New Age of Argonauts

14. Playing Koi

Reyna had awoken from a nightmare. It wasn't a demigod dream, she knew that much, but it was almost worse that on a night she didn't get one of those she got a nightmare instead of peaceful rest.

The clock in her room said it was just past three in the morning, far too late or too early for anyone to be properly awake. Anyone except their resident god, that is.

Knowing that sleep was out of reach for a while, Reyna thought a conversation with Percy—or Lord Perseus, whomever she got—would help her pass the time. She was startled to find that the god had actually been resting. She'd only just knocked and whispered his name when he heard him jolt. The door opened to a disheveled god of demigods.

"Reyna?" Eyes soft and foggy from sleep told her this was not his Roman aspect. The ever-present clenched jaw of Lord Perseus was absent from the god before her.

"Percy, sorry, I thought you'd be up."

He waved off her apology, "Don't worry about it. I usually am awake, but..."

Reyna could tell something was bothering him as much as it was her. "Could we talk on the deck? It's the middle of the night, so no one will be listening."

Percy acquiesced easily. He could probably tell she needed something to distract her from her worries or maybe he also needed a distraction. Or both. "Sure, but if Coach Hedge comes at us with a lecture and his baseball bat, I'm breaking it in half."

Despite herself, Reyna smirked at his petulance. The faun—satyr, whatever—kept getting on Percy's nerves. She didn't know if it was a faun/satyr thing or a Greek thing, but he was not deferent to the god and had waved the bat around threateningly at Percy a few times. Coach Hedge was clearly harmless, even if a little too enthusiastic about karate, so Percy had merely rolled his eyes when it happened. But it was only a matter of time before that bat ended up in pieces or thrown into the sea.

The two made their way up onto the deck in full view of the moon and stars, which were much brighter without artificial lights around. The silence was peaceful, but they didn't get up to simply stargaze.

"How does this thing even work?" Percy asked, gesturing to the entire ship. "I mean I could've controlled the basic functions with just my inherited powers, but it would take my godly magic to figure out the rest. There's a sentient, metal dragon head for the gods' sake!"

Reyna had to admit it was a good question. She had only gathered that the steering wheel was some video game controller and that the dragon head used to have a body to match. She never did get the full story on that.

"No idea," she said. "I think Leo is the only one who can manually operate it."

"That's reassuring."

Reyna hummed in agreement. "Poor planning, in my opinion. But Romans seem to be more... practical than the Greeks."

Percy let the silence be for a bit before getting to the fun part. "I entered a dream for the first time tonight," he said. "It was Nico calling, begging for help in his sleep."

"Get any useful information?"

"Not much. The Giant twins captured him. He's only got five days to live. Nemesis mentioned the Kalends of July. At least the deadline makes sense now." Without room for argument, Percy added, "Bait or not, I intend to rescue him as soon as reasonably possible."

Noting the determination, Reyna merely nodded. There wasn't much else to say about it now, they'd have to make a plan when everyone else woke up.

"I think I know what I face by following the Mark of Athena. Her oldest enemy, her greatest foe. Piper told me all Athena kids have a fear of the creature's children."