Chapter 2

Reyna couldn't believe her eyes, she had not seen the titaness since their encounter last year when she had returned Damien's memories to him, her mind flashed back to the son of Letus and the last time she had seen him.

"I am here to collect on the favour you and the Child of Letus owe me" she stated ignoring Reyna's obvious shock "I am short on time Praetor" she added when Reyna didn't answer

Reyna shook her head and composed herself, "Of course… but your deal was with Damien and he is not here at Camp Jupiter" she dropped her gaze for a moment "I have not seen him since that day we asked for your aid, I would not even know where to find him"

Moneta seemed indifferent about it "I am aware of this demigod, I have tried to speak with the son of death but as of right now I cannot seem to get him to focus" the titaness crossed her arms looking impatient "So this is why I have come to you, you are the only one who can snap him out of his current state and get him to take up my quest"

"What do you mean his current state? Where is he?" she asked, careful not to make it sound like she was demanding answers, she did not want to get on the wrong side of this titan but she wanted to know if he was safe

"He is alive, just a little worse for wear" she replied "But if I may get back to the issue in hand" she said sarcastically

Reyna wanted to ask more of Damien but by the Titaness's tone she knew not to push it

"Of course Lady Moneta, my apologies please continue" Reyna bowed her head slightly in respect, though she wanted to know more about Damien and what the Titaness meant by 'worst for wear'

"One of my daughters has been taken and I need your friend to find her, she is out of my domain's reach, that is all I know" she stated, but she showed no emotions even when speaking of her daughter's disappearance "I can no longer feel her presence"

"One of the muses?" Reyna asked

Moneta nodded "Yes, Euterpe has been taken" she looked out of the window "You may not be able to feel it yet Roman in this little city of yours but in the mortal world, joy and pleasure is vanishing from the world"

Reyna looked up confused at the titaness "Joy? I thought Euterpe was the Muse of music"

Moneta rolled her glittering eyes "My daughters are the Muses of many different aspects of the world, my other daughters are feeling the emptiness without Euterpe and therefore they are not releasing their powers to the mortal world, without the arts there is no joy in the world"

Reyna continued to listen

"Mortals will start to decline if the fine arts are not restored to the world, they do not realise how important music and art is to them and Euterpe is possibly the most important of the muses, music can soothe the soul and bring people together, it has shaped the world. Even Apollo is starting to feel her absence"

Reyna ran a hand through her hair and tried to comprehend what the titaness was telling her

"So you're saying that with Euterpe missing the world will get depressed?"

Moneta sighed wearily "Think about it young one, think about how many wars the mortals have now, with no art or music to soothe people, they will get more volatile, the results could be disastrous, you and the demigods can't avoid this, not even the gods of Olympus are safe"

Reyna nodded "You said she was no longer in your domain, where does your domain reach?"

"Where the history is the strongest and people remember, most of the globe is under my domain, only very late civilisations I cannot see"

"Right… okay" Reyna said, wishing the titaness could be a little more specific

Moneta knew what the young Demigod was thinking and exhaled, walking to Reyna's desk, without a word she shoved all of Reyna's papers from her desk and took the letter opener, stabbing it into the desk's surface

"Whoa, hey" Reyna stepped forward wondering what in the world the titaness was doing to her desk, but as she stepped forward she saw what she was carving into the dark wood of the desk, it was a world map, outlines of all the countries with extraordinary details.

Once she had finished she placed the blade gently onto the table as it carving the wooden top was completely natural

"You see?" she said as she paced her hand on the makeshift map, a golden ink like substance seeped from her hand, spreading over the map. Some places it just glided over and other places it would stick and dry to the wood.

"The gold is my domain" she clarified "Euterpe is not there"

Reyna looked at the map, most was covered in gold, all of the Americas and Europe, most of Asia and Africa there was only a few places that were not covered in the golden ink, the two polar regions and some of the smaller countries were not in her Domain

"That makes things a little easier" Reyna said running her fingers over the now permanent map that was carved and coloured on the desk

Moneta turned away from the Praetor and looked out of the window, something unseen caught her attention "Ah at last" she said

Reyna followed her gaze out of the window but saw nothing, she was about to question the titaness when there was a sudden bright light, she shielded her eyes.

When the light died away, Reyna blinked and her hand went to her weapon again but what she saw made her stop dead, two beautiful young women stood in flowing white Greek gowns, they held a figure between them by the arms, but his feet dragged along the floor, the figure appeared to be out cold

"Did you have much trouble?" asked Moneta

"No mother" they said in unison, their voices angelic

"He was passed out when we found him in an alley" the one on the left said

"Any news on our sister?" the other asked

Moneta shook her head "You did well, go now and be with your sisters"

The two muses dropped the figure and disappeared, Reyna looked down at the figure with shaggy hair, she went over to his side and her heartbeat began to race, she lifted his head and looked into the golden bleary eyes

"Damien?" she breathed