Oof, I didn't realize how short this chapter was... Whoops. It's a little bit of a filler chapter, but that's okay. Everyone needs a filler chapter once and a while. I should have the next chapter posted hopefully within the week, but it depends on how busy I'll be (probably very busy). The next two chapters are longer and there's more action, so that's something to look forward to. As always, reviews are my favorite thing ever.

~ArtemisFrimm

X.

They arrived in downtown Albuquerque and decided they would stop for dinner as they planned their next leg of the journey. Somehow, they had to figure out how they were going to reach Colorado Springs. They were already almost two days into their quest, and they still hadn't reached the starting point of their quest. Jason swore if they made it back to camp he would smack Octavian silly for all the trouble his plan had caused them.

They were looking for a restaurant, when the most wonderful smell Jason could imagine stopped him in his tracks. He'd had good Mexican food at camp, but the smell of fresh cilantro, fried pork, lime, and chili powder that was coming from the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant made him salivate.

Jason turned to Reyna. "Any objections?" he asked, not wanting a repeat of the Mormolyce incident.

"Let's go," she agreed. Even though it was only early in the evening, the restaurant was still bustling with people.

They made their way to the counter to order, and the cashier gave Reyna a soft smile, and started speaking to her in rapid-fire Spanish, which Reyna returned with ease. Jason didn't know why it surprised him so much that Reyna spoke Spanish, but for some reason it did. As Jason watched her speak with the woman at the counter, he realized that she seemed so much more relaxed speaking in Spanish than she did in English. It was like she had learned her militarism in English. It didn't carry over when she spoke Spanish.

Reyna payed for their food and the woman handed her a plastic number so they could wait for their food. "Let's sit," she said to him.

Reyna drummed her fingers along to a song that played over the restaurant speakers, and she had a soft smile on her lips. Jason didn't know her that well, but he felt like he was looking at a completely different Reyna.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish," Jason said.

Reyna furrowed her brows, "I'm from Puerto Rico," she said. "Of course I speak Spanish."

"I didn't know you were from Puerto Rico," Jason admitted.

Reyna nodded wistfully. "I grew up in San Juan. But I haven't been back there since I was nine. Hylla and I left right after our dad died."

"Where did you go after that?" Jason asked.

Before Reyna could answer, one of the restaurant workers brought over their food, and the question was left forgotten. Jason's mouth watered at the sight of the food. If it smelled this good, he could only imagine how good it tasted.

They inhaled their food in silence, both of them hungry from their journey. As they began slowing down, Jason thought about their journey ahead. "Okay, so how are we going to get to Colorado? I'm thinking flying is out of the question."

"Agreed," Reyna said, wiping her fingers off on the paper napkins. "Maybe bus?"

Jason shook his head. "No, it'll take forever going through the mountains."

Reyna thought for a moment, when something seemed to catch her eye. Jason turned and watched as the staff greeted a Latino man probably in his late forties as he walked into the restaurant and up to the counter. He chatted with the restaurant staff casually, and judging by how the staff spoke with him, Jason could assume the guy was a regular.

Reyna's eyes lit up as she listened to the man. "Wait here," she said to Jason. She got up and walked over to the man and began chatting with him in Spanish. They chatted for a few minutes and Jason saw her point in his direction. Jason couldn't understand what they were saying, but the man said something that left Reyna flustered; her cheeks flush, and she shook her head quickly. They spoke for a few more minutes and seemed to come to some agreement. Reyna walked back over.

"What was that all about?" Jason asked as she sat back down.

"I got us a ride to Colorado," Reyna replied casually. "You're welcome."

Jason couldn't help it, his jaw dropped. "Wait, what? You convinced him to give us a ride to Colorado?"

Reyna nodded. "The staff were asking him about it when he walked in. I told him we were trying to get to Colorado and he agreed to give us a ride."

"Just like that?" Jason asked. "That feels too easy."

"He asked if we were runaways," Reyna said. "I told him that we were foster siblings and we're running away from our crazy foster mom. I told him you have a cousin in Colorado who's going to take us in."

"And he believed you?" Jason asked incredulously.

Reyna shrugged. "He didn't ask any more questions. I told him we would pay for gas, so that seemed to help."

"What else did he say to you?" Jason asked.

Reyna frowned, "Nothing. That's it."

"Then why did your face turn all red while you were talking to him?" Jason asked.

A pink tinge returned to Reyna's cheeks and she scowled at him. "Nothing. It's not important."

Jason cracked a grin. "Are you sure? Because your face is turning red again."

She glared at him. "Shut up, Grace."

Jason didn't know why it was so amusing to see her get flustered; maybe because she was so serious and acted so aloof all the time. It was so unlike her to act embarrassed. But he figured it would be safer for him to drop the subject.

When the man finished eating he walked over to their table. He eyed Jason nervously, and then turned to Reyna and spoke to her in Spanish.

Reyna turned to translate for Jason. "He said that if we go with him, we're not allowed to talk to anybody. He doesn't want to get in trouble with the police for helping us to run away."

Jason looked at the man and nodded in agreement. "Okay."

The man didn't look quite thrilled to be transporting to minors across state lines, but he led them to his pickup truck. It was an old truck, with a bench seat in the front. Reyna sat in the middle and Jason sat by the window as they began their trip to Colorado.

Jason listened as the man chatted with Reyna in Spanish. He tried to pick up on what they were saying. He had heard that Spanish was a Latin-based language, so he figured since he knew Latin, maybe he could understand some of what they were saying, but he quickly realized that wasn't the case. He could catch very simple things. He heard her introduce their names, and he heard her say something about Puerto Rico, but other than that he couldn't understand much.

Occasionally Reyna would turn and translate for him, but for the most part, he was left out of the conversation. It was interesting listening to Reyna speak Spanish with this stranger though. She spoke more animatedly, and Jason was pretty sure she spoke more with the man than he had heard her speak her entire time at camp. Not for the first time, he realized just how little he knew about her.

The man turned on the radio, and an older-sounding Spanish ballad began playing over the radio. Reyna smiled, but her eyes looked distant and sad. "I haven't heard this song in years," she murmured.

"In Puerto Rico?" Jason asked.

She nodded wistfully. "Sometimes when our dad would get really bad, the owners of this little café by the beach would let Hylla and I would spend the night there. During the day they would play pop music for the tourists. But at night when they were closing, they would play these old ballads. Sometimes the owner would even sing along, or he would show Hylla how to dance."

"They sound like good people," Jason said quietly.

Reyna agreed silently, "They always tried to help us when they could. They'd always try to make me laugh."

They rode in silence, allowing the melody from the guitars to wash over them.

By some sort of divine miracle, they made it to Colorado without running into any monsters. It was already dark, but Reyna told their driver that they would meet Jason's cousin at the Garden of the Gods visitor center. The man seemed a little suspicious about leaving two children at an empty park visitor center at night, but he reluctantly dropped them off at the parking lot. They paid the man and thanked him for the ride. Finally, they could start their quest.

They made their way down the steep hill and across the street as they walked to the park entrance. "Why do I have a bad feeling we just used up our supply of good luck for the rest of this quest?" Jason asked as they crept through the empty parking lot.

"Oh definitely," Reyna agreed. She stared up at the huge rocks. Even in the dark they were impressive; rising out of the ground as tall as buildings. The desert air was cold, but the stars shined in the sky brighter than anything Jason had ever seen before.

"This park is huge," Reyna said. "How are we going to know where to look?"

Jason pulled out the map he had picked up at the park entrance. Flipping IVLIVS, he was able to use the faint glow from his sword to scan it for any clues. "Well, there's a rock formation called the 'sleeping giant,' so I have a very bad feeling that's going to be our starting point."

Reyna grimaced, "You don't think there'll be actual giants, do you?"

Jason sighed, "I really, really hope not, which means there probably will be. You ready to start this thing?"

"Only two days later," Reyna said. "Let's do this."