Act II Chapter XXXI: "And since your sister wants to kill you, I'll fill that void."

"Will it really work?" Clarisse questioned as she looked at the rock formation in front of them. In front of her stood two of the newer demigods. She would have pulled rank on them dragging her out of bed this early, but Beckendorf insisted that he needed her muscle. The guy was big enough on his own, so he must have really needed help.

And Lou Ellen threatened to steal her nose. Again.

Long story.

"Here's hoping," Beckendorf commented. He had spent the whole night gathering up unusable bronze weapons and melting them down into sheets and chunks of bronze. They weren't pretty, but they were heavy. Clarisse spent the last hour moving those chunks and sheets toward the mound of rocks that supposedly had an entrance to the Labyrinth in it. "That should be our last trip, but I still need your help holding everything."

Clarisse grunted in response. She turned her head to watch Reyna and Luke carrying the last piece of bronze. It was smaller than the rest, but effort showed on both of their faces. Clarisse moved over to help.

"Let's do this," Lou Ellen said as she climbed over the bronze pieces. "Are these arranged how you want?"

"Yeah. This is the distance out. Once you're set up, we'll go up and build the rest," Beckendorf answered.

"Explain this again to me," Clarisse said as she turned her head to look at Luke. "She's just going to know when a monster steps out of the Labyrinth."

"It's more complicated than that," Lou Ellen replied with a hint of annoyance in her tone. She pulled out a spool of thin thread like she was getting ready to sow. Lou Ellen wrapped the end of the strand around one finger and slowly pulled it out. "I'm going to run this around the perimeter of the mold Beckendorf is making. I will also run some across the entrance and imbue all of them with magic. If a monster or demigod or even a mortal breaks it, an alarm will go off."

"How long does your little magic last?" Clarisse questioned.

"Forever, but it will get weaker over time," Lou Ellen said. "I'll renew them once a month, and any more of my siblings we find can help. I'll be tired the rest of the day."

"We can arrange a nap time," Luke offered. He glanced at Reyna. "Speaking of naps..."

"I'm good," Reyna dismissed. She glanced at Clarisse. They had talked about what happened with Thalia and the vision that both Reyna and Princess saw. "Did Chiron ever figure out who that skeleton was? He said it wasn't human."

"A Satyr?" Clarisse questioned as she looked at Luke. He nodded.

"The best guess is that the Satyr gathered up the necklaces because he didn't want the Romans to have a trophy. We found a rusted, golden dagger near the bottom of the hollowed out trunk. It seems like a Roman found him and stabbed him. He got away and hid inside the trunk. Maybe he thought it would heal him."

"Grover is burying the bones near some flowers," Luke finished. "Annabeth messaged Thalia. She's fine. Has Lupa..."

"Not yet," Reyna muttered as she leaned against a tree. She shook her head. "She'll be back eventually."

A scowl settled on Reyna's face as she looked down. Clarisse was pretty impressed with Thalia telling off a goddess and not getting turned into a small pile of ash. It wasn't like Zeus was around to punish anyone for killing his kid. Unless Lupa was worried about what Artemis would do.

Clarisse wished she had that kind of protection.

"Once you get that sorted, I'll get the blowtorch," Beckendorf stated.

"Blowtorch," Clarisse repeated as she felt a smile slip onto her face.

"Yeah. It will be a rough patch job for now," Beckendorf said. "This will look better once we have the proper tools and equipment, but the rest of the camp comes first. As for this, we can take a break now and come back in an hour to finish it off."

"Sounds good," Clarisse said with a nod. She looked at Reyna. "Come on."

Clarisse pulled the younger demigod with her. Reyna didn't fight much but did grumble under her breath. Clarisse looked at her, "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Reyna shrugged as they walked through the forest.

"I don't think you are," Clarisse commented. "You talk like you want to train with everyone but then don't. You just go through the motions but don't actually try in sparring. You isolate yourself from everyone. Is it because of what happened with your sister? We can talk about that."

"I just like being alone," Reyna said after a few moments. "It's been like that my whole life."

"I get that, but you just seem... distant. Distracted. I'm worried about you," Clarisse retorted. "But don't tell anyone I'm worried."

The faintest smile came to Reyna's face. She spoke, "I guess... yeah. The stuff with Hylla is getting to me. I knew she hated me, but she didn't hesitate to hurt me and seemed to enjoy it."

"She was a little too eager to kick all of our asses," Clarisse agreed. The two continued to walk, and Clarisse looked at her companion. "Your sister said something about mutually assured destruction. What did she mean by that?"

"That since I burned her or at least tried to with Kinzie, she was going to do the same to me," Reyna answered. She glanced to the side like she expected a monster to jump out at them.

"How would she do that?" Clarisse wondered. A shrug left Reyna, but she didn't look at Clarisse. "Think she'll try attacking the camp?"

"No. I'm sure she's busy trying to reign in the Amazons. Or nursing her wounds if she was ousted," Reyna replied. A sigh left her as she moved her hand to play with her ring.

"But not dead?"

"It would take a lot more than that."

Clarisse nodded as they stepped out of the forest. The two walked toward the campfire. Clarisse spoke, "Hungry? Or just tired?"

Another shrug left Reyna. She turned her gaze to look at Annabeth and Percy. The two were in the middle of some kind of lesson with Silena and Drew. Another demigod that Clarisse couldn't remember the name of stood behind them. Too many people for Clarisse to keep track of.

"You know that I'm going to keep nagging you and looking over you like a mother hen, right?" Clarisse questioned as she stepped in front of Reyna and stopped walking. Reyna nearly slammed into her and snapped her attention up.

"Why?" Reyna asked after a few moments.

"For one, you're the only person here who understands getting the job done. Luke tries to play the stupid moral high card, and Annabeth is too busy making plans to put them into action. The rest are too new," Clarisse explained. "On top of that, we're both children of war."

"Annabeth is too," Reyna pointed out.

"And I have a sibling or two that arrived," Clarisse dismissed with a wave of her hand. "The point is that I think you need someone to lean on. And since your sister wants to kill you, I'll fill that void."

Reyna remained silent, and her face expressionless. That faraway look was in her eyes before she seemed to snap out of it. Reyna spoke in a soft voice, "What if I just told everyone you were being a sap?"

"I'd like to see you try," Clarisse challenged. She crossed her arms. "And can we talk about your mother? Roman goddess of war and destruction. Chiron said she was well respected and that our godly parents were close to each other. We gotta keep that bond going.

"Now, did you know that Bellona was your mother?"

Reyna was silent for a moment before she nodded.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"Because of this whole stupid Greek and Roman thing," Reyna muttered. "And yeah, I know you don't care that much. I've just had trouble getting Annabeth to stop giving me the stink eye, and if she knew my mother was solely a Roman goddess..."

"Yeah. I get that, but eventually, she'll get that you aren't your mother," Clarisse said as she turned to look at Annabeth. "Whatever happened in the past isn't your fault, and it's not right to blame you."

Before Reyna could respond or try to weasel out of the conversation, Clarisse threw an arm around her, "Come on. I'm hungry. You may not be, but you're going to make me food."

Reyna was silent as she was practically dragged toward the campfire. As they sat down, Reyna looked at the ground, but she did speak softly, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Clarisse said. "But if you tell anyone."

"You'll kick my ass."

"And don't you forget it."