Haunted || Leo Valdez

101 - Rebecca and Leo Both Decide to Be the Sacrifice and Not Tell Each Other

Rebecca, apparently, had been passed out for three days. Right after she'd arrived at Nico, Hedge, and the statue's landing spot — which turned out to be a town in North Carolina called Fayetteville — she'd collapsed. Nico had been the one to purge the dark chaotic magic and immediately passed out as well, leaving Reyna to deal with the enormous hellhound that formed from the purged energy.

Rebecca told them about what Anne had said in her dream. Nico had also dreamed — weird glimpses of Ella the harpy muttering to herself and feeding Seymour the leopard head and Mellie the cloud nymph (which worried the coach).

"The Romans will attack Camp Half-Blood the day after tomorrow." Nico sipped some Gatorade. "We have to hurry. We have to get ready."

"No." Rebecca pressed her hand against his forearm. "Any more shadow-travel would kill you, and seeing as the Malignant Spirit has gone on break for an indefinite amount of time after what happened a few days ago, it would kill me too. I hate it, but we'll have to wait."

"She's right, kid," said the coach, "I appreciate your dedication, but, if you zap us all into eternal darkness along with the Athena Parthenos, it's not going to help anybody. Bryce Lawrence was right about that."

At the mention of Bryce, Reyna's metallic dogs pricked up their ears and snarled.

Reyna stared through the trees they were hiding in at a strawberry field where people were picking the fruit. The sight reminded Rebecca of the strawberry fields at Camp Half-Blood and made her feel homesick.

Reyna's expression was as dark as the magic Rebecca had used on Bryce a few days ago. Rebecca realized that the magic was probably what Reyna was thinking about. She'd watched Rebecca as she dismissed the spartoi and disarmed Lawrence, then ripped out his heart, crushed it, and watched as he turned into a ghost with no identity. It was probably not the best thing for Reyna to see after visiting her hometown, where she'd seen her father turn into a ghost.

Rebecca sighed. "Reyna... What I did to Bryce —"

"You destroyed him," Reyna said. "You turned him into a ghost. And, yes, it reminded me of what happened to my father."

"I didn't mean to scare you," Rebecca said.

Reyna frowned. "Rebecca, I have to admit, the first day you were unconscious, I didn't know what to think or feel. What you did was hard to watch... hard to process."

Coach Hedge chewed on a stick. "I gotta agree with the girl on this one, kid. Smashing somebody's head in with a baseball bat, that's one thing. But ghostifying that creep? That was some dark stuff."

"Coach, you weren't even there," Nico said. Rebecca realized he was watching her reactions, trying to gauge whether he should jump to Rebecca's defense.

"What I wanted to tell you, Rebecca," Reyna continued after throwing a warning look at Hedge, "Is that I trust you. Both of you," she added to Nico. "What I told you about my father... I'd never shared that with anyone. I guess I knew you were the right person to confide in. You lifted some of my burden. I trust you, too, Nico."

"So Bryce..." Rebecca prompted.

"You did what had to be done. I see that now," Reyna said. "Just promise me: no more turning people into ghosts if we can avoid it."

"Yeah," Coach said. "Unless you let me whale on them first. Besides, it's not all bad news."

Nico nodded. "We've seen no sign of other Romans, so apparently Bryce didn't notify anyone else where he was. Also, no sign of Orion. Hopefully that means he was taken down by the Hunters."

"And Hylla?" Rebecca asked. "Thalia?"

The lines tightened around Reyna's mouth. "No word. But I have to believe they're still alive."