THE HEALER| Heroes of Olympus

XIII

Leo's new mechanical hoist system lowered the Athena statue 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 still red-eyed from crying. Soon after she'd 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 sweet-smelling Greek air. Maybe not a bad end for a flying horse, but Reyna had lost a loyal friend.

I figured that she'd given up too much in her life already.

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."

The Argo II hovered just overhead. With Festus keeping watch for threats on the radar, the entire crew had decided to eat lunch on the hillside while we discussed what to do. After the last few weeks, I figured we'd earned a good meal together.

"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. I had never seen Reyna without her armor before. It was onboard the ship, being repaired by Buford the Wonder Table. She wore a pair of jeans and a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and looked almost like a normal teenager – except for the knife at her belt and that guarded expression, like she was ready for an attack from any direction.

"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. "Jasper Herman ... praetor."

Jasper shifted. "Yeah. Field promotion."

"To lead a different legion," Reyna noted. "A legion of ghosts."

I put my arm protectively through Jasper's. After about an hour in the sick bay with me, Jasper and Reyna had finally started to look better. I could tell he wasn't sure what to think about his old boss from Camp Jupiter dropping in for lunch.

"Reyna." Jason said. "You should've seen him."

"He was amazing." Piper agreed.

"Jasper is a leader," I insisted. "He makes a great praetor."

Reyna's eyes stayed on Jasper, "I believe you," she said. "I approve."

Jasper blinked. "You do?"

Reyna smiled dryly. "A son of Mars, our strongest warrior in the legion and centurion of the First cohort... I can work with a demigod like that. I'm just wondering how to convince the Twelfth Fulminata."

Jasper 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," Jasper 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."