Calmez vous, dudes. The update is here!
Hazel (guest): To answer your question: Now. I update daily, usually, because I'm just awesome like that. :D
Guest (guest): Thanks, and yes, I have read The Son of Sobek. It was awesome. :)
Piper (guest): No, I'm one of the few people in this world who is cut off from technology, meaning this: I don't have a phone. And the I-pad I sometimes talk about belongs to my school, so stuff like that is blocked on it. But I'm going to get a phone soon, hopefully, and I plan to get Instagram when I do, so I'll tell you when I get it.
Nobilist: Everyone really seems to want Hephaestus or Hermes to visit Calypso. But, of course, I can't tell you if it'll happen, because that's a spoiler, and sorry, Nobilist, but I can't tell you if you're right or not. But thank you very much for the enthusiasm, and don't ever ever ever apologize for long reviews! I love long reviews!
Me (guest): Well, here's the update, and I'm glad you like my story so much. As for the other things...well, wait and see.
Naomi MK Jackson: I really love it when I hear that people tell their friends about my story. It's such a nice compliment. :)
Cherries (guest): Can't tell yooouuuuuu! :) Sorry for that. But I have to keep some things a surprise, right?
Guest (guest): Thank you for reviewing, and the enthusiasm, and same as with Cherries, I can't tell yooouuuuuu! :)
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Divergent-R-Us: That's awesome, yes I did, and I will!
Chapter LX
Reyna
Reyna feels like the punch line of a joke-a Roman, a pegasus, and an unconscious Son of Hades walk up to a centaur...
Then again, maybe that's just her.
She lengthens her stride, straightening her spine and wiping her face clear of emotion. Putting on her game face. Behind her, Bellator picks up speed as well, not exactly trotting, but faster than a walk. If anything, it looks like skipping.
Can horses skip? Reyna wonders.
They finally reach the porch, where the centaur-Chiron-and the Stoll brothers wait for them. Trying her best to ignore the fact that she's being watched by two idiot troublemakers, Reyna inclines her head towards Chiron and then turns to get Nico down off of Bellator's back. She would ask the pegasus to kneel down again, but she has the feeling it'd be impossible to get Nico into a standing position then.
"Come on, Nico, we're here. Time to get down." Reyna mutters quietly to him, so the others can't hear what she's saying.
Nico mumbles something almost unintelligable, but Reyna understands the gist of it.
"I don't care if you don't want to, you have to get down." She tells him sternly, still trying to keep her voice down. She glances over at where Chiron is watching her, his expression unreadable. The Stoll brothers look like they're trying not to laugh.
Reyna ignores them and reaches up, wrapping her arm around Nico's waist and then basically dragging him off of Bellator's back. She tries to be gentle, but it's kind of hard when you're pulling a deadweight teenage boy off of a horse that's back is as tall as your chest.
Nico's feet hit the ground with a thud, and he stumbles, trying to at least stand on his own. It doesn't really work, and they both very nearly end up falling into the dirt. Reyna just barely manages to prevent it, and spends the next few seconds muttering curses under her breath.
She puts his arm around her shoulder so she can support him easier and then focuses on getting up the porch stairs. Chiron's talks suddenly when she's on the third stair, causing her to almost fall again.
"What is wrong with the boy?" He has a deep, gruff voice. "Is he alright?"
Reyna feels a rush of approval for the centaur, but she doesn't let herself show it. "He's fine. He just overexhausted himself. Again."
She can hear a slight undertone of exasperation in her voice, and then feels exasperated at herself for revealing her emotions to complete strangers. But she shouldn't have worried.
"Let's get him inside." Chiron tells her. "He can sleep in one of the guest bedrooms for now."
Reyna doesn't answer. She's too busy trying to prevent Nico from slipping out of her grip and onto the ground. Although, by now, she's a little tempted to just let him fall. But only a little.
She hears Chiron's hooves clatter against the wooden porch as he turns and walks into the house, showing Reyna the way. She follows him as quickly as possible, worrying briefly about Bellator, but figuring he'll be fine on his own for a bit. The twins come in just behind her, although they wait by the door instead of following them all the way to the guest room.
The bedroom is carpeted, as opposed to the wooden floors of the hallway, and while Reyna is glad for the relief it gives her sore feet, she's not so sure it helps with carrying Nico.
She gets to the bed, and is all prepared to drag him gently onto the covers, but that plan kind of goes out the window when Nico's foot gets in her way and she trips and ends up just basically dropping him. Luckily for him, though, he falls on the bed, not the floor. Mostly. And at least he faceplants on a pillow, and not the ground.
Nico turns his head sideways so he doesn't suffocate-at least he's capable of that much-and Reyna gets his feet on the bed. The next second, he's asleep. Completely. Snoring and everything.
Reyna shakes her head, a faint smile on her lips, and pulls the blanket up to cover him, unbuckling his sword from his belt and taking off his shoes, laying them on the floor next to the bed. She spends another moment just looking down at the back of his head-his unkempt black hair, partially obscuring his pale face. She feels a little tempted to brush the hair out of his eyes, but just as she's about to reach out, Chiron clears his throat, startling her. She'd forgotten he was there.
"Well, now that that's taken care of, I have the feeling that you and I have quite a bit to talk about." He tells her, before heading back down the hall.
Reyna sends one last uncertain look back at Nico's sleeping form, and then follows him.
They enter a large room with a Ping-Pong table situated in the middle, a Pac-Man arcade game in the corner, and a stuffed leopard's head mounted on the wall.
As she passes, the leopard turns its head to glare at her with beady eyes, and she glares defiantly back. She's a little surprised by the fact that it's alive, but leopard's head or not, she doesn't like being glared at. She turns to inspect the rest of the room, but there isn't really much to see, besides the numerous chairs scattered everywhere, and the Stoll brothers, who are sitting in two chairs on one side of the Ping-Pong table, playing Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Chiron goes to the head of the table, where an empty wheelchair is sitting, and then starts to lower himself into it. Reyna has no idea how his entire horse half can fit in such a small metal box, but after a few years of dealing with magic like that, you learn not to ask.
When he's situated comfortably in his wheelchair, for all the world like a normal old man, Chiron folds his hands loosely in his lap and turns to Reyna, looking at her with slightly sad eyes that are filled with the wisdom of the ages.
"So." He starts. "Reyna, isn't it?"
Reyna nods, still standing and scanning the room every few seconds.
"Sit, child, sit." He tells her, gesturing to the chair to his left.
Reyna does as he says, albeit reluctantly, her back ramrod straight as she taps her fingers on the table, keeping her other hand on the pommel of her sword.
Chiron smiles faintly. "You can relax, Reyna, you're safe here. I promise."
She attempts to smile back, but she's pretty sure it comes out a bit coldly. "Relaxing is often exactly what causes a demigod's demise."
"True." He replies gravely. "But I assure you, no one in this room means you any harm."
Reyna glances doubtfully over at the Stoll brothers, who are now whispering madly to each other, a mischevious glint in their eyes, occasionally looking over at her.
"No, not even them." Chiron assures her. Reyna raises an eyebrow. He chuckles quietly. "Pranks are not necessarily a form of harm, child. And they do well to raise morale."
Reyna doesn't answer, and Chiron doesn't elaborate further, so they sit in silence for several minutes. Reyna looks down at the table, the surface of which is scratched, scarred, and even burned in some places. If she had to guess, she'd say it was used for meetings, which made sense as to why Chiron had led her here.
Just like that, the less-than-pleasant real reason for her 'visit' comes back to the forefront of her mind, and she looks back up at Chiron, once again wiping all emotion from her face.
"Octavian, the augur of Camp Jupiter, has all intention of attacking your camp and destroying it. He hates the Greeks, and he's whipped the legions into a war frenzy. They want blood, and the legions are a formidable enemy in battle. If they choose to attack, you will not be able to stop them." Reyna tells Chiron grimly.
He sighs. "I know this, my dear. But those here are also quite formidable, and I do not think it will be as easy as this Octavian may think to destroy us."
"I understand that. If the Roman army attacks, both camps will destroy each other. Which is why I left for the Ancient Lands, against our oldest laws, to retrieve the Athena Parthenos and restore peace between the camps. And between the gods' different aspects; Greek and Roman." Reyna tells him.
He gestures for her to continue, feeling that she has more to say.
"It is not as easy as just returning the statue, which has already been done. We have to create a peace treaty, one so strong that no one would dare break it, and one that will also manage to quiet the Romans' bloodlust." She explains, stating it as simply as she can.
"Understood." Chiron nods. "I will help as much as I am able. But you will have to negotiate with the counselors of each cabin, so it would be better to wait for morning, when we can have them all here." He leans forward, resting his hands on the table. "In the meantime, I think I'd like to hear your story."
Reyna glances uneasily at Travis and Connor, who have suddenly gone quiet and are now staring attentatively at her. Chiron seems to get the hint, and fixes his eyes sternly on the twins.
"Travis, Connor, I think it's high time you got back to your patrol." He tells them. They open their mouths to protest, but the look Chiron gives them quiets them immediately, and they head out the door. Chiron looks back at Reyna. "Go ahead, my dear. I will listen."
Reyna hesitates, unsure where to start, and decides to just start where her and Percy's paths first crossed: Circe's island. At first, she speaks haltingly, jerkily, but as she talks, it gets easier, and soon, her words flow more smoothly, and the whole story comes spilling out.
She tells him about her older sister, Hylla, and how they both worked for Circe on her island, until Percy and Annabeth came, defeated Circe, and released Blackbeard and his crew, who then imprisoned them. She tells about how they discovered their natural ability to fight, and their escape. She tells him about how they parted ways; Hylla, to the Amazons; and her, to Camp Jupiter. She continues with her rise to praetor, and meeting Jason, and then about his disappearance. She tells him all of it, from the moment she first met Percy Jackson to her arrival at Camp Half-Blood.
To Chiron's credit, he is a very avid listener, and he never once takes his eyes off of her, although from time to time his gaze will flicker with some emotion that's gone too soon for her to recognize.
The clock hanging on the wall tells Reyna she only talks for an hour, but it feels like a lot longer. When she's finally finished, her throat is dry and sore and her eyes are prickly with exhaustion-apparently sleeping an entire day still wasn't enough after not sleeping for a week.
Thankfully, Chiron recognizes her weariness, as hard as she tries to hide it.
"Go, rest. There are more guest rooms in the same hall as the one Nico's is in, I'm sure you can find one on your own. We'll talk in the morning-with the counselors." He promises.
Reyna nods her acknowledgement. "Thank you, Chiron. I appreciate your hospitality."
"It's the least I can do. Now, go. You need your rest." He orders.
Reyna inclines her head to him before turning and walking down the hall to find a guest room-and a bed. She decides on the one adjacent to Nico's, and quickly finds her way inside, where she lays unbuckles her sword, takes off her boots, and climbs into the king-size bed, which is like floating on a cloud compared to all her nights sleeping on the cold, hard ground.
But as comfortable as the bed is, and as tired as she is, Reyna can't fall asleep. She ends up staring at the ceiling, thinking about a million things at once-primary among them being Nico.
Finally, impatient, she stands, grabs her stuff, and tiptoes out into the hallway, checking to make sure no one's there before going out.
She enters the door to Nico's room and closes it quietly behind her, careful not to wake him. She sets her things on the ground and then pads across the room to the king-size bed Nico's asleep in-identical to the one she was just laying in.
Nico's all the way on the left side with his arm hanging so his fingers brush the carpet, and there's room for practically three other adults in the bed with him.
Reyna hesitates, but then she crawls onto the bed, scooting over so that she's all the way on the right side, opposite Nico, leaving plenty of space between them. She pulls the blanket over her, rolls onto her side so she's looking away from Nico, and closes her eyes, falling immediately into a deep, peaceful, dreamless sleep.
Okay, guys, I want to formally apologize for this chapter, because I am pretty sure it is completely craptastic. I'm behind on writing, like, majorly behind, and I had to write this entire chapter in less than two hours last night. Talk about rushing.
I will still post every week day this week, but on Saturday, I might end up taking the day off updating to try and get ahead with my writing. I'll tell you if that's what I decide to do, though, so don't worry just yet.
I love you, don't be an insomniac like me, eat yummy blue cookies, and try not to blowtorch any national monuments!