Reyna was so sick and tired of these dreams, especially this one. Before she even opened her eyes, her skull was aching, and there was a solid ache in the back of her head. Reyna slowly looked up at the two praetorian guards that she remembered from her earlier dreams. They were watching her with sneers.
"Ah. So, you two are trying to betray me?" Reyna guessed. She slowly looked around the ship that she was on. Reyna blinked a few times and tried to see if anything looked familiar. There were plenty of men around her. They all wore rags and were covered in filth. They all had facial hair that covered their features. "I am surprised that I did not see it earlier."
"Shut up!" one of the praetorian guards ordered. He kicked Reyna in the face. She laughed as her nose cracked. Reyna watched a man that wore a leather coat walk towards her. His face was covered in scars. This had to be the captain.
"The feared, famous Roman that is going to eliminate the threat of the pirates," the pirate captain mocked.
"I am going to kill all of you," Reyna threatened. She looked at the praetorian guards and then the pirates. "You do understand that, correct? Your betrayal to the empire will not go unpunished."
The two praetorian guards pulled Reyna to her feet. The pirate captain approached Reyna and punched her hard in the gut. Even though this was just a dream, Reyna felt all of the weight behind it. She tried to spit at the pirate captain, and he punched her again.
"Have some fun with the Roman," the pirate captain said. He threw Reyna to the ground, and the pirates descended on her. Reyna covered her head to protect herself. She hated these dreams so damn much. Why was she even seeing this?
The beating stopped after what felt like an eternity. Reyna rolled onto her back and coughed out blood. She spoke, "All of you will die. That I swear on the River Styx. I will kill you and everyone that you love."
"Enough," one of the praetorian guards said. Reyna laughed and felt two pirates pin her to the ground.
"Jupiter! Hear my plea!" Reyna yelled. "Allow me the strength to burn these pirates and traitors to the-"
A boot slammed into Reyna's mouth, and her head snapped back against the deck. She groaned and slowly looked around. In the distance, she saw a woman watching her. The woman cocked her head. Even though the woman was extremely far away, her gold eyes made contact with Reyna's.
"I will kill all of you! I swear on the River Styx that you and your kind will know my vengeance," Reyna hissed. She heard thunder boom overheard, and her gaze moved back to the woman. A cruel smirk came to the woman's face, and she disappeared in a golden light. Reyna yelled as a sword stabbed into her back and appeared out of her chest.
"You talk too much," One of the praetorian guards said. He grabbed his dagger and handed it off to the pirate captain. Reyna willed her body to struggle, but to no effect. The other praetorian guard pried her mouth open. The pirate captain sneered down at her. Then, he cut her tongue out.
Reyna's eyes snapped open, and she choked on what she hoped was water. She rolled onto her stomach and spat out the liquid in her mouth. Reyna stared at the blood that hit the ground. Shaky breaths left her, and she slowly placed both hands to her mouth.
When Reyna pulled her hands away, she found blood on her fingertips. Reyna placed her hands back to her mouth and felt for her tongue. She shivered as she remembered it had only been a dream. Thankfully, her tongue was still there. Reyna rested her head back on the bed and stared down at the blood on the ground. What had that dream been? Why was she bleeding?
After spitting out more blood, Reyna could feel her heart racing. She felt sick to her stomach and ready to vomit. Reyna made it to a sitting position and tried to calm down. She almost choked on blood again, and she gagged.
Reyna scrambled towards her trashcan and spat blood into it. She coughed miserably, but it felt like the blood flow wasn't going to stop. What the hell was happening? She wasn't wounded. She wasn't hurt. Why was there so much blood?
Reyna gripped her trash can and spat more blood out. She tried to breathe, but it got caught in her throat. Reyna hit the trash can repeatedly. The door behind her opened, and she forced herself to look up. Nico stared at her.
"What's wrong?" Nico asked. He walked into the room, approaching Reyna. All she could do was shake her head and roll onto her back. She couldn't breath, and the world was getting darker. "Reyna! Breathe! Calm down and just breathe!"
"I can't," Reyna gasped. She shook her head. "I can't. Gods. Too much blood."
"There's no blood," Nico began. Reyna stared up at him. Then, she placed a hand to her mouth. Upon pulling her hand away, she found that there was no blood on her hand. What the hell? Reyna blinked a few times and examined her hands. There was no blood anywhere, and she could breath "What happened?"
"I don't... I don't know. There was blood. My dream. There was blood everywhere," Reyna said. She placed both hands to her mouth. "I was bleeding from my mouth."
"You're not now," Nico promised. He knelt by her. "Do you remember what happened?"
"In my dream?" Reyna asked. She shook her head. "No. I just freaked out. I'm fine, just a bad memory. I'm good."
"You don't seem good," Nico began. Reyna shook her head again and stood. She slowly looked around and remembered the heist. Reyna was pretty sure she had passed out as soon as she found Isabella, so it seemed like the pirate dragged her back to their base.
"Did we get the wings?" Reyna asked quietly. She leaned on the wall and tried to calm down. "And Hylla, is she okay?"
"We did," Nico answered, smiling slightly. "It's been two days since you two were brought back here. Hylla's alive, but she's not in good shape. She's on bed rest, and you should be as well."
"Two days?" Reyna asked. She cursed under her breath and moved to her bed. Reyna collapsed into it. Her entire body ached in pain. "Did Arke reattach her wings?"
"No," Nico said. He sighed and sat by her. "She's holed up in her room. We know she's in there, but she won't answer to anyone. She said that she won't speak to any of us unless it's you. Arke refuses to answer the door, and she just yells over us if we try to talk."
"Why is the goddess so attached to me?" Reyna muttered. She stared at the ground. "I guess I need to go talk to her."
"You should rest," Nico began. Reyna chuckled and forced herself to her feet. She started to leave the room. "Wait. I'm serious. You were really hurt and lost a lot of blood."
"Trust me. The physical wounds will heal soon enough," Reyna said, and she couldn't keep the bitter tone out of her voice. She had been forced to kill Elizabeth Avenicci because of Hylla's actions. The last thing she wanted to do was take the life of a girl who had never wronged her. Why did Elizabeth have to grab that damn gun? "Give me a minute. I'm going to change."
Nico nodded and stepped out of the room. As the door closed, Reyna slowly placed her fingers back to her mouth. She pulled her hand away and relaxed as she saw no blood. She had just been seeing things. Reyna slowly pulled off her shirt and examined her bandages. This one was new. It completely wrapped around her midsection, but she could see thicker bandages underneath. The doctors really wanted those stitches to be safe.
Reyna walked to her dresser but didn't feel much pain in her leg. She was mostly just sore all over. Reyna quickly changed and left the room. She glanced down at her watch and saw it was late at night, so she really had slept for two days. A sigh left her, and Nico led her down the hall.
The two of them made it to Arke's room, and Reyna sighed. She knocked. After a few moments, Arke spoke, "No one is here!"
"It's me," Reyna said. There was silence for a few moments. "Arke?"
"Are you sure?" Arke asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Can you open this door. I have your wings," Reyna said. A few more moments passed, and Arke opened the door slightly. She peeked her head out and studied Reyna with narrowed eyes.
"Wings? You really have them? This isn't a trick?" Arke asked.
"It's not," Reyna promised. She glanced at Nico. "Can you go get them?"
Nico nodded and hurried away. Reyna glanced back at Arke. The goddess was studying her up and down. Reyna crossed her arms and spoke, "Why didn't you speak to anyone else besides me?"
"You are nice to me," Arke whispered. She flinched and pulled the door closer to herself, almost closing it. "You don't yell. You don't try to hurt me. You listened to me."
"Who hurts you?" Reyna asked. Arke shook her head. "Alright. You don't have to tell me, but can they hurt you after you have your wings?"
"No. They won't be able to hurt me anymore," Arke said. Nico walked back towards them with the wings. Arke's eyes widened, and she shoved the door open. Arke snatched the wings out of Nico's hands and cradled them like they were jewels, which was probably true for her.
"So, get those wings on. Then, we can head to the island," Reyna said. Arke nodded. "Do you need help putting them on? Do they just stick, or do we need to sew them on?"
"Oh, I can't get these on by myself," Arke said, and she smiled brightly. Reyna glared at the goddess. "Magic is required."
"Why didn't you tell us that earlier?!" Reyna snapped. "We could have found someone to help us with that!"
"I have an old friend who is a master of magic," Arke said. She waved her hand. "She even has her own spa."
"Circe," Reyna muttered. Arke nodded. Reyna gritted her teeth. "Her spa was burned down, but we know where she relocated to. In fact, she is one of our clients."
Oh, Reyna hated Circe so much. When the pirates were ransacking the island, the witch ran like a coward, but most of the attendants welcomed her back with open arms, those who survived at least. Even Hylla seemed to have fallen for Circe's charms, or charmspeak, as she insisted on doing business with the witch.
Reyna sighed. She would need to speak to Hylla and plan their voyage to Circe's new little island. It was another bump in the road, and she was starting to wonder how long this road really was. Reyna glanced at Nico and spoke, "Have you ate yet?"
"No," Nico answered. Reyna glanced back at Arke.
"Don't let those out of your sight. We'll head to Circe soon," Reyna promised. She turned her attention back to Nico. "Come on. Let's have some dinner and chat. I have a couple of questions I want to ask you."