The Battle for Olympus

Reyna

Reyna hesitated before knocking. It was stupid, but she felt like she was twelve years old again, too nervous to ask her centurion for help. And here she was, praetor of New Rome, nervous again. Get over yourself, she grumbled. She took another deep breath, then knocked twice. A moment later, the door swung open, revealing a young woman in her early twenties, her eyes just as warm as she remembered.

"Reyna!" Anissa pulling her into a hug. "I was hoping you'd come visit me. We haven't had a good chat in a while."

Her former centurion led Reyna through the apartment to a small table in the back and handed her a Redbull.

Noticing Reyna's raised eyebrows, Anissa shrugged. "You look like you need it." Anissa was Reyna's centurion when she first arrived at the legion. The daughter of Venus acted as a mentor to her, more of a sister than Hylla had been those days.

"I hope school's going well?" Reyna said, sipping the energy drink.

Anissa leaned back in her chair and ran a hand over her scalp. She'd shaved her head since Reyna saw her last, and she caught a glimpse of a dove tattoo against her dark brown skin.

"Northwestern is fine, but I miss home, you know? Both homes I guess."

"And medical school? Is that as grueling as they say?"

Anissa laughed, showing her perfect teeth. "You have no idea. But once you go through legion training, you can take anything anyone throws at you." Anissa tapped her fingers on the table. "Which is why you're here, right? I may not be part of the legion anymore, but I am a former centurion. I hear things."

"It is." Reyna glanced down at the table. "Jason has this... plan. We know the giants are rising, and that the gods are experiencing this Roman-Greek schism, which makes them basically useless in the fight. The plan is to wipe out the Greeks to fix this schism, then march with the gods to fight Gaea and her giants."

Anissa frowned. "Last I heard, the plan was to unite the camps with an exchange of leaders. Jason and what's-his-name from the Greeks. What changed?"

"See, that was Hera's-Juno's? Whatever. It was the queen of the god's plan. And I say this with the utmost respect, but she has a reputation for being very unstable."

Anissa absently jiggled her Redbull, the liquid sloshing back and forth. She sighed and set the can down. "Reyna, you're basically saying you know more than Juno, the literal queen of Olympus. That is dangerously arrogant."

Reyna bit her lip. "Jason thinks it's a good idea. I trust him."

"The great Jason Grace." Anissa rolled her eyes. "You idolize him too much. You always have."

"What does that mean?"

"You have to be careful with children of Jupiter, I'm told. They have a tendency to snap under all that pressure. Jason especially."

Reyna met Anissa's gaze. "You think Jason snapped? He's been different since he got back, but he's still Jason."

Anissa shook her head. "That's not what I mean. This kid's been groomed for leadership since the very day he came here. Those expectations, that pressure he's under, the pressure he's always been under, it's too much for any one person to shoulder. He thinks this is a problem he alone can solve. He thinks that about every problem."

"And? He's good at solving problems. He's never been wrong about these things. Never."

Anissa sat forward, fixing Reyna with her big sister glare. "So you came to ask me.... what? Clearly your mind's made up."

"Maybe I just needed someone to talk it over with." Reyna paused to sip her Redbull. "Jason was a good praetor before, I have no reason to think he isn't a good praetor now."