Dungeons and Demons

The war horns from Camp Jupiter began to trumpet through the valley, as the Argo II made its descent onto New Rome. Reyna, who had been sitting on the steps of the senate building watching a little girl play in the fountain, looked up to see the ship drop from above the clouds. The ship was making for the Fields of Mars, or rather a random patch of grass. This worried Reyna, normally the ship would land on Temple Hill, so that it was a halfway mark for the Praetors and the New Rome Delegation. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her gut. The Argo II was descending too fast and too wildly. From her perch on the stairs of the Senate She could see that the ship was rocking from left to right as if it was caught between two winds.
Reyna got to her feet and began to run towards the Pomerian Line. She ordered a passing woman to take care of the girl in the fountain while Reyna went to investigate. She approached the Pomerian Line where the statues of Terminus encircled the city.
“Terminus, what is happening on board the Argo II?” demanded Reyna, stopping next to the bust of the god.
“Good day, Ambassador. It would appear your Greeks are attempting an emergency landing. It doesn’t look good. That hooligan that destroyed the city a while back did not look in good shape. He gave me a message to give to you,” said Terminus, his head turning to Reyna. A look of concern etched into his marble features. “The ship is aiming to land in the Fields, but you need to meet them there now”
Reyna nodded. She looked to the skies and gave one short, loud whistle using her fingers. A moment passed before a neigh was heard from above. A white stallion with wings emerged from the skies above, circled the city once and landed before Reyna. Reyna grabbed the shoulder of the Pegasus and leapt into the saddle that was on its back.
“Quickly Frosty, to the Argo II,” she encouraged. The Pegasus leapt into the air and took flight, its strong wings carrying Reyna higher and higher. The winged horse was a gift Reyna received years ago for her love for her old Pegasus, Skipio. The immortal god Pegasus granted her another stallion to be her companion and ever since meeting Frosty and Reyna were the closest friends. Frosty raced towards the Argo II which was close to the ground. As they approached the ship, Reyna saw that there was a lack of anyone on board. She could make out a figure by the helm but otherwise there was no one on the deck. Reyna’s gut clenched as a feeling of dread filled her. The quest hadn’t ended well. The ship was metres above the ground, getting close to crashing into the earth. At the last minute the landing gear was deployed and the ship landed safely. Frosty began to circle the ship from above, giving Reyna a vantage point.
It was only this morning, Reyna thought, only this morning that all seven were on Temple Hill smiling and laughing as they prepared to rescue two demigods. It was a standard routine procedure and Reyna had seen the Praetors of Camp Jupiter that very morning to issue a quest to bring the demigods to Camp before the Argo II sailed out of the sky. Clearly these demigods were important if they needed to be escorted by the seven strongest half-bloods in history.
Frosty landed on the deck with grace, not even scratching the deck with his hooves. Reyna slid from her saddle and landed on her feet. She gave a quick look of the deck, seeing that Festus, the dragon figure hid, was screeching a whirring in his strange language. Reyna ran to the helm, finding the very person she knew would be there: Leo Valdez. Leo had slumped to the ground his head in his hands.
“Leo?” asked Reyna, reaching out to him. Something had gone wrong if Leo was being quiet.
Reyna touched his shoulders and Leo began to weep. He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. The feeling of dread inside Reyna solidified as she knew what was about to come next.
“We...he...I…I…” stuttered Leo, failing to form a sentence through all the grief.
Reyna stood and looked over the railing. The squadron had been deployed from the Camp, as a small group of soldiers were making their way on foot towards the ship.
“Leo, help will be here soon. Now tell me where the others are?” asked Reyna. Being the daughter of Bellona, the Roman goddess of War, Reyna had the power to have others feel what she felt. Useful for filling everyone with pride, excitement and obedience when it came to war games. But now she was trying to calm Leo down, make him feel slightly better. To use this power Reyna had to feel what the other person was feeling as well. She reached towards Leo and was overwhelmed by the amount of grief he had.
Reyna took a step back, tears brimming in her eyes. She had to find the others. Reyna left Leo by the helm, confident that he wasn’t going anywhere. She made her way to the doors that led to the lower levels. The first level was where the cabins and dining hall were found. As she reached the level she heard more crying.
She glanced down the hallway and found Jason Grace, Hazel Lévesque and Frank Zhang (her work partner) slumped to the ground in tears. Hazel and Frank were crying into each other, not noticing her approach. Jason however did notice and looked up at her. Pain, anger, grief and shock were all flashing across his face. He couldn’t talk, he just looked at the stairs that led to the lower deck and began to sob again.
Reyna left them there. There wasn’t anything she could do for them, she had to find out what had happened to the remaining heroes. She stood at the top of the stares, dreading to go down and face the worst scenario she could think of. Reyna had seen many heroes fall in battle, most of them were her friends but her years as Praetor hardened her heart to the grief each passing caused. With each death she would spare five minutes of grief before she blocked it out and stood strong, an icon for the legion to follow. It was what she was born to do, lead them through any war; physical or emotional. However, she had never felt anything like this before. She had become close friends with the Seven; as they were called at both Camps. Her Jason, Frank, and Percy had worked together as Praetors even, all three of them saving the camp in their own way. Hazel and Piper were minor concerns to her in the beginning but after their stories about the Giant War, Reyna came to respect them. With a passion Reyna detested Leo, partly because he did try to destroy New Rome while under the control of a revengeful spirit but the main part was because he was always fidgety. Reyna could not deal with hyper children, ironic since being ADHD is a common sign to identify a demigod. However, Leo grew on her and Reyna found herself laughing at his stupid jokes like everyone else. The one person of the crew that Reyna saw as an equal and even feared slightly was Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena. Annabeth’s mind was a weapon that no one could stand against. Reyna thought that Annabeth could outsmart anyone including some of the Olympians, however she never admitted that out loud.
Annabeth and Reyna got along greatly whenever they met up. Annabeth had helped design the new aqueduct that supplied the city with water as well as designing several new temples on Temple Hill. Reyna had helped whip her Greek comrades into shape with some help from Annabeth. All of these memories and thoughts rushed at her as she descended to the final deck.
“Piper, Percy, Annabeth,” she whispered, as her foot hit each stair.
Two of them will be on the ground in tears while the other would be…
She couldn’t bring herself to even think of the word. A thought ran through her head that made her blood run cold.
“Please don’t let it be Annabeth,” she prayed silently, “If the gods are merciful do not let anything have happened to Annabeth”
The pain he would feel if she had fallen. Reyna would never know where to begin to make him feel better. Would he follow her? Or remain here? An empty husk of a great warrior.
She reached the second deck, and found Piper leaning against the door. Her multi-coloured eyes shimmered as they focused on Reyna. A smile of pain was the only sign she gave to Reyna. Reyna’s heart sank. Only one of them will be there alive, and she didn’t know who she wanted it to be. Piper’s eyes were bloodshot from crying, and her shoulders were still shaking. This was why Reyna respected the daughter of Aphrodite. Not because of her beauty or charm, but rather her strength to stay strong when all the others have given up.
Piper stepped forward towards Reyna, wiping her eyes.
“We…we ne...Need,” Piper said, her voice breaking with each syllable, “We ne...Need you to grant protection to the two demigods we rescued. I just sent them to the top deck. It’s for the best.”
“And them?” asked Reyna, her eyes flashing to the door.
Piper just stared at the door.
“You can go in, but it’s not going to be an easy sight”
Reyna approached the door and grasped the handle. The Celestial Bronze handle felt cool in her hands. She turned it and walked into the infirmary. There on the table was a sight Reyna never thought she would see in her lifetime. Lying as if he was asleep, was Percy Jackson. His face was calm and relaxed. His black hair still looked windswept and the faint smell of the sea filled the cabin. His sword lay next to him covered in blood. His shirt was ripped by his midriff, where a set of talons had racked his stomach. Never did Reyna think she would see the Son of Poseidon die.
Standing above him, stroking his hair as if waiting for him to awaken was Annabeth. Her eyes were red from crying, and yet tears still fell from her face. Her sobs filled the room along with her mutterings of “Seaweed Brain”. Reyna didn’t know what to do. Her heart felt like it was caught in dead grip, it was beating so fast that it was causing her pain. A pain that spread from her heart and through her body. The pain reached her face and she felt the tears begin to form. A sob escaped her lips, and Reyna turned on her heels and walked out. She walked until she reached the top deck, she walked until she latched onto a rail and cried.
The Legion found her crying on the rail by which time the Praetors had made their way onto the deck as well. Alice Smith and Henry Day were strong leaders, Alice was from the Third Cohort while Henry was from the Second. Both had earned their place as Praetors since both of them helped prevent the destruction of the city when a gate to Tartarus had suddenly appeared in the Fields of Mars. It took them a while to calm Reyna down, by which time her throat was sore and dry, while her vision was blurry and face wet from the tears. She collected her thoughts and tried to block out the emotions. She was mildly successful. The tears didn’t show any sign of stopping.
When she had regained control of her emotions, Piper had gathered the rest of the Seven. They all were there, leaning on one another; refusing to make eye contact with each other because as soon as they did they would burst into a new wave of tears. Piper was by default the leader of the ship, so she gave the orders to Reyna.
“We rescued the two demigods, but as you know it came at a great cost,” She paused, fighting for control within herself, “Annabeth wanted to bring them to Camp Half-Blood. However, complications have caused us to change that plan. We need Camp Jupiter to take care of them and when the time is right send them to CHB, Chiron would want to meet them, they are special.”
Reyna understood, “Where are these two demigods?”
“Over by Festus,” said Piper, pointing to the prow.
Reyna glanced to the dragon figure head and saw two figures standing close by. “Alice, Henry. Please go to them and introduce yourselves. Make them feel welcome and safe. Escort them over to me when they are feeling comfortable enough,” ordered Reyna.
Alice and Henry moved to the new demigods who, upon the Praetor’s approach, tried to distance themselves from them. Reyna approved of their wariness of strangers, being a demigod was a dangerous business. It was learn fast or die. The Praetors seemed to calm them down enough that they could approach them. The two demigods seemed to relax a bit, enough so that the smaller one came out from hiding from behind the taller one.
Reyna turned to Piper, “Brother and sister?”
Piper nodded. “I was part of the extraction with Annabeth, they had been on the run for a long time. A miracle they survived for this long considering their parentage”.
The way Piper said “parentage” sounded off to Reyna. It was as if Piper couldn’t find a better word to describe their parents.
“Parentage?” Reyna asked.
Piper took another deep breath, this time to clear her mind of disbelief rather than grief. “They are half-siblings: same mother different fathers.”
Reyna was struck dumb by the thought, “What? You trying to tell me that they…?”
“That they both have a different divine father? Yes that is exactly what I am saying”
For the second time that day Reyna’s blood ran cold. “It cannot be,” she muttered turning to the two new demigods. The Praetors had started to lead them to Reyna, as they came closer Reyna’s fear grew.
“No,” she gasped as their faces became clearer.
The taller one was clearly the oldest. A girl of about fourteen with long, black windswept hair which was kept in a tight pony tail. Her eyes were turquoise like the colour of the tropical sea in Puerto Rico. She was slightly tan as if she spent most of her time in the sun or lounging on the beach. The boy was younger, possibly 10 and he had short blonde hair. His eyes were grey, just like a storm cloud. His skin was paler than his sisters but both of them had the same neutral expression. A guarded look rather than neutral. As if they were ready for an attack or busy assessing a situation. That look was all too familiar for Reyna, it was the same look that greeted her in the morning when she looked in the mirror.
The demigods stopped in front of Piper and Reyna, both of them staying quiet.
“Reyna,” began Piper, a look of recognition flashed across the girl’s face at the name. The girl looked at Reyna, analysed her every feature as if trying to tear away every layer that made up Reyna. Trying to search for why she knew that name. Suspicion soon followed as the girl remembered where she had met Reyna before. Reyna tried to turn away from her gaze, or at least try and distort her features to confuse her, but to no avail. The girl’s eyes went wide with surprise and her mouth opened in a silent gasp.
“It can’t be” she whispered.
“Reyna, this is Alex the son of Zeus and this is Stephanie the daughter of Neptune,” said Piper.
Reyna’s fears were confirmed at the revelation. So too was the girls whose surprise turned to confusion.
“Reyna you don’t look surprised at this,” stated Piper, reading Reyna’s expression.
“I’m not,” said Reyna, the strength she needed to sort out this situation deserting her, “I knew these two existed a long time ago and I knew who their fathers were.”
Piper was shocked into silence for a while, “And you told no one? This could change everything, we don’t know what they are capable of. They are children of the Big Three. This has to be a sign of something big to come. Rachel needs to see them. But why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Reyna had held her secret for too long.
“I told no one because I was forbidden with interacting with them until the time was right. If I so much as aided them in any way, they would have been killed. Both of their fathers thought it would be best to leave them for the wolves to find, that way they would be protected,” said Reyna, more tears building up inside her.
“Why would Zeus and Neptune tell you this?” asked Piper.
“Because…Because,” stuttered Reyna, the truth on the tip of her tongue.
“Because she is our mother,” said Stephanie

Of course everyone reacted strongly about the revelation that Reyna had children, more so than the fact that she had two kids fathered by two different Olympians. The discovery of Reyna’s children shook the rest of the Seven out of their grief for a while, which Reyna thought was a positive at least.
“Look, I know everyone has questions and I promise to answer them but right now the Argo II needs to return to New York. We cannot delay letting Chiron know about what happened on the quest” ordered Reyna.
The reminder that Percy lay below decks dead caused their grief to return. Everyone turned to the door that led below decks as if expecting to see him come walking up the stairs laughing.
“She’s right. We need to get back to Camp. Chiron needs to know about...” Piper’s voice cracked, “About Percy”.
The rest of the crew said their good-byes, or rather gave Reyna a grunt as they returned to their grief. The Praetors along with Stephanie and Alex disembarked over the side of the ship. Reyna mounted Frosty, to which he jumped off the side of the ship.
They landed next to the 12th legion, which had fully assembled nearby. About 300 kids, fully equipped in Imperial Gold armour and weapons, were standing in formation ready to attack if the need arrived. Reyna rode Frosty until she stood at the lead of the Legion. The Argo II had taken off and was retreating back to the clouds, more calm and stable than when it had come in for a landing. Reyna watched the ship until it disappeared from her sight.
“Alice, Henry,” commanded Reyna.
“Yes, sir” replied the Praetors.
“Return the Legion to Camp for supper. Give them my approval for a timely formation and tell them that this was a safety drill in case we were invaded by an aerial enemy”.
“Yes, sir,” replied the Praetors.
Reyna turned to Alex and Stephanie, “You two are to follow them to until the main road. From there you are to make your way to Temple Hill and wait for me in the temple of Jupiter”.
Both of her kids nodded in agreement. With her orders done Reyna gave her signal and Frosty took off into the sky.

Half an hour later, Alex and Stephanie found Reyna at the steps of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Reyna sat on the steps gazing westwards to the setting sun beyond the hills. Surrounding her like huge arms were the other temples constructed to the gods of Olympus. Every Roman god, both major and minor, was represented on Temple hill which made the place seem like a maze at times. On Reyna’s left was the temple of Juno, built openly to allow the air to drift in from the wind. Through the columns, Reyna could make out the statue erected to Juno. Juno was everyone’s least favourite Olympian, ever since the Giant War where Juno swapped Percy and Jason as leaders to the camps. It was a huge risk that could have ended badly for everyone, and nearly did. However, Juno was important to the Roman Pantheon and needed a temple to be constructed. Annabeth, who designed all the temples refused to even open a piece of paper for Juno. This was the reason why Juno’s temple lacked creativity or elegance to it; it just stood as a normal Roman temple. To Reyna’s right was the temple that she had just finished praying in for guidance and sorrow: the Temple of Neptune.
Reyna didn’t know what to say when she entered the coral bricked temple. The smell of salt and faint sound of waves that enchanted the building seemed to disappear as she entered. The coral which normally changed from pink to sea blue, were blinding white; the colour of dead coral. Reyna could feel the sorrow and pain emanating from the Temple, Poseidon was mourning the loss of his son. Before arriving on Temple Hill, Reyna had stopped by New Rome to see the news reports. All across the globe ocean trade had come to a complete stand still as the sea raged on. Ships were sunk off the coast of South America, a surprise Hurricane battered the East coasts of Africa, earthquakes rocked the Mediterranean region, and tidal waves rolled across the Pacific.
The God of the seas wasn’t taking the death of his son too well, but who could blame him. As Alex and Stephanie approached, Reyna beckoned them to sit next to her. They both had aged so much since the day she had to leave them in Sacramento. She remembered the day clearly, the giant redwoods stretching above her but now wasn’t the time for memories.
“I am sorry for what I have put you through,” Reyna began, looking down at the earth, “I wanted to protect you both and I would have if it wasn’t for your fathers. You two make an auspicious combination, one that has never been seen in history. When you were born, although I didn’t know it at the time, the Fates appeared to bless you. They all agreed that dark and difficult times lay ahead and you two will be the key actors in the next Greek tragedy. That was when your fathers appeared and urged me to give you up. Alex your father at first thought it would be best to let Hades have you but it took my words and Neptune’s anger to erase that thought. It was agreed that you would be left to Lupa to be trained. That way you would grow up and learn how to survive and then hopefully you would make your way back to me. However, things took a turn for the worse when I left you”.
Reyna took a deep breath, the memories rushing back on her.
“Continue,” said Stephanie, her tropical green eyes fixed on Reyna. Her face was collected and calm as if waiting to pass judgement on her mother.
“Alex was three when I gave him up to Lupa, and you were five which is why you remember me somewhat. When Romans are given to Lupa they undergo training for a year at most before they are sent forth to join the legion. When your year of wolf training was finished I received word that Lupa and her pack were attacked by an unknown force. I sent the Third Cohort to investigate what had happened. When they returned they told me that the Wolf House looked like it had been under siege and that Lupa and her pack had been driven out. During the attack, you two had disappeared”
Reyna’s voice remained detached, no emotion could betray her as she tried to tell the story to her children.
“I sent out scouts all over the west coast and even had the Amazons helping us, but to avail could we find you. Eventually I called in the search parties, admitting that whatever had attacked Lupa had taken you as well. I didn’t give up finding you. I visited the site as well and investigated but all leads I could dig up ended up as dead ends,” finished Reyna, as she looked at her kids.
Alex’s face was solemn as if Reyna’s story made sense. Stephanie however, still remained unmoved her face deep in thought. Eventually her face betrayed a look of sympathy; a slight curve of her lips.
“That was all we wanted to know,” Stephanie responded.
“I wanted to keep you both, but being the children of two major Olympians made things difficult on Olympus. Your fathers thought it best to begin training you two at an early age and from there you two were to be split. Stephanie was to be trained here in New Rome, while Alex was to be sent east to Camp Half-Blood. Closer to Olympus and so that Chiron could figure out what the Fates had install for you,” said Reyna, laying out what was supposed to happen years ago.
“Many things were supposed to have happened differently but nothing did,” said Stephanie, sitting down next to her mother.
The smell of the sea filled Reyna’s nose. The familiar scent that Percy used to have. Reyna let a tear fall from her eye in memory of Percy.
After a while of silence, in which Reyna and her children sat and watched the sun set did Reyna finally ask the one question that had been bothering her.
“What happened to you two?”
Stephanie took a deep breath, clearly the question bothered her because she began to frown.
“I don’t know. Our memories are jumbled and blurred that we can’t make sense of them. I know we were kept somewhere underground. A bunker of some sorts, with blue florescent lights. There were people there that looked after us. They dressed in white and wore masks and gloves when they dealt with us. Alex and I weren’t the only kids there, there were at least 30 of us?” asked Stephanie, turning to Alex for confirmation.
Alex looked up, “That seems correct. But remember we weren’t in the same place we were moved around”
“What do you mean, moved around?” asked Reyna, this tale chilled her to the bone. Who had been imprisoning demigods and where?
“Well the thing is these people they weren’t like normal people. Well some were normal, but others had black eyes as if something had taken over their bodies. These people would test us in labs and our abilities. It wasn’t bad but they would always push us. Blood was taken from us and we were trained to fight against each other and normal people. It was military style fight, we fought as a team and as an individual against others. But Alex is right we did move around at least three times. The first was when Alex learnt he could summon lightning, we blew a hole in the ceiling that we could see the sky. They packed us up and moved us. Then I learnt I could summon an earthquake in which I destroyed the compound, which was part of mountain because the walls collapsed and revealed a mountain surrounded valley outside,” explained Stephanie.
“Do you know exactly where?” asked Reyna
“No. Our memories are so clouded that only bits and pieces are coming up. All I know is that about a month ago my cell was left unlocked. I snuck out and found Alex, together we escaped and found ourselves in the desert. We found a nice couple that drove us to Portland which was where the monster started finding us,” sighed Stephanie.
Reyna did not like how this story had turned. Someone was collecting demigods and training them to fight but it made no sense. Who was forming this demigod army? Why would they need one? But Reyna’s mind fell on the assailant’s descriptions. Black eyes? There were no creatures that possessed a human that left such a clear description in all Greek and Roman mythology.
The sun had finally set and the lights in New Rome and Camp Jupiter were twinkling in the valley.
“All of us have had a long day, but we are reunited as a family. Tomorrow I will take what you have said to the Senate as well as to Chiron in Camp Half-Blood. But for now let’s get you two some food and a place to sleep,” said Reyna, softly pulling her children up.
Together with her arms wrapped around Alex and Stephanie, Reyna led them into the night.

Notes