Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who wanted to know what the Lost Hero would have been like with the trio being Reyna, Leo, and Drew. Here's my take on it. Tell me if I'm using too much of the book itself.
Reyna
When Reyna woke up, she was completely and utterly confused. She was sprawled against the window in the backseat of a bus full of teenagers. She sat up, her eyes moving automatically to the boy sitting next to her. He didn't look at all familiar, with his curly hair and pointed ears. No one she had seen before.
Actually, she realized, looking around, she didn't recognize anyone on the bus. She didn't even know how she had gotten there. She glanced out the window, into a desert. Reyna was pretty sure she didn't live in a desert.
"Oh, hey, you're awake," the boy next to her. Reyna didn't bother replying to that obvious statement. The boy was smiling mischievously, a smile that made Reyna feel decidedly nervous. She stared at him, automatically sizing him up to see if he was a threat. Reyna felt the urge to frown – why was she examining him like that? It wasn't like he was an enemy...was he? The boy frowned. "You okay, Reyna?"
Reyna wanted to say something along the lines of, No, I'm not, and who are you, anyway?
What came out of her mouth was a calm, "I'm fine, thank you."
Reyna was surprised by how easily the lie had come out of her mouth. She didn't think was a liar, though she supposed she couldn't really know. Maybe she kept to herself a lot? That seemed considerably more likely.
From the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"
His voice interrupted Reyna's thoughts. She turned her attention to the teacher who had yelled. He was wearing a baseball cap, pulled low over his face. A whistle hung from his neck and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. Reyna guessed he was a coach.
The coach had a wispy goatee. He wore nylon workout pants and shoes, both spotless white. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange shirt. Reyna's estimate pegged him at five feet. When he stood up, a student yelled, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"
"I heard that!" the coach snapped, scanning the bus. His eyes fell upon Reyna and a scowl formed upon his face. The back of Reyna's neck prickled. Coach Hedge knew she wasn't supposed to be there.
Reyna was torn between anxiety, relief, and outright terror – she didn't know what was going on, but maybe the coach would help her. She wasn't going insane – she was in the wrong place.
Or, a little voice inside her head reminded her, he might just call you out and demand to know what you're doing here.
Reyna really hoped it wouldn't come to that. She wouldn't know what to say, and someone knowing she wasn't supposed to be there...well, that would make it a lot harder to blend in. She held the coach's gaze, unflinching, until he finally looked away.
"We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner, don't lose your worksheet, and don't cause any trouble. If any of you cupcakes do, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."
He picked up a baseball bat and swung it like he was hitting a homer.
Reyna raised an eyebrow. She turned to the boy next to her. "I still have difficulty understanding how he hasn't been fired yet – threats of physical violence?"
Reyna winced as soon as the words slipped out of her mouth. They sounded off to her, like she was trying too hard to blend in. She was. But that didn't change the fact her words sounded off. Luckily, the boy didn't notice.
"Who knows? He always talks to us like that – this is the Wilderness School. Where the kids are the animals."
"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled. "Problem back there?"
The boy next to Reyna winked at her. She nearly sighed with relief – she had his name now. "Sorry, Coach! I can't hear you very well. Would you use your megaphone, please?"
Coach Hedge grunted. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt, giving directions through it. His voice came out like Darth Vader's. A few kids tittered. The coach tried again, but the megaphone blared, "The cow says moo!"
Hedge slammed down his megaphone and yelled, "Valdez!"
Leo grinned at Reyna, wiggling a Phillips head screwdriver at her. She raised an eyebrow at him.
The bus dropped them off in front of a big red stucco complex. A museum of some sort, maybe. Reyna stood next to Leo, arms folded across her chest. A cold wind blew across the desert, making Reyna shiver. She wore a thin black sweater, a purple T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, not enough to keep her warm.
She followed the group into the museum. They walked through the building, pausing occasionally for Coach Hedge to lecture them. All the exhibits were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which ran the museum. Now she knew where she was. That wasn't particularly helpful.
They reached the far side of the exhibit hall, where big glass doors led out to a terrace.
"All right," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. Try to avoid pushing each other off the edge – I don't want extra paperwork."
The coach opened the door. They all stepped out. The Grand Canyon spread before them. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe shaped walkway, made out of glass.
"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked."
Reyna agreed. The view was stunning, and despite her amnesia and feeling that she shouldn't be there at all, she was impressed.
The canyon was enormous, bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. Birds circled below their feet, giving Reyna an impression as to just how high they actually were. Far below, a river snaked along the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds cast shadows across the cliffs. In all directions for as far as Reyna could see, red and grey ravines cut through the desert, as if a crazy god had taken a knife to it.
Crazy god...Reyna felt a piercing pain behind her eyes. She felt like that was important, something she should know. She closed her eyes for a moment, then reopened them. Leo didn't seem to have noticed.
"This can't be safe," he mused, looking up at the clouds. "The storm's right above us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"
Reyna glanced up. Leo was right. Something about that made her decidedly nervous.
Coach Hedge yelled something about complete sentences and getting to work. Reyna noted that he, too, had frowned at the storm. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried that she hadn't been the only one unnerved by it.
Leo tugged at Reyna's sleeve. She looked at him. He had built a helicopter out of pipe cleaners. He launched it over the edge. Reyna figured it would fall, but the blades actually spun. The tiny model copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and plummeted.
"How did you do that?" Reyna asked. Leo shrugged, waving his nimble fingers at her.
"Would have been cooler if I had had some rubber bands."
Leo thought she was supposed to be there. In fact, everyone was acting like her being there was normal – except for Coach Hedge.
"I'll be back in a minute," Reyna said. She headed across the skywalk before Leo could protest. She walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning against his baseball bat, studying the clouds. Before she could say anything, the coach asked, "Did you do this?"
"Excuse me?" Reyna asked. Coach Hedge glared at her.
"Don't play games. What are you doing here and why are you screwing up my job?"
Reyna closed her eyes, trying her best to maintain composure. At least she hadn't misinterpreted his look earlier – he had no idea who she was. She wasn't supposed to be there, despite what everyone else in the class seemed to think. "I don't know, sir. I can't to remember anything. I just know I'm not supposed to be here."
"Got that right," Hedge muttered. "You smell like a half-blood. Who are you and where did you come from?"
Reyna frowned. "I told you, I don't have any memories. Could you...help me?"
The words stuck in Reyna's throat. She got the distinct impression she didn't like asking for help. She ignored the feeling – she didn't really have a choice.
Coach Hedge scanned Reyna's face as if he was trying to read her thoughts. "You're not lying, are you? Look, girl. I don't know who you are, but I do know what you are. That means trouble. I've got to protect two of you, now. Are you the special package?"
"Would you care to elaborate on that?" Reyna demanded, keeping her voice under control. Hedge didn't answer immediately, instead looking up at the storm clouds. They were getting thicker and darker.
"This morning," Hedge explained, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they didn't tell me anymore than that. The kid I'm watching is pretty powerful, older than most. There's a monster in the group, so I figured that's why the camp is so frantic to get to them. Then you pop up out of nowhere. Are you the special package?"
Reyna's headache was growing worse. Camp. Monster. She still didn't know exactly what Hedge was talking about, but the words felt familiar. She stumbled and the coach caught her. His grip was a lot stronger than she would have expected. "Whoa, there. You say you don't have any memories? Fine. I'll watch you, too. The director can figure things out."
"Director?" Reyna asked. Hedge started to say something, but he was cut off by the crackle of lightning and the howl of the wind picking up. The skywalk shook. Kids screamed, grabbing onto the railing. Hedge grabbed his megaphone.
"Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"
"I thought you said this thing was stable," Reyna called over the wind.
"Under normal circumstances," the coach agreed. "These aren't normal circumstances. Move!"