Struck by Lightning

I

Percy enjoyed the feeling of the warm summer breeze on his face as he walked up a hill. Back in the Camp proper, most of the Campers were having fun with food and friends after the successful acquisition of the Golden Fleece and the recovery of Thalia's Tree. He had too, but after a while, it had become too much for him. He looked down at the thought. They had gone through a lot, and there were very real dangers that they had faced. Close brushes with death that left Percy uncomfortable for both his friends and himself.

Still, it was a successful quest. That was worth celebrating. He smiled again as he looked down at the bustling Camp. It was gratifying enough to him that it was still safe, and that the people he had become friends with were still protected.

Percy came close to Thalia's Tree, and he nodded contently when he saw its green leaves and felt its strong aura. The Golden Fleece had done its job – the tree was being healed of the poison that had seeped so deeply in it, and the barriers that protected the Camp were as strong as they ever were. It was good to see.

Then Percy noticed a pair of legs, just hidden from him by the tree. Concerned, the demigod strode forward, turning around the tree as he saw the pair of legs extend to the body of a girl. She looked to be sleeping at the base of the tree, but there were a few branches that had grown over her, and she was not someone that Percy recognized as a camper.

By the time Percy ran over and knelt by her, she had just began stirring from her sleep. When her eyes flickered open, he felt his breath being sucked away as the brightest, most electrifying pair of blue eyes stared back. They seemed to pierce straight through him like lasers, even though they were flickering around in disorientation. After ripping away the branches that covered her, he cradled her head in his lap as she coughed slightly and struggled, but failed, to get up.

"Hey, hey," he gently said, keeping her as steady as possible, "relax. You're safe." She ceased her struggling, though Percy couldn't tell if it was from his words or her fatigue.

"Wh-where am I?" she spluttered out, breathing heavily.

Percy paused. How did this girl not know where she was? She was inside the barrier of the Camp, and she was sleeping at the base of Thalia's Tree.

"You're at Camp Half-Blood. See?" Percy gestured to the faintly visible outline of the semi-spherical shield that protected the camp. "You're safe."

"Who are you?" she asked, continuing her line of questions. Percy paused slightly, quickly deciding on how much he should tell her at that moment. He had no idea who she was, and after what had happened with Luke, he was wary of trusting so openly again. Still, against his paranoid side, he spoke.

"My name is Percy Jackson. I'm a son of Poseidon."

Her blue eyes widened at the second sentence, and she stared deeply into Percy's sea-green orbs. Having finally stopped shaking, she blinked a couple of times before whispering her own name.

"I'm Thalia. Daughter of Zeus."

After getting over the shock of meeting Thalia as a human and not a tree, Percy carried her over to the Big House. Chiron had a similar shock, and even though Mr. D acted as indifferently as he always did, Percy swore that he could see a bit of surprise in the wine god's eyes. After getting her settled in to a cabin – the empty Zeus cabin – Thalia was quickly introduced to Camp life, and Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron did their best, as did all of the campers, to integrate her into Camp Half-Blood.

Percy hadn't ever meant for Thalia to be a rival for him, but her fiercely competitive nature made it almost inevitable. Given that and the fact that they were both children of the Big Three – and ones fairly close in age, being only one year apart after factoring in the whole "stuck in a tree" business – she quickly viewed the first person she had met in nearly seven years as her chief rival.Still, despite a hotly contested rivalry in the various needed skills and knowledge that demigods required, the two formed an even fiercer friendship. Perhaps it was because they were both children of the Big Three and their fates and destinies were irrevocably tied together, courtesy of the Great Prophecy. Maybe it simply because Thalia felt some sort of connection to the first person who comforted her after her prolonged near-death state. Either way, Percy felt himself trusting his newest friend more with each passing day, and there were certainly days where, as he confided his fears, worries, and hopes with her, she did much the same, pouring back an equal amount of herself into him as he did into her.