"Where're you going?" Someone hissed in the darkness of the Athena Cabin.
I jumped and my head smacked the metal frame of my bunk bed where I was packing my backpack.
"Uh," Annabeth glanced over at me. We both knew who this was; Thalia Grace had apparently come back to the Athena Cabin for some reason. I shook my head vigorously.
"I saw you guys sneak out of the cabin," Thalia whispered.
"Er...go back to sleep," Annabeth whispered back in a spooky voice. "You're having a dream." She wiggled her fingers in front of Thalia's face.
"No, I'm not," I could faintly see Thalia's grin in the moonlight that streamed through the cabion's window.
Not ever when I was around her did Thalia smile. Never. From a threatening daughter of Zeus, she was transformed into a beautiful girl who had great potential in becoming a true friend. Not that that would ever happen.
"We're leaving camp for a bit," I zipped my backpack as quietly as I could so as not to wake my siblings. June Medows flipped over in her sleep, snoring loudly.
"I'm coming with," Thalia said.
"You can't," I said.
"Where are you going?"
"We're going to save Nico," I explained.
"But...but he's in Tartarus," Thalia took a stunned step back.
"Exactly," I sighed, feeling suddenly overwhelmed.
"How do you expect to get down there then back here safely? Can't only children of Hades survive that?" Thalia was all skepticism.
"My theory is--"
"Oh, a wise Athena theory," Thalia rolled her eyes.
"Fine, I won't tell you," I said and added a box of ambrosia that was sitting on my nightstand to the outer pocket of my backpack.
"Just tell me," Thalia glared, obviously very curious. "I'll have to listen to it later on anyway if I don't now."
"Why would that be?" I demanded.
"Because I'm coming with, duh. Now, are you going to tell me or not?"
"You're not coming," I glowered.
"Paris," Annabeth said, "Just tell her. I want to hear it again myself." Ah, Annabeth, always the peacekeeper.
"Fine," I sighed. "Okay, so I was thinking that someone, preferably me, would go into Tartarus and search for Nico. I'll have a rope," I unzipped my backpack and showed her the heavy cord, "that Annabeth will tie around my waist and she'll lower me in. I'll look for Nico for as long as I need to. We'll both have ambrosia and nectar--"
"Where're you going to get that?" Thalia asked.
"I know some guys," I shrugged. I sure as heck wasn't going to tell Thalia about my friendship with the Stolls'. When we got back, I had some pranking to do. Maybe Nico would help. If we ever get back; if I save Nico, I shook my head. Depressing thoughts like those did not belong in my head.
"Anyway," I began again. "We'll be able to stay awake and keep our strength for as long as it takes to find him."
"And how will you get into Tartarus without dying?" Thalia inquired, her hands on her hips.
Suddenly, my mind flashed back to when Thalia and I had first met.
It was my first month at Camp Half-Blood. I'd just gotten out of the infirmary yet again (I spent a lot of time in there) I stepped out of the infirmary building into what I was pretty sure could be considered utter chaos.
