𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆 - pjo x hp [₂]

xlviii. unkept promises

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐍. Raya's memories of the Garden mostly revolved around the dragon that had given her the biggest scar on her body. The place where she and Luke had once gone, as a quest to retrieve golden apples. The place where their satyr companion had fallen. The place where Raya and Luke began to drift apart.

At the last second, Kayse had caught on to the memories of the dragon that had attacked her, and rerouted their apparition a few hundred feet away.

Regulus gasped when his feet touched solid ground, his eyes widening. He straightened quickly, brushing off invisible dust from the clothes he had borrowed from Kayse. It seemed more habitual than conscious for him to do that.

"I forgot how sudden that was," he muttered to himself. 

Raya frowned, realizing that it had indeed been a long time since he'd apparated. Before she could comment on it, Kayse pointed.

"There, I see Percy," he motioned.

There he was, standing not too far away from them. Zoe, and Thalia were with him, along with some other girls that Raya recognized from last time. The Hesperides.

"Come on," Raya led the other two boys towards them, careful not to rouse the dragon. Raya had grown accustomed to dragons after Peleus, and the scar on her back didn't even hurt her anymore. But this one dragon, that was the one that still scared her sometimes.

Kayse slipped his hand in hers, and Raya looped her arm through Regulus', and off the three of them went. Halfway there, Raya heard Zoe.

"Ladon! Wake!"

"Shit," Raya muttered, forcing Regulus and Kayse to run and reach the rest of them. 

Raya looked back to watch as the dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. They reached them in time to hear the lead girl as she said to Zoe, "Are you mad?"

"You never had any courage, sister," Zoe said. "That is thy problem."

The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. 

The Hesperides flickered out of existence, letting Raya and the others actually catch up. Percy's eyes widened when they landed on her, something easing in his shoulders as he stepped forward.

Raya met him halfway, pulling him in for a hug and squeezing his pretty damn tight. Finally, she pulled away, but stayed close to the group.

"So we're back, and we bought Regulus with us," Raya motioned to her dad, who still looked somewhere around a young adult. A normal person would've accepted siblings, but nothing about Raya was normal, she knew that. Raya looked at Thalia, Percy and Zoe with a frown. "Uh... where's Grover... and Bianca?"

"Grover's gone to escort the beast to safety," Percy explained quickly. "Long story, I'll tell you all about it when a dragon's not waking up so close to us."

"And... and Bianca?"

Zoe made a pained noise in the back of her throat, before turning away.

Raya blinked, and spoke in a quiet voice. "Oh."

"The land without rain," Thalia explained, clearing her throat. "We lost her in that junkyard, right after you guys left."

Raya would've liked a moment to process the information that she was receiving, but Regulus spoke in what was a mixture of awe and slight concern.

"Um, the dragon is waking up," he told the rest of them. "He's looking for something, and I'm gonna guess it's food."

Zoe nodded, her voice firm despite the pain in her eyes.