Annie's PoV

Some quick advice to new campers: Don't practice hand to hand combat with Clarisse La Rue.

By the time it was dinner time, I had bruises all over my arms and legs and a few on my face. A few times, Chris Rodriguez, her boyfriend, had to pull her off of me because she didn't realize there was no way for me to be able to win that round, and it was time to start again. After she realized I wasn't going to give up in the first five minutes, she started actually helping me and giving me tips. When the conch horn had sounded for dinner, she muttered, "Nice job, punk. Hope you make it out of the quest alive." I figured those were some of the nicest words she's ever said to anyone.

I ran up to the table my friends were sitting at and sat down. Gab and Nelson were making small talk while Ari was deep in thought. She kept glancing over at the table where Nico and Will were sitting with a worried expression. I tapped her shoulder cautiously, and Ari whipped her head around to look at me. "What?"

"Are you okay? You seem... Off." I said.

Ari glanced back at her brother. "Nico and Will got in a fight earlier today. I'm worried about them. I have a feeling we'll be seeing them soon, but not under the best circumstances."

"The prophecy?" I asked.

Ari nodded. "Will is convinced the prophecy is about him. If he makes it to the Underworld, I have no doubt in my mind that Nico would go after him. We'll have to find my dad quickly before either of them do something irrational."

"I was thinking about that actually," Gab joined in the conversation, and Nelson was listening to us intently. "Hades is at the edge of the entrance to Tartarus right? Annie said that Tartarus was able to pull things into the pit like a black hole. What if this was a trick? What if he pulls us down and has an army of monsters waiting to attack us before we find the rift?"

Everyone went silent. Finally, Nelson said, "Gab, please, I mean this in the best possible way, but shut up."

We all laughed and ze shook zeir head. "Sorry, but seriously. What are we going to do? What's the plan because I have a feeling falling into Tartarus isn't on the top of our to do list just yet."

"We go down into the Underworld. We find dad. Dad gives me a few more powers, so I can help keep control over the Underworld. I send you guys back to camp. Then we figure out who the Hades has to be sacrificed." Ari said.

Gab rolled zeir eyes. "Thank you very much, Captain Obvious. Do you know how we're going to find Tartarus and where the rift is?"

"We could always ask Nico where it is. He's been in the Underworld a thousand times." I said.

"As for finding the rift, I could point you in the right direction. Nico said we could sense death and underworld energy. If monsters are spilling out of the rift, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to feel it." Ari said.

Gab still looked uneasy, but ze said, "Okay. Do we have a back up plan in case we do fall into Tartarus?"

"We try not to fail, and if we do, we fight like crazy through monsters, try to find the rift, and hope we don't die in the process," Nelson said.

"How about, we have two people go down to see Hades with two people as back up. If the first two fall into Tartarus, then at we least have two other people who can go back to camp and get reinforcements." Gab suggested.

"Alright. I'm part of the first group obviously because I have to talk to Hades, but who is going with me?" Ari asked.

"I'll go," ze volunteered. "Is that okay with everyone else?"

We all nodded in agreement. "We should all probably-" my suggestion for sleeping early was cut off by a loud commotion at the borders. Everyone in the dining pavilion sprang to their feet and grabbed their weapons. We ran to the border of camp, and there was a group of girls that glowed faintly silver fighting a large group of monsters as they stumbled up the hill.

"Thalia?" Annabeth yelled in disbelief. As if that was their cue, everyone in camp charged forward into battle. I swung my bow off my back and shot arrows into the army of monsters. Gab did the same and ran in to help cover the girls' retreat. Nelson ran into the battle with two knives out next to a guy I saw talking to him a few times. Ari was next to Nico as they summoned waves of the undead and fought side by side. Since when was Ari's weapon able to turn from a sword to a whip, then to a gun, and then back to a sword?

After a few minutes, the monsters were overwhelmed, and they were nothing but a pile of dust. A girl with a circular silver tiara thing in her short black hair, electric blue eyes, and combat boots turned around with a smile. "Hey, Annabeth! Nice to see you again."

Reyna stomped over to her and slapped her. "Ow! What the Zeus, Reyna?" The girl shouted.

"I thought you were dead!" She screamed at her.

The girl smiled mischievously. "Sorry about that, but it'll take a little bit more than a blood thirsty giant to kill me. By the way, Hylla says hello." Reyna slapped her again before stomping off.

There was silence for a few moments before the girl turned to Annabeth. "While I would like to say we're here to catch up, we actually have some bad news."

Annabeth sighed. "The Artemis cabin is how you guys left it. I'll go get Chiron."

"Okay, who the Hades are you?" Gab asked, looking slightly irritated.

The girl looked over at her with an amused expression. "I'm Thalia, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis. We're the Hunters of Artemis."

Hi guys. There have been a few changes in my original plan, so I'm still putting off the journey into the Underworld. Hopefully this goes smoothly since this was sort of last minute. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day!