DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS OR BASICALLY ANYTHING. IT ALL BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN. THANK YOU!
Reyna:
Reyna was done. She was done. She'd been running day and night, fighting horrifying monsters, and barely surviving for weeks.
Her head throbbed from the falling rocks, her arms stung as scars healed all over her wrists and shoulders, and her leg was sore and stiff. Even her brain hurt from constant strategizing and planning and worrying. At this point, she just wanted to go home.
But, the worst part was, she couldn't. She was stuck here, in this stupid abandoned barn, on the side of a highway somewhere in rural West Virginia.
She, Nico, and Coach Hedge had talked this morning, after she'd woken up from 2 days of unconsciousness, and decided shadow traveling any farther right now was too dangerous. Nico was exhausted, she was exhausted, and the Coach wouldn't be able to protect both of them in an attack. So, for the next 48 hours, they were going to stay here.
Reyna sighed and turned back into the barn, leaving the swaying fields behind her.
Coach Hedge looked up at her from the fire crackling on the dirt floor, the Athena Parthenon looming behind him. "You alright, Cupcake?"
She nodded. "Fine," She glanced over at the two guys across from her. "You?" Nico looked up and nodded. He'd become even quieter, his eyes bloodshot and the dark circles underneath them deepened.
"Do we have any food left?" The Coach shook his head. "Gone. Have plenty of soda cans though."
He pulled one out of his pocket and began to eat. Nico and Reyna looked at each other. The satyr may be able to live off aluminum cans, but the two demigods would starve eventually. And no matter how much they needed to let their injuries heal, they needed to eat even more.
Nico pulled himself off the ground, gritting his teeth as he did, and reached for his sword. "We're gonna have to find food." Reyna agreed, but the Coach Hedge frowned. "Nah, I don't like it. It's better if you two stay here. I'll go."
Reyna stopped him. "We'll be fine, trust me. We won't be far. Plus, we wouldn't want you to go find us food, you might come back with candy wrappers or something."
The demigods laughed, and the satyr got back on the ground, grumbling.
Reyna smiled as she limped into the vast fields outside the barn. The highway stood out about half a mile away, and a forest expanded behind the old farmhouse. Even though she could barely walk properly, it still felt good to be out doing something.
She and Nico wandered through rows of wheat and bits of forest, walking around aimlessly. Reyna knew they needed to eat, and they needed to eat soon, but she couldn't think of any real ways to get food. Honestly, her best guess was at finding some sort of wild mushroom or berry in the forest.
Nico suddenly interrupted her thoughts. "Holy Hades." Reyna turned and stared at him, but Nico wasn't even paying attention to her. He was staring off towards the highway, his eyes lit up in a way Reyna hadn't seen in so long.
"Um, Nico? What is it?"
He couldn't even speak, he just pointed. Reyna squinted in the direction of the huge road for about 30 seconds. She was just about to tell Nico to go back to the barn, that sleep deprivation had made him go insane, when something caught her eye.
A red, peeling sign on the side of the road that Reyna wouldn't have noticed if Nico hadn't mentioned it. She ran a little closer to try and see what it said.
"OH MY GODS"
Reyna screamed, and without even thinking, she grabbed Nico and sprinted as fast as she could on her broken leg to the highway.
Her leg was stiff and painful, but that didn't matter once she had reached the sign and the building that sat behind it.
"It's a, a" Nico choked on the words.
"McDonald's" Reyna finished for him.
They walked inside, the smell of grease and salt almost overpowering them. Throughout her whole life, Reyna doubted she had ever been as grateful as now, with the promise of french fries and soda so close.
Nico pulled a couple of crumpled bills out of his pocket and walked up to the counter. He came back to Reyna 3 minutes later, his arms full of burgers and fries and sprites.
They sat down at a booth, completely focused on the feast between them. Food had never tasted so good. Everything had been devoured in under 20 minutes.
It took all of Reyna's willpower to force herself out of the restaurant. She'd had to pull Nico away, saying Coach Hedge would be angry if they weren't back soon. She had just managed to push him out the door when a terrified yell echoed in the distance.
She and Nico stared at each other. It took less than a second for them to agree.
"Coach Hedge"
They sprinted across the highway, dodging cars and trucks, into the endless maze of wheat and corn, trying to get back to the barn.
Reyna drew her knife and began to run even faster at the thought of what was happening to the Coach. Her leg was screaming in pain but she ignored it, blocking it out by worrying if the satyr was okay.
Fear built up inside Reyna, but just like always, she was a leader, and she knew how to fight. She channeled her screams into strength, and she was not going to let Coach Hedge die. She and Nico ran up to the barn, weapons drawn, but suddenly they stopped.
It was gone.
The old farmhouse was torn to pieces, shattered into nonexistence, just pieces rubble lying around the Athena Parthenos. Fire raged all around it, huge tendrils of flaming bursting into the sky.
But Reyna didn't even think about that, because something else had her terrified.
While Nico stood, staring open-mouthed at the destruction, Reyna ran forward. She choked through the smoke and fire and broken wood, and picked up something just before it went up in flames.
A charred, aluminum soda can, lying alone on the dirt.
Coach Hedge was gone.
hola chicasss
thank you so much for reading if u got this far, i'm sorry we haven't written in a while but we're back now!! i hope y'all liked this chapter, it was rly fun writing it. today is november 21 2020, and its 1:01 pm. thanks so much for reading, and miaaaa is writing the next chapter, so get ready for that 3
love y'all :)