Reyna and Jason: The Praetor's of New Rome - Sacrifice

Sea Stone

"You never thought to summon them before?" Annabeth asked me while we walked quickly through the many empty corridors of the labyrinth. This specific corridor had fluorescent lights above providing bluish hue around our surroundings, but were spaced out far a part. So every so often, we would walk through a brightly lit tiled hallway only to reenter the shadows. It's as if the Labyrinth was building our path in real time and needed to darken the room so we could not see the new space it would create ahead of us. Luckily, we were walking under the light, which calmed our nerves just enough for us to talk.

I smiled as Argentum bounced in the air with a skeleton's bone in his mouth, proud of his performance in our last confrontation with the monsters of the labyrinth . "No, I've never summoned them outside of Camp before. Didn't think it was possible."

Annabeth patted Aurum's back, which made her sliver tongue drop to the side of her mouth in excitement. "Well, these boys are amazing. Makes our fights with monsters far more tolerable."

I turned around to face Annabeth, walking backwards. "No, Aurum here is a girl. Argentum is a boy."

Annabeth glanced at the two dogs. "How can you tell?"

I shrugged. "I can't. I just made it up. I think for John, their owner before me, he referred to them as girls. Argentum just gives me...... boy vibes, y'know?"

Annabeth chuckled. "No, I don't. I guess it doesn't matter to them, right Aurum! Your such a good bo-I mean girl............ No, Aurum gives ME boy vibes."

I spun around, facing forward. "You can call HER whatever she wants. Right Aurum?"

Aurum barked gleefully, which made Annabeth smile. "Okay, Aurum. I'm so sorry girl. Yes. Yes, I'm sorry. Good girl. GoOood Girl! Hey! Watch the legs!"

I laughed again, relishing in the experience. The last few hours have been a nightmare with us running through the labyrinth and fighting monsters at almost every corner. All the while re-playing Max's horrid crimes in my head.

"Sacrifice, Reyna. We needed to sacrifice them for the ones we love." Max told me, his eyes lost in grief and anger.

The smile on my face disappeared as I dwelled on the memory. Aurum and Argentum rushed by my side, as they usually did when they sensed my mood turning for the worst. Annabeth seemed to pick up on this.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

We walked for a few more minutes in silence, as I contemplated how to answer that question. "I'm fine." I finally said.

"Who's Max? Who is he too you?" Annabeth asked. She said Max's name without a hint of bitterness or anger, which surprised me.

I wiped my eyes, tears falling quickly and without warning. The hounds moved closer to me, as if expecting me to crouch down and hold them again. "He's.... Nobody. He's a monster. Whoever he was before...... is dead."

Annabeth gently grabbed my arm, which stopped us in our tracks. Her grey eyes surrounded by a web of red veins. "I understand what your going through. More then most. You can tell me."

I pushed her hand away. "What is there to understand? Max killed your friends. He's taken control of the Legion and we need to stop them."

Annabeth leaned against the labyrinth's walls. "And I want to make sure your not distracted before we face him. Because we WILL face him."

I scoffed. "And how does talking about how I feel going to help?"

Annabeth pushed off the wall. "Luke did the same thing. He betrayed me, in the worst way possible. I know-"