SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

49 - not like wizard of oz

LEO HAD SAID they were close. His idea of "close" needed some work.

Immediately, Briar had jumped onto Reyna's back, just like old times. Reyna had huffed, but she let Briar cling to her back like a koala. It helped that Briar kissed her neck every so often when she was bored.

After trudging half a mile through hot fields, getting bitten by mosquitoes and whacked in the face with scratchy sunflowers, they finally reached the road. An old billboard for Bubba's Gas 'n' Grub indicated they were still forty miles from the first Topeka exit.

"Correct my math," Percy said, "but doesn't that mean we have eight miles to walk?"

Jason peered both ways down the deserted road. His skin glistened under the sun like only the son of Jupiter would. The gladius that Hera had given him last winter hung at his belt. Most guys would look pretty awkward walking around with a scabbard strapped to their jeans, but on Jason it seemed perfectly natural.

"No cars . . ." he said. "But I guess we wouldn't want to hitchhike. I wouldn't want to redo the Tulsa Incident."

Percy frowned. "How many incidents do you guys have?"

"Between the three of us and Piper?" Reyna mused. "Too many to count. I told you that before she became Praetor, Piper was a completely different person."

That was true. It made sense that either Briar or Reyna would become Praetor, but they had agreed that Piper was better for the job. She balanced out Jason's seriousness, and she was good at making decisions based on the information she got. And she was good at commanding a crowd.

But she'd changed over the last eight months. Briar found that it was more difficult to figure out Piper's emotions when they'd interacted at the feast.

"We've already spent too much time going overland," Briar broke the silence, drawing shapes on Reyna's shoulder. "The earth is Gaea's territory."

"Hmm . . ." Jason snapped his fingers. "I can call a friend for a ride."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? Me too. Let's see whose friend gets here first."

Reyna smugly smiled. "Try me."

Jason whistled. Briar knew what he was doing, but he'd succeeded in summoning Tempest only three times since they'd met the storm spirit at the Wolf House last winter. Today, the sky was so blue, she didn't see how it could work.

Percy simply closed his eyes and concentrated.

Percy wasn't what Briar had expected. He looked sort of like an alternate reality version of Jason, as he's more slender, about an inch shorter, with slightly longer, much darker hair.

Briar could see why Annabeth liked him, and she could definitely see why Percy needed Annabeth in his life. If anybody could keep a guy like that under control, it was Annabeth.

At least Percy was nice. Their talk yesterday solidified that. Briar hoped that they could dunk on Octavian together sometime in the future.

Thunder crackled in the clear sky.

Jason smiled. "Soon."

"Too late." Percy pointed east, where a black winged shape was spiraling toward them. At first, Briar thought it might be Frank in crow form. Then she realized it was much too big to be a bird.

"Actually, you're both too late." Reyna said just as a familiar pegasus landed next to them.

Briar squealed. "Scipio!"

Scipio trotted over to Reyna and nuzzled her face, and he let Briar and Jason pet him before turning to Percy and his pegasus. Percy's pegasus landed, nuzzled Percy's face, then turned his head inquisitively toward Briar, Reyna, Jason and Scipio.