I DONT OWN! ANYTHING!

Thalia's POV

My tree. One of many things signaling I was finally home. I've been with the Hunters of Artemis for four years. Which means all of my friends are older than me now. Except Nico.

I walked past our camp border and saw a few kids playing in the strawberry fields, then Katie quickly chasing them out. Her being the first person I saw, quickly jogged over.

"Hey Katie" I said. She looked up, with a confused look on her face. She studied me for a moment and then exclaimed,

"Thalia! Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I've seen you."

"I know, four years."

"Oh, do you want me to show you around the rest of Camp? It's practically a whole new place."

"That'd be awesome," I said, smiling.

She showed me the things I already knew was there and then got on to the newer things. All the new cabins were huge! I'm jelous! I know that they have a lot more kids than my cabin would, but damn! One stood out though, an all black one with only one window cracked open. Then a guy who was about half a foot taller than me came out. He had on black jeans, a dark red shirt and a mess of black hair on his head. He turned my way and cracked a half smile. His eyes were what made me recognize him.

"Nico!" I yelled running to him. I almost ran him over, but he caught me in strong arms. He laughed and looked down at me.

"Hey, Thals," he said, "what are you doing here? Are the rest of the Hunters with you?"

"Umm, no. I quit actually."

"Wow, didn't expect that," he said, "well let's go find Percy and Annabeth. I know exactly where they are." We walk the familiar path down to the beach, and saw the love-birds sitting on the beach asleep. I snuck up to them and jumped on them yelling "Wake up!"

They jumped up so fast that I was pushed off and half of me landed in the water. "Thalia!" I heard Annabeth scream and then all of me was in the water. I pushed her off me and got up to have Percy squeeze the breath out of me.

"Get. Off. Kelp. Head!" I yelled. I heard Nico trying not to laugh next to me and I sent him a glare, but he didn't stop. He is the first person, besides Annabeth, to not be affected by my glare. "Oh shut up, Death Breath." I muttered.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm officially out of the Hunters. I realized that I didn't need to be there about a year ago, and finally had the guts to tell Artemis that I quit about a week ago."

"Wow. And now, I'm older than you! Haha sucker!" Percy exclaimed.

"That is actually an insult to you because that means a sixteen year old girl can kick your ass," I remarked, snidely, making Nico actually laugh. We all talked for about half an hour before a girl came running from the woods.

She had reddish-brown hair, and blue/green eyes. Her hair flowed behind her in waves and ended near her lower back. She had on baggy jeans and a shirt that said 'WHAT' on it with a question mark under it. She looked to be about 14 and was crazy beautiful.

"Bubba! Dad wants you," she yelled towards us.

"What does he want?" Nico yelled. How is she related to Nico?

"Something about you, Cerberus, and a big bag of Doritos," she replied, walking back the way she came. I saw Nico's eyes widen and him curse under his breath.

"Who was that, 'Bubba'?" I asked. "She doesn't look anything like you."

"That, my dear Thalia, is the product of Hades and Persephone, aka my baby sister, aka Brianna."

"She looks just like Persephone."

"Yes but sadly, she got her sick, twisted mind from dad."

"Nico!" I heard her yell from the woods.

"I gotta go. Hey Thalia, can you come with me?"

"Why?"

"My dad actually likes you and maybe if you come he won't blast me to pieces," he said, flashing an innocent smile.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yup!" he grabbed my hand before I could reply and shadow traveled us to the Underworld. But, before everything went black, I saw Annabeth whisper in Percy's ear and his eyes widen.

Once my eyes adjusted, I saw Nico doubled-over, pretending to be puking.

"What are you doing, idiot?" I asked.

"Dying!" he yelled. "I come here to get my punishment and I find these two sucking-face!" He pointed to Hades and Persephone, who were sitting on a deep red couch next to their thrones.

"Oh, get up!" I yelled back. "Be a man!"

"Can that be my punishment?"

"Yes, now leave," Persephone told him before Hades could answer. Nico quickly grabbed my hand and traveled us back to Camp.

"That was nasty," he said.

"What is that?" I pointed to a flyer hung up behind him. He turned around and yanked it from the wall.

"It wasn't here this morning. Ah shit! It's from the Aphrodite cabin. They are holding a dance next weekend and everyone 13 and up must attend, with a date."

"Are you-"

"Will you go with me?" he cut me off.

"Sure," I said without thinking. What did I just say?

"Great! I'll see you later." He said, and he ran off to his cabin. I ran to the Big House where I knew I would find Annabeth talking to Chiron about the 'dance'. And what do you know, I was right.

"We have to go?" Annabeth whined.

"Yes, orders from Aphrodite herself. I'm sorry, child."

I cleared my throat. "Annabeth, can I talk to you? Hey, Chiron!"

"Hello, Thalia."

"Sure," she replied. We walked over to my tree and sat down. "What's wrong?"

"I have a date to the dance."

"What? Who?" she asked.

"Nico."

"I'm not surprised," she muttered.

"What?"

"I saw the looks he gave you, and you kinda returned them, whether you realize it or not." I thought about it, and knew she was right. I really liked Nico.