~Playlist: "I'm a Mess" by Ed Sheeran~

"See the flames inside my eyes...I messed up this time"

Thalia's POV

I collapse onto a large bed, my wet hair flinging droplets all over the white comforter. I stretch my arms out wide and take up as much space as possible.

"Get off the bed," Annabeth says from across the room. "We're suppposed to go on a tour, remember?"

I groan. "Why can't we do that tomorrow? I'm tired."

"Get up, Thalia."

I grumble loudly, but I do what she says. Annabeth smirks at me triumphantly. I make a face in return.

We're all dressed in the same outfit: jean shorts paired with a plain white T-shirt. Ana handed them to us when we arrived at the large room, and instructed us to change into them after we showered. The room had six large beds, and three bathrooms branched out from the bedroom. Each bathroom was connected to another door, most likely another bedroom just like ours.

A knock sounds at the door. It opens without any of us answering it.

Ana pokes her head inside. "Are y'all dressed?"

"Yes," Piper says, standing up from her bed.

"Is it time for the tour?" Rachel asks, twirling a strand of her damp red hair around her finger.

Ana beams at us. "Yep. The boys are waiting, and ready outside. We're going with them."

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Annabeth noticably straightens up. I smile to myself and shake my head. Even when we're as safe as can be, she still worries about Percy.

We follow Ana out of the room, and are greeted with the sight of newly showered and dressed boys, who look to be as uncomfortable as we are. I watch as Annabeth and Percy connect eye contact, and my stomach turns. I ignore it, and nod my head at Annabeth as she looks at me, as if asking for my permission. She beams at me, and walks over to Percy. He whispers something into her ear, and their fingers intertwine.

Ana and Ajax, the boy who must have led the others here, lead the way down the hall. We follow them.

My eyes scan the white walls of the hall. They look so different from the rustic wood in the lounge. But all of this place seems to be a quilt: many different designs and patterns sewn together into a much larger masterpiece. And not only the building; the people, too. Ana has a thick Southern accent and long blond hair while Ajax has olive skin and gray eyes. Esmerelda was Hispanic while Daphne just had white skin.

"Where are we going first?" Frank asks from his place next to Hazel.

"The first floor," Ajax responds. His voice is surprisingly soft, nothing like the gruff, macho-man voice I was expecting. "That seems like the best place to start."

After a long elevator ride, we arrive at a level that looks to be made of soft lighting and tall bookshelves filled wall-to-wall with books.

"This is the library and the entrance to the Underworld," Ana says. She doesn't seem to notice our looks of skepticism and disbelief.

"Er, did you say 'the Underworld'?" Jason finally asks.

"Yes," is all Ana says.

Ajax sighs. "Ana, it's not funny."

"I never said it was," Ana said with a small smile.

"Anyways, the Underworld is this way. The entrance used to be in this small shop in Los Angeles, but that was before Illea was formed. Now, it's behind the Demigod Institute," Ajax explains, leading us through a row of books. "We don't use it often, but if we ever need a safe place to escape to, Hades allows us to go down. He's one of the nicest gods there is."

"You're not just trying to suck up to me, are you?" Ana asks, elbowing Ajax in the stomach playfully.

"You wish," he responds with a shove of his own.

"Wait," I say. "What do you mean?"

Ana smiles at me, her blue eyes shining. "I'm a daughter of Hades."

"No offense, but isn't Hades the god of death and stuff?"

Her eyes ice over. "Yes, he's the god of the Underworld and riches. Why would you ask?"

I can tell that this is a sensitive subject for her. "No reason," I lie.

Ana sighs. "No, it's fine. No one expects me to be the daught of Hades. I'm too bright and peppy, right? But in my mind, it's better that way. No one expects me to shadow travel or raise the dead. They underestimate me, and it usually works in my favor."

"What about you?" Percy asks Ajax. "You never told us who you're godly parent is."

"Ares," he replies. "And people rarely underestimate me, so my story isn't as impressive as Ana's is."

"How many gods are there?" Hazel questions.

"Too many to count," Ana responds with a grin. "But there are only twelve major gods. Thirteen counting my father, but traditional mythology doesn't. With the gods, he's much more respected than he was even a hundred years ago, and he has an official title of an Olympian, but tradition is stronger than change, sometimes, so they're still recognized as the Twelve Olympians."

"Which are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Ares, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, and Hephaestus. But there are a bunch more minor gods, like Hecate or Nike. All children of gods, nymphs, satyrs, or anything remotely mythical, are welcome at the DI. It's just called that for traditional reasons," Ajax elaborates. "It's not uncommon for a child, or grandchild of a demigod to find us. We allow them to stay here, and we train them."

While they spoke, we walked through the library until finally reaching a door. Ana pressed against it and pushed it open, allowing bright sunlight to flood through the room. She smiled at us before motioning for us to go through.

Nico, who had been so quiet I forgot he was here, spoke first. "Why is it so bright?" he grumbled sullenly. "I thought it was supposed to be the Underworld."

"It is, but that doesn't mean it has to be completely gloomy. Hades likes the sunlight just as much as anyone else does," says Ana.

A river twists out of sight, disappearing at the end of the "room" where it becomes dark.

"That's the entrance," Ana points at the river. "If you get into a boat, you can paddle your way down. Or, there's an elevator and a staircase, in case of an even bigger emergency."

Next, we went up to the armory, which was on the second floor. It was filled with several teenagers sparring with each other, or practicing on their own.

"Clear out," Ajax calls out loudly. "You can come back in twenty minutes. Take a break."

Several people call out greetings to either Ajax or Ana, and shoot us curious glances. Everyone's wearing a T-shirt similar to ours, the color being the only exception.

"What's with the T-shirt colors?" I ask. "Why is everyone wearing a different one?"

"The T-shirt color is based off of your godly parents," says Ajax. "Mine is Ares, so my shirt is red." He points to the fabric. "Each god has a sacred color, if you can believe it, and the shirt reflects that. Once upon a time, all the shirts used to be orange, or purple, at the other camp, but we decided it would be easier this way."

"Is that why yours is black?" Percy asks Ana.

"Yep. You're allowed to wear other clothes, but most people just wear their T-shirts on casual days. Like today."

"So, is this the training room?" Reyna says, her eyes wandering around the spacious room.

"Yeah. You guys will be able to choose weapons later, and then train with them," Ajax tells her.

"What gave it away, Reyna?" I say, unable to help myself. "Was it the swords decorating the walls, or maybe the people that just left here after training? Maybe the word armory gave you a clue."

Leo laughed loudly, causing the others to do the same. Everyone laughed, except for Reyna. She narrowed her eyes at me. I just gazed back, keeping my eyes wide and innocent.

"Okay," Ana says, still smiling. "Let's go to the third floor."

I let everyone else trail off in front of me before following, but a tug from behind stops me. I turn and see Reyna standing there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"How may I help you?" I ask brightly after everyone shuffled out of the room.

"What is your problem?" Reyna hisses.

"What do you mean?" I ask calmly, raising an eyebrow. She glares at me, and I know that I made her mad, just like intended. "I don't have a problem."

"Don't lie. During the Selection, you never even talked to me," she says, her face growing more and more red as she gets angrier. "Now, you can't seem to stop bothering me."

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Ramirez. I'm not bothering you anymore than I am anyone else. You just seem to be in the way more than they are. Besides, I just said one thing. It's not my fault you got so upset over it."

"Me? I'm not upset, Grace," Reyna lies. "Not even close."

"Right," I scoff. "You could have fooled me."

"Okay, I now that you're upset because of the Luke guy," she spits out. A cold ice spreads over my insides as I stare at her, hardly comprehending what she says. "But that doesn't mean you have to be a jerk to everyone else."

A dull fire melts the ice inside me. "How dare you even talk about Luke. You don't even know anything about him, or about me!" My voice had somehow managed to rise into a shout. "You don't know what happened!"

"Oh, get over yourself. Everyone knows, Thalia. Isn't that the whole reason you stabbed me with a knife?" Now it's Reyna's turn to shout. "Because of Luke? You almost killed me, and you haven't once thought to say anything to me about it. I could have died, Thalia, and you couldn't care less!"

I open my mouth to retort, but I can't think of anything to say. There is nothing to say because everything Reyna just said is true. I almost forgot that ever even happened, but Reyna didn't because it was her life that was at risk then. Not mine. How could I have been so selfish to have forgotten?

Finally, I manage to look up. I meet her gaze. Reyna's dark eyes aren't triumphant, like I was expecting. Instead, they're filled with tears. But they're filled with a fire, too.

"I was right, wasn't I? You forgot," she says, the tears growing bigger in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," I say, reaching out to try to console her. But she jerks her hand back, and glares at me.

"Don't you dare touch me," Reyna shouts, the flames growing bigger in her eyes. "Don't you even talk to me again, Thalia Grace. Annabeth might have forgiven you, but I never will."

She wipes at her eyes angrily before storming away.

Once she's out of sight, I release a shaky breath. I storm around the armory, picking up a discarded bow from the floor without even thinking about it.

"What's wrong with me?" I mutter to myself.

I pace around the room, the silver bow still clenched in my fist. I bite my lip anxiously as I pick up a single arrow.

Not sure what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it, I nock the arrow onto the bow before holding it up towards the target. I've never shot an arrow before, and I have no idea why I'm trying to do it now. But I aim, and I shoot. And it hits the exact center of the target. A bulls eye.

"What the heck?"

I nock another arrow, and do the same thing. The same result occurs.

It's almost enough to take my mind off the fight with Reyna. Almost.

I throw the bow to the ground angrily, and kick it away. I slam my fist to the ground, cursing the sharp pain that follows. But I soon forget about my aching fist.

A rip in the floor appeared, and it's smoking. The air smells electrified, and the hairs on my arm are standing straight up. I touch it carefully, and a shock ripples up my arm. But it doesn't hurt. It doesn't feel like anything at all.

I hold out my hand, and focus on the feeling of Reyna's eyes filled with fire directed towards me. I think about how angry I am, not at her, but at myself for forgetting about what I did to her.

Out of the palm of my hand, a bolt of lighting shoots out, and destroys part of the wall. I gasp, and stumble backwards, staring at my hand in disbelief.

After that, I don't even bother trying to go track down the group. I stay on the floor, staring at the chasm in the ground that I somehow created.

I loved Luke. I had always loved him, ever since I was twelve. We had always been a fact of life. I always knew Luke would be there, no matter what I ever did. So why did I feel like throwing up and screaming after fighting with Reyna? Why did I feel a firm resolute to prove myself to her?

No, it wasn't possible. I love Luke, still, even after everything that happened. After all, something that's lasted as long as we have can't be destroyed in a week. Part of me hope that it doesn't. But another part wants it to, a part that has Reyna's fiery eyes memorized.

"And I've only caused you pain, I know, but all of my words will always be below"

A/N
Thalia seems to still have a lot of feelings. Oh dear.

This song is just so perfect for the end of this chapter, especially the strong guitar. That really captures the feeling and mood of Thalia and Reyna's fight. I hope you'll take the time to listen to it.

In other news, I've released "Recherché" which is the original "The Demigod Selection". All character names have been changed so that it fully belongs to me. I can't wait to hear what y'all think!