Piper P.O.V

Though Atlas was dead, you would have been a fool to think that the worst was over.
Our first priority was to get out of Quebec as quickly as possible. I didn't look forward to spending another day hopping from train to train, especially since I hadn't yet gotten over my cold, but the sooner we were back in New York, the better.
There were still several hours to go until our train departed. Jason, Annabeth, and I sat in a cafe while Percy talked to Nico Di Angelo over a payphone. Annabeth sat sipping her tea, looking very cool and composed for a girl whose lover had just killed a man. I got the impression that she was the type of always put "a good face" on things and never gave it away to the world that anything was wrong. In her white frock and cloche, she sat there as regally as a queen.

A pin shaped like an owl was pinned to the yoke of her frock.

"Do you think the Titans know that Percy and Jason are in Quebec?" she asked me.
Her quick intelligence had picked up that we had accompanied our men here on Olympian business. The fact that we had shared worries and common enemies gave us a sense of kinship.
"I would imagine so," I replied, "If Atlas was able to track us."
"I wonder if it would be wise for them to return to New York. If the Titans know that Percy and Jason are in Quebec, then they'd be able to figure out that one of them might be behind his murder," Annabeth took a sip of her tea and sighed, "Clarion Ladies Academy didn't prepare me for all this."
A/N "They don't exactly cover this subject in boarding school."

I chuckled a little.
The waiter brought over a try containing slices of toasted bread, some mustard, some pickles, and a type of meat spread.

Percy hung up the pay phone and walked over to the table, looking over the food.
"Looks delicious," he said, sitting back down in his chair, "What is the grayish stuff?"
"It's a meat spread called creton," Jason joined in, "Try it, it's delicious."
"Don't mind if I do."
A/N "Try the grey stuff, it's delicious."

The mustard and the creton were spread across the bread, which was eaten with the pickles. I spread a napkin across my lap to keep my white silk dress clean. It was a Chinese style frock with a black geometric pattern that I had picked up in China Town.

It was worn with a smart little straw cloche.

"Ahhh-chhhh-oooo," I sneezed, nearly startling the entire cafe. I blew my nose into my handkerchief and made what sounded like a foghorn.
"Poor kid," Jason said, putting his arm around me "I'm sorry for getting you out of bed when you're so sick. But you'll be home soon enough."
"I've been thinking, darling," I replied, "Where exactly is home? We can't go back to New York, can we? It seems like there's nowhere we can go where the Titans can't get us."
"I don't know what to tell you Pipes..."
I put my hand on his shoulder. He took my hand and kissed it, "I'm sorry to keep putting you through this but I'm not going to run away from my mistakes."
"You don't have to," Percy replied, "I'm the one who killed Titan and I'm the one who should deal with the consequences."
"But I'm the one who started the whole thing!"
"Really, the two of you," Annabeth cut in.
"So are we going back to New York or not?"  I asked.
"The Titans will probably have a price on our heads by the time we get back," Percy said, "I don't care about my own neck but Annabeth, Piper, and our families might get caught in the crosshairs. Annabeth, you should go back to Montauk. You should be safe there if you keep your head down. Don't do anything that'll get you in the society columns."
"I will," Annabeth replied, "and I won't."
"My mother and her husband have a house on Cape Cod," I said, "I can go there and bring Selina and Thalia with me."
Percy threw his arms around Annabeth and pulled her close.
"Wise Girl," he said, "I swear on the heads of our unborn children that I will make sure you're safe."
"Same here, Pipes," Jason said, kissing my forehead.

In the taxi to the train station, Annabeth tried to cheer me up by telling the story of how her mother, Athena Chase, my mother, Aphrodite Love, and Jason's stepmother, Hera Conroy, all got into a catfight over the last apple martini at the wedding of Peleus Thessaly and Thetis Nereid.

"That sounds like my mother," I said, "Always making a scene."
"My mother is an intelligent woman," Annabeth replied, "But she can be ridiculous as well. When she was in school, she put spiders in the bed of a girl named Arachne because she beat her in a lace making competition."
She said spiders like it was the most disgusting, horrifying thing ever, which made me laugh. The two of us told embarrassing stories about our mothers and had a giggle at their expense.
It was good to have a friend and not have to go through this entire mess alone.

Hazel P.O.V

On Sunday Evening, I went to visit my stepmother, Persephone. She was sitting in the living room, knitting a sweater for her bulldog, Cerberus, who was curled up at her feet, snoring. The smell of tomato sauce wafted in from the kitchen. To my father's delight, Persephone had mastered Nonna Di Angelo's tomato sauce to perfection.
Persephone stood up and smoothed the skirt of her black robe de style.

"Smells delicious," I told her, "What's for dinner?"
"Beef braciole," she replied, overemphasizing the Italian pronunciation.

I bent down to scratch Cerberus behind the ears.
"Who's a good boy?" I asked as Cerberus licked my cheek.
"Would you go get me some basil from the garden?" Persephone asked me.
"Certainly."
Cerberus followed me when I got up and went over to the back door.

Persephone's garden mostly consisted of tomato and basil plants and other vegetables for cooking: eggplants, garlic, oregano, sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, zucchini, peppers, and artichokes. The eggplants and garlic were close to ready for harvesting.
Nico was sitting in the shadow of the building next door. Cerberus settled in the grass next to him and Nico stroked the dog's ears.
"Hey Hazel," he called over to me, "Are you staying for dinner?"
"Yes," I replied, "Frank is dropping by as well."
"It wouldn't be a Di Angelo Sunday dinner without him."
Frank had become a fixture at our table since we had started seeing each other. When I first invited him to one of our family dinners, he had been terrified to face my father, unsure of how he would react to us courting; luckily for Frank, my father liked him and approved our relationship.
Nico turned towards me and smiled. With his shaggy black hair, beak-like nose, a small, sharp, shiny dark eyes, my brother resembled a raven. His smile was beautifully melancholy and I always loved seeing it.

After dinner, Frank, Nico, and I left to go for a walk in Central Park. It was getting dark and I wondered if it would be safe to go out at night but Nico insisted that it was, since we had a big, strong man like Frank to protect us. Still, he carried his brass knuckles and knife with him.
We entered Central Park near the Pulitzer Fountain, which features a bronze statue of Pomona, the Roman goddess of plenty, holding a basket of fruit. My family lived on East 102nd Street, so we had to take the streetcar to this end of the park.

The evening was oppressively hot and humid, so we splashed about in the fountain's basin to cool off. My off white chiffon dress with a pink floral print got absolutely soaked.

We stopped to get ice cream at the two leveled Bethesda Terrace, and sat down on one of the mustard-olive sandstone grand staircases, which joined the two levels of the terrace, to watch the sunset over Central Park Lake.

Our walk ended at Belvedere Castle and thought we weren't supposed to, we snuck in and climbed up to the top turret, where Frank and I shared a kiss.

It was about midnight when we returned home. Nico and I expected that our father and stepmother to be in bed but they were waiting for us in the living room. Father was in his pajamas and Persephone wore a black rayon nightgown.

"What are you doing up?" I asked them as I removed my hat.

Nico let out a gasp when he noticed that a young woman in a police uniform was spread out on the sofa. Ice packs were placed on her forehead and ankle (which was propped up on a couch cushion) and a piece of raw, frozen steak covered one of her eyes.
"Nico," Father said, "This girl says she's a friend of yours."
"Reyna," Nico replied, "What happened to you?"
"I had a run in with the creep who tried to kill Jason Grace," Reyna grumbled, "I was patrolling a couple of blocks over and I see this shady character loafing about. He approached me and recognize his ugly mug right away. He was Caligula German, the Titan hitman who killed Charles Beckendorf, so I give chase and he jumped me. I gave as good as I got but the puto was able to get away. Before he left, he said: tell Grace and Jackson I'm coming for them. Somehow he knew that Jason and I are friends."
A/N puto roughly translates "son of a bitch."
Nico scowled, knowing perfectly well what was going on.
"Percy called me from Quebec," he explained, "He and Jason ran into Atlas Titan and they killed him. The Titans must know about it by now. I knew something like this would happen. Reyna, I'm sorry you got mixed up in all this. I wish I had been there to help you catch that son-of-a-bitch, Caligula."
Reyna put a hand Nico's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Nicito, I think Caligula made it out much worse than I did."
A/N Nicito would mean something like "little Nico."
Reyna reminded of a panther. She was tall and lithe with glossy dark hair and fierce brown eyes. Her features were strong, regal, and feline. Laying there on the couch, she still had the magnificent power of a fearsome jungle cat. I had to admit that I found her very impressive.
A/N  #gayforRaRa

"Why don't you get some sleep, Reyna," Persephone said, bringing over a pillow and blanket.
"Thanks, Mrs. Di Angelo," Reyna replied.
Persephone put the pillow under Reyna's head and spread the blanket over her. It was odd to see someone like Reyna being tucked in like a little girl.
"Goodnight," I said to our guest before going to bed myself.

I had a hard time falling asleep. I tossed and turned and worried about what was going to happened to my father, Nico, Frank, and all the other people I loved. The murder of Atlas Titan by Percy and Jason would probably to spark a war between the two gangs.  Reyna's assault was only the beginning.

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