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Chapter XVIII
Reyna
Nico's light mood surprises Reyna. They haven't really talked much at all, but her overall impression of him has always been dark, brooding, and mysterious. He's never been particularly talkative. Which is why his almost happy mood shocks her.
Not that the change isn't welcome. Reyna much prefers him this way. Of course, if he starts to be like this all the time, it might get a little annoying. Like Percy. But she has a feeling that Nico would have a hard time-an impossible time-being happy all the time.
The sound of Nico's voice startles her out of her thoughts.
"How'd they manage to catch you anyway? It seems that it would be an awfully hard thing to do." He says. Reyna narrows her eyes at him suspiciously, looking for a sign that he's teasing. She finds none.
"Sinis distracted me. While I was talking to him, another monster snuck up behind me. By the time I realized he was there, it was too late to do anything about it. He hit me in the head with a club." Reyna rubs the back of her head absentmindedly as she talks, wincing. It still smarts a bit.
"Ouch. Reminds me a little of what happened when Otis and Ephialtes trapped me in that stupid bronze jar." Nico's nonchalant tone, and his carefree way of bringing up his capture and near suffocation, surprises Reyna for the second time in less than five minutes. She decides not to ask anything about it, though, since she doesn't want to bring back that haunted look in his eyes that he normally has.
"Yeah. I think I still have a bump on the back of my head. Doesn't hurt too much anymore, though, so I'm good." She says, making an effort to keep her voice light. Nico shoots a look at her, as if he understands what she's doing and doesn't like it. He's quiet for a few minutes as they walk, and then he starts to talk again, in a quiet, calm voice, looking straight ahead the entire time.
"It's okay to ask me about it, you know. I might not answer, but that doesn't mean I'll start raving like a madman if you so much as mention it to me."
Reyna watches him for a second, attempting to gauge his mood. She's usually pretty good at that, but right now, she has no idea what Nico's feeling. "I guess I figured you would bring it up if you wanted to talk. And I also thought that you'd probably prefer to discuss it with someone you actually know."
"I think it would be harder for me to talk about it then. I'd be afraid they'd think I'm weak, or, worse, that they'd pity me." He admits.
"I don't think anyone could think you're weak, Nico. You're the first demigod to survive Tartarus, and even though Annabeth and Percy have now been through the same thing, they had each other. You were completely alone. But I understand what you mean about pity. I hate it when people feel sorry for me. It makes me feel like I'm some sort of charity case." Reyna tells him. He looks at her then, but looks away again almost immediately.
"Exactly why I haven't talked to anyone about it. Yet." He mutters. Then he takes a deep breath and refocuses on the situation at hand. "So, how do you want to do this? Super stealth mode, or just charge in and kill every monster in sight?"
"Considering the fact that the camp is made up of thousands of monsters and not hundreds, I think we'll have to go with super stealth mode." Reyna answers.
Nico nods. "Considering that, yeah, super stealth mode would probably be the better idea. How far ahead of us is it?"
"Maybe thirty feet." Reyna calculates. They walk in silence, but just before they'd break through the trees and be able to see the camp, Nico puts out an arm to stop Reyna.
"Wait. I want to try something." He says. Reyna waits, wary of the look on his face. He reaches out and grips Reyna's shoulder. Then he closes his eyes.
From the look on his face, Reyna gets the idea that he's concentrating fiercely. Also from the way his grip keeps tightening on Reyna's shoulder. Ow.
A bead of sweat rolls down his forehead.
Just when Reyna is about to interrupt him, ask him what he's trying to do, tell him he's bruising her shoulder, something happens. A gray, shadowy mist seeps from his fingers and wraps itself around him, and then around Reyna. It clings to their skin in wisps.
Reyna swipes her fingers through it, fascinated. It doesn't really feel any different from normal air. Just a little colder.
Nico opens his eyes. He doesn't look at all tired, as most of his powers seem to make him.
"Oh, good, it worked." He says, sounding pleased with himself. Reyna looks at him, not bothering to cover up the astonishment in her eyes.
"How did you do that? And what does it do?" She asks.
Nico shifts uncomfortably. "I was thinking about what Hazel can do with the Mist, and wondering if I could do something similar, to hide us better when we sneak through the monsters' camp. And since I'm good with shadows, I was thinking maybe I could use them to hide us instead of the Mist. And it worked."
Reyna just stares at him, frozen. Then she shakes her head in amazement.
"Okay, then. Come on, Shadow Boy, let's go kill us some monsters." And then she marches out of the trees.
She can practically feel Nico rolling his eyes at her, but she doesn't care. She's too busy grinning like an idiot.
The gasp she hears from him when he first sees the camp is extremely satisfying.
Thousands of monsters (as Reyna said) are camped in a valley that seems to stretch out endlessly before them. Both Reyna and Nico have been in big battles, but neither of them have really seen monsters gathered this close together. It's enough to strike fear into the hearts of the bravest demigods. But both Reyna and Nico just pause, take a deep breath, and walk on.
The wisps of shadow, whatever they are, seem to be doing their job. No one's sounded the alarm or shouted "Hey! Two demigods are sneaking up on us!" so Reyna's pretty sure no one can see them. Or, if they can, they see something that isn't threatening.
The two demigods walk through the camp of monsters, invisible. They don't even have to sneak. They're just walking normally, as if they're out for a stroll in the park.
Two dracaenae slither towards them, hissing to each other. Reyna and Nico scoot over to give them room to pass, but before they have a chance to, a wicked grin breaks out on Reyna's face. It only gets wider when the dracaenae closest to them suddenly trips, seemingly by accident, and lands face first on the ground, screeching the whole time. When she gets to her feet, red-faced with anger and embarassment, she starts arguing with her companion, claiming that she was the one who tripped her. They start shrieking at each other.
Reyna has to stifle her laughter. When she looks over at Nico, he's shaking his head at her in exasperation, but she can see the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips.
They reach the center of the camp without any further 'incidents,' where they find Coach Hedge leaning back against the base of the Athena Parthenos, snoring away. Reyna and Nico exchange a look of amusement. Then their eyes both start to shine with a mischevious light as an idea comes to them at the same time.
They sneak up on either side of Coach Hedge, making sure the wisps of shadow are still surrounding them. Then Nico leans down and starts whispering into the satyr's ear. Reyna notices that he's speaking in a language she's never heard before. The words that she can hear make her shiver, even though she can't understand them. It creeps her out a little. Not that she'd ever admit that.
Coach Hedge wakes with a start, glancing around wildly, his eyes wide with fright. Nico backs up a few steps, but continues his whispering, and Reyna can swear the air feels colder.
"Who's there?" Coach Hedge asks, fumbling for his baseball bat before remembering a.) that his hands were tied; and b.) that he didn't have his baseball bat.
"It's me, Reyna." Reyna answers, in a whispery, melancholy sort of voice that makes her feel proud of her acting skills.
"R-Reyna?" Gleeson says. "Are-are you dead?" He sounds so mournful that it almost makes Reyna feel bad for playing a trick on him. Almost.
"No, you old goat, I'm right here." She says in her normal voice, slinging a shoulder around the satyr. He jumps so badly at her touch that she can't help but laugh. And then she hears someone else laughing.
It's a deep, full, down to the belly laugh, the kind of laugh that makes everyone else laugh too-or laugh harder, in this case. Reyna looks over to the source and is surprised to see Nico in near hysterics, holding his stomach and covering his mouth with one hand, trying to muffle the sound of his laughter. For good reason, too; some of the monsters near them start looking around, clutching their weapons.
Nico laughs so hard his laughs become silent. Tears stream from his eyes. Reyna is still laughing too, she can't help it as long as she's watching Nico or Coach Hedge, who's still glancing back and forth in confusion, since he can't see them. When Nico finally gets his laughter under control, he still has to take a few moments to catch his breath. Then he grins widely.
"That was great. Can we do it to someone else?" He asks Reyna.
"Oh, I'd love too, but we'd better find a few friends first. The monsters here will probably draw weapons first and ask questions later." She tells him.
"We can do it when we get to camp!" He says, his eyes shining. Reyna's cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling so much, which surprises her. She can't remember the last time she smiled this much. Or the last time she did anything for fun, for that matter. Although this whole quest isn't exactly a picnic.
"Sure. As long as none of them try to decapitate me. Then I'd be forced to take drastic measures." Nico just smiles back at her, but then some emotion clouds his eyes, and his smile slowly starts to fade.
"Where are you guys? I can't see you to strangle you." Coach Hedge complains, breaking the slightly awkward silence that'd fallen. Reyna switches her attention to the satyr.
"Oh, Gleeson, you couldn't if you tried." She says. His face flushes red.
"Why, you little-! I most certainly could too!" He barks at her. Reyna almost starts laughing again right there.
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Gleeson." She assures him, attempting to soothe his ego. He narrows his eyes in her general direction.
"I wasn't born yesterday, missy. I know sarcasm when I hear it." He retorts.
"Oh, we all know you weren't born yesterday, Coach." Nico joins in the conversation. "Kind of obvious, isn't it? What with you being so wise and all." He's much better at hiding his sarcasm than Reyna. Coach Hedge seems to believe him.
"Eh, alright. Whatever you say. Now undo whatever voodoo magic stuff you've done on yourselves so that I can see you."
"Actually, Coach, I was kind of thinking we should just go ahead and get out of here. It'd be safer." Nico says.
"No way! I'm not leaving without my baseball bat!" Coach protests vehemently. Nico sighs exasperatedly, then looks at Reyna for some support. She shifts uncomfortably.
"Actually, I was kinda hoping I could get my sword back too, even if I don't get the chance to kill Sinis. I'll need it for protection." She admits. He sighs again, then shrugs.
"Whatever. Might as well. Coach, stay here. We'll go get your baseball bat." Gleeson opens his mouth to protest again, but Nico cuts him off. "Oh, wait. I don't suppose either of you have any idea where your weapons are?"
"I do." Reyna says.
"Okay." Nico says, waiting. When she doesn't answer right away, he burst out impatiently, "Well, where are they?"
"They're in Sinis' tent." She confesses. What she doesn't tell him about is the little curl of satisfaction that twists inside of her at the idea of going to Sinis' tent and finding him there. Then she can have her revenge on him.
"Of course they are. Well, Coach, we'll be right back. Stay put." Nico gestures for Reyna to take the lead. She does so with pleasure, already planning how she's going to kill Sinis.
You go, Reyna!