Half Blood Realm: Rise Of The Titan

Decisions, Decisions

Thalia POV

Friday Morning

After finishing up with the rest of the campers in the training arena, everyone began to head to the front of the camp as they prepared to file out onto Halfblood Hill as they had done the day before.

Campers were running around strapping on swords or putting on chest plates but Thalia had made her way to the infirmary to see Annabeth, snatching up a shield as she got to the Big House.

Going into the infirmary, she smiled at Annabeth who picked her head up upon her arrival.

Thalia's heart hurt a little to see her long time friend this way.

She was getting her color back but she was still too thin for Thalia's liking. Her face looked sunken and her eye was bruised, a little gash on her cheekbone. Partly healed gashes littered her arms and legs in random spots, signs of her struggling or just signs of her abuse.

Her grey eyes were bloodshot and glossy. She looked out of it. Too out of it to be awake.

Thalia noticed her burger was gone and so were half of the fries.

"Your still awake? You hungry still?" She asked gently.

Annabeth shook her head, chuckling. "No, thank you. I felt sick so I figured I should leave the fries alone. Is everything okay?" She asked as her eyes met Thalia's.

Thalia nodded, coming to join the daughter of Athena on the bed. "Everything is fine. We're waiting for them to show. We're ready for whatever they might try. You should've seen us yesterday, Annie, it was amazing. Leo got me out of a tough jam." Thalia admitted, her cheeks burning.

Thalia shook her head, pushing the son of Hephaestus out of her mind.

Instead she thought how she would have to hold her own against the Titan Lord if he showed. She wasn't worried about Ethan, she could take him easily but the Titan Lord was a different matter altogether.

Even with a weapon that could kill Titans.

A fact everyone chose to either ignore or save for later.

Annabeth touched her arm and Thalia looked at her. "You okay?" She asked softly.

Thalia nodded, keeping her expression soft. "Of course. You?"

Annabeth shrugged. She grabbed Thalia's arm and pulled her closer. "I'm fine. Come here, I'm tired." She said.

Thalia moved her shield and wrapped her arms around her, scooting up to lay with her. Annabeth snuggled against her and Thalia laid her head on Annabeth's. "Your deflecting." Thalia stated.

Annabeth laughed once. "So are you." She said. Before Thalia could rebuttal, she heard the light snore as her friend fell asleep.

Thalia held her, stroking her hair which was matted and stringy. Not seeing her luscious curls made Thalia sad and part of her hoped Ethan would be dumb enough to show his face.

If she couldn't kill him, she'd just as soon settle for his other eye.

Thalia laid there for another hour before her anxiety began to bother her about how no horns had went off, signifying the attack on camp was beginning.

She slid from under Annabeth, gently laying her onto the bed and stood.

The daughter of Athena had been fighting her sleep in fear of sleeping alone and though she thought Thalia couldn't tell, she could.

Ethan had did a number on her in the past few weeks.

Thalia grabbed her shield, momentarily contemplating if she should just wait with Annabeth in case she woke up again but her instinct told her to at least check in with the Head Counselors.

She made for the door and it opened before she got there, Will's eyes widening as her saw Annabeth asleep.

He saw Thalia and winced, holding up a small ziploc bag with a few little cubes in it. "Came to give her some more ambrosia, I didn't know she was sleeping. I'll come back." He whispered.

Thalia waved him off, putting her hand out. "I'll just leave them by her bed for when she wakes up." She said as Will handed her the ambrosia.

Putting it by the dresser by the bed, Thalia followed Will onto the porch of the Big House.

"What's going on?" She asked him.

Will shrugged, his armor restricting too much of his movement. "Everything is all clear. No signs of Ethan or any of his lackeys. The scouts were thinking of sending out a small group to look around but Chiron shut them down, saying splitting up wasn't a good plan of action."

Thalia propped her shield against the porch, gazing at the rough estimate of 135 campers all positioned near the archway of Camp Halfblood, ready to file out onto Halfblood Hill.

"What did Chiron suggest? Anything outside of wait for them to show?" Thalia asked.

Will met her gaze and shook his head.

Thalia bit her lip. She could very well follow orders or she could deviate and do her own thing.

Scouting ahead was never a bad idea, something that Artemis had taught her in her trips and missions with the Hunters.

As long as you knew your enemy as well as you knew yourself, it usually worked to your advantage.

Thalia had even tried to get Artemis and the Hunters to show for the battle but they were still across the country, battling some minor immortal who Artemis had been very vague about during their last talk.

Thalia made a face. Sitting and waiting around simply wouldn't do. She thought of the relic Nico was tracking and decided maybe she could use that to pinpoint Ethan at least.

Or she could scout ahead on her own for a little, just to make sure no one was lying in wait in the woods.

Then she realized that wouldn't be the best thing for her to do alone, though she didn't exactly mind the excuse to get her hands dirty.

She thought of Percy and how conflicted he truly had been about killing Luke. He'd locked his self in his cabin and denied all forms of human contact outside of Thalia.

Thalia couldn't remember the last time she saw her cousin so bent out of shape, if she ever had.

A small part of her told her that it might've just been because Luke's death took a toll on Annabeth that he hadn't accounted for but she realized even if that was the case, he'd still felt guilty about taking another human life.

She wondered if she would react similarly.

Then she thought of Percy's face earlier when he Iris Messaged her. He had mentioned running into one of Ethan's rogues but failed to say what happened to him after.

Thalia knew. He'd killed him, no way would Percy let Nico do it.

She thought of how calmly he'd implied that he'd rather kill Ethan away from camp so it wouldn't be as complicated or as much to explain.

She had sensed a strange peace to him as of killing had become familiar. Normal, even.

This probably should've worried her but for some reason, Thalia wasn't disturbed at all. Frankly, she was surprised any of them had made it this far without killing.

She knew now that killing wouldn't go over too lightly with the other campers and she figured if she could scout ahead and run into the rogues, she'd be able to dispose of them with little to no conflict. And she knew just who to bring with her, only problem being that she didn't get along all that well with her.

Clarisse.

"Thalia?" Will started, tilting his head, "what're you thinking in there? You've got your 'thinking hard' expression going on."

Thalia met Will's eyes. "Clarisse and I are just going to circle the perimeter of the camp one time. Just to be sure." She said.

Will nodded once. "I'll tell Chiron. You'll handle Clarisse?" He asked.

Thalia nodded once, picking her shield back up. "Leave her to me." She said as she made her way to the daughter of Ares.