reflection ● jason grace

Not quite Seattle

 "We're just walking in circles," Daria muttered. "Where the hell is Dedalus?"

"Maybe he's in that tree," Nathan said annoyingly. "Or that one. Or-"

"Do you ever stop talking?"

"Quiet," Jason hissed.

Daria stilled at the sound of his voice, like she'd done something wrong, but when he pulled Nathan and Reyna down, she ducked too, wondering what he heard.

The forest they were in was somewhere in Oregon, according to Nathan. Usually, Daria liked the coverage they provided, even if no one else agreed. But that was before she lost all feeling in her feet. Now, the trees seemed unpredictable. Whatever Jason heard, they had no way of knowing if it was a friend or an enemy.

"What?" Michael asked when nothing happened. "What did you hear?"

Jason shook his head, looking mystified. "I-"

Then someone yelled, "fire!"

Daria drew her swords as whooshing noises rained down on the clearing. She grabbed Reyna's wrist, pulling her away as an arrow landed in the dirt where she'd just been. "Where are they coming from?"

Reyna looked startled, which was so unlike her that Daria got nervous. "I-I know that voice," she stuttered out as Jason tried to shield the boys with the air around them. "I...Hylla!"

"What's a Hylla?" Daria muttered, crumbling any arrows that were made out of wood. It was a trick she'd learned after practicing at the archery range with Dakota one too many times. Though she didn't get all of them. One grazed her arm and a couple of blunt ends hit both Reyna and Daria hard enough to bruise.

"Hold!" The same woman's voice yelled. It was reminiscent of a drill sergeant – piercing and loud. Daria could already tell this was going to go poorly.

After a few seconds in which their group collected themselves in the middle of the clearing, three girls entered the clearing. Two of them were clearly cronies, Daria had dealt with enough of them to single out the leader, even if she wasn't in the middle.

And the girl on the right, well, Daria got her answer. Reyna was a spitting image of her sister, albeit less terrifying. Hylla wore her hair down and around her shoulders, the black reflecting in the gold crown on her head.

She looked queenly. Even Nathan seemed shell-shocked.

Daria snapped out of it, feeling heat rise to her cheeks when she realized she was staring. "Why did you attack us?" She kept her swords raised, though by the way the legionnaires just fared, it would be a pretty quick fight.

Hylla stepped forward, her head tilted up proudly. "You are in our territory. Reyna, explain yourself."

"What? No 'nice to see you'?" Nathan muttered.

Immediately, the cronies surged forward. They obviously meant to do bodily harm to the boy (and maybe the other two), but in a flash Daria sheathed her swords and grabbed their wrists. "Don't even think about it."

Hylla snarled. "You dare attack my Amazons? Who are you?" Without waiting for a response, she turned to Reyna. "You travel with men?"

"Hey, I'm not wild about misogyny either-"

"Shut up, Nathan," Reyna murmured as Daria let the two girls go, glaring at them in warning. She heard Jason mutter something about how they didn't need protecting but Michael hit him. "And Hylla, we're not trespassing. Your territory is in Seattle. Either way, we'll take your leave now."