Leo
Leo couldn't deny that he had a crush on Meeka. He always got crushes on girls way out of his league. Why should she be any different. Meeka was pretty, with her pale skin and dark black eyes. She was shy, which made Leo even more determined. And she was different. Not as uptight as Thalia or as cold as Khione.
She referred to Leo as "Fire Boy." She and Piper were pretty close, too. She never really talked to anyone but Piper.
Right now they were back in Rome, looking for Annabeth or Nico. Percy was a nervous wreck, worried about Annabeth. Hazel was worried about Nico, her brother.
It didn't help when they got an Iris Message from a puffy-eyed Clarisse.
"What's up, Clarisse?" Percy asked. "Have you been crying?"
"It's Reyna!" she said, tears in her eyes.
"What about Reyna?" Jason asked, worried about his old friend.
"Octavian, that brat, killed her!" It took a second for that to sink in.
"What?" Percy demanded. "She's gone? Who's leading the camp?"
"Octavian! The Romans think we killed her, and elected him praetor! They're going to kill the Greeks tonight!"
"Get out of there!" Percy shouted. "Get the camp and go, before the kill you guys!"
"Already ahead of you," Clarisse said. "Travis and Connor stole some of the weapons to delay them, but that won't stop them. We're gonna go back to Camp Half-blood."
"But that's all the way across the country!" Percy said, shocked.
"What's your plan? We don't have Piper to tell them to stop, and Octavian's their new leader!" Clarisse exclaimed.
"Tell them I said to stop! I'm praetor, too," Percy said.
"Who are they gonna listen to? Their Roman leader they've known for a long time or the new Greek leader who's campers apparently killed Reyna?" Clarisse asked. "We have to go, Percy. Dakota's helping us by distracting them. Percy, I think Octavian's on Gaea's side and is gonna make the Romans go on that side."
"Dang," Percy muttered.
Clarisse noticed Meeka. "Who's the chick?"
"I'm Meeka. I'm the seventh member," Meeka said.
"Oh," she said. "Well, we better go. Hope I'll see ya later." With that said, Clarisse waved a hand through the mist.
"I can't believe Reyna's dead," Hazel said. Frank put an arm around her.
Meeka was really quiet. She was Hazel's friend and normally would comfort her in this situation. But she looked like an Athena kid thinking.
"She isn't dead," Meeka finally said. Leo gave her confused look. "What do you mean?"
She grabbed her IPod and unlocked it. She pulled up an app and showed them a list. "My dad started sending me a list of complete deaths after he got free from Gaea. She isn't on this list. Where was she buried?"
"Um, usually we honor fallen campers setting them into the River. Neptune usually takes care of them," Jason said.
Meeka opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly an explosion rocked the boat. A female voice called, "Hazel Levesque!"
Hazel looked like she had seen a ghost. "Mom?"