"So this is the tech friend you have?" Thalia asked looking at the Hispanic elf looking boy in Reyna's garage.

"Leo Valdez at you service." The boy winked and gave a flamboyant bow.

"Yeah. Alright, Leo you owe me a favor. Can you figure this out? Get any information you can off of it?" Reyna held up the phone hard drive.

"Sure thing hot stuff." Leo took the hard drive from Reyna and turned it over in his palm. "When do you want it back?"

"As soon as possible." Reyna said.

"Deal." Leo smiled tucking it into his pocket. "So how'd you get it? What's it for?"

"Found it. Just curious to see what's on it." Reyna shrugged though it was clear Leo didn't believe what she'd said.

"Alright. Well your motives are confidential." Leo promised cracking his knuckles. "See you around ladies."

Leo left without much else to say leaving the two girls alone in the garage. Thalia was skeptical. "You really trust him with that?"

"It's him or we never figure out what that hard drive holds." Reyna sighed. "I don't particularly like it but his record is good."

"Alright, I trust you. Now, what are we doing in the meantime?" Thalia asked.

"Homecoming is tonight." Reyna said. Thalia immediately recoiled.

"I thought we weren't going. I'm sure as hell not." Thalia shook her head.

"No, I know that. The after party." Reyna said. "I was talking to Annabeth when I ran into her yesterday. She said the after party is at Drew's. Drew is on the in crowd with Luke and his squad."

"You're suggesting we snoop around?" Thalia questioned tucking her hands in her pockets.

"I'm saying it might be an opportunity to figure some other things out." Reyna sighed glancing at their small evidence wall. So far it was pretty blank.

"I agree but it's going to be suspicious especially because Drew knows I hate her. I wouldn't willingly go to her house ever." Thalia explained a shiver passing down her spine.

"That's why I have a plan." Reyna smiled. "We need fake dates."

"Oh no. I know what the look on your face means. I'm not letting you play match maker." Thalia took a step back holding her hands up defensively.

"Oh please I'm not gonna pair you up with someone stupid. You're going to go with me." Reyna shrugged.

"And you're cool with that?" Thalia asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. All we have to do is dress up a little bit." Even Reyna didn't seem too fond of the idea.

"I guess we better start with the torture then. What have you got stored up your sleeve Arellano?" Thalia was at Reyna's mercy. The other girl managed to find a somewhat nice outfit. It was her father's old dress jacket and a white collared shirt to go underneath. Thalia, of course, insisted on adding her own flare.

She rolled the sleeves up to the elbow and kept her tattered jeans and boots. "It's good enough for it to look like I tried."

Reyna rolled her eyes but went with the same sort of idea. A decent outfit that could pass off as an attempt. Just as they finished up their phones buzzed from an incoming message.

Leo: Gals you're gonna want to check this stuff out.

Thals: Can you send it?

Leo: Nah man. I'm not putting this shit on the internet. Drop by my place real fast.

Rey: Fine, we're heading over. Don't do anything stupid.

Reyna tucked her phone into Thalia's pocket as she didn't have any of her own at the moment and the two girls headed outside. The air was getting colder and in the darkening sky Thalia could see her breath.

They walked quickly to Leo's house which wasn't too far away and rapped on the basement window where he liked to do most of his dirty work. The impish face smiled back at them and he bolted away to unlock the front door.

"Welcome." Leo smiled opening the door with a flourish and admitting the two girls entrance. "Down to the basement we go."

Thalia gave Reyna a sideways glance before following Leo down the carpeted steps. The lights were off and numerous computer screens were glowing.

"Do your parents know you do this?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah. My Dad doesn't care." Leo shrugged sitting in a rather comfy looking office chair and wheeling over to a particular computer. "Everything I could get off the hard drive is here. I didn't look through much of it so knock yourselves out."

With that Leo clicked a few keys and brought up a folder before standing and leaving. Thalia took the seat and stared at the contents of the folder. "Where do we start?"

"Text messages." Reyna suggested pointing to another folder. Thalia clicked on it and multiple screenshots appeared on the screen. Thalia enlarged the first one.

N: You better come clean now man. What did you do?!

O: Nothing. He wanted information I gave it to him. I was hired. Don't act like you're a saint.

N: You dumb ass! You think no one's going to notice? What do we do now? Where do we put...'it'?

O: You know perfectly well where. It's your job to complete the transaction, one more ally we have here the better. You won't be getting in trouble for that manslaughter attempt of yours after this.

Thalia clicked on to the next one her pulse quickening. Reyna peered expectantly over her shoulder.

N: Everything worked out fine but you better not act impulsively again. The police are going to get involved on this one so I hope your new "ally" comes in handy this time around.

O: Don't worry he will.

"I bet this is about Zoë." Thalia frowned. "Those dirty scumbags! What kind of information did Octavian get?"

"Keep looking we might find something." Reyna said clicking to a new conversation.

K: I trust you've exposed the traitor.

D: Of course. She wasn't hard to figure out. Just a bit of gossip.

K: Good. I'll handle the rest. Any information that was gathered needs to be disposed of. Permanently. Don't mess this up.

Another picture down another one to go.

L: We gotta take the opportunity while we can. Take him out before he beats on us for the girl.

O: I'm not one who's experienced with explosives or fire.

L: Doesn't matter I know a guy.

"Beckendorf. He was experienced in that sort of thing. His mother was a fire fighter he helped make training drills for her squad." Thalia breathed eyes flicking across the screen.

L: There was an accident man!

O: What did you do dumb ass?

L: Listen, the car accident worked okay but the place-they can trace it back to his house!

O: You're kidding me?! You didn't cover your tracks?

L: Shut up and help me cover this up. Meet me in the side lot in an hour. Bring your car and the gas can.

O: I hope you know whatever the hell you're doing.

"Why'd you stop?" Reyna asked as Thalia took her hand off the mouse.

"I don't wanna look anymore." Thalia shook her head her hands shaking.

"Thalia this is our one shot to get as much information as we can." Reyna insisted continuing on.

This time the file came to an end. There were no more text messages. Reyna moved on to the next folder. Pictures. It was the last but most condemning folder.

Dozens of pictures were contained. The first dozen were all different angles of a burning car, the next good chunk were of a flaming house and the aftermath, then a car accident. The most chilling was yet to come. There was a blank cellar room that looked to be under construction.

What really made Reyna's blood run cold was after these odd photos of objects. The rest of the folder consisted of images snagged by people she knew. Percy and Annabeth walking hand in hand. Nico at the crash sight of his sister's death. Percy once again only this time someone had him by his hoodie and slammed against the side of a car.

There was more to come. Thalia and Bianca chilling at the park. Numerous shots of the girls on the soccer team. Pictures of Annabeth and Percy kissing. Nico talking to a blonde haired boy that wasn't Jason. Artemis and Zoë holding hands. Apollo at a party. Anything you could think of, any private moment had somehow been captured on camera.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Thalia winced turning away from the screen and getting to her feet. Reyna swallowed hard and looked away.

"Calm down." Reyna spoke calmly.

"Calm down? Reyna I'm in those pictures. My friends are in those pictures. Someone was watching us and I didn't even know!" Thalia whispered angrily her eyes darting to the stairwell to make sure no one was listening. "Those text messages are directly linked to the crimes that are happening."

"I know." Reyna rested her hands on Thalia's shoulders. "Listen to me. We can transfer this onto a new drive. Destroy the old one and take it to the police."

"The police?! Reyna, the police are in their pockets!" Thalia replied shaking her head. "The police won't do anything. We shouldn't have looked at this. The less we know the better."

"No Thalia, the more we know the better. We're going to figure this out. Don't back down now. I know you want to know what happened to your friends. To give yourself closure. This is the only way it's going to happen." Reyna insisted pressing her forehead against Thalia's.

"I don't want you getting hurt because I dragged you into this. Octavian came after me once. If they find out we know all of this the consequences could be deadly." Thalia argued her eyes avoiding Reyna's at all costs.

"I'm not letting anything happen to you." Reyna promised. "We take the drive back to my place for now. Okay?"

"Yeah okay." Thalia nodded but she seemed scared. Paler than usual. Reyna removed the hard drive from the computer and tucked it in her pocket. After a hurried goodbye with Leo she gripped Thalia's hand and guided her back down the streets. Reyna was quiet in dragging Thalia to her father's room. She hadn't been there in ages but this she didn't think he would mind.

Reyna unlocked the door and stepped inside tugging Thalia in after her. She flicked on the light switches and made her way over to the case. Inside were numerous guns. Her father's prized collection.

"My dad taught me how to shoot when I was little." Reyna stayed examining the weaponry.

"Are we still going to the party?" Thalia asked nervously.

"I don't know. Point is if we need to protect ourselves we have these. Better yet, if we need to destroy the hard drive we can get rid of it. A few bullets go a long way." Reyna sighed looking at the small pistol she'd used to train with. "What do you think?"

Thalia didn't have an answer. It was a lot to think about. She swallowed nervously...

Decision time:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RDGGS36