Happy birthday Percy Jackson! 3

Disclaimer: I do not the Hunger Games or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Thalia's POV

While Nico was resting, Percy and I head off to look for the ingredients for Annabeth's potion. We don't talk, but it isn't awkward. We're all just thankful that Nico is okay and nobody else is hurt.

Percy nudges me and gestures ahead of him, "Is that it? At the edge of the tree?" I look over to the tree in front of us, noticing an odd looking plant. It's a small pink flower, the center being white with yellow pollen. The outer petals are a darker pink, while the inner ones are a light pink. It's almost too beautiful to want to disturb.

I nod, "Yeah, this would make sense with what Annabeth described." I bend down to pick it up, and hear a noise, like twigs snapping or leaves being rustling. I shrug it off, thinking it's nothing. I stand back up, looking at the flower in my hand. "Do we only need one? It's kind of small…"

"Yeah, Annabeth said that one flower is more than enough for everyone," Percy says, scratching the back of his neck. "Let's look for the next ingredient now. Annabeth said it might be hard to find." I nod, putting the flower in my pocket, and continue walking. I think I hear more sounds of leaves rustling behind me, but it must be Percy walking beside me.

"So," Percy says after a long while of silence, "How are you? And I don't mean right now, but after everything that's happened, how do you feel?"

It's a random question, one I almost don't want to answer. I don't want to think about how I might be affected by these Games, it's just too hard. So, I just say, "I don't know. I just, I don't know. This place, this arena, it makes me feel like I'm just going to vanish."

Percy is silent for a moment, before he nods and says, "Oh."

"What about you?" I ask, genuinely curious. I never asked him before if he was okay, after going through so much. Almost losing Annabeth, being separated from her in an arena full of killers for so long, I can only imagine what he must feel like. Even after getting her back, you don't just forget how you felt.

He sighs, rubbing his forehead, suddenly looking tired. I feel like maybe I shouldn't of asked, that maybe I should've just dropped the subject. I didn't think he was going to reply, but a second later, he says, "I'm glad that everyone is together, glad that I have Annabeth with me. I'm just scared that something's going to happen, that someone is going to lose their life. If they did… I don't know what I'd do. I'd blame myself."

"You can't do that. It's not your fault, you can't protect everyone. You're only human."

He looks over at me, a desperate look in his eye, "I need to protect everyone though. Nico was injured and Annabeth and I got there just in time. What if something else goes wrong and we can't find them in time?"

I don't reply, I just keep walking. I don't want to think about anyone getting hurt, even if it is a real possibility. Being negative doesn't get anyone anywhere. Changing the subject, I say, "Let's stop here. You look over near the trees to our right, and I'll look near the left. We might find something that way."

Percy nods, walking off to go look at some trees. I turn to the left, half looking for the ingredient and half wanting to just be alone. As I look through leaves and grass, I think I hear someone call my name. I ignore it, continuing to search the trees.

"Thalia," the voice says, sounding like it's far away. It might be someone from the group, maybe coming to tell me that there's another ingredient or Annabeth found one or Nico woke up or something.

I follow the voice, it's not actually as far away as I thought. I see someone behind a tree, which is weird, but maybe they were looking for something for Annabeth's mixture. "Hello?" I ask, and the person steps from behind the tree. The first thing I notice is a wave of blonde hair, so it must be Annabeth. But then the person is taller than Annabeth, and has a muscular, male body.

I breathe in a gasp of surprise and fear as it realize who it is, "Luke…"

Luke laughs a slow, amused laugh, "My dear Thalia, you recognize me. That's good."

"What do you want, Luke?" I say, my voice cracking in fear. He laughs again, like this is the most amusing thing in the world.

"What do I want?" Luke suddenly steps closer, now about a yard away from me. He speaks quietly, slowly, surely, "I want you, along with your entire group, to die. So then I can continue on with killing Katniss Everdeen, so she will never get to stop the Hunger Games. That's what I want. And what I'll get."

"You're not going to get away with this, not while I'm alive," I say, trying to look confident even though I'm filled with fear.

"Really?" Luke says, and I can feel his breath on my neck. "That's funny. You think you can go up against me and Kronos? You and your stupid friends should've stayed back where you belong, back with that old centaur and the rest of the camp."

"The only one being stupid here is you, Luke. You can't even face the entire group. We'd easily kill you, and we will kill you. And if the others aren't here to do it, I'll kill you myself. The only person who shouldn't have come is you."

Luke has a serious and scary look on his face, his breath ragged. His hand is on his sword, and he looks like he was about to kill me, without hesitation. "I never thought you were this dumb, Thalia Grace. What happened to the Thalia that I came to camp with?"

"I'm still here, it's you that's changed. You've turned into a monster. You've killed my friends, your own friends. The Luke I knew wasn't like that. He's gone now, replaced with a stranger who looks like him."

Luke growls, pulling his sword out from his belt. Just as he lifts it up, someone calls out, "Make one more move, and I'll kill you."

Luke looks over to the voice, a grin suddenly on his face. He lowers his sword and says, "Hello, Katniss Everdeen. You came just in time."