Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 73: Preparations. (Percy, please hear her out.)

Running. That's all she and everyone else had been doing for the past couple of days, just sprinting as fast as they could. She could hear the panting breaths and pained grunts of her group, but she ignored all of them.

Then, her tree came into view.

"WE'RE HERE!" She yelled in relief.

The Hunt yelled in relief as well as they sprinted toward the tree, smiles on their faces.

Then an arrow flew past her face. She whipped her head to see nothing in the direction the arrow had come from, except another arrow. She paled and dodged. Is this what the Titan had told them about? Was the invisibility bubble already set up? Were they too late?

"Just a little farther!" She yelled to the hunters, shaking off her worry.

One of the hunters screamed and began to run faster. Above them, a blanket of arrows was covered in a blanket of arrows.

She grumbled. "Hey, Dad. Now would be a good time to help."

Her eyes began to glow a bright blue, and she jumped and whirled around, taking aim with her arm. She mimicked the motion of throwing a spear, and a giant thunder bolt shot from her hand, zapping between each arrow and making the sky light up like fireworks.

The Hunters all cheered.

"Nice, Thalia!" Pheobe yelled through her panting breaths.

Thalia nodded and continued running. Once they passed the tree, they began to slow down, breathing heavily and hearts pounding.

"We can't slow down," Thalia managed to say, resting against her tree for a moment. "You guys go rally the campers. Get them ready for the fight. I'll go get Percy and the others."

The Hunt nodded and took off in different directions, moving as fast as they could in their exhaustion. As Thalia ran through the camp, it began to erupt in noise as campers started to rush around, suiting up and finding others to warn.

When she reached the Chaos cabin, she pounded on it. Luke opened the door.

"Oh, Thalia!" He said. "You're ba -"

He looked past her. "Why is everyone running around?"

"Monster attack," Thalia gasped out. "The force was massive last time I saw it, and since then, it's definitely grown."

Under his mask, his face hardened. "Got it. I'll get everybody. Go tell Chiron, see if Dionysus will help."

He closed the door.
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"Percy, I have to tell you something," Thalia said.

Percy shook his head and rifled through his cloak. "Not right now. You told us everything about the assault, right?"

"Well, yes," Thalia admitted. "But that's not what -"

"Then it doesn't matter right now," Percy said. "Go rally the hunters. Make sure they're ready."

"Percy, it's really important!" Thalia said.

"You can tell me after the battle," Percy insisted. "Is someone dead?"

"No, the opposite," Thalia said. "Your sister is alive!"

Percy froze.

"I know," he said. "That isn't news to me. Now, please go rally the hunters."

"But -!" Thalia began to say before she was interrupted by Percy.

"No buts!" He said, looking at her in frustration. "The topic is hard for me, and right now, we have a battle! Go. Rally. The. Hunters."

Thalia cursed and rushed away. Fine. Even though he would know what she wanted to tell him after the battle, she could just tell him that's what she wanted to inform him about.