Act II Chapter XXXV: "Well, don't look so disappointed."

Reyna carefully dragged her whetstone down her sword and stared at the sharpened blade. She had yet to properly clean it and take care of it since saving Percy's life, and the blade was fighting her now. It wasn't polished enough. Not sharp enough.

Not clean enough.

Reyna continued to work on the blade, and her gaze drifted to the night sky. Her shoulders relaxed on her. She felt safer, stronger in the shadows. Even the rumbling of thunder could not distress her as she continued to work on the blade.

Everyone else was sleeping, but Reyna was restless. Her thoughts were of the mortal she met: Sally Jackson. Mother of Percy Jackson. It explained... a lot.

Plus, she had to deal with Clarisse seeming to breathe down her neck every second. It would have been endearing if it wasn't so annoying. Reyna sighed and adjusted the sword in her hand. She pressed the whetstone down against the top of the blade.

"It was a nice try."

Sparks flew off the blade as Reyna applied too much pressure. Her body tensed on her, and she looked up at the shimmering view in front of her. This was an Iris message. She had been in the room when Annabeth sent one to Luke just to test it. And when Clarisse dragged her to meet Clarisse's mother through the use of the message.

"Well, don't look so disappointed."

Reyna remained silent as she placed the blade down in her lap. The whetstone was placed into a small pouch, and she stared at the grass.

"Can't even look at me now?"

Reyna closed her eyes and exhaled. She inhaled deeply. Reyna opened her eyes and exhaled. Her eyes flickered up. She stared at the Iris message in front of her.

"Hylla," Reyna slowly said.

"Reyna."

Hylla's lower lip had a healing cut in it. Dried blood rested along the bottom of her crooked nose, and her left eye was swollen. Fresh blood stained her lower neck, and she was no longer in her office. It was hard to see the background, but Hylla seemed to be in a darkened room.

But where?

"How are you-"

"Messaging you?" Hylla asked. She grinned and shifted. The grin lost its teeth, and her right shoulder jerked like that small movement caused her pain. "The gods are... just like us mortals. It doesn't matter that the Amazons tortured Iris. She is more than happy to send our messages provided that we have the coin."

Hylla's gaze was intent. She seemed to be searching for something, but Reyna didn't know what it was. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Hylla turned her head for a moment.

"You're hurt," Reyna stated. Hylla's gaze shot back to her. "Aren't you?"

"Why would you care, dear sister? You are the one who let the barbarians into the gate," Hylla retorted bitingly. A cruel grin came to her face as she met Reyna's eyes.

"But, you repelled them..."

"At first," Hylla muttered. She slowly stepped back and leaned against a wall. Reyna tried to keep her face emotionless as she studied her sister. Hylla's right shoulder was covered in blood, and her other arm was pressed against her chest. "I don't know how the hell Kinzie pulled it off."

Hylla turned her head and closed her eyes, "It's all coming down, Reyna. Thanks to you. I'm almost impressed. It's twice now, right? No. Three? Four. First, it was Papi."

"Don't," Reyna snapped. She felt hot white anger run through her body. Reyna stood. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"One question," Hylla said. "You bring destruction wherever you go, even more than me. Well, I guess it's two questions. One, how long until you destroy this stupid little idea you have of rebuilding this camp?"

"You're seconds from losing your war, and you spend those last few moments interrogating me instead of fighting?" Reyna demanded as she clenched her fist. She found herself biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. Her sister had not contacted her since they parted ways so why now?

"Answer my question."

Hylla had no power over Reyna. She wasn't even there. Yet, Reyna found her body tensing. The answer caught in her throat. She looked down.

"I won't."

"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that," Hylla muttered. Reyna slowly looked up and saw that Hylla was studying her. There was confusion and... concern? Her sister was never concerned. Probably just about herself really. That was all Hylla cared about.

"Second question. Who? Was it mother?"

Reyna's body tensed on her, and she slowly met Hylla's eyes. That fury started to boil in her chest again. Reyna slowly spoke, "No."

"That wolf goddess then," Hylla decided. She shook her head, and a cold chuckle left her. "I am a champion of the war god Mars. Do you think you're a champion for that wolf?"

"I'm not a champion," Reyna muttered. She lifted her hand and stared into the Iris message. Hylla met her eyes. Her face softened in a way that Reyna had not known since she was a young child. Hylla opened her mouth, and Reyna ran a hand through the constructed message.

Reyna gripped the handle of her sword and took a deep breath. Despite herself, she felt tears in her eyes. Hylla would have only messaged her for two reasons: the biggest would have been to gloat about Reyna failing to turn the Amazons on her and promising some kind of vengeance.

But, there was no bragging. There was no glory. Hylla messaged Reyna because she was quickly running out of time. Those rogue Amazons, maybe not rogues if they had ousted Hylla, were closing in.

And Hylla knew she didn't have much time left.

Reyna wasn't sure how to feel. Anger still burned in her veins from Hylla's words, and she felt a pit in her stomach at the thought of what could happen to her sister. To the only family that she had left. Hylla claimed to be a champion for Mars, but was the god even there to hear her pleas?

Would-

A hand hit Reyna's back, and she jumped. Clarisse spoke, "You really need to stop moping around, you know."

"Will you just leave me alone?" Reyna demanded as she turned and shoved Clarisse's arm from her. "I don't..."

Reyna forced herself to trail off. She choked back her words and swallowed painfully. Clarisse looked taken aback, and there was a look of hurt on her face. Reyna looked down and knew she needed to backtrack from her outburst.

"I'm sorry. Hylla messaged me," Reyna said. She glanced up to see that Clarisse's face had gone neutral, but she nodded in understand. "Just to mess with my head again. I just… need some time."

"Yeah. Take some time. It's all good," Clarisse said as she crossed her arms. Reyna grabbed her things.

"I'm just going to go to bed," Reyna began.

"If you need someone to talk to," Clarisse offered. Reyna nodded, not able to get away fast enough. She walked away and kept her eyes downcast. All she could think about was how her sister looked. Scared. Vulnerable. Like that message would be her last.

And if it was, it would be Reyna's fault.

Observing was not Clarisse's strong suit. She didn't like to sit around and just watch people. Not to mention she wasn't the best at picking up social cues. But gods, here she was trying to observe her friend. Clarisse had been keeping an eye on Reyna for days now, just trying to understand her.

Reyna was part of the camp but seemed to do everything in her power to avoid actually being involved. She was there, but it was so hard to find her. Clarisse thought it was just her being shy at first. Then tense from everything that happened with her sister. Or stress from having this new camp to watch over.

Now?

Clarisse didn't know. She could not get a bead on Reyna. It was like Reyna was so focused on their goals and didn't care about anything else. Maybe, she did. She was like a more obsessive version of Annabeth.

Clarisse turned and walked down the hill. She sent one last glance at Reyna. The younger warrior disappeared into the shadows. Clarisse made her way back to the camp, annoyed at being snapped in. But, she was just going to ignore it for now.

Instead, she took a look around the camp and found her target. Lupa sat near Chiron, and the two seemed to be in a deep conversation. Lupa heard her approaching, if the twitching of an ear was anything to go by.

Clarisse slowed her pace to allow the two to finish their topic. When Chiron made eye contact and waved her over, Clarisse closed the gap. Chiron smiled at her and spoke, "What can we do for you, dear?"

"I just wanted to talk to Lupa. About these Greek and Roman aspects that the gods have," Clarisse answered. "Annabeth has talked about it, but are you telling me that Mars and Ares are really different? They're both my dad. Just a different name."

"Not exactly," Chiron began. He looked at Lupa. The wolf goddess studied Clarisse.

"Your father is well respected in the histories of both the Greeks and Romans," Lupa said. She looked at Chiron. "You are better at explaining this."

"Before the camps were destroyed, the gods were more united in their aspects. Your father would appear as Ares to the Greeks and Mars to the Romans. He could be in multiple places at once and would know what each part of him was doing. Now, they're too fractured," Chiron explained.

"I mean, I get that. But what's the difference between Mars and Ares? I don't get it, and you just make it sound like they are the same," Clarisse argued.

"They are the same," Lupa confirmed. "How they were worshiped was different. Greeks had their gods that they gave more praise to, and the Romans did the same. A child of Ares is going to be better at fighting in smaller groups and leading them. At shining individually. A child of Mars is better suited to lead an army. They can look at a battlefield and find the best way to conquer it."

"Sounds like a child of Athena. Or whatever her Roman name is."

"Minerva does not have children," Lupa said. "Romans gave your father more of the responsibilities that Minerva would have had, and the rest were given to Bellona."

"Reyna's mom," Clarisse said. There was a look that crossed Lupa's face, and she nodded. Clarisse wasn't good at reading emotions or reading the room. So instead of wasting time trying to figure it out, she pushed forward. "Why does Reyna hate her own mom?"

"I'm sure she doesn't," Chiron began. Lupa snorted.

"Because I told Reyna some hard truths about her mother. They should not have been shared, but there was no helping it," Lupa replied. Which was somehow cryptic yet the most that Clarisse understood. "Please do not mention it to Reyna. It is a raw subject."

"Speaking of raw subjects, her sister messaged her. It seemed to really have shook her," Clarisse said. Lupa stood immediately. "One last thing before you check on her. How much was my father respected in the times of the Romans?"

"Very," Lupa replied. She turned and left as Clarisse smirked.

"I knew the Romans were cool," Clarisse said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the smallest of frowns appear to Chiron's face. It was gone the second Clarisse looked at him. "So, do you think we can start to get some dessert?"