Before the fun starts, I just wanted to dedicate this story to Rosycat, someone I'm very happy to call my friend and who has helped me and supported me so much for that story!

Now, enjoy, fav/follow, and review!

We had a great plan. And you know what? For once, it almost worked. Almost. The plan was to spend a year in New York, and graduate – check. Then we'd go to New Rome – check. And then, it would be "Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no stupid prophecies. Just me and Annabeth, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafés, enjoying California" – so not checked.

We were in New Rome for barely a week – that's all it took. My mother just left, hiding her tears, carried away by Paul – or she would still be here. We lived in a student accommodation, nothing too fancy but big enough for Annabeth and I. We had the view on the senate and a little café just across the road. It had been a year of complete calm, no monsters, no quests, just enjoying the new friendship between Greeks and Romans.

I was at the window, looking down on the streets, when I saw Frank and Hazel walking towards our building. "Hey, Frank, Hazel!" I called to them. They looked up and Frank motioned for them to come inside.

"Hey, what's up man?" I said when I opened the door to let them come in. I knew straight away when I turned to face them that something was up.

"Hey, we're good, is Annabeth here?"

"Nah she's in the library, my parents just left and she took the first occasion to go… You know how she is… But anyway, please, have a sit. So what's going on?"

"Ah well there might be some… complications" Frank continued.

"Complications? Please tell me they don't involve voices in the dark or falling into endless pits…"

"No but we'd need you. I mean, with Reyna being gone… I mean…"

"She's missing. Along with Jason" Hazel said, flying to the rescue of Frank who, after a closer look, seemed exhausted.

"What? Missing?"

"Yeah" Frank continued "I've been trying to cover it up, I mean, tensions started arising when what was found of the Sibylline book was brought to Camp Half-Blood, but then, Reyna and Jason simply disappeared from Camp. I couldn't just tell that to everybody and not compromise the peace."

"But they're missing"

"I can't go, I have to stay or they'll be no praetor here"

"And you Hazel I suppose you want to stay to help him. And you're saying this to me because…"

"Well obviously you're the only one, with Annabeth of course, that we trust enough not start a new war between Greeks and Romans" Hazel said, looking straight at me, clearly saying that I had no choice. "I understand that you and Annabeth just arrived, and that you want to enjoy some quiet time together, but this is important."

"Of course it is. So what happened? I mean, as far as we know?"

"Well, you know that Jason was supposed to visit Camp Jupiter, right? He was supposed to accompany Reyna here, who was on holidays at Camp Half-Blood. Apparently, they were all packed up and ready to go, but they never said goodbye, they simply… disappeared."

"What about Piper?"

"Piper told that to us. The others just thought they were in a hurry and left without saying anything. But Piper says he wouldn't have gone without saying goodbye."

"When did that happen?"

"A week ago. They were supposed to arrive yesterday."

"So you want Annabeth and I to retrace their steps and find them."

"Man, it would be great if you could. Piper'll probably do her part on her side, but I thought it would be a good idea to send someone from here."

"Well, praetor Zhang, it seems that our peace will have to be postponed. Friends first!"

I had no idea how right I was about postponing peace. We set off straight away when Annabeth arrived. We decided to go back to camp, to hear the story straight from Piper, and to work from there. I called my favourite hellhound, Mrs O'Leary, who pinned me to the ground and started barking happily in the middle of the road, getting worried looks from the people passing by.

"Don't worry, she is a friend, she's very gentle" Annabeth said to them, trying without success to reassure them – 'gentle' was probably not the right choice of words to describe a two meter high hellhound that was crushing me under her weight. When she calmed down, we jumped up on her, and she understood immediately what she was supposed to do – and where she was supposed to go. She did the natural thing: she jumped straight for the wall and shadow-travelled us across the country.

We arrived at the top of Half Blood Hill, the Athena Parthenos glowing in the sun, under the shadow of Thalia's tree – or more accurately 'in' its shadow. Mrs O'Leary licked us goodbye and curled up for a nap nearby. It had only been a week since I'd been there, but coming back showed me how much I had missed it – the Big House and it's blue roof, the sent of the strawberry fields, the Sound, the mismatched cabins. New Rome wasn't home yet – Camp Half-Blood would always be.

Annabeth took my hand, probably thinking the same thing, and started down towards the Big House. I followed her. No need for words; we had a mission to do, and we intended on finding Jason and Reyna as fast as possible.

When we approached, we saw that a group of people had gathered in front of the porch. Will Solace was running from the cabins, Nico di Angelo following him. I turned towards Annabeth, seeing in her eyes that we were thinking the same thing: something was up. "Hey, Solace!" I called out. He stopped running, looking towards us.

"Percy! Annabeth! I guess I know why you're here. You may want to follow us inside."

And so we did. We entered the Big House, heading towards the infirmary. "Hey, Nico, what happened?" Annabeth asked turning towards Nico who was walking behind us.

"We don't know yet." Nico answered. Well that explains everything.

We entered the infirmary behind Will. There, Chiron, in his centaur form, was hunched over a bed, pouring some nectar down someone's throat. "Will, you're here. Please, see what you can do."

We approached the bed to see who it was. I didn't recognize her at first, probably because she looked like she had been through Tartarus and back – and I know what I'm talking about, but there was no mistaking her, her dark hair, her tattered purple t-shirt: Reyna.

"What happened to her?" I asked Chiron.

"We don't know, her and Jason were supposed to leave a week ago. We got surprised that they left without saying goodbye, but their stuff were gone, and we thought they were on their way. We contacted Camp Jupiter, and Frank told us that they never arrived. And then, we just found her, lying under the Athena Parthenos. Nico found her and brought her here, and ran to find Will. That's all we know. Will, any information on her condition?"

"She's dehydrated, her body went through some kind of shock. I can't determine if it's magical, but it wasn't caused by any wound anyway. She doesn't seem in any kinds of danger right now."

"Do you think you could wake her up, or would it be too soon?" Chiron asked.

"A bit more nectar should do the trick. She might be too weak to talk, she might not even remember. It's hard to tell how she'll be, as I don't know what put her out." He gave her a little more nectar, and some colours started getting back into her skin. When he took the glass off her lips, her eyelids started moving.

"She's waking up" Nico said, his voice strained with anguish. He was gripping Will's arm as if Reyna's life depended on it. Her lips started moving. "She's trying to say something. Reyna?"

At the sound of her name, her eyelids flew opened, and she bolted upright, siting up on the bed, a look of complete panic in her eyes. Reyna panicked is definitely something that should get us worried. "They took him! They took Jason, and now they'll kill him! The message… they wanted me to deliver a message… We will die, they'll kill us all, the children of the gods, starting with the Saviour of Olympus!"