With the armrest between them and with the both of them too stubborn to show their discomfort, their knuckles brushed against each other's. Despite the usual comfort in flying her horse, Reyna shut her eyes and held on tight. The engine whirred so loud that it scared her, she was sure that it should not resemble the sound of a firing machine gun.

"Say something." The jitters in her stomach were not because of their uneasy descend. "You heard the captain."

Annabeth appeared to be calmly sitting beside her but Reyna knew the daughter of Athena was drowning in both thoughts and worry over the occurring system failure of the whole internet-verse. Her brows are all crunched up and her nose kept on twitching in a very endearing way like she was trying to conjure a solution by the magical gesture.

"Really? You're serious just because he said that talking might help?"

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Just take my mind off the fact that you might be wrong about that clearing be wide enough for the jet."

"I am never wrong." Then she hesitated, "About this kind of things."

The plane juddered.

"Fuck." Reyna did not mean to. "Gods forbid I die a very mortal death."

The turbulence made it all worse, Reyna nearly wanted to apologize to Annabeth in advance. If ever the jet gets stuck in the canopies and she did die, at least she had faced her demons already. The trees smashed and scraped violently against the body of the jet and it did not stop until they made contact and skidded painfully with the ground. The engines died and when they opened their eyes, it was Annabeth who was breathing aloud as if she just went out for a jog.

"Funny." There were fear tears in Reyna's eyes but she quickly hid it. "Won't you be the one who will soon crash land to Earth one day?"

"Shut up." Annabeth steadied her breathing, still with her hand clutching on Reyna's thigh. "Shut up."

The Greek's eyes were shut until the lights flickered back on, her knuckles were white and her lips quivered, almost losing the shade of red. Reyna had to fight the strong compulsion to inch closer to Annabeth.

She won't forgive you for what you've done. She chided herself.

"You have done Rome a great service." It was all for formalities that she had to but every time legacies and veterans help the camp, Reyna's just sincerely grateful. This is what she loved about Rome; its legacy never dies until there is Roman blood in the world. "For that, I thank you."

"For New Rome." Albert, their first pilot, nodded. "You sure you'll be okay, praetor? Back in my time, our praetors never travelled without extra bodies, let alone with a–"

"Thank you for flying us off here, captain." Annabeth beamed. "And don't worry, that's back in your time."

After a few proper courtesies, Reyna and Annabeth made their way but not longer than a few seconds, Reyna turned. The eerie silence with the shaft of lights from the jet did not add up with the spray of red in the air.

"Oh my god, Reyna!" Annabeth ran back to the jet.

Instinctively she followed Annabeth but her Roman guts were against running towards a seemingly open trap. Reyna cannot believe Annabeth saw the body first; she was already kneeling beside Albert's body, checking any vital signs.

Before she could get there, someone grabbed her by the hair. Yanking her back fully and almost snapping her neck. There was an ugly grunt that escaped her mouth.

Annabeth gasped, "Julius?"

What?

It was a horror to think that a legacy would betray the cause of New Rome, Reyna could not even fathom it. She wanted to break free which would have been easy for her and then squeeze an answer as to why he would kill a fellow Roman from this guy by force but the cold blade pressing against her neck made her reconsider her next move.

"They did not want to touch Camp Jupiter, believe me." Julius began, "but you really did have to interfere with their interests eh?"

Interests? "Who's they?"

"You're a Triumvirate demigod." Annabeth said. "I saw you in the Forum with the others."

"Your name, Julius." Reyna was stupid enough to get herself killed, literally. "You serve the Julio-Claudian emperors."

"Yeah, two of them are. The ones you met, The Beast and Little Boot."

"Nero and Gaius."

"My master you haven't met." Julius forced down the dagger a little deeper against her flesh. "Don't move Greek or your friend dies right now."

"Annabeth, don't." She commanded, if there was anything she learned from her hard life alone as praetor, it is you just cannot put your life on another's hands. "He's mine."

There was a sharp stinging pain that exploded in her neck but she managed to deliver a blow this traitor face, breaking his nose in the progress. The guy stumbled backwards but was still in a good stance to stab her. Reyna quickly readied herself, reached for her sword but before anything could happen, Annabeth beat her to it.

Reyna's world did not stop when Julius grinned and advanced to kill her but it did when golden hair flew past her face and covered her. Annabeth jumped in front of a blade for her and was able to sink the hilt of her sword into the bleeding face of the Triumvirate raised Roman.

Julius crumpled down but was still breathing.

"Albert is still alive too."

The relief was so good that Reyna almost cried. Annabeth dialed 911 and immediately aided her.

"It's just a scratch. The idiot did not even know how to–"

"He could have killed you and you know that." The feeling of Annabeth's fingers against her skin was all that she needed. "He's trained by your emperors themselves, it just happened that you maneuvered over him better."

"The emperors are not that skilled in combat, Chase." Reyna shrugged the compliment off. "We need to get out of here before the mortals show up."

They hastened their way to civilization and did not stop until the ever strange but comforting feeling of being around mortals was present in a local convenience store. While Annabeth whipped out a few cash for their canteen and for some first aid supplies, Reyna made a quick call for their ride, she gave him the familiar landmarks that he needed to find them.

When Annabeth was done shopping, Reyna was powerless to stop her from tending to her small gash. The Greek was so warm and Reyna did not mean the literal, everything about Annabeth was warm, like a hearth in her cold quarters. Everything was so cold and hurtful until this blonde crashed into her couch.

Reyna hated it. She hated what she just did. She hated herself.

"You found Jason's note in the temple of Diocletian."

"Tomb. Tomb of Diocletian." It was very out of the blue but Reyna did not need a question. "We both admired the emperor big time. He knew where I would definitely look at."

"Some empathic connection you two have."

There was a familiar tone to the way the Greek spat the words at her. Reyna knew it personally for she sounds the same way every time she forces herself to smile at a certain daughter of Aphrodite. It is not entirely jealousy but it is in between the fine line of being happy for Jason and being covetous of Piper.

"It's just the same way you knew Percy was alive for all those months apart."

The words hit Annabeth. She fell into grim, possibly remembering that she have a real boyfriend waiting for her to return soon. Well, sooner than soon actually.

"Why would the Triumvirate come after us?" Annabeth asked instead. "What did Julius mean about us interfering with their interest?"

"I could only guess." Reyna replied. "About harboring the demigods away from them? I don't know."

"Well, I guess Lycaon is not the only threat for you, we should get moving."

"No."

"What? Why?"

"I called in someone for a ride. We have to wait."

"Again?" Annabeth reeled back. "After Julius, you called a legacy we can't trust again?"

"Enough." Reyna's voice was authoritative. "Trust me, this one we can trust."

It has already been an hour and a half of waiting, Annabeth was restless and was starting to run a few know-it-all lines about what they should be doing at the moment and that includes finding Becca before anything major happens and getting out of here before another seemingly harmful mortal finds them and kills her.

The thought of her own death being in the hands of a fellow Roman did the job of making her panic. Reyna did not want to let it consume her at first because she used to think, Octavian would if weapons were allowed inside the city but not this way. Now, it was almost as if she finally knows how shocked and betrayed Julius Caesar felt.

"Roman." A new voice said.

Both of them was startled to see a teenage girl, eighteen or nineteen maybe, looking and smiling at Reyna.

"Senate and people of Rome." The girl was too suspicious to be a mortal, not only did she just knew what SPQR meant but also she understood Latin.

Annabeth was first to stand and cover Reyna the same way she did earlier. Reyna followed when Annabeth took out her intimidating bone sword. She cannot risk another scene in a public place.

"Step away." She told the girl whom smile has faltered. "Time to go, Reyna."

"Hey, geez." The girl was an inch smaller than Annabeth and she just stared at the ivory sword.

"Back off." Annabeth warned. "I know what she is, typical cheerleader demon vampires. They seduce boys before feeding on them."

Empousa. Reyna had heard stories of such creatures in the island when she was younger but something was not right, the girl seemed too physically normal. If she was a monster, an empousa, she would have to be much more attractive than this. The girl's disheveled pixie cut was hidden under her beanie, her freckles were a little conspicuous even from afar and she reeked of alcohol.

"I'm not a cheerleader, geez." She defensively slurred. "I'm a history major, I love Rome and I love girls, so no seducing boys for me."

Panic was building up in Reyna's face in disgrace, she pulled Annabeth by the arm to stop her but the Greek was too stubborn.

"Yeah right." Annabeth refused to back down.

"What? I can't love Rome? Jesus, you're such a bitch. Get that bat off my face."

That was when Reyna flushed red for the first time. They almost attacked an innocent mortal. How utterly shameful would that be? How was that for her praetor judgment?

The girl disappeared in the back racks.

"Where are you going, Reyna?" Annabeth stopped her. "We need to go."

"To go apologize for your rash behavior." Reyna replied. "You wait here for our ride."

She found the Rome loving girl half naked, trying on new tops in the end of the store. Apparently Reyna was right, the girl was drunk and the nasty stain on her prior shirt was not just water.

"Hi, excuse me?"

"Oh, Jesus!" She said. "Don't do that, you and your girlfriend should just stay away from me."

What the actual fuck? "What? No, she's not–we're not. I um, just came here to apologize for that awkward ah–"

"Then why is she so protective over you? My bad for hitting on a girl who likes Roman stuffs too."

Reyna was wondering the same thing but she does not need the puzzle pieces right now.

"She's a friend, I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah?" The girl dropped the clothes, walked around Reyna and cornered her against the stock room door. "How sorry are you?"

Reyna suddenly felt drunk as well, or should it be another term? "Pretty sorry."

"Good because you're–wait, you are into Rome too, right?"

The smile formed quickly, "Yes, I am Roman."