Chapter 44

Reyna soon found Annabeth eating with Damien and Frank, the blonde's eyes found her as she moved towards them, her grey eyes ringed with tiredness, Reyna felt guilt in the pit of her stomach, she had already done so much for Reyna, could the Praetor really ask anything more from her, especially something so dangerous?

Annabeth knew instantly that something was wrong, just by looking up at her

"Hey what's up?" she said

Reyna glanced between the three of them, all eyes upon her

"I need to speak with you" she said to Annabeth "In private" she added

The blonde nodded and rose from her seat, she gave Markos a quick kiss on her cheek before following Reyna out of the mess hall, she remained quiet until they were away from the other Romans

"How is Damien doing?" she asked

Reyna rounded a corner to a deserted area of the camp, she still glanced around just to make sure there were no eyes upon them

"He is the reason I want to speak to you in private" she suddenly felt a little nervous to ask, Reyna didn't get nervous "I need your advice on an idea I have"

"Of course"

Reyna took a deep breath "What you may not know is that Damien deserted the legion and to the Romans that is a serious crime, they have made a decision" Reyna's heart clenched a little but she ignored it "If Damien were ever to be released from his current state, he would be tried and committed of treason, the traditional punishment for such a crime is death or at the very least imprisonment"

Annabeth stayed quiet, she was good like that, she would wait until she had all of the details and then tried to work out the best solution

So Reyna continued "I need to get him out of Camp Jupiter, it's the only way I know he will be safe"

Annabeth's grey calculating eyes watched her

"I need your help to get him out of here" Reyna finished

"Where would he go, it's not like he can defend… oh" Reyna's words clicked in her mind "You want us to take him back to Camp Half-blood?"

Reyna nodded slowly, knowing it was too much to ask, she could see Annabeth's mind working behind her eyes, she stayed silent for a few minutes and Reyna was starting to worry that she had overloaded her brain somehow.

Slowly she nodded "Okay, there is a place I can hide him"

She looked back up to Reyna

"But we are going to need Hazel's help, will she do it?" she asked, the same guilt in her eyes as Reyna was feeling right now, both knowing that it was dangerous and the more people they included the more dangerous the situation became.

"I do not want to answer on her behalf" Reyna admitted "I will have to ask her"

"I will come with you, I can explain what my plan is" the blonde said as she gestured for Reyna to lead the way to Hazel

They remained silent as they walked towards the medical building, many Romans greeted Annabeth with respect, they had grown used to their alliance with the Greeks, Reyna prayed that would change after they got Damien out of here, hopefully they would not blame the Greeks for this.

They passed the two soldiers again who eyed Annabeth suspiciously but allowed them to pass, they found Hazel once again sat on a stool in the corner

"Hey" she greeted sleepily

Reyna glanced to make sure that the door was shut before speaking

"Annabeth has a plan but it involves you" Reyna said "But I know it's a lot to ask and I will understand if you do not want to risk it"

"Reyna, what makes you think that I would stop helping you after everything we have been through already" she smiled softly at her friend "I'm in this for the long haul"

Reyna gave her a small smile "Thank you Hazel"

"Right so what's the plan?" Hazel ask turning to Annabeth

The blonde looked towards Damien, still entrapped in the ice

"How are you with shadow travelling?" the blonde recalled the son of Hades, Nico who had transported the Athena Parthenon across half the world

Hazel shuffled her feet awkwardly "Well I'm not as good as Nico" she glanced towards the very heavy looking ice trap "But I don't think I can get him all the way across the country"

Annabeth shook her head "Not a problem, if you can at least get him out of state I can have friends pick him up from and take him the rest of the way"

Hazel nodded then looked back at the large man encased in his icy prison "Okay… yer, I can do that" she looked at Reyna "You better go, be in public, so you have an alibi for when he disappears"

Reyna's eyes dropped to the floor, then back to Damien "Of course" she walked up to Damien in his frozen state, his eyes open and staring straight ahead, she moved closer so that she could whisper

"I have no idea if you can hear me but, I want… need you to know that I need you to be okay, I need you to come back to me one day" she took a shaky breath "Maybe we can go backpacking around Europe, because there's no one else that I would rather travel the world with"

She paused as tears stung her eyes, but she told herself that she would not cry

"Good luck Damien"

She turned to Hazel and Annabeth "Good luck to both of you and thank you"