The farm house was connected to a long dirt road. As they drove, the truck left a long trail of dust floating slowly in the air like a tail. What none of the girls expected was to arrive at the large house and see its windows alight and flashing with pulsing lights. Or for music to be pounding against the walls. And even worse, for people and cars to be parked and crowding the dirt shoulders of the road.

Artemis' expression shifted into something harsher than before. The engine was killed almost immediately. "Stay here."

Thalia and Reyna remained seated as Artemis left the car behind striding quickly towards the front door with fists clenched tight.

"Apollo is dead." Thalia sighed, shaking her head.

"Does he always do this?" Reyna asked.

"No, but he does it more than he should." Thalia admitted, resting her head against the seat and closing her eyes.

"You okay?" Reyna asked glancing at her with concern.

"I'm always okay, Rey. I just worry about everyone. About them, about Nico." Thalia shook her head. "It's like no one's ever happy anymore."

"Apollo seems to be okay." Reyna observed spotting the blonde boy in one of the windows.

"Apollo doesn't know how else to handle himself. He grew up in this atmosphere, almost as much as I did." Thalia knew that the twins lacked a role model. In fact, a lot of kids in Half Blood County lacked role models. The only parents Thalia could think of who gave any shits about the kids here were Percy's. "Parties, alcohol, it's the norm for him."

"And her?" Reyna asked.

Thalia stared out the front window eyes locking onto the stars. "She tries to keep him in check but things are harder now than they were before. For all of us."

"Since the accidents started happening." Reyna guessed leaning back in her seat. She watched anxiously, as the front door to the house opened. One by one people began to file out and it seemed that the party had broken up.

"Yeah. Bianca and Nico were closer than you'd think. She was like a mother to him after theirs died. She grew up too fast and when she tried to go her own way rather than tugging along a little brother he took it hard. She still loved him more than anything. After the car accident he never was the same. He's scared to love anything or anyone. He comes across cruel, but he doesn't have it in him to hate. He's lucky though, Hazel is his half sister. She fills the void a little bit. He thinks the world of her." Thalia explained picturing the young pale and skinny boy probably alone tucked inside his room.

"I know what that's like. I can't remember my mom. I just picture Hylla." Reyna admitted. biting at her bottom lip.

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing." Thalia smiled thinly. "Percy hasn't been much the same either. He was close with Beckendorf but the kid got caught in a house fire. Perished. Then Annabeth happened. Neither of them will mention what happened but I think it's because they're scared. Because they can't talk about it for fear of worse things happening."

"Is that how she got the scar on her shoulder?" Reyna asked putting a bit of the pieces together.

"Yeah. As for Zoë, she just vanished. It hurt but not as much as it did for Artemis." Thalia explained, watching a few of the cars pull away from the house and drive back the way they'd come.

"They were close from how it sounds." Reyna noted, feeling a sadness she didn't understand. She felt sad for everyone who'd been an unfortunate victim and for those who were left to bear the consequences of whatever was happening in Half Blood County.

"Close? More than that. You hear about teenage romance and they were the epitome of that. Completely head over heels. But Zoë had baggage. Things that followed her around. Burdens I don't think any of us fully understood." Thalia's voice hitched for a moment as she described the dark secrets of her friend. It was then that Reyna noticed l Thalia's eyes looked much older than they had before. They seemed to hold a much deeper sadness than anything Reyna had seen before.

"I-"Reyna didn't have any words to express the sadness that settled like a weight in her stomach. Seeing how much each tragedy had affected Thalia made her sick.

"Her dad threatened to kick her out of the house. All because she refused to date the son of a business man. Her dad, Atlas, was trying to gain the support of this kid's father. Aside from a crappy father, Zoë's sisters are ruthless, all except one. The youngest. Zoë absolutely adored her. She never got to see her much. Zoë was the only ones stuck here. Everyone else lives somewhere new and exciting." Thalia noted, a bit of envy making its way into her voice as she watched the lights dim.

"How'd Zoë get here?" Reyna questioned. "Was she born here?"

"No. Atlas kicked her out once he figured out she wasn't straight. She said 'fuck it' and found her way here. Then she managed to make it on her own and staying where she could. Sometimes she hung out at my place. I think despite having so many friends, despite Artemis, she was lonely." Silence settled over the car for a moment as Thalia collected her thoughts. "A lot of people think she saw an opportunity to get out of here. That she took it while she could. I think it was something else. I don't really know. I wish I could ask her. I wish we had answers. But she wouldn't leave Artemis. Not like this."

The conversation came to an end as Artemis made her way back to the car, a calm rage overtaking her. "Everyone's gone. You guys can come in if you'd like."

"Thanks." Reyna smiled, following Thalia out. The trio made their way inside to find trash and all sorts of things scattered across the floor. Apollo was scrambling about with a trash bag trying to clean it up.

"Arty, do you mind helping?" He asked glancing up at her from behind a curtain of blonde hair.

"I didn't throw the party." She replied flatly and headed upstairs with Thalia and Reyna in tow. "Feel free to wash up. Bathroom's on the left."

"Good, I need a shower." Thalia sighed heading towards the bathroom with a spare set of clothes in hand.

"Yeah, I can smell you." Reyna joked earning a middle finger in response.

"You should tie car freshener around her neck." Artemis joked opening the door to her room. Reyna laughed lightly and took a hesitant step inside. It was well organized, with white walls, and a well made bed. In fact, the room didn't indicate that there were actual inhabitants.
Taking a moment to examine what actually resided in the room, Reyna carefully set her gym bag off to the side as Artemis curled up on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

Reyna spotted a small radio system hooked up on a shelf over a pristine desk. Books were stacked neatly to one side and pens were sorted by color. There was something, however, that caught her eye. It was an orange bottle. The kind that held medication. The prescription was wrapped around the outside. It read the owner's name, time, and amount of pills that should be taken. What surprised Reyna the most was for the reason.

Depression. What was worse, from the looks of it, none had actually been taken. Reyna forced her eyes to look away, but it was difficult. After all, it wasn't any of her business. Attempting to study something else, Reyna noticed a box of things that seemed to have collected dust shoved inside a corner of the closet. She couldn't help but wonder what was inside but Reyna sure as hell wasn't going to snoop.

"That was quick." Artemis spoke up nearly startling Reyna who turned around to see Thalia standing in the doorway with sweatpants and a large shirt adorning her frame. Her hair was wet and wild, quite an adorable sight. "While my brother cleans up I guess we can figure something out for dinner."

"Pizza?" Thalia asked hopefully, earning a disinterested shrug.

"I'll order." Reyna decided, feeling a bit awkward. She didn't like being the third wheel in the room. Leaving Thalia and Artemis to their own devices she stepped into the hall to place an order.

"Hey, how may I help you?" The voice on the other end sounded bored but it was recognizable.

"Nico?" Reyna questioned in surprise.

"Reyna?" Bewilderment clung to his voice. "I heard you were back, didn't feel like saying hi?"

"Just trying to adjust actually. I talked to Thalia. She said you're doing pretty good." A lie but it isn't my business to press for details on anything that's happened with him.

"I'm alright. Tell you what. My shift ends soon. Where ya at? I can probably bring some food over." God, he was still such a sweetheart after all this time.

"I'm at the farm on the outskirts of town with Thalia, Artemis, and Apollo." Nico made some sort of noise on the other end of the line.

"See you in fifteen." And that was how the call ended. It was, in fact, exactly fifteen minutes until Nico arrived with a bike whose basket was loaded with left over pizza.

"What a God." Thalia smiled opening the front door to take off his hat and ruffle his hair. His eyes softened slightly. "Feel free to join us. We're eating in the barn because this place is a mess and smells like weed."

Nico sniffed the air and scrunched up his nose. "Probably a good idea."

The group shuffled out along the dirt path and back behind the house where a large red wooden barn waited. Inside was a single horse of a chestnut brown color, a cow, and a chicken or two. Nothing much.

Hay bales were stacked off to the sides and buckets were turned over to act as seats. The pizza was set in the center and Thalia took it upon herself to wear a bucket on her head. Reyna wasn't sure why she felt the need to do so, but also wasn't surprised by the behavior.

"How have you guys been?" Nico asked, grabbing the smallest slice he could find.

"The usual." Artemis shrugged.

"Not bad." Reyna and Thalia smiled having spoken in unison.

"That's nice to hear." Nico pressed his lips into a thin line. "How's your sister?"

"She's okay. Tired. I hardly see her she's working so much." It was the first time since Reyna had come back that Thalia had really seen her friend's demeanor shift. "It's lonely at home."

"What about you?" Nico glanced at Artemis. "Apollo isn't too crazy?"

"He's the same as always. Partying whenever he has the chance and I'm stuck with the clean up. He won't clean everything by the time he crashes for the night. I'm used to it though, I've been doing it for years." Artemis hadn't touched any of the food, and though it was clear they all noticed, no one said anything.

"Thals?" Nico asked noticing that Thalia had checked out of the conversation and was checking her phone. She got to her feet and headed to a corner of the room answering a call.

"What about you?" Reyna asked, drawing Nico's attention.

"I've been okay. Working on getting a car." Nico smiled slightly at the idea of it. "Hazel seems to be doing alright at school which is good."

Reyna was prepared to ask more questions when a loud bang came from the corner. Everyone turned to see that Thalia had kicked over a bucket. Whatever it was that'd been discussed had clearly distressed her. "Thanks Percy I'll be there as fast as I can. That fucker-god."

"What's wrong?" Reyna asked getting to her feet but Thalia didn't answer as she tore outside at a full blown sprint and ran for the road booking it as fast as she could.

"Oh great." Nico sighed as they all stood heading to see what was going on.

Thalia's heart pounded in urgency. Percy better have been mistaken or someone was going to get killed and she meant it. It wasn't too far of a run maybe two or three miles. She could do it. Lungs aching and legs burning she pressed forward not waiting to see if any of the others had followed her.

Please be wrong, please, god be wrong. The anxiety that coursed through her system made it increasingly difficult to breathe. She could see the lights of her house not too far ahead and though exhaustion gripped her she made it to the driveway. How long had she been running? She wasn't entirely sure. It's all gone by in such a blur that standing in the driveway seemed to have happened instantaneously.

No,no,no. There was a car in the driveway that she hardly recognized. It had slammed into her motorcycle and pinned it against the house which had destroyed the stucco. Chunks of it littered the driveway. There was Percy at the bottom of the driveway where he'd noticed the problem on his walk.

Thalia didn't hesitate to run past him and inside the house. The lights were on and there was a man she had only met once before sitting at her table with a glass full of some disgustingly cheap wine clearly intoxicated.

"You asshole. You son of a bitch!" Thalia yelled. "Do you have any idea what you just did? Get the fuck out of my house!"

The man straightened slightly and glared up at her from where he sat with bloodshot eyes. "Beryl the-hic...runt is talkin.'"

His voice was gruff and slurred from the impairment of his chosen beverage. "Don't talk to my mother. Get. Out."

"It's just a bike. Don't be a bitch." He growled swallowing the remnants of his drink. Thalia grabbed the closest thing she could find which happened to be the man's car keys and chucked them as hard as she could. They clattered onto the table sending the wine bottle toppling to the floor where it shattered.

"Get out!" She was beyond furious, as her hands shook and her vision tunneled.

Unfortunately, the man was angry now too. He stood, the chair scraping against the floor. Despite the large beer belly he possessed, he was big like a bear. "Don't you mess with me little girl. I ain't done nothing to you. Now pick that up."

He gestured to the glass on the ground and the puddle of liquid that was staining the tile. Thalia didn't move an inch.

"I said, PICK IT UP!" By now Percy had hesitantly made his way inside and his eyes widened at the situation.

"No one tells me what to do." Thalia spat. The man slammed his hand down on the table causing a plate to clatter to the ground. It was all Thalia needed to lunge forward with the vengeance of a thousand suns. If it had not been for Percy there would have been blood mixing with wine. 

"I'll kill you I swear to god. You swine." Thalia thrashed desperately trying to get free. Just a bike?! Just a bike?! She'd worked long painstaking hours for that thing, just to have some small sense of freedom and now it was destroyed along with part of her house. All because of her mother's drunken friends.
Grunting, Percy managed to drag Thalia outside as she continued to thrash but the thrashing soon died down and it turned into crying.

"Come on. Come on." He was practically tugging her towards the road where a familiar truck was now pulling up.

"What happened?" Reyna demanded, sliding out of the passenger's seat.

"I'll kill him." Thalia sobbed, as Percy stumbled sending them both to the ground. All he could do was keep a hold of her for fear that she'd run back inside and really kill the man.

"Easy. Easy." He whispered trying to calm her. "Neeks. Call the cops. Rey, try and block in the driveway. This guy isn't getting away with this."

The group of three teenagers consisting of Nico, Thalia, and Artemis snapped into action.

"I hate this place. I hate this." Thalia sobbed, shoulders trembling.

Percy swallowed hard. He knew perfectly well what this was like. "I know Thalia. I know."

What hurt Percy the most were the next words that forced their way out between sobs. Something that was bitter and ironic. Thalia had never had this, and yet she yearned endlessly for it. She was asking for something that didn't exist. Not for her.

"I want to go home."