kaleidoscope gold ● jason grace

Is

 Reyna's mood was probably stormier than the weather.

They, selected members of the Roman army (and Octavian), were on the roof of the Empire State Building. Now, Reyna had never been to New York, but she had listened to Taylor Swift songs, her guilty pleasure, and none of them described how gloomy the skyline was during summer storms

She stared at the roof access door; they were supposed to meet some Greek demigods here, and she would prefer it if they weren't blindsided. Hence the legionnaires. Although they weren't in line, they had their weapons drawn, brewing for a fight with every rumble of thunder.

"Should we really be on top of a building?" Dakota asked nervously. They had Kool-Aid in one hand still, so Reyna was inclined to ignore them until they weren't an addict. Which was to say, forever. She wouldn't have brought Dakota, but they were close with Jason, and insisted.

What's the harm? Michael had said. These are all people who would lay down their lives for Jason and Daria.

That was true. Before the war had shaken things up, Dakota Anderson, Clara Abdullah, Nathan Vargas, and Michael Kahale had all been the pair's closest friends. For the last few months, Clara and Nathan had been scouring the West Coast for Jason. Apparently, there was always something about them that drew people in.

"You know, they say Kool-Aid is an excellent conductor of electricity," Nathan grinned. He was in the Second Cohort, where Reyna had been a year ago. Though Nathan had been there for ages, it was clear he had no interest in being a centurion.

Dakota stared at the jug in their hand, morose. "Really?"

"He's teasing, Koda" Clara assured him. Clara was always the nicest out of the group, which was why Daria never burdened her with the idea of war. But determination still raged through the girl anyway.

"Right," Michael said tightly. "Can we concentrate on-?"

The door opened with a ding! And although Reyna was exhausted, she stood a little taller as a party of two emerged. Annabeth trusted them, Piper trusted Annabeth, and Daria trusted Piper, what could possibly go wrong?

Reyna noted with surprise that one of them was a faun; he wore a green t-shirt and no pants. She wanted to say that he looked just as dumb as the fauns back home, but this one was different. He studied their weapons, like he had been in combat before.

The other girl by her side looked less sure of her surroundings. She had frizzy red hair and worse a plain white blouse with paint splattered blue jeans. In her right hand was a blue hairbrush, Reyna wondered sardonically if that was her weapon of choice.

"You got my message," the girl said smoothly. She stuck out her hand, "you probably know this. But for your friends, I'm Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. This is my close friend Grover Underwood, he's the leader of Cloven Elders."

Octavian scowled, "We thought you were coming alone."

"Knock it off," Reyna ordered. She was in no mood for a fight.

"At least search them!"

Reyna turned to the Greeks, raising an eyebrow. "Do you bring weapons?"

"I used this hairbrush to hit Kronos in the eye once," Rachel said solemnly. Reyna tried her best not to smile.

"Nah man," the satyr's voice was high and reedy. "Percy always said my cover of 'I Want To Break Free' should be classified dangerous but I don't think it's that bad."

"Another friend of Percy Jackson," Octavian sneered. "That's all I need to hear."

"She said knock it off, Octavian," Michael's voice was cold, had been ever since they found out about Tartarus.