The Blonde and the Bootlegger: A Percy Jackson story

Burial Hill

Thalia P.O.V

Piper, Reyna, and I settled into life in Plymouth the way three territorial house cats would.
I got along well enough with Piper. She was a nice girl and obviously crazy about Jason. And I appreciated that she went out of her way to bond with me by joining in on my archery practice. The poor kid could hardly hold the bow and arrow.
To break up the monotony, we would go for walks in the afternoon to see a different part of Plymouth and share embarrassing stories about Jason. I could hardly believe that my goofy baby brother bumped off one New York's most feared gangsters.
I might have enjoyed myself in Plymouth if it weren't for Reyna, who apparently showed up with no other goal in mind than to be a thorn in our sides. She kept herself aloof from us as if she were a queen. When she did grace us with her presence, she was sulky and irritable. Whatever Piper said, she had to disagree with. If Piper said that it was a beautiful day outside, then Reyna would grumble that it was too sunny or too hot. When Piper said that boiled lobsters we had for dinner were delicious, Reyna scoffed and said they were overcooked.
It didn't take me long to realize that Reyna had something against Piper. From the way she often brought up Jason, "This is one of Jason's favorites," "Jason likes it this way, "This reminds me of the time Jason and I...," I could figure out that Reyna had feelings for him and therefore was jealous of Piper.
It was no surprise that Jason chose Piper over Reyna. No one could ever love such an uptight, cold-hearted bitch.

Reyna P.O.V.

All three of us didn't want to be in Plymouth. Piper wanted to be with her new husband. Thalia was chomping at the bit to compete in archery competitions. I hated sitting around doing nothing instead of doing the job I loved back home. Time past agonizingly slow. Sometimes I thought I would lose my mind.
I expected to hate Piper when we met but found that I could not. Piper was indeed as beautiful as everyone said she was, in an unusual way that would outshine most girls; delicate, exotic features, warm, radiant, complexion, and those dazzling, kaleidoscope eyes. I sometimes eavesdropped while she practiced at the baby grand piano in the drawing room. She had the most magnificent voice, the kind that makes you stop what you're doing and listen; low, rich, and expressive- perfect for heartfelt ballads.  Piper tried to make the best of the situation we were all in by befriending Thalia, her sister in law. She was always polite to me, no matter how rude I was to her- I'm not proud of my behavior towards her at this point: constantly grumbling and scoffing at her and rubbing my long friendship with Jason in her face. Maybe she resented me as I resented her but if she did, she could hold her tongue and be civil. I could see why Jason fell for her.

A/N The real-life analogs for my version of Piper would be Helen Morgan, who started off as a speakeasy singer in Prohibition-era Chicago, America's capital of organized crime, and was popular with the city's gangsters and would go on to perform on Broadway and in films, and Evelyn (Billie) Frechette, the mistress of bank robber John Dillinger, who was half native-American like Piper. I'm going to rework The Blonde and the Bootlegger into an original novel, unrelated to PJO/HOO. When I do, I'm thinking of renaming Piper's character Billie.

If we had met under different circumstances, I might have liked her. The fact that I couldn't hate Piper made me even angrier.
Thalia spent most of her time shooting arrows at an archery butt that she had set up in the garden and swearing. I've heard some colorful language in my time but Thalia Grace could outdo all of it. Most of it was hurled at me. She was mad at me for being rude to Piper for apparently no reason and making everyone miserable and I couldn't blame her.
At first glance, one wouldn't be able to tell that Jason and Thalia were brother and sisters. I still found it hard to believe that Jason could have helped kill a man. If it were Thalia who was accused of bumping someone off, I would have bought it. The only trait the siblings shared were their blue eyes: Jason's were beautiful and gentle while Thalia's were surly and fierce.
Thalia was also someone I would have like if we had met under better circumstances. She had a bluntness and toughness that I respected.
The only thing I had to look forward to each day was taking a walk to see a different sight in Plymouth and maybe doing some shopping or going out to lunch. I was living in a house with people who hated me (one of them being the wife of the man I love) and had nothing of any importance to do. My life had no meaning.