Reyna

"Welcome back, Roman." Piper says and hugs me as I step over the camp boundary. "You've been off the grid for a long time."

"A wonderful 4 year vacation back in San Juan. But it got boring."

"How's retirement?"

"Fantastic. Frank and Hazel now have things well in hand. I'm just a veteran and reservist now."

"And what are you going to be doing now that you're back?"

"I'm now an independent contractor for the legion with combat training. And…There's a new boy…" I smirk, blushing a little as I think of Austin. Even though I just met him in New Rome two weeks ago, it feels like I've known him much longer.

"What? No! But I thought my mother told you…"

"He's not a demigod. He's a legacy. Grandson of Apollo. His name's Austin. He's one of the Centurions for the 2nd Cohort, and likely the next Preator after Frank or Hazel steps down. The only legionnaire that can beat me in a straight fight. And he's coming to join me here next week. If Frank and Hazel approve his leave, which they will."

"Yes, I'm sure they will." We start walking down the hill towards the cabins.

"So. No Bellona cabins at Camp Half Blood. Where will I be staying?"

"That's where we're heading now. We did build a Roman cabin for those like you who have no Greek equivalent. I think you'll find it to your liking. It's very, well, Roman."

"Excellent." I smile. We make small talk as we walk, me telling about San Juan and her telling me about Camp Half Blood, How much better things are with her dad, and show's me her engagement ring and tells me about the wedding plans.

"Here we are." She says as we get to the Roman house. It has pillars out front and fountains on either side. Purple and gold banners are hanging and the SPQR seal is on the door.

"Beautiful." I say. "I'm going to get unpacked, then how about we get Percy and Annabeth over here? I'd say the whole Seven but Jason, Leo, Frank, and Hazel are all in California." I suggest. Piper purses her lips and a bit of color drains from her face. "What? Are they okay?" I ask, panic building in my chest. "Did something happen to them?"

"They're both alive, Reyna." She says, calming the worst of my fears.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Get settled. There's been a lot that has happened in the last 4 years."

…

Once I unpack and take a Roman bath, I meet Piper back in the lounge area of the house. She has two mugs of hot chocolate in front of her. This is going to be bad.

"Tell me what's going on." I tell her.

"Reyna, did you notice about three years ago Monster attacks started getting fewer and farther between?"

"Yes. I just figured after a while I'd killed most of the monsters on San Juan off." Piper smirks.

"You very well may have, but that's not why the ones who were left stopped attacking. It turns out Poseidon has another child. Her name is Lassa. She showed up at camp the summer after the giant war, and the year after that she was issued a quest. Turns out, thousands of years ago a daughter of Hecate placed a curse on all of the descendants of the gods for all time to carry such a strong scent that it attracts monsters to us. Some kind of revenge on Hera, I'm not sure. Lassa's quest was to reverse that curse. It succeeded, and Annabeth and Percy were her companions. But Annabeth…She was pregnant when they went. Percy begged her to stay but you know how stubborn she can be. She lost the baby. And eventually the two of them had so much bottled up anger at each other they had an explosion of a fight. Annabeth was mad at Percy for letting her push and caving. Percy was angry Annabeth wouldn't just listen to him. So she ran away and hid off the grid for about a month, and the day before she came back Percy finally hit his limit of what he could take and went out to a bar to get trashed. 12 shots in he was so wasted he could hardly see, and He ran into a girl he thought was Annabeth. Same hair, eyes, build, etc. Really it was Becca, a girl who used to run track with Annabeth and was constantly copying her and always had a thing for Percy. She let Percy go on believing she was Annabeth and hooked up with him that night. When Percy told Annabeth, he didn't get anything other than I cheated on you out of his mouth before she broke his nose and left for good, blocking any way he could contact her and not letting any of us even bring him up in conversation to tell her the whole story. Becca also got pregnant, and so Percy has a son named Lukas. She's still a piece of trash though and only sees him one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. Leads too messed up a life for a judge to grant her any more time even though she tried to fight Percy for custody. She had Luke for the first 9 months of his life before Percy finally won the court case. She was getting drunk and smoking dope and bringing over too many boyfriends or one night stands for Luke to be safe with her. And now Annabeth's back in New York, Malcolm actually moved her into an apartment right next to Percy to try and get her to talk to him but it's not getting anywhere. That pretty much sums it all up." She says. I sit down my mug and try to process everything I just heard.

"So Percy got taken advantage of while he was drunk and the bitch got pregnant, But Annabeth thinks he cheated maliciously, and she didn't speak to him for three years because of it? And now she still won't listen?"

"Correct."

"Give me Becca's address." I say getting up and going to my room to put my shoes on.

"Why?"

"I'm paying her a little visit."

"Reyna, she's under Percy's protection. He says she's still Luke's mother and therefore Off Limits to any retribution." She says, obviously quoting.

"Sounds like the stupidly noble Percy I remember." I mutter. "I won't kill her. Just give me the address."

"Okay." She shrugs and grabs a piece of paper and a pen to write it down.

"Thanks. Now I'm going to have a little chat with Annabeth."