Hello everyone,

Thank you all for reading my story. Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

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SharkAttack719

Περσεύς 19

Chariot Racing

"The chariot races were reinstated, Percy," Chiron told me when we were all alone in the Big House. "They will continue to go on, though with my precautions rather than Tantalus'."

"That makes it a whole lot safer," I grinned.

"I do hope so."

"Yeah, so everyone seems much happier now," I noticed. "Did healing the tree make camp feel more safe and more alive?"

"Yes, it did," Chiron replied. "There was this one point after we put the Golden Fleece on the branch of the tree when it glowed and spirits shot out. I hope Alexander had a good time stuck in that tree."

I gave him a confused look.

"He was Zeus' son who sacrificed himself for Camp Half-Blood when...when we split." Chiron seemed to pick his words smoothly and quickly. Usually Chiron could pick up whether people knew things or didn't, but at the moment, he seemed a little worried and seemed not to be able to tell that I knew.

"Chiron. I know about the Romans and Greeks, and about the American Civil War," I told the old centaur. His face darkened a touch.

"So you know, child," he said grimly. "Well, since you do, I must tell you this: no one other than yourself should ever find out about the Greeks and Romans. The last time it happened the death toll was so high that Mist had to be put between the two camps to separate them. I know it seems as though you have been talking about this for a while, now, but you have just come back. You need not worry about the rivalry between the two sides for now."

"My father said you made an oath to never talk about this to anyone who didn't know or until the time of danger has come," I continued, ignoring Chiron's attempt at evasion. "He told me that you couldn't go into too much depth, but tell me one thing Chiron. The American Civil War...the others, like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee...they were Romans? And they attacked Camp Half-Blood. You said camp had split because of disagreement. The South had wanted slaves, right? Just like Rome. But Abraham Lincoln, apparently a son of Athena, and his government wanted to get rid of it. Why? If the South had slaves before him, and Greeks and Romans had been rivals before the Civil War, why wasn't anything done before."

Chiron grimaced. "You wouldn't want to hear the details." There was something laced in his voice. It almost seemed as if he knew something was going to happen, that he was anticipating for a terrifying event to occur...like even worse than Kronos.

"Chiron—"

"I'm sorry, child." Chiron's face was abnormally pale. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That is why it is called present. Isn't that how the mortal writers perceive it? What I take from it is that focusing on now is more important that living in the past or always being too anxious about what is to come in the future. Percy, you have let yourself down, but that is only because you believe you have let yourself down. You must live in the present and with what you have in order to be happy. Focus on now, not yesterday and not tomorrow. After all, any hint about the future can be trickery or lies. Take Tyche's fortune cookies for example. Nemesis takes her time changing the so called 'luck'; however, all of them are lies. Tyche cares about those who sacrifice to her, not meaningless mortals. Remember, minors gods are gods as well."

I looked down at the ground, avoiding Chiron's eyes. In most ways, the wise centaur was right, but I still wanted to know about the Greeks and Romans.

"Knowing too much about your future is a dangerous thing, and knowing something that is as dangerous as this subject may ultimately lead to chaos," Chiron said. "Now, like I was saying before, the chariot race is on for this Friday. You'd better find a partner. Then, after the chariot race is the weekly Capture the Flag. Clarisse holds the laurels. Ally yourself with a side. Just a hint, Luke, Thalia and Annabeth are opposing Clarisse. Will you go with your friends, or with someone you don't usually get along with?"

I looked curiously at Chiron. There was always an undertone with him, though most of the time no one could catch what the Hades he meant. By the way, Lord Hades, I'm referring to Hades as the Underworld, not the ruler.

"Just in case you're listening," I muttered.

"What was that?" Chiron asked.

"Nothing. So...do I just..."

"Pretend you never left."

"So who's teamed up with who?"

"It's cabins, Percy. Annabeth will be with Malcolm, Luke will be with whoever he chooses, Beckendorf will be with one of his siblings, Clarisse will be with one of her siblings, Silena with be with one of her siblings and so on."

"So you're gonna be by yourself?"

"Well...I was thinking..."

"That we should work together?"

"Yeah. This time we won't fight to the death trying to design our chariot."

I grinned at Thalia. I had come to her after my talk with Chiron to ask her about the chariot race. So far the only thing we had come to talk about was the teams for the chariot race. They were apparently cabin based, but Thalia and I only had one cabin member each so that wouldn't work very well for either of us. Honestly, I thought we were probably going to lose the race, but we could give building a chariot a shot, right? The race was only a couple days away, though. There was also the fact that our teamwork wasn't always constant.

"I hope so, Ms. Grace."

She scowled. "Don't start that, Jackson."

I laughed. "You know I love pestering you."

"Actually, what I do know about you is that you love following your mother's advice, you lived on the streets for years, you are very loyal and kind to friends, and you are a very just person, sort of like Uncle Hades," Thalia stated. "I've never heard you say you love pestering me."

"Well maybe during the school year I developed a habit to pester you and like it," I suggested.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Percy. Now, I know you're probably thinking how the hell are we going to build a chariot, but I got that covered. Tyson made one for the race when he and I teamed up. We didn't win because of Beckendorf and his Greek fire, but we came close. The chariot rides well, and if horses didn't dislike me to a certain extent, I believe we could have won."

"Really? Tyson made a chariot already? Well, that sounds promising. You know, he is a pretty good engineer."

"And he also really loves you as a big brother," she added. She gave me a soft smile, which totally contrasted the dark, goth look she wore. "He never believed you were dead, though after everybody kept saying it he seemed to begin to believe. I think that's why he left for the underwater palace. He wanted me to give you this." She pulled out a watch from her jacket pocket. It was just a regular watch.

"What do I need a watch for?" I asked puzzled.

She shrugged and put it on my wrist. "He just said to hit the button when you get in trouble."

I nodded. "All right."

We stood there for another ten to twenty seconds. Camp activity bustled around us like usual, the occasional person saying hi to us. Annabeth and Luke even passed us once, though Annabeth looked way more comfortable hanging out with Luke. She didn't seem to posses that yearning-for-his-love feeling anymore. She looked at ease, like they'd come a long way in the past four weeks. I was happy for them. I mean, Annabeth was like my little sister. Athena may not favor me, and Poseidon may not favor Annabeth; but Annabeth and I got along. That's all that matters.

Luke himself looked more extroverted, as if he'd had a dream making him realize being quiet wouldn't help him get over Thalia. Like they say...

"If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't, it was never yours in the first place," I had muttered as they passed.

"Cheesy quotes for the win, huh?" Thalia snorted.

"It's true, is it not? You loved Luke and you let him go. He came back, so he was yours. The only difference was that you denied re-entrance. You were willing to sacrifice for Annabeth's happiness." I looked around. "Want to go to the beach? I feel more comfortable talking there."

"Sure."

Then we headed to the beach and I continued what I was going to say about sacrificing for Annabeth.

"Sacrifice is a great thing," I said.

"Are you sure?" Thalia countered. "If you sacrifice everything, you can end tragically. Remember your mom? Almost you yourself."

I smiled. "Well, if you sacrifice enough, you get good things in return. You have to know what is worth sacrificing for. Not everything is worth sacrificing for."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. It just comes to me. Don't you ever have those gut feelings?"

"Not very often. Instincts isn't something that comes to me easily. For me, I need to know. I guess your instincts comes from being on the streets on your own for so long and because of your dad's unpredictability. You never know what you can know. Besides, at first, someone might think you're dumb but—"

"I'm slow, not dumb."

"Exactly."

"Yeah." I looked out across Long Island Sound. "Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we didn't have to fight the Titans? What it would be like if we were just Big Three demigods when it didn't really matter? Do you think you, Annabeth, Luke and I would have normal lives?"

She smiled sadly. "I've always wished that, Percy. I don't want to be who I am right now, though everything in this life, so far, is going all right. It's just...they say the life of a hero is always tragic. The life of a heroine is usually lost in the echo. Demigods like you and I are always dragged into this chaos without any mercy. My father told me many times in dreams that my life, your life...our life, will be difficult and with a lot of suffering and pain."

"Your dad seems to really want to be involved with you," I remarked.

She gave me a small grin. "It still doesn't change the fact that he's a jerk."

Thunder rumbled in the sky.

Thalia just shook her head with a couple chuckles.

We stood in more silence as the sun began to set on us. The waves lightly pounded at the shore in a relaxed mood, sparkling as the last bits of the rays of sunlight shined down on them. Reflections of light bounced everywhere off of the water, sometimes shining straight into my eyes and temporarily blinding me.

"So, you were crying and devastated when I died?" I asked Thalia.

Thalia glanced at me nervously. "Well, I mean, yeah. Who wouldn't be if one of the three people they trusted the most was close to dying? That wound looked vicious and I was worried that you wouldn't make it. Besides, Annabeth and Luke also saw the stabbing. They just didn't think you'd disappear. Also...something you talked about to me before we got captured made me realize that...well, maybe I don't have to have feelings for Luke and that someone else who I already know is that love-of-my-life."

I stared at her until I slowly understood who was the other person. "Oh. I—"

I cut myself off. Sure Thalia was pretty, but I didn't feel that way toward her...did I? More confusion, chaos and drama for me to deal with. That's just great. My relationship with Thalia was more like a sibling one and we fought over stuff easily. We were very similar to each other. Us dating wouldn't work. But as much as I tried to force these thoughts into my head, there was just this overpowering factor that said, "Why not? Why wouldn't this work? You've worked together and fixed your problems in the past. Plus, you love her. You can't deny it."

Did I? Could I feel it? I asked myself those questions, but I couldn't get an answer. It was as if I had gone numb. Could I? Should I? Would I?

I remembered that impulsive kiss that she gave me before my escape from camp. Was it truly impulsive? Or did Thalia actually have hidden feelings for me that she didn't realize until now? I couldn't be certain, but I figured that had to be how she fell for me.

"I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable but—"

"It's fine, Thalia. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. The chariot race is in two days and I want to make sure we know how to run this track well."

"Yeah... Okay."

And awkwardly, we parted ways for the day.

The night before the race, I stayed late at the stables. I was talking to our horses, giving them one final brushing, when somebody right behind me said, "Fine animals, horses. Wish I'd thought of them."

A middle-aged guy in a postal carrier outfit was leaning against the stable door.

He was slim, with curly black hair under his white pith helmet, and he had a mailbag slung over his shoulder.

"Hermes," I said. He gave me a pointed look. I just grinned, knowing gods love being worshipped.

He shook his head. "My, my, Percy. You really are a son of Poseidon. Very disobedient. That'll kill you one day."

"Well, it's just who I am."

"Anyway, I am here for two reasons," he stated. "The first, thank you for saving Luke from being a guinea pig for the rest of his life. And don't trust the son of Nemesis. I am not just using you. You are an essential part of this world and you are a human being."

"Yeah, but the gods use humans. I'm not saying you guys are bad but..."

Hermes sighed. "We are godly beings, Percy. You have to understand that. The hardest part about being a god is that you must often act indirectly, especially when it comes to your own children. If we were to intervene every time our children had a problem…well, that would only create more problems and more resentment."

I thought about this for a moment. What if my father never acted indirectly and only directly? But I couldn't answer that because my father had to act directly toward me. Many times if he hadn't I would have died.

"If my father never acted directly, I would have died a long time ago," I said. "I know not everything is perfect, and you gods can't get everything right, but I know that some of you act like you are perfect and know everything."

"So, Kronos has kind of gotten to you," Hermes analyzed. He sighed once more. "But I guess you are right. Percy, I'm the god who travels to the mortal world the most. And I know that very well."

In the distance, the conch horn sounded, signaling curfew.

"You should get to bed," Hermes said. "I've helped you get into quite enough trouble this summer already. The second reason I came was to make this delivery."

"A delivery?"

"I am the messenger of the gods, Percy." He took an electronic signature pad from his mailbag and handed it to me. "Sign there, please."

I picked up the stylus before realizing it was entwined with a pair of tiny green snakes.

"Stop wriggling, guys," I said. The two snakes were tickling my hand as the slithered around the stylus. "I'm kind of ticklish."

Well, you were stabbed, George said. This annoys you more?

For once, Martha scolded, George is right.

"Well, I'm sorry," I said sardonically.

Martha and George wriggled under my fingers, forming a kind of pencil grip like the ones my special ed teacher made me use in second grade.

I signed my name and gave the pad back to Hermes.

In exchange, he handed me a sea-blue envelope.

"Good luck tomorrow," Hermes said. "Fine team of horses you have there, though you'll excuse me if I root for the Hermes cabin."

And don't be too discouraged when you read it, dear, Martha told me. He does have your interests at heart.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Don't mind her, George said. And next time, remember, snakes work for tips.

"Enough, you two," Hermes said. "Good-bye, Percy. For now."

Small white wings sprouted from his pith helmet. He began to glow, and I knew enough about the gods to avert my eyes before he revealed his true divine form. With a brilliant white flash he was gone, and I was alone with the horses.

I stared at the blue envelope in my hands. It was addressed in strong but elegant handwriting that I'd seen once before, on a package Poseidon had sent me last summer.

Percy Jackson

Camp Half-Blood

Farm Road 3.141

Long Island, New York 11954

I opened the envelope and unfolded the paper.

A short, neat sentence was printed in the middle of the paper:

Go for it.

The next morning, everybody was buzzing about the chariot race, though they kept glancing nervously toward the sky like they expected to see Stymphalian birds gathering. None did. It was a beautiful summer day with blue sky and plenty of sunshine. The camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green and lush; the white columns gleamed on the Greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.

And I was miserable. I'd been lying awake all night, thinking about Poseidon's "advice."

Go for it.

I didn't know exactly what he was referring to, but I had a good idea. Did everybody have to know everything that happened between demigods? I mean, everyone probably knew I was stabbed. Zeus was probably longing for my death. Did my own father have to invade with my love life?

Martha the snake had told me not to feel discouraged. What had she meant by that? Could there possibly be another meaning for the phrase? Or did it mean I shouldn't feel that going for Thalia was a bad thing. I tried to turn my thoughts to the race.

As Thalia and I drove onto the track, I couldn't help but admire what Tyson had done to the chariot. The carriage gleamed with bronze wheels were realigned with magical suspension so we glided along with hardly a bump. The rigging for the horses was so perfectly balanced that the team turned at the slightest tug of the reins.

Tyson had also made us two javelins, each with three buttons on the shaft. The first button primed the javelin to explode on impact, releasing razor wire that would tangle and shred an opponent's wheels. The second button produced a blunt (but still very painful) bronze spearhead designed to knock a driver out of his carriage. The third button brought up a grappling hook that could be used to lock onto an enemy's chariot or push it away.

The added fact that Thalia had lightning powers made me feel like we were overpowered.

Chiron was at the starting line, ready to blow the conch.

I looked over at Athena's chariot. Annabeth grinned at me. "Good luck, Percy. You're gonna need it."

"Oh, I thought you always think before you speak, Annabeth," I said with fake surprise.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Annabeth's right, Perce. You're gonna need the luck, but I'm gonna win," Luke called. I turned to his chariot. His right hand man was Connor Stoll. Travis was in the stands, but Hermes kids were good with trickery. I guarantee that he had something planned.

"Whatever, you guys," I said. "Thalia and I will win. You just watch."

Then Chiron blew the starting signal.

The horses knew what to do. We shot down the track so fast I would've fallen out if my arms hadn't been wrapped in the leather reins. Thalia held on tight to the rail. The wheels glided beautifully. We took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a sword attack from Luke in the Hermes chariot.

"Anybody on our flank?" I asked.

"Incoming!" Thalia yelled and threw a javelin in grappling-hook-mode. It knocked away a lead-weighted net that would have entangled us both. Apollo's chariot had come up on our flank. Before Annabeth could rearm herself, the Apollo warrior threw a javelin into our right wheel. The javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of our spokes. Our chariot lurched and wobbled. I was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but we somehow kept going.

Annabeth zoomed past us and the Apollo chariot.

"Damnit!" cursed Thalia. She blasted lightning at the wheels of the Apollo chariot causing the rider and the fighter's ride to become a lot more uncomfortable. "Go, Percy!"

"C'mon guys," I said to the horses. "I have a lot of apples for you afterwards. Hold on, Thals!"

The horses bolted forward even faster. They ran so quickly that it almost felt like Arion was pulling the chariot. You know, the fastest horse in the world.

About two seconds after Annabeth cleared the finish line for the final lap, we did. We could gain on her if nobody could catch up to us. Unfortunately, someone was able to catch up slightly to us and gave us a bit of a problem. It was Beckendorf in the Hephaestus chariot.

I held our own chariot together through the second turn, despite the groaning of the right wheel. We passed the starting line and thundered into our final lap.

The axle creaked and moaned. The wobbling wheel was making us lose speed, even though the horses were responding to my every command, running like a well-oiled machine.

The Hephaestus team was still gaining.

Beckendorf grinned as he pressed a button on his command console. Steel cables shot out of the front of his mechanical horses, wrapping around our back rail. Our chariot shuddered as Beckendorf's winch system started working—pulling us backward while Beckendorf pulled himself forward.

Thalia quickly burst into action. She used her spear to slice at the string. She was lucky that she was using a spear and not a pike because a pike only really had one super sharp point. Thalia's spear was specially designed that the sides were sharpened edges as well. She was able to cut the rope away before Beckendorf could gain enough ground on us.

We shuddered again as the winch system released, and the chariot shot forward.

"Whoa!" Thalia stumbled and just managed to hold on to the rail.

"You okay back there?" I yelled.

"I'm good!"

"Come on," I yelled. "Let's catch up to Annabeth!"

"Got it," she said. She gripped her spear tightly. "I'm ready to throw this. We'll win. Luke's too far behind to catch up, and Clarisse's won't be able to make it in time. As long as our wheel holds up."

We were coming up on the last turn and Annabeth was only a couple meters ahead of us, Malcolm staring at us empty-handed. He looked as though he'd used his weapons early to get the lead. Suddenly, behind us, two chariots exploded: the Hephaestus and Ares chariots. Greek fire engulfed the chariots, Clarisse cursing Beckendorf and running after him with a sword in her hand.

"Percy! Annabeth's going to win! I missed my shot!" Thalia told me.

I cursed to myself. There was no other way to sabotage the Athena chariot, and because of that, Annabeth would win the chariot. I would've given up if not for the watch. Thalia hadn't told me if it had any real purpose at all but to tell time; however, Tyson had supposedly said press the button. So, I punched the stopwatch button. Instantly, the watch changed. It expanded, the metal rim spiraling outward like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapping around my forearm until I was holding a round war shield four feet wide, the inside soft leather, the outside polished bronze engraved with designs I didn't have time to examine.

"Grab the reins!" I ordered Thalia.

I quickly pulled it off my arm, and threw it at Annabeth's chariot's wheel like a Frisbee. It shattered the wheel of her chariot. It exploded into what seemingly was a million fragments, and Annabeth and Malcolm spilled out of the chariot. No longer having a leader, the horses reared in confusion and stampeded towards the stands.

The crowd scattered, escaping the danger of wild horses. But a lot of the crowd cheered, Annabeth's cabinmates giving us a reluctant round of applause. We nearly crashed because of our wheel, but it held and we thundered past the finish line.

Luke pulled up to the finish line a good five seconds after us and grinned. "Good race, guys! And you know I was joking when I said I would win. Jeez, Annabeth really has to know me. She tied up Travis who was going to set off a Greek fire bomb in all of the chariots."

"Congrats, you two," Annabeth said, half of her clothes covered in dirt.

"Thanks." I high-fived Thalia and gave her a hug. "It means a lot coming from the runner-up."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Anyways," Luke interrupted. "We'd better get going now. Capture the Flag is going to happen soon, and Annabeth and I are teamed up together. See you guys."

"Yeah, see ya!"

I watched as Annabeth and Luke left, walking away and talking as if there had never been problems between them. They laughed and cheerily talked, not caring what others thought of them.

"Wow, okay they've really changed," I said.

"They should have," Thalia told me. "I spent so much time on my own so that I isolated myself from them. They had to have gotten along to be able to hang around normally without you. Don't think that everyone was depressed when they heard that you were probably dead."

I smiled. "Like I've always said, I wouldn't want it any either way. Getting credit is totally overrated."

"You can say that again."

"So, what are the teams for Capture the Flag?"

She gave me a sly grin. "I'm not telling you. No way."

"Oh, come on! Really? What's wrong with you?" I complained. I pouted like a little kid. "It's like everyone's changed in the past few weeks. It's as if I'm stepping into a whole new dimension."

"This isn't sci-fi, Percy." Thalia rolled her eyes. "And it's not supernatural. This is real life. Plus...I'm still not going to tell you. You're going to have to find out soon enough." I gave her a stern glare. "Fine, I'll give you a hint. You're with a team that you don't exactly like."

I scrunched up my eyebrows trying to think who I don't exactly like. Well, for one there's the Ares cabin; then the number two spot goes to the Aphrodite cabin except for Silena. That's really only it. Wait a minute...

"Oh no, really?" I exclaimed loudly.

Thalia started laughing hysterically.

"Oh shut up, Thalia. What if you were on that team?"

She continued laughing.

"Thalia," I said in an impatient voice. "Stop laughing."

She was still laughing, not bothering to respond to my demand. I growled in frustration and she laughed even harder. What in the world would make her shut up? I thought to past days, weeks, months and years to find out what would make Thalia stop laughing. I felt really frustrated when I couldn't figure out any way to unless...

I grinned. As Thalia was laughing, I stepped close to her, grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to me so that we could feel each other's breaths. Her breath hitched when I did that and I could almost sense her mind racing and her heart pounding. She immediately stopped laughing. The weird thing was that I didn't expect this to feel...abnormal. I mean, it's not like we danced together a lot, but I thought it would just feel fun to make her look surprised and nervous. It wasn't like that at all. Instead, I felt my own version of the butterflies pop up. My own heart thumped in my chest, and I felt like I was sweating buckets.

My mind blanked for a second and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, my hands behind my back supporting me as I was leaning backwards, as if I were trying to scramble away. Thalia was standing above me, looking hurt and shocked at the same time.

"I...Thalia—"

"Huh?" She turned to face me. It looked like she was trying to hide it, but I could tell she was hurt.

"Thalia, I—"

"Oh, that?" She referred to it as if it were a dangerous thing. "No, no. It's fine, Percy. I totally understand. I mean, I know you've always liked Annabeth."

"Wait, Thalia—"

"It's fine, Percy," she said. Stiffly and briskly she walked away.

"Wait, Thalia!" I called. Other campers had been long gone, and that seemed like a symbol to me. It was desolate in this area in terms of people. No one was around, everyone had gone off to do their separate things. To me, it was a symbol that if I continued this way, no one would help me in the future. My future would become desolate and empty.

I looked down at myself and suddenly felt like stabbing myself. Why would I act like that to someone who was pretty much my best friend? Was I turning into Luke from earlier, neglecting Annabeth, who fell in love with him? Thalia fell in love with me it seemed, so why couldn't I feel normal about it?

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that maybe it wasn't because I didn't love her back. I had "died" and just come back, feeling like I'd only been gone for a few days. Here at camp, the four weeks must have been agonizing for Thalia to wait, and I just came back and ruined it all. I admit, I may have felt something for Annabeth in the past, but now I realize something about myself that I have never realized before.

I'm falling in love.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the hundred who've put this on their favorites, followed and reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts taken from Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

I also apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719