn't Egyptian; she was Greek Macedonian." she retorted. "And she wasn't just any chick. She was a queen of Egypt. A manipulator."

"You know a lot about her." I noted, taking in her expression.

"Of course I do. I am named after her. I don't want to dishonor her name... that reminds me! Chiron!" she jogged back inside.

"You can have it tomorrow." he replied, following her back out. "If you decide to stay."

The breeze tossed her hair. "Its my sword."

"Cleo, don't get worked up. Its capture the flag tomorrow. Would I let you go in with no weapon?" he smiled at her.

Her face lit up. "Capture the flag? Oh man! I missed this camp!"

After she rounded the corner, I started to head for my own cabin. I probably looked like a walking zombie. A rustling from the bushes brought me back to reality. My hand instinctively went for Riptide, but I kept it in my pocket just in case. "Who's there?"

"Boo!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Th- Thalia?"

"Who else?"

I hugged her briefly before pulling away. "What are you doing here? The Hunters-"

"Aren't far behind. Lady Artemis is away on Mt. Olympus and left me in charge. I decided we would visit some old friends. Capture the flag is tomorrow, correct?" she offered, folding her arms.

"You and the girls are on my team." I smiled; seconds later, the girls came out of the forest.

"You have yourself a deal, Percy." one giggled, "We always will be!"

"Catie, Lady Artemis would not tolerate your behavior!" Thalia snapped at her. Catie stuck her tongue out at her as she turned back. "My apologies, Percy."

I nodded, "Well, I'm going to get some sleep before tomorrow." I pointed at my cabin, "You girls can... uh,"

"We have it covered. Go on." she laughed, turning to enter the Big House.

* * *

I wish I could say that my dreams went smoothly, and I had an uninterrupted night of slumber. Well, I would be lying. The visions that demigods have while they sleep really get on my nerves. Especially, when they are about my friends. Luckily, this one was harmless; just Thalia practicing archery.

I took my time getting dressed this morning. Orange CHB t-shirt and shorts. Honestly, with Grover out saving the Wild with Juniper, and Annabeth working on Mt. Olympus, I didn't really have any one to talk to. Thalia and Nico were there, but you have to have some time away from him. He's just - Nico... and Thalia was spending all of her time with the Hunters; you would think they would get tired of each other.

As I made my way toward the breakfast line, Thalia's voice rose above the others. "Percy!"

I met her at the end of the line. "Are you well rested for later?"

I smirked, "Of course I am. This is the best part of camp."

She nodded, "That's what I like to hear! This is going to be one epic game. I just know it." She had an evil look in her eyes.

"What are you planning?" I whispered, looking around.

Her faced turned innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I blew it off. Knowing Thalia, you had to be patient with her evil plans. They would unravel themselves eventually. We walked through the line, heading for the fire, and then back to the tables. I muttered a "see you" and made my way to mine. Before I could take a bite, someone sat across to me.

"How do you stand it here?"

I set my fork down. "You've got a cabin; what more do you want?"

He shook his head. "It's not the cabin; it's the people. All of this lovey-dovey crap."

"It is Sweetest Day."

Nico rested his head on his hand. "Another Valentine's Day spinoff. Lovely."

"Why don't you hang out with Cleo or something? You both could rant about how awful it is here." I laughed to myself, though, Nico didn't think it was funny.

"That's the other thing. She's teamed up with Clarisse's cabin. They have agreed to be on the same side tonight, which usually ends in you being on the opposite end. At least, that's what Annabeth told me." he shrugged.

"Wait, you talked to Annabeth?"

"Yeah, she told me to make sure nothing bad happened to you." he started laughing. "Looking at your luck, I guess I'll be saving your butt a lot today."

* * *

When everyone was finished eating, we headed over to where Chiron was waiting for us.

"Today is everyone's favorite activity. Capture the flag." there for a few mutters of approval and a few high-fives. "The teams are as follows: Red team has... the Poseidon, Athena, Dionysis, and Hephaestus. Blue team has everyone except the ladies," he motioned to the Hunters. "Nico, and Derek. We'll have to split them up. Captains, Percy and.... let's go with Cleo. Pick who you want for each team. Cleo, ladies first."

"Great." I sighed; she was obviously going to pick the best people.

Cleo took one look at Thalia. "Percy can have them all. Though, I do want Puppet-Boy and Sauerkraut." she pointed at Derek and Nico.

"Are- are you sure about this?" he asked her.

"Positive." she smirked at me.

"Percy, do you accept?"

I watched Mr. D chuckle at some joke I was apparently missing and swallowed. "Uh, sure."

"Okay, let the games begin. Get in your lines. Discuss flag positions."

I asked around, and we eventually decided on a spot. Before Chiron called us back together, I jogged over to Cleo. "Are you insane? I have way more people than you now."

"Quality over quantity." she smiled, winking at me.

"Percy!" Thalia called to me. I glanced back at Cleo, but she was already gone. "Percy, I have to talk to you about her."

"What? Are you going to tell me she's hot tempered because I already figured that one out."

"She's devious. She knows something about Nico and that Derek kid. Something that will help her win." It seemed like it hurt her to say the words.

"Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," I didn't go any further. A second later, Chiron called us over, and the hunt began.