HEEELLLOOO :)

Anyone miss me? Aw, come on, I know you did! Sheesh, I promised myself that it wouldn't take this long to update again. Actually, I was planning on updating in November until I heard about NaNoWriMo (WHICH I WON!) And ended up doing that instead. It was tough, let me tell you. 50,000 words in one month takes some serious willpower. At the end, I was about 5,000 words behind and ended up word sprinting for two hours to make those last few words.

Hmm, what else has happened since I've updated? Oh, I had my fifteenth birthday a few weeks ago! So, happy belated birthday to me. Ummm… High school has been great. Love it and never wanna leave. Don't know why I was freaking out before. I'm on winter break now. I actually get three weeks off! With the foreign students having to go back to Bermuda, Korea, China, and all those other countries (There are a lot.)

I'm not going to answer anyone's reviews this time, just because I haven't really looked at them in a long time, and I'm writing this from coming home from relatives about three hours away from me.

I'm probably going to be pretty rusty for the first few chapters, and after my break gets over, I'll only be updating on the weekends (Too much homework to do it in the week.) Hope you enjoy! My writing has improved a lot, in my opinion after school and NaNoWriMo.

I now have a tumblr, so you can follow me! Same username as Fanfiction. The link is on my page if you want it. I was thinking about doing maybe some weekly vlogs also, maybe on tumblr, maybe on YouTube? Whatcha think? Depends on how busy I am.

Read, Review, and Enjoy!

I Don't Like Dead People

Thalia

The next day was spent preparing for the Capture the Flag showdown against the Hunters. While we didn't have as many kids on our side as usual, we had Beckendorf, Clarisse, Percy, and I, some of the best fighters and strategists of Camp Half Blood. I would have guaranteed some sort of victory if we had Annabeth guiding us on how to beat the Hunters, but that obviously wasn't going to happen.

Besides, I wanted to show Zoë Nightshade that her Hunters weren't overpowering to us. The half bloods were just as good, if not better then her Hunters. She just had immortality on her side. Cheater.

We were suiting up for the game when Silena Beauregard grumbled, "I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" as she tightened her straps. "I'll pulverize them!"

I smiled. If we had the wrath of an Aphrodite daughter scorned, our chance just shot up. Seriously, don't mess with the Aphrodite girls about love, unless you want to get your head ripped off by some makeup-covered rabid girls.

I walked up to Percy. "I'll take offense, you take defense."

"Oh." Percy hesitated, wanting to contradict me. "Don't you think with your shield and all, you'd be better defense?"

I rolled my eyes inwardly. That was one of the worst excuses I've ever had to get into fighting. Even as I put Aegis on my arm, people were already backing up.

"Well, I was thinking it would make better offense. Besides, you've had more practice on defense." I slyly added a little bit of superiority to myself by putting him down. I had already heard of some of the stories of Percy's mishaps with this game. I didn't want to risk it.

Percy realized her couldn't argue with my logic. "Yeah, no problem."

"Cool," I replied before turning to help some Aphrodite kids who couldn't seem to put on armor without being worried about breaking a nail.

I quickly gave my team an overview of the strategy. There was no point in running head-on into battle. That was Percy's style. We had to sneak around the Hunters. Their arrows would pick us off before we could even get close to the flag.

Chiron slammed his hoof on the stone floor of the Pavilion, signaling the usual speaking of the guidelines. "Heroes! You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team- Camp Half-Blood- shall take the east woods. Hunters of Artemis- red team- shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items allowed. To your positions!"

"Blue team! Follow me!" I called, and led the campers to our side of the creek as Percy fell over to a shield and on his face. Nice one. Made me look good, though.

Our flag was set up at the top of Zeus's Fist, aka a cluster of boulders that only at the right angle, looks like a fist coming from the ground, but at any other angle, looks like, well, a pile of poop.

Percy set Nico, Beckendorf, and the Stoll brothers as the main defenders, which was good. The two veterans would be able to teach the little guy a few things.

I looked at my half of the campers, about fifteen in all. "We'll send a decoy to the left," I decided. "Silena, you lead that."

"Got it!"

Gods, it gave me so much happiness to be a leader for these things. I loved it when people listened to me!

"Take Laurel and Jason," I continued. "They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."

All of them lapped up my pep talk like my words were the best nectar t hey had ever tasted.

"Anything to add, Percy?" I asked. I did feel kind of bad leaving him on defense.

"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards and two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" I added.

"Unless you see a golden opportunity," Percy said.

I scowled. "Just don't leave you post."

"Right, unless-"

Seriously, was the dude going to contradict everything I said? "Percy!" I shocked electricity into him with a touch to his arm. "Sorry," I mumbled, though I didn't mean it. "Now, is everybody clear?"

They nodded, and we split up, my team headed for the creek while the scouts took off in different directions.

We snuck across the creek easily, keeping to the edge of the boundaries and snaking our way through the forest. Shouts and yells told me that the Hunters had found Silena's distraction and were falling right into our plan.

The sounds of almost-silent footsteps reached my ears, signaling that the Hunters had found our party.

I let out a shout, and the group split in two, half stopping to defend us while the fastest runners began sprinting toward where we sure the Hunters had placed the flag. I raced toward the tree, only to find that the flag wasn't there. I spun desperately, until my eyes caught a fleeing blue helmet. Percy. Of course.

"Percy! What are you doing?" I screamed.

Before I could run after him, though, an arrow exploded at my feet.

Ugghh. A fart arrow. It was like someone had eaten beans, cabbage, and sewage all at the same time and turned it into the most horrific gas I have ever smelled. My eyes watered and my stomach turned over.

"No fair!" I called, coughing and gasping. "Fart arrows are unsportsmanlike!"

Through the sickly yellow haze I saw Percy get up and start running from where he had fallen. I also spotted Zoë sprinting toward the creek, the flag in her hands, her feet flitting through the forest like a gazelle.

They leaped across the creek at the same time, and it kind of looked like one of those epic battle scenes, except when Percy and Thalia connected, there wasn't the clanging of swords, only the "oomph" of Percy as he was knocked back to the Hunter's side after a hard body slam with Zoë.

"The Hunters win!" called Chiron unenthusiastically. "For the fifty-sixth time in a row."

"Perseus Jackson!" I shouted, stomping toward him, my fingers letting out little shocks of static, my armor electrified with blue lightning. "What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?"

Percy hardened up, his face contorted in defiance. "I got the flag, Thalia! I saw a chance and I took it!" He shook the tattered flag at me.

"I WAS AT THEIR BASE! But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won." My hands shook with anger.

"You had too many on you!" he retorted.

"Oh, so it's my fault?" I accused.

"I didn't say that."

"Argh!" I screamed, and in my anger, forgot I was electrically charged. I pushed him, the amount of electric volts coming out of my hands equal to defibrillator, and sending him into the creek, ten feet back.

I let out an inward gasp. I hadn't meant to do that! "Sorry!" I called. "I didn't mean to-"

Before I could finish, a wave of creek water washed over me, and I was just barely able to stay standing.

"Yeah," said Percy sarcastically. "I didn't mean to, either."

I breathed heavily.

"Enough!" Chiron called desperately, but I ignored him.

I put my spear into offense position. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?" In my mind, I vaguely registered the crowd of campers and Hunters around us.

"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!" he taunted back. I lifted up Riptide, but before he could charge, I yelled, and power coursed through me, lighting coming down from the sky and out my spear like a cannon. It hit his chest, and he fell to the ground, his clothes burning.

"Thalia! That is enough!" Chiron cried.

Percy stood up, an anger in his eyes that I hadn't seen before, and the creek began to tremble, rising up until there was a full-blown whirlpool circling dangerously above me.

"Percy!" Chiron practically begged. He was powerless to stop us.

Percy lifted his hands back with the beginnings of a through, but something caught his eye. The whirlpool faltered, then splashed back into the creek, as Percy stumbled, looking in the direction of camp.

"This is impossible," Chiron mumbled, shocked. "It… she has never left the attic. Never."

I had a bad feeling as I turned around, my eyes catching sight of none other then the Oracle, in the flesh- or well, as much flesh as a dead, practically possessed body can have. The thing was creepy enough hiding away in it's little attic space, but here? Little pieces of who-knows-what floating off it in the wind, it looked like she was going to fall to dust any second. Dead people should stay dead, even if they were an Oracle.

I clapped my hands over my ears as her voice slithered inside my head.

I am the spirit of Delphi. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. She turned to Zoë Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask.

Zoë swallowed, and then said, "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, a green mist floating from it, and we saw a hazy image of a figure kneeling on top of a mountain, wrapped in chains. It was Artemis, and it looked like she was in pain.

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

Then, as if to make the scene, anymore dramatic, the Oracle dropped to the ground, as lifeless as if she had been there a thousand years.

Well, I was in for a big load of crap.

I'll admit, fanfictioning is a lot easier now after writing a book. I can easily keep this up! Until next time!

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