Reyna chapter! Next is the super secret special POV!
Can anyone guess who it is?
Oh, and chapter 22 sort of explains where Leo was in chapter 21. He was in his room. Being antisocial and dreaming of Calypso.
Just so you know.
Chapter XXIV
Reyna
"Sinis," Reyna growls, her face going from open and relaxed to cold and hard in seconds. Hatred burns in her eyes. But a cautioning look from Nico warns her not to attack. Not yet.
"Oh, no need to get testy with me, my dear. I have kept you alive, after all. Were it up to the monsters, you would have died before you ever had a chance to set eyes on this camp." Sinis says, his tone cheerful. "You should be thanking me."
"Why would I thank the one who kept me prisoner?" Reyna demands angrily.
"As I've already told you, my dear, I've kept you alive. Even if it was on Gaea's orders." Sinis explains impatiently.
"Why would Gaea want to keep Reyna alive? She hates Reyna." Nico glances at the praetor of Rome. "No offense." He adds apoligetically. Reyna waves it away. She's used to being hated. Or at least disliked.
"Because she knew you would come after her. Not necessarily out of sentimentality, of course, but because you need her to reconcile the gods' Greek and Roman halves. Pity, that. I've heard they all have terrible headaches. I would have rathered they were lucid when we destroyed them, but no matter." Sinis answers.
"You aren't going to destroy them. We're going to get the Athena Parthenos to camp, and the Seven of the Great Prophecy will stop Gaea's rise in Greece. Her forces will be destroyed." Nico states confidently.
Sinis stares at them for a few seconds, his eyes glittering with some unreadable emotion. Then he throws back his head and laughs.
"Look around, demigods! You will not be escaping. You are on the losing team." He tells them.
Now it's Reyna's turn to laugh. "You think we're the ones on the losing team? Seriously? The Seven are the most powerful demigods in decades. They've already defeated most of the giants at least once. On their own. And this time, they'll be fighting as a team. And we're no slackers either. We've still got quite a few tricks up our sleeves."
Sinis is unbothered by her comments. "I doubt it. Besides, even if you did, my dear girl, how would you manage to escape from a camp that contains thousands of monsters? Hmmmm? Well, tell me. I'd love to know."
"It'll be easy as pie. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the biggest reason our escape will be so easy, though." Reyna says.
"And what would that be?" Sinis smiles, clearly just humoring her.
Reyna resents the way he treats her like a child. "Because the so-called leader of this camp is nothing but a bandit, an outlaw. You're a pig, Sinis, and I have no clue what made Gaea decide to make you leader. The monsters will never follow a mortal, anyway, and you know it."
Sinis' hideous face becomes even more hideous as his carefree facade finally slips. He turns purple with anger, and satisfaction curls inside Reyna. She finally succeeded in truly angering the man.
"Oh, dear girl, you will pay for your words. Many times over." He says, his voice low with barely suppressed anger.
Reyna wants him to lose control. Then she'd have an excuse to finally attack. After all, Nico couldn't fault her for defending herself, could he?
"I highly doubt it." Reyna says cheerfully. "Because, you see, you'd have to catch me again for that to work, and that's not gonna happen."
"It happened once, why not again?" Sinis counters.
"Because I'm ready now. I'm expecting it. Plus, I really, really want to kill you. I won't hold back this time." She answers, her tone still ridiculously happy, as if she were discussing puppies and kittens instead of killing someone.
"You could never defeat me, child. Never. I am infinitely stronger than you." Sinis boasts. Reyna looks him over critically.
"Maybe. But I'm definitely better looking." She says.
Sinis splutters with rage. As he searches for words to express his anger, Nico catches Reyna and nods once.
On three. He mouths. She nods.
"How dare you, you insolent little-!" Sinis doesn't seem to be able to think of an insult horrible enough.
One. Nico raises a finger.
"I'll have your head for this, girl." He spits the last word as if it's the most terrible thing in the world.
Two. Nico raises a second finger. Reyna's muscles tense in anticipation.
Sinis draws his weapon, a heavy spike-studded club that he keeps strapped to his back. "You will both die." He snarls.
Three. Nico counts off, and just as Sinis lunges, the ground erupts between them. Skeletal warriors claw their way out of the earth, wave after wave of undead soldiers. They advance towards Sinis, who happens to be blocking the exit.
Reyna, not wanting someone else to have the pleasure of killing Sinis, raises her sword and sprints around the edge of the group of skeletons, facing him.
He glares at her, and hefts his club.
"You will be the first demigod I've killed since I returned from the Underworld. You should be honored." He growls.
"I don't think so, Sinis. In fact, I think you should be the one feeling honored, since you're going to be killed by a daughter of Bellona." Reyna says.
Sinis hefts his club, but before he has a chance to strike, Reyna whirls into action. She steps forward and casually flicks her sword forward, slicing his club in half. She thrusts forward, but Sinis just manages to catch it on the handle of his now useless club. She pulls back and feints towards his neck.
As she hoped, he's so scared of the fact that he doesn't have a weapon to counter her with that he falls for it, and she switches the direction of her blade at the last moment and cuts off his hand.
He howls with pain and grabs the stump of his arm, glaring up at her with an undisguised mixture of fear and hatred in his eyes. He reaches for a spare spear that's leaning against the canvas wall of his tent, but he doesn't get a chance to reach it. Reyna's sword is already on its way.
Her sword cuts through skin, muscle, and bone as if it were butter. Sinis' look of horror freezes on his face, and he disintegrates before his top half hits the ground.
At other times, Reyna might feel a little disgusted and guilty. But Sinis deserved much worse.
She turns to Nico, and he's staring at her with some unreadable expression on his face. Then he shakes his head slowly.
"That was...terrifying. Remind me never to get on your bad side." He says. Reyna grins.
"Who says you aren't already on it?" She teases. Then she races out of the tent, leading the way for the army of undead behind her.
This is a little shorter than usual, and I apologize for that, but I wrote that last part and my brain just went, "Whoa. You have to stop there. That's the perfect ending." And I protested and told my brain that it wasn't long enough yet, but my brain won the argument.
Funny how that works. :)