SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

78 - weeeee

BRIAR WAS EXHAUSTED.

The wind bomb had exploded, which wasn't good, but she'd managed to reroute the explosion, so that was something at least.

But they'd somehow landed at the northern coast of Africa. The ship needed repairs, and Leo was gone and couldn't do it. They couldn't get out without said repairs, but the venti of the South Wind were so unhelpful, it was unreal. And Briar wasn't talking about the coffee.

So, yes, she'd been overworking herself to repair the ship. But they needed to get out of here, and if Jason didn't appease the god of the South Winds, then they'd have no other choice.

It'd been five days since the ship nearly froze. Five days since Leo was taken. Five days since Briar tapped into her powers.

And in five days, the main sail had been repaired, the rigging replaced. Now they were mending the oars. Without Leo, they were unable to repair the more complicated parts of the ship, even with the help of Buford the table and Festus ( who was now permanently activated thanks to Briar's charmspeak ). But they kept trying. Briar needed to do this — for Leo.

Hazel and Frank stood at the helm, tinkering with the controls. Briar relayed their commands to Coach Hedge, who was hanging over the side of the ship, banging out dents in the oars. Hedge was well suited for banging on things.

"Try it now!" Hedge yelled.

Hazel and Frank pulled some of the levers. The port oars went crazy, chopping up and down and doing the wave. Coach Hedge tried to dodge, but one smacked him in the rear and launched him into the air. He came down screaming and splashed into the bay.

"Turn it—" Briar started, but Hazel and Frank were already on it. They turned off the oars, and Briar buried her face in her hands. When she peeked out of her fingers, she saw Frank turn into an eagle and soar down to get the coach.

"Hey, we'll figure it out," Hazel said, her hand on Briar's shoulder.

"I'm trying to keep up good spirits," Briar croaked, her hand falling from her face so she could cough into her elbow and clear her throat. "But it's so hard. I failed, Leo's gone, I don't even know if Percy and Annabeth are alive, and Rey . . ."

Instinctively, Briar looked around the ship for Reyna, and found her talking to Jason and Nico. Jason looked concerned, while the other two just looked angry.

"Has she still not talked to you?" Hazel winced.

"Not since I offered her the olive branch." Briar glanced at the sword strapped to Reyna's belt. Zethes's sword was one of the spoils of war that had been left after Briar had defeated him and his siblings. So she'd given it to Reyna.

"Hey," Briar said, making the people in the mess hall look up at her. She cleared her throat awkwardly, walking up to Reyna and offering the sword that she was holding. "I got you a present."

Reyna stared at it, before looking up at Briar. "Bri . . ."

"I'm horrible with a sword, have you seen me?" Briar scrunched up the nose at her last failed attempt to use a sword — where Drew had laughed at her, and then Briar had beat her in one-on-one combat with her knives. "Also, this was Zethes's, and that man wanted to blow me up then take me away to marry me." Briar scoffed, shaking her head vigorously. "I'm not keeping his sword. And you've had that one for far too long. So, I'm giving you a present."

Briar grabbed the blade with her hand. Reyna took the hilt, and Briar let go of the blade so she could examine it.

"Bri . . . I—"