Of Shocks and Seashells

Of Eyeliner and Sneaky Plotting

Disclaimer: If I say I own Percy Jackson, Hermes will make my Internet connection slow, and no one wants that. So, no, I do not own Percy Jackson.

Percy's Point of View

I have suddenly realized something: sitting in the middle of really itchy bushes at the crack of dawn with the Stoll brothers and Silena Beauregard is not enjoyable, especially when Silena is complaining at the top of her lungs about how she's getting her gladiator wedges dirty. For someone who gossips all the time, she sure doesn't know how to whisper.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask Travis, shifting my weight from foot to foot, which isn't really easy when you're squatting.

"Of course!" Travis exclaims. "You don't want to have had the Aphrodite cabin do all that work for nothing, do you?"

"I was surprised Thalia didn't wake up when they were...erm...working," Connor chimes in. "My, that girl is a heavy sleeper!"

"Besides," Silena says, "we did a fabulous job, if I do say so myself! She'll totally love it!"

I shake my head as Silena babbles on. She still doesn't get that the reason why we gave Thalia a 'makeover' was to prank her. But this ditzy girl has got it stuck in her head that we're actually 'helping' Thalia find her 'inner beauty' by working 'from the outside in!' Honestly, I worry about her sometimes.

"...are you guys even listening? Oh, well, it doesn't matter; Thalia's going to love her new makeover!"

"Shhh! Silena, keep it down! Thalia's going to-"

"!" Thalia's screech resonates across the whole camp, setting birds flying away in a panic.

"Oh, gods, she is pissed," Connor says, smirking.

"OH MY GODS! WHAT THE HADES AM I WEARING? AHHHHHHHH!" She comes stomping out of her cabin, and Travis, Connor, Silena and I burst into raucous laughter.

The Aphrodite Cabin cast a spell that elongates Thalia's hair to her ribcage, then they straightened it, and pulled it up into a painfully high ponytail. Her mouth is slathered with deep scarlet lipstick, and her face is caked with pale foundation and a delicate coral blush. Thalia's eyelashes are slick with black mascara, and a light layer of blue eyeliner surrounds the edges of her piercing blue eyes. Light pink nailpolish coats her fingernails.

But, unfortunately for Thalia, the make-up is only the half of it. She's wearing a pink dress with a corset-type top and a flouncy, frilly skirt. Gold shimmers on her neck, wrists, fingers, and even ankles. And she's pulling off hot magenta six-inch high heels that look more like death traps then an article of clothing.

"Oh, gods," Travis says in a kind of horrified way. "How in Zeus' name did she manage to sleep through this?"

Silena shrugged. "We slipped a sleeping drought into her drink at dinner last night." Connor and Travis look at her in approval.

"Wow, you Aphrodite girls are more badass than I thought," Connor praises.

"Oh my gods, she's coming over here," Silena squeaks, and sure enough, Thalia is stomping over, eyes murderous, lips turned down into a ugly snarl, fists clenched and arcs of electricity rippling up and down her body. But the ensemble she's wearing make her look like a joke. In fact, she looks kind of like a Barbie doll.

"PERSEUS JACKSON!" she screams, shattering my eardrums. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HADES AM I WEARING?"

"Chill, Thalia," Connor smirks. "It's a good look for you."

"Very sexy," Travis adds.

"I think you should keep it."

"SHUT UP!" she yells at them, effectively silencing them, before turning her gaze to me. "You. YOU!"

"Me?" I squeak, right before she screams again and a volt of electricity streaks down from the sky and hits me.

Okay, I stand corrected. She looks like a Barbie doll that could shock me into oblivion.

"WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?" she asks, none too calmly.

"Erm...well, Silena said you needed a makeover, and then Travis and Connor and I wanted to turn it into a prank, so, all of is?" I say with a nervous grin.

"Urgh! You are so going to-" she stops, tapping her wrist repeatedly, but nothing happens. She frowns, sifts through the glimmering bracelets on her wrist, and then her face darkens. "WHERE THE HADES IS AEGIS?"

"Well, uhh...you see, Thalia, gold and silver don't really work together, not unless their in an outfit together, and then it works, but-" Silena explains.

"GET TO THE POINT!" Thalia snaps, making everyone within a ten foot radius cringe and back away a couple of steps.

"So, I took it for the sake of style and safe-keeping, and it's right here!" Silena finishes, holding out her thin wrist. "See? Don't you think it matches my outfit better then yours?" She twirls around, giving us a view of her turquoise halter neck, white shorts on the borderline of being decent, and calf-tall silver gladiator sandals. Aegis glitters on her wrist in the rising sun. Thalia strides over, snatches Aegis from Silena, and then faces me, with her hands on her hips. Then she does something so unexpected I almost have a heart attack.

She smiles, and says, "You know what guys? Thanks. I really did need a new makeover." With that, she whips around and walks back to her cabin, the skirt swishing around her thighs.

"Wow, Thalia, nice look!" someone calls out, and their are quite a few wolf-whistles. I can hear her grit her teeth from here.

"Well...that was a completely unexpected development," Travis says, blinking.

"Yep..." Connor agrees. "Now, lets go put chocolate bunnies on the Demeter cabin's roof." They trot off, brown curls whipping in the wind.

"Thalia took that really well! I'm sooo happy! Maybe we could get mani-pedis together! I mean, that would be..." Silena says excitedly, while I think about how Thalia doesn't look half-bad in makeup. Not bad at all.

Thalia's Point of View

It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but I swear on the gods, I will get Percy Jackson back for this. I swear it.