Chapter XIX: Reyna

Reyna feels miserable and devastated.

Earlier, during the fight with the demigods, Reyna's heart took a leap when she realized Nico was missing. When he showed up, she felt like hugging and slapping him. Now, she felt horrible. The statue was missing. She and Nico were fighting. Finally, Reyna had failed in a task she had been entrusted to.

After a while, they had realized arguing was useless. They had divided themselves to search a certain area. She was in a park looking for the Athena Parthenos, something that made her emotionally angry and sad. Something that had ripped apart centuries of friendship of the two camps. Something which could result in her death.

It was so stupid. Her heart wasn't in the search. Her instincts told her it would be useless. She was so busy peeking underneath bushes and hedges, she didn't notice an image form right in front of her. Reyna jerked back and stared at the watery picture. The edges shimmered and Reyna could barely make out Annabeth's face.

"Reyna!" Annabeth cries out. "The statue!"

Reyna is filled with shock and guilt at the same time. She had not realized how hard it would have been to tell the others. She was suspicious but glad they already knew. Reyna couldn't think of what to say. Instead she frowns at the image.

"The connection is really bad," Annabeth's voice crackles. "Getting back on topic, don't waste your time looking around. I think I know where it might be. We have to get it back to camp or Gaea wins. You have to find it Reyna."

That snaps Reyna into action mode. "What? Where?"

Annabeth says something that Reyna does not catch. The connection weakens. The image is already breaking apart and the voices are muffled.

"I can't hear you!" Reyna yells over the mechanical noises. A couple passing by stares at her. Reyna tries for a smile. "Can you repeat?"

"Underground!" Annabeth shouts. The rest of her sentence is cut out by a huge blast. Reyna is thrown back by the explosion. A piece flings itself on Reyna's face. She covers her face which has begun to bleed a bit. Reyna feels the familiar warm trickle gush over her hand. Reyna strains her ear without looking at the Iris message and she can barely hear Annabeth's last words.

"Please Reyna. I trust you."

The picture dissolves and Reyna dusts herself. Reyna's mind is whirring. She knows New Jersey like the back of her hand. But underground? Nico and Coach Hedge would notice her absence. She could easily cause an uprising. Besides, it was only right to let them know. Reyna had to remind herself that she was working in a team, not just by herself.

At the same time, Reyna remembers Annabeth. The Greek warrior was so alike to Reyna. Fighting her way through. Annabeth had experienced joy, sadness and pain. It had taken her a lot of trouble to get the statue. And Reyna felt how hard it must have been for Annabeth. Suddenly, Reyna knows what to do.

She runs across the park and streets to a sewage pipe. She takes one last glance at the beautiful scenery, the trees, the roads, the happy air around it. Reyna takes a deep breath and begins to climb down, gathering all her courage, to meet the despair and disasters that awaited her below the crust.

I don't deserve your trust, Reyna thinks. Then she wipes her bleeding cheek and looks up at the sunshine for one last time. It is a light, faint square shining above the gutters. "So beautiful...so beautiful" Reyna whispers to herself one last time before heading down to either her death or her victory.

Reyna regrets her decision the minute she enters the dark gloomy surface. The atrocious odor hits her immediately. Reyna feels a bit woozy and clips her nose with disgust. She feels alone,like a tiny creature, succumbing to Mother Earth. She wants Nico's warm hand for courage, to give her some strength to continue.

She slaps herself mentally. She was never like this. She had never needed anyone's support. She was always brave and confident on the outside, hiding her internal emotions. Something had changed her. She was braver in a different way. She was ready to accept her feelings now. Her mind was sharpened and so were her features. She was thinner and taller. she had got a slight tan and she was more muscular.

But it had made her weaker too. Being scared was never part of her nature. She had always acknowledged her to be alone in life, love or praetorship. Reyna never succeeded in softer challenges. Ever since Venus told her Jason was no longer Reyna's, she considered love to be a distraction. She had grown up, abandoning all possible thoughts of it.

That was before she met Nico. Was she actually falling for him? Was love actually a weakness? She had grown stronger and better around him. He had taught her the true happiness of what could be love. She had never felt as light and happy ever before as she felt around him. But it was no use thinking of him at this time, she had probably spoiled her chances with Nico as well and right now, she needed to focus on her task.

She heads down the most logical corridor. Two of them are covered in gold. Probably to lure adventurists in. The other one is extremely bright, which hurt her eyes. One had moss everywhere which probably meant that they had been used in a while. The one she was heading down was just plain dark and dangerous, she nearly stepped on a slithering snake.

She goes on straight till she could no more and reaches a dead end.

"Ughh!" She screams in frustration. Then she hears a rustle, heading toward her. But it is so dark that it is hopeless to try and see what the monster was.

There seems to be two red flashlights coming closer. She has just a second to register that the flashlights were actually eyes before she did the most embarrassing thing she could ever do in a battle. She screams as the creature pounces on her. Its claws rakes her face causing the gashes to burn. Reyna blindly swings her sword upward.

There is silence after that. There are no remains of the creature.

Now that she can relax, she finds some celestial bronze near by and peeked into it. She recoils at the sight of her own face. As she recovers from the shock, she sits and tries to clean the blood before heading off to another route.

She had gone back to square one. She is feeling so clueless as to which path to choose that she said that little childish game that mortal children played in her head and finally, she chose the lucky path. This one is the brightest of all and she couldn't but help feel rejuvenated. She goes down the path with more determination and hope.

It turns out that those childish games actually worked. The path that she had taken led her into a bright place with the sight of the Athena Parthenos, like eye candy, taunting her.

But her instincts tell her that it is a trap. Her instincts are never wrong. The moment she takes a step towards the statue, four gigantic spiders approach her, teeth baring. She isn't caught off guard but she is hopelessly outnumbered.

Though she doesn't have arachnophobia like Annabeth she can't defeat four spiders without help. But she had to try. She whirls around and bring her blade down one one spider. It shrieks and shrivels into dust. Reyna blocks herself against the approaching one. She hears snapping behind her. With a deep breath, Reyna turns. The spiders have surrounded her.

She continues to move backwards until she comes up against a wall. Reyna closes her eyes. This was the worst way she could die. The hissing comes closer and closer. The stench is unbearable. And silence takes its place.

Reyna opens her eyes a little to see who her saviour is.

Nico.

His dark hair is matted with sweat and his pale skin is flushed. He smiles at her. Before Reyna can take everything in, A couple more spiders come forward.

With just a glance at each other, they both are up on their feet and fighting. Reyna slashes her sword across a spiders neck. Nico stabs another with his Stygian blade. It was tiring. More spiders just kept on coming. But Reyna was filled with adrenaline. She had never felt stronger with Nico at her side. Soon, all the spiders were just pieces of dust.

"Reyna!" Nico turns to her. "How could you just leave like that? You scared me like hell. Thankfully, I was close enough to see you go down the pipe. I followed you in, but by then you had disappeared. So, I tried all the paths which were filled with monsters. Then I spotted the spiders and I found you. Are you okay? What happened?"

But Reyna just pulls him in for a hug. "Nothing, I'm fine. Where's Hedge?"

"Dunno," he says as together they retrieved the statue all safe and sound. They head upwards together feeling slightly better than they were about an hour ago only to find….

"I see you've found the statue! Easy job, eh cupcakes?"