Till Death Do Us Part

Part 4: Reyna

It was late afternoon when Reyna heard frantic knocks at her office door.

"Come in," Reyna called, scanning a petition from an old lady in the city.

Hazel opened the door. She looked like she had just run a mile at full sprint. Her cheeks were reddened and her breath came in heavy pants.

"What is it, Centurion?" Reyna asked.

"Ella... prophecy... needs you," Hazel said, the rest of her words inaudible. But those four were all Reyna needed to spring up and run as fast as she could to the library, Hazel at her heels. After an embarrassing incident in battle a few months ago, normally Hazel would be going way faster than Reyna, but now she was tired from having made the run already.

Frank and Ella were there at the library, along with a new orange tabby cat Ella had grown fond of. His name was Aristophanes. Tyson, the Cyclopes, was visiting his father under the sea.

Reyna was only slightly out of breath, while poor Hazel collapsed into the nearest chair. "What did she say?" Reyna asked.

Frank fidgeted with the pad of paper he had in his hands. "She said-"

"Child of War and Child of Death," Ella cut him off.
"Doomed to stay till their last breath
Upon solid trust, this only grows
Until painful memories makes one's heart close
Nevertheless, the old snake draws near
Gain all to love, or loose all to fear"

Reyna sucked in a breath. She didn't like any of those lines.

"Yeah," Frank said. "That."

Reyna took the pad of paper and scanned the words again.

"Child of War and Child of Death...."

"Godly parents," Hazel suggested, having gotten up from her chair. "Like Annabeth was 'Wisdom's daughter'. Frank is a son of Ares. Although you're a daughter of Bellona, a goddess of war."

"We have other descendants of war gods," Reyna reminded her. "And Child of Death..... there are only two, aren't they?"

"Hazel and Nico," Frank said. "One of them. It didn't specify son or daughter."

"Doomed to stay till their last breath," Reyna read the next line.

"I don't like that," Hazel said. "Like they're trapped until they die?"

"Or stay as in delay or live," Frank pouted out.

"To live until their last breath?" Hazel asked. "That doesn't make sense."

"But to delay...." Reyna mused. "To hold something back until they die?"

"If we try to figure this out, we'll go crazy," Hazel said. "What's the next line?"

"Upon solid trust, this only grows." Reyna read.

"This is straightforward, but what is this?" Frank asked. "What grows on trust?"

"Friendship," Hazel suggested. "Bonds of that sort."

"Until painful memories makes one's heart close," Reyna said. "It definitely seems like an emotional bond. How else does a heart close?"

"Good point," Frank said.

"Nevertheless, the old snake draws near," Reyna read the next line. "What's the old snake?"

"Medusa is the first thing I think of when you say 'old snake'" Frank said. "You know, with the snakes for hair."

"Medusa draws near?" Hazel frowned.

"There's also Python, like the one who tried to eat Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana," Reyna said. "Though there's also Echidna, the Greek monster. She was half-snake."

"The giants in the war were part snake," Hazel said with a shudder. "Like the ones in Rome had snakes for feet."

"Cheery," Reyna muttered. "Gain all to love, or lose all to fear." Out of all the lines, she liked that one the least. "I don't think that needs decoding."

"What do we do?" Frank asked.

Reyna handed the paper back to him. "Call a Senate meeting tomorrow morning. We'll have a proper debate about it."