"It isn't funny," Thalia growled.
Annabeth howled with laughter as tears streamed from her eyes. "My sides are killing me," she gasped, curled into a ball on her bunk.
"Stop laughing." Thalia pounded her fist into her palm. "Or I'll deck you." It was an empty threat considering who she was speaking to.
"I…can't." Annabeth managed to get out. "Too…funny."
On the next bed, Percy, who was actually afraid of Thalia, was biting his fingers in a futile attempt to force himself into sobriety. It was hopeless. Laughter spilled from the gap between his teeth. His whole bunk was shaking with the force of his giggles. "Pink," he kept giggling. "Pink."
Thalia jumped to her feet, looming over them. "If you don't stop right now," she warned.
"Kill me," Percy gasped. "I can take it."
Thalia landed her spear into the centre of his pillow, three inches from his face.
"The next one's going through your big mouth," she yelled.
"My pillow!" Percy tried to pull his pillow off the spear, causing the triangle-shaped blade to tear through the rest of the fluffy material. This time it was Thalia's turn to hold back laughs as Percy stared incredulously at the gaping tear that was now half the length of his pillow. Stuffing spilled out from the torn sheet, falling to the floor in soft white clumps.
"You…" Percy's expression resembled a six-year-old whose pet goldfish had just died.
"I warned you," Thalia folded her arms smugly.
Her triumphant expression lasted only a moment before it was smothered by a faceful of fluff. Thalia inhaled stuffing as she gasped, stumbling backwards into a curtain.
"You killed my pillow!" Percy, all laughter gone, vaulted his bed and smacked Thalia again with his broken pillow.
Thalia retreated from his attack, blinded by spotless white pillow stuffing, then stepped onto something slippery and her foot shot out from beneath her. She grabbed fistfuls of curtain as she flailed for balance, and the curtain rail snapped off the wall as her whole body weight pulled on it. The rail hit Percy on the head as he bent down to batter her with his rapidly deflating pillow, then Thalia's flailing foot hit him square in the gut so hard that he flew backwards. Thalia swiped the stuffing out of her face in time to see one end of the curtain rail coming straight for her. She went cross-eyed as the bar hit her in the forehead with just enough force to knock her flat.
The cabin fell silent as Percy and Thalia caught their breath. Annabeth, a privileged spectator to the two cousins' antics, burst into a renewed fit of giggles, the only sound besides the gurgling of the saltwater fountain in the middle of the room.
"Ow," Percy groaned, curled in a ball on the floor.
"Sorry," Thalia got to her feet and offered him a hand. "Didn't mean to kick you."
"You're getting me a new pillow," Percy told her, his voice slightly strained with pain.
"All right," Thalia saw the way he stood slightly hunched and felt a touch guilty. It probably hurt much more than he was letting on.
Annabeth continued to howl with laughter, the sound echoing around the otherwise silent cabin.
"Will you stop that?" Thalia snapped.
"No," Annabeth gasped. "The curtain…the pillow…"
"That curtain hit me!" Percy protested. "My pillow died!"
"I saw…" Annabeth giggled. "So funny."
"I'm in pain and you're laughing at me?" Percy said incredulously.
"Yep." Annabeth writhed on her bed, the whole bunk shaking with the force of her laughter.
Thalia and Percy shared a glance.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" A wicked grin formed on Thalia's face.
They both started towards Annabeth.
"Grab the blanket," Percy told Thalia. "I'll get the other end."
Annabeth had turned away from them in an attempt to sober herself up and didn't see them coming. Caught up in her laughs, she had no idea what was going on.
"Roll her up!" Percy said gleefully, grabbing the edge of the blanket and throwing it over her.
Since Annabeth made her bed every morning her blanket was spread in a neat rectangle across the length and breadth of the bed. Percy and Thalia pinned Annabeth down under the heavy cover and rolled her into the blanket like a kebab wrap.
"Nooo!" Too late, Annabeth realised her predicament and tried to kick free, inadvertently straightening her body to align it with the blanket instead, making it even easier for Percy and Thalia to roll her up. Thalia vaulted over the bed and sat on her.
"You like laughing so much?" Annabeth's feet were poking out of the end of the roll, a perfect target.
Annabeth tried to buck free, but the blanket had been rolled tight and Thalia was too heavy.
Thalia reached forward and grabbed her feet.
"No!" Annabeth squealed. "No!"
"Too bad." Thalia raked her fingers across Annabeth's sole, drawing an instantaneous reaction.
Annabeth went crazy, shrieking into the blanket and trying to squirm free. Percy got a hand on the vulnerable back of her neck and added to the tickles.
"Nooooooo!" Annabeth howled.
"Beg me," Thalia grinned.
"Never," Annabeth gasped.
"Your loss." Thalia shrugged, and started tickling her again, sending Annabeth into a renewed fit of struggles.
Pinned down on her stomach, Annabeth put all her strength into kicking both her legs backwards and upwards, surprising Thalia who dived off the bed to avoid getting her face kicked in. Freed of Thalia's weight at last, Annabeth log-rolled off the bed.
"Hey!" Percy climbed onto the bed, trying to reach her.
Celestial bronze flashed as Annabeth cut the blanket in half. Annabeth sat up sharply as Percy lunged for her, accidentally butting him in the gut.
"Ooooooooww!" Percy tumbled to the floor in a sprawl of limbs, taking Annabeth with him.
"You Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth slapped his back, though not very hard. "Get off me."
"My stomach," Percy groaned in response.
Annabeth got her palms under his chest, bench-pressed him up and pushed him aside. She climbed to her feet. "You're heavy."
Thalia popped up warily from the other side of the bed. "How did you-"
Annabeth showed her the dagger at her side. Thalia slapped her forehead. "I forgot you carry that wherever you go."
"Help," Percy croaked from the floor.
"I didn't hit you that hard," Annabeth rolled her eyes as she climbed over the bed towards the bedside table.
"You…have a hard head." Percy replied.
Thalia walked around the foot of the bed to inspect her apparently wounded cousin. "Softie. My nine-year-old girls are tougher than you."
Annabeth pulled a flask of nectar from a drawer in bedside table. "Have a sip." She tossed it to Percy.
Thalia caught the flask before it could hit Percy in the head and handed it to him. The son of Poseidon was clearly in no shape to be catching thrown objects. She kicked a clump of stuffing. "Guess this is my fault. D'you have a broom in here?"
"Yeah." Percy rolled onto the floor and bent to fumble under his bunk. "It's here…somewhere…got it."
He sat up triumphantly, one hand clutching a broom and dustpan handle, then groaned again as the sudden movement caused his stomach to throb.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "So much for your beloved abs."
"You've seen his abs?" Thalia's head snapped up.
Annabeth started to turn slightly red. "He sometimes sleeps without a shirt-"
"I knew it!" Thalia yelled. "Annabeth Chase-"
Someone knocked on the door, interrupting her.
"Percy! Annabeth! It's us!" The guy's voice sounded familiar to Thalia.
"Jason!" Percy broke into a big smile. "Come on in."
The door swung open to reveal Jason and Piper standing on the porch. They noticed Thalia instantly.
"Thalia!" Piper's eyes widened.
Thalia blinked. "What's funny?" she asked, then realised her cap and hood had fallen off her head in the chaos of the afternoon. "Oh, no…"
"Hey, sis." Jason fought keep a straight face. "Nice hairdo."
Thanks for the views everyone! The next chapter is capture-the-flag! Lots of action planned.