Chapter 5

A/N: Thank you all for your support over the last few days. I've decided on the Return of the Olympians sequel, but unfortunately, I have several sequels in mind. I will put up a poll later (and I don't mean once I update), so vote. There will be a short summery, and vote on which you think is the best.

Percy: I've read some of them

Annabeth: Surprise, surprise

Percy: …

Annabeth: Where'd he go?

Me: He just walked out for some reason.

Percy: Let me know how it ends

Me: Ook then, on with the story

Disclaimer: I do not claim PJO as my own, unless I'm Rick Riordan

Annabeth POV:

I was pacing back and forth outside the Hecate cabin. Lou Ellen told us that she would be ready with a draft of the cure. I guess she thinks she can channel her inner Hecate and search for the cure by herself. I kind of like that idea, especially when I design buildings on Olympus.

I look around, and I see Nico leaving the Artemis cabin. I'm guessing he was there to settle something, maybe just talking to Thalia. Although, he does have his sword out, so I guess a monster was in there. Hmm, son of Hades plus Artemis cabin plus sword equals male evil shades. I love math, it got so much better with the alphabet, although no one else agrees with me.

As I paced around, I spy Thalia jogging toward me. "Hey Annie, what's up?"

I hate being called Annie, but Thalia is an exception. "Hey Thals, I'm just waiting for Lou Ellen to finish with her first batch of the cure," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well I hope she finishes quickly. The Artemis cabin was hit just a few minutes ago," she said.

I smirked. "Shades?"

She nodded. "About 20 of them, all of them were a bit violent. One of them struck Phoebe and we had to get them out of there," she said.

I knew it! "So that's why Nico left the Artemis cabin with his sword in hand," I said.

A spark of concern flashed in her eyes, but I ignored it. "Yeah, he came, banished the shades, and left. Nothing much from him, almost like things in the Underworld is going sour," she said.

"That or he's just letting the Hades take over him," I said.

She smirked, and the door opened behind me. I turned around, and there was Lou Ellen with her spell book in her hand. "Oh good, Thalia, you're here. We actually need your help with something," she said.

She raised an eyebrow, but she agreed to enter.

The cauldron bubbled green when we entered the room. I don't see Chris anywhere. Probably banished from the cabin while the girls finished the cure.

I look around, and I see the shadows dancing. What is scary is that there were actually shadows dancing on the walls. There was a ship flying on the wall. Two teenagers fighting sword by sword and a giant walking across the plains. Next I see the Empire State Building collapsing. Now I'm angry.

"The Pure Fear spell is strong in here. You are seeing shades of darkness and evil on the walls," Lou Ellen said.

Makes sense when the Pure Fear spell was brewed here. The giant though scares me though. What were the legends again? When Kronos was defeated the first time, Gaia gave birth to a race of giants. Yeah, I'm worried now.

I walked into the metal cauldron, taking me out of my thoughts. Thalia steadied me, and I nodded to her. Lou Ellen looked at us both and opened the book.

"We are trying a Cancelation spell to cancel the spell. Hopefully it works like we anticipate. Thalia, it says here that we need a lightning bolt to make it work, so could you help us out?" Lou Ellen said.

I remember the Cancelation spell. I wanted to try it out, but the last time something like that happened, Percy became sick for a week. And it was not a good flu week, especially since every time he would sneeze, a tidal wave would hit Trident Island nearby. Shortly after the war ended, the island in the middle of the lake was named Trident Island to honor Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Savior of Olympus.

Anyway, the spell looked like it was brewed right. The color felt warm and reassuring to me. A yellow tint welcomed me, and the color changed to green. "It's ready for the lightning. Thalia, could you…?"

Thalia smiled, and walked up to the cauldron. Her fingers extended toward the flame, and blue electricity started to emit from her fingertips. I found that cool, yet I had a feeling that I would face something like that again in the future, but by something with equal power.

Lightning burst from her fingertips, and charred the cauldron. The liquid turned from green to white. It started to glow, and the shadows on the wall started to fade. I smiled. The cure was working.

Lou Ellen and her sisters cheered, but that wasn't the end of it. The liquid turned black and the shadows started to grow larger, and stronger.

"Thalia, stop!"

It was too late, the lightning rebounded off of the cauldron, and hit her square in the chest. She lost her balance, and fell to the floor. I caught her just in time, thank the gods. The shadows started to shift, and started forming letters. We all turned to the message, and it clearly said:

My revenge will be great!

I shook my head. It can't be Kronos. Luke and Percy finished him off, it was impossible. I shook my head, thinking that it was the curse still in effect. When I opened my eyes, the message was gone, but Thalia was still hurt. That burn was on her right shoulder, luckily it missed her heart. "Come on, we need to get her to Chiron," I said.

Lou Ellen grabbed her feet, and we carried her to the Big House.

Percy POV:

When I saw Nico walking out of the Artemis cabin, I thought he lost his mind. He looked glum, well, more than usual. I wrapped my arm around his neck, and started giving him a noogie.

"What's up little brother?!" I said as I noogied him.

He squirmed, and slipped out of my grip. "Lay off Perce, I'm not in the mood," he said.

I raised a concerned eyebrow. "What's up?" I asked.

He sighed. "Persephone is being a Minotaur podex again. She's still miffed at my existence, and she turned me into a Venus Fly Trap. Hades didn't notice until he saw my trying to escape my pot," he said.

I stiffed a laugh. A Venus fly trap? That's a new one. "Don't try to not laugh. Hades cracked up, shortly after turning me back. I just need to get out of there for a few days," he said.

I shook my head. "I feel you man, I need a break from Goode anyway," I said.

He looked up at me. "Monsters?"

I shook my head. "Unless they are disguised as major homework assignments anyway," I said.

We both laughed. He was lucky that he doesn't go to school because he spends his time in the Underworld. "Wait-wait a minute, what's podex?" I asked.

He stopped laughing with wide eyes. "Um, I met some uh, interesting characters in the Underworld while I was there," he said.

I raised an eyebrow, but I shrugged it off. He was hiding something, but that was before I heard Annabeth scream in terror. "OUT OF THE WAY! WILL SOLACE, I NEED YOUR HELP!" I heard her say.

Nico and I quickly turned around, and there was Annabeth and Lou Ellen carrying Thalia. She had her eyes closed, and I saw a black mark on her shoulder. Nico shook his head in disbelief. We both ran over to her, and I saw what happened to Thalia. She was shot in the shoulder by a bolt of lightning. The smoke was still coming out of her wound. It looked like a bit too much for nectar to solve.

Nico stared at her wound in disbelief. "She's hanging on. She's still alive, but barely," he said.

I don't see how a bolt of lightning could almost kill her when Hera dropped a statue on her legs. I looked at Annabeth and her eyes said it all. Hecate accident.

We burst through the doors, and nearly ran into Chiron. He was talking to Phoebe, and when she saw Thalia, her eyes widened. "Thalia! What did you males do to her?!" she demanded.

I completely ignored her, and we set her on the bed. She groaned in pain, and Phoebe pushed me aside. "What the Hades did you do to her?! Tell me male!"

I sighed. "All I know is that she got shot by a bolt of lightning while helping with the Hecate cure for this curse," I said.

She looked confused for a minute. "What curse?"

I sighed, and explained everything that happened since this morning. I explained how the spiders were the Athena cabin's greatest fear, and the Artemis cabin's fear is the return of the men who broke their hearts. Seeing Thalia on the brink of death was all of our greatest fears.

She looked at her lieutenant with concern in her eyes. "We'll be keeping an eye on you males. Don't get any ideas, you hear?"

I raised my hands in innocence. We both looked back to Thalia, and there was Will Solace trying to heal her. Annabeth looked shell shocked, and Nico was pacing the room with no rest. He occasionally stopped to look at Thalia, and continued pacing.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," I said.

A/N: Well, there it is. In a way, it's Nico's worst fear, seeing Thalia on the brink of death. Personally, Thalico sounds a bit better than Percabeth because everyone saw Percy and Annabeth since their first fight. Admit it, you guys knew back then that something might happen. Nico and Thalia grew on you a little bit, a shadow prince and immortal maiden hunter falling in love seems a bit more…Shakespeare-ish.

Annabeth: So we lost another Percabeth supporter

Me: No, oh no. I still love Percabeth, but Thalico grows on you.

Thalia: Hey guys

Annabeth: Thals! Where were you?

Thalia: At a Green Day reunion concert with Nico. How did he know that Green Day was reuniting?

Me: Lucky guess probably?

Thalia: aha, sure

Me: Anyway, please REVIEW