Hi there! I'm back from vacation. Please read the bottom AN. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Percy Jackson. I do, however, own Ms. Clio, Mellarn Academy, and any other unrecognizable characters in here.

It's been six months. Six. Months. Six months since we've heard from her. Six months since we've seen her.

Six months since Thalia Grace disappeared.

It's been four months since most of the campers gave up hope.

It's been three months since Artemis replaced Thalia with Pheobe.

It's been one month since Annabeth gave up hope.

And it's been one week since I gave up hope.

We've tried. We've looked everywhere. We've had the Hunters search the wilderness. We've sent out quests to try to find her, to even pick up a trace. But none of the campers could find anything. We've tried to contact Olympus, but it's closed. It's been closed for six months. Ever since Thalia disappeared.

We have spent the last six months looking fervently for the daughter of Zeus, doing nothing else. Not going to school, not hanging around at camp. Just looking for a person who seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth.

Last week, Chiron finally persuaded us to stop looking and start school up again. I didn't like it, but I agreed. So now, Annabeth, Clarisse, the Stoll Brothers, and I are headed to our new school, Mellarn Academy. I hope it does us some good. We all need something happy in our life right now.

"C'mon Percy, let's get seats near the front," Annabeth says, tugging my arm and pulling me to a desk. I plop down in the chair with a sigh, looking around the room, uninterested with what was going on. Clarrisse is sitting a couple of rows back, scowling fiercely. The Stoll brothers are sitting the row before the last row, sporting matching grins and giggling. I snort. They must be pulling another prank or something. I close my eyes and slump down in my chair, trying to block out the insane chatter around me. Gods, these kids are so loud.

Suddenly, the noise stops, and my eyes snap open. A woman with light brown hair shuts the door before walking to the teacher desk, adjusting the square glasses that frame her intelligent hazel eyes. She sets the bundle of papers she is carrying down on her desk before turning to face us. She smiles brightly and says, "Good morning." She pauses, as though waiting for us to chant the phrase back, but the classroom is silent except for a few murmurs. She continues, unfazed. "I am your History teacher, Ms. Clio. I hope we'll become close this year." Ms. Clio turns around and grabs a sheet of paper and a pencil before clearing her throat. "I'm going to do a roll call so I can learn who's who. Hayley Aarons?"

"Here," calls out a brunette with long, curly hair.

"Seth Alexandrov?"

"'Sup?" replies a tan boy to my left, flicking his dark hair out of his eyes.

I zone out after this point, looking out the window at a few birds that fly past. Annabeth keeps poking me, hissing to pay attention, but I ignore her.

"Madeliene Frederickson?"

"Hi," says a high-pitched voice that comes from a few rows back. I don't even bother turning around to see who it is.

"Thalia Grace?"

Instantly, I sit up, my head snapping towards Annabeth. She meets my gaze with her stormy gray stare, and a million emotions pass between us.

Do you think it's...her? Annabeth's eyes plainly ask.

I shrug, silently informing her that I don't know.

"I'm here." That voice. It is the same voice I've been longing to hear for six months. Annabeth and I whip around, both of us frantically trying to locate the source of the voice. I scan a number of faces, my eyes aching for that spiky black hair, those electric blue eyes, and that pale skin.

"Percy," Annabeth whispers, and points. I follow the direction of her finger, and I see her.

She is sitting in the last row, at the desk farthest to the left. I take in the unfamiliar bright T-shirt and regular, un-ripped jeans, thinking, no, this can't be her, because Thalia would be wearing black, ripped clothes...My thoughts trail off as I see the girl's hair. Her hair is a couple of inches longer than shoulder length, and it is less spikier than Thalia's, but it's the same shade as Thalia's. My eyes now roam over her face. That ski-slope nose, those high cheekbones and dramatically arched eyebrows, the splash of freckles that disrupt that creamy, pale skin...all familiar. But those eyes, those bright startling blue eyes are unmistakable. They are Thalia Grace's eyes, without a doubt.

That answers my first question. This is definitely and most certainly Thalia Grace, my Thalia Grace. But that leaves all of my other questions unanswered.

Where the Hades has she been?

Why did she leave and not tell any of us.

And, most importantly, why in Zeus' name is she not wearing black?

Jumbled thoughts and questions swirl around my brain, tangling together and getting mixed up; a horrific mess of questions and imagined answers, of half-developed theories. I can't concentrate on the lesson at all. I am in my own little world right now, not taking in a word the teacher says. Instead of looking at the white board like I'm supposed to, my eyes keep flickering back over to her. I take in every inch of her, trying to memorize every single detail.

A loud, obnoxious bell startles me out of my thoughts and I leap up, determined to go talk to Thalia. Before I can, though, I'm forced out of the room by the swarm of my classmates that push me out the door.

"Annabeth!" I call out, and she hurries over to me, her expression perturbed and her face pale. "That girl-"

"I know," she interrupts me softly. "I know, Percy." We wait in silence as the rest of the students leave. When the last one, a blond boy with cold blue eyes, exits the classroom, a wave of panic sweeps over me. Where has she gone? I scan the hallway, panicked, looking for her. My eyes lock on a head of black hair, and instantly, I'm running, without waiting for Annabeth.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouts, but I don't stop for her. All that matters right now is getting to Thalia.

I've already lost her once.

It's not going to happen again.

Hi there! Really important Author's Note (long one, too) so please read!

Regarding this chapter: This takes place either after the whole Roman-Greek thing or it take the place of TLH. You decide. It's going to be three or four chapters. And no, it isn't Perlia, just Perlia friendship. There isn't going to be Percabeth, either, just friendship. And yes, I did bring Connor, Travis, and Clarisse just because I wanted to. They have no point in this story. VIRTUAL COOKIE TO THOSE WHO SPOTTED THE PJO CHARACTER WHOSE NAME WAS NOT MENTIONED BUT HIS/HER APPEARANCE WAS!

Regarding the story: Thank you all for being completely honest with me. I really appreciate it. I've decided how long this story will be. 40 chapters. I'm going to do this four-shot (or three-shot) and one special one-shot for the end. Thank you all for sticking with me, I truly appreciate it. But I have some important and VERY exciting news! I AM GOING TO DO A PERLIA STORY! Yes, a PERLIA story. I'll post it after Of Shocks and Seashells is done, and hopefully you guys will check it out. :) It's VERY AU, so beware. Thanks again, guys!

HUGGLES!

~lilmissf