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"I'm sorry, but your opinion is wrong," Nico said as he looked at Reyna. She was rubbing her hands together as she tried to warm herself up.
"It's not as wrong as your opinion," Reyna countered. She looked up at the sky and sighed. Her breath came out visible. "How do people live with snow?"
"Are you not use to it?" Nico taunted.
"I've only seen it a few times," Reyna answered. She cursed as she almost slipped on a patch of ice. Reyna shivered again and gritted her teeth.
"I don't think you should be wearing tennis shoes," Nico commented. It was kind of funny to see. He had convinced Reyna not to wear any armor other than a breastplate on her next visit. His main argument was that she would be hot if she wore full armor, but that was only because Reyna would punched him if he said she needed to not be so paranoid.
Nico had no clue that it had even snowed. He spent the night before at Camp Jupiter. The two had shadow traveled to New York. As soon as they stumbled out of the shadows, they both fell right on their faces. Nico was the first to his feet. Then, the two had gotten into their argument.
"Are you sure you don't want to head back?" Nico asked concerned. Nico was perfectly fine. He had been wearing pants and an aviator jacket that Reyna had bought him a few weeks ago.
"I'm fine," Reyna lied. She shivered again. Reyna was wearing tennis shoes, shorts, and a breastplate over her jacket. The daughter of Bellona pulled her hood up.
"You don't have to be so stubborn," Nico said. "I don't want you catching a cold."
"You can stop being so stubborn by thinking that Jason is better than Freddy Krueger," Reyna countered.
"Do you really want to have this argument Ramirez?" Nico questioned.
"That's Praetor Ramirez to you," Reyna said with a pointed look. Nico increased his speed. Reyna tried to follow but ended up slipping. A stream of curses flew from her mouth.
Nico was honestly surprised about how much Reyna cursed. She was so composed in public that it was just odd. Behind closed doors, she cursed like a sailor. There was no way he could prove it though. The cursing was usually in Latin or Spanish.
"Did Hylla curse around you that much when you were younger?" Nico questioned. Reyna looked up at him as he helped her stand.
"Nico, every other word out of a pirate's mouth is a curse," Reyna explained. "I was on a ship with them for months. It becomes a habit after awhile."
As Reyna stepped forward, she slipped again. Reyna tried to catch herself on the ground. Nico heard a small crack. A curse left his best friend's mouth a moment later.
"I hate snow," Reyna muttered. She sat on the snow and gently felt her wrist. Nico knelt next to her worried. "Do you have nectar?"
"Yeah," Nico answered. He quickly grabbed his canteen and handed it to Reyna. She took a small sip. "Does it hurt?"
"I'm fine," Reyna promised. She felt her wrist. "You can start making fun of me now."
"You're injury prone," Nico commented. He sighed. "I shouldn't have made fun of you about not being use to the snow."
"Are you feeling guilt?" Reyna asked. Her nose crinkled in disgust. "Get out of here. I'm fine. Hey, you might be able to beat me in sparring now."
"We can do it right now," Nico teased. He helped Reyna stand. "You'll be sliding everywhere."
"When is the movie?" Reyna questioned.
"We should treat your wrist first," Nico began. Reyna gave him a look. It was her famous look that said she would punch Nico if he kept talking. "Or, we can go to the movie."
"Good. Go ahead. I'm going to retie my shoes," Reyna muttered. It was Reyna speak for leave me alone because I don't want to show my pain.
"I'll wait for you around the corner," Nico muttered. He started to walk away then looked back at Reyna. "Stop being so stubborn."
"After you admit Freddy Krueger is better," Reyna said. Nico smiled and walked away. He turned the corner and leaned on a wall. He closed his eyes.
After a few moments, Nico muttered to himself in ancient Greek. He pushed himself off of the wall. The street was silent which allowed him to hear soft footsteps and the sound of a sword being unsheathed.
Nico turned and jumped backwards. He slipped on the snow and fell to the ground. His head bounced off of the ice. If he died because of this, he was never going to live it down. Nico rolled to the side as a sword landed where his groin had been. That was not cool.
Nico scrambled to his feet and looked at his opponent. He stared at the old woman. She had to be in her sixties. The old woman had silver hair and brown eyes.
"Death to the Greeks," the woman spat. Nico still couldn't get over the fact that was fighting an old woman. Something about her seemed familiar. Before Nico could think about what it was, the old woman attacked.
Nico dodged to the side. He wondered if he should fight back. Would the old woman get hurt if he did? Was she crazy?
"I don't want to fight you," Nico began. The woman attacked. Nico parried the blow and jabbed forward. The woman disarmed him. Before Nico could react, he was on his back.
This was not how Nico planned the fight going down. The old woman, despite her age, moved extremely fast. She was probably more agile than Nico.
"Leave him alone," Reyna ordered. Nico glanced up. He saw his best friend slowly walking towards them. She had her sword in front of her in a defensive stance.
The old woman backed away from Nico and studied Reyna. She suddenly attacked. Reyna caught the blow only for the woman to disarm her.
The woman placed her sword to Reyna's neck. Reyna stared for a few moments. She suddenly pushed the woman's sword away and flipped out a dagger.
Nico scrambled to his feet and grabbed his sword. He attacked the woman from one side. Reyna attacked from the other. The woman easily held them off.
Reyna hissed an order to Nico in Latin. They had been training together and gotten use to speaking battle orders in Latin and Greek. Nico nodded to show he understood.
It was going to be a simple maneuver. Reyna would ramp up her offense and force the woman to focus on her. Nico would flank around and attack her exposed back.
Reyna stabbed forward. The old woman blocked, and the two engaged in a deadly duel. Nico slipped around the back. Before he could attack, the woman suddenly spun around.
As the woman spun, she slammed her elbow into Reyna's face. The woman faced Nico and stabbed forward. Nico jumped backwards. His feet landed on ice, and he slipped.
Before Nico could stand, Reyna was thrown next to him. The woman studied them silently. Nico spoke, "We are getting destroyed by an old woman."
"Who are you?" Reyna demanded. She wiped blood away from her nose. The woman seemed to hesitate. Reyna placed her good hand to the ground and slowly got into a crouched position. She scooped her sword up and lunged at the woman.
The woman sidestepped and tripped Reyna. The woman grabbed Reyna as she fell and held her up. The praetor didn't try to fight.
"Reyna?" the woman asked. She turned Reyna around to study her face and took off Reyna's hood.
"Who are you?" Reyna demanded. She stumbled back as the woman let her go. Nico stood and slowly grabbed his sword. He was ready to jump to Reyna's defense.
"I thought you were dead," the old woman muttered. She handed Reyna her sword. The woman then grabbed Reyna's face and gently examined her. "How is Hylla?"
"Who in Jupiter's name are you?" Reyna asked pulling away. She placed a hand to her bloody nose. Nico stood by his best friend's side and glared at the old woman.
"I'm surprised you don't recognize your grandma," the woman commented. Reyna stared. "Of course, I suppose you were too young. Your father wanted us to stop visiting. He claimed that I was attracting the monsters."
"Abuela," Reyna whispered. The woman smiled and pulled Reyna into a hug. Reyna hugged her back.
"What's going on?" Nico asked. He was confused beyond belief. First, this woman wanted to kill Greeks. Now, she was hugging Reyna like she hadn't of seen her for years.
"Nico, this is my grandma," Reyna said.
"He's a Greek," Reyna's grandmother noted.
"The Romans have made peace with the Greeks," Reyna explained.
"Sorry for attacking you," Reyna's grandmother said. She grabbed snow and pressed it to Reyna's bloody nose.
"It's fine," Nico said. "I'm Nico. Son of Hades."
"Isabella. Daughter of Mars," Reyna's grandmother greeted. Nico nodded his head in a greeting. Isabella had the common sense to wear pants and a large jacket. Nico would have to tease Reyna that common sense didn't travel far in her family.
"You're a demigod?" Reyna questioned. Nico watched them but remained silent.
"There was a lot of things you father did not tell you," Isabella commented. She smiled. "Where is he?"
"He's dead," Reyna whispered. Her eyes flickered towards Nico. She looked horribly nervous. Isabella opened her mouth but closed it. She nodded once.
"Is that why you came to the states?" Isabella wondered.
"To make a long story short," Reyna replied. She seemed to relax since her grandmother didn't question her too much. "You're here for the demigod ball?"
"Ball?" Nico interrupted.
"Camp Jupiter holds a ball every five years for all former members of the legion. The current members of the Legion are the ones who run things," Isabella explained.
"They act as servers and waiters," Reyna added. "The praetors host the entire thing."
"How is Hylla?" Isabella wondered.
"Queen of the Amazons," Reyna responded. Isabella smiled happily. She looked at her watch and back at her granddaughter.
"I have a meeting I must attend to. I promise that I will visit you at Camp Jupiter as soon as I can. The hardest part will be convincing the praetors to all me to," Isabella said.
"Why is that?" Nico wondered.
"I've only heard a few things about them. The boy seems to be okay. People call him inexperienced. They call the female a hard ass," Isabella answered.
"She is," Nico promised. He made an odd noise as Reyna punched him in the back.
"It was nice to see you again Abuela," Reyna said. She hugged her grandmother. Isabella hugged her back and looked at Nico.
"It was a pleasure to meet you son of Hades," Isabella said.
"You too," Nico replied. Isabella nodded and walked away. Reyna stared at her for a few moments. When Reyna's grandmother was out of sight, the praetor turned on Nico.
"Hard ass?" Reyna demanded. Nico shrugged. "You're dead meat."
"You have to catch me first," Nico taunted. He turned to run but slipped on the snow. Nico tried to catch himself on the ground but felt something in his wrist break.
"I call that karma," Reyna said. She helped Nico stand and examined his wrist. "It looks like we have matching injuries."
"We are not going to live this down," Nico commented.
"We can just claim that I am so accident prone that it has rubbed off on you," Reyna said. Nico laughed. "Do you want to head back to Camp Half-Blood or see the movie?"
"We're going to watch the movie," Nico promised. He smiled at Reyna. "After this."
"After what?" Reyna asked confused. Nico smiled and scooped up snow. He threw it at Reyna. The daughter of Bellona stared for a few moments. "You are so dead."
"You have to catch me first," Nico taunted. He turn and ran away. Reyna chased after him. Nico turned the corner only to slip on a patch of ice. Reyna caught him by his jacket before he could fall.
"Hurt?" Reyna asked.
"No," Nico answered.
"Good," Reyna said. Nico cried out in surprise as Reyna dumped snow down his shirt. She let go of him. Nico turned and stared at her.
"That was a low blow," Nico complained.
"Do you know what else is?" Reyna asked.
"What is?" Nico wondered. Before he could react, Reyna threw snow in his face. Nico stared. Reyna winked and took off running. He chased after her vowing vengeance.