Chapter 19
Eight months ago I had asked Reyna to go on a first date with me. Well being very busy demigods we were never able to make time to do so. Then a few weeks ago at the beginning of August I told her we could go the next day, but after being promoted to praetor things around camp had been non stop activity. It was August 18th now though, and my birthday. Jason promised me the day off, and I promised Reyna we would finally go on that date I promised her.
The day had been a normal one for the most part. I walked around camp with my family and friends and active and non active members of the legion would wish me a happy birthday since everyone knew it was today. I had asked my friends to keep it quiet, but Jason insisted since it may be my last celebrated birthday that he informed everyone and even threw a party on Saturday in my honor. I argued, but it was futile.
As the new standing praetor after about a week after Gwen's death I against my will took her house. For several reasons actually I was forced. One, Nico did a short quest to prove his worth and be able to take the position as Centurion, and since the Centurion had their own beds and space in the barrack I wasn't going to deprive my brother of it. Reyna was able to challenge Piper for her position and Piper was unable to withstand Reyna's onslaught. She has evolved into a very powerful warrior, and I wish Gwen could've been around so Reyna could've challenged her. We would never know who the strongest female demigod of our generation was. With that being said though Bianca is the prefect of the first cohort and she is becoming much stronger everyday. I truly believe that one day Nico may be as strong as Jason, they fought the other day and it was close, but Jason's swordsmanship surpassed Nico's. They are both quite the powerful demigods though according to Lady Lupa who has made more frequent appearances around the camp. I believe her and the pack are on orders of the gods to stay close to the camp just in case.
Lupa, Jason, and I had a meeting in one of the praetor houses a few days ago about Lupa's rival pack, Lycaon. He is raising more and more forces, and she fears that he will be able to challenge and defeat Lupa's pack at this rate. Once we had learned that we immediately put the Vulcan cabin in a silver building frenzy. With the help of Pluto's children we were able to summon enough to build silver swords, spears, and throwing knives, a long with arrows to be able to combat the powerful werewolf pack.
I tried to push all thoughts of the war away. Even though Camp Rome has not officially declared war, Jason and I have stayed up late at night talking about how the day would soon be coming. No matter how we truly felt about it, the time was coming.
Our Greek allies have been staying at Camp for the past two weeks. They are in daily contact with Camp Half Blood, Annabeth reported to Chiron that they were staying at her parents house while they figured out there next move. Nico and I were in the shadows while she reported this and we don't think Chiron quite bought her lie, no matter how smooth it was.
It was nice having the Greeks around for a bit. Luke got a long with the Mercury kids pretty well, it was clear the difference between Hermes and Mercury was small. Thalia and Jason spent a lot of time together which always kept smiles on my cousins face. Nico and Annabeth spend a lot of time together though they both deny it. Annabeth is about a year and a half older than Nico, but Nico is mature for his age and above the average intelligence. I don't see much of Hazel because her and Bianca are practically inseparable and always together. Hazel was telling me she was offered in a spot with Diana's hunters, but to my dismay she denied it. Bianca hinted that their may be a boy back at the Greek camp keeping her out of the hunters. I didn't want to have to kill anyone to soon, but if I have to make a trip to the Greek camp to soon, someone is going to being facing eternal punishment!
My powers are still progressing everyday. I try to push myself further and further in every element. I train twelve hours a day no matter what. Two hours before the legion gets up and two hours after. Of course there are lots of breaks in between where I have to do my duty as praetor in between, but I hardly stop for anything.
Today was an exception though. I sat in the praetor house getting ready for my first date with Reyna. I had planned something special, and apparently so had she. It may have been my birthday, but this was my long over due treat to Reyna.
I was dressed fairly simple. I had a nice pair of jeans on that I only wear when I go out, and a fairly nice polo shirt that was fairly tight and I never had to question why Reyna liked this shirt on me. Of course like most guys though I had a mental check list always going, deodorant, brushing my teeth, the cologne that Reyna likes, putting gel in my hair to spike it. I had always wanted to grow out my hair, but being Roman I was forced to keep it short.
As I was spiking my hair I heard a voice come from behind me, "You look great bro!"
I recognized the voice instantly as my sister Bianca. I grinned as I looked into my mirror and saw her, "Thanks, what are you guys going to do tonight?"
She shrugged her shoulders and plopped down on a comfy black leather chair and whirled it around to where she was facing me, "I don't know. Nico gave the first cohort the rest of the night off. I am pretty sure he went to make kissy faces with the daughter of Athena though. The thought repulses me!"
We both chuckled at that, I shot back, "We both know Nico doesn't have the spine to kiss her!"
Hazel suddenly popped into the room next to Bianca, "That's what you think!"
She had a knowing smirk on her face and I knew she had been up to mischief. I grinned slyly, "You mean little Nici is actually kissing Annabeth?"
Bianca had a face splitting grin, "Sounds like I have new leverage over my centurion!"
I walked over to Bianca and fist bumped her since she was holding her hand out! We all laughed at this as I pulled up a chair so we were all sitting around the coffee table, I asked, "So what do I owe the pleasure to both of my sisters visiting me?"
Hazel smiled, "We just wanted to spend some time with you on your birthday before you went out with Reyna for the night! We expect her to be in the centurion bed by midnight praetor!"
I winked at Bianca, "I don't think anyone will be sleeping in that bed tonight!"
Both of my sisters looked at me in horror and I laughed at the looks on their faces, "Geez, I am joking guys! But your faces are priceless!"
Bianca and Hazel both glared at me. Hazels screeched, "That's not funny Percy! I may be 13, but I did not need to know that!"
Bianca laughed and shot back, "Don't play that card Haze, I know that you and that son of Mars have been hooking up after hours!"
I glared at Hazel, "Whats his name, rank, cohort, and what does he look like?"
Bianca grinned while Hazel paled, "His name is Frank Zhang, prefect of the second cohort, he is a tall pudgy Asian guy, but something tells me there is something different about him. He sends a strange aura of death. Nico has commented about it more than once, but I haven't done any investigating on him yet. I only found out today that him and Haze over here have been making kissy faces."
I growled in good nature, "Sounds like I may be visiting the second cohort before I leave!"
Hazel shot to her feet, "He's just a kid Percy don't kill him! He will be in the first cohort I think soon, he is powerful for a second cohort demigod!"
I snorted, "He better be if he is going to win the heart of my baby sister!"
Bianca and high fived hard and Hazel blushed. Bianca smiled, "We need to do this more often Percy. You and Nico have a closer relationship than us since you have to deal with him a lot as Centurion. I feel we don't get to spend enough time together!"
Hazel nodded and I gave them a small smile, "You know what, when I get back starting tomorrow the three of us will spend more time together I promise. I will make more room in the day if I have to!"
Bianca smiled at me as we both stood up. I pulled her in for a hug and Hazel joined in on the group hug. I kissed both of them on the head as we separated, "This war is about to start, and we need to spend more time together as a family before it might just be to late!"
They both gave soft sad smiles, and I looked at my watch with the chimera and realized my lady would be waiting on me in New Rome by now. I grinned at me two sisters, "I got to go, you guys be good tonight and stay out of trouble. Nico is supposed to be building patrol units tonight since I am supposed to not be doing anything! If you guys need anything don't hesitate to IM me, I can always shadow travel back if necessary!"
Bianca glared at me, "No we have things under control here for the night, you go and have fun! Don't worry about the legion for a few hours!"
I smiled at said goodbye as I shadow traveled to the big fountain in New Rome where my beautifully familiar girlfriend sat in skin tight short shorts and a low v-neck shirt. I know she doesn't generally dress this way, but she does know what I like!
I came up behind her and gently wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. At first she tensed, but then she just smiled turning around to face me where my arms went back around her waste, "Happy Birthday Percy, where are we going?"
I grinned, "Ice skating first?"
She smiled widely at that. A few weeks ago we talked about things we had always wanted to do at winter, and she had never been ice skating, so I knew that would be a good start to the night. She nodded her head simply and I offered my arm to her and she put her hand through it as we walked behind a building and into the shadows.
We appeared inside a log cabin and outside it was snowing hard. The night before I had came by the cabin though and turned on the heater so the cabin would be nice and warm when we made it. The cabin was nice, the lady Khione left it to me after I saved her youngest and only daughter last year. It was a secret quest and I told no one about it. She had asked me not to tell anyone about the cabin, but that it was mine to use. It was our secret and we both agreed to honor it since this could be a good place to hide if we lose the war. I don't come here often, but the place is blessed by clear powerful magic or power one. The front part of the house is all some kind of invincible glass that has a clear view of a small lake that was frozen over. Which of course was the whole reason why I brought us here. Reyna walked over to the window and looked over the winter wasteland. It was a beautiful site. She turned and looked at me in surprise, "How? Where are we?"
I grinned, "I can't really tell you much, since I swore to Khione I wouldn't. She agreed to let me bring you here though. The place is stocked with food, water, clothes, and all the essentials, including ice skates. As to where we are, well we are in the northern white mountains in Vermont, somewhere the snow touches almost all year around."
She smiled at me which really showed off her sparkly white teeth which always gave me the reason to think her smile was beautiful, "Then I will go change, just show me where!"
I returned her smile, "The room on the left is the guest room, the room on the right is my room. My room has some better clothes and your ice skates in there!"
She walked over to me and pecked me on the lips and walked over to where I told her, the stuff was. Of course I am still a guy and my eyes followed her as she walked away. I smirked inwardly and leaned back into my chair. The cold never has effected me, I never understood why, but it just doesn't. Khione thinks it could be because the cold is only frozen water vapor most of the time, now the dry cold she thinks would probably effect me. For that reason I avoid the deep south as much as possible now during the cold part of winter.
It didn't take long for Reyna to get completely changed and ready to go out to the pond. I grabbed her hand happily and we opened the front door and walked out over to the frozen water. I let go of her for only a moment, to get down on my knees and enforce the cold water, to ensure we didn't fall through the ice. After only a second or two I smiled up at her and stood up. I ran my hand on the ground and summoned a small thing of water where I then ran it across my shoes turning them into literal ice skates. Reyna smiled at me and held her hand out where we could both skate together.
It was a rather romantic gesture and we did this for a while. Occasionally she would fall, and being myself and having cat like reflexes always saved her from hitting the ground. Now if you accused me of purposely making her fall so I could save her, well that just wouldn't be true at all!
We did this for about an hour with music playing around us. As warriors, we both had pretty good balance and such so we were both pretty good skaters. It wounded down though because Reyna was getting really cold and we went back to the house happily. I smiled and kissed her on the cheek as we walked in, "There is a dress for you in the guest bedroom, you will want to wear it for where we go next!"
She shook her head, "Are we in a hurry?"
I grinned, "Not in the slightest!"
She winked slyly at me and she guided me over to the large fire place in the living room. The fire was enchanted by Lady Hestia, to make sure the home had a strong hearth. Reyna sat down and I sat down directly behind her. We were close to the fire and warmth spread throughout our bodies. She laid back peacefully onto me where her head rested on my chest. I pulled a nearby recliner chair close to us so I could lean back on and she could find a nicer pillow on my chest. She snuggled close to me as she tried to warm up. I wrapped my arms around her as I could feel the chills running through her. I whispered quietly, "You should've said something sooner babe. We could've come back earlier!"
She cheekily responded, "Then I wouldn't have the excuse to have your arms wrapped around me!"
I blushed at her comment, and I kissed the top of her head, "You know you never need a reason for that. Ask and you shall receive my lady. I do aim to please!"
She chuckled lightly and looked up smoothly kissing me on the lips. I grinned into the kiss and she laughed, "You big cheese ball! I am going to get changed, you are doing the same right?"
I smiled and nodded and she stood up and offered me her hand. I smiled and pulled her right back on top of me where she was now straddling me. She grinned, "Your so lucky its your birthday!"
I said back seriously, "I am so lucky to have you!"
Her smile disappeared and her eyes filled with passion. She moved forward to kiss me, and I closed my eyes preparing for the kiss, but I should've known better! I suddenly felt the weight disappear, and I knew my hormones had gotten the better of me and she had summoned the shadows to take her away. I grinned jumping up and running to my room to change. I was wearing fairly nice black slacks and a light blue button down, with my black dress shoes. I re applied my deodorant, cologne and such while walked back out towards the living room. Reyna wasn't done getting dressed so I walked over to the window and peered out.
My mind swirled with positive thoughts. This could be the future. Just Reyna and I on a usual day to day basis. Living happily, forever. This was the first time that word had ever popped in my mind. Forever. Is that what I wanted? Immortality with Reyna? It sounded nice, but is it what I truly wanted?
The answer to my question was behind me, Reyna stood in a beautiful Red dress. It was strapless, short, but not to short, it complimented her body as a whole, and she looked beyond stunning. She took the breath right out of me, even making my heart skip a beat. I smiled brightly at her, "You look beautiful Rey!"
She smiled seductively giving me a twirl, "You like the dress? I guess we are going somewhere pretty nice?"
I refrained from drooling as she twirled and just nodded my head stupidly. She grinned walking over to me, "You know in a few years these nights will be ending very differently!"
I was trying not to stare, and all I could do was nod stupidly not trusting my voice. She asked, "Where are we going anyways?"
I managed to get a few words out, "A restaurant that Lady Hecate used to run. You will see when we get there!"
She nodded and wrapped her arm through mine. I summoned the shadows to us and we shadow traveled. In a matter of seconds, we went from the snow and winter wonderland, to the dark shadows, to the sound of a beating shoreline. Reyna opened her eyes and gasped. The winter wonderland was beautiful, but this spot is my favorite in the entire US. A small house/restaurant stood at the top of the cliff, but on the other side of the cliff was a beautiful ocean view. The ocean pounded the rocks with a steady never changing flow. Behind us was a beautiful grassland, that looked to belong in Elysium, but in front of us was the Ocean and a single house. It was a perfect view.
I smiled at her, "How about this for a place to finish our first date?"
She smiled, "I love it Percy! You know though generally on your birthday, your supposed to be the one treated."
I waved it off, "Seeing you happy makes me just as happy. Your gift to me is the time we spend together, I couldn't ask for anything better."
She beamed kissing me on the cheek as we slowly trekked up towards the house. When we walked in we were seated by an invisible spectrum that neither of us could see. It was just two floating menus that went to a table and stopped. We sat down next to each other instead of across from each other clearly wanting to be close the entire time. The place seemed private and quiet so might as well. Of course there was light music playing the whole time, and it sounded oddly like Beethoven.
We ordered and the night went on nicely. We ate, we laughed, we talked, and the idea of forever continued to bounce around in my head. I am fifteen, battle hardened, war hardened, mentally tough, physically tough, I have been through so much, and is it so much to ask to spend the rest of my mortal or immortal life with the person next to me.
The night was coming to an end as we finished desert I put my arm around Reyna, "How was it Babe?"
She laughed lightly, which was a sound that was like music to my ears, "It was perfect Percy. Thank you! And Happy Birthday!"
With that she kissed me on the cheek again and I smiled brightly at her. She then said, "Now for the present!"
I groaned, "I thought you agreed no gifts!"
She gave me a stern glare, "You can do all this for me, on your birthday, but only if I get to give you my gift!"
She pulled out a small circular object and she held it in front of both of us so we could see it. She whispered where only I could hear it, "Proserpina helped me make this. Its made of Imperial gold, and it is connected to my soul. As queen of the Underworld she was able to take a very small part of it and inlay it in this compass. All you have to do is flip it open and the compass will point in whatever direction I am."
She then flipped it open and a picture was on the open side. It was picture of Reyna and I at the Olympian party. We looked great, and very happy. My smile lit up half the dark room, and gently pressed my lips towards her and we kissed passionately. This continued for several minutes, before we stopped for breath. We both smiled and we clearly exasperated.
Forever came back to me. I began to open my mouth, but suddenly a dark figured object entered the room. It was Stonewall Jackson, he took a deep salute, "Sir news from your brother on the front lines of war!
Your sister Bianca Di Angelo has been captured by the Titan army."