No Strings Attached (Sequel to Puppets)

Reyna

okay there's like... so much reyna

whatevs

i caved and updated AGAIN because i am a lame nerd that really wants feedback *wink*

there are some triggery parts and i will warn you beforehand!!

[12]//REYNA//

Reyna tried not to dwell on the fact that the corpse in front of her was Lacy Lovell's.

"It was a set up," Piper said, sounding hollow. Reyna moved her outside the lab.

"Just sit down here. Breathe in and out." She instructed, pushing her fear away. As more students piled into the room, Reyna moved past them.

[warning! this part speaks of blood and death and corpses and post-mortem things. if you'd like to skip, it's safe when you see bold again!]

She grabbed gloves from the cupboard, knowing exactly where everything was, as this was hers and Annabeth's biology class. She slid them on her hands, moving closer to Lacy's body. She pushed past the last of shocked students, lifting up Lacy's hand in the air. The arm dropped limply back onto the table. She studied the body, frowning.

"What are you doing in here, Ramirez-Arellano?" Principal Zeus bellowed. She turned around, finding that everyone had left the room but her and a stubborn, crying Annabeth.

She shoved her fear aside. "How long do you think she's been dead?"

"What?"

"I said, how long do you think she's been dead?" Reyna demanded, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not sure. Hour or two? Right after her speech?" He answered, bewildered.

"Wrong. Rigor mortis hasn't happened yet, it hasn't set in." She demonstrated by lifting up and letting it go limp. "The muscles are still relaxed and haven't stiffened. It's been about twenty or thirty minutes."

"How would you know the approximate time of when your competition was murdered?" The principal challenged.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Would the murderer tell you the time she was killed? Really?" She inspected closer. How could she be sitting with amazing posture?

Reyna waved her hand above Lacy's head and hit something. She grabbed at it, realizing it was a fishing line. Adjusting her gloves, she checked in Lacy's mouth, yanking slightly on the fishing line and pulling out a small silver hook from the roof of her mouth. Lacy's body slumped slightly. Reyna dangled the hook in the air.

"Fishing lines," She said, displaying it to the principal who looked terrified. "They hooked her up to the ceiling."

Suddenly, a group of people sprinted through the door. The police. Reyna stepped away from the body.

"Why are there still students here?" One of them, a chubby dark haired lady, questioned angrily. Reyna glanced over at the silent, shaking Annabeth, having forgotten the was there.

"Ramirez Arellano, share what you found." Principal Zeus demanded.

Reyna gave them a quick run through. "Basically, rigor mortis hasn't set in yet, so she was murdered about a half hour ago. Also, fishing lines." She showed them the hook she'd pulled from Lacy's mouth. "That's why her posture is so good."

"What about the writing on the table?" One of them questioned.

"The what?" Reyna frowned, confused. The officer pointed and she turned to look.

She'd been so caught up in the corpse that she hadn't noticed the wall. Written in a substance that was most certainly blood, it read, 'No Strings Attached' with a heart beside it, in something that looked suspiciously like Annabeth's handwriting. "Geez," Reyna commented under her breath. It was most definitely the L team, but she couldn't just tell them that or she'd be shot on the spot.