The Sun Without Stars Solangelo

The Bodies

Reyna's POV

Reyna waited in front of Nico's cabin after knocking her fist on his door repeatedly.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

No response.

"You're so irritating sometimes," she groaned. When he neglected to open the door, she took it as a sign that he wasn't taking part in the event.

She forgave him; after all, he was still in terrible shape and constantly worried her by how little he ate. What was worse was that he seemed to be using his abilities subconsciously. She, too, found herself tripping over bones that hadn't been there seconds before whenever she stayed near him.

 Something else about him made it difficult to be in his presence, which she had noticed other hunters feeling as well, squirming around when he was forced to sit by them.

She walked back to the arena, where both hunters and campers were gathering.

"I'm sure you know the rules, but just to make it abundantly clear–NO MAIMING OR KILLING. Is it really that hard? Every single time it happens, so I don't even know why Chiron has me do this," Dionysus grumbled. Beside him, Chiron looked fed up with the man, rolling his eyes.

"You heard him. Arrows are shot away from their heads please!" Reyna ordered, to which a few nearby campers exchanged nervous glances.

When the horn blared, Reyna saw the front portion of the campers raise spears and swords, attacking head on. They consisted of mostly Ares and Athena kids who kept most of Reyna's in-person combatants busy. As they clashed, Reyna gestured to her fastest and bow-using companions, moving down the hill towards the south of the beach where she'd seen a few Apollo kids sneak back towards.

Right before she pursued their group, though, she saw two buff campers separate from the front lines, heading in another direction, close to where the hunters' flag was hidden. Their group had positioned the flag in a small clearing surrounded by trees, in which her hunters had climbed and positioned themselves, bows knocked.

"Annisa, take our group to where the Apollo kids are headed. I'm going to stop those two from getting any closer," Reyna informed another of the more experienced hunters. Anissa nodded, her dreads bobbing on her shoulder.

Reyna ducked and evaded the larger fighting parade, lurking towards where the Ares kids had headed off to. She moved in the direction of her group's flag, assuming that they had intel on the flag's whereabouts  already. When she saw no sign of where they'd headed, she retraced her steps, checking carefully once more. After ten minutes of searching had passed, she decided to head to the south where she presumed they would find the Camp Half-Blood's flag. Before she could cross a quarter of the woods, though, a scream erupted near where she'd been mere minutes ago.

How is that possible? Those two haven't reached the flag, so how'd the hunters find them so quickly?

Her strides long but careful, she sprinted towards where the sound had originated, dagger in hand.

The terrain grew more densely packed with trees and, hearing groans, she concealed herself behind a larger tree, finally peering to the side to check out the situation.

"No...no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no."

Someone wearing a large black vest with a stripe across the midsection, hood covering their face, leaned over one of the Ares kids she'd seen retreat. The two Ares kids lay motionless on the floor. Reyna moved forwards, realizing that the situation at hand wasn't trivial, but the second the one in the jacket heard her footsteps, they jumped up abruptly, skittering off. While she was tempted to chase them down, she couldn't very well leave the two Ares kids.

Reyna approached the two unconscious campers and knelt by the closest one, trying to get a look at their face, holding his head up slightly with her hands.

He wasn't even recognizable.

Blood oozed from the boy's eyes, nose, and mouth, covering the majority of his face in the crimson fluid. It looked like an animal, much larger than her dogs, had torn his body up, intestines strewn like an human offering. When she heard a gurgle, relief washed over her.

He's still alive.

She was dead wrong.

The boy's lips parted slightly, as if being parted from the inside; something crawling out of it.

"Oh. My. God," Reyna croaked. She recoiled, covering her mouth with both hands, releasing his head, causing it to drop, blood splattering across the ground sickeningly. A large beetle had dislodged itself from the boy's mouth, and buzzed with a sound that reminded her of the low purr of a feline. Its wings extended unevenly, and it flapped them, finally becoming airborne.

Movement from the Ares kid with fewer injuries caught her eye, proving to be another beetle that had clambered from his body.

Reyna scrambled backwards, wiping off her bloodied fingers on her pants and raising them to her mouth, creating a high-pitched whistling sound.

Two gold and silver dobermans found their place at her side in an instant, teeth bared and tails raised.

"Aurum, get Chiron over here NOW. Argentum, stay here," she instructed, on edge that whoever had wiped these two out so swiftly might still be in proximity, her dagger clenched in her palm.