Annabeth has a phone and it was a little bit louder than it should be. With the usual silence of her quarters Reyna easily woke up not from Annabeth's effort to keep her voice down but her phone. The Greek demigod was on her couch, ten meters away from her bed but Reyna heard everything and she did not mean to, she even heard the other line almost as clearly as she heard Annabeth. She was waiting to hear Annabeth say that she is coming back first thing tomorrow. Reyna was expecting that and actually she really wanted Annabeth to go back to NY. Reyna cannot begin to try save the world with Annabeth. Reyna did not want to depend on her presence, she just cannot. Not when Annabeth could simply pull off an I should go later and leave her.
Annabeth, it is Magnus again, isn't it? Percy asked.
Reyna has never heard of that name before that suddenly she was unconsciously questioning Percy and Annabeth's relationship.
"Yes." Annabeth lied. "I need to stay here with him for a couple of weeks, Percy. I'm sorry. He needs me. He's got no one here."
Reyna froze with what Annabeth said and she was wide awake all of a sudden. The other line was silent for a long time and the daughter of Athena was not speaking either. Reyna slowly moved her aching spine to sit up on her bed to check on Annabeth. The room was dark but not dark enough with all the braziers on the wall and that was Reyna's first mistake because there was Annabeth looking right at her and it was as if, she had been staring at Reyna for a while now and was just waiting for the praetor to look back. Her face was splattered with different emotions with what she just told her boyfriend about Magnus or really about Reyna. The daughter of Bellona was not able to stop herself from reaching out to Annabeth by sheer will to give her the strength and decisiveness she needs to make her choice and go back to Percy through their eyes.
Turns out the Greek let her down.
"I should go." Annabeth said without tearing their gaze. "I'm sorry, Percy."
"Remember to include the centurions for all approbations you make while I'm gone."
"How long until you get back, Reyna?" For a son of Mars and for a guy his size, Frank was still the clumsy and unsure Frank she had first welcomed to her camp. "And who is going to play referee with me for the War Games tomorrow night?"
Reyna modernly cursed herself. She cannot cancel the War Games just because she is not around, it would result to a skeptical camp. She cannot risk it. And she cannot let Frank be all by himself as an eagle in the sky tomorrow night.
"Chase." Reyna decided. "Tell her this is on my command."
"Annabeth is still here?" Frank's face made Reyna raise her chin. "I heard about your fancy duel yesterday."
Reyna just clenched her jaw and said nothing. Her wound did not hurt that much anymore but it suddenly does when people bring it up to her face. It was safe to assume that Reyna did not expect Annabeth to physically wound her and that was what annoys her in actuality.
"Okay, Reyna." Frank squeaked. "Noted."
After giving a few reminders to her co-praetor, Reyna went to the stables to say goodbye to another part of herself. She rolled her eyes and scoffed, why was she thinking about goodbyes already? Guido was already neighing in anticipation and Reyna's heart felt warm. She reached for her pegasus who nudged against her arm. She wrapped her arm around his neck and Guido's restlessness calmed down. It was almost like he could feel her qualms and burden. Her heart grew heavy in the thought of losing Guido as well. Reyna pulled away before she starts crying in front of a horse again.
"I'll see you in two days, my friend." Her voice cracked. "Just for two days."
"Where are you going?"
Reyna's heart stopped for a moment or two and then began pounding loudly against her ribcage. It was loud enough that Reyna hated herself for being surprised by the Greek. She turned and Annabeth was there by the doorway. She was in fresh new clothes but her orange camp shirt seared Reyna's eyes. It reminded her of Jason Grace, Reyna had to push her eyes up to meet Annabeth's rather than focus on how she associates Camp Half-Blood with Jason. Despite all the good things the Greeks and the Romans have established after the war with Gaea, whenever Camp Half-Blood is mentioned, she instantly hisses at the first thought that pops up in her head. Jason Grace. Jason chose Camp Half-Blood and left her alone.
Annabeth was smiling sideways as she studied her from head to toe and Reyna was bewildered at the sight of the blonde assessing her, no one smiles at her that way. "Going AWOL to have one last vacation instead, Reyna?"
"No." In a millisecond, Reyna cursed herself for wearing this certain pair of shorts and masked it with her usual praetor authority. "I am meeting with a legion veteran in Treasure Island. He's working in a private science facility funded by the government. I hope to talk to him and find the right connections to get to this Becca."
"Because it's a small industry, everyone knows everyone." Annabeth was clearly upset. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"You stayed up all night." Reyna snapped. "You needed to sleep."
"I needed sleep?" The Greek jeered at her. "You need to rest. How's your back?"
"Hurts. I suppose you know that."
Silence dawned between the two of them. Only Guido was the one whinnying and was flapping his wings aggressively, sensing Reyna's anguish.
"You attacked me." There it was. Reyna finally brought herself to glare at those gray eyes. "While I was looking away."
"Reyna I–"
"I can skewer you, Chase. I could but you know I wouldn't. You intentionally made me look weak in front of my legion."
"I know you could, Reyna." Annabeth's eyes softened in understanding. "But I also thought you'd dodge me. I am sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
Did not mean it like that? Reyna held back a snarl. "I'm leaving."
"I could go with you, that is, if you want me to."
"That's not a good idea." Her nonchalance always made her proud of herself. Practice made Reyna perfect. "These veterans, they were raised and trained to kill Greeks on sight just like the rest of us until now."
"I understand." Annabeth almost whispered. "When do you return?"
"Tomorrow night." Reyna gave Guido one last pat before walking up towards the door, towards Annabeth. "I leave my camp to you."
"You'll come back, right? Reyna?"
"Of course," Reyna's hand drifted to Annabeth's arm to squeeze it gently but firmly. "I always do."
Reyna did not remember anything else after the camp's private jet took off to the sky. She had always liked to travel by sea better and if not for Jason helping her train Scipio, she would never have dared to fly. Although it is merely eleven miles to Treasure Island, the fact that Lycaon is still out there to get her, Reyna did not want any road blocks so she decided that air travel was the safest and fastest.
Suddenly she was back in the high garden of Bacchus, Reyna watched herself from a safe distance. Her younger self was intently listening to the daughter of Athena. Reyna walked closer to them and she remembered–how could she even forget this day? It was the same day when Jason ripped her heart out. The Argo II hovered in the sky above the city limits. Annabeth shared her life story and Reyna found herself listening to the blonde's voice once more.
And then the booming sound of an explosion shot in the sky, Reyna remembered it not to be louder and farther. She scanned the horizon, Annabeth was gone and everything stretched wide below her. Reyna found herself standing on another balcony, on the edge of a tower. Sentries rushed outside beside her and Reyna knew they were there for her protection.
Reyna watched until the trail of smoke slowly became one with the air. It seemed like a comet to mundane eyes but Reyna knew better, it looked like the Argo II crashing down, it looked like a ship. She marched inside to her chambers, she did not remember her quarters having so many candles around but right now her priority was that fiery crash. Also, her boots did not seem her own at the moment and her toga...
Her toga. It was not even a toga. It was dark make shift fabric and she wore a single shoulder armor–a piece of a tire with a red sash billowing after her.
Her door opened and a girl that Reyna has never seen before rushed towards her. It was out of reason that Reyna's heart skipped a beat when this girl took her hands and Reyna with her equanimity shattered, felt the need to tell the girl what troubles her.
"I cannot be wrong." Reyna clenched her jaw. "That thing crashed into Trikru territory. Our home, Costia."
The name was too familiar; Costia's eyes bore into her soul.
"Anya is there, she will not let anything happen to our people."
Reyna's eyes stung, she used to hate it but right now she did not care if she cries in front of this girl. "Exactly, what if something bad happens to her?"
"Heda!" Her adviser appeared behind them and they broke apart. "An invader on your lands, Heda."
Somehow Reyna understood what Heda means.
Commander.
Praetor.
She composed herself despite the worry. "We wait for Anya's reports. If we do not hear from the Trikru leader in three days, we send riders."
"This might be the doing of the Ice Nation." Titus pressed. "Or maybe the Floudon kru, that traitor to the blood–"
"Enough." Reyna's voice was surprisingly colder than before. "Leave us."
"Lexa," Titus calmly called her by her name. "This is an act of war."
The Commander turned away. Her eyes dwelled in the far horizon of her lands until Titus closes the door on his way out.
"Lexa," Costia called softly, "talk to me."
Reyna looked back and remembered how Leo Valdez fired at her city and started a war. As praetor she was cornered to counter attack and made the gods take sides but right now she could do things differently. Just because something fell from the sky does not mean it is an act of war unless otherwise something hostile came with whatever that was that landed on her lands.
