I don't like to wait too long, to wait too long, wait too long,

Bring it on, and bring it storng, and bring it baby.

I feel the pain and it feels good,

I knew it would,

Your heart burns slow

I feel the pain and I cry out, I cry out.

I need you, I need you.

Babe I want to drink you in like oxygen, like oxygen.

Baby I'm house on fire,

And I wanna keep burning.

I'm going up in flames,

And you're to blame, yeah you're to blame,

Baby I'm a house on fire,

And I wanna keep burning.

- House on Fire, Sia

It didn't take long for us to become inseparable. At first, I felt like I needed to protect her, but it turned out Reyna didn't need anyone to protect her. She just wanted someone to see her, to understand her, to accept her. She didn't want me to carry her baggage around, she just needed me to know it was there, accept it, and her along with it. And I could do that.

Hell, I needed her to do that for me.

As the Titan's grew more powerful, I found myself reaching out for her more. We sparred together, ate together, hung out together. Wherever I went, I invited her along. Soon she was just as much a part of my family as if she'd always been there. At first, I told myself it was because I wanted her to feel a part of something, that I didn't want her to be alone.

But as the threat of war grew, I started finding excuses for us to be alone together. We'd walk in New Rome behind everyone else. We'd spar quietly, we'd sit by the docks, we'd get hot chocolate and brownies at the café late at night. And it wasn't because I wanted to be there for her. No, it was more that I needed to be with her. More and more, the campers and people of New Rome looked at me to step up, to lead, to be the son of Jupiter. They were seeing less of Jason Grace and more the son of Jupiter. I was a hero to them, and that was great, but I was losing myself. And I was afraid of drowning.

But with Reyna, it wasn't like that. She laughed at me, she teased me, she challenged me. She picked fights and pushed me harder than anyone had ever pushed me. She didn't just see the son of Jupiter. Yes, she expected me to carry my responsibilities, she expected me to fulfill my duty, but it wasn't all she saw. She saw Jason Grace. I loved sitting with her, walking with her. When I was with her, I felt as if I stood in a spotlight for the first time. I felt noticed and accepted. With her, I was found.

Perhaps it was because we trained together so often that we were an unbeatable team. We didn't need to talk or make plans – we'd become an extension of the other. And perhaps, for this reason, we always quested together. I didn't mind. Getting out of camp with just Reyna (and sometimes Dakota) I felt I could breathe again.

Reyna for her part, talked more when she was alone with me. She talked of her home, of her sister, of the places she would visit, where she liked to spend afternoons, the best places to get coffee in San Juan, and swimming in the ocean. One day she told me of Circe's island and the pirates. I was appalled. Hadn't she suffered enough already? I'd wrapped my fingers around her own, covering them like a warm blanket, and she'd squeezed them back, smiling warmly at me, the sorrow tinged with comfort.

It was strange to watch her. With the others, she was a shell – she laughed and talked, but not freely, more obligatory. The others saw her strength and her coolness and thought her indifferent and cold. But she wasn't. She was fire – fierce and alive. Alone with me, her smiles were big, her laughter loud, her talking non-stop. She joked and complained and yelled.

And one day she sang. She did it unconsciously. We were sitting by the docks, our feet dangling into the lake, her eyes closed, me watching her. Her head titled back to the sun, she smiled happily, and she started to sing. It was quiet, more like a hum, not sweet and clear like birdsong, but deep and throaty like the earth. She sang in Spanish, and I was hooked, breathless. I never wanted her to stop.

She opened her eyes and grinned at me. "What a dork," she whispered, nudging me with her toes.

I shook my head at her.

With Reyna, I was at peace, even when we were at war.

With me, Reyna was free.

It happened one night, not long after that. And it felt so natural, so right – it was like breathing out after holding my breath for so long. We sat in the Garden of Bacchus, watching the moonlight filter into the valley painting our world silver. She sat next to me, telling me about the gods know what. I could only think of how close she sat, how familiar her body was next to mine, how good she smelt – like vanilla and cocoa.

She glanced suddenly at me and laughed.

"Wha-?" I said, startled.

"You're not even listening to me!" Her laughter echoed in the garden, mixing with the gurgling of the water fountain, creating its own strange music.

I scratched the back of my head and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

Her lips dimmed into a lovely smile. "What were you thinking about?" she murmured, twining her own fingers around mine.

"You." The answer was out of me before I could stop it. I'd expected her to laugh and say how stupid I was, but instead she looked at me, her brown eyes watching me carefully.

"Me too," she murmured. She extracted her fingers from mine and began circling my palm. My heartbeat spiked to about a million beats per minute, my heart launched itself into my throat, and goosebumps erupted all over my skin in a shiver of delight.

"You were thinking about you?" I stammered.

She smiled. "Not as much as I've been thinking about you." She leant closer, her scent of vanilla and cocoa filling up my senses.

She pressed her lips to mine and I dissolved. She was filling me up and I didn't know how to separate myself from her, how I could ever be separate from her. She was me, and I was her, and that was all that mattered.

She was sweet and soft, everything I hadn't expected. She tasted of the French vanillas she liked and the hot chocolate I'd recently gotten her into. She was beautiful in every way.

When she pulled away, it felt as if she had pulled some of my oxygen from my own lungs. I frowned at her, and she drew back quickly. But before she could say anything, I raised her legs, put them on my lap and puller her closer. My hand entangled itself in her hair and I pressed my lips back to hers.

I felt her smile.

For a few weeks we were happy. Not much had changed, at least not to the general public. They were used to seeing us together. But now I could hold her hand, and wrap my arms around her, and press kisses to her head or her cheeks whenever I wanted. I craved her now. Her touch seized me, held me, grounded me. Her fingers, my anchor.

Not long after, we were to go on a quest.

"You will go to Charleston and bring back as much Imperial Gold weapons as you can. The gods know we need all the help we can get," Phillip ordered. He was looking even lankier now, tired and worn out.

We took Skippy. Reyna had achieved the status of Centurion. Me as well, but she was much better at it.

We flew to the harbour. Our plan was simple – fly in, get the weapons, get out. No detours, no pit stops. It was getting riskier for us to venture out of camp.

As we flew across the country, Reyna amused me by trying to teach me Spanish. At which I was horrible and was the reason Reyna couldn't get through a single phrase without laughing.

"Wow! You suck! Remind me never to take you to Puerto Rico," she laughed.

"You'd take me to meet your family? That's really serious!"

I felt her tense around my fingers. "What?" I whispered, close to her ear.

"I don't really have family there anymore," she said, leaning back into me so she didn't have to shout. "Just ghosts and a haunted house."

"I'm sorry," I murmured, kissing her head.

She shrugged. "It's okay." But I could feel in the way she held her shoulders that it wasn't, and so I tightened my arms around her, trying to pour my support and comfort into it. Maybe it worked, because I felt the tension in her muscles loosen slightly.

A few hours later we were in Charleston. It was a complete shit-show – an ambush. A legion of monsters awaited us. Somehow we made it out – I was getting better at controlling and using my powers, Reyna was a menace with any weapon and to any enemy. Finally, we managed to set up camp in a secure place.

"Where do you think the weapons are?" I asked.

She shrugged, dabbing ambrosia onto her cuts and scrapes. "I guess we'll just have to take a look around tomorrow." She yawned and I said, "Sleep. I'll take first watch."

As her breaths evened out, I watched the peace settle in, watched as her muscles unwound, as her shoulders loosened, watched as she became a fourteen year old girl without the horrors she'd had to endure. And then I watched as the nightmares took her, the way her shoulders shook, her knees drew up to her chest. I heard the tremor in her voice as she cried, "Papa!" and that broke my heart. I moved closer to her and pulled her into my arms. She was still asleep, her eyes scrunched tight, but the longer I held her, the less her shoulders shook, the more her eyebrows relaxed, and the easier her breaths were. When she woke, she woke with my arms around her, and pressing her lips to my neck, she murmured, "Sleep." I lay down with my head in her lap, and with her hands stroking my hair, I fell asleep.

The next morning, we packed up camp, and went into the city, looking for signs that indicated a large collection of imperial gold weapons were hidden there. We found nothing, and by lunchtime we were hot, hungry, and very cranky. We lunched in a small diner in silence, too broody to talk. When we finally stepped out of the diner, I finally asked, "What should we do now?"

She wasn't listening to me, but squinting at something across the road from me.

"What?" I asked.

"Have you noticed that that lady has been following us all day?" she asked pointing.

I looked to where she was pointing, and there, gliding under a gazebo, a pale ghostly thing shimmered.

"What is it?" I asked squinting.

"Looks like a woman," Reyna replied.

"Looks like a shining blob to me."

She gave me one of her "Gods, you're so dumb sometimes" look and crossed the street. I ran after her and when I finally caught up I said, "Shouldn't we be walking away from the thing that looks like something from a horror movie?"

"That thing has been following us all day. Maybe… maybe it's waiting for us to talk to it."

I frowned. "You think it can help us find the weapons?"

She shrugged. "I don't know Jason. But we haven't had any luck so far. Don't you think we should check out something like this?"

I looked back at the thing. For some reason, it made me really uncomfortable, like something bad was about to happen. On the other hand, Reyna was right. We hadn't had any leads all day. The least we could do was see what it wanted. I looked at her nodded. "Let's do it."

But apparently the ghost didn't want to talk to us as badly as we thought because every time we got close to it, it vanished and reappeared some distance ahead. "Maybe it's leading us to the weapons," I suggested.

Reyna shook her head. "No, she's been leading us in a circle." She stood and looked at the ghost for a couple of seconds. Finally she turned to me. "Maybe I should talk to her alone."

I frowned at her. "No way. You are not talking to a psycho, game-playing ghost by yourself."

She frowned in the direction of the ghost. "I don't know Jason. I just have this feeling that she doesn't want to talk to you. Just me."

"And why would that be?"

She shrugged. "Maybe she wants a woman-to-woman conversation." Then she started towards the ghost before I could say anything else.

I decided to trust her – which looking back now, I wish I hadn't done – so I sat down underneath a tree and watched Reyna approach the ghost. She was right, without me, the ghost met her halfway – still far away enough that I couldn't hear what they were saying.

They talked for a while, and finally the ghost flew away. Yet, Reyna didn't turn around and walk back to me. She stood rooted to the spot watching the ghost float away from her, her face hidden from me. I stood up and walked towards her. Reaching out, I grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey!"

She twisted away from her, yanking her shoulder away from under her grip, her face contorted with anger. I frowned at her.

"What? What did the ghost tell you?" I made to take her shoulders again, but she stepped back out of my reach.

"I know where the weapons are." She stepped past me heading towards the harbour. I followed, confused.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." her voice was clipped, sharp. Just as it had been those first few weeks I'd known her. Not the way it should've been with me.

I grabbed her elbow and twisted her to face me. "Reyna, what's going – Get down!"

A bronze knife came flying at us out of nowhere. The monsters were closing in again. This time accompanied by some demigods, and some big dudes carrying AK-47s.

"Let's just get the weapons and get out of here."

We ran for the Battery heading straight for Fort Sumter. We found the weapons, we made it out alive, and we were on our way back to camp alright.

But something had changed in Reyna. She was distant again, the tension and indifference that wasn't supposed to be there with me filled the space between us. I held on to her on our way back, but no matter how tightly I wrapped my arms around her, I couldn't stop her slipping through them. I could feel the walls going up around her and no matter how desperately I tore at the bricks, I couldn't stop the construction. "Reyna," I whispered, "Please don't go." It made no difference.

I didn't think it could possibly get any worse, that was, until we got home. It was so quiet like a thick blanket lay over the valley. As we drew closer, we realized it was because nobody was making a sound. Shock and grief surrounded the valley like a thick fog. And then out of the darkness, a flame erupted, right in the middle of camp. My heart throbbed, fear clawing at my throat. Had the titans invaded? No, they couldn't have. They'd have ripped the camp apart. It'd be noisy and bloody with the pomp of their celebrations.

Reyna must have noticed something before I did, because she gasped, "No!" Leaning low on Skippy's back, she led him into a nose-dive, landing just at the back of the crowd. They were gathered around a large bonfire.

We pushed our way through the crowd. Not a bonfire, a pyre. Ten pyres.

"No," Reyna cried. In the middle, the flames licking the wood around his body, lay Phillip, eyes closed. She stepped closer to his body. He was her mentor and the two had been close. I think Phillip had wanted her as his successor. I reached towards her, but a few people stepped between us.

"You must take his place," a girl was saying.

She shook her head. "No." But no one was listening. All around the voices raised in whispers. "Praetor Ramirez." No one saw the way her shoulders slumped forward. No one noticed the grief and fear settling in.