Chapter Six THALIA GRACE As Luna finished her ridiculously long explanation about how she got ambushed by spartus,the skeletal warriors, I swallowed back my feeling of guiltiness, longing, and regretfullness. Before I knew it, I plunged into an old memory. I was on a quest to free Artemis with Zoe Nightshade, Percy Jackson, Bianca di Angelo, and Grover Underwood. The gods had just begun to realize Kronos’s rising. I was at Hoover Dam, and Percy, Grover and I(Bianca had died) were laughing over an unintended joke Zoe had just made about a ‘dam snack bar’. Zoe was two thousand years old, and did not get the ‘damn it!’ thing. Anyway, Percy and Grover heard a cow mooing(long story), and Grover, Zoe, and I headed inside Hoover Dam first. A few minutes later, after we got our lunch, Percy rushed in, followed by six spartus. We barely escaped by Grover getting the crazy idea to throw our tacos at the warriors. Funny experience, but sorrowful. It reminded me of Grover, his corny jokes, Zoe, her old-fashioned speaking, and most of all Percy, with his unrelenting selflessness. Another sad memory including spartus: Me, Zoe, Percy, Grover, and Bianca(she hadn’t died yet) were cornered by spartus right after slaying the Nemean Lion. The only one who had luck with them was Bianca; she plunged her hunting knife into the skeleton’s rib cage. Unlike the others, the skeleton exploded and did not reform. Later, we realized that was because Bianca was a child of Hades and controlled the dead. It also reminded me of Grover, who was unconscious after feeling the strong presence of Pan, and how he had summoned a wild boar for us to ride on. Shaking me out of my memories, Amanda yelled, “Spartus up ahead! Run! Fight! Distract! Cover Luna!” I shook my head. Amanda was terrible at leading. Luckily, Reyna, who probably had almost as much experience at leading as I did, took command. “Katherine, cover Amanda! Amanda, make a makeshift bed for Luna! Thalia, you and I will try our best to kill the skeleton warrior.” I nodded as I drew my bow. The next few minutes were a blur. All I knew was that Reyna ran in to distract the skeleton warrior while I ran from corner to corner, trying to get a straight shot. Now, I’d say we were doing pretty good, but I’d forgotten what had happened the first time I fought spartus. I remembered too late. The skeletal warrior pulled out a walkie-talkie and clicked into it. I paled. “Amanda, that bed better be done! Luna, see if you’re strong enough to make a mini moon distract them. Katherine, carry the bed with Amanda! Reyna, let’s go!” Everybody followed my orders, Reyna especially. And Luna did better than one- she summoned a dozen mini moons at once! I thought this was great, but Reyna, our medicine expert, and Katherine, our ‘overall medical expert’, looked worried. “This is definitely going to drain Luna’s health greatly,” they said in unison. “Jinx!” they said at the same time again. “Okay, fine, help me carry Luna!” Amanda shouted, shaking Reyna and Katherine out of their mini-game of Jinx. Katherine hurried to carry the metal stretcher. On it, Luna lay shriveled and weak. When Katherine touched her skin, the doctor looked troubled. “She may be dead,” she said in a soft whisper. That’s when I broke down.
