SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

45 - dunking octavian is fun

BRIAR DIDN'T WANT to eat, but damn her heritage, because the Romans were fucking good at providing food for eating.

Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it resembled a furniture showroom. Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while wind spirits — aurae — swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies. Drifting through the crowd were Lares in togas and legionnaire armor. Around the edges of the feast, fauns trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change. In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with a hellhound, and children played tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits.

The whole scene was so familiar yet somewhat alien.

All Briar wanted to do was be with Reyna — preferably alone. She knew she would have to wait. If their quest was going to succeed, they needed these people, which meant repairing her relationships with them that she'd lost.

Piper and a few of her officers ( with disgusting Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods ) sat with Briar and her crew. Reyna joined them with Percy, Hazel, and Frank.

As a tornado of food platters settled onto the table, Briar forgot the rules of PDA. She was practically sitting on top of Reyna, leaning back against her chest as she fiddled with Reyna's hand.

"Oh, the ring," Briar took it off Reyna's finger and put it back on hers. She hadn't felt this weight on her finger in six fucking months. "You kept it."

"You asked me to," Reyna said, as if it was obvious. It totally was. Briar was just dumb. "In that letter."

"The letter," Briar repeated. She forgot what was on it. Reyna, as if knowing what she was thinking, took out a weathered piece of paper.

"You gave me this six months ago," Reyna looked at her, confused. "But I don't remember seeing you."

Briar bit her lip. "I'll explain when we have time."

Reyna opened her mouth, but she stopped as Piper called a toast to friendship.

After introductions all around, the Romans and Briar's crew began exchanging stories. Jason explained how he and Briar had arrived at Camp Half-Blood without their memories, and how they'd gone on a quest with Leo to rescue Hera from imprisonment at the Wolf House.

"Impossible!" Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there—"

"They would've destroyed her," Briar said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps using my rich, hot dead body. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish. Or I'll finish it for him, and you know how my storytelling goes."

Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Briar held out her hand, and Jason high fived it without looking. Besties for life.

"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands — Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by . . . what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Gaea's been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face."

Percy recounted his side of the story. He talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name — Annabeth.

Briar turned to Reyna to fake gag, even if she'd been in the exact same situation. Reyna rolled her eyes and turned Briar's head towards Percy so she could listen to his quest — how he'd traveled to Alaska with Reyna, Frank, and Hazel — how they'd defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed the death god Thanatos, and returned with the lost golden eagle standard of the Roman camp to repel an attack by the giants' army.