Wow, guys. Just...wow. There's no other word for it. I'm already 120 reviews further to my goal of 2000 in 2 weeks...and in just two days. Wow. Knowing you guys, you'll probably have 2000 by the end of this week, and I'll have to get my butt in gear to make sure you get your double update...Yikes.

Okay, so, I have more birthday celebrating to do today (I'm doing the immediate family thing today; yesterday was for the grandparents) and I don't have time to respond to all the reviews...So, to everyone, I give a big, resounding THANK YOU for all your support, compliments, appreciation, reviews, etcetera, etcetera...

I'll respond a little bit to things that were repeated here...

I know you all are impatient for Reyna and Nico to get together, but they both have a lot of things to get over...Nico can't get over his love for Percy completely in a week, and Reyna still has a lot of responsibility riding on her shoulders...plus, she suspects Nico's feelings for Percy and is unsure about him...and herself. If I haven't mentioned that particular part, I apologize. I meant to. But, yeah, they have a lot to recover from, and they both have to learn how to let themselves open up to someone...and, also, Percabeth took five years to get together, Jasper took several months, Frazel took about the same time as Jasper...so, yeah. Relationships can't be built in a week, people. Although I'm probably going to be cutting it close with Reynico...

The next chapter is Frank, and will most likely be wrapping up his visit with his great-times-a-thousand grandpa, although they will not yet get back to the ship...

This chapter has overprotective, jealous Nico, and a bossy-ish Reyna. I hope you like it!

Chapter LXX

Nico

Nico wants to throttle the Stoll brothers. Connor, more specifically, but he'd kill both of them just to make sure.

Make sure of what, someone might ask? Well, it should be obvious-to make sure neither of them try to get their dirty hands on Reyna. They're twin idiots-she's way out of their league. And they need to start respecting her, or someone's going to get hurt.

But Reyna would probably be the slightest bit upset if he killed them in front of everyone, so he just sits there, silently seething, glaring at Connor as the son of Hermes watches Reyna with sappy puppy eyes.

Stop staring at her, you creep. Nico growls mentally. Connor, of course, doesn't listen, which is understandable since he can't hear Nico's thoughts. Although, a small part of Nico kind of wishes Travis could hear his thoughts-especially since he's currently thinking of over a hundred different painful ways to kill the moron.

And it would mean he'd have to stop insisting on calling me a vampire-he'd be the one who could read minds, not me. Nico adds, remembering all the times the Stoll brothers had teased him about it. They would point out all the so-called 'proof'-his pale skin, dark eyes, and tendency to stay out of the sun and in the shadows-whenever there were other people around. No one ever actually believed the twins, obviously, but it irritated Nico nonetheless-that is, until they were both sent to the infirmary after he'd finally lost his patience. They didn't use the vampire approach very often after that.

Nico goes back to entertaining himself with different versions of Connor's death-his favorite of which is shoving him into a meat-flavored sack and tossing him into the woods to get eaten by monsters. Or wolves, whichever one, Nico really isn't all that fussed about it.

To his right, Reyna is arguing animatedly with Clarisse over some part of the treaty, and he can hear how tense she is in her voice-how hard she's trying to keep her calm. And he's pretty sure her hand twitches towards where one of her knives is hidden more than once. But she manages to stay calm. Although, if he's being completely honest, Nico would have to say that it wouldn't be all that awful if she was to lose it. The Greeks don't try particularly hard to hide their emotions; they don't see them as a weakness, so showing a little anger might make her seem a little more human to them.

Not that Connor is having any trouble seeing her as a human. More precisely, as a girl.

Nico returns to glaring at the Stoll brother, not at all surprised to see the slightly awed, moony look on the boy's face.

I really hope I didn't look like that when I first went to camp-whenever I looked at Percy. Nico thinks in disgust, then flinches when he realizes what he'd thought.

All at once, his swirling storm of emotions are released, most of which are overshadowed by his confusion-although the new warm feeling is one of the most prominent among them, even more than his anger at Percy-

He flinches again, although he's pretty sure no one notices. Get it together, idiot. You're going to have to get over it eventually, and now's as good a time as any.

He forces himself back to the present, trying to focus on the conversation at hand-Reyna is arguing with Clarisse about Octavian.

"Octavian isn't a warrior-not in the least-" She starts to say, but Clarisse interrupts her before she can finish.

"Then why haven't you beat him up yet?" The daughter of Ares demands. "You could've stopped this whole thing before it ever started."

"No, I couldn't have!" Reyna protests vehemently. "I said Octavian isn't a warrior-but he has plenty of other talents. He's a speaker, and he's extremely skilled at swaying others to his cause, by any means necessary-blackmail, threats, promises-anything to ensure their loyalty. He's appealed to everyone's greatest fears; told them that they're in danger from you, and so are their families, their home. And as long as they believe that, they'll do anything to stop you-even if it means killing hundreds of people who may or may not be innocent."

"We are innocent! We've already established that! We didn't even know you existed until Jason told us!" Katie Gardner protests.

"Yes; I know that, but they don't. They have no idea whether you're innocent or not, and they don't care either way as long as they think you're a threat. We have to prove to them that you're not." Reyna explains.

"We are a threat, as long as they're on the warpath." Clarisse retorts.

Reyna glares at her. "With that attitude, this peace treaty isn't going to work. Someone has to step up, and even though you're the ones being attacked here, it has to be you."

"Why?" Drew asks, leaning forward. "Why should we do anything to help you? After all, like you said, you're the ones attacking us. And besides, how do we know you're not a spy? How do we know you're really on our side?"

"Watch what you say, Drew, or you'll regret it." Nico threatens her, glowering.

She laughs, a high-pitched, irritating sound that grates on his nerves. "As if you could do anything to me."

Nico's anger flares, and the ground starts to tremble. Shadows waver around him, and he can feel his ever-present aura of death growing stronger, radiating out across the room. He can feel skeletons stirring in the earth for miles around. He glares so fiercely at Drew's face he wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly burst into flames.

Reyna puts a hand on his arm. "Calm down, Nico. Summoning an army of skeletons to kidnap her isn't the answer."

"Why not?" He asks, still glaring at the daughter of Aphrodite, who's sitting back with a smug smile on her face.

"Nico, she's not worth your time." Reyna tells him quietly.

Nico finally turns away to look at Reyna instead, and as that warm feeling fills him like it always does, the anger starts to fade, and the ground stops trembling.

Reyna returns her attention to the others. "It has to be you because the Romans are stubborn. Every single one of them would rather die than retreat or back down-and that's what they would see offering a peace treaty as. They're too proud to do it themselves. But they're not too proud to accept it from you-hopefully. If we act quickly, we can get it all established before Octavian has the chance to organize and launch an actual attack. At least half of the people there would jump at the chance, and I think I could get a majority vote from the senate."

"The senate?" Chiron asks quietly. Reyna turns to him and inclines her head respectfully.

"It's our council, sort of. It's kind of like your counselors-all the centurions meet to discuss and vote on important subjects with the praetors." She explains.

He nods thoughtfully, and gestures for her to continue with her conversation.

"We need to get the treaty written before the end of the day today-and I'd like to be able to return to the others by tonight." Reyna continues.

Nico starts at her words, surprised. Why would she want to leave tonight?

"Why tonight?" Lacy asks shyly, echoing his question.

"If I wait until dark, there's less chance of Octavian or one of his followers catching me. And then I'll have a whole night to explain the situation to the centurions that are on my side, and appeal to those I know aren't completely fooled by Octavian." Reyna explains. "We need to do it by tomorrow, though, because Romans aren't exactly slow at acting. I'm actually a little surprised that they haven't attacked before now-although I'm sure it has something to do with my recent disappearance and the fact that they're already fighting amongst themselves."

"Why is it so important that we make peace so quickly?" Clarisse asks. "We're more than capable of fending off a few attacks."

From the look on Reyna's face, she has her doubts about that, but she doesn't say anything. "Even if you were, it's imperative that we're united before the end of the week-we'll need the combined strength of both camps."

Nico starts to suspect what she's going to say next.

"For what?" Clarisse asks rudely, tossing her knife on the table.

Reyna looks at her calmly and raises her chin. "Because there's an army of monsters marching this way, and they're no doubt led by a giant."

There's a stunned silence in the room, which lasts for maybe ten seconds.

"And why didn't you mention this sooner?" Clarisse demands angrily.

"Because the peace treaty is more important at the moment." Clarisse looks at Reyna incredulously, and Reyna continues to explain herself. "Unless the camps stand together, we'll both be crushed. The army is massive, and as I said, it's no doubt led by a giant. Maybe more than one. Gaea wants us obliterated completely, and we don't stand a chance unless we work together."

"Pretty words, but they don't mean anything unless you can make it happen." Clarisse growls.

Reyna glares at her. "Which is exactly why I've been trying to get you to cooperate."

"How do we know you're not just saying that to 'get us to cooperate' as you put it?" Drew asks sweetly. "How do we know that you aren't just going to murder us in our beds as soon as we let you into camp?"

Reyna manages not to lose it, but Nico can feel her shaking in barely suppressed anger. "I think I've earned your trust. I returned the Athena Parthenos, after traveling to the Ancient Lands-against our oldest laws, completely alone-to retrieve it. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, notable leaders of your camp, both trust me. They're the ones that gave me the task of returning it. If they trust me, why can't you?"

"People can be misled." Drew states. She turns to the others and smiles sweetly. "I don't trust her, and you all shouldn't either. We don't know anything about her. How do we know she isn't going to turn on us? We don't. If you ask me, she should be locked away, and we should strike the Romans now, while they're not expecting it-why should they, when they think we're trying to make peace?"

Nico can sense her using charmspeak, but it doesn't work on him, for some reason, and he can feel his anger building quickly. Looking around the room, he can see others murmuring in agreement, some whispering to each other uncertainly. Even Clarisse is looking at Reyna suspiciously. Chiron seems to be the only one unaffected, and he seems troubled by Drew, contemplating her disappointedly.

Before Nico can do anything about the room's sudden change of mind, though, Reyna stands, her chairs scraping back loudly, and sinks her knife hilt-deep into the table in front of her.

"That's enough." She says angrily. "Drew, I've heard about you, and if you don't stop using that blasted charmspeak I'll cut out your tongue." Drew recoils in shock at Reyna's hard tone and threats, but Reyna doesn't seem to care. "And to the rest of you-stop letting yourselves be manipulated. You're all idiots if you think I'd betray you. This peace treaty is the only way to ensure the safety of my camp, and it won't work if I turn on you and murder you all in your beds. That's not peace. But if you all insist on this moronic debating, I'm going to go back to my camp, and I'll help them fight against you-because I'll do anything," she pauses to let that sink in, "to protect them. Do you understand?"

Almost everyone in the room either murmurs 'yes' or nods meekly, not daring to meet her eyes.

"Good." Reyna says briskly. She turns to Chiron. "Chiron, would you like to enter negotiations with me?"

Chiron stirs in his chair and tilts his head to look up. "I think you have that covered, my dear, although I'll certainly make suggestions. But the counselors of this camp are more than capable of negotiating with you for a peace treaty-or so I thought."

Reyna nods once, then turns to Clarisse next. "You heard what I have to say. This peace treaty has to happen, and the camps have to fight side by side in order to survive. So I ask: Will you fight with me?" And she offers her hand to the daughter of Ares.

Clarisse looks up at her with an unreadable expression on her face, but Reyna doesn't back down, her eyes intense and fiery, her spine straight and proud. Then she stands as well and clasps hands with Reyna. "You're a warrior, that much is obvious. I'll fight with you, daughter of Bellona." Then she lets go of Reyna's hand and turns to glower around the room. "And anyone that has a problem with that is going to get pulverized. Got it?"

Everyone hurriedly stammers yes-no one wants to get on Clarisse's bad side.

Nico smiles as he watches Reyna sit down and take control of the meeting-together, her and Clarisse are a very stubborn, very determined force that no one dares to mess with. With them in charge, there's no way in Hades they can lose this.

Ha ha, no way in Hades. I put that there on purpose, just fyi...I thought it was funny. My sense of humor leaves a lot to be desired, though, according to my friend Elfie...

I love you, don't get eaten by leucrotes (that would be a truly horrible death), try not to get stuck in any sewers, and avoid fire-breathing giants!