Thalia's POV

"I meant to ask you about something," Thia mumbled after a while though I thought she'd fallen asleep.

"Ask away," I sighed.

"What are those pictures of?" Thia sat up giving me a questioning look and it was one I couldn't really ignore.

"I don't really know. Neither does Mom. Grover gave them to her and that's pretty much all I know," I admitted.

"Do you think it's something important?" Thia asked, getting the same curious spark in her eyes as Reyna.

"Probably not, but if it is I'll find out about it. It's not anything to really worry about." At least not until I knew more about what it was that was going on.

"If you say so," Thia shrugged. "Probably some irritated nature god."

"That's what I thought," I smiled.

"Further proof that we share the same brain," Thia laughed. "Also I had another question."

"Go on."

"It's more of asking for advice," Thia explained.

"What? Do you doubt my advice giving capabilities?" I asked, pretending to be offended. "I'm hurt."

"No no." Thia hugged me quickly. "But its serious so no joking."

"Yeah okay got it. I'm still waiting for your question," I reminded. Thia nodded seeming to think for a moment.

"If there's someone whose kind of different and you're not sure what to make of them, like they can be rude but kind of nice, what should you do?" Thia asked after some careful thought.

"That depends on how rude they are," I answered.

"Well, not that rude just in some occasions, and they can also be annoying," Thia added.

"I guess the real question is, is it someone you want to be friends with or get rid of?" And by 'get rid of' I didn't mean eliminating the person from the face of the earth.

"Friends I think." Thia frowned not seeming certain of her answer.

"Saying, 'friends I think' leads me to believe that whoever it is that's rude and annoying you should talk to. Try and sort out your differences." It was the best advice I could give at the moment considering the vague information.

"Okay.Thanks." Thia paused for a moment. "I'm gonna go do what you said."

"Fine by me but I suggest getting out of your pajamas first. I think you're cute but I'm allowed to. Other people? Not allowed to." Just the idea of Thia at some point having a significant other made my skin crawl.

"Yeah. Okay," Thia laughed, rolling her eyes. She got up and left to go change. She thought I was kidding. How adorable.

Figuring I couldn't lounge around all day and had to do something I got up and got dressed as well. I didn't really have a plan for the day I typically just went with the flow of things.

Although, I did know one thing. Reyna had told me she was filling in for a history teacher today and I had an idea. It was almost enough to make me laugh.

Thia left before I was finished getting ready so I was the last one out of the house. Hopping down the steps I walked along the streets enjoying the rather nice weather. The sun wasn't too harsh and there was a slight breeze and a good thick covering of clouds to top it off. The building wasn't hard to find. It was pretty big considering it had to hold all of the kids once they reached a certain age and school became a requirement. Not to mention there were dozens of afternoon classes for older kids and the rest of the day was filled with training activities.

I guess that was one thing people liked about New Rome. They wear almost always something to do. The kids around here didn't really have much free time and it wasn't like they had any homework anyways. Which, in my option, was unfair. I had my fair share of homework as a kid whether I did it or not.

Heading inside, it was strange to see everyone completely enthralled with what they were doing. So much so they didn't notice my arrival. Then again, the same thing happened the last few times I'd been there to talk about the second titan war and other stuff.

Heading up the stairs to the second floor where a majority of the older kids were, I headed to the correct room.

"Yo." I walked casually inside and every head in the room turned to look at me.

"Did you get bored?" Reyna asked knowingly.

"Yep, I've come to take over class today." The kids made eye contact with one another and most of them wore confused expressions. Reyna knew the drill. I'd done this before but what she didn't know was what today's topic was. She moved to the back of the room.

"Take it away then," she laughed. Clearing my throat I sat on the desk looking for any familiar faces.

"Emily, what's up kid?" Emily waved back at me and smiled from ear to ear.

"Hiya," she lauded.

"So whose gonna ask what we're learning today?" For a moment they assumed I didn't mean literally until one kid hesitantly put his hand up in the air.

"What are we learning today?" He asked.

"Oh I'm so glad you asked. Today I will be talking about my favorite topic on the planet." I paused for dramatic effect.

"Is it yourself?" Reyna asked from the back of the room with a smug expression. The kids laughed at her remark.

"Actually no. Today I'm talking about the one and only most amazing and beautiful person in all of the universe...you." Reyna was caught off guard by this and with the wink I added at the end I could see her trying to hide her embarrassment and blush.

Again, the kids laughed and some of them oohed. I raised a hand for them to be quiet and they all shut up rather quickly.

"I need a visual example. You in the back please come to the front or I'll give you detention." Reyna rolled her eyes but walked awkwardly up to the front of the room and stood next to me. More laughter.

"For the record you can't put me in detention," she insisted.

"Hush." I covered her mouth and turned back to the kids. "She talks a lot."

This time a kid laughed so hard she fell out of her desk. She was my favorite after that. Reyna gave me a sideways glare.

"Now, to talk about this hot person right here. " I nodded to Reyna.

"Your gay is showing!" Emily laughed.

"Thank you for noticing I'm glad I didn't have to slap a label on my forehead." I was convinced that I was going to kill the class with laughter. "Anyways, this is the current and coolest praetor to ever exist on the entire planet and you can't argue with me cause your argument is invalid. She has helped my brother in the second titan war and stormed their headquarters totally kicking ass even if I wasn't there."

"You can't curse. They're kids," Reyna mumbled through my hand.

"Right sorry. Now hush." And so I spent an hour bragging about my super cool wife. Because why the hell not? Even though she acted like she didn't like it I could tell it didn't bug her that much. "Okay, so how many of you think the best praetor is this smoking hot lady?"

"You need to be censored,"Reyna face palmed, but despite her irritation every kid raised their hand.

"Good. You are all my favorites. Have a good day, be nice, smile, and have fun." I pointed to the door. "Now get out."

One kid got up and bolted for the door while the others laughed.

"What happened to him?" I asked.

"He laughed so hard he had to pee," Emily giggled , red faced and teary eyed.  The kids all filed out one by one and I was pretty sure I heard a few 'this was the best class ever's.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Reyna asked, watching them file out.

"Yes. Yes I am. I did good," I smiled. Reyna laughed.

"Yeah you did." She slung an arm over my shoulders. "Thanks for bragging about me."

"You're welcome. You deserve it," I insisted, looking at all of the empty chairs.

"You too," Reyna replied. "So now it's my turn to brag."

"You really don't have to." She really didn't. I just liked making her smile and blush and feel special.

"No I'm going to. And if you don't listen I can put you in detention," she threatened. "Now go sit down."

Laughing I took a seat and made sure to sit up straight just in case. "Alright brag to your heart's content."

"Oh I will," Reyna smiled. "First of all, you have the best laugh. Hands down. It's bright and crisp like a breeze. Your freckles are completely adorable. You have the prettiest eyes and sometimes I get distracted by them. I can't help it. Your personality is interesting and fun. You're the perfect combination of fun and caring. You know how to make me laugh and cheer me up but you're also there for me when I need you. Your nose does this cute little thing where it wrinkles up if you smile too big. You're smart in your own way. You're athletic and I find it hysterical when you try to one up all the guys who think they're better than you."

"I love doing that," I laughed.

"I know. You're completely gorgeous and you're great at parenting even if you sometimes think you're not doing a good enough job. I know for a fact that Thia looks up to you a lot. You're fun to cuddle and if it's not creepy you smell nice. Your hair is also nice to play with cause it's super soft and though it's annoying sometimes it's kind of cute how you steal my praetors cape and use it as a blanket."

I'm not gonna lie I was probably blushing more than I wanted to. Reyna opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted as an iris message popped up.

"Sorry to interrupt but I figured you'd want to see this." It was Grover.

"What is it?" Reyna asked immediately turning her attention to the hovering image. Grover swallowed hard and stepped to the side. I recognized the spot as the one in the pictures on Reyna's desk only things were different. The darkness seemed to throb and pulse as if it were a living thing.

It latched onto a nearby tree and black finger like tendrils began to crawl up the trunk where the bark turned grey like it was being leached of life.

"It's getting worse," Grover worried and I could imagine him skittering his hooves nervously.

"Do you still have no idea what it is?" Reyna asked spinning not the one but two rings on her finger nervously.

"Not a clue. No one does. It's like it isn't even supposed to exist." Grover bit his lip.

"Have you asked anyone for help?" I asked.

"Yes. Of course. I even managed to contact Artemis to take a look at it. She brought the topic up with Athena herself and even she doesn't understand it." Grover's voice was getting more and more anxious with each word he spoke.

"Alright." Reyna got lost in thought for a moment. "Where are you?"

"New York," Grover replied.

"I'll be there as soon as possible," Reyna sighed. Grover nodded and swiped his hand through the mist.

"You're going?" I asked.

"Someone has to," Reyna answered.

"Yeah, but it doesn't have to be you. Two gods already investigated it. WhG makes you think you'll figure it out?" I didn't mean to question her intelligence. That wasn't the problem. The problem was, I wasn't about to let her go by herself to wherever that unknown substance was.

"I'll stay out of trouble, I promise. I'd take you with me but someone has to stay here with Thia." She had a point. As wonderful as Thia was I doubted she could take care of herself with everything that was going on, and since her incident with Jenna I didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone.

"I don't like it," I frowned.

"I know. I'm sorry." Reyna tried to give me a smile.

"Maybe it's not as bad as it seems." I was really reaching here. I just wanted to cling onto what peace we'd had.

"Babe, we can't just ignore it. Clearly Grover thinks it's a problem and he asked two gods for help." Reyna was at the point where her mind wasn't going to change. There was no point in arguing about it anymore.

"Okay, okay, I get it," I groaned.

"I'll make it up to you I promise." Reyna sat on the edge of my desk.

"How?" I whined.

"Whatever you want," she shrugged.

"Anything?" I asked getting a few ideas already.

"Do I look like I'm lying?" Reyna laughed.

"Okay," I sighed.

"Thank you again." Reyna smiled kissing me lightly.

"Yeah whatever. Can we go home?" I asked.

"Sure, I don't think I have much else to do." Reyna paused thinking for a moment.

"You always have something to d," I laughed.

"Usually yes," Reyna smiled. "But not this time."

"Oh lucky me," I joked.

"Maybe. If you're nice," Reyna smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked following her out into the hallway.

"Figure it out," Reyna laughed. So I spent the entire way home trying to figure it out. Eventually I got the hint and any worry about the problem at hand suddenly disappeared.