YOU ARE IN LOVE ↬ leo valdez x reader, book two

19. you can feel it on the way home

"Visitor?" Hazel murmured.
At the rail next to Coach Hedge, a dark-haired girl appeared wearing a purple cloak, her face so covered with soot and bloody scratches that she was unrecognizable. Reyna.

Leo's new mechanical hoist system had lowered the Athena Parthenos onto the hillside with surprising ease. Now the forty-foot-tall goddess gazed serenely over the River Acheron, her gold dress like molten metal in the sun.
"Incredible," Reyna admitted. She was red-eyed from crying. She explained that when she landed on the Argo II, her pegasus Scipio had collapsed, overwhelmed by poisoned claw marks from a gryphon attack the night before. Reyna had put the horse out of his misery with her golden knife, turning the pegasus into dust that scattered in the sweetsmelling Greek air.

The praetor circled the Athena Parthenos warily. "It looks newly made."
"Yeah," Leo said. "We brushed off the cobwebs, used a little Windex. It wasn't hard."
Wasn't hard my ass. I was the one who he made clean the feet of Athena Parthenos and it was not some walk in the park.
The Argo II hovered just overhead. With Festus keeping watch for threats on the radar, our entire crew had decided to eat lunch on the hillside while we discussed what to do.

"Hey, Reyna," Annabeth called. "Have some food. Join us."
The praetor glanced over, her dark eyebrows furrowed, as if join us didn't quite compute.
"All right," she said finally. We scooted over to make room for her in the circle. She sat cross-legged next to Annabeth, picked up a cheese sandwich, and nibbled at the edge.
"So," Reyna said. "Frank Zhang...praetor."
Frank shifted, wiping crumbs from his chin. "Well, yeah. Field promotion."
"To lead a different legion," Reyna noted.
"A legion of ghosts." Hazel put her arm protectively through Frank's.

After an hour in sick bay, they both looked a lot better. I should remain humble but yes, yes, it was all me. Y/N L/N, the mender of ribs and saver of lives.
"Reyna," Jason said, "you should've seen him."
"He was amazing," Piper agreed.
"Frank is a leader," Hazel insisted. "He makes a great praetor."
Reyna's eyes stayed on Frank, like she was trying to guess his weight.
"I believe you," she said. "I approve."

Frank blinked. "You do?"
Reyna smiled dryly. "A son of Mars, the hero who helped to bring back the eagle of the legion...I can work with a demigod like that. I'm just wondering how to convince the Twelfth Fulminata."
Frank scowled. "Yeah. I've been wondering the same thing. The legion will listen to you, Reyna," Frank said. "You made it here alone, across the ancient lands."

Reyna chewed her sandwich as if it were cardboard. "In doing so, I broke the laws of the legion."
"Caesar broke the law when he crossed the Rubicon," Frank said. "Great leaders have to think outside the box sometimes."
She shook her head. "I'm not Caesar. After finding Jason's note in Diocletian's Palace, tracking you down was easy. I only did what I thought was necessary."
Percy couldn't help smiling. "Reyna, you're too modest. Flying halfway across the world by yourself to answer Annabeth's plea, because you knew it was our best chance for peace? That's pretty freaking heroic."

Reyna shrugged. "Says the demigod who fell into Tartarus and found his way back."
"He had help," Annabeth said.
"Oh, obviously," Reyna said. "Without you, I doubt Percy could find his way out of a paper bag."
"True," Annabeth agreed.
"Hey!" Percy complained.
"I think it's the case with many of you. Us girls reign superior over you– boys."

Leo pulled a tiny screwdriver from his tool belt. He stabbed a chocolate covered strawberry and passed it to Coach Hedge. Then he pulled out another screwdriver and speared a second strawberry for himself. Finally, he pulled out one more and passed a strawberry to me.
"So, the twenty-million-peso question," Leo said. "We got this slightly used forty-foot-tall statue of Athena. What do we do with it?"
Reyna squinted at the Athena Parthenos. "As fine as it looks on this hill, I didn't come all this way to admire it. According to Annabeth, it must be returned to Camp Half-Blood by a Roman leader. Do I understand correctly?"