The Beginning of the End (J. Grace)

XI: Almost the whole dam group are back together

Elara's PoV:

Does she become a hunter? It's a difficult decision, really.

There was an annoying feeling in her shoulder and her whole body shook. She groaned in her sleep, silently begging it to stop so that she could continue with her sweet, nostalgic dream.

But then it started again, only more vigorous. She let out another sound of displeasure as it continued, the shaking showed no signs of stopping this time.

"Lara." Someone hissed in her ear. She tried to block it out and go back to sleep. "For Zeus' sake. Elara!"

Her eyes flew open and hovering above her was a camper she knew very well. She met the electric blue eyes and broke out into a broad grin and the one who'd woken her up laughed out loud.

"Wow, you're usually a light sleeper... what happened?" Thalia joked and sat back away from the other girl.

"I don't know." She admitted, laughing. Maybe it was because she felt safer tonight? Maybe it was because she was in the middle of a blissful dream of her, her brother and Thalia together.

"How are you? It's been ages!" The huntress exclaimed. "Grover's down in the Mess Hall talking to Annabeth."

"Grover's here?" Excitement bubbled up inside of her. They almost had the whole dam group, just not Percy... "Um, yeah, I'm great. Travelled through Tokyo looking for Percy, got attacked by a ton of monsters. Like, more than there was in the Myrmeek's lair when we had to save Beckendorf -did Annabeth and I tell you about that? I think we did- and this was per day! Anyways, met this really great guy called Phoenix Overgrown and spent a lot of time with him. Jason said that he taught him how to fight after the Wolf House." She summarised. "Moving on, how are you?"

"Woah," She made a time-out sign. "That's information overload. Hang on..." She waited a minute to process everything, making the daughter of Hermes laugh childishly. She missed this. "Alright. Got it." She grinned like a maniac. "Yeah, I'm fine. Been hunting more monsters than ever before. They're all coming up, aren't they?"

"They are!" She agreed. "Ready to have your butt kicked in capture-the-flag?"

"You've got it the wrong way round, Lara." The daughter of Zeus joined in with the friendly rivalry. "Help me wake up Jason?"

"He's still asleep?" She asked incredulously. He's normally an early-riser. "Sure." She shrugged and sat upright, turning to her right to see her friend peacefully sleeping; a smile on his lips.

"He must be having a nice dream." Thalia smiled. "It's about time." Elara couldn't agree more with that.

Thalia took hold of her brother's shoulder and began shaking. "Jason." She complained. "Jason, wake up."

He didn't respond, but his smile grew wider as the dream continued. After about a minute, the daughter of lightning stopped and the two girls shared a confused look.

"How do you usually wake people up?" Elara asked, glancing back down at Jason and not wanting to wake him up at all. He looked so peaceful and content in his sleep.

Thalia thought for a moment, then harshly pinched a bit of skin connecting his neck and shoulder.

"Thalia!" The daughter of Hermes exclaimed as Jason shot bolt-upright, fully alert.

"What was that for?!" He exclaimed with frustration. Then, his expression softened at the sight of his sister.

"Good morning to you too." The huntress embraced him, messed up his hair and kissed his forehead.

"It's great to see you, Thalia." He beamed up at her.

"Hey!" Annabeth called, jogging up the hill towards them, Grover by her side.