~THALIA~

Sending one last sorrowful glance at the form lying crumpled inside Leo's ring of fire, Thalia quietly beckoned to her two companions and left the cave - little more than a crevice, really - on silent feet. Heart weighed down with grief, she made a silent promise to the broken girl she considered her little sister. Don't worry, Annabeth. I'll find Percy, she vowed, even though in her heart she knew it was a hopeless endeavour. She owed it to both Percy and Annabeth to try, though; and she knew that if Percy was really gone, Annabeth would soon follow. She couldn't bear to lose both of them, even if they would be better off dead than facing Tartarus again.

Dragging a kicking and screaming Annabeth away from the site where they had crash-landed was no easy feat, and as a result they'd only managed to relocate a few miles away from the vast multicoloured pool, luckily finding a small crevice where they could regroup and bide their time. Their only sources of information were either suspected to be dead or alternately screaming and sobbing on the ground, nursing a shattered heart. Nico would be no help, as he'd barely gotten a glimpse before being kidnapped and put into that accursed bronze jar; his features were already starting to look a little washed out, a perpetually terrified look plastered on his face. She couldn't blame him; from what little she'd seen of Tartarus so far, it was no amusement park.

This particular part of Tartarus was eerily devoid of life, the very atmosphere itself silent and oppressive. Thalia hardly even dared to breathe as she, Frank and Hazel darted from boulder to boulder, attempting to seek out as much cover as they could, even though there was little in the sparse, bare landscape of Tartarus. Every so often, there was a slight rumble in the ground that caused all three of them to freeze and tighten their grip on their weapons, fearing the worst. They were all on edge, ready to leap into action at a moment's notice.

Though they all knew it was dangerous and chances were Percy was well and truly gone, it had been an unanimous decision to send out a scouting party after him. He was a part of their family, and had saved all of their lives on multiple occasions. None of them could bear to give up on him if there was even a slight chance that he had survived; and knowing Percy, he just might: he was a master in defying all odds. The only question had been who to send. Annabeth was immediately out of the question; she was desperate and unhinged, and would most likely throw herself into the deadly pool the first chance she got, throwing caution to the wind. Leo was needed to maintain her makeshift fire-prison, and Piper had adamantly refused to be parted from him; that left Jason, Nico, Thalia, Frank and Hazel. Ghastly white and slumped against the nearest surface, Nico was clearly in no condition to go anywhere, and Jason had graciously offered to watch him, which had led to more than a few raised brows and knowing glances. Apparently, they'd been growing close ever since an excursion during their journey on the Argo II, and neither would divulge exactly what happened, piquing their friends' curiosities. In other circumstances, Thalia would be relentlessly grilling her cousin and brother on what exactly had happened, but right now she had more pressing matters on her mind. Which led to her current situation: crouched behind a boulder with Frank and Hazel as they waited for the latest tremor to subside. They had left as soon as Annabeth had succumbed to her exhaustion, and though a part of her broke to leave her sister in all but blood behind, vulnerable, she trusted Jason, Nico, Leo and Piper enough to leave her in their capable hands.

Hazel's eyes were wide and she was trembling slightly; Frank had angled his body so that he was shielding her, peering out from behind the boulder. Despite their current predicament, Thalia couldn't help but smile a little as she watched them. She had never officially met or worked with either Frank or Hazel, but from what she could tell, they were both sweet and lovable, but also excellent fighters. She wished they'd had more time to get to know each other before being thrown into Tartarus.

The telltale shimmer of the pool was just visible from her position, but the surface was still and glassy. No sign of movement. She swallowed down a lump of disappointment and tears, steeling herself. They'd already scouted around the shores and found nothing, and they couldn't afford to linger any longer. They were too exposed with the limited cover, even with the protection seemingly afforded them by the pool. Not a single monster had been sighted, though infrequent roars and howls sounded occasionally in the distance, seemingly afraid of the pool and what it symbolized. None were willing to risk falling in and being vaporized instantly.

She closed her eyes, trying and failing to choke back tears. It was hard to comprehend the fact that Percy was really gone, just like that. For a while, he'd seemed a bit like a cockroach, impossible to kill and always popping up when you least expected him, with that infamous smirk on his face, leaving her caught between the urge to hug him or shock him with a thousand volts of lightning. But now ...

Thalia squashed the last glimmer of hope in her heart mercilessly, mentally saying good-bye to her cousin. He had deserved better than this; they all had, but he had sacrificed himself so that they could carry on and hopefully manage to exact revenge on the Olympians. She couldn't fail his memory, not now. She had to stay strong for Frank and Hazel. For Annabeth. Percy wouldn't have wanted her to fall apart over him; he'd most likely have snickered and teased her mercilessly until it escalated into a full blown war between the two cousins.

Turning to her two companions, she steeled herself, opening her mouth to give the order to leave, but was cut off by a gasp from Hazel. She had partially crawled out from the shelter of the rock, and her mouth was wide open in shock, her finger pointed straight in the direction of the pool. One word from her mouth stopped Thalia's heart dead, igniting a fresh inferno of hope.

"Percy?"

Even though every fiber in her body wanted to immediately rush to the sprawled-out form that had just been spat out by the pool, Thalia still regarded herself as the responsible one, and held an impatient Frank and Hazel back, cautiously scanning their surroundings before swiftly darting to Percy's side. At first, she hadn't believed her own eyes when she witnessed the pool regurgitating him up, multicoloured droplets flying everywhere. They'd quickly taken cover as the deadly water fell like rain, pressed up against the boulder, knowing that even one drop could spell death. When she could no longer hear the soft splatters and hisses that the droplets made as they made contact with the glass-sand, dissolving it with the merest touch, she poked her head out from behind the boulder, checking that Percy was still there. Part of her was still shuttered, not daring to believe that it was actually Percy, but as they neared, she felt hope blossoming in her heart.

"Percy!" Hazel cried softly, taking a step forward, her hand outstretched as if she meant to shake him awake, but Thalia quickly grabbed it. Hazel looked at her, puzzled, a spark of anger beginning to flare in her eyes, but Thalia shook her head.

"Tartarus is filled with tricks and deceits," she said, glancing around to confirm that there were no monsters trying to sneak up on them, vulnerable as they were. "This could very well be a trick from the river nymphs to drag us into their rivers." As much as she herself wanted to hug the life out of Percy, she knew that, in Tartarus, her own eyes couldn't be trusted.

Reluctantly, Hazel nodded, taking a few steps back, though her eyes were still trained on Percy. She, like Thalia, didn't trust him not to just disappear before their eyes, or worse, reach out for them and throw them into the sparkling pool.

Thalia bit her lip as the three of them stood in a loose circle, staring intently at Percy. What should they do now? They couldn't risk standing too close, or touching him, for fear that he had river water still on his body. They also couldn't linger - they had already stayed too long, surely the others were beginning to worry - but they couldn't drag him back yet. And she had no way of knowing when he would wake up.

Thankfully, just as she was contemplating their options, she heard a low groan and finally, the prone form began to twitch. Relief flooded her body - she'd thought maybe they'd gotten their hopes up for nothing, that all they had been left with was his lifeless corpse - but she still took a couple of precautionary steps back as they waited for him to become aware of their presence. She tensed as he started to sit up, blinking a couple of times ... then turning unmistakeable sea-green eyes on them. In that moment, she knew it was him; no monster would be able to imitate those unique eyes so perfectly.

He stared at her, and she stared back; neither seemed willing to break their impromptu staring competition. Thalia had been struck speechless by the sight of her cousin back from the dead, but it seemed Percy suffered from no such issues.

"Thalia? What are you doing here?"

The sound of his voice seemed to shock her out of her stupor, and she stifled a muffled cry that was halfway between sob and laugh.

"You - you idiot!" she cursed. "What the Hades possessed you to do that? Annabeth's been worried sick, I was half afraid she'd throw herself in after you!" Unable to stop herself any longer, she collapsed to her knees next to him and, in a rare display of emotion, threw her arms around him, her face buried in his shoulder. "Don't you ever do something like that again, you dolt!" Reflexively, she pulled away from him and lightly touched his shoulder, preparing to unleash the wrath of her lightning bolts on him. He flinched, used to this sort of behaviour from his aggressive cousin - but was completely unprepared for the agonized scream she let out instead.

"Thalia? Thalia, can you hear me?" A soft, urgent voice broke through the haze of pain. She whimpered and thrashed uncontrollably, her muscles beyond her control. Spasms wracked her body, her arms jerking as if she'd been struck by lightning. Ironic, since she had been the one preparing to shock Percy with lightning. Her mouth felt thick and dry; she couldn't speak.

"What's wrong with her?" Hazel's distressed voice sounded in her ear, and she grimaced, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Even the soft voice sent unimaginable pain through her. What was happening to her?

"I don't know." Percy sounded troubled, his voice thick with worry. A rough, callused hand was pressed against her forehead, smoothing out her hair tenderly. She let out a pained moan, and the hand was quickly withdrawn. Her eyes fluttered open, catching a glimpse of sea-green eyes above her before the pain became too much and she had to retreat into darkness again.

"She was preparing to shock me." Percy now sounded thoughtful. "I think ... I think it's because Zeus disowned her. She doesn't have the power anymore, and her body's just reacting to the loss of that power when she tried to use it."

The agony seemed to be subsiding, and through the fog in her brain, Thalia thought, Wow, Kelp Head's actually pretty smart. Then she scoffed at herself, because when did Percy and smart ever belong in the same sentence? She must be in even more pain than she'd realized if she was thinking that.

"Thalia?"

And okay, maybe she spoke too soon, because as soon as the voice penetrated the haze in her mind, the pain returned. She tried to speak, but the words felt like cotton in her mouth, bringing about a fresh wave of suffering and delivering her into oblivion.