Lost In Darkness.
Chapter Two: Different Fathers.
Reyna still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she and her older brother were half-gods. She certainly didn't feel godly and her brother was blind—gods weren't blind right? The demigoddess was so distracted she could've walked right into the tree.
Fortunately for her, someone grabbed her by the shoulder before she could. Her nose still brushed the rough bark though. She turned around to see that it had been her older brother. He was smirking her way, amused as if he could see her running into the tree.
"How did you know a tree was before me?" she asked curiously.
Percy shrugged, falling back into step beside her, grasping her free hand as they followed Annabeth, the blonde girl pointing buildings and things out to them as they got the siblings acquainted.
The boy shrugged. "Ever since the fight with the Minotaur...I feel more alert, stronger, sharpened senses once we found out that we're demigods. I can sorta feel the movement of the ground...not the tree. I can sense its roots pulsing underground though. That's how I know its in front of you. You okay?"
Reyna nodded numbly. "Yeah," she said. "I'm okay but...you believe their talk about the gods existing and stuff?"
"If its fake, what do we make of the Minotaur? And the people here training with real blades and oh, vines growing into a full plant within seconds?"
Reyna turned to see what her brother had heard and she couldn't help the grimace of agreement. The young girl switched her gaze back to Annabeth, she tried hard to pay attention, but her brain wouldn't translate the blah, blah, blah into words for her. She ended up staring stupidly up at Annabeth and tried to act as if she was hearing everything when the older girl's eyes narrowed upon her like a hawk's.
Talk about terrifying, but Reyna wasn't one to be so intimidated.
She sneered back at the older girl's disdainful gaze once she realized the younger sibling wasn't paying attention. When Annabeth left them, Reyna practically growled. "I know she's pretty bro, but you better not introduce her to mom as a girlfriend."
Percy chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Come on, kiddo, let's go back to the Hermes Cabin. Lead the way."
"I thought you got...like, sharpened senses now, hmm?"
"What a smart-ass I've raised."
"You think you're better?"
Percy chuckled again, a rich and warm sound from the back of his throat, as his sister grasped his hand and started guiding him away from the edge of the woods—away from the rippling growl of something he knew as inside but didn't know what sort of animal.
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The following days, the siblings went everywhere together, earning the nickname of Per-Na when referring to both or simply Jacksons. Percy found that he liked sword fighting the best, though it was quite the trouble to teach him, he was rather adept and felt like he was in his element when he was wielding a sword. Reyna liked sword fighting too, but she loved canoeing even more—Percy didn't like being in the lake as much as she but he had to accompany her.
Foot-racing...however. The siblings couldn't judge how good they were when the nymph instructors always left them in the dust. Though the wood nymphs comforted them with the knowledge that they had many years of practice by running away from lovesick gods, neither felt better.
Percy and Reyna killed every plant they touched—the boy found them disintegrating in his hands while the girl drowned the plants. They earned zero respect from the Dionysus and Demeter cabin. Much to Percy's relief, neither he nor Reyna had much interest in make-up, clothes etc. like the children of Aphrodite.
Their parents being Apollo was out of the question namely because, Percy couldn't even see where he was aiming, much less shoot and Reyna was a natural when it came to killing allies with a bow and arrow.
When Grover brought up that they might be children of minor gods, Reyna had pouted and claimed she didn't want to be a minor godling. Percy didn't mind, just as long he can go to the Underworld someday and bring his mother back. Then the three of them will be a happy family again—blotching out Gabe.
The problem was finding the Underworld and what reason would he have to be there other than being dead. His wish was granted on a cool Friday night where the game of Capture-The-Flag was to be held. He wasn't as enthusiastic as before, and Reyna certainly noticed it. She frowned at the black rings under his eyes.
"What's wrong with you?" she demanded as she strapped on her armor.
"Nothing," her brother answered, face and eyes void of emotion. "Just a bad dream."
"About the horse and eagle fighting again?"
"No...about something else..."
"About what?"
"My...father."
"Our dad contacted you?" Reyna nearly shouted that part out but when Percy hissed and wacked her head, she lowered her voice, glaring at her brother as she rubbed the sore spot. "Why didn't he say anything to me?" she sounded hurt and there was no little amount of jealousy in that voice.
"It's nothing squirt, your dad will claim you tonight."
"How do you know that?" Percy shot her a look, basically telling her that she should already know. "Oh, the dream—" before Reyna can finish, the horn was blown by Chiron and the siblings turned towards him.
When Reyna turned back to her brother, he was gone. She frowned, disconcerted, why had her brother refer to the father as if they had different ones? Why was he being so secretive when they had never hidden things from one another?
She pouted as she ran after Annabeth, keeping her eyes peeled for her brother. Later, when she was at the creek, alone and with not much protection, she realized she should have been keeping an eye for her surroundings such as the enemies circling around her.
Reyna was pretty sure that she was going to die when someone murmured in her head to move into the water. She did and instantly felt energized. The Ares campers charged and Reyna met them head on, her sword hit the other guy's hilt and she twisted her sword down, successfully pulling off the disarming technique. She slammed the butt of her sword into an Ares girl's head and she went down. Reyna ducked when Clarisse tried to spear her. Yelping, she grabbed a shield from another Ares camper, slammed it into the guy's head and used the stole shield to defend herself from Clarisse's electric spear.
She stumbled backwards, slightly numb from the spear's power before shaking herself out of it and, trapping Clarisse's spear with her shield, snapped it in half. Reyna laughed in triumph feeling the adrenaline and rush of the battle flowing in her veins. The demigoddess laughed even harder when Luke ran over the creek, jumping to the other side, and when Chiron announced their victory.
Their joy was short-lived. The last person to deliver bad news to them was Reyna's brother and she couldn't believe it when he yelled run.
"Percy?" she asked, confused. "What's wrong?"
Her brother heard her and tried to stumble towards her, his thigh was bleeding, the wound made by something along the lines of rabid dogs. Reyna's eyes widened as she stepped out of the creek, running towards him.
Correction, would have run towards him had something not slammed into her. Reyna's head connected with a rock the same time she felt something tearing her chest. She gurgled something metallic out of her mouth, and gasped for breath.
"Hurts," she whimpered the same time her blurry vision registered Percy stabbing the large, hellish dog that had attacked her with his sword.
"Get into the creek!" Annabeth screamed, pulling her arm as gently as possible and tugged her towards the small stream. When Percy made to follow, she gestured for him not to.
Initially, Reyna thought they were going to bury her in the stream when she blinked. The water was energizing her again and when she looked down, she gasped in astonishment at the closing wound. The earth shook the moment her wounds closed completely—gash, blood, scar and all—and above her head, five miniature stars gathered, connecting the dots till they were left with the image of a trident.
"Is that a trident above your head, Rey?"
Reyna turned to look at Percy."Yes...how did you know that when you couldn't see...?"
"My dream came true, father was right."
"What are you talking about?"
Before the brunette can answer his sister, Chiron trotted over to them. The centaur studied the siblings with old eyes and a grim face, as if reading how long they have left to live. He gave Percy an approving look. "Good job destroying the monster, Perseus. And Reyna..." he stared uncertainly at the two.
He muttered something in Ancient Greek before turning to the campers, his horse half skittering nervously.
"Hail, Reyna Jackson, the daughter of Poseidon. God of the seas. Earthshaker and Father of horses." His gaze bored into Percy's blank ones. As if he could sense the intense stare, Percy brought out a silver chain from his shirt, one Reyna swore he never had before. And she frowned at the helm-like thing accessory. The next thing the centaur said shook her to the core:
"And hail, Perseus Jackson, son of Hades. Lord of the Dead and the Underworld. God of wealth."
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