For what should be the tenth time already, "No, I do not own Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace, or any of the characters in the Percy Jackson series."

*Note: This chapter was written in Thalia's POV.

CHAPTER NINE.

Thalia

"Oh dear gods," I spout out before I'm even aware of it. I want to cover my eyes and shield myself from the scene before me, and especially for I what I know is coming next, but I find myself glued to the ground, as frozen as a statue.

After maybe two seconds, or even three, something in Nico's brain finally seems to click and he (recklessly) pushes Allison off him, trapping her feet in another shadow and creating a larger distance in between them.

He looks up at me, but his gaze is immediately averted to the little girl beside me, her eyes wide. Lady Artemis is so much in shock that she's let a strand of auburn hair stray from her ponytail and fall messily on her face.

"Oh dear gods," I mutter to myself more urgently.

Lady Artemis and I seem to regain control over our body at the same time, and I sprint as fast as I can towards Nico as she begins to stride across the tent. Ripping a hole through the nearest part of the tent, I drag him out and make for the forest.

We only have so much time, because Lady Artemis knows the forest more than any of us, so we can't avoid her forever.

I jump on top of the roots, and change direction every few minutes to make our tracks harder to follow. I leave Nico at a hidden spot wedged in between two trees so I can make another set of tracks to confuse them. I regret leaving Nico all alone without a single word of explanation, but we had to work as fast as possible. Even a split-second wasted could cost his life.

Holy Zeus, Holy Zeus, Holy Zeus.

The gravity of the situation just keeps getting heavier and heavier each time I think about it.

I play back the series of events in my head trying to make sense of it all.

1. Nico and I have been communicating through dreams = which wasn't a very good idea, and extremely reckless and unwise on my part.

2. Despite knowing that he would most likely be idiotic enough to look for me, I told him I was in Arizona = which almost killed him.

3. I asked Lady Artemis to let me take care of him while he was healing = which was probably my worst idea yet, especially because Nico almost lost all his memories and almost got strangled to death by a maniacal going-to-be-ex-Hunter who's apparently in love with him (whom I'm also hoping got turned into an aardvark by Artemis after we left) and – despite taking an oath and the fact that she was openly breaking it in front of Lady Artemis – kissed him in front of the one goddess who has very little patience and pity for men, ensuring Nico's death even further.

Nope. Nada. Not at all – none of it makes sense at all.

Honestly, someone should've given me a heads-up.

It's too bad life doesn't work that way.

When I return to Nico, I find him (however still wedged in between the two trees) performing a shadow play of the turtle and hare race. I raise my eyebrows. Leave it to Nico to create shadow plays when his life is in jeopardy. I shoot an arrow at his direction, aiming it on the tree closest to his head, where it lands just a few centimeters from him. He looks up at me, and the shadows immediately sink bank into the ground.

"Nico, will you focus!" I smack him upright the head and yank him out from in between the two trees. "If Lady Artemis finds you she will kill you."

"Or turn me into a jackalope," Nico grins.

I stare at him stone-faced. Is he being serious?

"Sorry, not the time for jokes." He rubs the back of his neck nervously and avoids my gaze.

"You think?" I spit.

Before Nico can open his mouth and spout out more nonsense, we hear a rumbling in the bushes behind us. I spin around and take out my spear and Aegis, standing as close to Nico – who was still in just his boxers, comically enough – as possible.

A shadow emerges from the bush and rushes towards us.

I elbow Nico, who's behind me. "Nico, didn't we just establish that this isn't time time for jokes?" I snap.

"That isn't me," Nico says, panicking creeping into his voice.

My guard is back up. I point my spear at the shadow ready to attack, and edge Aegis closer to Nico and me, hoping that it was big and strong enough to protect both of us. When the shadow makes a swift movement towards us, I impulsively zap it with my spear.

What happens next is even more shocking than my spear.

Mrs. O'Leary pops up from the ground, with Percy on her back, his hair smoking.

"It's nice to see you too, Thalia," Percy says, feeling the top of his head and rubbing the singed strands gently.

"What do you think you're doing? Is your brain really made of seaweed? You scared us half-to-death!" I shout.

"Well, I'm half-death," Nico jokes.

I twist my spear and hit him in the head, zapping him like I did Percy. I told him it wasn't the time for jokes.

"What're you doing here?" I turn my attention back to Percy.

He points to the idiot behind me. "I'm here for him."

Mrs. O'Leary wags her tail and barks excitedly.

"Shhhh, shhhh!" I rush towards Mrs. O'Leary and try to calm her down. "If Lady Artemis finds us, Nico'll be a goner, and there'll be nothing left of him to bring back."

"That's precisely why I'm here," Percy says as he walks toward me. He scratches a spot behind Mrs. O'Leary's ear and she falls right asleep.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Nico whines. "I can take care of myself!"

"Thalia, how many times has Nico almost died in the past month?" Percy addresses me, his voice calm and nonchalant.

"From what I know, about three times, but I can't be too sure with him. It's Nico after all, he's half-death," I say, mocking Nico by parroting his earlier joke.

"I'm sure both of you are saying this because you know I can hear you." Nico rolls his eyes.

"Oh, sorry Nico, did you say something? We completely forgot you were there." Percy winks at me.

Nico scowls at Percy at first, and then he breaks into a grin that's completely priceless. His smile is the type that lights up the entire room and makes you feel bubbly from head to toe when you see it. It's so much like a child that his smile makes you feel nostalgic, and it's comforting.

I've been staring at Nico too long.

He's staring at me smugly.

Damn it.

I stand up and remember the urgency of the situation we're in, especially because there is a sudden burst of arrows surrounding us, some of them flaming.

"They've found us and marked where we are." I point to the smoke being emitted from the flaming arrows. "We've got about five seconds."

I shoot arrows as much arrows as possible towards in every direction I can in a second. This wasn't a very thought-out plan, especially since (being a Hunter and all) know that won't stall them too much.

I need to think of a plan.

Five.

Four.

My mind is going blank.

Three.

Two.

Oh no.

One.

The Hunters appear from every direction.

Percy uncaps Riptide, and luckily he bears the curse of Achilles – he won't be that easy to get rid off.

He slices at the arrows, even at some of the Hunters – only enough to stir up enough blood, but not so much that it's fatal – in an attempt to scare them away. But they're Hunters, they aren't afraid of much, and especially not a scrawny boy with singed-off hair.

Mrs. O'Leary bounds on some of them, and shadow traveling them to Zeus-knows-where before returning and taking another one with her. It's just too bad she can't move fast enough.

Nico steps forward, and traps the remaining Hunters in shadows. He looks up at me apologetically and takes another step forward.

He's not about to . . . no he can't . . .

He releases the Hunters from their shadow-bonds.

He can't be handing himself over . . . no . . . this isn't happening . . .

Before I'm aware of what's happening, Percy runs and, gripping firmly onto my arm, he sprints over to Mrs. O'Leary, who's bitten Nico's bare leg. Percy grabs Mrs. O'Leary's collar. And then darkness, the nauseating and infuriating, stomach-twisting darkness, sucks us in.

"Why didn't we think of that in the first place?" I shout as we land on our butts.

"Because we're geniuses," Percy replies sarcastically.

"Where are we?" Nico says, looking around, and he spots his clothes hanging on a nearby branch. "My clothes!" He jumps up and hastily puts them on.

"I was going to ask why Nico was running around half-naked," Percy said. "I thought it was a fashion statement."

"Ha-ha," Nico scoffs, now fully-clothed. He triumphantly slips on his favorite gray hoodie.

"We haven't got long until they find us again," I say. "We aren't that far from where we were, and not that deep in the forest either."

I walk over to them. "Go back to camp. I'll deal with Lady Artemis."

Nico grabs me by the shoulders and hugs me. Typical.

"Nico," I say, trying to push myself away from him, but he's a lot stronger than he looks. "Even if you ask me, I can't come with you."

"What if I don't ask you? What if I just kidnap you?" he says.

"I won't be kidnapped that easily." I pinch his ear and pull him away from me. He reluctantly lets go.

We hear the distant rumbling of the bushes, and the howling of wolves in the distance.

"I hate to break up this love-fest, but Nico, we gotta go," Percy says.

But Nico doesn't move.

"Nico di Angelo, you better leave right now or else I'm handing you in," I snap. I am still angry with him for nearly giving himself up to the Hunters. I imagine myself patting a small anteater wearing an old gray hoodie, using its elongated nose to create shadow plays while sucking in ants from a hill.

"Fine," Nico says as he walks over to Percy. His hands moodily grasp onto Mrs. O'Leary's collar. "But I will find you again."

I shrug. "Next time, I won't let you find me." I will definitely not make the same mistake again, especially now that I know better.

An arrow zooms past me and lands into the river. I turn my attention back to the pair and nod at Percy.

He has to go now.

He will be safe that way.

I see them begin to sink into the shadows. I start to turn away when a hand grabs mine. I spin around and see Nico, half-way into the shadows, pleading me with his eyes, scrunched up eyebrows, and upturned lip.

I close my eyes and without thinking, I squeeze Nico's hand tighter.

What am I doing?

I feel the darkness suck me in.

I'm reckless, and I'm letting my feelings get in the way of my duty. But at the same time, I'm just a little girl, scared of the future, and scared of falling in and out of love.

Oh, how cheesy of me.

I take a deep breath and hold onto Nico tighter.

What am I doing?

And before I'm even aware of it, I feel myself letting go.

REVIEW!

Special thanks to 1215 rascal and especially Fanfiction-Grey's Anatomy-1234 for suggesting that I write in Thalia's POV so you see how she's handling the entire situation! I miss writing as Thalia, so the measly opportunity I got to write as her was extremely enjoyable!

And oh my gosh! I can't believe I'm almost finished with this story! A chapter to go till the end! I can't believe it! :O

Thank you to those who have been reading this, be it from the beginning or not, your reviews, favorites, and story alerts are very much loved (especially your reviews)!

Sincerely Yours - Schoe :)