Chapter 9

It's been a bit but here is the next chapter hope you enjoy

A week later.

Thalia's POV

"Hunters, Chiron has contacted me and he believes that an attack is imminent at Camp Half-blood so we are going to assist the,m," Artemis said. There was an answer of many groans and grumbles but personally, I was overjoyed I would get to see some of my friends again and I couldn't wait. "We leave in two hours, ladies get packed. Also Thalia, may I talk to you."

As everyone else walked away to do their duties I walked over to Artemis and waited patiently for her to speak. She looked around making sure everyone was away and started "I know you did not join the hunt for reasons many of the other girls here did, but you are still obligated to abide by the oath you swore. No matter the feeling you have for someone if anyone," AsIi opened my mouth to argue she held up her hand for silence and continued "I am not accusing you of anything I am just reminding you, Thalia I trust you as much as any other Huntress but I just wanted to remind you" She finished I nodded in understanding and went to go pack up my things.

Two days Later

As we walked into camp I stopped by my tree, and laid my hand on it and felt a sort of peace flow through me. I let out a relieved sigh as I looked over the camp. It was bustling with activity campers and satyrs running around, playing basketball and volleyball. Annabeth stood beside me and said " I didn't realize how much I missed this place" "Yeah it's been a while" I responded as we walked towards the Artemis cabin with the rest of the hunters.

After we were all settled we were allowed to walk around and hang out with old friends. Bianca planned to go see Nico, Annabeth wanted to talk to Malcolm, and I wanted to see how Percy was doing. As we were walking towards the big house a camper I recognised as Sherman Yang passed us and I asked "Hey do you know where Nico, Malcolm, and Percy are?" He shrugged and said "Go ask Clarisse she'll know" before walking away. This answer surprised me because none of the people asked for really had any connection or friendship with the daughter of Ares to my knowledge and based on the looks of the rest of my group they had a similar thought but nonetheless, we went to find Clarisse in the arena.

As we stepped into the entrance of the arena sure enough there stood the daughter of Ares slashing and stabbing with a xiphos (The same type of sword as Riptide) which is unusual as she normally stuck with her spear. "Hey Clarisse," I said. The girl turned towards me breathing heavily from her workout, once she saw me she had a surprised look on her face "Hey Thalia, Annabeth. What are y'all doing here?" She questioned, "Chiron said there might be an attack and y'all could use reinforcements." Annabeth answered, "I knew why y'all were at camp, why did you come to find me?" Clarrise asked. " We asked Sherman where Nico, Malcolm, and Percy were and he said you would know," I said. "Yeah, lucky for you they are all in the same place. Follow me," she said before walking out of the Arena with us following immediately.

We didn't talk on the way to our destination but when it became obvious where we were going Annabeth was the first to question it "Why are we going to the infirmary?" Clarrise didn't even stop walking or turn around and just said "This is where the people you asked for are." "What did you do to them?" Annabeth questioned angrily. This time Clarrise did turn around and had an angry look on her face "None of Y'all have been here in a while so don't question things right now. Some things have changed so if you want to see them shut up and follow me." She walked away and after a quick glance, we were following again although in a more uncomfortable silence.

When we got to the infirmary Clarrise just walked in without knocking or any warning and went to a chair by one of the beds. As we entered I looked around and noticed four people in there Nico, Malcolm, Will, a son of Apollo, and there was a figure lying on the bed Clarrise sat by whom I couldn't quite make out.

Nico was the first to see us, as he rushed towards the group and wrapped Bianca and me in a hug with a huge smile on his face. "Your back," he said with glee.

"Hey, Nico" how's it been here? Has Percy been taking care of you?" I asked "It's been fun Percy's been training me when he can," Nico said happily

"Speaking of Percy, where is he?" I questioned. In response, he simply pointed at the bed I hadn't paid attention to yet. As I followed his finger I gasped as I saw Percy lying there asleep. Overall he seemed fine except for his leg which had a bandage on it.

"What happened to him?" Annabeth questioned sending an accusatory glare at Clarisse. "We are having a cabin leader meeting tonight, you'll find out then," Clarrise answered returning Annabeth's glare.

Seeing the tension Malcolm spoke up saying "Why don't y'all go see Chiron and catch up with him, and I will catch up with you later Annabeth." he said with a look saying don't argue.

So we left the infirmary to find Chiron. I was in stunned silence trying to process "What could have happened to Percy, my Per… no I can't think like that I am a hunter." I mentally berated myself.

Percy's POV

My head hurt, and my leg felt numb. These were the thoughts as I opened my eyes. I groaned as the harsh light of the room blinded me for a moment. Once my vision cleared I looked around. I was lying on a cot like the ones in the infirmary at camp. I heard some talking once I found the source. I saw Malcolm and Clarisse arguing with Nico watching quietly and Will looking at a chart.

Will looked up from his chart and noticed me with a surprised look on his face. "What's up, guys?" I asked innocently. The three whirled around in mixes of emotion, surprise, fleeting anger, and happiness.

Will just started checking my bandages as everyone started talking all at once making it impossible to hear just one of them. Finally, Will looked up and shouted "Shut up" Once it was quiet he continued saying "Your leg is healed if I were you I wouldn't have any Ambrosia or Nectar because you had a lot of both when I was cleaning the wound. You were hit with one nasty poison I might add. I would suggest taking a dump in the lake to clean it out and let your son of Poseidon powers do what they can."

"Thanks, Will, also how long was I out for" I asked. Malcolm answered before Will could say anything " A week and a half. Clarisee woke up after a week. We found the pair of you passed out at the top of the hill with the ground below you covered in blood. I've never seen Chiron so scared about anything before."

'I've been out for a WEEK" I asked exasperated. "Yeah, you were in a coma there was nothing we could do to get you up. You suffered more than Clarisse since you carried her here on a poisoned leg" Will said in a calm neutral voice.

"Thanks for that by the way," Clarisse said. "Yeah, no problem," I answered. After a moment of collecting my thoughts, I asked "Has anything else happened while I was out."

The four shared a look before Nico mustered up the courage to answer "Well the hunters arrived earlier today. You're actually lucky if you had woken up thirty minutes ago you would have been met with them here."

"Thank goodness that I didn't wake up sooner than" I replied.

"Well anyways let's get you to the lake and see if that can help anything before tonight."Will said, "Hold up, what do you mean before tonight?" I asked "Well, first there's the meeting with the hunters discussing what happened to you, and there's the capture of the flag between us and the hunters. Now normally after waking up from a coma, I wouldn't permit you to play in the game but I don't really like the Hunters. They make snide remarks about my father a lot so why not let you help us show them a lesson." He said

After my dip in the lake, I felt very rejuvenated but now it was time for the meeting. They chose to do it right before dinner so it wouldn't interfere with capture the flag but to be honest I was starving. I felt as if I could eat a mountain of blue food, but sadly that had to wait.

"Percy hurry up we are already late" Clarisse yelled behind her toward me. I was walking slowly with Malcolm beside me making sure I was fine. "C'mon it's 5:06 and the meeting started at 5:00," Malcolm said "Oh no I would hate to be late to this meeting" I responded sarcastically.

As we arrived at the big house Clarisse went in first followed by Malcolm and then me it was loud as we walked in there most people were too involved in their conversations except for Chiron and Zoe who were waiting silently when the pair saw me they had a surprised look on their on the faces and in the all the noise Chiron was able to ride over to the trio talk to them while Zoe stayed in her seat between the other Hunters in attendance.

"Percy my boy, how are you feeling?" Chiron asked in his normal fatherly-like personality. "I feel fine, had a little headache earlier but I feel good as new now," I answered. "Glad to hear that, though we should probably get on with this meeting now that you all are here." He said as he rolled back over to where he was.

"Everybody please be quiet," Chiron said. After a moment everybody was silent Chiron motioned for Clarisse to step up. "Ok everyone I have to speak because Chiron wants you to know what happened to me and my group on our quest and what we need to expect in the coming days."

Thalia POV

When Chiron called everyone to silence I turned my attention away from the conversation I was having with Annabeth and Bianca. And saw that Clarisse was standing up from her chair and to my surprise beside her was Percy who looked alive and well. He was drawing on a piece of paper although I couldn't see what he was doing. It looked as if he was detailing a map of some type. Malcolm was looking over his shoulder at the paper as he drew and was pointing or making what seemed to be critiqued every so often. All the while Clarisse was talking about her quest which I was half listening to until she mentioned her and Percy's battle in the labyrinth. She sat back down and hit Percy on the back of the head and he looked at her and said "What's up" "Time for you to tell your part of the story" She answered irritably "Ok, Ok" he said as he stood up. He continued to tell of what happened after their exit from the labyrinth in a very uninterested tone. Once he finished he sat back down and went back to the paper he had been working on and now Clarisse was looking at it and also commenting changes although none that could be heard.

I kept looking at Percy expecting him to look over at me and Annabeth his good friends but he never did he didn't even spare us a glance as he talked with Malcolm and Clarisse.

"Ok now that we have that covered it's time for dinner and after that our annual capture the flag game between campers and hunters. Get your groups ready. Now away with you" Chiron announced.

Percy's POV

"Did you have fun in that meeting" Malcolm joked "Haha, very funny" I answered. "Annabeth and Thalia were staring at you the whole time, seems like they have been missing you" Clarisse mocked, wrapping her arms around her chest and fake kissed the air. I knew I was as red as a tomato, "Shut up before I shove maimer up–" I started before being cut off by a slap in the head. "Just go eat waterboy." "Hey Malcolm," I said "What" he questioned "Why don't you go make out with Drew again" I said as he went red as a tomato. "Wait what" Clarisse asked with glee. "It wasn't my fault Malcolm defended. "She was coming to charmspeak Percy, and you know how her eyes get pink when she is about to do it, well my back was to her and as soon as Percy saw her he turned and ran away. So she charmspoke me and made me kiss her." He said sheepishly while me and Clarisse were dying of laughter. "I'm going to eat," he said as he walked to his table. Me and Clarisse followed suit going to our separate tables laughing all the way.

The whole meal I could feel someone's gaze on me and I wasn't ready to look back at her, so when the conch shell sounded signaling the end of dinner I was beyond grateful as my armor appeared on my table as it did for all the others.

Once the campers all had their armor strapped on and weapons ready we marched to the north side of the woods. This was an unfortunate placement since that meant they would have Zeus's fist on their side of the creek, but that didn't matter we were going to win.

"You ready?" Clarisse asked as we walked to the "Yep, we've been working on this plan for a while, it will work." I answered. "Yep, have you talked to everyone, are the stolls and Micheal and Lee ready for their jobs?" She asked "They seem ready. Remember, use your sword, not your spear. I'm worried the electricity from it will help power her up like water does for me." I said.

Malcolm walked up and said "Everyone has their weapons and armor, we are all ready. We just have to make sure they are all in position." "Good we can beat them," I said

As we got in our position Clarisse and her team of the stolls, and our two best archers, Michael, and Lee went to their position at the border. "Time for operation Watergate," I said to Malcolm "Yep let's do this, they are going down" He answered.

We heard the conch horn blow signalling the start of the game. We planned to send out one of our best fighters, and then our fastest and best long-range fighters. It was our best bet. The other part came later, but I needed the signal before it happened. For the first five or so minutes it was quiet. We didn't see any of the huntresses but we stayed aware.

Before long we saw our first sight of the hunters, it was a small group, maybe six of them. I looked at Malcolm and asked "Distraction?" "He responded.

I motioned over to Sherman Yang and whispered to him "Take three people with you and take out that group. We know they are a distraction but pretend to go along with it and if you can take them out" He nodded before running off with one of his brothers and a daughter of Hermes. As my group ran off that's when I heard them, or more accurately I felt them as their feet splashed in the creek. I don't know how but I could tell there were eight of them most likely a strike force.

"Be ready," I announced to my fellow campers. As the Hunters burst out of the woods I gripped my sword and hoped Clariss would be back with their flag soon. I looked at this oncoming group trying to asses them when I saw Zoe Nightshade. From the last time the campers and hunters had played capture the flag I had heard that she was their best fighter, so naturally as my group ran at theirs I went straight for her. The Hunters split into two groups, one who rushed the oncoming defender using knives and the ones that stayed back with bows using blunt-tipped arrows that wouldn't kill but hurt a lot and could knock you out.

We just needed to hold out until the signal, as we fought I heard it, a war horn, "Sherman" I yelled over the noise of battle "Do it now". He backed away from the fighting and blew a similar horn, and I reached out feeling the creek and its power, and pushed. The water wasn't high, only three feet but when you weren't expecting it, it was enough to trip you up.

The hunters unaware of the campers' plan continued to fight until over the sound of fighting a new horn blew along with a voice yelling "The campers win". And with that, a cheer erupted from my victorious group.

We all gathered around the creek and saw one of Stolls with a silver flag in his hand and a smile on his face. As I approached the group I saw Thalia in the corner of my vision, and I wasn't ready to face her yet, I was mad that she joined the hunters. I knew why, and I was probably being a crappy friend but right now It didn't matter, so I went the other direction without trying to make it seem like that was what I was doing.

3rd Person POV

As Percy walked away from Thalia not very discreetly trying to avoid her, the daughter of Zeus's face tightened in anger. She approached Percy to talk to him whether he wanted to or not. One thing to know about the daughter of Zeus is that when she is angry she forgets about her powers and forgets to control them so when she tapped his shoulder she discharged much more electricity than intended.

The son of Poseidon flew through the air into a tree with a loud crack emanating through the woods. It was silent, some people looked at Thalia in surprise and others looked at Percy in concern. After a second Phoebe, one of the older Hunters and one who was not very fond of males, started laughing and was joined by a few others.

Hearing the laughter the son of the sea god slowly got up a grimace on his face and fire in his eyes. "It was an accident" Thalia defended before anything could be said. A dozen baseball-sized balls of water flew at her and Percy responded "That was to"

An angry child of the big three was not something you wanted, two of them were even worse. Water swirled around Percy's ribs and the water glowed greenish and after a moment it fell back into the swirl of the creek.

Zoe readies her bow at Percy "Thou shall not hurt our sister, lest you wish to face the consequences" She said "Right back at you" Clarisse responded as she readied her spear.

Percy and Thalia either having not heard or choosing to ignore the threats issued were focused on each other entirely. Thalia yelled as a bolt of electricity arced down from the sky towards her spear and redirected towards Percy. The bold hit him square in the chest and once against throwing him into a tree, although this time he retaliated quickly anger fueling him. A jet of water the size of a person flew from the creek straight into the daughter of Zeus's face stunning her as Percy willed the entire creek to rise, "Percy please don't" Chiron pleaded. Percy looked at his mentor and as the creek fell back to its resting point it engulfed and swirled around the son of Poseidon forming his own little cocoon.

Chiron let out a heavy sigh relieved at the fight that had been avoided. "Do we let him sit in there?" Malcolm asked. "Nah I'm gonna go get him," Clarisse said as she forged into the creek she prodded the bubble with her spear and eventually stabbed it into the bubble not making it far but enough that it discharged electricity to get the demigods' attention. The bubble fell away and Percy stood with his arms crossed "That's the third time I've been electrocuted today and I am about done with it" he said with a pointed look at Thalia.

She had been silent since Percy cocooned himself, reflecting on what she did and why. Maybe it was pent-up anger, maybe it was annoyance for losing the game but more likely it was that one of her best friends had been ignoring her since she had arrived and she wanted to talk to him.

As they walked out of the creek Clarisse leaned over to Percy and whispered so no one else could hear and said "Talk to them before that happens again" She ordered. Percy sighed but didn't argue knowing he needed to do it. "How about this I will do it tomorrow because right now I need sleep cause I might just fall over right now. Deal?" Percy asked "Deal, but if I find out you don't talk to them it's gonna go badly." "Sure it is," Percy said sarcastically as everyone started making their way to the cabins.

This is the longest chapter I have ever written which feels good. Thank you to all those who are reading this as always please review anything from critiques to ideas I would love to hear them.

-Toxin1316