Character change! I've been doing Annabeth for a while, so I decided to do Reyna, then...you'll have to wait and see! Wah-ha-ha! And this chapter is either the longest or the second longest yet!(I really mean it!)
Reyna
Campers in orange shirts came tumbling from the sky. The Romans hesitated, not knowing whether to attack, help, or stay put.
"Romans! Do not attack! Perseus Jackson has promised on his life, that they will not attack, and neither shall we. Understand?" Reyna's voice rang out clearly. She circled above the waiting demigods, on her pegasus, Scipio, or Skippy for short. Her purple legionnaires cape billowed behind her.
Nearby, Octavian stood, his face a weird mix of evil and joy. In the movies, when the bad guy laughs evilly about his plan-to-destroy-the-world-that-he-had-just-told-the-heroes-and-he-thought-that-there-was-nothing-they-could-do-to-stop-him. A face like that. He had attempted to put his knife belt around his waist, but since he was still wearing his toga, it didn't really work. Every so often, he would give Percy the evils, then act as though he hadn't. But Reyna saw each and every one of them Nothing could happen at Camp Jupiter without Reyna finding out about it.
A warship was hovering high above them, and it looked okay. She wondered why they were jumping out of it. Then she heard a yell. The Romans looked forward, and became silent. Two boys, who looked so much alike they had to be siblings, and a girl, who was way bigger than both boys put together, were addressing the crowd.
"Okay!" the slightly shorter one of the boys shouted. "I'm Conner, this is my older brother Travis!" At this point he put his arm around his brother, and grinned mischievously. Both brother's had brown hair, upturned eyebrows, mischievous glints in their blue eyes, and grins that said not to allow them access to shaving foam, unless you wanted your bed full of it.
"Move it, punks!" the girl shoved Travis and Conner out of the way, causing them to make faces behind her back. "Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares. The Stoll brother's are sons of Hermes. And, I don't know if you know, but we need to work together to defeat Gaia."
Murmuring broke out in all the camper - Greek and Roman. Reyna glanced down at Percy, who looked relieved. She cantered Skippy over to him, and dismounted. "So, do you recognise them?" she questioned him.
"Yeah. Man, I know Clarisse a bit too well," he replied, his eyes still on the other campers, some of whom were still coming down from the ship. "When I was twelve, she tried to introduce my head to a toilet."
"Seriously?" Reyna found it hard to believe that, but Percy clearly wasn't joking.
No one except for two Greek demigods had noticed what was going on above them. Their ship had, what appeared to be a countdown. At this, everyone turned and gasped. The two who had noticed, a black haired boy, who she remembered as Leo from the video scroll, and a dark-reddy-browny haired girl, who might have been Piper, looked at each other, then around, and started yelling a name, as though they were searching for someone. "Annabeth!" they screamed. Three, two one. The ship exploded. Debris rained down on the demigods. Reyna turned to Percy, who had tuned pale in shock.
"Percy? Did that name mean anything to you-" she faltered. That name meant something to him alright.
"No! NO!" he cried, and ran to the other campers, who welcomed him, but looked just as upset as he did. Reyna remounted and galloped over to them, who were looking around in despair.
"What's wrong?" Hazel called, as she and Frank came up behind her. In response, Reyna shrugged. Then a girl with black hair and silvery but punk style clothes turned around to face them.
" It's one of the campers," she said. Her eyes were red and she had tears on her cheeks. "She had been at camp since she was seven. When I was twelve, ten years ago - I know It's hard to believe, but I died, got turned into a tree, then became human again, aged fifteen, then the day before my sixteenth birthday, I joined the Hunters of Artemis - we were runaways together. She became-" the girl lowered her voice. "She became Percy's girlfriend August eighteenth last year, his birthday. Her name is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."
"Gods, no wonder why he's so upset," Frank said in awe. "When the officer came to the house saying my mom was dead, I was devastated."
Reyna, Hazel, Frank and the punk girl who introduced herself as Thalia, were in the principia.
"I know. When I was seven my mom took me and my two year old brother out, then when I went to the car to get something, she gave him to Hera as an offering, saying he was dead."
Reyna frowned. "Wait, who is your brother? And who, exactly, are you?" Hazel and Frank nodded.
"Umm…I'd rather not say."
"And why is that?" Reyna pressed Thalia.
Thalia sighed in defeat. "Fine, you wanna' know who my brother is, and who I am, but you have to swear on the River Styx that you believe me, and that I had nothing to do with my brother's disappearance." The three Romans swore their oath.
"I, am Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. However, my brother, is Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Hera-Juno was so offended by not one birth, but two, from the same family, before the first great prophecy had been completed, that she had Jason taken away, sent…well, here, I guess."
Reyna looked stunned. "When I arrived here, three years ago, he did say that he had been here all his life."
Hazel was getting impatient. "So, where is Jason?" Thalia turned pale, and Reyna knew that she was hiding something - something unpleasant. But, Reyna was going to find out what it was.
"Umm, well, on the ship…" Thalia explained about Hera's visit, and how she had taken Jason. "We have no clue what in the name of Hades about anything, other than the fact that it has to be done in a week, and we have to do it properly."
"Or…" Frank prompted.
Thalia sniffled a sob, and Reyna realized that even though she herself had tears in her eyes, Thalia was worried about Jason much more than she was letting on. "Or she won't give him back!" she sobbed, and placed her hands over her eyes. Her black make-up was running, and should've ruined her silver parka, but as soon as it touched the fabric, it disappeared. Then she remembered that Thalia was a hunter, so maybe that was part of Artemis-Diana's magic.
"Wait, so let me get this straight. We don't know what's happened to Annabeth, Jason's been taken hostage by someone who is on our own side, and my brother has been taken by Gaia." Hazel concluded.
There was a knock at the door. Percy entered, along with the other Greek campers.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we're having a shroud burning, like at Camp Half-Blood. Any of you wanna' come?" Thalia shot up straight away. Frank and Hazel looked at Reyna, who nodded slightly, and they all got up too. Together, they walked to a makeshift campfire.
Reyna, Thalia and Hazel sat next to each other on the stands. They were about to go down and say something, when Thalia frowned. "Hang on," she demanded. "You never said who your brother is."
Hazel looked down, but revealed; "My half-brother. Nico di Angelo. We were born a couple of years within each other. Only, he got put in the Lotus Hotel for seventy years. I died that same year. Last summer, he came down looking for his other sister, his true sister, Bianca. But she's chosen to be reborn. So, he brought me back to life instead!"
Thalia was still frowning. "But then-"
"Later!"
The next morning, Piper came in Reyna's room. "Knock knock?" Reyna nodded. Piper sat down on a chair, while Reyna put on her cloak and braided her long, dark hair. "So…how long have you been at camp?" Piper tried to make conversation.
"Three years." Reyna didn't want to sound mean, but she had heard about Jason and Piper…liking each other. She did feel a little bit jealous - there could have been something between her and Jason, if Hera-Juno hadn't abducted him. Keep calm. That was the motto that she had lived by for years, on Circe's island, when she and her sister Hylla had gone their different ways - she had gone to Camp Jupiter, while Hylla had joined the Amazons - a tribe of girls who fought, loved, died. Unlike the hunters, they weren't immortal, and they could still love boys, but any boys who did come across them - well, it wasn't pretty. She smiled at Piper. "Sorry. I don't mean to be rude, it's just…" Reyna trailed off, but Piper knew what she meant.
"Maybe this task we have to do, is just bonding or something, to prove that we can work together. Maybe we just have to make friends, prove that we can work together, and go up to Hera-Juno and tell her to give Jason back. Maybe she's looking for us to e able to stand up to our enemies," Piper suggested.
Reyna nodded. "Yeah! But, how do we find her. I mean, she hates heroes, so we're not exactly on her 'top ten friends' list." Piper shrugged, mystified. "What I do know is that you, have just given us a new lead! Reyna squealed, and hugged Piper in delight. She knew that it wasn't very Romany of her, but it proved that Greeks and Romans could be friends, they just needed to give each other a chance.
What do you think will happen next? No cliff hanger, no lead onto what's next! Wah-ha-ha! You'll have to wait untill Thursday 22nd December 2011 to find out!
