Act II Chapter VIII: "Why a belt for a goddess?"
"Well, your sister is an asshole," Clarisse stated as the door to the Amazon base closed behind her. Her gaze moved around the street to check for monsters or any stray Amazons. She had this nagging feeling that they were being watched. All she saw were cars stopping at the light and people walking down the street.
Annabeth nodded her agreement. She was on Clarisse's right and looking down at a crude map that one of the Amazons gave them. It was about five miles away from the Amazon's main base. Hylla seemed to think that this was where the rebel Amazons were hiding out. Clarisse didn't know if it was a trap or not, but if it was, someone would pay.
"Yeah," Reyna muttered. Clarisse looked to her left and saw that Reyna was staring at the ground. Her hands were shoved into her jacket. She walked down the street, not even waiting for them. Clarisse grabbed Annabeth's arm and dragged her after Reyna.
Annabeth looked up in annoyance, but it turned to concern as she focused on Reyna. It took a moment for Annabeth to find her feet and voice, "Are you okay?"
"No," Reyna answered flatly with a shrug. She stopped walking and stared at the ground. "I could have handled her yelling at me or even trying to attack me. Not that."
"At least she didn't try to kill you," Annabeth began.
"Yet," Reyna grumbled under her breath. Clarisse gently grabbed the Roman's arm, and Reyna slowly looked at her.
"I know that didn't go the way you thought it would, but she did acknowledge you at the end. It's a start," Clarisse assured. Reyna shrugged again and looked back at the ground in front of her. "Alright, Annabeth. What is the plan?"
"Well, I say that we go to this address and see what we can find," Annabeth answered. "My only question is about these rebel Amazons. Are they rebelling against the queen or something else?"
"Probably my psychotic sister," Reyna supplied. "All of them feared her."
"Not the one who challenged her," Clarisse pointed out. She clamped Reyna's shoulder and gently squeezed the tense muscles there. "We just have to figure out what the difference between them is."
"There are no consequences," Annabeth chimed in. "It doesn't matter what that Amazon said to the queen. She would have either been killed by Hylla or become the new queen, and everyone would fear her like they did Hylla. And it's not like Hylla is going to kill her any harder because she was disrespectful."
"Hylla could have drawn it out more," Clarisse commented. She finally let go of Reyna's shoulder. "Now, let's say these Amazons are rebelling against Hylla. Why? Any ideas, Reyna?"
Reyna seemed to think shrugging was a substitute for talking because she did it once again and kept her gaze downward. Annabeth made eye contact with Clarisse. Then, she spoke, "That Amazon who fought Hylla said that she was kneeling before a god who doesn't answer."
"Yeah, my dad. The Roman part of him at least," Clarisse said. Her gaze moved back to Reyna. "You sure that you're not a child of Mars?"
"I'm not," Reyna confirmed. "My father was a mortal."
"Do you know why your sister would have a shrine to Mars?" Annabeth pressed. "We all saw the fountain of blood, right? It accepted blood as an offering. Do you know why she would be so dedicated to Mars?"
"I don't know," Reyna muttered as she rubbed her forehead. She sighed and seemed to think about it. "I guess she wants a blessing from Mars. If he can even hear her. Don't the Amazons have roots with Mars? Or Ares?"
"They do," Annabeth confirmed as her eyes narrowed. "Yeah. Hippolyta was a daughter of Ares. I'm sure others were as well."
"So, Hylla wants my dad to recognize her. Maybe make her valid? She did look kind of young to be leading the Amazons," Clarisse suggested. "And, why a belt for a goddess?"
"The girdle had powers in the story," Annabeth answered. "It could have powers now."
"If Hylla lost her belt to rebels, that can't look good for her," Reyna said as she seemed to find her voice. She cleared her throat. "The Amazons seem to revere power more than anything. Hylla can't look powerful if she lost her belt to those who are trying to discredit her."
"Why not just go and get her belt back herself?" Clarisse asked. "She scared?"
"Maybe," Reyna decided after a moment. She chewed her bottom lip. "Though, I don't think any Amazons would follow Hylla into battle to get her belt back. So, it would be her against however many rebels there are."
"What if it isn't rebels?" Annabeth questioned. "That could just be a cover."
"I guess we won't know until we get there," Clarisse said. She threw her arm around both of their shoulders. Annabeth cringed, but at the same time, she gave Clarisse an understanding look. Reyna just tensed under the touch and didn't seem to be comforted by it.
The rest of the walk was in silence. Annabeth looked like she was busy making some kind of plan. When wasn't she making a plan? It must have been a comfort thing. Clarisse didn't understand it. Who wanted to stand around and plan on what to do instead of actually doing it?
Reyna looked like she was lost in her thoughts. Clarisse was still trying to understand Reyna. The two of them got along well enough in the little time that they did interact. Playing guard meant that Clarisse didn't have much time to sit down and get to know the others.
Especially because she liked to put a lot of her spare time into teasing and messing with Annabeth. The girl had such a big head that only got bigger anytime Luke complimented her. Luke tried to talk to Clarisse about it, but while he was the oldest, he wasn't her boss.
Clarisse sighed as her thoughts drifted as well. The rest of them were doing this for some kind of noble cause. Annabeth and Luke always talked about making this safe place that all demigods could live in and be safe. Percy was following right after Princess, probably to impress her. Luke must have gotten into his head.
As for Clarisse, she wanted to challenge herself. She needed to prove her strength. That was why she wanted to be a border guard. The safety of everyone relied on her doing a great job. There was no room for error. Unlike the others, Clarisse wanted to be attacked by monsters.
Otherwise, what was the point of the training? Why were they learning how to fight monsters every day if they didn't put that into action? If it were up to her, she would gather up skilled demigods and seek monsters out. She wanted fame and glory that could only be found in the heat of battle.
"What is our plan for when we find the rebel Amazons?" Annabeth asked, breaking the silence that had been brewing between the three of them.
"Assuming they don't make the connection between my sister and me, I say that we talk to them and see what they want for the belt," Reyna suggested.
"Which is great, as long as they actually give up the damn belt," Clarisse commented. "What if we're caught between a rock and a hard place?"
Clarisse knew the answer. Well, she knew her answer at least. Reyna squared her shoulders as her hand drifted to her sword. Annabeth shook her head.
"We'll most likely be outnumbered," Annabeth stated.
"They won't know that," Clarisse countered. "We'll just say that Hylla sent us as the forward guard. If they don't give us the belt, the rest of the army is coming."
"That bluff won't work," Annabeth dismissed. "Honesty might be the best policy. Maybe, we could see if they would join us back at camp?"
"And make an enemy of the Amazons?" Reyna asked. Annabeth frowned. "I wonder if the boys are having any luck."
"Will doesn't seem like a bad kid. He listened to me the entire time," Clarisse commented. Her gaze moved to the side. "Which is more than I can say of you."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. Clarisse smirked and focused back ahead. As they got closer, she felt her anticipation picking up. She didn't know if this would be a battle of wits, words, or fists, but she was ready.
Until they made it to the address.
"There's nothing here!" Clarisse barked out. She took the paper from Annabeth's hand and then looked back at the street sign. This was the place, but there was nothing. No buildings, no forest, no trees. Not even a damn streetlight.
"Did Hylla send us out here to get lost? Or have no witnesses around when she kills us?" Clarisse demanded as she heatedly glanced around. Annabeth held the paper up and frowned. Reyna scanned her surroundings.
"This is the outskirts of the city," Annabeth began. Clarisse snorted since that was pretty obvious. They had left behind a few factories before walking on gravel all the way to this useless street sign. She didn't think a supervillain base would open up below them.
No one had an answer, so they all wordlessly parted ways and looked around. Clarisse tried to find a grate or cover for the sewers. She didn't find one and at some point got so annoyed she just stared up at the sky and scowled.
Reyna walked far enough away that she was almost out of eyesight before she came back, shaking her head each time. Annabeth kept looking at the paper like she expected a secret message to decode itself. Just as Clarisse found herself completely done with the situation, she heard a noise behind her.
"Did you find it?"
Clarisse jumped and whirled around. She grabbed her spear, ready to defend them from Queen Hylla, who had somehow just appeared behind them. Clarisse relaxed as she realized that Hylla wasn't going to attack them. But, she did appear behind them. Just not... all of her.
"How are you doing that?" Annabeth asked as she started to bring her hand toward the floating image in front of them.
"Don't touch it," Hylla ordered as a scowl twisted her face. Clarisse studied this floating picture; it showed the top half of Hylla, her desk, and the fountain of blood behind her. This thing was like they were web chatting, but someone had taken the screen and thrown away the laptop.
"This is an Iris message," Hylla revealed. "The reason that you want the goddess, is it not?"
"Yeah, it is," Clarisse confirmed. "There's nothing here, so why did you send us on a wild goose chase?"
"One of my spies gave me this location. It seems she is not trustworthy. Try this," Hylla said as she wrote on another piece of paper and held it up. Clarisse studied the address before it was lowered. "I will message you again in two hours."
"Cool," Clarisse said as she waved her hand at the image in front of her, wanting to swat it away. To her surprise, the image completely disappeared. It didn't come back as she retracted her hand. Clarisse looked at her companions. "Well, let's take a trip to the other address."