The Nightshadow Alliance

Chapter 9 || Pegasi are Fond of Reyna for Some Reason

Jason sat under a tree in one of the gardens, drawing a plan for another god's shrine. It was hard work – there were thousands, if not hundreds of thousands – of gods, both Greek and Roman, to make shrines for. Then action figures for each of them. He felt like he was making another Mythomagic game. Except with no monsters, and only gods.

Someone covered his eyes from behind.

'Guess who?' the person said, and he recognized the sweet voice of his girlfriend.

'Hmm...' he said, in mock thought. 'I don't know. Is it... Annabeth?'

'Oh really?' she asked. 'But would Annabeth do this?'

Jason felt soft lips on his and melted into the kiss. When they pulled away, he said, 'No. And I wouldn't let her. Only my lovely girlfriend would do that.'

He stood. 'What are you doing here? Not that it's bad or anything, but how did you come here? Did anyone else come too?'

As they walked to everyone else, Piper answered each question, except for one, saying that everyone else would need to know at the same time. When the two reached there, they saw Reyna, Hazel and Frank were already there.

Leo came up and hugged Jason. Percy bro-hugged him too.

'I missed you bro.' Percy said.

'I missed you too bro, but I was busy.' Jason said.

'How many shrines have you made, Jason?' Annabeth asked.

'Forty done, a few thousand more to go. But those haven't been built yet, just designed.'

'Will anyone even tell us how you guys suddenly got here and where the Hades did that door come from' Reyna asked.

'Hey,' Nico scowled. 'Don't curse my father's name. It gives him a headache, and that makes him pile more paperwork on me.'

Reyna laughed. 'Okay, okay, death boy.'

-oOo-

Reyna sat on her chair, sipping hot chocolate.

'You mean to tell me that you Greeks opened a portal between the two camps, thanks to Lady Trivia, and you didn't even bother to tell us!'

Everyone shivered under her glare.

'Yes, that's sounds about right,' Thalia said.

Reyna groaned. They'd been keeping a watch on that door, what if it was some trap, created by the enemy? Although, the portal could be a liability. If the enemy found out about it, they could launch an attack at the other camp, while also using the portal to reach the other camp too.

'Very well,' she said simply.

'Hey Reyna,' Percy said. 'You should come to Camp Half-Blood more. The Pegasi miss you. Keep shouting in my mind about "that scary but awesome daughter of Bellona."'

Reyna laughed. 'Sure. I'll come. It's much easier now, thanks to that portal.'

The eleven walked through the fields, talking and laughing.

Then, something – no, someone – caught Reyna's eye. A tall silhouette that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. She could feel Nico suddenly tense beside her, his hand reaching for his sword.

'There's a soul from the underworld here,' he said. 'But... how? That shouldn't be possible. Hades never lets souls out.'

'Yeah,' Percy said. 'If he does, it'd be an extremely rare situation. It's a bit hard to escape with someone from right under his nose.'

'It is,' Hazel said. 'I'm pretty sure the only reason he let me go was because I'm his daughter.'

'What if there's some other force at play here?' Reyna said.

'Yeah. What if this is something completely orchestrated by the enemies, to take us down or draw a wedge in our relationships. After all, if we go according to the prophecy, the enemy is weakened if we work together,' Annabeth said.

Reyna could almost see the gears turning in Annabeth's brain. If this was truly orchestrated by the enemy forces, who would they send?

Apparently, Percy was thinking the same thing.

'Who do you think it is then?'

'Nico, you said it's an escaped soul, right?' Piper said.

Nico nodded.

'Do you think you can tell us where the soul is from? Elysium, Asphodel, or the Fields of Punishment?'

Reyna was pretty sure Nico could. And she could 100% guarantee he would do it right now, since Will wasn't here to chew him out. In fact, she was pretty sure he would still do it, even if his 'significant annoyance' wouldn't let him out of the infirmary for a week.

She was right. Nico nodded again.

'I can do it, but if it's from Elysium, it'll be much harder. But I'll try.'

Reyna could feel Nico's aura flare. She could see the sweat that beaded his forehead slightly. He suddenly opened his eyes.

'Yup,' he said. 'It's from Elysium, I'm sure of it. But I can't tell who it is, I'm too tired to do that right now.'

'Nico, you should rest, I'll go check it out,' Reyna said. 'Thalia, wanna come?'

Thalia grinned. 'Hell yeah. You Romans can be so boring sometimes.'

Frank grumbled. 'I take offence to that. I'm plenty fun. Even though I wasn't that happy to turn into a stallion for you guys.'

Reyna roller her eyes. 'You are a praetor, Frank. Have some decorum. We have more than five rules in our camp. Unlike another camp that we know of.'

'Oh, loosen up Reyna! Have some fun sometimes. Let down that 'I am mighty and powerful and never feel weak' mask! And seriously, do you think this McShizzle can follow rules? Impossible!' Leo said.

Reyna chose to ignore the fact that he was tinkering with a mini bronze dragon in his hands. She also chose to ignore that it was breathing fire onto his hand every now and then.

'If you all are going to keep acting as the hooligans you are, then someone has to be in charge with some decorum. Now Thalia, should we go?'

Thalia did a mock salute. 'Yes praetor!'

Reyna rolled her eyes before running towards the bushes, where she could see a shadow, flitting across the floor.

Thalia ran behind her, and Reyna slowed down so she could catch up, before picking up speed again.

She took out her spear, and Thalia did the same next to her. They inched towards the bush, as silently as possible.

A quick communication between the two girls took place, and their plan was in action. Reyna went right, ready to pin whoever was there to the ground.

She caught the person off guard. She saw short-cropped blond hair, blue eyes and sharp features that stood out. She didn't miss the long scar running down his cheek.

She heard Thalia gasp in front of her. Whoever this person was, Reyna had a suspicion she recognized him. She didn't want to take any chances by scanning her face. Not before she was completely sure this guy couldn't harm her camp.

She disarmed him first, then took a rope out of her pocket she'd been carrying for a while. Don't ask her why. She didn't know. Tying his hands together, she gripped his arms, and they stood up.

'You're coming with us. We'll see if you're an enemy to be killed, or a valuable ally.'

The person wordlessly nodded.