A/N: I am SO sorry for the long gap in updates. It's been, what, 2 months? Oops. Thank you so much to anyone who reviewed; I really appreciate them. Anyway, at long last, here is the next chapter.

Sacrifice

They were running for their lives. The black of night coated the scene and it was all the four of them could do to avoid branches and fallen logs that appeared out of nowhere. Annabeth tripped and fell but Thalia grabbed the seven year old by the arm and hauled her along. To her credit, Annabeth didn't complain; she knew how much danger they were in and how important it was to keep up.

A roar sounded close (too close) behind them but they were almost there, the camp was right head, if they could just-

Then a tree came rushing towards them, and Thalia only had time to shove Annabeth out of harm's reach before it crashed to the ground, separating her Thalia from Annabeth, Luke and Grover. Luke tried to reach across to her but she stepped out of his grasp.

"Go," she told him, her voice steady. "I'll hold them off."

"Thalia, no!" Luke yelled at her. "You'll die! They're Cyclopes, how are you going to stop them?"

"I'll be okay. I'm a daughter of Zeus, aren't I? Maybe I can convince Dad to blast them with lightning or something." She flashed Luke a grin, trying to look as cheerful as possible for Annabeth's sake. She and Luke both knew that she wouldn't survive, but better one of the sacrifice themselves than all four of them needlessly die.

"Take Annabeth and go," she ordered, suddenly serious.

Still, Luke hesitated. "Thalia -" he started, but she cut him off.

"Please, Luke," she whispered. "Do it for me. Do it for Annabeth." Thalia pointed behind him at Annabeth. The daughter of Athena was watching the two of them with those grey eyes of hers widened in fear.

With obvious reluctance, Luke nodded. He muttered a few words to Grover, who tried to protest, but was stopped by Luke. He picked Annabeth up and they ran out of sight. Thalia turned away, desperately trying to ignore Annabeth's screams for her and focus on the oncoming monsters. She hoped her friends would make it to safety.

As the Cyclopes thundered up the hill towards her, Thalia took a shuddering breath and drew her sword and shield. She held Aegis aloft and charged forwards. She fought hard and well, but it wasn't long before one of the monsters caught her hard across the head. She flew backwards landed with a crack on the earthy floor. Her back and chest hurt and, as she struggled to breathe, Thalia knew something was desperately wrong inside. She was dying.

Thalia looked up into the blackened sky and whispered a prayer to her father. She prayed that her friends got over the border safely. She prayed that the camp stayed safe from further attacks. She prayed that her fate not befall another demigod. Zeus heard her whispered final words and sent a blessing down to Earth in the form of his daughter.

Lying on the damp ground, Thalia felt a strange sensation start to grow. A warm feeling spread throughout her entire body and a glow seemed to emanate from her skin. At first, she thought that she was hallucinating with the pain of the death but, as the glow grew brighter to banish the darkness, she realised her eyes did not deceive her.

Thalia felt herself being raised into the air. She was now surrounded in a cocoon of golden light that shifted and undulated. Her consciousness started sliding away from her and tried to hold on, but it was no use. Her eyes drifted closed and she huffed out one final breath, before slipping away completely.

As if that one breath was all it needed, the cocoon began to change. It shrunk until it surrounded Thalia completely, and then began to grow along with the body inside. Except...

Except it wasn't a body any longer. Her skin had hardened into bark. Her legs and torso had melded to make a long trunk and her arms, flung out at her sides, had changed to boughs. Her hair which had, moments before, been floating above her head, had grown to surround her head and became long, piny branches. Even the blood that ran in her veins had changed to golden sap.

The light died and, in place of Thalia's body, there stood a large pine tree. It seemed ordinary at first, but when a remaining Cyclops thundered up the Half-Blood Hill towards camp it got blasted backwards and sent back to Tartarus the hard way. The tree stood tall and proud, protecting the camp from any threats, and so it would stay.

Six years after the events of that fateful night, an awakening would take place. The girl trapped inside the tree felt something tug at her and call her to the light. She followed it and opened her eyes to a sea of unfamiliar people. One of them, a boy with black hair and sea green eyes, knelt next to her.

"I'm Percy," he said. "Who are you?"

She thought for a moment before remembering. "I'm Thalia. Daughter of Zeus."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and I am so sorry again about the delay. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will try my best to update again very soon. Bye!