Missing

Reunions, Brooding, and Ponytails

Reyna's POV

I walked in silence with the others. After the explosion Thalia tackled her friends in a hug. They were Hunters I didn't recognize. One had a thick Irish accent, bright red hair and a splash of freckles. She looked a lot like Rachel Elizabeth Dare but younger. She was feisty a fiesta girl, another child of Ares. Her name was Lydia. The second was tall and lithe, dark black hair and deep green eyes. In another life she and Thalia might have been related. She looked mean and had a resting bitch face much like mine. Her name was Emma a child of Hecate. The third was extremely small. She couldn't have been more than ten.

Thalia knelt down to her height. "You good Louise?"

"I'm alright," She said, a little western accent to her voice. "I've seen worse."

She was small and thin. To be honest she looked harmless but Thalia swore she was deadly. Her name was Louise her mother was Athena.

It was a small brief reunion and soon we were all walking quickly away from the burning shell of a warehouse. It was quiet and no one spoke as we crossed streets and made it back to camp. We picked everything up and walked even further our Pegasus friend trotting beside us.

"You haven't stopped shaking," Thalia said quietly. She slowed down her pace so the others were walking in front of us. "Are you okay?"

I wanted to say that I was fine and that things were great but I'd be lying and I'd learned a long time ago that it was best if we didn't lie to each other. We'd made a pact to tell each other the truth. "No I'm not. I just saw some god rip out your heart like fucking Indiana Jones, I spilled everything like an idiot because I thought I had the upper hand, and I burned down a building and nearly blew us up in it!"

"Okay well I'm not sure why to say to that," Thalia admitted, glancing at her shoes. "Other than thank you for keeping your head. I wasn't much help."

"It's fine. I didn't expect any of that to happen. It was a dumb plan and we'd lucky it sort of worked. At the very least you got your friends back," I sighed, smiling thinly.

"Yeah but the plan put you in a tough spot." Thalia argued.

"Doesn't matter. What I want to know is why they're all fascinated with you." I said with a frown. "It's like you're some sort of artifact for a museum. Everyone wants you on display or something."

"Yeah well..." Thalia sighed. "I'm used to it."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously stepping over a large rock.

"My whole life has involved people watching me like it's some sort of tv show," Thalia explained looking at the ground. "Being a tree for however many years and suddenly reappearing makes people stare at you. Not to mention going on quests while the Olympians watch and wait for you to mess up. What's one more person?"

"I hate to say I know the feeling," I sighed. "But he was fascinated with your...er heart. Fascinated with I don't know..."

"Our feelings?" She asked raising an eyebrow with a smug look on her face, "Well that's a love God for you."

"But Sila...he wasn't," Reyna argued.

"Because Sila hates it," Thalia responded. " He hates being the God of heartbreak. Doesn't like his job much."

"Understandable," I nodded. "But what I want to know is who they are exactly. How they got banished. What could they have done that was so bad to deserve it?"

"When we find a library I'll look it up," Thalia teased, nudging me with her elbow.

"Yeah something like that," I smiled, looking away. Ever since we had come face to face with Páthos something had felt different. It had caused my heart to speed up and my breath to become shallow.