Blood of Olympus FanFic {completed}

37: REYNA (BONUS CHAPTER)

CH 37- REYNA

When Reyna came to, the first thing she heard was the sound of Clarisse's voice.

"I don't know, punk," Clarisse was saying, "but does it look like she's less pale now?"

Reyna opened her eyes. The world was swimming around her, slowly becoming clearer and clearer. "Clarisse?" she croaked out.

There was a scuffling of noises, and suddenly Reyna saw a muscled, tanned face accompanied by longish brown hair. 

"Hey, war-girl!" Clarisse had referred to Reyna as 'war girl' ever since she'd found out Reyna's mother was the goddess of war. "You're up!"

"Not quite yet," Reyna admitted weakly, but the world was focusing better and better every second. "Can you help me sit up?"

"Sure thing," Clarisse assured her and proceeded to gently push her against a pillow.

"Where are we?" Reyna asked.

"Akron. We did this huge assisted shadow travel from the West Coast, remember? Hades himself assisted us, since Nico was blasted into the sea."

"Nico was... what?"

"Yeah, that's another issue, war-girl. Punk kid's gone missing. Looked everywhere, tried to send an Iris-Message. Nothing."

"What?" Upon hearing this, Reyna felt extremely guilty. She hadn't known Nico long, but he was like a brother to her. "We must search for him."

"Calm it, war-girl," Clarisse cautioned. "We have. And you're not ready to look for him yet."

"We have to! He could be hurt!"

"Or he coulda just run off with his boyfriend," Clarisse replied with a shrug.

"Stop it, Clarisse," Reyna said with a half-hearted laugh. Nico's confession about his sexuality had at first shocked her slightly, but then she'd realized that she'd met plenty of weird people in her lifetime and Nico was probably the least of them. Clarisse had been totally indifferent, as had the Coach. Chris had been slightly shaken, but like her, gotten over it.

Reyna felt ready to stand up, and she did so with the help of Clarisse. "Where're Chris and Coach?"

"Coach's Iris-Messaging," Clarisse answered with a slight frown. "Chris' right outside."

"What's wrong?" Reyna immediately asked. She could tell something was wrong from the way Clarisse's lips turned down, and how her brow was creased with worry.

"Well... I didn't mean to overhear..." Clarisse licked her lips nervously.

"It doesn't matter," Reyna promised. "What has gone wrong?"

"His girlfriend's gone into labour," Clarisse said, very quietly. "And they're not sure if she'll make it."

 "Oh." Reyna suddenly felt sympathy for Gleeson. He had been through, and was still going through a lot. "Very well then, we should leave him some privacy today. Now, I will go on a hunt for Nico. Maybe you wish to come with me?"

"Sure thing, war girl," Clarisse agreed. "Leave now?"

"Indeed." Clarisse trooped out of the tent to warn Chris, and Reyna quickly changed into clean pants, and her red velvet praetor's coat. She slipped her feet into her shoes, and exited the tent right in time to hear an exclamation.

"Punk kid! Wake up! Hey, Reyna, a little help is needed!" 

Reyna rushed out only to find none other than Nico di Angelo, passed out on a raft. She helped Clarisse lift him off, and set him against a tree only to now turn angrily to her friend. "Is this a trick?" she demanded. "I was worried, you know!"