Whoo, look at me! On time AND 5,000 words. And here's some more good news - the next chapter is almost done, too. BAM!

Thanks for the reviews, guys! Kind of a fun chapter here. Enjoy!

And when I get hazy / I will think, just maybe
You're out there somewhere

True to Jason's prediction, Reyna was kept relatively busy during her short stay in New York. The upside to this was that she didn't see Octavian much, which was a welcome relief, though that changed on Friday when a heavy rainstorm rolled rather suddenly into the city and they were confined within the magical, weather-blocking borders of Camp Half-Blood. Octavian insisted on spending most of the day with her, which wasn't too bad given that the two of them weren't alone. It was a little funny, actually, because it meant he was forced to participate when Annabeth kidnapped Reyna, Frank, and Hazel to sort the guest gifts into boxes corresponding to the seating chart that evening.

"I hope this doesn't keep up all weekend," Annabeth complained when they'd finished, chewing her lip as she glanced out the window of Cabin Six toward the distant darkened sky. "Might complicate things tomorrow."

As they stacked the boxes, Octavian said with a hint of disdain, "Why doesn't Jason just stop it?"

The comment was undoubtedly meant to be sarcastic, but Annabeth replied thoughtfully, "If worst comes to worst, he might have to. Or at least lighten it a bit. I'd hate to have him tired for the reception, though, so it'd really be best if it stopped on its own by morning." Reyna saw Octavian's jaw tighten as he glanced at the ceiling in disbelief, perhaps doubting Jason could actually pull off such a task despite Annabeth's apparent assurance. No one else seemed to notice.

"Well, we should probably get going," Annabeth said as she stacked the last box on top of a pile of its brothers. "A little storm isn't gonna stop the rehearsal. It may increase traffic, though, and we're due there in an hour. Let's round everybody up."

As Annabeth led the way out of her cabin, Reyna casually took Octavian's hand and told him, "Guess I'll see you at the wedding tomorrow."

"I still think you should stay here tonight," he argued with a frown.

"I can't, all our things for tomorrow are already at the hotel. Come on, it's only a few hours."

"But I've barely seen you at all the past few days."

"The whole reason we came early was because Hazel, Frank, and I are in the wedding party," Reyna pointed out with a sympathetic smile (or a good impression of one, anyway). "We knew we'd be kept busy. Look, two more days and we'll be on our way home. Then we can spend as much time together as you want."

She saw a tiny smirk stretch his mouth as he squeezed her hand a little too hard. "Promise?"

No, she wanted badly to respond. Instead, she answered, "Of course." With a smile, he leaned down to press a quick kiss to her lips before they parted ways and she rushed to catch up with the others.

Hazel and Frank had split off to gather the other members of the wedding party, so Reyna followed Annabeth toward the Big House. "You really don't like him, do you?" Annabeth muttered to her as they fell into step beside one another.

"Sure I do," Reyna argued, but when Annabeth raised a skeptical eyebrow she offered a wry smile in admission and shook her head.

Annabeth gave a short sigh. "So why do it? You know, if you don't mind my asking."

"Long story," Reyna answered, not particularly wanting to get into the finer details of her situation. "But trust me when I say I have my reasons."

"I'm sure you do. I guess that means any hints on who you're cheating with are out of the question, too?"

"For now," Reyna replied. "Sorry."

Annabeth shook her head with a smile. "It's okay. I mean, yeah, I'm curious, but it's not really my business. I'm your friend. I don't want to make you uncomfortable by prying."

Reyna returned her smile. For a second she actually considered coming clean—who knew? It might have felt good to get the truth out, even just to one person. But before she could decide, they ran into Jason, Percy, and Chiron just as Hazel caught back up to them with her half-brother, Nico di Angelo, and Jason's sister Thalia in tow and suddenly their group quadrupled in size. Somehow, Reyna no longer felt like sharing.

Once the group was gathered, they took a camp van and set off at once for the rehearsal. The storm did indeed slow them down and they ended up arriving a little later than planned, much to Annabeth's displeasure. The hall's employees didn't seem to mind much, however—probably owing to the amount of money this particular wedding was bringing in. The ceremony was being held at a beautiful and expensive event hall in Times Square, which was designed to house roughly twice as many guests as they would have. Reyna almost groaned when she saw the aisle they would have to walk down—from the entrance, it seemed to be half a mile long. She thought that might have been a bit excessive.

"This is actually a step down," Percy, who was her groomsman escort, told her when she voiced this observation as they watched Annabeth and Leo make the long trek to where Jason and Chiron stood waiting at the front of the hall. "Piper's mom wanted to book the Plaza. I don't know if you've ever seen the Plaza's Grand Ballroom, but it makes this place look like a doghouse. You could fit a friggin' cathedral in there."

Reyna shook her head in disbelief. "Sounds like Aphrodite had a lot of big expectations for this wedding that didn't really pan out."

Percy shot her a sideways smirk in amusement. "You noticed, huh? Honestly, I'm kind of surprised she's still paying, especially since Zeus and Hera won't let her come."

At this, Reyna blinked in surprise. "She wanted to come to the wedding?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? She might show up anyway, though. Wouldn't put it past her, with how into this she's been."

"You… think so?" Reyna glanced down in discomfort. She didn't exactly spend a lot of time sharing space with gods, apparently unlike her friends at the Greek camp. And of all immortals, the goddess of love might have been the least welcome to her at the present time. After all, she was currently battling with a very complicated love-related dilemma. And, being omniscient, there was a chance Aphrodite knew all about it.

Reyna hadn't spoken to Leo alone since the night at Bunker Nine when she'd been introduced to his automaton dragon. She wanted some time away from him to try and put words to her feelings, but rather than assurance the separation was only giving her frustration. She couldn't stop thinking about him, and it was distracting her more than she wanted to admit. If she acted on those feelings, she was afraid they would only get stronger, more prominent. But if she didn't, could she ever completely forget them? She had a feeling that before long she would slip up and someone—quite possibly Octavian—would figure it out. The last thing she needed was the goddess of love speeding that up by outing her in front of everybody.

"I wouldn't worry," Percy said when she stayed silent, obviously picking up on the sudden tenseness in her body. "If she does show, she'll be so busy obsessing over Piper and Jason, she won't be paying any attention to the rest of us."

Reyna looked up at him, wondering if he somehow knew what she was going through—if Annabeth had perhaps told him about the affair that had come up during their outing the previous day. But the look in his eyes was simple and friendly, not knowing or critical. Relieved, she smiled at him as a silent thank-you. It was nice of him to reassure her even though he didn't fully understand the reason.

"That's good." She shot a glance down the aisle toward Jason. "Well, maybe not for them." Percy snorted wryly in agreement.

When the hall representative behind them informed them that it was their turn, Percy held his left arm out to Reyna and asked with a light smirk, "Ready for the marathon?"

Corner of her mouth lifting, she linked her arm with his and said, "Just think, we get to do this all over again tomorrow."

He made a face as they started walking. "Ugh… Dressed up, too. Yippee."

Reyna gave a muffled laugh and said teasingly, "How are you gonna survive when you and Annabeth get married?"

Percy cringed like Reyna had just stomped on his foot. "She's got you backing her now, too?"

With a frown, she asked, "Backing her on what?"

He shook his head. "All this wedding stuff is getting her overexcited. She keeps dropping me not-so-subtle hints that she wants another wedding—soon." He glanced ahead toward where his girlfriend was standing, dark eyebrows drawing together. "It's not that I don't want to marry her, it's just… All this." His eyes slid toward the ceiling, then back to meet Reyna's. "It's a bit much, you know? Kind of… intimidating."

"Yeah, it is," she agreed. She wished there was something better she could say in reply, to try and reassure him as he'd done for her minutes ago, but she was hardly an expert on relationships. She was barely familiar with them at all. Plus, his problem had her once again thinking about her own—what if she was like Annabeth, wanting something from someone who wasn't quite ready to give it? Did Leo mean more to her than she did to him? He seemed to like spending time with her; of that much she was relatively certain. But he was always so lighthearted and relaxed during that time. If he'd developed any more serious feelings for her, wouldn't there be some sign? Shouldn't something have changed by now?

Unnerved, Reyna shook that thought off as she and Percy reached the podium and Chiron instructed them to separate, showing them where to stand for the remainder of the ceremony as, at the other end of the aisle, Hazel and Frank began their long walk. When Reyna took her place beside Annabeth, the maid of honor leaned toward her and whispered, "What were you guys talking about?"

Forcing a smile, Reyna replied, "Nothing. Just how big this place is."

Annabeth's eyes seemed to light up as she grinned. "I know. Beautiful, isn't it? I wish I could get married in a hall like this—not that I expect it, though. My mother's one of the maiden goddesses, so the chances of her footing the bill are slim to none. Still… It's nice to dream." She sighed wistfully and Reyna chuckled under her breath. Apparently, Percy hadn't been kidding about her.

The ceremony rehearsal was a pretty straightforward affair, with Chiron and the hall representatives making sure everyone knew when to go where, when to say what, and so on. By the time they finished and left the hall to visit the Manhattan hotel which was to hold the reception, they were disappointed to discover that the storm outside hadn't let up. Reyna was starting to agree with Annabeth—rushing to and from the van through the downpour was hard enough in street clothes. It'd be a nightmare in formal wear.

When they reached the hotel and gathered in the exhibit hall, they suffered through more informative discussion before they were finally able to sit down to a dinner everyone was more than ready for. Reyna almost took a seat at Jason and Piper's end of the long table that had been set up just for tonight, but when she realized that would have placed her directly across from Leo she instead moved down to the opposite end and sat down between Chiron and Nico, across from Frank. She pretended not to notice when Leo shot her an odd look.

Partway through dinner, Annabeth got up to make a toast, delivering some nice and articulate sentiments regarding her friendship with Jason and Piper and how happy she was for them. She punctuated the short speech with a light-hearted comment about how long they'd been together and how that alone was evidence enough that they were ready to take the next step, to which Jason and Piper smiled in agreement and, surprisingly, Percy jumped violently with a loud "Ow!" He grumbled something about biting his tongue, but Reyna suspected Annabeth had kicked him rather hard under the table.

"What was that about?" Nico wondered aloud as Annabeth sat down and gave her scowling boyfriend an innocent smile.

"No idea," Reyna lied into her champagne flute.

"Probably just our karma," Frank spoke up. "Things have gone pretty smoothly up 'til now, right? Maybe we're due for a mishap or two."

"Don't jinx us," Hazel scolded him from the next seat over, pointing her fork at his face. "Or the next thing you know, we'll have—"

"Does anybody else feel that?" her brother interrupted her, sitting up straight as his dark eyes shiftily surveyed the room. Hazel shot Frank a flat look as if to say, See?

At the end of the table, Chiron set down his fork and knife, a frown creasing his features. "Do you sense something?"

"Yeah," Nico responded carefully. He slowly slid his chair backward. "You guys might wanna—"

They never heard his suggestion, though, because at that moment the heavy entrance doors swung open and a gale force wind tore into the room, instantly knocking over the smaller tables and chairs set about. Reyna threw her arms over her head as their tablecloth (and everything on it) was shoved aside and the lights above her flickered, air roaring by her ears. Somewhere nearby, Frank shouted, "Wow, invoking karma really is a bad thing!"

"I told you!" Hazel yelled back.

Suddenly the wind was accompanied by a loud screeching sound and Reyna looked up to see at least a dozen wild harpies glide into the hall, riding the wind like a roller coaster. On their tail was a woman—at least, something shaped like a woman. Her body was comprised of swirling, black smoke and her eyes flashed like lightning. As she stepped through the open doorway, huge, black wings stretched from her back and almost reached the ceiling.

"A storm spirit?" Annabeth recognized the creature.

Beside Reyna, Nico cursed in ancient Greek. "I knew that storm wasn't natural!"

The storm spirit cackled in a high-pitched, gusty voice, raising her smoky arms above her head. "Fly, my pretties!" she called to the harpies.

Somewhere to Reyna's left, Leo cracked up and yelled, "Seriously?"

The storm spirit ignored him. "And feast! Demigod for everyone!"

"Aw, here we go…" Nico complained as everyone scrambled up from the table. Chiron climbed out of his wheelchair, freeing the bow and quiver strapped to his horse back. Thalia produced a silver set of the same weapons from her camouflage-printed backpack and shot down one of the harpies just as it swooped to snap threateningly at Hazel. Annabeth and Piper pulled daggers from their jackets. Percy brandished a ballpoint pen than morphed rapidly into a bronze sword as Jason flipped a coin that suddenly became a gold one. Frank jumped onto the table before transforming himself into a cheetah and leaping skyward, closing his teeth around the nearest harpy and causing it to explode into amber dust.

Reyna ducked low as one harpy dive-bombed her. It hit the table instead and sniffed at an overturned dinner plate, giving her time to whip the knife from the jacket hung on her chair and stab it pointedly in the back. She'd barely stood straight before a gust of wind caused her to stumble and something heavy slammed into her back, sharp claws digging into her shoulder. She was knocked to the ground, but the second she hit it a blaze of heat whooshed above her and the weight of her attacker disappeared.

"Damn little fireproof pigeons," Leo's voice grumbled angrily as a pair of hands gripped Reyna and dragged her back to her feet. "It just had to be harpies." She looked over her shoulder to see the dazed harpy that'd tackled her roll off of its side. The force of Leo's fire must have pushed it backward, but, being immune to heat just as he was, it didn't seem particularly injured. The cow hammer Leo hurled at its head a second later, however, was a lot more effective.

"You okay?" he asked Reyna after the harpy dissolved from existence.

"Fine," she replied, barely able to hear him over the wind. She yanked her arm from his grasp, not needing the swooping sensation in her chest to draw her attention from the matter at hand.

His eyebrows angled together, but thankfully he didn't question her. They didn't have time, really, because the next second a flying cheetah came careening by and crashed into them, bowling them both to the carpet.

"Sorry!" Frank shouted once he'd regained his usual form. "Word of advice—don't charge the storm spirit!"

Reyna didn't wait around for more discussion. A monster fight was actually just what she needed to vent some frustration. It had been a while since she'd participated in one, after all.

She grabbed her knife from where it was still stuck blade-first in the table and flipped it in her hand, ducking as a stray arrow swept over her head and vaulting over the table to get to the nearest harpy. It noticed her at the last second, turning to swat its winged claws at her face. She dodged and deftly drove her knife into its stomach, reducing it to dust. She sliced the squat head off of another one as Nico bisected one with a black dirk to her left and Thalia peppered another with arrows to her right. Across the room, she saw Jason distracting the storm spirit by causing her own winds to swirl about her, wrapping her smoky hair around her head like a turban, as Percy quietly snuck up behind her. Reyna had been hoping for a little bit of a challenge, but this clearly wasn't the fight for that—by the time the next few seconds passed, all of the harpies had been eliminated and the storm spirit had been sliced in half by Celestial bronze. All that remained were a mess of overturned tables, a layer of sparkling gold dust, and a few charred orange feathers.

"Well, that was fun," Leo said, brushing gold particles from his hair. "Good work, team."

Chiron shook his head as he lowered himself back into his magic wheelchair. "Yes, well handled," he added distractedly, eyeing the mess they'd made.

Next to Reyna, Annabeth sheathed her knife in her jacket. "Remember what I said the other day?" she asked wryly, leaning toward Reyna and pointing first to Percy, then to Nico, then to Jason, and finally to Thalia. "Can't take them anywhere."

"What in the…?" a slightly hysterical voice said, drawing everyone's attention to the open entrance doorway, where a woman in a pinstriped skirt suit was standing with her mouth open in awe.

"Um, we can pay for this!" Piper insisted hastily, stepping forward and hiding her weapon. "It was, uh… Well, we were just a bit excited." She gave a nervous laugh. "You know how it is when you party too hard. You can, um… just leave everything to us." The woman blinked and looked at Piper, nodding vaguely. Affected by the commanding magic in the daughter of Aphrodite's voice, she turned and strode back out of the hall. As soon as she'd gone, Piper let out a beleaguered sigh. "Guess I'd better go call my mom."

"I'll come with you," Jason volunteered, following her toward the side door which led into the kitchen.

"Look on the bright side," Percy said with a shrug once they'd gone. "Literally." He pointed to the nearest window, outside which the sun was shining as though the storm had been over for hours. "No more rain." Annabeth chuckled and punched him on the arm, though nowhere near as hard as she could have. It seemed the brief battle had alleviated some of her frustrations, too.

Reyna helped the others right some of the fallen tables and chairs and dispose of what monster and food remains that they could, before excusing herself to go wash the dust from her hair and clothes—which turned out to be a more difficult task than she'd predicted. She really wished creatures didn't have to explode as insistently as they did.

When she exited the bathroom, she found a surprise waiting for her in the hall—Leo was leaning against the wall beside the door. He glanced up as she froze in her tracks and asked, "Got a sec?"

She glanced over his shoulder toward the hall where the others were presumably still hanging out. "Not really," she answered.

He clucked his tongue and shook his head. "I knew you'd say that. Too bad." He stepped away from the wall and grabbed her arm, guiding her through a nearby door and into what looked like a small storeroom. He flicked on the light, illuminating stacks of metal and wooden chairs lining the walls, and fixed Reyna with a pointed stare. "Alright, what's going on? You're acting weird."

Reyna folded her arms. She didn't particularly want to have this conversation. "No, I'm not," she replied shortly.

But he wasn't about to let her get away with just that. "Yes, you are. You're avoiding me. You think I couldn't tell?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, we do have a secret to keep, remember? If we act close, people are gonna notice."

"People are noticing," Leo pointed out, taking a step closer to Reyna. "Jason actually asked me earlier if I did something to tick you off 'cause you wouldn't even look at me. I didn't know what to tell him." He spread his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Did I?"

"No, of course not," Reyna argued, waving a hand and looking sideways.

"There you go again." He stepped around her and ducked into her line of vision, trying to make eye contact.

Reyna turned around and paced aimlessly, tapping a hand on the nearest stack of chairs. "Honestly, I'm just stressed with all this wedding stuff. I'm sorry if I've seemed distant. I'm just distracted."

"…Alright," Leo said after a minute, sounding unconvinced but apparently willing to let it drop. "Well, least it'll all be over soon and we'll be on our way back to California."

"But for how long?" Reyna retorted before she could stop herself. She bit down on her tongue, immediately wishing she hadn't spoken. There was no taking that question back.

"What?" he said from behind her.

She breathed a sigh and turned to face him. Might as well own up to the door she'd opened. "The building project is almost over," she explained. "Soon enough, you're gonna have to come back here. To stay. Right?"

Now it was his turn to glance downward, forehead creased in a frown. "Yeah…"

Reyna took a deep breath. It hurt to bring up the prospect of his leaving her for good, but that more than anything gave her the push she needed to get the rest of her thoughts out into the open. "Maybe it'll be better if we just end this now," she said leadenly.

Leo lifted his head and met her eyes. "You… want to?"

"No," she admitted truthfully, "but… that's why I need to. I have too many responsibilities back home. I can't deal with you anymore."

At this, his eyes narrowed a fraction and his body seemed to tense. "Deal with me?" he repeated.

The vaguely offended look on his face pulled painfully at something in Reyna's chest, which only fueled her frustration. "Yes!" she blurted, her voice turning edged. "I've had enough."

His jaw muscles tightened and he clenched his hands at his sides. "Fine," he shot back. "If this is too much for you—"

"It is!" she snapped, trying very hard not to let her voice rise too much in volume. "I've had it with you! You, with your jokes and your grin and your fire and your stupid way of making me forget everything bad about my life! This has to stop because it's gotten too hard to ignore and I know you'll be leaving before long and I can't—"

Her voice faltered as a hard lump rose in her throat. Eyes stinging, she spun around (though not before catching the alarmed look on Leo's face) and leaned over a short stack of chairs, swallowing hard and forcing the tears breaching her eyes back. She wanted to let them fall, to let her anger out all at once because she finally understood the truth—she was in love. It didn't matter if he felt as strongly as she did. Because as much as she dreaded the time when the building project back home would end, she also realized now that squandering the time she had left would be one of the worst decisions she could ever make. She wished she hadn't yelled at Leo and she wished she hadn't told him they had to stop seeing each other, but now that the words were out, was it possible for her to take them back?

Reyna felt a gentle hand on her shoulder as Leo's voice said softly, "Reyna…" and a powerful wave of emotion rushed through her like an incoming tide, spreading from the place where he touched her. She spun around without giving a response and threw herself against him, kissing him so hard her teeth jabbed painfully at the inside of her top lip. He seemed startled at first as she thrust her arms over his shoulders, one hand gripping his hair and the other squeezing his shirt over his left shoulder blade, fingers digging into his skin and picking up flecks of gold dust he hadn't brushed off. But before long base instinct took over and she felt his arms encircle her, hands sliding down her back and holding her tightly. She let him push her backward until her back collided noisily with a stack of metal chairs, barely aware of the twinge of physical pain as her tongue fought for conquest over his, nearly burned by the familiar and raging heat in his mouth. His hands pushed up the hem of her shirt to slide under it without removing it and she wrapped one of her legs around the back of his, leaning into him with her hips.

So lost in exhilaration, she refused to separate from him until her lungs were screaming for smoke-free air. When finally she did, she pulled him closer to lean over his shoulder—partly because somewhere inside she was afraid to see his face. Her chest heaved against his; his breath was hot and smoky next to her ear. She let herself forget the uncertainty she'd dwelled on recently and instead let the opposite sink in—the certainty of what she was feeling right there and then. She made a decision that the future didn't matter. She wasn't going to throw away the present for anything.

"You, uh…" Leo muttered breathlessly, pulling back just enough to see her face, "really wanna break this off?"

Reyna met his eyes, ensnared by the dark, intense fire in them. "No," she whispered a little hoarsely.

"Good," he replied immediately, before ducking his head and bringing his mouth to the crease between her jaw and neck. She leaned her head back, heart racing, and maneuvered her grip to slide her hands over his arms, shoving up the sleeves of his T-shirt and grasping at his shoulders. She'd missed the feel of his muscles under her fingers, each tendon moving as his hands crept lower down her spine, fingers pressing tiny circles against the small of her back—the way he knew she liked—and his lips pulled at the skin of her throat. She closed her eyes as he trailed kisses down her collar, feeling all the tension in her limbs vanish like all the stress she'd felt over the last few days had never existed in the first place.

Slowly the general facts of her situation trickled back into Reyna's consciousness and she remembered exactly where they were. "We should get back," she suggested, hating herself a little for bringing it up.

"Uh-huh," Leo replied absently, pushing her hair aside to bare her collarbone.

"Careful," she breathed with a playful smile he didn't see, swatting him on the shoulder. "Strapless dress tomorrow."

He laughed against her neck, making her skin tingle. A spark of cold angled through her as he gave in and stood up straight, but it vanished when she glanced up into his eyes and he grinned comfortably at her. His easy smile pushed any remaining shreds of doubt from her mind. No one else ever looked at her like that. And she loved it.

She loved him.

A tiny voice in her brain entertained the idea of telling him, but she found it surprisingly easy to ignore. She was happy again with the way things were. What would be the point in risking that?

So without another word, Reyna and Leo fixed each other's disheveled hair and clothes and left the cluttered storeroom, returning to the reception hall and their friends as though nothing had transpired at all.

-0-0-0-

The wedding party had plans to stay at the reception hotel that night, to make the morning commute to the ceremony hall in Times Square easier. Piper's mother had evidently booked a couple of rooms on one of the top few floors for the ten of them (Chiron insisted on going back to Camp Half-Blood, not wanting to leave the place unattended overnight) to share.

Reyna was a little surprised to discover that she'd been awarded her own room, given that most of her friends had been doubled up. When she mentioned this to Piper, who was showing her to her assigned place, the bride-to-be only shrugged.

"Maybe my mom knows you're not really the sleepover type," she suggested.

They were standing in the hall and Piper had just inserted the keycard into the door slot when suddenly the door of the next room over opened from the inside and Jason, Percy, and Leo stepped out, all laughing about something.

"Oh, hey, guys," Piper greeted them with a smile and a wave.

"Whoa, Piper," Percy said upon seeing her. He immediately grabbed Jason from behind, slapping a hand over his eyes and turning him away from his fiancée. "Warn us next time. It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride the night before the wedding."

"What? Really?" Jason said in alarm, steadying himself but keeping his back to Piper.

Percy shrugged. "I don't know, that's what Annabeth says. I've learned it's best not to doubt her. Bad luck is the last thing people like us need." Shooting a grin over his shoulder, he added a "Later, guys!" before leading Jason down the hall and out of sight.

Piper rolled her eyes. "That's a stupid superstition. But, uh… don't tell Annabeth I said that." With a brief (and nervous) smile, she looked over Leo's shoulder and asked, "So who's staying here?"

"Just me," Leo replied. "Frank and Nico are a few rooms down, and Percy and Jason are around the corner."

"Really…" Piper muttered, eyes shifting toward Reyna and narrowing just barely noticeably. Reyna held her gaze calmly, though inside she felt a flicker of worry. Something about this situation was a little too perfect. She hoped Piper didn't pick up on it.

"Well, anyway," Piper went on after a second, handing Reyna her keycard, "remember, the limos are picking us up at one tomorrow. We'll meet in the lobby a little before that. Make sure you're ready."

"Okay," Reyna agreed as Leo gave Piper a salute.

"Cool." Piper grinned at them both. "Sleep well!" She waved to them before turning and jogging back down the hall, disappearing around the corner a few seconds later.

Reyna glanced at Leo. It was sinking in now that the two of them were in neighboring rooms, both without roommates, and none of their friends in the immediate vicinity. "So…" she began airily, twirling the room key in her hands.

Leaning his shoulder against the doorframe of his room, Leo knocked on the wall behind him. The sound was dull and low, without echo.

"Thick walls," he said observationally. He gave her a sideways smirk and slowly she smiled. Who needed a full night's sleep, anyway?

"Pride and hunger will ever be at variance."
—Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

This is where these end quotes really start to relate to the chapters, heh heh. The next one's one of my favorites. Extremely relevant.

Anyway, I didn't edit this one overly-much, so hopefully it's okay. I'll probably go back through and hunt for errors a little later. But for now, I'mma just leave it here.

How 'bout a review? Like I said, next chapter's almost done (seriously... I'm like three paragraphs away. I just took a break from writing to post this one before my shift ends). It's pretty intense. I like it a lot. Though, honestly, all the next three chapters leading through the end are gonna be intense. Hehe.

Later days!

-oMM