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Reyna

Reyna bit back a hiss, struggling to keep her features under control. She knew that name. She knew it. She didn't know how, but it was familiar to her, just like Annabeth. Leo looked at her with concern. "You okay, Rey?"

Reyna managed to nod. She tried to swallow. It felt like there was a guinea pig sized lump in her throat. Something about the name Percy Jackson made her feel troubled, almost sick. She shook herself, then followed Butch to the chariot.

She and Leo climbed into the back. Butch and Annabeth were in front of them, Butch handling the reins. Annabeth adjusted some sort of navigation device.

The chariot rose, heading east. Storm clouds were gathering behind them, and the wind was picking up again. The chariot lurched in the wind, picking up speed.

Leo had a huge smile on his face. He was looking at the pegasi in wonder. He spit out a feather. "This is awesome! Where are we going?"

"The only safe place for people like us," Annabeth said. "Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-Blood?" Leo asked blankly.

"Another word for demigod," Reyna cut in. "Half human half god."

Annabeth looked back. Her eyes were narrowed like she was thinking hard. "If I could remember where we met..."

The girl shook herself. "Anyways, yes – demigods. I'm a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch's mom is Iris, the rainbow goddess."

"Your mom's a rainbow goddess?" Leo spluttered.

"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.

"You shouldn't underestimate Iris," Annabeth warned. "Or get on her bad side. If she likes you – or at least you haven't offended her – she can help you a lot, if you know how to ask. Butch is our best equestrian. He gets along great with the pegasi."

"Ponies, rainbows," Leo muttered under his breath. Butch threatened to throw him out of the chariot.

Lightning flashed. Reyna's eyes caught sight of the left wheel. "Wheel's on fire!"

Annabeth cursed. Reyna saw dark shapes forming in the clouds – storm spirits, in the shape of horses, moving in towards the chariots.

"Why are they – " Leo started to ask. Annabeth cut him off, explaining how they took different shapes depending on how chaotic they were.

Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed. The chariot blurred. When it finally slowed down, they were in an entirely different place – Reyna didn't know where, but it definitely wasn't Arizona.

She took in the scene. A grey ocean was to the left, waves crashing against the shore. To their right were fields, roads, and forests, all covered with snow. Directly below was a valley, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water on the fourth. In the valley were a cluster of buildings, a big blue farmhouse, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. Before she could observe much more, the wheels of the chariot came off. The chariot plummeted.

Annabeth and Butch struggled to keep control. The pegasi struggled to keep going, but the weight was clearly too much, after their burst of speed.

"Aim for the lake!" Annabeth yelled.

She had barely finished speaking when - BOOM.

The cold came as a shock. She took a moment to get over it, to get her bearings straight. Before she could start swimming to the surface, two girl appeared in front of her. They both had long hair and strange, yellow eyes that practically glowed. They took her by the arms with smiles, hauling her to the surface.

A strange, almost overwhelming desire, need, to free herself welled up inside Reyna. It was stupid – they were helping her, taking her to the surface where she could breathe. But the feeling of people touching her terrified her. Together, underwater, the two girls were stronger than she was – even if she had been unable to resist the urge to pull away, she wouldn't have been able to, had the girls chosen to hold on. She felt powerless, not in control – she didn't like it. She needed to be in control of her life.

The girls let go of her, tossing her to the shore. Reyna breathed a sigh of relief, looking around.

Butch stood in the lake, cutting the pegasi free of the ruined harnesses. They seemed okay, but they were splashing water everywhere. Reyna felt a surge of sympathy – they had flown all the way from the Grand Canyon to somewhere on the coast, and had landed in a lake. They were probably freezing.

Leo and Annabeth were a few feet away from her, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions. Reyna jumped to her feet. Apparently, people falling into the lake wasn't out of the ordinary, because a group of kids ran up with bronze blower things and blasted Reyna with hot air – her clothes were dry in seconds.

Reyna looked around. There were twenty campers, maybe more, milling around. Their ages ranged from maybe nine to nineteen. They all wore orange shirts like Annabeth's.

A guy with a bow and quiver strapped to his back pushed through the crowd until he reached the spot where the ruined chariot lay. He stared at it mournfully. "Annabeth! I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"I'm sorry, Will," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed soon, I promise."

Will turned to look at Reyna and Leo. "Are these the new ones? Why haven't they been claimed yet? Definitely older than thirteen."

"Claimed?" Leo asked. Before Annabeth had a chance to say anything, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth admitted. The campers started muttering to each other. Percy was clearly someone important. "As for Leo and Reyna, we're just going to have to assign them each a guide, give them a tour..."

Her voice trailed off as the campers stepped back as one, faces bathed in red light. Reyna turned to see a blazing, holographic image hovering above Leo's head – a fiery hammer. Leo glanced up and let out a yelp.

"Is my hair on fire?"

He ducked, trying to get away from the flames. It was pointless – the symbol followed him, always the same distance from his head, ducking and weaving with him.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse – "

"Shut up, Butch," Annabeth snapped. "Leo, you've just been claimed – "

"By Vulcan," Reyna finished. Immediately, she wished she hadn't. All eyes moved from Leo to her, as if she was some kind of alien. Someone who wasn't supposed to be there, at any rate. She didn't feel like she should be there either.

"Reyna," Annabeth said slowly. "How...how do you know that?"

Reyna retained her bland expression, shrugging carelessly.

"What is this, Star Trek?" Leo demanded.

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths," Annabeth explained. She turned to Will. "Could you take Leo? Give him a tour, introduce him to his bunk mates in Cabin Nine?"

"Sure."

"I'm not a Vulcan," Leo protested. Will rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Mr. Spock. I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on Leo's shoulder, steering him away from the crowd,

Another girl stepped forward, arms folded across her chest. She was Asian, tall and pretty. She wore an orange shirt and jeans, like all the others. She glanced coolly at Leo, who was being led away, then turned her gaze to Reyna. Annabeth, next to the girl, also had her eyes fixed on Reyna.

"Hold out your arm," Annabeth ordered. Reyna raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"Please, Reyna, just do it." Annabeth gestured to Reyna's right arm, the one with the torn sleeve. Reyna didn't move for a beat. Then, slowly, feeling as if she was doing something that she shouldn't be, she held out her arm.

"I have a few questions I'd like answers to," she said as Annabeth took hold of her arm.

"We'll answer your questions soon, I promise. Just hold on."

Reyna glanced down at her arm to see what Annabeth was staring at – a darkly etched tattoo, partially obscured by the remains of her sleeve. Annabeth pushed up the sleeve to bare Reyna's entire forearm. There were four lines below a crossed sword and torch and the letters SPQR.

The campers still surrounding them started to whisper again at the sight of the tattoo. Other pushed forward to look. The marks seemed to bother them a lot – more than seemed reasonable. Reyna understood – she herself couldn't help but feel threatened. Not by the marks, of course – it was the proximity of the campers, their whispering and staring.

"They looked burned into your skin," Annabeth noted. Reyna felt a sharp pain above her left eye. She stifled the urge to wince at the pain and shrugged – she had done that a lot recently, and was getting rather sick of it.

Reyna noted that everyone's eyes had gone to Annabeth. They clearly regarded her as their leader and were waiting for her verdict.

"She needs to see Chiron," Annabeth decided at last. Reyna felt an unexpected surge of disappointment. She didn't trust Annabeth, but she had pegged the girl as a leader, not someone that would push responsibility off onto other people. "Drew, would you – "

"Actually, Annabeth, I have a couple things I need to get done," the Asian girl next to Annabeth interrupted. "Don't worry, though – Mitchell would love to show Reyna around, wouldn't you, Mitchell?"

She turned to smile sweetly at a boy in the crowd. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards her, whispering something into his ear. Reyna's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The boy walked over to Reyna with a bright smile. He gestured off into the distance. "This way. I'll introduce you to our director."

Reyna swallowed her unease and followed Mitchell toward the big blue house.

Thanks for reading, everyone! This'll probably be my last update for a while – school for me starts on Tuesday, so I'll be pretty busy. I'd love it if someone could tell me how I'm doing on characterization. That's really important to me, and I'm scared I'm making Reyna too...skittish. She's a character that I find a lot easier to write from other people's perspectives. I don't know how to write her from her own.

Question of the chapter: What do you think of Rachel Elizabeth Dare? Personally, I absolutely love her.