Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 10

"What?" Percy asked, staring at Thalia in confusion.

"You heard me. We're leaving New York," Thalia repeated. "We're getting out of here."

"What about the others?" Percy protested against the idea. "What about Annabeth? Grover? Clarisse? Rachel?"

"Now you're just listing random people."

"I'm listing our friends!"

"Who might be dead, eaten alive, or an Infected!"

An argument began immediately. Nico looked back and forth, not knowing which side to take. He wanted to side with Thalia, he really did want to leave, but he knew Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty, if they went, then he might not follow.

"Or alive," Percy retorted.

"Almost all of the hunters are that!" Thalia raised her voice until her voice started breaking. She continued shouting at her cousin. "Almost all the hunters are either three of those things; and I haven't seen a single one alive! They've been trained to hunt, and survive, but now look what happened to them!"

The three cousins didn't realize the continuous stamping above them. The Minotaur and gods know how many Infected were trying to get in the base.

"They were my family Percy!" Thalia continued ranting.

Percy stopped retorting for one minute to grab some crutches he had seen on the way in. He gripped them tightly, and let them lean on a table.

"No one's stopping you from leaving," Percy suddenly yelled. "You can go, but I'm not going."

"Fine," Thalia's eyes were cold as she spoke. "Then don't go."

Thalia turned to Nico, who had no part in the conversation until now. He tried to look anywhere but her, but it was difficult seeing as her sky blue orbs were gazing at him.

"Are you coming?" Thalia finally broke the awkward silence.

When the son of Hades actually looked at Thalia's eyes straight-on, he could swear that there was a layer of her pleading. And Thalia Grace almost never pleads.

"How do you-" Nico began, but got cut off by a layer of huge dust swirling around the place.

"The base," Thalia whispered, and then raised her voice. "We have to go!"

Percy grabbed the crutches, and nearly fell down after his first try of a using them. He struggled as he used them to support himself as he tried to go away quickly, using the hidden exit Thalia had mentioned. He crawled for a few seconds, trying to find his way back to his cousins, but there was too much dust to see clearly.

"Nico!" Percy called put, hobbling on his crutches as he adjusted to them rather quickly. "Thalia!"

A faint 'Percy' could be heard, and he used his senses to check where the sound had come from. Left. Right where the entrance to the base was. He could hear that the voice was female, which meant that it was Thalia.

Trying to move as fast as he could on his crutches, Percy desperately searched for his two cousins.

"Percy!" Thalia yelled, before a loud thud was heard, and then a scream.

Rushing over to the sound of the voice, Percy accidentally tripped on something. A body. An 'oomph' was heard, and he knew it was Nico.

"Nico," Percy spoke to his cousin, dropping his crutches. "Are you ok?"

"Help... Thalia..." Was all Nico said, before Percy could see the dust clear and watch his cousin's eyes close.

"No," the son of Poseidon muttered. "You can't die on me Nico. Come on!"

Shaking the son of Hades, Percy checked for a pulse. He sighed in relief when he found out it was still there,

A scream alerted him back to his senses. Thalia. Percy's eyes widened and he feared for the worst as he took his crutches and hurried over to his cousin.

The dust was clearing quickly, and soon Percy could see Thalia lying on the floor, bleeding slowly. He couldn't see the reason where or why, so he went closer, soon finding out the answers to his questions.

It seemed that Thalia had been backing up to a pole, when the Minotaur had charged, it's horns finding it's way to her shoulder. Blood was trickling down like a tiny, un-working fountain that worked with only a tiny stream pouring out.

"Ambrosia," Percy muttered, checking his pockets for any. There wasn't any ambrosia in his pockets. "You need some ambrosia and nectar."

No ambrosia or nectar could be spotted, no matter how much the son of Poseidon searched. He didn't see the Minotaur, which led his thoughts to how the Minotaur could actually fit in the base in the first place.

"Pockets," Thalia mumbled her tongue heavy on her mouth. It seemed that her head had gotten hit as well. "Ambrosia in my pockets..."

The daughter of Zeus used her good arm to reach in her pockets and take out the ambrosia that was in them.

Percy saw the problem immediately. There were only two ambrosia squares. Thalia could have one, but one wasn't enough to heal her shoulder. He needed the other square for Nico, who he didn't know the problem of yet. He wavered, opening the small plastic and taking out one square first.

"Can you swallow?" Percy asked his cousin.

If Thalia had enough energy, she would've rolled her eyes, but she just nodded slowly, eating the ambrosia Percy had given her. She vaguely remembered that she had had two ambrosia squares in the bag. She gave him a questioning look, but he shook his head sadly.

"I don't know what's wrong with Nico, he collapsed for some reason," Percy explained.

"Giv-Give," Thalia was feeling weak, but the ambrosia strengthened her up. "Nico the ambrosia..."

The son of Poseidon didn't even consider eating the ambrosia himself as he crawled over slowly to Nico and fed the last piece of ambrosia to him.

Percy waited for his two cousins to either wake up or feel better. He took out Riptide and felt the sword balance in his hands evenly. He swished it around a few times, making sure he was prepared for any Infected or monsters.

The dust had cleared fully now, so everyone could see where they were clearly. Percy couldn't help but feel a pang in his chest as he watched his cousins either knocked out or just lying down there. He capped the sword and continued waiting, his eyes gazing around base, still searching for nectar.

"You're wondering how the Minotaur got down here right?" Thalia finally spoke, feeling energy rush back to her. Not even giving anyone any chance to respond, she answered the unasked question. "Apparently the Minotaur has made two new entrances."

Thalia pointed up, where the Minotaur was gazing down on them, stamping and snarling at them angrily. A/N: Sorry for the late update and any OOCness. I usually do all of the groups in one chapter, but sometimes it will change into only one group for one chapter. Thanks for all the support! Gryphon-Door: Ok, thanks!