Author`s Note: Alright, this is my first Fanfiction story, and I`m a newbie to the site. I fell in love with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and just blasted through them. By the way, Rick Riordan owns the copyrights to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and all that legal mumbo jumbo. I OWN NOTHING. COMPRENDÉ? Good. Now, that I`m done rambling on, enjoy (if you want) my first story!

Thalia Grace had never felt so desperate.

"You can`t be serious! You`re kicking me out of the hunt?" Thalia practically screamed.

"I prefer dishonourable discharge, but yes." Lady Artimis reasoned.

"WHY? I already told you, that guy in California wasn`t my fault! He attacked me, I was totally overpowered." Thalia lied to cover her butt.

"You were overpowered for 15 minutes? Behind the brush gallabouting about with that boy, honestly Thalia, do you think I am a fool?" Lady Artimis questioned angrily. Thalia thought gallabouting wasn`t exactly the right word for it, but she wasn`t about to tell Artimis she`d been making out with the guy. She was already in enough trouble.

"No my Lady. But this isn`t fair! You know I would never break my oath. Okay, so maybe I did talk to one guy, but kicking me out the hunt? I`m your best huntress, a lieutenant no less, an-and I... I don`t know what I would do without the hunt. It`s become everything to me, to be honest." Thalia was holding back tears at this point. Everything she had worked for was being taken away.

Artimis gave Thalia a look of pity and concern. "It may seem like an injustice now, but someday you will know why I am doing this. You have ten minutes to pack up any belongings and leave. After that, if you are still in our camp (for the night) you will be hunted down. I suggest you make your goodbyes quickly."

Thalia`s heart just tore in half, letting her emotions flood into her already grief stricken mind. Of course, this wasn`t the first time, but that was a pain she had managed to burrow deep in her mind, hoping for it to never have to be dealt with again.

Thalia trudged out of Lady Artimis`s tent hopelessly. Artimis called after her one more time, "Thalia," Thalia turned blandly. "Take care, and remember I am doing this for a reason." Thalia nodded blankly, then turned and stumbled out, tears streaming down her face.

Artimis truly felt sorry for the girl. She knew Thalia had no family to go back to. But Artimis had do this. One of her Huntresses had reported that there had been a traitor in their mist, and Artimis knew Thalia was missing at the time.

Artimis wasn`t a fool. She wouldn`t be taken advantage of. But she thought in Thalia`s case she should be fair. Mainly because her father was the king of the gods, but still. Artimis would test her. If after two years Thalia hadn`t enjoyed the company of a man, she would be considered to be let back into the hunt. Until then, she would remain unaware of Artimis watching her. That way Artimis would know if her intentions were true.

As she slumped through the crowd, she saw many looks of pity and disapproval. She heard their whispers, like "Did you hear about California..." and "Poor girl, she`s a slave to her emotions. How could she betray Lady Artimis like that..." It was pure agony.

When she finally got back to her tent, she allowed a long, pained sigh to escape. She gathered what little things she had, her old spear and shield, her bow and arrows, her clothes, and a small charm neckless she had hid from all the others. It had been a gift of affection from Luke, the jerk. She had kept it as a reminder of the hurtful things men could do, or at least, that`s what she kept telling herself. She put them all in a small, blue duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder. She straightened her ripped up army jacket, and took a deep breath out, preparing herself for another stroll down the walk of shame.

After several tear filled goodbyes, Thalia finally got down to the last person she had to say goodbye to. One of her best friends on the hunt. "Oh Thalia, you should hear the awful things their saying about you. I know they`re not true." Her friend cried.

"Thanks." She pulled Thalia in for a hug, and Thalia allowed it. All of the sudden, Thalia realized she was still wearing the crown that marked her lieutenant. Well, used to. Thalia thought to herself. Thalia pulled away from the embrace, "Uh, could you give this to Lady Artimis? I really can`t go back there again. Besides, I`ve only got a minute and a half before the hunters turn me into lunch meat." Thalia remarked, handing her friend the crown.

She smiled, "Of course. Goodbye, and good luck."

"Yeah, you too." Thalia said. She watched her friend scamper off into the crowd, towards Lady Artims`s tent. Thalia was going to miss her. But she couldn`t think about that now. She had to get out of here, that was goal one. Goal two was to figure out what the Hades she was going to do.

She trudged away, deep into the forest all the while thinking , What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna go? How am I gonna - Stop it. I have to think logically. Okay, so besides the hunt, what do I have? Camp Half-blood. I`ve still got that. Yeah. Chiron, Grover, Annabeth, Percy- wait, Percy! He`ll be in Manhattan about now, for his last week of school, and I can go there. Not too far from here, either. He`ll help me. There. Now she at least had a plan. Thalia hadn`t seen Percy since the Titan war ended two years ago, but she knew he`d be there to help. They were family after all, good friends, too.

Now, she was slightly relieved. Everything would be okay.

But little did she know, Percy had problems of his own.

Alright, that was chapter one. Now, I didn't give Thalia's friend a name because I thought it would be better to just let you use your imagination. This is after all! Now, it might sound like it now, but this isn`t gonna be one of those Percy x Thalia deals. And you won't get to see what Percy's problem is for a little while, I don't think. But I can tell you it involves Annaeth, so if you hate that couple (how could anyone hate them?) I'll warn you before to stop reading. So I`ll probably do more really, really soon, but I`m still in middle school so I can`t promise much seeing as it takes up most of the day and I`m really lazy. Review and all that good stuff. (I don`t mind if you think it sucks, just as long as you don`t kill yourself from reading it. ;) )

P.S. ...TACOS!