Reyna's POV

The Big House was crowded, stuffed with everyone who Chiron believed needed to be present for what was being discussed. The usual snacks lined the table for those who wanted them but for the most part people paid the food no attention.

An anxious silence filled the space except for the occasional whisper. Percy looked like he'd just gotten out of bed wearing rumpled clothes and having wild hair and half lidded eyes. I felt sorry for him, I knew what it was like to run on little sleep.

"Thank you all for coming it is greatly appreciated. I am deeply sorry for interrupting your daily routines." Chiron spoke slowly for those who were still waking up to process what it was he was saying. "It's been brought to my attention, as most of you have probably heard by now, that some unfortunate events are taking place."

"This has to do with the big black nasty stuff right?" Connor Stoll asked, his nose wrinkling up at the idea of it.

"Yes I suppose that's what you could call it." Chiron flashed the boy an amused look. "After hearing of it I made a few calls to some contacts of mine. As it turns out this problem is not only effecting our immediate New York area."

"Is it global?" Annabeth asked worriedly.

"Yes. After communicating with Hylla, whom you all know, it is effecting areas across America. I also contacted my brethren who have informed me that it reaches as far as Europe and South America and seems keen to spread further." Chiron pressed his lips into a thin weary line. It was times like this where he really looked his age.

"Do we have any idea what this stuff is?" Piper asked with a confused look. "Any idea what's causing it?"

"Not that I know of. It seems to be random without cause or reason but I am certain there is an underlying meaning to it all," Chiron explained, his eyes flicking across the room.

"Malcolm and I can try our best searching through some records to see if any past incidents have occurred. It shouldn't take too long." Annabeth looked at her brother who nodded in agreement.

"That would be appreciated. The rest of us will wait patiently." Chiron smiled slightly as the two stood in unison and rushed out of the room.

"Is this dangerous? Maybe it has to do with the underworld. Stuff down their is pretty dark and creepy," Leo frowned, making a face like he'd eaten something sour.

"I don't think so," Nico shook his head. "My father isn't in a bad mood and neither is my step mother. Everything is fine as far as I know unless it's someone acting rogue."

"Thanatos maybe?" Jason suggested.

"He doesn't have that kind of power," Nico replied. With the debunking of that theory everyone waited in silence until Annabeth and Malcolm came strolling back inside.

"Got it!" Malcolm smiled, holding up a leather backed book with glossy looking pages.

"A bible? Didn't think you were religious," Thalia mused.

"Well I'm not but a few of my siblings are. Point is, it's an important historical document no matter what and I think Annabeth and I have found an answer," Malcolm explained, thumbing through the pages eagerly.

"There's a particular section in the Bible which addresses a flooding of the earth. Where God was disappointed in the wickedness of mankind so he flooded the earth to erase the evilness of his humans. The arch was built to protect the animals and Noah and his family were trusted by God to carry on and be the good in the world,"Annabeth explained, completely in her element.

"But, when skimming some other documents Annabeth and I saw an overlap between the Bible and another document from the same time period," Malcolm noted. "The documents discussed similar events."

Malcolm paused and pulled out a very old and worn looking sheet of parchment material from between two pages in the book. He passed it carefully over to Annabeth.

"This is the translated document." Annabeth studied it for a moment. "It's from an eye witness account. It reads: It came slowly at first. Something welling on the horizon. Dark and mysterious like a bad dream. At first it was assumed to be thunder clouds but as it drew closer I realized it could be no such thing. The sky was too dark to contain thunder clouds. It was like the night sky had leaked into the daylight. It consumed all that was in its path, liquid ink raging over the landscape. It was upon everyone and everything and soon I would join it. If this is found note that this was brought down by a mighty and ancient hand. Rumors said God was punishing us for our sins. All I am left to wonder in my final moments is this. What was the breaking point where sin became too much?"

Annabeth glanced up from the paper and studied everyone. No one spoke for a long time. I was the first to break the weary silence. "Are you saying that what's happening now is a repeat of...that?"

"It's the only thing that I can think of," Annabeth nodded grimly.

"You're saying that..." Percy swallowed hard. No one needed him to continue. We all knew what he was going to say, but someone needed to voice it. "The world is ending...because of our sins?"

"More or less," Malcolm shrugged. "Not ours particularly but whatever ancient hand is responsible for the cleansing of human life believes that the human world is too far into wickedness to be redeemed."

"Is there a way to fight it?" Connor asked. By the quietness of his tone it was clear he was actively comprehending the situation.

"I-I don't know. I can look but nothing is certain when stories are this ancient." Annabeth gave him an apologetic look. I couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in my chest. How could something like this happen? Sighing I buried my face in my hands trying to wrap my head around the situation.

"What do we tell the others?" Jason asked.

"We don't," Chiron spoke firmly. "They don't need to know the extent of this. Not yet."

"This isn't fair," Percy spoke quietly but I could hear the crack in his voice. Raising my head I saw that his eyes welled with tears. "After everything we've done!"

"Whatever good we've done doesn't matter," Thalia swallowed hard and averted her gaze but I could see she was close to crying as well.

"Bullshit!" Percy growled, startling a few people sitting next to him. "Whoever is doing this needs to take another look at everything that's going on.  It's not as bad as it seems. I mean...I-we...we're all good people. What have we done to sin?"

Malcolm's shoulders slumped. "I-when we were fighting Kronos I killed another demigod. I didn't know them but...I still did it."

"You can't hold that against yourself son." Chiron gave him a soft look.

"Oh shit man." Connor sucked in a sharp breath. "All that stuff I stole."

"Connor, it was just useless stuff." Travis his elder brother tried to console him but he didn't seem to believe his own words.

"Bob. We wiped his memory." Nico looked sick to his stomach.

"Tartarus. All those curses from people we wronged." Annabeth shared a saddened look with Percy.

"Children, this is not what you believe." Chiron tried to lighten the mood but Thalia shook her head.

"Chiron, don't you get it? We may have saved the world but we aren't better than anyone else. There's no one here who hasn't done something severely wrong." And Thalia was right. Everyone was slowly grasping the concept of all the wrongs they'd committed in the past. Even my hands weren't clean. I'd killed people. It may have been for the greater good and in self defense but it was still murder.

"If that's true then what's the difference between being good and bad?" Katie Gardener questioned worriedly.

"There isn't one. Some people are just more bad than others. Some are just more good," I sighed.

"I'll still try and figure out if there's anything we can do but I don't know," Annabeth shrugged helplessly. "Until then I think there's no point in sticking around here any longer."

Chiron nodded and with that everyone slowly dispersed. The air was heavy with anxiety and sadness. Chiron headed outside for some fresh air to think and the only people who lingered behind were Jason and Piper who were talking quietly to one another.

Thalia didn't say anything, she just patted her brother on the shoulder and walked over to me talking my hand. I didn't say anything until we had stepped outside and were alone sitting on the edge of the dock overlooking the lake.

"Should we tell Thia?" Thalia asked at last.

"No," I shook my head. "Her anxiety would sky rocket and I don't want to worry her."

"She'll figure it out eventually," Thalia sighed, leaning back on her hands.

"I pray there's a way to fix this." My voice was quieter than I meant it to be.

"Me too, but Reyna there isn't a person who hasn't done something at least questionable in their entire life." Thalia looked blankly out at the water.

"I just want to know what the last straw was. What made this all happen and why are there monsters? The thing Annabeth read didn't mention them." Despite getting an answer there were still plenty of unknowns.

"I can't answer your latter question but I might have an idea about the first one." Thalia frowned and thought for a moment. "This all started after that night. The night Thia's friend..."

"But that doesn't make sense," I insisted.

"It does if you think about it." Thalia pursed her lips and shook her head. "In the Catholic faith committing suicide is considered to be the ultimate sin. It's taking the gift of life God gave you that's precious and invaluable and tainting it."

"So you think that what she did caused this?" It was hard to think that something like that could lead to the ending of the world.

"Not just that specific incident, but everything leading up to Everything piles up. It all adds on top until it's a crushing weight. All I know is that Thia can't find out the reason this is all happening. If she knew she'd never forgive herself for not doing more for her friend than she already did." Thalia was right about that. Thia couldn't know.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" I asked.

"Easy. We try to make the most of what we have left. Just in case there isn't an answer to the problem." It was all the more reason to hope that Annabeth would figure something out. I had faith in her but faith could only go so far.

Thalia rested her head on my shoulder and I wrapped an arm around her pulling her closer. We sat like that for a long time just enjoying each other's company until the  sound of feet pounding on the dock interrupted the silence.

"There you guys are. I was looking for you." Thia plopped down next me smiling like always.

"Oh no you found us," Thalia joked. "We must be horrible at hide and seek."

"Whatcha doing?" Thia asked curiously.

"Just watching the water," I smiled. Thia nodded and sat still nestling up against my side, her pretty brown eyes staring out at the lake.

"You know sometimes I think I could just sit here and imagine up an entire underwater kingdom full of people and families," Thia smiled warmly.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think that people can think up all sorts of new places if they just tried. Better places. Where everyone's happy," Thia spoke wistfully.

I settled my gaze back out on the water and tried to imagine what it was Thia was seeing. Vague shapes of buildings glittered beneath the water and if you looked hard enough they seemed real. Sighing, I closed my eyes. I wouldn't mind staying like this forever. Sitting on the dock with a gentle breeze and the two people I loved most nestled up against me.

"I think that would be pretty great,"Thalia admitted. Thia's laugh sounded like the wind and I couldn't help but smile at the sound.

"Yeah. Me too."