Honestly, there are many other things that I could be writing at this moment, IWEMA is one of those things, but alas, one of my many plot bunnies bit me ten months ago, this specific little bunny to be precise. I'm aware that this may not be my best work, but it's a keep due to the unrelenting hold it has on my brain, it's even multiplying. (You won't ever see that stuff, mostly because I can't write it.)

Allow me to walk you through a story, last december, coming close to Christmas time, a young writer lay in her bed at night, trying to sleep when a little bunny hopped over, the bunny promised such joy and happiness for her favourite character, if she just surrendered and wrote a nice little story set after Heroes of Olympus. The writer agreed, but since she was living with her dad, there was limited time on the computer, she made a deal that if the plot bunny stayed until she returned to her mother, she'd write the story. Ten months later, I'm regretting my decision.

Word count: 2,022.

As always, I don't own Percy Jackson or any characters affilliated with the series, I merely write fanfiction and am not paid for it, all that you recognise belongs to Rick Riordan.


December 26th

Reyna's Point of View:

"It's perfectly healthy to take a break every now and again, Reyna." Hylla lectured as she paced the length of the Principia, as she had done since she'd arrived fifteen minutes ago.

"'It's perfectly healthy to take a break every now and again'." I mimicked, Hylla paused to glare at me. "Hylla, I 'take a break' from praetor work every day, how do you think I'm still alive. I eat, sleep and shower like everybody else." I reminded her, my sister did not relent her glare.

"Don't take that tone with me, you know what I mean. You need a vacation, a couple of weeks where you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and babysit two-hundred teenagers." She retorted, I sighed and rolled my eyes, Hylla resumed her pacing.

"I am not 'babysitting teenagers' as you know perfectly well, I am a praetor, I cannot just shirk my duties and go off gallivanting to wherever you are proposing we travel to, these things need to be planned down to the finest detail." I insisted, it was Hylla's turn to roll her eyes at me.

"I have it planned, that boy will take care of this encampment while you and I take a little vacation, we'll be gone three weeks, tops." Hylla shrugged, I picked up a folder from the desk and pushed it into a draw, it was the complaint folder against Octavian, mostly notices about missing stuffed animals.

"I fail to see why you are so desperate for me to join you on some trip." Hylla clasped her hands behind her back as she continued pacing. "But, never-the-less, I shall hold a Senate meeting after lunch to alert them to my upcoming absence." I reached into a different drawer, pulling out a sheet of parchment and began drawing up an official summons. "Please take this to Jason, he is in the Circus Maximus now, I shall meet you in mother's temple after I have concerted with him." I tied a purple ribbon around the scroll and handed it to Hylla.

"Take your time, you need not hurry." Hylla said, with a last glance at the second praetor chair she swept out of the room, the door closing behind her. I petted Aurum's head as I began a quota of requirements Jason had to fill each day, without fail, the duties he would have to do in my place. Finally the door opened.

"Praetor Reyna, you summoned me?" Jason questioned as he stepped inside the door, it swung shut again, allowing us privacy. An awkward silence clung to the oxygen in the room, it had no business being there, and I quickly diminished it.

"Yes, I will taking a short leave of absence within the next few days, I need you to be ready to take care of Camp Jupiter from both praetor positions for three weeks." I answered, Jason stood still, his blue eyes stared at me in surprise.

"You're leaving?" Jason asked, I nodded, Argentum nuzzled my leg for a brief second before trotting over to the door.

"Hylla has proposed that I travel with her for a few weeks." I cocked my head to the side as I rose from my throne. "I shan't be long, three weeks is hardly anything, I'll be back before you know it." I offered to reassure Jason, for what reason I didn't know.

"Where are you planning to go?" Jason asked as I walked towards the door, Aurum on my heels, Jason held the door open for us and I gave a curt nod in thanks.

"I have absolutely no idea, my sister is fond of keeping secrets from me." I said, I tasted something bitter on my tongue, I found it unfair Hylla never talked about our father, anything about our mortal side, I only knew a few things. Jason wisely semi-changed the topic.

"Shall I alert the hotel that your sister is staying now, or later?" Jason offered, we left the gates of Camp Jupiter and began strolling down the path towards New Rome, and Temple Hill.

"Not immediately, we do not know how long she is staying for." I reminded Jason, he nodded, the rest of the walk was spent in silence until we reached the fork in the road. "I promised to meet Hylla at our mother's temple." I explained, Jason glanced at New Rome, then at the visible temples on the hill.

"Would you mind if I accompanied you? The first cohort was finishing in the Coliseum when you summoned me." I nodded and started on the right path to Temple Hill, Argentum and Aurum darted ahead, racing to the bridge as Jason and I took our time. "What's going to happen with Argentum and Aurum, are they going with you?" Jason asked as we crossed the bridge, both dogs pricked up their ears at their names and ran circles around us before bounding ahead.

"No, I believe the best place for them to be is here, they are good companions but I know they are better suited to help you with managing Camp Jupiter for now. It's a two person job, and working alone gets depressing." I admitted, Jason said nothing, but there was the proverbial elephant surrounding us.

"Understood." Jason replied curtly, we reached the temple of Bellona and found Hylla kneeling in front of her statue, she touched her forehead, then below both of her shoulders before she rose and turned to us.

"Perfect timing sister, I finished paying my respects to mother." Hylla said, I nodded and nodded towards the alabaster statue.

"I'm glad, and I'm sure mother is pleased. I'd like to talk about this trip, when will we be leaving?" I asked, Hylla leaned against the entranceway.

"I was planning to leave tonight." Hylla suggested, Jason and I shared a slightly alarmed look. "Is that a problem?" Hylla questioned innocently, Jason glanced at the field of Mars and I copied him for a brief second.

"Absolutely not." I declared, Jason quirked an eyebrow at me. "The war games shall go forth as planned, I'm assuming you plan for us to leave immediately following dinner." Hylla nodded and I turned back to Jason. "The first, third and fifth cohorts are attacking, leaving the second and fourth defend." I reminded him, he nodded with a slight grimace.

"The first cohort is not going to be happy." He muttered, I slapped his arm, sending a reproachful glare.

"They may not like it, but they will do it. Keep a wary eye out for any sabotage attempts, I wouldn't put it past anyone." I warned, Jason nodded diligently.

"Shall we go to your villa? Packing has to be done." Hylla spoke up, I nodded and she slipped her arm through my own.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we began the walk back to Camp Jupiter, Hylla tutted.

"If I told you that, it would ruin the surprise. But I suppose I could give you a few guesses, to be lenient." Hylla smiled, I thought about all the places I had told Hylla I'd wanted to visit.

"You're taking me to Disneyland?" I asked, my nose scrunched up of its own accord, I hadn't wanted to go there since I was thirteen years old, the idea lost it's luster when I found out there was a pirate ship, after my experience with them, I wanted nothing to do with any sort of ship.

"No, we're not going to Disneyland." Hylla said firmly, I understood her reasoning as Jason chuckled at my guess. We were back at Camp Jupiter before I knew it.

"I'll meet you at the villas, I'm hungry, do either of you want something?" Jason offered, Hylla declined his offer politely.

"A bagel would be lovely, thank you Jason." I answered, Jason stopped by the coffee merchant while Hylla and I continued onwards, when sufficient distance had been put between us and Jason I slipped my arm out from my sister's.

"What?" Hylla asked defensively, I glanced at her.

"You're being very covert, Hylla, out with it." I instructed, Hylla glanced around but the nearest people were a few legionnaires who had barely gave us a second glance except to nod respectfully, they then returned to their card game.

"Not here, and not now. Later, I promise." Hylla hissed, I folded my arms but lead the way to my villa, Hylla rarely stayed long at Camp Jupiter, and when she did she stayed in New Rome, she usually found me in the Principia. When we reached the villa I quickly opened it and we slipped inside.

"My backpack is under my bed." I called to Hylla who was already halfway to my room without asking, I sat down on the sofa and sighed, the door opened and Jason let himself in, the soft smell of hot pastries and hot chocolate followed him in.

"Ah good, you've arrived, I'll need your help." Hylla said from her spot by the door to my room, I looked at her warily, what was she planning. "Are you two going to look like that all day. Reyna, it's unbecoming of a lady." Hylla motioned for us to follow as she disappeared into my room, with a wry smile, I followed her.

"What kind of clothes do I need to pack for this trip?" I asked, Hylla was rummaging through my wardrobe, she pulled out my spare Camp Jupiter t-shirts, throwing them haphazardly towards me.

"Is the only thing you own Camp t-shirts, jeans and a few shorts?" Hylla asked scandalised, I folded my arms, raising an eyebrow at her. "I suppose they'll do for a short while." Hylla mumbled to herself more than us, she looked back and frowned at me. "Aren't you going to fold those, you don't want them to wrinkle." Jason snickered and helped me fold the purple t-shirts, I began placing them in the bag as Hylla began folding the denim shorts.

"It's nearly lunch." Jason spoke up, I glanced at the clock to find Jason was right, my eyes then travelled to the empty styrofoam cups and bagel crumbs.

"We finished with good timing then, I'd honestly expected we'd be longer." Hylla remarked nonchalantly, she strode out of the room purposely, leaving Jason and I standing there like fools for a moment, then she called back; "Are you coming or not?"


"I shall return in three weeks." I promised Jason, we stood on the bridge nearest to the Caldecott Tunnel, I hitched my bag further up my shoulder as extended my hand towards him. "Take care of yourself." I instructed softly, the gods know I learned how to balance it.

"You too." Jason replied, he shook my hand.

"I took the liberty in drawing up a schedule for you, it would help you a great deal with the daily task of running Camp Jupiter. It's in the Principia." I added for his benefit, Jason nodded, his gaze never wavered. "Well, I suppose that is all I have to say." I sighed and removed my hand from Jason's grasp, it fell to my side, I turned and began walking to Hylla. Without warning Jason's arms wrapped around me tightly, as if he didn't want me to go.

"See you in three weeks, I'll miss you." Jason whispered in my ear, his breath ghosted over my cheek and I almost smiled.

"I shall be counting the days until we meet again." I replied softly, Jason relented his hold on me and I stepped forward. I turned briefly to see Jason standing where I had been, before turning forwards and walking to Hylla, who stood waiting at the mouth of the tunnel.

"What was that?" She asked as we began our small trek through the mural-decorated hall.

"Oh, it was nothing." I replied quietly, I wasn't sure what it was myself.

"Sure it was, it didn't seem like nothing." Hylla said, the walk continued in silence, both of us lost in our thoughts.


I feel slightly less crazy already, I apologise if anyone was out of character, but the fact is I wrote this chapter MONTHS ago, I'm pretty sure it was before my birthday and that was four months ago, I've proofread and revised all of the fist five chapters multiple times now, and while I'm not completely happy with them, I'll live, I don't hate myself yet. (Well, chapter 6 kind of made me, but that was my guilty conscious.) I hope you guys liked the first chapter, I'll be updating every Saturday with a new chapter, and this I SWEAR will happen, pinky swear, and I can't break that. Since I have the first ten chapters written, there is a high chance that I have plenty of time to keep up with writing the story.

Peace, Love, Adios amigos.

Love Always, Jeyna. X