Storm [LAMS demigod AU]

Reyna

TW: Vomit/sickness mention, demons/demonic posession

A/N: this chapter is kind of short but IT'S NECESSARY TO THE PLOT 

Reyna was not having a good day.

Her beloved pegasus Scipio had thrown up all over her while she'd been giving him a bath, causing her to have to walk through camp covered in stinky pegasus vomit on her way to the baths.

While she'd been bathing, an eagle had come inside and delivered her a letter from a family in New Rome apologising for accidentally letting their four year old daughter feed Scipio ice cream, which gave him terrible indigestion and was the reason why he'd thrown up on Reyna. It would have been heart warming if it weren't for the fact that Reyna had been naked with shampoo in her hair while she received it.

After that fiasco, all Reyna wanted to do was sleep.

She climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

She'd been having a lovely dream about eating piraguas. The sun was shining, Scipio was happily trotting beside her. Everything had been perfect.

Until Octavian interrupted it.

"Reyna!" The Camp Jupiter augur, Octavian, yelled, slamming the door open and running to Reyna's bedside where he shook her violently by the shoulders, thus ending her dream about piraguas.

"Octavian, what's going on? It's the middle of the night!" She reached for her dagger. "Are we under attack?"

Octavian shook his head. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that Octavian looked shaken. He had little red spots around his eyes, as though he'd just been vomiting. His skin looked pale and sickly (well, more pale and sickly than usual).

"Octavian, what's wrong?" Reyna threw off her covers and turned on her bedside lamp.

He handed Reyna a crumpled piece of paper.

"Read this."

Reyna leaned towards her lamp and squinted to read the words on the page.

The handwriting was very sloppy, as though Octavian's hand had been shaking terribly while he'd written then.

On freedom's field you shall find the half-blood who has turned

The shunned, the heartbroken, the final grudge shall be burned

A love to heal the age-old rift

Into the sun storm's heart shall drift

"Octavian, what is this?"

"It's a prophecy." Octavian said. He sat down on the edge of her bed, clutching his head as though he was in immense pain.

Reyna had never seen Octavian like this before. Usually he did his arguries with pride. When he was finished, he always had a look of satisfaction on his face. Now he looked like he'd just been to the Underworld and back.

"I-Is this from the Sibylline Books?"

Octavian shook his head.

"Did you read it in your auguries?"

"No." Octavian said. "It just... came to me." He doubled over and cupped his hand over his mouth like he was going to be sick. He took a deep breath and composed himself.

"What do you mean?"

"I was sleeping. Octavian said. "You know, what normal people do at four in the morning. But then, things got... strange. My body started shaking. I felt like something was trying to grab me. I felt intense pain in my head. I felt incredibly nauseous and started vomiting. I felt like I was floating. I couldn't tell whether I was asleep or awake. Then..." Octavian's voice trailed off. He clutched at his temples again, clearly in a lot of pain. "Then I heard this... Voice. It wasn't the voice of a god. It was scary and hearing it made me sick to my stomach. It told me this prophecy."

Reyna put her hand on Octavian's forehead. As much as she disliked Octavian, she didn't like seeing him like this. Whatever was going on, it had clearly freaked him out.

"Are you feeling okay? Maybe you were having a fever dream or something. Maybe you should go to the infirmary t-"

"I'm not ill." Octavian said. "Whatever this is, it's not just a fever. Something's... not right. I-I've been having these weird nightmares for the past week or so. I've been feeling this really intense negative energy. At first I thought the gods were trying to tell me something, but I've communicated with the gods before and this feels... different. Different, and very, very bad."

Reyna sighed, laying back on her pillow.

"I've tried consulting my auguries about this, but I've got nothing." He sighed. "I think we need to send out a quest."

"A quest?"

"Clearly something isn't right. The prophecy talks about a half-blood who has turned. Maybe this whole thing is a warning. There's clearly an evil half-blood out there, and we need to stop them before they destroy the gods."

"Why don't we just bring the whole legion to battle them?"

Octavian shook his head. "This kind of thing is best taken care of by an individual. Too many people and things will go... badly. Whatever this thing is, it feeds off of people's energy. Sending an entire legion would give it more ammunition."

"A solo quest?"

"Yes." Octavian said glumly. "A solo quest to get to the bottom of this."

Reyna saw that his hands were shaking. His eyes kept darting back and forth, as though he was expecting something to jump out of the shadows and attack him. He was clearly a lot more spooked than he was letting on.

"We'll figure out who to send in the morning." Reyna said. "In the meantime, try to get some sleep."

"I don't think I can." Octavian said, his voice shaking. "I think I'll go walk around New Rome for a bit. I want to be somewhere where it's there's light... and noise... and people who aren't scary."

Well, Reyna thought to herself. I guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight.