I tip my hat to Mr. Riordan. Much of the descriptiveness found in this chapter belongs to him.

Chapter 36

Reyna

Reyna awoke to the sounds of footsteps on gravel. Her mind was slowed by a throbbing headache. She made a weak attempt to move, and found her body sluggish to the point of unresponsive. She shivered inside her wet clothes. As her mind started to drift away into the dark abyss of slumber Reyna made one last attempt to look at the approaching person.

Her head turned. In the burgeoning light of dawn Reyna could tell the visitor was a young woman but nothing more. She did recognize the collapsed forms of Perseus and Gwen laying just to her right. Fearful and still unable to move Reyna made a strangled effort to call out. She might not be able to do anything, but perhaps one of the other two could. Her effort, though small, was rewarded.

She watched as Perseus lifted himself to one knee and brandished his Celestial Bronze blade. Thanks to the light cast by Perseus's glowing weapon Reyna could see that his clothes were badly burned. If he hadn't been soaked from head to toe she was certain the tattered cloth would have fallen away. For the first time since waking she wondered what had happened, and wanted to know where they were.

Reyna wanted to look away. Perseus was obviously in no shape to defend himself let alone Gwen and herself. But a sense of duty kept her eyes in place. She had to bare witness to Percy's final act of bravery…she owed him that much. Perseus raised his sword, and then the stranger spoke.

"Fear not Brave One…" the young woman crooned, "you're safe."

Perseus mumbled something she couldn't quite catch. After that, Reyna watched in horror as Perseus's sword arm dropped.

"How could he let it end like this?" She silently demanded.

Then the strangest thing so far happened. The young woman dropped to her knees and threw her arms around Perseus, and began to sob. Perseus, his strength clearly spent, leaned against the young woman and let his sword drop softly to the ground. Reyna unsure what to make of the tender scene felt like an intruder. The sense of guilt allowed her to give into the lingering effects of Busiris's sleep spell. The last thing she saw as her eyes closed was the young woman embracing Perseus's motionless form just as the sun crept over the horizon behind them.

"So you're telling me there really is another camp of demigods?" asked an incredulous sounding Gwen.

A voice she didn't recognize replied, "Oh, yes. Most definitely."

Gwen's voice, "How is it we've never heard of this other camp before?"

"Probably for the same reason I have never met a Roman born demigod." answered the stranger.

She could tell from the inflection Gwen was becoming agitated, "Which is?"

"I haven't a clue." voiced the amused stranger.

Gwen exclaimed, "But you're a goddess!"

Gwen's raised voice was as good an excuse to wake up as she was probably going to get. Furthermore Reyna's curiosity had been thoroughly peaked. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stand to keep up the pretense.

Reyna felt stretching was the proper initial movement. Followed by an exaggerated yawn then sitting up she asked, "What's with all the yelling?"

It didn't take Reyna long to recognize the true source of Gwen's unnatural animosity. Perseus was still sleeping, and the beautiful young goddess had his head resting on her lap. Reyna looked over at Gwen. Reyna had to suppress the urge to laugh. Gwen's face was so red and contorted with rage Reyna couldn't help being reminded of a shriveled tomato.

Reyna not wanting to embarrass her friend pushed her earlier question, "Well?"

It took a considerable effort for Gwen to calm herself, "Nothing important."

Before she could point out that no one yells for no reason the goddess supplied, "That's not true Gwendolyn, and your friend knows it." The goddess looked at Reyna, "She's been pretending to be asleep for the last few minutes."

Now Reyna was the one turning red. She had been caught and was thoroughly embarrassed. Reyna craned her neck not wanting the almond-eyed, caramel colored hair, white sleeveless dress wearing young woman to see. She looked around at the cave while her face cooled.

They were in a cave. The ceiling was a dazzling array of white, green, and purple colored crystals. In certain places the goddess had chosen to hang a variety of plants. Reyna had always loved to cook and recognized some of the plants: thyme, rosemary, and parsley. But there were far more than she could hope to identify at a quick glance. On one wall there was a series of shelves lined with jars of preserves. Built into another wall was a large fireplace. Sectioning off the room were white silk curtains, and through a crack Reyna could see a large golden harp.

Gwen made a strangled coughing sound inside her throat.

It was time for Reyna to fess up, "Yeah…" Reyna looked back the goddess, "you're right. I was pretending to be asleep."

A smile graced the timeless face but the young woman said nothing.

Gwen wasn't so compassionate, "How much did you hear Reyna?"

There was no point in lying, "Just a question about another camp of demigods, and apparently the goddess has never met a…" Reyna paused wrapping her mind around the concept, "Roman demigod before."

The goddess laughed, "Goddess…I'm flattered. While it is technically true I assure you Miss I am little more than a Nymph." The young woman bowed her head, "My name is Calypso."

Reyna asked another question, "How is it you know Perseus?"

Calypso looked down and ran her fingers through the hair laying across Perseus's forehead, "It was nearly two years ago when I and this Brave One met. He had just finished blowing up Mount St. Helens when he fell out of the sky. He was badly hurt and The Fates chose to send him to me, knowing I would…" Calypso paused and barely managed to choke out the next words, "care for him."

Reyna wasn't so dense that she couldn't read between the lines. Calypso certainly did seem to care an awful lot about Perseus. After Reyna managed to put that thought aside she realized the wider implications in Calypso's statement.

"Perseus blew up Mount St. Helens!"

She recalled hearing about the incident. It had made national news! The eruption had displaced more than half a million people. Reyna had even run into a few on one of her rare trips into Frisco with Jason. The ramifications of this latest revelation into Perseus's past were staggering. She had read reports indicating Mount St. Helens was a possible Titan stronghold. And thanks to conversations with Ferris she knew that the volcano had once been a forge belonging to Vulcan.

Reyna began to connect the dots with previous observations she had made and all but shouted at Perseus's sleeping form, "Who in the name of the gods are you!"

Calypso laid Perseus's head down on a pillow. Then interposed herself between Reyna and the unconscious young hero. Reyna watched as the beautiful face grew dark and dangerous.

Calypso's lilting voice cracked, "Enough!" the goddess looked at the two wounded friends, "Percy needs to rest. I think it would be best if you two went outside and talked amongst yourselves. I will call you once Percy awakens. In the meantime you two can enjoy the tranquility of Ogygia's garden."

Reyna and Gwen threw aside their cotton sheets and padded outside. For the first time Reyna noticed that she was wearing a white dress identical to Calypso. The cloth was light and airy. Reyna deplored dresses and only ever wore them on formal occasions, but even she had to admit the sleeveless dress was very comfortable.

Stepping outside Reyna's breath caught in her throat. Both her and Gwen froze as each marveled at the beauty around them. The skies were a picture perfect blue and the sun cast glorious golden light onto the lush meadow before them. The garden was a dizzying spectrum of colors. The reds, blues, whites, purples, bright yellows, and dozens of other colors from various flowers marvelously coalesced into a collage no painter could ever hope to replicate. The flowery backdrop was broken up and divided by a white gravel path that led to and beyond the bases of four identical fountains. The marble fountains were each adorned by a single statue of a faun playing pipes from which the fountains water gushed. Off in the distance was a stone covered beach bordering a deep blue lake. Trees here and there served to break up the monotony of the infinite horizon.

Gwen's hushed words were filled with the utmost reverence, "It's beautiful."

Reyna chose to remain silent. She was afraid she would speak words that would be unworthy of this resounding testament to the supreme glory of nature.

Reyna had grown up surrounded by walls of polished marble and exact lines. She had always thought the simplicity and subdued nature of the fort made it a masterpiece of architecture and design. But when measured against the majesty of Calypso's garden…calling the fort stark and drab would be an understatement.

Out of the corner of her eye Reyna saw Gwen move down the path. The daughter of Apollo made her way to a bench nestled in between two small trees separated by bushes lined with honeysuckle. Reyna followed.

Sitting next to her long time friend Reyna asked the obvious question, "What happened?"

Gwen lost in her own thoughts laid out the facts of the previous day.

Gwen began with Busiris aka "Mr. Boden". She outlined how Mr. Boden was a long dead Egyptian king that had been brought back to life by someone he called his Patron. She explained how Mr. Boden was a demigod…son of not Somnus, but Hypnos, god of sleep. That's how he had managed to capture them. That done Gwen moved on and began to move in chronological order: her premature awakening, breaking out of the storage closet, dragging Reyna's unconscious form through the dark warehouse, overhearing the conversation between Busiris, Mike, and George…his two lackeys. She explained how she had used her now revealed power of sunlight and a pry bar she found to blind and incapacitate the two mortal bruisers.

Reyna was impressed by her ingenuity but didn't say so. Gwen was in a near state of shock as she recounted the events, and Reyna didn't want to interrupt her friend.

Gwen went on telling Reyna about the conversation between Perseus and the once dead king. About how Busiris had identified Perseus's amnesia as the product of Lethe poison. How the son of Hypnos dulled the pain induced headaches that were constantly victimizing Perseus.

"Then he went on a tirade about Hercules and Percy." Gwen said. "The villain spewed a string of titles that people, people we didn't know about, used to identify the son of Poseidon."

Reyna spoke for the first time, "Poseidon don't you mean Neptune."

Gwen shook her head, "No I mean Poseidon. Percy's not a child of Rome."

Reyna had suspected as much, but saying so would be meaningless now, "What else did he call Perseus?"

"Besides the son of Poseidon?" Gwen inquired.

Reyna nodded.

"He called him the Savior of Olympus, Scourge of Kronos, he said Percy was the child whom on his sixteenth birthday made the choice that ended the Titan War." Gwen then exclaimed, "He was the child mentioned in the last Great Prophecy!"

Reyna remained impassive. She didn't know what to make of everything she had just heard. If she wasn't baffled before...now she thoroughly vexed. She wasn't sure if she could handle anymore news but she had to ask…

"And this camp you were discussing with Calypso?"

Gwen answered, "Camp Half-Blood Busiris had called it. I don't know anything else. That was the part of the conversation I first heard after knocking out those goons."

Reyna tried to lighten the mood, "Who knew we were traveling with such a celebrity." she joked.

Her effort at humor fell on deaf ears, "Reyna, what do we do now?"

It was the question she had dreaded. Gwen cared deeply for Perseus and she didn't want to hurt her friend, but she also couldn't ignore the threat he and this Camp Half-Blood represented.

Reyna went with a half-truth, "For now we do nothing. We finish the quest. Hopefully find Jason. And then we return to camp. Afterwards we'll decide what to make of everything. And hopefully we'll have our Praetor to help us."

Gwen wasn't yet placated, "And Percy?"

Reyna sidestepped the question, "I told you we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Gwen looked crushed by the answer.

Wanting to take her mind off things Reyna asked her to continue with her report.

Ever the stalwart soldier Gwen complied. She described Busiris's offer and the subsequent refusal. Detailed the encounter with the male sphinxes that wouldn't die, and their flight down the dock. Reyna felt guilty after learning how Perseus had carried her unconscious form during the whole trying ordeal. Lastly Gwen outlined the explosion, and how she had started it by applying her miniature sun to one of the silver shafted arrows she carried. Gwen made sure to mention how Perseus had shielded the two of them from the explosion while he himself took the brunt of it. Only the Curse of Achilles saving him from certain doom.

"So how did we end up here?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

"What about our savior? What's his condition?"

Gwen grew angry. "I don't know. That witch won't let me touch him."

Reyna smiled inwardly, but made a show of looking around. It wasn't proper manners to insult one's host. But Reyna for the moment certainly agreed with the sentiment.

Reyna smiled, "Well I'm famished. Do you think Calypso has anything to eat inside that cave."

Gwen grinned mischievously, "Only one way to find out."

The two children of Rome started back up the path leading to Calypso's cave and their unconscious ally.