Of Shocks and Seashells

Of Tools and Teams

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or anything else that comes with it; that includes mechanical spiders that lead the way through the Labyrinth. Rick Riordan does.

Percy's Point of View

"No! I want Thalia on my team!"

"You already have Percy! You can't have two children of the Big Three!" I sigh as the Hermes and Apollo Cabins continue to bicker over who gets Thalia and I on their team during capture the flag. Thalia looks about ready to kill someone.

"Yeah, well, you have Ares!"

"It's still not fair if you get both Thalia and Percy!"

Tiny blue sparks of electricity run up and down Thalia's pale skin. She looks absolutely steaming. "Why do you guys always talk about us like we're some tool or something? We can hear you, you know!" With that enraged outburst, she storms off, stumbling into the woods. I glare at the Apollo and Hermes campers, who look ashamed, slightly afraid, and embarrassed.

"Great job," I mutter, before sprinting into the woods after Thalia. After fighting my way through a couple of brambles, bushes, and branches, I stumble upon her. Her back is facing towards me; she's looking at a pine tree, her fists clenched and her body shaking slightly.

"Thals," I murmur softly. She whirls around as I come up behind her, tapping her bracelet which causes Aegis to expand, her spear clutched in her left hand, her muscles tensed, poised to throw. I place my hands up, like a man trying to surrender. "Gods, Thalia. Tense much?"

"Sorry," she mutters, retracting her shield and collapsing her spear, though her muscles are still tense. "I'm just...y'know...on an edge."

"Yeah," I acknowledge to her stony presence. "I saw the way you blew up back there. Mind explaining?" Thalia gives a short huff and turns to face me, her arms crossed tightly, her blue eyes brighter than normal. Then she sighs.

"Percy, they treat us like a tool. Like something that's only worth what it can do. No one actually cares about us as people. They just care about us because of the prophecy, or who our parents are, or whatever. You know that half the people up on Olympus want to kill both of us? Because of some stupid prophecy? All they care about is whether we're going to destroy Olympus or not." I think about Thalia's words. It's hard to admit, but they have some truth in them. "And, also, the attention is a pain in the ass. People stare at me everywhere I go. Same goes for you. And they're so damn reverential, I could just keel over and die."

"Easy for you to say," I snicker. "I, for one, love to be a celebrity to squids." Thalia shocks me gently, just hard enough for the buzzing feeling to tingle my spine, but I look back up and she's smiling. "You know, Pinecone Face, when you said that, you sounded a lot like...Luke."

Instantly, Thalia's face hardens. Her muscles go rigid and she balls up her fists. She turns slightly away from me, so now I can only see her profile. "Luke doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Thalia, you have to admit, you sound kind of like Luke when you rant like this."

"Percy, all demigods have felt like this before. You have, and I'm feeling it right now because of the stupid prophecy. So don't blame Luke, because he's no the only one who's felt like this. We all have." Her words pierce the air like razor-sharp daggers.

"Well," I mutter ashamedly. "I guess-"

"You know what? I just don't really want to talk about this anymore. It's fine. Sorry I brought it up." And with that, the Daughter of Zeus is gone.