The Titan's Curse [Book Three]

Broken Promise.

"Reagan, hurry up! Aric is waiting for us to meet up with him!"

"I'm coming!" she shouted in response then turned back to Annabeth. "Look," Reagan said. "Just be careful, okay?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes but smiled, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'll be careful, Reagan," she assured gently. The blonde looked up at the other girl, a girl she considered a close friend now despite everything they've been through. "What are you so worried about?"

The dark haired girl shrugged, obviously growing flustered at basically being asked why she cared for Annabeth's safety. "I just got a bad feeling about all of this," she said once she came up with something. She reached over and placed her hands on Annabeth's shoulders. "Just promise me you'll be careful?" she asked gently.

Annabeth smiled up at Reagan, her eyebrows arched curiously. "I'll be careful," she said softly, then added for Reagan's sake. "I promise."

     Having no choice but to take it for what it is, Reagan released Annabeth and watched as the blonde picked up her backpack and turned, running up Half-Blood Hill to meet up with Thalia Grace. They were going to meet up with Percy in the city, and then go on the hunt for two half-blood's that seemed important enough to send more then just a Satyr to pick them up. Someone grabbed her hand, pulling on it to get Reagan's attention.

"Will you stop staring at your girlfriend and come on already?" Rosalinda teased, laughing in triumph when Reagan's face darkened considerably.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

But Rose had already turned to go to the Hermes cabin where Aric was waiting for them. "Hurry up!"

Reagan fell into step beside her friend. "Okay, but we're not done with this 'girlfriend' thing. For being only eleven years old you're a big smart ass," she muttered.

     Rose just giggled and waved to Aric, a son of Hermes that sat outside his cabin patiently for his friends to arrive. It's been almost a year since Reagan returned to camp and her siblings slowly started to accept her back into their cabin and activities, and campers no longer ostracized her from everything. Everything was almost normal. All Reagan needed now was for the nightmares to stop.

                         <--->

     Reagan spotted Thalia and the Hunters of Artemis arriving to camp with Grover and Percy. She wore a plain black sweater with a pair of dark skinny jeans with combat boots. The snow wasn't heavy, but the cold was enough to leave a layer of frost on everything. Fireballs that didn't burn anything else were lit up outside of the cabins and all around the strawberry fields and Big House. The fifteen year old excused herself from the group of friends she was playing volleyball with to go see Annabeth now that they were back. She moved through the derelict camp with ease. It was more empty then usual, and she could easily guess that was because of how dangerous life was becoming for a half-blood. Some went to their families to spend time with them while they could, while she assumed that others were dead or had gone over to Luke's side. Like she did a year ago. Percy was alone walking along the cabins, walking inside of one every once and a while then leaving as he spread the word that they'd be playing capture the flag tomorrow night against the Hunters, as it was a camp tradition.

He saw Reagan quickly approaching and felt his heart drop even lower if that was possible by now. How was he supposed to break the news to her?

"Hey, Percy!" she called out cheerily, waving to him enthusiastically as she slowed to a stop a few feet in front of him. She glanced around inquisitively like Annabeth was lurking behind a nearby tree ready to just jump out. "So, uh, where's Annabeth?" Reagan asked as casually as possible.

Percy couldn't handle this. He rubbed the back of his neck meekly and looked away from her. "She's not...here."

Reagan's smile faded. "What?"

     Percy stammered his way through the story. Of how the Manticore fell off the side of the cliff with Annabeth still on his back. The Hunters and Artemis appearing. Bianca Di Angelo, one of the two half-bloods they had discovered, choosing to become a Hunter for Artemis.

But all Reagan cared about was the part about Annabeth. "But we're going to go out searching, right?"

He shook his head. "No. Mr. D doesn't think we should risk losing other half-bloods on a search."

Her jaw clenched so tightly that veins appeared taut along her neck. "That's ridiculous!" she spat.

Percy rose his hands in front of him. "Yeah, I know."

     She stared at him for a good long time, her eyes narrowed in anger. She had been playing with her fingers absently, but he could see her twirling the enchanted ring on her middle finger, itching to pull her weapon out and kill something. Then she shoved passed him and stormed off. Her mind was racing,  a whirlwind of ideas and thoughts that wanted her immediate attention. But then someone caught her attention instead, a small boy with olive colored skin and black hair that hung over his forehead. He was absently shuffling a deck of cards in his hands, and once the two looked at each other the boy squinted then looked down, his hands moving in a flurry as he scanned the cards.

"What god are you?" he asked curiously.

"I'm...not a god?" Reagan responded in confusion. "I'm a half-blood."

His eyes lit up. "Like me?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Who are you? I've never seen you around camp before."

"I just arrived! My name is Nico Di Angelo." Nico looked down at the stack of cards and picked one up. "Have you ever heard of Mythomagic before?"

She took the card from him gently and looked at the image of the goddess Hera. "No. What is it?"

His eyes glinted with excitement and he took her hand, pulling her with him so that they could find a seat. "Come on, I'll show you!"