Percy Jackson: Trouble In The Land Beyond The Gods

"I have a marshmallow."

Thalia's POV

Sitting alone isn't fun. I may have learnt this a long time ago, but it's something I reluctantly still stand by today.

My feet dangled off the edge of a cupboard right outside of the engine room, my fingers tapping a tune on the wood. Annabeth and I hadn't talked since our dispute, but I knew we needed to.

Faint ringing rang throughout the ship, shrill and constant. I sighed and reluctantly jumped down, my combat boots hitting against the ground with a thud before I walked away, checking I had my spear and my mace.

I could hear shouting upstairs, both male voices. I smiled as an old memory from one of Hunters' campfires popped into my head, not long after when we were celebrating our victory over Gaia and the Giants.

The fire was burning brightly, I could see several girls roasting marshmallows or boar meat over it, all the them chatting contentedly. There were a few vacant spots on the logs tonight - ones that each Hunter would look at in sorrow every so often - but they were only a few of the fallen compared to what we lost in the Second Titan War and what we could have lost to Gaia.

"Do you remember the time we found those two males in Seattle?" Georgia, a brown haired hunter with a strong build, asked me. She had a happy smile on her face, though it soured slightly as she mentioned men.

"Oh gods, that was hilarious!" Another hunter, Darrell, piped up. The two shared a grin and looked at me expectantly. The wing whipped around us and I could feel the clouds moving in, a storm was brewing in the heavens.

I raised an eyebrow and smiled mischievously as I grabbed a large blue marshmallow and skewered it, "I remember it alright, we spent quite a few hours hunting them down too."

"Well, you gotta hunt the jackelopes." Georgia said, mimicking my actions but grabbing a large white marshmallow instead.

Darrell snorted at her before walking away, coming back moments later with a shish-kabobbed slice of boar meat. My mouth watered as the smell wafted teasingly beneath my nose, and I hungrily sniffed the air.

Darrell sat down next to me and playfully nudged me in the ribs, "Somebody's hungry then, eh?" She flicked a thick strand of black hair out of her face and waved the skewered meat around with a free hand for a few seconds, slowly raising it to her mouth as I watched her.

I clenched my jaw and winced as she mockingly chewed the meat, slowly swallowing with dancing eyes. I stared at her with a concealed grin, barely holding back my laughter.

She rose the meat to her mouth again and I burst out into a fit of laughter, much to their surprise. I grinned at them both, "I have a marshmallow."

We all laughed at the inside joke, Georgia and I sticking our marshmallows into the fire as the memory brightly burned away.

I paused when I reached the door, the voices loud enough that I could distinguish who was who. I immediately heard the voice of my brother Jason, but it took me longer to realise who Jason was yelling at.

It was Percy Jackson.