7
Reyna
Getting abducted by a secretive organization of demigods only to find out that they were mostly friendly and had good intentions seemed like something that would only happen to a person once. However, Reyna distinctly remembered being taken by the Hunters of Artemis in Puerto Rico a little under a year ago during her quest to return the Athena Parthenos with Nico and Gleeson. She came to the conclusion that she did not appreciate the lack of control she felt when this happened, regardless of who it was doing the abducting. Surely there had to be a better way for demigods to communicate and organize meetings than constantly knocking each other out and taking them to their secret bunkers.
Despite all of this, she found it hard not to appreciate the Theta facility's decontamination process when she had just run through a sewer being chased by garbage-wielding Kobaloi.
"Ah, back already?" Reyna heard as they stepped into the main hallway. She turned to see the goddess Hygiea approach, still completely dressed in white. "And with my Bowl as well. I trust the thieves didn't cause you too much trouble?"
"We managed to get by," Reyna said, then stopped herself. "Rather, he managed to trick them into not pursuing us," she said, gesturing to Mason.
Mason just gave an awkward shrug. "Apparently they like hide-and-seek."
Hygeia raised an eyebrow. "So I trust that our mischievous friends are still down there?"
"Well, yes," Mason said. "I don't actually know how long they'll wait before realizing I'm not looking for them. Hopefully not for a while."
"Yes, hopefully," the goddess said with amusement. "Regardless, you have retrieved Phidia's Bowl, which I and he are very grateful for," she said, holding out her hand.
Reyna handed over the elegant bowl of gold and silver, and as it touched Hygeia's outstretched, gloved hand, immediately it transformed. No longer an old-fashioned metal chalice, it instead now looked like a complex piece of modern medical equipment, with a dashboard of multicolored buttons, a narrow black screen with text scrolling across it, and a circular opening on the top that seemed designed to hold some sort of small container.
"That's more like it," Hygeia claimed. "Productivity should skyrocket tenfold now!"
Reyna watched as the ivory snake on the goddess' shoulder slithered down to wrap itself around the device, and she could have sworn the creature started to press some of the buttons with its teeth.
"Anyway, your end of the deal was met, so I will meet mine," Hygeia said, looking towards Reyna.
"Panacea," Reyna said simply.
"Yes," the goddess said. "Although, I must preface this by telling you that I cannot give you an exact location."
Reyna's eyes narrowed, but the goddess raised her arms defensively and spoke before Reyna could protest. "Not because I won't, but because I can't. My sister has made it clear that she wants as few visitors as possible, and she has ensured this by even giving me only general directions."
"That's fine," Reyna heard Mason say. "We understand."
"Yes, well, in that case, you will find Panacea north, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, at Whitefish Point. She gives me small hints sometimes, and in this case, it is this: 'If you bother travelling all the way north for me, you're better off turning around and fishing for help somewhere else.'"
A silent moment passed.
"That sounds like your sister telling you off, not a hint," Reyna said hesitantly.
Hygeia let out a sharp laugh. "Ha! It can be both! Believe me, you don't know her like I do. She may hate visitors, but she can't pass up an opportunity for some cryptic guidance. You know, she may be the goddess of remedies, but she has taken to trying her hand at some prophesizing, too. She'll never be as good as the actual Oracles, but her talents lend to some interesting revelations."
The goddess stopped herself for a moment, her energy dropping. "It is quite nice to have her so close this time around. She wanders far more than I do, and I do miss her dearly. We used to work together, at least somewhat. I'm not sure what changed in her, but she has become even more reclusive in the last century or so." Her eyes twinkled again, looking towards Mason. "I'd be lying if I said her location didn't influence my choice of this facility's location."
Reyna saw Mason stare blankly to the side for a moment, then look back up towards the goddess. "Do you ever try to find her? Maybe try and work together again?"
Hygeia waved her hand. "No, I know better than to get on her bad side. She has her work, and I have mine. Nothing wrong with that."
Mason frowned.
"Anyway, I presume you will want to be off quickly, then?" the goddess said. "I wish you the best on your quest. Oh, and do find time to report back to me if you find out anything interesting about this disease back at your camp, information is key to fighting things like this in the future!"
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"Goldfish?"
Reyna's thoughts were interrupted by Mason entering the car, holding out a bag of cheese crackers towards her. "No, thanks."
Mason set the bag down on his lap and shut the car door, shaking his head. "Your loss."
Luckily, Mason's car had still been there when they returned to the gas station. Once Mason returned with some snacks from the shop inside, they set out again, making their way north on the 131, which Mason informed her they'd be sticking to pretty much the whole way.
"That was definitely the craziest thing I've ever done," she heard Mason say.
Reyna allowed herself a chuckle. "I can imagine. Though, that was fairly tame by my standards. Give it some time before you run into some really strange things."
"I'm not sure whether to actually look forward to that or not."
"I wouldn't, if I were you."
"Do you, though, being you?"
Reyna turned towards him. "This again?"
He shrugged. "It's just interesting to me, I guess. I've read some stories about fantasy heroes and such, a lot of them being teenagers, and it always seems like this fun, whimsical adventure. Even when there's danger, it always works out in the end, and the characters want to go on another adventure." He let out a sigh. "That's got to be tiring, though. And unrealistic. Especially as kids."
Reyna leaned back in her seat, staring out the car window at the passing multitude of trees and early evening sky, gradients of orange and pink streaked across the horizon. Despite the calming view, she found her mind on the mortal sitting beside her.
She hadn't thought much of Mason at first. Not because he was mortal. Or, at least, not just because of that. But he seemed far too unconditionally helpful to be trustworthy. Someone that eager to help either had no idea what they were getting into, or had ulterior motives. Even once she had concluded with relative certainty that he was genuine, that didn't ease her doubts much. In fact, a part of her might have preferred him to be an ill-intentioned deceiver so she could solve the problem and move on alone.
But he had surprised her, somewhat. The Sight was one thing. Leading the retrieval of the Bowl was a much bigger piece of evidence that he might be worth keeping around.
Reyna chided herself mentally. Demigod or not, he was still a person, and she shouldn't be thinking of him just in terms of his usefulness. He clearly cared, even if Reyna didn't quite understand why. Something about him seemed so… giving. Like he had decided a long time ago he was going to give all of himself for others, whether they asked for it or not.
She wondered how much left a person like him had left to give, and she couldn't help but feel more… soft towards him than before.
Still, there were many more lives at stake than his. She couldn't afford to fail, with or without help.
Reyna refocused on the conversation at hand, thinking her words through for a minute before speaking. "It's an odd thing. On one hand, I believe wholeheartedly that this – all of it – is what I was meant to do. Whatever that means. Leading the Legion, and everything that entails. I can do it. So I should. Because there are people who need me to."
She rubbed the inside of her wrist where her SPQR tattoo was. "But I can't help but think about what comes after."
"After?" she heard him ask gently.
A lump formed in her throat. "After I'm done. With all of it. I can't do it forever."
"Well, you're young. You've got a long time until then, right?"
"I suppose. But I can't imagine not being Praetor. Or at least not being at one of the camps, helping demigods. So, I either do that for the rest of my life, or…"
Reyna's voice faltered. She wasn't particularly frightened of the idea of death, but it being one of the only possibilities for her relatively near future definitely did scare her.
She wasn't sure if Mason caught what she meant. He might have. "Those aren't your only options, though."
"How do you know?"
"I just do. You can choose for yourself. Hell, if anyone can, you can."
Reyna frowned. "What does that mean?"
He coughed awkwardly before stammering a bit. "Just that you're lucky enough to have the ability to make what you want happen, I guess? I don't know, I guess I wouldn't know."
She stared out the front windshield. "Speaking of not knowing, should I continue from earlier? I assume you want to know more."
"Oh, right. I wasn't going to ask, but if you want to…"
"I do want to," she said with certainty.
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By the time she finished describing the aftermath of the battle with Gaea at Camp Half-Blood, the sky had darkened in sunset, and Reyna caught a glimpse of a bridge out in front of them.
"Mackinac Bridge. We'll be in the UP once we cross. I think we can stop for the night once we do, if that's fine," Mason said.
Reyna hummed in agreement.
Despite her reservations, she knew now that telling him everything that had happened was something she actually wanted to do, not just something she felt obligated to do. Something about explaining it to a mortal was refreshing. Sure, she had made a multitude of friends in the past year, many of which she'd talked to extensively – Nico, Piper, Annabeth, among others. But the perspective of someone on the outside, someone who had no experience or stake in her world? That was something new. And after an exhausting period of war, travel, and now disease, something new that wasn't a problem she had to solve was a breath of fresh air. Even if that breath felt like coming up from the water gasping for air before plunging back down again.
As they crossed the bridge, she stared out the window.
It was an impressive sight. The long, green suspension bridge spanned across the expanse of the lake, about two hundred feet up. Small lights lit up across the cables and up the towers. As she glanced to the side to see the sunset light reflecting off the water below, her eyes glanced up to Mason's face, which had the sunlight directly behind it, giving his reddish-brown hair an almost golden aura. He glanced at her with a smile and a twinkle in his golden-brown eyes. "Quite the sight, huh?"
She blinked. "Yeah. It is."
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They arrived in the small town of St. Ignace right off the bridge at the south tip of the Upper Penisula, and shortly found an inn to stay at for the night. Reyna realized she had subconsciously assumed they would be sleeping somewhere cheap and dingy, but as they got out of the car in front of a nice-looking three-story lakeside inn, she remembered that Mason probably had money to spare for a place like this.
Which is also why she probably shouldn't have been surprised when Mason got two separate rooms, but she still was.
"Is that really necessary?" she said as they walked away from the front desk. "Seems like a needless expense."
Mason turned to her after pressing the elevator button, looking mildly surprised. "Oh. Well, I didn't want to assume… so…"
"Assume what?"
He coughed. "That you would be fine sleeping in the same room?"
She raised an eyebrow in amusement. "And yet you offered me your bed just the other day."
"That was different!"
Reyna hummed flatly as they stepped into the elevator. "Still, you didn't have to. I've slept in many odd and uncomfortable places before. And bunked with plenty of people before. It would have been fine."
"Well, I'm not about to make it less comfortable if I don't have to," he said, reaching into his pocket. "Here's your key. Just down the hall from my room," he said, handing her the plastic key card.
"Thanks," she said with a smirk.
After a moment of silence as they both stood in the elevator, she spoke again. "Thank you, though. Really. For doing all of this."
Mason looked at her, an eyebrow raised as if it were silly to think he wouldn't. "Of course."
After a moment, they got off the elevator and went their separate ways to their rooms. Reyna unlocked the door and stepped inside to find a moderately-sized suite, with a desk, a queen-sized bed, and a bathroom, as well as a small balcony just past a glass door. She saw the twilight sky and the lake stretched out past the nearby shore a couple stories beneath.
Despite its comforts, something about the hotel room made Reyna slightly uncomfortable. Everything felt so artificially clean, like they were covering up the undoubtedly dirty furniture and floors. Maybe that was why she was pretty certain she didn't like hotels. Even if the staff did their best to keep the rooms clean, there were far too many guests and rooms for them to keep everything pristine, so things like the carpeted floors, baseboards, and TV remotes couldn't help but make her squirm slightly, even if it looked sanitary at first glance.
Regardless, this was one of the more luxurious overnight stays she had had in a while, apart from Mason's house, so she decided not to dwell on it. After washing up and spending some time staring out the window across Lake Huron, she sank into the fluffy sheets and pillows of the bed and fell asleep without much trouble.
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The nightmares had been worse lately.
It wasn't so much the content or frequency of the nightmares. The thing that bothered Reyna the most about them was how out of control she felt. Previously, she had been able to rein in her dreams by imagining herself in the Garden of Bacchus in New Rome, with beautiful white trellises and lush vegetation. It was something she had trained herself to do over time – anchor her mind to something familiar and safe to ward off the worst nightmares, or at least control them.
Recently, though, it hadn't been working. Every time she would take her dream self to the Garden, something would interrupt her. Sometimes it was a cannon blast from the Argo II smashing the garden fountain apart. Sometimes it was the giant Polybotes storming in and sweeping her legs with his trident. Whatever it was, her safeguard was broken. Or at least she was out of practice.
In any case, Reyna found herself at Camp Half-Blood again.
This time, she saw the Big House's Rec Room, which served as a sort of meeting place for the head counselors. The ping-pong table in the center of the room hosted over a dozen half-bloods sat around it, as well as Chiron, who sat at the head of the table. The evening sunlight poured in through the windows, casting an orange glow and long shadows across the table and the faces of those present. They seemed to be well into their deliberations as Reyna's hearing focused.
"…aside from that, there's also the weird stuff," she heard Will Solace say. "Bruising, bleeding, even some broken bones. No idea how. We've kept our eyes peeled on them twenty-four-seven, there's no way they broke them normally."
Reyna saw Connor Stoll lean forward in his seat, an uncharacteristically intense expression on his face, and a twin brother missing from his side. "So what's that mean, then? What's wrong with them?"
Will's face was strained in worry and thought. "It means that there's something more going on. There's someone, or something, out there that put a curse on the camp. It has to be."
"So we find out who, and we put a stop to it, right?" Percy said immediately. She saw both of his fists clenched and sitting on the table.
"And how exactly are you going to figure out who?" Will said firmly. "Or where to look?"
"Isn't Rachel here right now?" Piper said. "She might be able to help."
Percy shook his head. "I already talked with her. The Oracle isn't working, remember? None of the prophecies are. We're on our own."
"Actually," voice spoke up from the doorway. Everyone turned to look, and Rachel was standing at the side of the room with a confused expression on her face. "I need to talk to-"
Her voice was interrupted by a loud and strained yell echoing through the house. The words weren't discernible, but it was coming from the direction of the infirmary.
Will immediately leapt from his chair and ran into the hallway, quickly followed by most of the rest of the demigods. Reyna's dream vision followed behind Will as he charged into the infirmary, his eyes drawn to a corner of the room.
There, at ones of the many cots, she saw one of the campers she didn't recognize, a boy with long black hair and pale skin, leaning up from his bed. Standing over him was one of the Apollo campers, a girl with short brown hair, apparently trying to hold the boy down. A couple of satyrs were trying to help her, while avoiding the boy's wildly flailing limbs. As he struggled to get his arms loose, he continued yelling, his voice strained and coarse.
"You left me! You abandoned me! Left me alone! Hate you!" he screamed with glazed eyes. The girl held both of his wrists. The boy seemed weak, so she didn't seem to have much trouble doing so, but she still had a pained expression on her face as she tried to console him. As she did, Will ran over and started to help her restrain him, asking her what had happened.
Reyna's dream blurred slightly, making the room into more of an ocean of sound and light than a detailed image. She saw campers mutter to each other as the situation died down, their words drifting in and out.
…happened to him?...
…broke up a month ago…
…affects the mind…
The last thing Reyna saw was Percy approach Rachel in the corner of the room, then the haziness grew as her dream changed.
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As her vision refocused, she found herself in a wide, dark room. She couldn't see any walls, as they were obscured in darkness, but she could see parts of the ceiling, metal bars crisscrossing above her. A set of small lightbulbs hung from above, giving a weak, yellow glow around them. Glancing around, she saw two figures standing just past the dim light.
The first was an enormous figure, standing at least eight feet tall, with a lean frame and limbs. It was difficult to tell from the darkness, but he seemed to have dark skin, as well as a steel breastplate and a black cloak. Even in the dark, Reyna recognized him.
He was a Giant.
He was thinner and much shorter than many of the others, but something about him made it undeniable. Reyna's mind reeled even through the fog of the dream. Had they not killed all of the Giants? Was this a trick of her mind? She wondered if any of it was real, or if she really was losing her mind.
"You know why I'm here," she heard his voice say. It was deep, but not as deep as she was expecting. Still, it sent shivers through her body.
"The girl," she heard a female voice say, and she turned to look. The second figure was closer to her own height, and was also hidden somewhat by the shadows. She appeared to be wearing a dark-colored jacket and pants, and had messy black hair, though it was hard to make out any details. Her voice was intense and grating, and Reyna felt her body tense as she heard it. There was something off about the voice, though, like it was blending between male and female.
"Yes," the giant responded. "We spoke about what to do if… interference happened. This is that interference."
"So why bother coming to me? I believe taking care of it was your job."
"Because you know what will happen if she succeeds," the Giant said with a stern tone. "I need you to be prepared for that. For the game to change. We must be adaptable."
The woman chuckled. "I'm surprised you even consider the possibility of failure. You have humility."
"Of course. That's why I'm here in the first place. The failure of my brothers."
"It was a satisfying failure, yes."
The Giant grunted, anger apparent in his voice. "The half-bloods are strong. I am not a fool. I will stop her. But if I do not, you must be ready to shift. I trust you can do that?"
The woman hummed in thought. "I suppose so. But you need to remember our deal, yes? Success requires sacrifice. You know that more than anyone, I would assume."
"Of course."
"Very well, then. You do your best to try and stop her, and I will make sure our… situation is secure."
The Giant grunted again, then turned and walked off into the darkness without another word.
As the woman turned to do the same, Reyna saw as her figure was briefly lit up by the pale light, and she felt her throat constrict. As the yellow light fell on the woman's face, it revealed its features, and it was not a woman.
Instead, Reyna saw the familiar face of her father, his eyes turning to meet hers, glinting with recognition.
"Hello, dear," the figure spoke, in that same grating voice flickering between male and female. "It's rude to eavesdrop, you know."
As the voice penetrated her skull, the light from the bulbs grew brighter, and as she squinted against the growing brightness, she saw her surroundings. The ivory white walls, the wooden and steel furniture, the wide and imposing skylights. Her father's home, yet again intruding her consciousness. It all loomed over her as she felt herself shrinking down under the flickering figure of her father, his face contorting to shift between his own and another, a female face she couldn't recognize. When he spoke again, she heard two voices. One of them was clearly her father's, crazed and coarse. The other took her a moment to recognize, but as the figure leant down towards her, an Imperial golden sword now in their hand, she knew whose voice it was.
"It's time to wake up," it said in Reyna's own voice.
Then the sword plunged into her chest.