All's Fair In Love And War

Keeping An Eye Out

"Nico, Nico!" I banged on his door frantically.

"What?" He opened the door, his hair disheveled. I started to question what he had been doing, since it was 3 in the afternoon and he obviously wasn't sleeping with how quickly he answered, but then stopped when I glanced over his shoulder and saw Will awkwardly sitting on the couch.

"I was in the basement, I heard someone singing when I left the meeting we had. Someone was downstairs playing guitar and singing. I didn't see them, but it's a guy. I have no clue where they went, when I tried to chase them I lost them."

"Really? You need to tell Jason and Piper, they can figure out a way to find out who it is."

"Do you know where they are?" I asked.

"Probably watching a movie in the room we had our meeting in."

"Alright, thanks. Have fun with whatever you're doing." Nico blushed heavily at my comment.

"Shut up." He murmured.

I laughed and walked off, heading for the room I'd been in for the meeting.

"Jason?" I knocked on the door.

"Hold on!" There was a shuffling behind the door, then Jason threw it open. "Hey, Reyna, what's up?"

"I've got to tell you and Piper something."

"Alright, come on in." He opened the door wider.

I stepped inside and saw a paused movie on the screen. Piper was curled up under a pile of blankets. "Hey, Reyna, come sit." She grinned at me.

"Okay, what do you have to tell us?"

"So I was leaving here to go back to my room, and I heard someone singing. I followed the voice down to the basement and realized that whoever was down there was playing guitar. And they were good. I don't know who it is, I didn't get a chance to see them and they bolted. Nico said I should tell you."

"Which room was it?" Jason asked curiously.

"The one on the far end of the hallway from here." I pointed downward, in the general direction of the room I was talking about. 

There was a knock on the door and Percy came in with a large bowl of popcorn. "Here you go, guys."

"Thanks Perce." Piper took the bowl and turned to me. "We can talk to my mom and have her and Eros set up cameras in the rooms so we can know if anyone is down there practicing. This may be the answer to our problems, Reyna. Good thing you heard whoever it was."

"Yeah." I smiled and stood. "You guys enjoy your movie. I'm going to go work out."

Percy followed me out of the room and closed the door behind him. "What was that all about?"

"I heard someone playing guitar in the basement. Didn't see who it was though."

Percy nodded. "Interesting. Thinking they could help the band?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." I discreetly glanced at his jeans. I couldn't tell if they were the same shade as the ones that I'd gotten a glance of in the basement. "Do you want to spar with me?"

"Sure, let me go get changed and I'll meet you there." He grinned and jogged off in the direction of his room.

I retreated to my room as well and changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. On my way out of the room Annabeth entered, sneering at me as she walked past.

"The feeling is mutual." I muttered in response, starting down the hall.

"Hey, Reyna, where are you going?" Lou called.

"I'm gonna work out, why?"

"Can I come watch?" She asked.

"Why do you want to watch?"

"Word's been floating around that you and your sparring partner are a pretty good fight to watch."

I bit my lip. Percy was supposed to stay under the radar. Having people watch us spar probably wasn't the best idea. 

"Uh, maybe some other time. I'm not sparring with Nico today."

"Oh, okay." Lou nodded. "I do want to see the two of you fight though."

I nodded and breathed a tiny sigh of relief. She didn't know who my other sparring partner was.

Quickly descending to the workout room, I found Percy waiting for me with his sword. 

"That took a bit."

"Sorry, I got stopped in the hallway. Let's get started." I grabbed another sword from the wall and we faced off, watching each other's movements until one of us could find an opening.

In the end, it was me that slipped up, rolling my ankle slightly on an awkward split between two mats that had been pushed next to each other and faltering slightly in my step. Percy lunged forward, practically at the speed of light, and I had to jump backwards to avoid him stabbing me in the stomach. 

Percy pulled back and swung at my side. I parried and we began to exchange quick blows back and forth, our swords clashing like the sounds of cathedral bells, similar to the ones near my home before Circe's Island.

By the time we were done sparring, I won by the way, we were both covered in sweat and grinning.

"That was an interesting one."

[A/N I just know what all the comments on the second paragraph are gonna be...]