Thalia and Jason rode in the elevator silently. Both of them were anxious of what was about to happen. Today was the day. The day they would have to show the gods their 'talents.' It has been a week since the opening ceremony, and in that week all of the tributes have been training harder than ever. Learning new skills, making allies and trying to get sponsors. However getting sponsors was easier said than done.

Unlike her brother, Jason, Thalia unfortunately wasn't part of 'the seven' and therefore she didn't have quite as many sponsors as the others. Sure Thalia was a war hero from the titan war and she was also the lieutenant of Artemis, but what chance did she stand when being compared to one of 'the seven?' Even Hazel who was only fourteen had more sponsors than her.

After what had felt like an eternity – but was probably not even a minute – the elevator let out a ding and the doors sild open. Thalia looked to where her brother was standing beside her, looking out to the benches where they would be forced to wait their turn to – as her father put it - 'show the judges what they can do.' For the briefest of moments, Thalia thought that she saw a flash of worry appear on her brothers' face, but it disappeared so quickly that she thought she just imagined it.

As the brother and sister walked towards the benches, Thalia continued to ponder the flash of worry she thought she had seen on Jason's face. 'Why would he need to worry?' Thalia thought to herself. 'He had hundreds of sponsors already lining up to sponsor him. After all, he was Jason Grace. Son of Jupiter, praetor of New Rome, defeater of the Titan Krios, saviour of Hera and he was part of 'the seven.' All of these thoughts rushed through Thalia's head as she and her brother sat waiting, patiently on the benches for the others to come.

Slowly, one by one all the tributes left the room with the benches and headed out to the training room, where they would be assessed. After what felt like days the deep male voice called out the name of the only tribute that remained sitting on a bench, and that tribute's name was Nico Di Angelo.

Sighing slightly, Nico stood up and started walking towards the big silver door at the end of the room. He gently pushed the door open and walked towards the centre circle that was meant for combat.

Nico quickly summoned a skeleton warrior and unsheathed his sword. Every couple of seconds his eyes would wonder off; back to where the minor gods sat, lounging on the chairs and stuffing their faces full of Nectar and Ambrosia. Anger flared through Nico but he kept his eyes focused on the skeleton warrior that was slowly walking forward to him, waiting to attack.

The skeleton raised its sword and slashed down at Nico, who had quickly rolled away at last second. Nico kicked at the skeleton's feet causing it to lose balance but unfortunately before Nico could carry through and stab the warrior in the chest, the skeleton regained its balance and caught Nico off guard by swiping at his torso.

Nico almost missed the swipe. Key word being almost. Just as Nico had taken a step back to avoid the wicked sharp blade coming his way, his hand had somehow ended up in front of his chest. Nico hadn't had enough time to move his sword hand out of the way, so now he had blood spurting out of his wrist.

As Nico slowly retreated from the skeleton warrior he ripped off his t-shirt of quickly tied it around his sword arm. In only a matter of seconds the t-shirt was soaking wet from the blood spilling out of his wound. Nico franticly looked around for something to use against the skeleton warrior. Sure, Nico could use his sword but the problem was Nico was completely rubbish at using a sword in his left hand.

Nico continued to franticly search for a dagger or something that he could use. There was a whole bunch sitting on the racks that were on the other side of the room. The only problem was Nico wouldn't be able to get over there because Mr Skeleton was standing in the way.

That was when Nico had his idea. His completely brilliant idea. Nico quickly looked up to where the beams ran across the room. Fortunately for Nico, he was standing directly under one of the beams. Nico took another step back and the skeleton took another step forward. Now the skeleton was standing under the beam.

Before the skeleton could realise what was going on, Nico quickly shadow travelled to on top of the beam. The skeleton looked around confusedly. Wondering where his enemy was. For the first time since the fight had begun Nico shot a quick look to where the judges sat and too his delight almost all of the judges where confused and looking around for Nico, just like the skeleton was.

Nico took a deep breath and jumped from the beam. Landing perfectly on the warrior. The only problem was that Nico's weight and the amount of force that he had gained from the jump, the skeleton's legs buckled under him, making both the skeleton and Nico tumble to the floor. An instant pain shot up Nico's left legs as he tried to stand. Shaking out his leg a little bit and ignoring the agonising pain that he was in, Nico stood up and started to limp towards the door, not even glancing back once.

"It probably wasn't that bad." Hazel tried to reassure her brother. Nico had just told her about his epic fail in the training room earlier that day. Nico just shook his head.

"You should have seen me. I wasn't concentrating enough and now I have a slit artery and a broken ankle. How can my day get worse? Oh wait, I know! I could get a sh*t score from the judges and have no sponsors!" Nico angrily snapped at his half-sister and limped off towards his room. He wasn't on a good mood thanks to his broken ankle and his horrible performance in front of the judges. He didn't want Hazel's pity. He just wanted to go and train, but thanks to his broken ankle and slit wrist he couldn't.

Nico hobbled over towards the chest of draws beside his bed and opened the first draw. Inside the draw lay a bag of Ambrosia and a water bottle filled with Nectar. Nico swallowed three bits of Ambrosia and took a sip of Nectar to take some of the pain away.

Still in a bad mood, but unsure of what else to do Nico climbed into bed and tried to sleep.

AN: Hey guys! I hope you like the update and I'm sorry it took me a while to write it but I've had school and I've just been really busy. I hope you liked it!

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Lots of Love

XX Hannah 3

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XX Hannah