Thalia's POV

"I hope this is the right direction because I am not about to turn around and start over," Leah grumbled, ducking under a tree branch while Grover took the lead in showing us the way out. We had been walking for some time and I was certain we had to at least be close to getting out of this crumby stretch woodlands.

"I'm certain we're going the right way," Grover assured, trying to sound positive. At least he was making an attempt. The rest of us weren't even trying to put up fake smiles. I got the feeling we all just wanted this to be over. I certainly did. Part of me wanted to pretend that none of it had happened but that wasn't possible. Something was going on and I intended to find out.

"What's the plan when we get there?" I asked, walking carefully over a rather rocky section of the trail. Andy was not as fortunate; he stumbled twisting his ankle sharply and would have suffered more injuries if I hadn't managed to catch his elbow.

"Shit," he winced, hopping on one foot his face twisted up in a grimace.

"Figures," I sighed, glancing down at his twisted ankle which was already starting to swell. Before he could protest, I slipped him onto my shoulders in a fire man's carry. "Hang on princess."

Reyna shot me an amused look while Thia tried to hide her laughter but failed miserably at doing so. Andy grumbled something I couldn't quite make out but I was certain it was some sort of complaint.

"Don't laugh kid," Andy warned. Thia's shoulders tensed slightly.

"I'm not a kid how many times do I have to tell you that?" She frowned.

"You give her a hard time and I'll drop you so the monsters can have dinner." I didn't have to see his face to know he took my words seriously, as he should.

At last, Grover gave a happy cry and the black tree line broke out into open sky though it was dark. The stars glittered brightly up above and the moon was full for once. The creature that had taken an odd liking to Thia bounded ahead with its wings stretched open.

"Hey, we're pretty close to camp!" Thia clapped, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Let's go."

She was about to run off when Reyna caught her by the back of the shirt. "Easy does it. We can't just go barging in."

"Speak for yourself," Thia laughed, twisting free and running off excitedly. "Leah come on! You can meet all of my cousins!"

Thia grabbed her friend by the arm and practically dragged her in the direction of camp. Grover looked over his shoulder at me his eyebrows raised in a humor filled expression.

"No need to say it. I know, she gets her spontaneous energy from me. I've been told countless times. I'm guilty as charged." Grover laughed and shook his head but there was no denying it. Thia was impossibly similar to me at times.

"As comfy as your shoulders are, can we hurry up and get there? My leg is killing me," Andy piped up and I'd almost forgotten he was conscious since he'd gone quiet.

"For someone who's dying you seem pretty alive to me." It was a horrible joke but I couldn't help myself. Andy let out an agonized sigh and if he hadn't been dead already he surely was now. There's nothing that killed people more than dad jokes.

"If you think that's bad wait until you meet Nico and Will. Their poor kid has twice as many dad jokes." Reyna smiled at the mere thought of Nico and Will. They were the worst when it came to bad jokes. Their little boy asked if they could make him a sandwich once and Nico replied with 'Bibitty bobbity boo you are now a sandwich.'

There was also one particular instance where their son asked for ice water so Will just got him a glass of ice and said ' You asked for ice water. Enjoy.' No one had the right to complain about dad jokes after those two adopted a kid.

"Yes and I'm sure Thia gets stuck in an endless loop of 'go ask your mom'," Andy replied, with a sarcastic tone to his voice.

"I'm surprised you actually know her name edge lord junior." It was the first time I hadn't heard him call her 'kid'.

"I'm not stupid. I know her name. And you can't give me crap for calling her kid cause Leah calls her stuff like hon and honey." This was news to me and I instantly didn't like it.

"I hope both of you know she's not dating until she's thirty." It sounded petty but part of me seriously meant it.

"We agreed on twenty," Reyna corrected.

"I'd never dream of dating her I promise," Andy grumbled.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because she seems like the independent type." Andy shrugged slightly. "Oh look! That looks like our destination."

I hadn't realized we were as close as we were but sure enough the camp glittered up ahead just below the hill rise.

"Let's go to the garbage so I can  dump the trash I'm carrying." If it hadn't been so quite I would have missed Andy's tiny groan at my words. Smiling to myself, I spotted Thia up ahead waiting at the bottom of the hill talking animatedly to what looked to be Jaxon and their cousin Maria, Annabeth's daughter.

"Alright go easy on him let's just find Will so he can get patched up." Reyna gave Andy an apologetic look. Oh well, I was certain he didn't mind my banter.

"Woah! what happened to him?" Jaxon asked, running up to greet us and hugging Reyna tightly.

"He uh had a bit of a fall," she said, ruffling his blonde hair.

"That's rough buddy. Don't worry, my uncle Will can fix you up just fine. Come on, he's not too busy." Jaxon took Andy from my shoulders and motioned for Maria to help him take Andy to the infirmary.

"You didn't need to be so hard on the kid." Reyna spoke quietly once the kids had wandered off. Grover had quietly slunk away most likely to go find Juniper.

"Eh, it was just fun and games," I shrugged, which only got me an amused look.

"She's gonna have a crush eventually. What are you going to do when that happens?" Reyna asked, crossing her arms and giving me a smug look.

"I'll probably cry, then embarrass her a bit, and then cry some more," I admitted. Reyna's features softened and she took my hand in hers before quickly kissing my cheek.

"Well don't fret about it now. We have other things to address. Hopefully Chiron is free. He needs to know what's going on." Reyna was right back to business as usual.

"If anything he'll just call for a council in the morning," I sighed, but the two of us made our way towards the big house which stood out like a sore thumb in the midst of camp. As it would turn out Chiron was indeed awake and free albeit with the company of Dionysus.

"Well if it isn't the lesbian goth Barbie doll and the wanna be primadonna." Dionysus sighed leaning back in a wooden chair which somehow supported his weight. He and Chiron had been playing a game of chess on the porch of the big house.

"Good to see you too leopard print wrapped sausage boy." Dionysus snorted but the corners of his lips twitched in what could have been a smile. I found out a long time ago I was one of the few people who could match his insults with my own.

"I suppose that works for greetings. I wasn't expecting your arrival. What brings you here?" Chiron asked smiling brightly,  his old brown eyes glinting happily in the moon light.

"Despite the happy occasion we bring some not so pleasant news." Reyna seemed hesitant to ruin his mood but I understood why. The poor guy didn't have a lot of happy days with all the stuff that constantly plagued the demigod world.

Chiron nodded slowly as if bracing himself for the news. "What news do you have?"

Reyna and I took turns narrating all that we knew  about the situation which only caused Chiron's expression to darken.

"That's about it I think," Reyna shrugged.

"I see. Well this is quite the problem," Chiron sighed.

"Why don't you and your little girl squad go take care of this oily goopy big black mumbo jumbo stuff?" Dionysus arched an eyebrow.

"Because it's too dangerous to mess around with and I'm not letting other people get hurt. Especially my friends." Dionysus nodded and tuned out for the rest of the conversation causing vines to coil over the chess pieces.

"Perhaps this would be better discussed in the morning. It seems you've endured much on your travels. Rest, I will need time to ponder this information. Thank you for telling me." Chiron held a distant look in his eyes one similar to Annabeth's when she was thinking.

"No problem. Don't stay up too late worrying." Reyna smiled kindly at the old centaur. He chuckled warmly and nodded.

"Fair enough." Turning to leave Dionysus gave one last smart ass remark.

"It will be an honor to be graced by your horrific presence in the morning Thing one and Thing two." Classic Dionysus, honestly as much as it was annoying at times, I kind of missed it.

Our arrival hadn't gone unnoticed as talk spread incredibly fast around camp. As soon as I inched the cabin door open Jason tackled me, quite literally, in a hug.

"Geez its good to see you too but I don't enjoy being flattened like a pancake," I laughed. He scrambled quickly to his feet and helped me up off the ground.

"I always thought you'd be good at football." Reyna mused stepping inside after me.

"I tried it once when I was younger but I'm concussion prone as it turns out." Jason shrugged with a dorkish grin on his face.

"Hey Pipes." I smiled waving at Piper who sat on their bed criss cross apple sauce.

"What's up my dudes?" She smiled.

"You sound horribly like Percy," I winced. Piper rolled her eyes at me and waved away the comment.

"Sure. Anyways what brings you here? Long time no see." For a second I thought it would be best not to tell them what was going on. I didn't want to ruin any happy moods at the moment but it felt wrong not to explain anything.

So I told them what I knew earning solemn looks in response. "Chiron's calling a council in the morning."

"As he should." Jason nodded adjusting his glasses. I noticed how much older he looked much to my disliking. Why couldn't he just stay small and young? Why couldn't they all just stay small and young? "Figures things wouldn't remain calm."

"Hey, I mean we're used to it right?" Piper asked, trying to be the optimistic one in our group.

"Sadly, that's the case," Reyna agreed.

"You guys staying in here or-"

"Artemis' cabin." I shrugged cutting Jason off. "I figure you'd like your privacy and the cabin is empty."

"Smart as always ," Jason mused. He gave us both a hug as did Piper before we went our separate ways. Thia came back not long after we'd made our way into the cabin looking happy.

"What's the smile for?" Reyna questioned.

"Nothing. It's just good to see everyone. I missed them." Thia climbed up into one of the bunks without bothering to take her shoes off. Shortly after, she collapsed and closed her eyes.

Moments later her breathing grew shallow and she was out like a light. Sighing, Reyna climbed up and managed to gently slip Thia's shoes and socks off and tucked a pillow under her head.

"Sixteen and still can't go to bed on her own," Reyna laughed quietly. I figured that our other companions, Andy and Leah, were being housed in the Hermes cabin. A typical sleeping arrangement.

"Says you," I laughed. Reyna had the same habit of falling asleep in odd places completely unequipped for bed.

"Shut up." She shoved me playfully which resulted in a half hearted pillow fight but in the end we were both too tired to get overly competitive.

For once Reyna fell asleep before I did and I listened to the quiet sounds of animals scurrying about outside. Little critters like squirrels and bugs.

Reyna's head rested on my shoulder and she'd tangled her legs with mine in search of warmth. She'd slung an arm over me in a lazy but comforting hold. Sighing I tried to keep my thoughts from wandering to everything that was going on. To distract myself I studied her sleeping form with a careful scrutiny.

She was always so cute when she was asleep. She was vulnerable in her slumber with no demeanor to keep up for public view. Her dark hair created a curtain around her face unfairly blocking my view. I carefully tucked the loose strands behind her ear smiling slightly at her relaxed and peaceful expression.

After a while my eyelids grew heavy and I figured I might as well go to sleep. There was no sense in staying awake otherwise I'd be grumpy for the meeting tomorrow morning which would benefit no one.

Giving one last content sigh I pressed my lips gently against Reyna's cheek, then nose, then forehead before closing my eyes and giving up on overthinking what was going on in the universe.