A/N: Hi! Sorry for the late chapter. I have been going through a lot of family crises. And my doctor said that my eye power was getting worse so I could limit my time on electronics to 10-15 minutes. Blah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. If I did, it would have sucked.

I walked through the sea of hastily assembled demigods. A lot of them were damaged from an obviously recent battle. No one was armed and no one attacked which I took to be a good sign.

I spotted Tyson, the Cyclops and a hellhound called Mrs. O' Leary whose owner was apparently Percy (I had no idea how that had happened).

The demigods parted for a girl with a praetor's cape. She had black eyes and dark hair.

Reyna.

My best friend and also crush. She looked the same as ever except for the worry lines on her face. I felt bad for leaving her at the mercy of Octavian for six months.

The demigods muttered my name and he felt slightly smug.

Suddenly, another girl appeared, also wearing a praetor's cape. She was very pretty. She had wavy black hair and bright sea green eyes. She had tanned skin and was about 1 cm or so shorter than me. She had a sarcastic troublemaker smile on her lips.

"Hi. Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon.

"But call me Percy. I hate my full name." said the pretty girl. I wondered why she didn't add that she was praetor.

Beside Jason, Leo stared at her like she was a god. This made Jason feel jealous somehow. Piper's face was sad. He wondered why. Annabeth's face was of pure joy.

Percy said, "Hey, Wise Girl." Annabeth suddenly went commando.

"I've been searching for you for so many months and all you can say is hey, wise girl?! Do you have any idea how worried we've been? How worried Paul and Sally were?" she shouted and flipped her best friend over.

"Calm down, Wise Girl. Mom and Paul know where I've disappeared." Percy said. "At least, I think." She added rather hesitantly as she got up.

Jason couldn't help clearing his throat to remind Annabeth about them.

"Oh sorry Jason. Percy, this Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus." Annabeth said pointing to Leo.

"At your service." Said Leo taking a mock bow. Percy laughed. Her laugh was pretty. Like Bells.

"This is Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite."Annabeth pointed at Piper.

Percy held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Piper," she said with a smile. Piper gave a tiny smile.

(First person POV)

Before Annabeth could introduce me, I said, "I'm Jason Grace, son Jupiter, former praetor of the twelfth legion."

"A son of Jupiter…." Said Percy. "Well, I've heard a lot about you Jason. All everyone can talk about is Jason this and Jason that." She said.

"Same here," I said.

"Are you related to Thalia Grace by any chance?" She asked suddenly.

"Yeah. I'm her brother." I said. There was an awkward silence during which Annabeth and Reyna seemed to look at me and Percy with narrowed eyes.

Finally, Reyna said, I'm Reyna, daughter of Bellona, praetor of the twelfth legion." Leo whispered to Piper, "Did she just say she was a daughter of bologna." I snickered at that.

Annabeth hissed to him, "Its Bellona, she's the roman goddess of war."

"Oh." Said Leo.

"Welcome back, Jason Grace, my former colleague." Reyna said to me.

"She's hot." Leo whispered in my ear. I shook my head slightly. Leo's opinions of hot girls were the ones who were completely out of his league.

"It's nice to be back, Reyna," I said. I remembered to introduce Annabeth. "Uh, this is Annabeth. She doesn't judo-flip people usually."

Reyna's eyes sparkled. I was sure Reyna and Annabeth would become good friends. "Are you sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"

"No," Annabeth said.

"Well, then." Said Leo. "Let's get this party started."

"Well, as Leo Valdez phrased, let's get this party started," agreed Reyna.

They walked to the forum. Percy had her arm around Annabeth and walked next to Hazel and Frank who was a son of Mars. I found that a little hard to believe because Frank's body was buff but his face was… babyish. Frank and Hazel seemed close. I wondered if they were a couple.

I walked next to Piper who looked a little uncomfortable and Leo who kept looking at Reyna. I wished him good luck with trying to date Reyna. She wasn't like normal girls. She and Percy had a lot of things in common. Both pretty, though not very girly.

I felt a little bad for Reyna. I realized that once I and the rest of the seven would be off, she would be alone. I decided I would make it up to my best friend once we defeated Gaia. If we did. I hoped so.

How was the chapter? I'm rather pleased with it. There's going to be a hint of Leyna by the way. Have any of you read the first chapter of the House of Hades or seen the cover? I'm so impatient for the HoH to come out!

Well, review please,

Meg.