Both girls were practically dead to the world, their adventures the previous night were exhausting. Hylla stood in the doorway trying not to laugh. Thalia was curled up on her side like a cat and Reyna was practically wrapped around the other girl. They did look comfortable and Hylla felt bad as she flicked on the lights but the two had already missed a good portion of the day and school.

"Whoever turned on the lights is gonna have my foot shoved up their ass." Thalia yelled grabbing a pillow and covering her face.

"Oh shut up Grace. Both of you get ready for school." Hylla said leaving the room and shutting the door.

Reyna groaned hiding her face in the space between Thalia's shoulder blades. "Screw school I'm tired."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that." Thalia mumbled already starting to fall asleep again. Reyna grudgingly got up and flicked off the lights again stretching her arms above her head.

"Remember we still have to call the police." She noted heading back to the bed.

"I know. But that can wait until later. Better if it's not a big scene made during school. Maybe later tonight." Thalia sighed tucking the pillow back under her head.

"Works for me." Reyna agreed flopping back down onto the mattress and snuggling under the covers. Thalia rolled over and studied Reyna. Her hair was a complete mess and her eyebrows creased together in irritation at being woken up. It was somehow an attractive look even on her sleep deprived face.

Reyna rubbed her eyes for a moment before wrapping an arm around Thalia and tugging her closer. "You spend more time at my place than your own."

"Can you blame me?" Thalia asked closing her eyes and nuzzling her face into Reyna's neck.

"Nah." Reyna sighed. "Just find it funny is all."

Thalia laughed softly and the two fell back asleep curled against one another. They didn't wake up until sometime in the early afternoon and even then neither of them wanted to move.

"I should take you everywhere you radiate heat." Thalia noted sticking her cold feet on Reyna.

"Hey,no. Get your feet off of me you ice cube." Reyna frowned moving her legs away from Thalia. Laughing Thalia stuck her cold hands on Reyna's neck. "Agh no! Stop it!"

The Puerto Rican girl tried so hard to get away she fell onto the floor with a loud thump. Thalia only laughed, hard enough that tears raced down her cheeks.

"I hate you." Reyna frowned standing up and slapping Thalia hard on the back.

"Ow! You butt head." Thalia grimaced.

"Pay back loser." Reyna smiled.

"Whatever." Thalia was unable to stay mad and smiled slightly. "Got any plans for today since we're skipping?"

"Maybe. How about we get dressed and go for a walk. See what we can find. Adventure seems to suit us." Reyna noted walking to her closet and looking through it.

"That is very true." Thalia agreed. Reyna gave a little mischievous laugh before turning to look at Thalia.

"Dude close your eyes this is gonna be funny." She smiled goofily.

"Um okay." Thalia frowned doing as she was told. She waited impatiently for a moment before Reyna said she could look. Opening her eyes she nearly keeled over. Reyna had found a very Thalia like outfit in her closet. She wore black skinny jeans, a skeleton unicorn t shirt, and a red flannel with one of the shoulders torn. Reyna had even let her hair down and scrounged up a beanie to wear.

"Yo dude I'm Thalia Grace. I love punk music and skateboards. I hate people and boys." Reyna smirked overselling her attempt to act cool.

"I do not act or sound like that at all!" Thalia argued.

"I can't hear you over how awesome I am." Reyna laughed.

"I hate you with a passion." Reyna could only laugh at Thalia's utter disappointment in her.

"Whatever. Raid my closet and get dressed." Reyna rolled her eyes and tossed her hat in Thalia's face.

"Hey, keep the beanie you look good in it." Thalia called throwing it back at Reyna as she left the room.

Thalia scrounged up something to wear that fit her likings and joined Reyna in the living room who was enjoying a bowl of cereal.

"What are you eating?" Thalia asked looking through the pantries.

"Fruit loops." Reyna replied.

"Sweet I'll have some." Thalia went to grab the box when she felt something hard smack her on the rear.

"Do not touch my cereal." Reyna glared at her pointing the spoon at Thalia's face like a weapon.

"Did you just spark me with a spoon?" Thalia couldn't help but laugh. "Damn remind me not to get on your bad side. You'll beat me with a spoon."

"I saw a person on tv once gouge out someone's eyes with a spoon." Reyna smiled putting her dishes in the sink.

"That's what I want to hear in the mornings." Thalia finally found something to eat and sat on the counter enjoying the quick meal. Reyna hopped up next to her and swung her legs ever so slightly. "Do you remember the spare parts place that Hepheastus used to run?"

"Of course I do. Hylla worried we'd get tetanus playing in there." Reyna laughed her nose wrinkling slightly.

"Let's go snoop around. Explore our old play ground." Thalia suggested wolfing down the rest of her meal at the mere thought.

"Alright."

So it was settled. Both girls gathered their jackets and headed down the empty streets to the far corner of town where trailers of temporary visitors were set up. Across the road rested the old spare parts place.

It was full of damaged vehicles and buckets of parts that contained anything you could dream up. Of course it had been shut down a while ago but that didn't stop Thalia from boosting Reyna over the fence and following her.

"Wonderful." Thalia smiled running off before Reyna even processed she was on the other side of the fence.

"Oh no you don't. You're gonna get lost!" Reyna attempted to follow Thalia but the other girl had a head start and she was a quick littler sucker.

Thalia happily skidded to a halt in the dirt to examine an old rusty flamingo statue. How this ended up there she had no idea but she eagerly picked it up by the legs.

"Fore!" Swinging wildly the poor head of the flamingo cracked against a ball bearing sending it flying into a tin garbage can with a clang. "Hole in one!"

Before Reyna discovered her Thalia scampered off finding something else to play with. She located a nice looking steel rod and twirled it in her hand. After a bit of a struggle she managed to set up a rather crude looking dummy.

An empty metal bolt bucket for a head. A large ventilation tube for a house as the body. She stabbed a stick into it for one arm and some pvc for the other.

"On guard foul fiend." Drawing her 'sword' Thalia paced around her victim looking for a made up weak spot. Moving in she slashed at its arm with the rod. The stick snapped with a satisfying noise. Spinning she took off the head with a loud clang.

Reyna decided to give up on tracking her friend and followed the noise. Sure enough there was Thalia swinging away at a shitty looking target. Laughing Reyna scrounged up an old and broken tire iron as her weapon.

"Grace!" She yelled earning Thalia's attention. "How about a real challenge?"

"Ha! Not a challenge at all." Thalia mused raising her own sword to meet Reyna's weapon of choice.

Reyna made the first move dirt crunching beneath the soles of her shoes. The two pieces of metal bashed together and the game was on. It rose in surprising intensity but if one was to be hit it was a tap to the imaginary and now dismembered limb.

"Come back here!" Reyna shook her head as Thalia ran off laughing happily black hair flying in the wind. Thalia ran like mad scampering through the disarray of objects.

Hurdling a garbage can full of engine parts she effectively whacked it over spilling the contents. Reyna grumbled to herself turning around and going the other way.

Smiling Thalia sprinted over to a stranded tractor and climbed into its seat. When Reyna stumbled upon her she couldn't help but roll her eyes and smile despite being out of breath.

"Howdy miss. How are you this fine evening?" Thalia questioned leaning forward and resting her arms on the steering wheel giving Reyna a wink.

"You are a complete idiot." Shaking her head Reyna moved to stand in front of the tractor standing on her toes to look Thalia in the eyes. "There is no way a pirate can also be a farmer."

"Hah! Consider this a revolutionary character found in a young adult novel set in the future with a male writer who is blind." Thalia joked.

"That's horrible!" Reyna sighed despite Thalia's grin.

"That's the point. It doesn't have to make sense- it's fun." Slipping off the tractor Thalia pretended to tip a straw hat. "Unless you don't know how to have fun little miss?"

"I know how to have fun." Reyna crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. She scanned the ground where the dirt began to fade into the grass and dropped onto her stomach. "This is Alpha over. Do you copy lieutenant?"

Thalia smiled happily, taking the hint. She crouched down low behind Reyna holding an invisible rifle. "Right behind you commander. Lead the way."

Reyna peeked hesitantly around the side of the tractor before making a dash towards a rusty truck across the way. Thalia sprinted behind her when Reyna flipped to the ground holding her chest. "I'm hit!"

"Not today Satan!" Laughing wildly Thalia turned on the supposed enemy and opened fire shifting the gun every which way. Then she tossed her imaginary weapon aside and dragged Reyna towards the truck.

"You should have left me." Reyna made her speech slightly slurred and closed her eyes sticking out her tongue.

"Commander?" Thalia asked being overly cheesy in her worried tone. "No this can't happen. Commander answer me."

She shook Reyna roughly nearly causing said commander to laugh. Thalia tried again and earned a small giggle in response. Reyna parted her lips ever so slightly and whispered.

"What?" Thalia questioned leaning in close.

"You better not take my fucking position cause I'm dead." The statement made Thalia keel over with laughter and soon Reyna joined in. By the time they managed to compose themselves they had tears in their eyes.

"Man, I forgot what it was like to just play." Reyna sighed leaning back against the truck.

"Same. It feels...nice." Thalia agreed with a sigh tucking her knees to her chest.

"Do you ever wonder if this place would have closed if some big company guy hadn't bought it out then sold it for land to the town?" Reyna questioned.

"You mean Olympian Industries?" Thalia asked. "The head guy's an ass. He doesn't care if he uproots anyone's life."

"Have you met him?" Reyna questioned.

"No. I know about his projects though and his wife is just as bad as he is." Reyna sensed she'd reached a sour topic and decided to move to something different.

"If we get out of here where do you want to go? What would you want to do?" Thalia pursed her lips in thought at Reyna's question.

"I don't know. I've only ever known this place. As much as I want to leave I feel like I'd be lost in the great world out there." Reyna knew that feeling. It was part of the exact reason she'd come back to this town. As much as she'd hated it she felt so small everywhere else. Nonexistent.

"Maybe we could go somewhere together. All of us. Percy, Annabeth, Artemis, Apollo, Nico, Leo..." The idea seemed pleasant but so unlikely she cut the train of thought off before she could fantasize about it too much.

Thalia was never the type of person to want to dwell on sad things. She slowly clambered to her feet and popped open the door to the car. She know what she was doing until she heard a steady stream of static. An old radio most likely.

Nothing clear came through for quite some time until at last a few distinct notes powered through the static. She didn't recognize the song at first but it slowly came together.

"Let's dance." Thalia smiled reaching down and taking Reyna's hand. She tugged the other girl easily to her feet. "This is a good song."

"A bit sappy for your punk rock taste I would have assumed." Reyna smirked at her own sarcasm.

"I may seem tough but word on the street is I'm a big softy." Thalia smiled taking the leading position. Reyna rested her hand quite comfortably in Thalia's.

The two girls swayed to the beat getting a sense of the opening tune. Thalia noted the sun was slowly starting to make its way down to the horizon. Sighing and closing her eyes she let the music fill her head.

She vaguely remembered dancing around the house with Jason on her feet. The thought made her throat tighten for a split second. The memory was quickly replaced with another.

The radio playing lazy music during the summer with the windows cracked open while she and Reyna played in the front yard. Or the music Hylla used to play on the evenings while Reyna and Thalia tried to help her cook something for lunch in the summer. Then there were lazy drives in the car with the windows rolled down.

Jason asleep in his seat, the heat having lulled him into a peaceful slumber as he was exhausted from playing. Gentle wafts of air tousling Thalia's hair as she rested her feet on the dashboard nearly asleep herself despite humming the tune of the music.

Reyna noticed that the dancing seemed to slow and fall apart back into gentle swaying. Thalia had yet to open her eyes again and she felt a bit of concern.

"Close your eyes." Thalia whispered.

"Why?"

"Just do it." Reyna obeyed slowly letting her eyes block out the fading light. She didn't expect much to happen but the feeling of the sun on her back and the carefree air around the situation flooded her with a sense of nostalgia.

All she could think of were days spent running through sprinklers when she was about the height of her father's knees. Learning to ride a bike and holding races with Thalia and Jason down the road. Countless hours spent at the old park.

Late nights spent awake talking about ridiculous things. Pillow fights that ended in fits of laughter. Hylla brushing her hair and tying it into a braid on hot summer afternoons.

She wasn't quite sure why but she pulled Thalia into a tight hug resting her chin on the other girl's shoulder. The two stayed like that for a long time holding one another in a tight embrace faces hidden in shoulders and hair. Swaying lazily to the song until the sun made its final decent.

They didn't need to say anything. There wasn't really a way to explain it. The feeling in the moment. Both of them were swarmed by pleasant thoughts that they'd long forgotten. It was a relief compared to the rough situation they'd been thrown into lately.

So they kept quiet and danced with closed eyes letting thoughts form on her back of their eyelids.

Barefoot races in the grass. Silly wrestling matches. Running around on the Fourth of July with sparklers. Trick or treating together with matching costumes. Going to a baseball game together. Starting school at the same time. Doing homework in each other's rooms. Dancing in the rain and jumping into mud.

The best memories of a past that felt far too long ago. And yet, it didn't feel distant at all. Not when Thalia held Reyna in her arms. Not when Reyna could feel the soft fall of tears on her shoulder from the girl who hardly cried.

This moment, this town, the secret corners of it were places only they knew. A heaven in hell. And they were the fallen angels.