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Chapter Ten: Thalia

Thalia bit her lip hard to stifle her laughs at Annabeth's face. Her mouth had fallen open wide, and her eyes seemed just about ready to fall out of their sockets. "T-Tha-Thalia," Annabeth breathed, slowly pulling her sword away. "Oh, my gods! Thalia!" She exclaimed.
Said girl couldn't take it and burst out laughing. "Oh, you should see your face, girl!" Thalia stood up, patting down her clothes to remove any pieces of grass.

Annabeth frowned, "This isn't funny. What in Tartarus is going on? Did you put that envelope on my bed?" She demanded.

Thalia sobered up, sighing. "Yes, Anne, I did. I'm assuming you want an explanation?"

Annabeth nodded. She hesitated before sheathing her sword, then crossed her arms. "Well?" Annabeth looked at Thalia expectantly.

Thalia looked around, "Can you—can we do this in private, please? I can't risk anyone else hearing."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, looking suspicious. And rightly so, Thalia thought. "Fine," Annabeth huffed at last.

"Thank you. Come," Thalia led them behind the tall bushes, and she could just hear the gears turning in Annabeth's head. They sat down on the other side of the bushes, on the grass. "Explain," Annabeth demanded curtly.

"Look, this is going to be a lot to process, so bear with me, alright?" Thalia said. She had to make this as easy as possible, but it was going to be a ton to gather at once. Annabeth nodded, and Thalia began.

"Well, it all started off when Jason and Piper were taken—er, kidnapped," She corrected sheepishly. Annabeth's gray eyes narrowed, "What exactly do you have to do with that?"

"Just let me finish. Keep the questions till the end."

When Annabeth nodded again—her lips pursed this time—Thalia resumed. "So, you know how after the war with Gaea the two camps were joined? Well, me and a few others, we decided to start our own…call it a camp, that's our aim for now. We set up in this magically protected piece of land, and we have some buildings set up—believe it or not.

"Our goal is to have one camp that represents both Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. But this one, we rule it ourselves. Obviously, there'll be organization with the positions, we have two people set to be praetors. And they'll be in a meeting to figure out how we'll sort the campers.

"We have a few campers right now, but we're recruiting more. We're bringing new demigods there, too. The thing is, we need someone—and just temporarily—to be our inside man. Well, in this case, woman. And so you see, you—"

"You want me to spy on Camp Half-blood for you?" Annabeth's face was blank, and Thalia hated more than anything that she couldn't read her expression.

Thalia swallowed, "Kind of. Not really. Yes. No."

"What do Jason and Piper have to do with this?"

Thalia paused, "We made them an offer. They held up their side, so once a few more things are set, they'll take over as praetors. But I'll be the one in charge."

Annabeth frowned in obvious confusion, "You lost me. You have two praetors, but you're in charge?"

"Again, this is going to be a mix of both the Roman and Greek camps. We have some of each."

"I see. What buildings do you have set up so far?" She asked curiously.

Thalia thought for a moment, "We have a small infirmary to help us get by for now. Uh, we have the main building, which we call the Big House Two, and the Praetor House, my place, and some cabins."

Annabeth nodded, her expression still impossible to distinguish. "Hazel and Reyna?"

"They're safe. They're all safe, don't worry."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, then her resolve crumpled. "How is Piper? Is she alright? We saw blood when she and Jason were taken—are either of them hurt?"

Thalia's eyes widened, whoa! "Don't worry, they're fine. Both of them. Piper misses you." I think. Thalia remembered how Piper and Jason got into a fight but decided to keep that information from later. No need to make Annabeth's poor brain hurt even more with the overload of information.

"Reyna, she hasn't hurt Piper, right?"

"No," Thalia said slowly. "Why?"

Annabeth shrugged, "She'd do anything to get rid of Piper. She has this obsession with Jason. Not sure if it's a Roman thing or something 'cause Jason seems obsessed with Piper, Hazel with Frank and vise versa…." She trailed off at the incredulous look on Thalia's face.

"Well, you are taking this better than I thought."

Annabeth shrugged, a thoughtful look crossing her features. Then, to Thalia's surprise and pleasant confused shock, Annabeth laughed. She laughed.

When she didn't stop emitting her cackles, Thalia panicked. She broke Annabeth!

"Oh—oh my! I'm sorry! This is just crazy shit, Thalia! I'm so sorry," She calmed down, letting out a few stray chuckles.

Thalia blinked out of her stupor, "Will you do it, then?" She asked hopefully.

Annabeth bit her lip, the humor draining out of her face. Even in the darkness, Thalia could see the conflict going on in her friend's head.

"What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Well, we need more people. I was thinking we could start with the essentials, Nyssa—to help with engineering. Will—for infirmary help. Rachel and Nico, well, they're our friends, you know?"

"Yes, but, like, what do you want me to do?"

Thalia couldn't help her laugh, "Just bring them here. And make sure not. A single. Soul. Knows."

She saw Annabeth frown, "What about Percy? He knows me so well, I can't hide anything from him if I tried."

Thalia huffed out a breath, "Try. If you have to, bring him along. I mean, the plan was to bring you two eventually…" Thalia trailed off.

"How about our stuff?" Annabeth relaxed a bit. Good, she was getting comfortable with the situation. That would make all of this easier. "I'll make another trip here in a few days to get whatever whoever needs from wherever."

Annabeth blinked, "You lost me. Again."

Thalia chuckled, "Don't worry about it. If you want, since you have in, bring a small bag of things you absolutely cannot live without for a week, maximum."

"I can't fit Percy in a bag, you know," Annabeth crossed her arms.

"Don't worry, you'll survive without him," She chuckled.

Annabeth frowned sadly. "It's hard to live without someone you love," She noted.

Thalia didn't know how to answer that. "Anyway, so you'll do it?"

Annabeth's lips broke out into a smile, "This sounds so cool! I'm really excited!"

"Well, there's something nobody would've expected," Thalia smirked.

"I'll do it."

"You'll do it?" Thalia raised her brows excitedly.

Annabeth nodded vigorously, "Damn right, I will."