The Quest Against a Titan

Chapter Eight

So I don't know if any of you are interested, but I told you last time that I'd share what my first OTP is and so my first OTP is... drumroll please... PERCABETH!

**Reyna POV**

Sooo... I don't know what happened last night, but Nico and Will left the cabin and then came back a few hours later. Well, I won't tell anyone, but I think I know what they were doing.

I was only up that late because they woke me up. See, leading Camp Jupiter was tough. Going on quests was pretty hard, too. It was while the whole "Gaea waking" thing was going on that I faced my toughest challenge.

I, with Coach Hedge and Nico, had to transport the statue all the way back to Camp Half Blood in order to end the war. No pressure. We constantly had to worry about being attacked while we were sleeping and I didn't want to anyone to get hurt. I learned to sleep so lightly that anything would wake me up and I would never be surprised.

I haven't had a good night's sleep since before I started that journey.

I dragged myself out of bed, like I do every morning, headed for the kitchen. Since no one was up yet (once again, as usual), I decided to fry up some eggs, over easy, for everyone. I was on my 12th egg and the carton was gone when Nico and Will walked in, smiling and holding hands.

Wait. Holding hands. Oh, this was going to be good. As soon as they saw me, I swear, the brightest shade of red I had ever seen appeared simultaneously on their faces. I smirked.

"Holding hands, huh?" I teased.

They immediately began blabbering excuses to me and I couldn't understand a single word they said.

"I know you two went on a date last night," I said, the pieces in the puzzle coming together. That shut them up.

Nico gulped and pleaded, "Please don't tell anyone, Reyna. We're not ready to tell everybody... yet."

Will nodded.

I sighed. "Don't worry, I was just teasing you. Your secret is safe with me. Now... eat some eggs. You both are skinny twigs."

"Yes Reyna," came the quick response.

No sooner had they started on their eggs than the rest of them came in. By then I had finished enough eggs for everyone to have two, and all you could hear was hurried chewing and mutters of, "Thanks Reyna."

But boy did these people eat fast. The table was cleared in five minutes. I gave Nico a look and sat down, and he stood up. He cleared his throat.

"So I figure we've planned for long enough. It's time to start the quest. I want each and every one of us packed by the end of today. That means enough clothes to last you two weeks; we'll have to stop at a laundromat, any personal hygiene items, and personal snacks you may not want to share."

Will added, "I'll talk to the Hermes cabin about getting an enchanted bag where we can store our weapons, armor, and main food supply. Well, at least until we can set up camp."

I walked out of the room first and started thinking about what to pack. I threw together like four of my band shirts and some other random shirts with various designs on them. Many of them were black.

I quick glanced around to make sure no one was watching and stuffed two large bags of M&M's under my clothes, knowing that the first chance any of the others got, they would take them from me.

Ah, and good old deodorant went in my bag of toiletries. And two toothbrushes, because who knows when you'll drop one, a large tube of toothpaste, a pack of 20 hair bands (why not slay monsters with your hair too?), and some emergency... erm... feminine products. YAY FOR PADS AND TAMPONS! Did you hear the sarcasm?

Gods, you'd think that with all these cool demigod powers we could at least stop a period.

With everything thrown together, I tossed the duffel bag in the pile of other bags by the door, and went to check on the others.

Piper, of course, was still packing. Now, I don't have a problem with Piper. It's Aphrodite I really hate. She's supposed to be the goddess of love, but rather ends up ruining relationships and breaking peoples' hearts. At least Piper and Jason are going steady.

"Hey," she said, noticing me watching her.

I snapped out of my thoughts. "Hi," I replied, "How's the packing going?"

She shrugged, "Good I guess. I'm having difficulty deciding what to pack. I mean, I haven't exactly been on a two month long monster hunting trip before."

I laughed. "I feel the same way."

Since we both ran out of things to say, there was a sort of awkward silence for about a minute. I left the room.

Leo was sitting on his suitcase and pushing down on it angrily. He had it stuffed full of machine parts. He took a fistful of gears out and shoved them into his toolbelt that he wore 24/7 and managed to sip the large bag shut.

Piper carried her bag out and threw it on the pile and that was it. Everyone was packed. Whew!

Just at that moment, Will bounced in the door. "I GOT THE MAGIC BAG!" he shouted, holding a duffel only slightly bigger than mine above his head.

We all laughed. Nico stepped forward, "Alright guys, go get your weapons and armor. Butch? Can you go request the food?"

"Sure thing, Nico," Butch responded.

He walked out the door while the rest of us rushed to get our stuff packed. Again.

I had hidden my weapons and golden Roman armor under a loose floorboard underneath my bed. While trying to pry the board loose, I bonked my head on the underside of the bed. "Ow!"

A chuckle came from behind me, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I lied. Actually, my head was throbbing. I had a good stroke of luck, though, and was able to get my stuff out quickly from under the bed.

Thalia was sitting on her bed, watching me. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. I had never noticed how pretty her eyes were...

I ignored the last thought, pushing it out of my mind, and tossed my gold knife, chestplate, and shin plates into the backpack I had waiting. Lastly I set my condensed golden spear carefully on the top.

Thalia spoke, "So, you hid your stuff. Worried?"

I hesitated, but decided to tell her the truth. "To be honest, I'm kind of... paranoid. I had a bad experience back at Camp Jupiter on guard duty."

She sat and looked at me intently. I realized she wanted me to continue.

I took a deep breath. "It was my first year at camp, so I was still new and learning things. I was assigned to guard duty late at night, and it was only my second time on duty at all. I was only assigned with one other person, a second year camper. He had taken the first shift as I slept, and now it was my turn to watch as he slept. The first half hour was very uneventful, and I dozed off. I awoke to a scream and the sight of my companion being dragged off by... a thing. It was large, dark, and hairy, with red eyes that glowed through the darkness. They rescued him eventually, but not before informing me I was relieved of guard duty for at least the next two years."

I shuddered. And then, Thalia moved to sit next to me on my bed.

"I take it you haven't told many people that story?" she asked.

"How did you-" I started.

She cut me off, "I can tell by the way you talked about it. You know, I think we have a lot in common. We should... go out for coffee tomorrow morning?"

I nodded calmly, though my heart was doing jumping jacks. "Stop it," I told my heart. But it didn't.

Thalia looked like she was about to say something, but then we heard someone calling us into the main area.

Nico and Will sat next to each other, and we gathered around.

"We have something we want to tell you."