Coming Back [A ReyNico FanFic]

Beyond the Camp Borders (Part 2)

Nico
Nico froze at the sight of the rifle. Mortal weapons could hurt demigods, and he didn't want to get shot. And there was no way he'd let Reyna get hurt. Good thing Reyna backed away into a corner and turned off her flashlight, but the light from the open door was enough to see things.

And heck, the skinned animals didn't look good in dim light.

"THIEEEEEEEEEVES!" the man boomed in a deep, throaty voice worthy of a Cyclops. He was quite old. His scraggly brown hair was streaked with silver, and his beard looked as if a raccoon had once lived there.

Nico had the urge to laugh, but it quickly died when the man loaded the gun and pointed it at them. "Stupid teenagers! What gang are you, huh? The Froot Loots? Black Acorns? Or the worst yet! The Bobbing Bandits!"

Nico fought down a laugh. Bobbing Bandits, yeah right. Really scary. "Black Acorns sounds pretty good. But we're demigods."

"Demigods! Another gang! And you managed to open my window, eh? Tryin' to take some of old Jebediah's pets with 'ya? Well, I'm Jebediah! And I ain't gon' let you take me pets!" The man huffed angrily and spotted Reyna, who was stuffing something in her bag.

Please don't tell me she wanted some roadkill souvenirs, Nico thought.

"Hey, you there," Jebediah cocked his chin in Reyna's direction. "Whatcha get from me?"

Reyna looked up calmly. Her duffel bag was bloated and lumpy, but she continued pushing down mystery things. "Nothing."

Jebediah squinted. "I s'pose I'll find out when I shoot your boyfriend over here?"

He pointed the rifle at Nico.

"Reyna," Nico whispered. He didn't want to die in a psycho's basement with dead beavers. (Though he didn't mind being mistaken as Reyna's boyfriend.) "Give that back, whatever you're getting."

The daughter of Bellona smirked and slowly shoved her hand inside the duffel bag. "I didn't get anything," she told Jebediah, looking untroubled. "Put the gun down and nobody gets hurt."

"Ha!" Jebediah let out a series of grunts which might have been laughter. "You threatening me, little lady? Watcha got there, a teeny lipstick? A hairbrush?"

"No. This."  Reyna produced a tiny sphere and threw it at Jebediah. He yelped and fell on his butt. The sphere sparked and exploded in front of him, and a dizzying stench filled the air together with his scream of outrage.

"Run!" Reyna yelled over his voice. She leapt out the window, rolled onto the snow-covered grass and managed to get up on her knees. She started to run but she looked back and gestured for Nico to follow. "Come on! Fart bombs don't last long!"

Nico had to admit, that leap-and-somersault-then-land-on-knees move she did was pretty impressive. And he also had to admit that he was stupid for trying to copy it.

He leapt out the window, but his left shoe got snagged by a nail sticking out of the frame. So instead of rolling on the ground like an action star, he fell flat on his face.

His face scorching with shame, he spat out snow and grass out of his mouth and got up. There on the window was his shoe.

Nico tried to make a grab for it, but a pudgy hand beat him to it. Jebediah's face popped into view. "NASTY TEENAGERS!"

"RUN!" Reyna shouted.

Nico did, but with his left foot only covered in a sock and with the thick snow, it wasn't easy. He fast-limped toward Reyna, who was sprinting to their SUV. But he couldn't help gasping with the cold along the way.