Note: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews! I knew last time I updated it was poorer then the rest. And still, compared to other stories my chapters are short, which is probably because I don't have much time to update. But luckily, today I should have the whole day, that is until the apple pie is ready. (Yay! Apple pie!) Anyway, thanks again for all the reviews, they keep me going! And I'm hoping that I'm in the zone with writing today. But, hey, I tried!
According to Leo Valdez, they couldn't stay in one place for too long. Reyna, having no idea why, just went along with it, guessing it was from his ADHD. Which, she had too, but not nearly as bad.
They were on their way towards her villa since it was already becoming dark and the grass was dry under their feet, though above them, the clouds were soaked with moisture. Reyna knew what time it was in the water cycle.
Even if she was with Valdez, she still tried to be herself, and now that she had actually . . . Lets just say, fallen for him, she could feel her heart trying to leap out of her chest.
She had trained herself to actually be strict, powerful, and mostly unreadable for fear that if she toppled over, if she actually showed her emotions, that the Twelfth Legion would follow her, and panic. She wouldn't loose her home again, not like last time, especially because it had ended in such a disaster.
Leo cleared his throat, apparently they were closing in on her small home, and she heard a distinct clatter coming from the recyclables she had left out to remind her to take to the town hall and put it with the rest before they took them out into the city.
There was also barking coming from the inside of her house, she suspected it was her dogs, but whatever the other thing was it didn't seem afraid.
Soon they had made it, and Reyna could see clearly that a furry hind was digging through her garbage. How much nerve the faun had to dig through her aluminum was unknown.
Once again in the day, she coughed and cleared her throat hoping to get the goats attention, but she had no such satisfaction to it.
Valdez gulped and tapped her on the shoulder, "Hey, I'll handle it. Meanwhile you should go check on your . . . animals."
She shook her head in protest and coughed loudly, irritated at the creature, but even more irritated when it glanced back and then continued eating her recyclables, like she was worthless.
Her head fumed, this was not right, this creature should be disciplined and left back at the dining pavilion. It was not right for this faun to ignore a praetor, especially her.
She stomped her foot, as if she was about to put down a tantrum and said, "Excuse me." It sounded better to her then it did to the animal, making it only think of her as hot-headed.
It didn't respond to her though she knew he had heard her. "You are on the praetor's property. Leave immediately or you shall be executed."
Leo bit his lip as if this wasn't a good idea and whispered to her, "Isn't that a little harsh?"
She disregarded him, as the faun shrugged and began to hurry off with its arms full of aluminum and a can in it's mouth.
Truth was, Reyna was feeling hot-headed. She was angry, that animal had just ignored her all together! It should fear her, not think of her as worthless. She was the one trying to keep everyone in order.
Fire boy hurriedly grabbed her arm and tugged her towards her door fumbling to get it open as the dogs barked and growled at the door.
Unknowingly, she began to dig in her pocket for the key and dropped it in his hand looking ruefully at where the faun had left.
Leo quickly unlocked the door and opened it for her to walk in to, just as it started sprinkling outside.
She knew, they'd be in for a big storm that night, obviously Jupiter was having one of his temper tantrums or he was pretending to be a girl again. Both, were not very good things.
Valdez started to move towards the fifth cohort before Reyna tugged him inside and shut the door. She could tell he wasn't expecting that by the way he stumbled back and almost landed on her growling dogs.
"Sta descendit!" She ordered to the dogs who immediately made their way to the cushioned and worn down couch, curling up. She then took the keys back from him and marched over to the small bar on the side of the small kitchenette. She went ahead and pulled the hello kitty backpack off of his back, that he had almost forgot at the ship building and threw it under the stools at the bar.
She then crashed on one of the chairs and lay her head down on the bar like it was an exhausting day, which it had indeed been.
Leo took the stool next to her and watched her, trying to straighten out his shirt as he did so.
Abruptly, Reyna then shot up again and slid off of the seat marching over to the coffee table that stood between the couch and television, picked up a bunch of papers and a pen then marched back past the coat rack to the seat that was only about a couple feet away.
Everything was in one room. Her bed positioned to the right of the television and couch, which that was to the right of the front door, which if you went straight from the door you'd make it to the bar, and then if you went around the left you'd make it to the tight space that she called the kitchen, and if you went straight one more foot, you'd make it to the back door. Lastly, the coat rack was positioned behind the door and she kept a small collection of movies under the television stand while the coffee table was a mess.
She began to jot down things, most of it had to be finished by tomorrow so she quickly began to fill out everything. Most of it was essential for her job as praetor to carry on. She skimmed through everything for a second before her eyes widened and she found she'd gotten to the letters that she had gotten from Jason. Hurriedly, she set them to the side.
Leo began to help himself to he letters, Reyna not even noticing he was still there. She muttered some things as she continued to work and Leo's eyes only got more and more droopy as he read all of them, noticing how she had made notes to herself after she read them, as if to remind herself he was no good, and it was all lies.
Dear Rey,
I'm really sorry. I know we don't talk much anymore, but I'd like to reconstruct our friendship and make it better. We need to work together for our jobs to work, and continue normally like my disappearance had never happened. Look, being a son of Jupiter, it's just . . . challenging. Everyone looks up to me because of my father. We're here to teach the next generation, the generation that will take our places as praetors and continue our dreams. Look, I know you're still angry because of Piper. But, I love her, and you . . I know we were close in that way somewhat before, but now it's over. You already know the truth. You might be beautiful, powerful, and calm but no one will ever be able to love you. We both know Venus isn't in your favor, you've told me that story. It's hard, but just stay with me here. I don't love you that way and I never will. There's been too much that happened. It's unfixable. But we can still be friends, we have to, or the Twelfth Legion will just fall apart, especially with Octavian. I'm sorry. It's all over. Venus isn't in your favor and neither am I. I'm sorry.
Sincerely, Jason Grace, fellow praetor, former lover, poor friend.
(Rey, you do know he's right. I just need to focus on my work before Octavian threatens me even more. It's getting worse every day, and pretty soon I know Octavian will take my spot. He's already threatened to hurt my family. The dogs, Scipio, he even talked about Hylla. Pretty soon I'll loose my praetorship, unless if we can get back on track. Don't worry, he wasn't worth it anyway. Just work together, Rey. And you'll be fine. I can barely trust anyone now-a-days anyway.)
