Blood of Olympus

Chapter 33: REYNA

Reyna was painfully aware of one thing - there was water, so much cold and dark water. She gasped involuntarily and swallowed a mouthful of water. Still, something was off. The water wasn't salty. This wasn't ocean water. But...if wasn't ocean water, what was it? Reyna saw a speck of black and brown maybe about 10 feet below her. Nico and Hedge. Nico wasn't moving, with his eyes closed. Even if he was conscious, he probably wouldn't be much help. This was enemy territory for him. Hedge, on the other hand, looked mildly disgusted and was squirming about before going completely still. Was it possible that, like a barn animal, he didn't like water?

For some reason, this water was making her semi-delirious.

What a terrible end to their journey. Almost bringing peace but ultimately failing. The quest that failed. And within one week of the coming war, too!

They had failed. The Praetor, the Ghost King, and the protector had failed. How embarrassing.

She faintly heard giggles all around her. Sirens? No, because they had just established this wasn't the ocean. So many unknown factors where driving Reyna mad. Who was giggling and where were they? She saw a flicker of blue out the corner of her eye. More giggling. Her vision was rapidly dotting up, turning black. She was about to lose consciousness. She barely registered the arms that wrapped around her waist as she let the dark overtake her.

***

For the very reason she was probably at the bottom of the lake, Reyna began having the dreaded dreams. Terrible visions of her friends dead, of New Rome being burned down, of the Argo II falling through the air. It was terrible, and the worst part was that these events could've already happened. Percy and the crew of them hadn't contacted them, who knew if they were all right?

"Reyna..."

"Reyna Avilla..."

A cold feeling seeped through her bones. That voice sounded eerily familiar. It was the kind of voice that you knew you knew but couldn't exactly place it.

"Would you like to see your sister's death? Percy Jackson's? Jason Grace's? Everyone that you ever loved has left you. Your father left, your sister left you, Jason left you for that pretty daughter of Aphrodite, Percy left and you had to shoulder the job of Praetor alone. Again. I guess you aren't that different from Nico di Angelo." She cackled, and Reyna shivered. It wasn't a pleasant laugh. It was more like the grinding of the earth. Appropriate for an evil earth goddess, she guessed.

"That's not true!" she yelled out, defying the Earth goddess.

"Isn't it?" Gaea shot back and Reyna could almost see the evil sneer.

"What will you do, Reyna? Even your partners will abandon you. Nico di Angelo, poor soul, will leave to see his father soon. Your guiding satyr will go leave you for his family. They've all got better things, Reyna. You're all alone. You're all alone and it's not the first time. How does that feel?"

"Stop!" Reyna tried to calm herself down but she could feel her dream body shaking with rage. Still, Gaea kept mercilessly taunting her.

"Octavian betrayed you, Reyna! New Rome is falling down. What will you do? Help the Greeks, the people who left you, the people who took Jason? Or will you save your home? Look, it will be I'm shambles soon enough."

She was standing in a familiar field, but in the place of the beautiful temples and little shops and people, the Giants lumbered around destroying things. She saw the protective statue in pieces, the guardian god broken and quiet. She saw Dakota and Gwen laying motionless a few feet in front of her. Bobby and the little girl from Cohort 3, only 10 years old laying side by side, with gruesome wounds. She felt her blood boil and she angrily let out a groan of frustration. Gaea was taunting her, and she knew it. She felt a tingling in her neck and she spun around. One of the giants, a similar face she knew well had spotted her. Of course he would remember her, she and her legion, including Jason, had defeated him and toppled Mount Orthys. And by the looks of it, he wasn't very happy about it.