Hello again! Sorry I haven't been writing this week, but again tech week. Not only was I up til 11 o'clock every night working on the show, but afterward it took me an hour to get all of the crud they put in my hair out(you really don't want to know). Since this is my first time on a computer this week please tell me if there are inconstancies. Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 21

Reyna

When Reyna woke in the morning, her nerves were on end. She had a quest to go on, something to do. The night before she had packed her satchel which was now almost customary for quests. She had used the bag on her first quest when she was ten. It had been easy, all she'd had to do was kill some ancient pig her father wanted dead. It wasn't even a mythological one, it had just so happened to run over her father's favorite collection of of spears, broke them all into splinters. Mars had had an easy enough time fixing them, he had just wanted revenge on the boar that did it. So off she had gone proud to be on her first quest. The quest had gone well and ever since she used that very same pack to go on any quest she went on. It was a dull brown, the stitching worn, and magically enlarged by some forgotten spell. Reyna had found it lying in the storage tent and taken it. By now it had more rips than it had when she had first picked it up and she had clumsily stitched it together. Jason had always laughed to see her trying to mend the cloth. Katie had helped of course, that girl had seemed to be good at everything.

Anyway, the satchel was packed with some nectar, ambrosia, money, weapons, a few books on monsters just in case, some mortal and immortal money, and spare clothes. Hazel was coming so no healing potions or salves needed to be put in. Only thing Reyna was worried about with Hazel coming along was the fact that she would probably bring her guitar. That would be troubling. Another worry was where they were heading. Something about the prophecy was hinting at it: He keeps father from embracing the mother for if they do the world comes undone. It sounded familiar but Reyna couldn't put her finger on it. Otherwise she had no clue.

She was absorbed in these thoughts as she put on the belt that held her gladius, which otherwise doubled as the only safe cell phone for demigods to use. Then swinging the satchel over her shoulder, Reyna left her tent and walked toward Hazel's tent. Loverboy Percy could wait. Hazel would need help consolidating what she packed. The girl liked to be prepared for everything, and that literally meant everything. For example, when Reyna first walked in the girl's tent, Apollo's daughter was holding two bottles and muttering to herself, "Are we more likely to be burned by fire or acid? Not sure, better bring both." Carefully she but the bottles in a large box that was almost full. Reyna looked inside and gave an exasperated sigh. Hazel jumped about five feet in the air not having notice that Reyna had walked in. About thirty bottles were in the box along with five rolls of bandages, a few splints, a needle and thread for stitches, cotton balls, and some small operational tools.

"We're not going to war with five hundred fighters Hazel," Reyna informed her friend with a chuckle.

"We might as well," Hazel retorted, "Honestly at least in battle we know what to prepare for. On a quest though you never know what you'll run into so you pretty much should prepare for everything." Reyna just laughed. "And don't be mad at me for packing so much," Hazel continued putting the rest of her medical instruments in the box and shutting it, "I had one of the Parcae kids give all my belongings the ability to do this." Hazel snapped her fingers. The box shrank to the size of what was the size of a charm for charm bracelet. Hazel put it on a bracelet that Reyna recognized as Katie's.

"Where'd you get that?" Reyna asked. Katie had been burned to a crisp so where had the bracelet come from? Hazel looked at the bracelet and some emotion passed over her face. Then another and another until finally her face set in an emotionless mask. The girl looked up at Reyna.

In a monotone the girl said, "Katie gave it to me before . . ." The mask flickered and such mishmosh of expressions seemed to fight for control over Hazel's face. Once again she gained control of it then she continued, "Before she died." Reyna nodded understanding. The poor girl to lose her sister then have her father curse her. Reyna of course had to pretend to disapprove of it, but seeing the damage Reyna knew that Hazel had no chance of saving her sister. Though they all wished Katie was still there, Reyna knew Hazel was more necessary. She had saved more lives than there were things saved on quests.

Hazel had gone to get the rest of her stuff. When she came up she had her guitar. "Hazel you are not bringing that. There is no . . ." She stopped saying how it was too bulky to travel with as the guitar shrank like the box had. Reyna rolled her eyes which Hazel apparently saw.

"Hey," the girl said indignantly, "And song unite us all, we may actually need it."

"Yeah," Reyna sighed, "but unite who?"

Hazel muttered something. Reyna was about to ask what she had said when the tent flap was pushed open. In came Dakota, a rather distracted son of Bacchus who was on the patrol this morning, came running in. Coming to a sort stop, he informed her in between gasped breaths, "Commander . . . Harpies in the forest . . ."

"And?" Reyna asked. There were always harpies in the forest, why should this concern her?

" . . . And the new kid . . . the son of Neptune . . . was walking where they . . . were spotted," Dakota continued. With that Reyna jumped to her feet and got her weapons. Hazel had just walked in from the medical tent where she had gone at some unknown point in time with a can of soda. Only Reyna and Jason knew that Hazel mixed ambrosia with that drink. This way no one would think to filch it and they could be sure no one would burn up from drinking too much. The cokes only had a drop after all. Nodding to Hazel, Reyna ran out of the tent and toward the forest. She could see where the Harpies were swarming and ran toward it. She prayed to the gods that they weren't attacking the new kid. He was a good fighter but it wasn't like he was invincible or anything like that.

Reyna tore through the camp. Everyone was going about their daily business ignoring the winged women. These types of things happened all the time. No one knew a quester was in the forest or that Reyna had a feeling he was vital to the quest. Upon reaching the forest Reyna sped up since there were no people blocking her. Periodically she looked up, making sure she was heading in the right direction. The cloud of Harpies seemed to be thinning, something Reyna had never seen without bloodshed. She was getting closer, praying to any god who would listen the idiot boy wasn't dead. Pulling out her gladius she turned to the clearing where the Harpies were attacking and blanched.

There was Percy, brandishing his sword like it was a part of him, just another limb. He was amazing to watch, taking out several Harpies with each stroke, as though he were some sort of Harpy killing machine. It seemed as though it were raining the dust that the Harpies became when destroyed and a thin layer of it was covering the forest's undergrowth. Reyna just watched amazed. Finally, it seemed that there were no more Harpies for him to kill. Percy looked around dazed. After a few moments his eyes landed on an awed Reyna. Sword still in hand he walked over to her and asked as though they were in a grocery store and he wanted to know how much something cost, "What were those things?"