The Fate of Olympus | Reynabeth [✓]

21. Beautiful Boston Bench

"Sure, what do you have in mind?"

"I want to teach you how to meditate."

"That's not a—Oh, 'a mind in the present is your gift.'  Present, gift. But what if we get ambushed?" asked Reyna. "We'll be helpless!"

"It'll be fine," said Annabeth, although she didn't completely believe that. They were in a major metropolitan area that had been one of the most important cities during the founding of the United States. That meant that there were monsters, probably. Norse ones. 

Annabeth quickly explained some meditation fundamentals.

They sat quietly.

"Every second of meditation feels like an hour," Reyna confessed after about thirty seconds. "I'm hyperactive. I can't sit still."

"You need this skill if you want to see the layers of the Mist. A hyperactive mind can be helpful during a fight to see past the thinnest, superficial layers of Mist. Against an enemy that purposely bends the Mist to fool demigods, though, it can actually be a detriment."

Reyna paced with the bag on her shoulder. "No way. I'm not cut out for this."

So it was: Annabeth would try to meditate while Reyna paced back and forth like a soldier constantly on guard.

As Annabeth started tuning in to the mythological forces that surrounded everything, Annabeth slowly realized that there were a ton of mythological creatures in Boston, but none of them seemed to take much interest in either Annabeth or Reyna. They seemed to exist a bit higher on the magical plane than Annabeth expected. Maybe there were more layers of the Mist surrounding the Norse gods. It seemed like the Mist had reacted to the presence of Greco-Roman demigods in Boston. The problem was that uncovering the truth, whatever it was, would be complicated. The Mist's behavior changed simply by the act of observation.

"I think I understand this now," said Annabeth, pretending not to notice that elves walked amongst the populace in the streets of Boston. Seeing the beautiful elves in their luminous forms made Annabeth realize how out of her depth she was. Plus she couldn't remember anything specific about the elves, so she found them frightening. Maybe they were nice; maybe they weren't. She didn't know.

Before Annabeth pointed them out individually, Reyna looked at the elves, but all she saw were sorority sisters from Boston University. After Annabeth pointed them out individually, Reyna eventually said that she could see them. She said they were terrifying.

"We've observed that the Norse gods and elves are real. Obviously the Norse gods exist," said Annabeth. "I don't want to associate with them. Some of them were pretty sadistic toward demigods."

"Do you see other mythologies underneath the Norse layer of the Mist?" Reyna asked. "Like, does each elf look like a different mythological figure?"

Annabeth focused her mind's eye and thought about the Massachuset, which was an American indigenous tribe that covered, in part, the modern Wellesley and Boston areas. She didn't see any mythological figures, but that didn't mean that they weren't there. It was upsetting that they were invisible to her.

Annabeth relaxed her mind so that it stopped searching. On the Norse layer, she noticed a pair of goats walking down the street. One of them appeared to be snarling.

"This is scary," said Reyna. "If I'm constantly surrounded by gods and spirits that I can't see, I can never be sure who's watching me."

"Maybe they can't see you either," said Annabeth. "Maybe you look like a mortal to them."

"What about you?" asked Reyna. "Can they see you if you can see them?"

Annabeth studied herself, trying to see the Mist from another person's perspective. It probably wasn't possible, though. She wasn't a child of Hecate. "They might know if they look at us more closely, but the Mist will compel them to be disinterested in us. Like how mortals are disinterested in Camp Half-Blood because it looks like a boring strawberry farm. Although that makes me wonder why you were able to notice the fox in the first place."