Thalia POV

Life isn't fair.

Life is cruel, plays tricks with your mind, and then tosses you away when it's done with you.

Percy Jackson, my cousin, did not deserve to die.

Death almost has a sense of humor.

Even after I came to consciousness, I just leaned on a rock and stared into the distance as I heard the sobs from Hazel and some stranger. Jason even had a small tear find its way down his cheek. The only person not crying was Nico, who stood off in the distance. He was closing his eyes, probably trying to find Percy's consciousness in the Underworld. Or he better be, at least.

My mind wandered to the endless arguments with Percy, but my mind seized on the one memory that I had, when I had first woken up after a decade of being a pine tree and protecting Camp Half-Blood. I was completely confused, and I remember that the first thing I saw was the caring sea green orbs of my cousin. I had some huge blanket over me that felt really warm and it felt like I was getting stronger by the second. Despite the warm blanket, I was shivering. Fiercely.

I was so confused; I didn't know if it was a dream or reality. I just looked into those calm green eyes, and I couldn't tell who they were. His confidence and care had reminded me of Luke, and my mind seized on him and where he was. But Luke had blue eyes…

Someone lifted me by the shoulders and put me in a sitting position, and my head found its way on a shoulder. I heard voices, one of outrage and I felt movement on the ground.

I opened my eyes. "Who-"

The strange guy who was holding me was about my age and was cute, in a playful, obnoxious sort of way. He grinned reassuringly, even though I didn't know where I was.

Luke? Where was Luke?

Who are all these people? Is that Grover?

Grover!

Who was the horse-man?

And who was the blonde girl in my peripheral vision? She was crying while looking at me…she had stormy grey eyes.

No…

There was only one blonde girl with stormy gray eyes, but she was a child when I had last seen her. This couldn't be her, all grown up.

The dude's voice jarred me back to reality as he was holding me. My feet and hands were covered with roots. He smelled faintly of a sea breeze, and his eyes once again comforted me.

"I'm Percy. You're safe now."

My eyes widened. I had heard his name before…Perseus Jackson…was this the same person? I had a dream about him. I looked in his eyes. "Strangest dream…"

He grinned again. He sure smiled a lot. "It's okay."

I stared off into space as I felt his caring presence holding me when I was at my weakest moment. I remembered when I drove Apollo's chariot with Percy right there. I remembered when he suggested that we should take the long way instead of climbing up to the mountain. I looked at him, questioning myself why he would do this because I had heard of Luke's betrayal of me and couldn't trust anyone again. I remembered when I told him about my first offer to join the Hunters and my rivalry with Zoe. I remembered his face when I told him that he would be the child of the prophecy. The emotions in those eyes that I knew so well went like this: shock, fear, denial, wariness, acceptance, and determination. I remembered when I promised him a cheeseburger after recovering the sword of Hades.

He was the one who had suggested for me to stop my punk/rock/alternative dress style and go for a more mature and serious look. I was hesitant at first, shocking him with my finger, but I considered it; he was someone that I trusted though. Then, I stopped cutting my hair and let it grow out. Me being a Hunter, it never got tangled. Everyone complimented me on my look, and I silently thanked Percy for it.

The one who had saved Olympus, the world, gone through the prison of evil itself and tumbled right back out of it, stronger than ever.

A hero's fate is never peaceful. They will always have epic deaths.

I thought that me being a Hunter would completely prepare me for the death of loved ones. Especially heroes.

It didn't.

The Hunters isn't what people make it out to be. It isn't a whole bunch of girls lying in trees and shooting deer to eat. It's a boot camp. And I am the lieutenant of it. The roster was made up of twenty girls, and our newest addition was Reyna, who I left in charge when I went on this trip.

Seven principles that I teach my Hunters.

Discipline. Awareness. Efficiency. Style. Teamwork. Sacrifice.

And the one principle that sets us from others similar groups, the one that Percy majors in.

Morals.

Percy would've made a great Hunter.

Oh gods, what would his mother think? I remember when she gave us a ride to a middle school dance and she was being the stereotypical overbearing mother.

Sweet Sally Jackson.

An overbearing, loving, caring mother is better than no mother at all.

What would Annabeth think?

I smiled sadly as a tear traced its way down my cheek. Annabeth. My little Anna. It was obvious that she liked Percy, and yet Percy was oblivious and Annabeth didn't want to admit it.

It was cute.

A voice brought me back to reality.

"Are you okay?"

The voice belonged to the stranger. A girl. She was about seventeen, who was about 5'7, with tears coming down her face also. Where her tears fell, the ground sunk in and fresh, green flower buds grew in the ground. She radiated power and I realized that this was the same person that saved me from Rhode's killing blow. The same person who blocked Rhode's sword. Who was she? A goddess? No, I would've recognized her.

One thing about her, though, she was really beautiful. Like, seriously beautiful. I would never tell them this, but she had Artemis and Aphrodite beat in terms of beauty if the two goddesses' beauty was combined. She looked like a model, with a perfect body and everything. She gave me a tearful smile of encouragement. However, my time with Artemis enhanced my ability to see emotions underneath facades; and she was hiding extreme amounts of sadness.

Where was that psycho, Rhode?

I wanted a rematch with her…little did anyone else know that she got into my head and played hallucinations in my mind while we were fighting. Of my mother and her prostitute ways, of the loud arguments that she and Zeus had in the house, and of Hera's bitterness towards me. Luke's betrayal.

Hazel jogged over to me, sobbed and hugged me. Awkwardly, I hugged her back. I looked at the stranger, and she nodded towards me. "I am Calypso. I was a…friend of Percy's."

So this was the infamous Calypso character of myth. The one with Odysseus…and the one with the island that Percy washed up on. She was beautiful, I would give her that. And she radiated a quiet power and a natural peacefulness about her. I could see why Percy was torn of whether to come to this cruel reality or stay with Calypso.

I raised an eyebrow. "Was?"

Calypso closed her eyes. "I had saved you from the Rhodos."

"The Rhodos?"

Calypso nodded solemnly. "The avatar of water. She has complete mastery of the element, plus was trained by the Titan of War and battle. She was raised by nymphs, and was the consort of Helios."

I thought back to Apollo, when I called him hot. "The guy…who used to drive the sun across the sky."

She nodded. "Then, we engaged in a quick skirmish before she gained a slight upper hand. You, looking like an experienced fighter, knows that slight upper hand can result in defeat or death, correct?"

I nodded; Artemis had drilled that into us several times. Calypso nodded. "I was leaning towards the latter. Rhode advanced towards me, past a severely weakened Percy."

I sat forward, my eyes widening. "You mean he wasn't dead?"

She hesitated. "When I came here, he was alive. You were unconscious. In a last-ditch effort, Percy used the last of his strength to hold the Rhodos while the thin boy over there blasted the two of them with the pitchfork of Hades."

Percy….

Was alive? And sacrificed his life to save ours and to beat Rhode?

And Nico shot them?

I yelled and huge blasts of lightning flashed in the sky. I held out my hand and an invisible force threw Nico towards me. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him up. "Why? WHY?!"

He got over his initial shock and sobered up. "Percy asked me to. Actually, he commanded me to. I've been trying to reach him, but I can't."

I threw him to the ground. "Well try harder."

I sank to the ground and sighed. Now I know how Annabeth felt, except not as bad because at least there's a peace in knowing that Percy's safe in the grips of death. I came to the realization that there was going to be one point when Jason dies, when Nico dies, when Grover dies…and when Annabeth dies.

And I'll still be living.

I looked out into space as Calypso sat on the ground next to me, her weapons glowing and reappearing on her back. "You know that Percy saved me from my prison. I never wanted to be saved."

I looked at her, and her caramel brown eyes looked back at me, not backing down from my intimidating gaze. She looked back at the spot where Nico blasted them (apparently). "He washed up on my island, and he looked amazing. I fell in love with him just talking to him as he would tell stories about his friend Grover playing Hacky Sack and whatnot."

I smiled sadly. He was such a Seaweed Brain. What I would give to be able to call him that one more time.

"I was forced by the Fates to give him the choice to go back to his life or to stay with me. He looked torn, but I could read his expression. He thought about Annabeth, and his mother, and of you. So when he left, I was heartbroken again, a pawn of the Fates. Suddenly, Hermes appeared in a boat, telling me that Percy freed me as part of his wish on Olympus. I was ecstatic, but sad, as I had to leave my home on Ogygia."

I realized, listening to Calypso, that she wasn't that bad at all.

"I explored the world, and realized the evil that was present in it. The evil was bad, so I realized that I needed to become badder than the bad."

I nodded; I could see where she got that from. I sighed. "Percy…he was my cousin. I'm a daughter of Zeus, and blessed by Artemis as the lieutenant of the Hunters."

Calypso nodded. Suddenly, the ground started to shake, and a huge hole burst through the mountain. A Cyclops poked his head through, his nose moving. "What is all this noise?"

He looked straight at us, his nose following us. He gave a toothless grin."Half-Bloods."

I got my weapons out, but he scooped us up with a great speed and brought us into the cold cave, the mountain sealing behind him.