~Playlist: "Pompeii" by Bastille~

"The walls kept tumbling down"

Thalia's POV

She knows.

Annabeth found out about me working for Willow. And now I'll be killed for treason any second. A tear leaks from my eye and falls down my cheek. God, I hate crying.

"Stop worrying so much," Willow drawls from the corner, munching on a crimson apple. "I thought Luke said you were a tough one. Apparently not."

"Shut up," I growl, struggling against the chain that binds me to the wall of my own bedroom. "Shut up you evil little bi-"

She wags her finger disapprovingly. "Now, now, watch your language. You wouldn't want to receive the same treatment that Bianca did, would you?."

"What, have the word 'traitor' inscribed in my own flesh? Go for it, Willow. I'm not scared of you," I tell her honestly.

She tilts her head to the side as if a curious child examining an interesting looking bug. "No, maybe not. But you are scared about what I'll do. I won't kill you, but I won't hesitate on the blonde-haired little girl you're so fond of. I can hurt Luke, and you won't be able to stop me, Thalia Grace." Willow giggles, a mad sound that makes me cringe. "No one can stop me! Not even the stupid little prince. It drives him mad, doesn't it, not knowing where I am? I just slip away from him, and it drives him insane."

I struggle again, but it's all in vain. Willow laughs at me before taking another large bite out of her apple. I want to shove it down her throat.

"Father should be back soon," Willow announces. I shudder. If possible, her father is even worse than she is. He makes the plans, which seems even more sick than carrying them out, like Willow does. "And he told me that if you didn't behave, he would kill one of the Elite."

How did this even happen to me? A better question is why did I let it? Willow wasn't forcing me to throw that knife at Reyna. I forced myself to because I thought that I had everything under control. But I don't.

I think back to a mere few hours ago, when I threw that knife at Reyna, a girl I knew when we were both much younger.

I was walking back from the lesson with Sasha when I heard them. Both voices were familiar, but I hadn't heard them together for years. I twisted the knife Willow gave me in my hand, not wanting to use it.

"I'm happy here, Reyna," my brother says, sounding very wary and worn down.

"And you weren't happy back at home?" Reyna snaps in response. "You weren't happy with your sister? Have you even tried to talk to her once during this entire Selection? No, you've been too busy worrying about your own happiness to even bother. Have you even thought about me once either?"

Her voice is sharp, yet helpless. For the first time, I feel guilty for never trying to find her after Jason was taken. She was in the same position that I was in, yet I never thought about helping her. I just left.

They continue to talk, but I don't listen. There's one thing I can do for Reyna, to make up for leaving her alone. If I was the one who threw the knife, that means Willow wouldn't go after her. If I put Reyna in danger, then the Prince will have her carefully guarded, which means that it would be more difficult for Willow to get to her.

Instead of words, I hear scuffling in the direction where they were talking. Moving carefully, I start foreword. With a flick of my wrist, I throw it. As it flies through the air, I realize how insane this plan is. She may very well die from a knife to the gut. There's no way to tell how this will ever end.

It hits her. I can see Reyna turning her head my way and I realize that I don't want her to know it was me. Quickly, I run away from the scene of the crime.

After that, Willow found out what I did. At first, she was happy. But once she found out that Reyna lived, she and her father were very angry. If the Prince ever found out that it was me, then I'd be kicked out, possibly even killed. The Livingston's would lose their second connection to the Selection.

My door flies open with a loud bang. I jump in alarm and see his shadow. Mr. Livingston.

"Hello, Father," Willow greets him angelically, standing up to show off her white dress. "I kept her here for you."

"Thank you, sweetheart," he says, not looking away from me for a second. "So, Miss Grace, we must speak about what happened. Reyna woke up, did she not?"

I nod. "She did."

"Ah. That puts us all in a rather sticky predicament. And your little blonde friend knows you did it because Reyna told her. Do you think that is a problem?"

"Obviously," I scoff. Immediately, my left cheek starts to sting. Willow slashed it with the tip of her knife. She smirks at me before putting it away.

"Thank you, Willow," her father says to her. But instead of sounding proud, he sounds annoyed. She shoots him a dark look, and steps away from me. "Thalia, you're testing my patience. You've managed to mess up the one simple task we assigned to you. This does not make me happy."

"You want me to kill someone. That's not simple."

His eyes are sympathetic. "The first kill is always the hardest. Believe me, I am well aware of the difficulty of your situation. But the fact that we all may be killed for treason seems to be a little bit more, well, alarming. Wouldn't you agree?"

I glare at him. "I'm only here because you forced me to."

"Actually, Willow offered you a deal. You simply agreed to it, my dear."

My closet door opens a girl steps out of it, looking nervous as she does so. Willow glares at her with disgust and stands up, her knife in hand.

"Ah, Charlotta," Mr. Livingston announces, looking at the girl with hair the color of clay; brownish red. "I was wondering when you would arrive."

"Who's this?" I ask, keeping my voice stable.

"Charlotta de Rosa, this is Thalia Grace."

Her eyes trail from my arms to the chains attached to the walls. If she's surprised, it doesn't show on her face.

Willow obviously hates her. The look of disdain on her face tells me that much. But can I trust this new girl?

"What did you find, Charlotta?"

She swallows before answering. "You're awfully quick to glean my information. First off, I think you owe me something."

His eyes narrow, but he doesn't look angry. This is the happiness I've ever seen him.

"You got me," Mr. Livingston chuckles. "Fine, if, and only if, it's good information, I'll knock off a month."

She raises one of her eyebrows cooly. "Only one? For everything that I had to go through to find this out? Come on, Hector, you can do better than that."

"Fine, I'll give you this. Two months off, and that's all. Take it or leave it."

I watch this exchange with an open mouth. What are they talking about? Willow apparently knows because she's now sulking on my arm chair. She sinks her teeth into her apple, chewing as loud as possible.

Charlotta stretches out on my bed. "I think you've got yourself a deal. The D.I. is planning to investigate one of the Selected today."

Mr. Livingston, or Hector, sits up, looking like a dog who had a bone dangling inches away from his head. "Who? When? Where?"

"Here, any minute, and I think they decided on Piper McLean," she shrugs, helping herself to a pear from my fruit bowl.

"And who," is voice is thick with a fake sense of casualness. "will be coming to investigate her?"

"Daphne Fitzgerald, of course. You know how she is with newbies, she just can't help herself. And Esmerelda Eduardo went along as well, but you know I won't be able to find her."

His expression is hungry. "You just earned yourself two months less, Charlotta. I'll take off six more if you're able to get in between them and Piper before they have the chance to even bring her to the room."

Charlotta sits up and I can see that she has a newfound light in her eyes. "It's a deal."

Then she's gone.

"I could have done it, Father," Willow complains from the chair.

"Of course you could have, sweetheart," he says absently before leaving out of my closet, leaving a very bitter Willow behind. She glares at the door he just exited.

"Why do you let him order you around?" I ask her, jumping on the weakness while it's available. "You're strong enough to do things without him telling you what to do, then ignoring you once Charlotta shows up."

"Shut up," is all she says, but I can tell that my words made it inside her head.

Willow stands up and leaves through the same door her father exited. I'm left alone, chained in my own bedroom. Is it possible that I'm doing the wrong thing?

A/N
Hopefully this changes some of your minds. Thalia is not evil after all, she was just trying to protect Reyna! What do you thing: Is Thalia doing the wrong or right thing? What do you think about this new information of Willow and her father's relationship? What about this new Charlotta girl, is she an ally or enemy? Gods, this sounds like a trailer for some movie. Sorry. Anyways, I double updated! I feel so accomplished with myself. Until next time, my crazy people.