Chapter 5:

You Can't Hide Anything

Okay, sorry I keep forgetting to post chapters, but I've gone all control freak and ended up making more changes to the chapters that I'd originally thought. Again, all (except for a few sentences here and there and the complete first paragraph) credit goes to Blazing Star of ThunderClan, who is an amazing author. I've decided to put two chapters together and submit them as one from now on to make up for taking a while to update and because the chapters aren't all that long.

DISCLAIMER: …..I own nothing except this laptop and an over imaginative case of ADD.

Percy's POV

….I swallowed the lump of nerves in my throat and leaned forward. I kissed her attentively at first, my lips barely brushing hers, not even a kiss really, waiting to see if she would pull back. Even that faint contact with the pads of her lips was enough to send my mind reeling. I had my eyes closed, and slightly opened one to see she had her eyes closes, looking expectant. I put a little more pressure on her lips, and before I knew it, she had started moving her silky lips against mine and had her hands around my neck so fast I opened my eyes in surprise. I put my arms around her slim waist, smoothing my hands over the wrinkles of her camp shirt, caressing her back. I moved my other hand up to cup her cheek, smoothing my thumb over her smooth skin and pulling her lips even more into mine. She had her hands in my hair, and it felt so good having her fingers running over my scalp…Our kiss was slow and loving, full of assurance. I began to get more passionate, gripping her tighter and moving my lips more frantically over hers. Eventually I needed to breathe and slowly released her. I gave her one last soft kiss, and a few pecks before I fully let her go. She felt so good…

"Wow..." Annabeth gasped.

"I'll say..." I breathed heavily.

She looked up to smile at me, and I smiled back. She blushed.

"So..." I began, "What do we do now?"

"Well... I think we should go back to Thalia and Nico, before Thalia runs over again," she murmured, though she looked like she didn't want to move. "So I'm guessing that the rumors are true now?" she smiled sheepishly, liking pretty darn cute.

I grinned. "Pretty much."

Suddenly, she looked half-worried, half-scared. "Oh my gods, Percy. What are we going to do about our parents? And Aphrodite?"

Uh-oh, I thought. "Well... let's just hope your mom doesn't kill me."

"And Aphrodite?"

"Um... let's hope she doesn't tell anyone?"

She groaned. "This is gonna be tough."

"We'll worry about it later," I soothed. I'd do whatever it took to be with her.

"Fine," she said, but she didn't look worried anymore. In fact, she was smiling.

"C'mon, let's get back to Thalia and Nico," I said.

She smiled even wider. "We're not telling them anything, right?"

"Nope."

"Okay, then let's go," she said.

We walked over to them, and I have to admit I was disappointed that my alone time with Annabeth was over.

Thalia and Nico were sitting on the floor playing rock/paper/scissors, and they were arguing. Thalia had one hand made into a piece of paper, and Nico had one hand made into a rock.

"Paper beats rock, Nico! Everybody knows that!" Thalia claimed.

"How can a piece of thin little paper beat rock? A rock would tear that crap up in two seconds!" Nico argued.

"Good to see you two are getting along," I muttered.

They looked up. "Finally, you're done! What were you guys doing?" Thalia asked suspiciously.

Annabeth and I tried to hide our blush "Um, not much. Just talking," I answered lamely.

Thalia studied Annabeth's expression for a moment, and then said, "Annabeth, look at yourself. You're practically glowing. Being in the Underworld can't make anybody that happy. Something must've happened between you two. Now what happened?"

Annabeth and I remained awkwardly silent.

Thalia narrowed her eyes. "You can't hide anythingfrom me! I'll figure out what you two are trying to hide eventually. You may as well just spill it right now."

Cricket. Cricket.

"Gods, mortals can be so annoying!" Thalia complained.

"Well... where do we go now?" Nico asked, trying to break up the argument.

"All I know is that I'm ready to escape the Underworld," Annabeth said anxiously.

"Me too," Thalia agreed.

"Okay, then," Nico said. "Percy, you're gonna have to call Mrs. O'Leary."

I nodded. I whistled, and then a minute later, BOOM!A huge wall of black slammed into me. I fell to the ground, a giant hellhound licking my face.

"Whoa, Mrs. O'Leary! Okay, girl! C'mon! Let me up!" I exclaimed, laughing.

She got off of me, and I stood back up with hellhound slobber all over my face.

"Ew. Now what?" I asked, wiping my face off.

"The fastest way outta here is by shadow traveling," Nico explained. "All of you, jump onto Mrs. O'Leary's back."

"Sure. Down, girl," I said to Mrs. O'Leary, and she crouched down. First I climbed onto her back, right behind her neck. Then I helped Annabeth on behind me, and then I helped Thalia on behind Annabeth.

"Okay, guys, let's go!" Nico exclaimed. He ran straight toward a tree, then disappeared behind the shadows.

"Um, to Camp Half-Blood, Mrs. O'Leary," I ordered. Annabeth wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, causing my heart to do jumping jacks. I felt her bury her face in my back right before the giant hellhound ran straight toward the same tree that Nico had, and we, too, melted into the shadows.

Everything went pitch black. I could feel myself moving at about a hundred miles per hour, and my face felt like it was going to peel off.

It was exhilarating.

Not a moment too soon, it became bright again, and we were suddenly in the strawberry fields of Camp Half-Blood.

My dog collapsed from exhaustion, and we quickly climbed off of her back.

"Thanks, girl. You go ahead and rest," I told her.

She barked in agreement before closing her eyes to sleep.

I turned around, and I noticed Annabeth staring at me with an empty look in her eyes.

"What?"

She blushed. "Um, nothing," she said, looking away.

I grinned. "Checking me out?" I teased playfully.

Then I remembered that Thalia was standing about a foot away. I glanced at her, and she was staring from me to Annabeth.

"You two are acting really weird," Thalia said. "It's obvious that something happened down there. I'm not really sure what, but I willfind out." She walked off toward the Big House.

Chapter 6:

I Will Find Out

Thalia's POV

After Percy and Annabeth had finished talking privately down in the Underworld, they'd been acting unusual. First of all, Annabeth didn't usually stare at Percy like that. And she'd looked... incredibly happy. That's an understatement. She had looked... blissed out.I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with her being happy, but happy in the Underworld? That just wasn't right. And she looked at Percy differently. She looked at him almost proudly, like she was beaming at him, as if he was the best thing that'd ever happened to her. I've never seen her look at anybody that way, besides Luke.

And Percy, he's easy to read. It's obvious that he's hiding something. When I'd asked them what they'd been doing, I'd expected him to say smoothly, "Just talking." But instead he'd said, "Um, not much. Just talking," and he'd sounded nervous. Obvious sign that something's up.

I wasn't really sure what was going on between those two, but I was going to find out.

"You two are acting really weird," I told them. "It's obvious that something happened down there. I'm not really sure what, but I willfind out," I threatened, walking off towards the Big House to greet Chiron.

As I walked through the strawberry fields, inhaling the aroma of strawberries baking in the sun, I couldn't help but calm down. This place held a lot of memories for me.

"Thalia? What a surprise!" Chiron spotted me from the Big House, playing pinochle with Mr. D.

"Hi, Chiron. Mr. D," I greeted, running over.

"Hello, Trisha. Er, you're the pine tree, correct?" Mr. D greeted in an unfriendly tone.

I ignored him. "Percy and Annabeth have been acting strange lately," I complained, taking a seat next to Chiron.

Chiron seemed slightly interested. "Strange in what way?"

"Well... Annabeth keeps on staring at Percy, and they've both been acting nervous lately. As if they're hiding something," I explained.

"It seems as though I've won again, Chiron. Hurrah," Mr. D muttered, looking bored.

"Di immortales," Chiron cursed under his breath.

It didn't seem like anybody was going to listen to me here, so I got up to leave. "See you later," I muttered, walking down the stairs of the Big House.

I wasn't really sure where to go or who to talk to, so I took a walk on Half-Blood Hill. The outdoors always comforts me. I wondered what the rest of the Hunters were doing right now...

"Thalia," a familiar voice said. I looked up to see Nico Di Angelo, leaning his back against my pine tree, stroking a contented-looking Peleus.

"What's up, Nico?"

"I'm leaving," he said hurriedly. "I can't stand this camp. Well, at least not right now…Tell Percy and Annabeth I'm gone, okay?"

"Sure," I muttered. "But where did you shadow travel to? I haven't seen you since the Underworld."

He frowned. "China. Shadow traveling takes lots of practice; you guys were lucky that you ended up here. After China, I tried again, and I ended up here, next to Peleus. Good thing he likes me."

"Yeah, good thing," I agreed, trying not to roll my eyes. "See you later, Nico."

"Later," he agreed, shooting me a rare smile and then ran at full speed toward a tree next to mine. Right before he should've crashed into the tree, he disappeared behind the shadows.

I was suddenly lonely, so I turned and sprinted back into camp. I knew who to talk to.

I searched everywhere until I finally found my favorite satyr, walking around with a couple of his satyr buddies in the strawberry fields.

"Grover!" I called.

He turned. "Thalia!" he ran over and I hugged him.

"Thalia, I can't believe you're here! What's up?" he smiled.

"I just took a little trip with Annabeth, Percy, and Nico, and we just got back. So here I am," I said.

"I hardly ever see you anymore! So how've you been doing?"

"I've been good. Listen, I need to talk to you about something..."

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It's about Annabeth. Annabeth and Percy. You see..."