Chapter 6
Hazel had left to find a few books in New Rome's archive for books on the muses, she had been gone for about 10 minutes now and Reyna realised this was the first time she had been alone with Damien since he left, well with him being conscious.
She tried to focus on the vapour in front of her, she had one made in her bathroom so she could communicate with the others at Camp Half Blood in privacy, but still she couldn't help but think that Damien was sitting on her bed awaiting Hazel's return.
Reyna sighed and threw a golden denarii into the vapour and it hovered there mid-air for a moment before disappearing, her offering accepted by Iris
"Annabeth Chase, Camp Half Blood" she said, her eyes watching as the vapour whirled and brightened
A familiar face appeared, her blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail and a large grin on her face
"Reyna" she greeted in surprise "How are you?" she beamed
"Hello Annabeth, I'm afraid this is not a social call" she attempted a small smile
Annabeth's face dropped slightly "Is everything okay?" she asked, her grey eyes becoming serious
Reyna leaned back in her chair "A couple of associates and I are on a quest to help Moneta, one of her daughters is missing"
"Moneta…" Annabeth thought for a moment "Ah Mnemosyne, right… wait one of the Muses is missing? That would explain the odd behaviour"
Reyna's ears perked up "Odd behaviour?" she asked
Annabeth sighed and ran a hand over her blonde locks "One of the campers has been feeling very ill, complaining that the beauty was gone, he is one of the few children of the muses we have come across, Reyna…" she paused "He is losing his sight, his body is weak"
"What?!"
"Chiron didn't know what was wrong with him" she rubbed her forehead "But if this is connected then it could be bad if she isn't found soon"
"Moneta… I mean Mnemosyne did say that the muses were not themselves when they were apart by long distance" Reyna glanced out of her window "She also said the mortal world would feel it's affect first, that there may be ramifications"
The grey eyes darkened "What type of ramifications?" she asked, but it was clear that she had already figured it out
"War amongst the mortals, war with the gods, Mnemosyne said that art was linked with everything, without it chaos" silence fell between the two
"What can I do to help?" she asked
Reyna leaned forward "I need anything you can tell me about the muses, especially Euterpe, it has to be someone linked to them, to go through all this trouble and only take one from underneath the nose of a titan"
The blonde nodded "Anything we can do to help, I will look in the archives here and get back to you as soon as I found anything"
"Thank you Annabeth" the praetor said gratefully
"Speak to you soon" she promised
Then the blonde was gone and returned to the normal vapours, Reyna exhaled
"This is bad isn't it" Damien spoke from behind her, Reyna didn't hear his approach
She turned to look at him "Yes Damien… yes it is"
There was a knock at the door and Damien turned to get it
"No!" hissed Reyna grabbing Damien's arm and pulling him back and up against the wall
"Wha-?" a hand clamped down over his mouth as he looked into Reyna's serious dark eyes
"Shhhh" she whispered "Nobody knows you are here and they can't know… not yet"
They stared at one another for a moment as another knock sounded, Damien eventually nodded and Reyna dropped her hand, he silently moved towards the bathroom and stepped inside and out of sight
One the third knock Reyna swung the door open to find Hazel with a load of heavy books in her hands
"About time" she stepped past Reyna and into the room and dropping the heavy books on the table "Do you realise how heavy these are, I couldn't even get Frank to help me"
"I'm sorry Hazel" She sighed, closing the door behind her and re-locking it
Damien appeared from the bathroom "So, why can people not know I am here? Am I your dirty little secret?" he winked at the girls
Reyna and Hazel shared a look between themselves, Hazel nodded in encouragement
Reyna sat on the edge of her desk "Well after you left and we returned, it turned out that someone had started rumours of the fact you had no heartbeat and that I was hiding this from the leaders of New Rome"
She saw Damien's hand start to move towards his chest, but he dropped it once he realised what he was doing
"If it got out that I knew and didn't inform the senate… then it could be bad for my position and for you" Reyna admitted
Damien came to stand in front of the Praetor "I'm really sorry Reyna, I never wanted to get in the way of your leadership" he thought for a moment "Who was spreading these rumours?"
Reyna shook her head slowly, knowing how much he had liked Toni "It doesn't matter"
Damien stepped closer seeing the hesitation in her dark eyes "Who Reyna?" he asked again
"Toni" interjected Hazel, obviously not having the same reservations as Reyna had "Apparently she couldn't keep her big mouth shut"
Damien turned to look at the daughter of Pluto and then his eyes landed back on Reyna
"Toni?" he asked, a slight anger in his voice
Reyna looked up at him and stood "It doesn't matter now" she said with her Praetor voice "We have bigger concerns right now" she grabbed a book and handed it to Damien, their eyes meeting
"I'm sorry Reyna" he whispered, as he took the book he placed his hand over hers in an attempt to show his sympathy for what he had caused
Reyna felt his warm strong hand, but she had to pull away, she couldn't go through this again, not when the world could possibly be in threat. She grabbed herself a book and settled into her desk chair, opening the ancient book her eyes scanning the Latin words.