My first Reyna chapter! I hope you all like it.

Chapter XII

Reyna

As soon as they land, Nico falls into the water, unconscious. Reyna quickly walks over to him and struggles to lift him up and keep his face clear of the water. His skin, which is always deathly pale, is so white it looks almost green. His breathing is shallow and labored, and Reyna knows immediately that he wasn't exaggerating about the difficulty of the trip. Not that she ever doubted him in the first place.

She looks around at her surroundings, still struggling to support Nico's weight. He's not particularly heavy, but it's still hard to hold him up.

They landed in the shallow water just off the coast, in the shadows of a forest of tall pines. A short strip of rocky beach separates the trees from the ocean. They appear to be in a sort of bay, with craggy cliffs to their left, pine trees in front of them and to the right, and the ocean behind them. Coach Hedge is staring at the trees, chewing absentmindedly on the end of his bat for no apparent reason.

"Coach Hedge!" Reyna calls. "I could use some help over here." She feels silly calling him coach. But she feels silly asking a faun for help in the first place, so what the heck. He looks over at her and seems to notice her difficulties for the first time. He trots through the water, splashing salt water in Reyna's face, but then he takes Nico's other side and they manage to carry him to the beach. They sit down on the rocks, looking at the Athena Parthenos where it stands in the water, the waves lapping at its base. The light of the setting sun just touches it over the tops of the trees, lighting up the goddess's serene face and making her look even more eerily life-like.

Reyna looks away, instead scanning their surroundings for anything that could be a threat. Nothing. Besides the plants, they appear to be the only living things on the beach. She sighs and looks down at Nico's prone form beside her. For some reason, she feels a strange protectiveness towards him.

"Coach-" She stops and sighs again. She really feels so silly calling him that. She decides to ask a different question. "What is your real name?"

He looks at her in surprise. But he seems to sense why she asks, because he doesn't question her.

"Gleeson." He says.

"Well, Gleeson, do you have any idea how we can get the Athena Parthenos onto dry ground?" He thinks about it for a few seconds, narrowing his eyes at the statue.

"We might be able to move it on our own. It isn't as heavy as it looks. But I don't see the point. It's not as if the water's dangerous."

"We should move it anyway. We don't want something to happen to it just because we were too lazy to move it. Besides, if it's supposed to be the only thing that can save the camps, I'd prefer it if it was on dry ground, where we can protect it more easily." She explains. He nods.

"Makes sense. Alright, cupcake, let's move a statue." He hops to his feet and wades into the water. Reyna glares at his back. She doesn't appreciate being called 'cupcake.' But it isn't long before she follows him.

"Grab a rope." She says, tossing him one. He narrows his eyes at her tone, but picks up the rope and gets ready to pull. The icy water raises goose bumps on her arms, and it takes all her willpower to keep her teeth from chattering. She focuses intently on the task at hand in order to keep her mind off the cold. She grabs as many of the loose ropes that she can reach and uses her full body weight to drag the statue towards her. It grinds against the rocks, and Reyna winces, both at the sound and at the thought that they may have damaged a statue that's over two thousand years old. But she keeps going, gently pulling the statue to the rocky beach, careful not to accidentally pull it onto its side. The base scrapes against the rocky sand, but it's actually a lot lighter than she'd originally thought. So it doesn't take too long for them to get it to the shore, especially since they weren't that far from it in the first place.

They've just collapsed onto the sand after untangling themselves from the ropes when an eerie howl cuts through the silence, sending a chill down Reyna's spine. Then another joins in, and another, until at least half a dozen howls rise into the night. Reyna draws her sword, standing.

"Hellhounds." She says, her voice low. Gleeson nods.

"They can probably sense the Athena Parthenos' magic. It has a very powerful aura, in case you haven't noticed." He casually rests his baseball bat against a boulder. Reyna glances at the statue. She's noticed, alright. The thing radiates so much magic, it makes her feel small and insignificant. She stands for several more minutes, scanning the forest again and again, sure that a pack of hellhounds will bound out of it at any second. Finally, she sits back down on the hard ground, though she remains tense and keeps her sword out.

"This is going to be a long night." She mutters, more to herself than anyone else. Gleeson doesn't even look up. Nico's still lying on the ground, completely oblivious, his chest slowly rising and falling with his breathing. Reyna looks up at the sky, which is quickly growing dark. She wishes they could start a fire, but knows that with the hellhounds already close by, it'd be like sending up a flare to every monster within a hundred mile radius. She resigns herself to a miserable night, shivering in her wet clothes. She leans back, her armor scraping against the ground, and uses her pack as a pillow. She lets go of her sword, but keeps it in easy reach.

The stars come out, shining bright and cold far above. Reyna watches them, tracing the patterns of constellations with her eyes. A shooting star burns a trail across the sky, and Reyna closes her eyes to make a wish. On this mission, she needs all the luck she can get.

Let us reach the camp safely, in time to restore peace between the Romans and the Greeks. Give us strength to reach the end of our journey. Then she opens her eyes and once again looks up at the stars, where they keep vigilant watch over the night.

She just lays there, listening to Nico's quiet breathing, thinking about New Rome. She wonders what kind of welcome awaits her once they reach Camp Half-Blood. The Greeks probably won't care for her much, but what about the Romans? She broke one of their oldest laws when she traveled to the Ancient Lands. Octavian has taken over as praetor. The legions follow him now. They might very well be against Reyna when she gets back.

She's lost nearly everything. First Jason returns with a new, Greek girlfriend and then leaves on a quest to Greece. Then she has to give up her position as senior officer to chase after them. And to top it all off, she was forced to put her pegasus, Scipio, out of his misery when they finally reached Greece. She has never had close friends, but she once thought that maybe her and Jason...but no, that was not meant to be. And now she is alone.

She sighs and turns onto her side, where she can't see the stars anymore. She clutches the grip of her sword, and closes her eyes to rest.

Maybe we can make it to the camp safely. She's had her doubts. But now it seems they might just make it. She can worry about the rest once they get there.

She really shouldn't have said anything. Even if it was technically just in her head, she should have known better than to tempt the Fates.

Gleeson straightens suddenly, his nose twitching. His face has gone pale, and he looks scared for what must be the first time.

"What is it?" Reyna asks, sitting up.

"Monsters. A lot of them. We need to move. Now." Reyna glances at Nico. There's no way he would be able to shadow-travel, even if they could wake him up. And they can't move the statue very far without him.

"We'll have to split up." She says, her voice grim. "And we'll have to leave the statue here for now." She has to raise her voice over Gleeson's sounds of protest. "If we don't move now, they'll kill us, or at least capture us, at the very least. And we won't get very far with that statue." She tells the satyr, her face set determinedly. "I'll take Nico. You go towards the cliffs and then head into the forest. We'll go the other way."

Gleeson looks at her, his face just visible in the light of the moon. But her tone brooks no argument, and he helps her drape Nico's arm around her shoulders before heading off in the direction she specified. Reyna watches him leave, satisfied. Then she starts walking along the tree line, one arm around Nico's waist and the other holding his arm in place. In order to support his weight, she has to sheath her sword, which she's not happy about. But hopefully the powerful aura of the statue will distract the monsters, whatever they may be, long enough to allow them to reach somewhere safe. Then, when Nico's fully recovered, they can come back for the Athena Parthenos.

She steals one last look at the statue, standing tall and regal underneath the stars, the light of the moon lighting up her face almost as well as the sun did. It seems to Reyna that she's staring down at her in disapproval. But Reyna turns away and keeps going until she reaches the forest, where she takes a second to rest. Then she plunges into the trees and is swallowed by the shadows.

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