OK. Everyone give me a virtual highfive. I'm great. Yes, I know. It didn't even take me 3 weeks to get this up! Who's proud? Yep. So anyway, this scene is focusing on Reyna meeting her best 'friends'.  *wink* I know that these events probably happened differently in the books, but I'm doing this my way. (Not trying to sound bratty or anything) I'm not sure if Lupa trained her but this is my story and in my story she didn't! *cue maniacal laughter* I control these character's lives! Mwwaahhh!!! Also, I don't know if Reyna knew about the gods on Circe's island but in this story she didn't. Other than that, everything is the same. Comment, like, blah blah blah. No haters please. Alright enjoy now... bye!😁

    My head hurt. It hurt tremendously. It felt like someone had played "knock knock who's there?" with my head as the door.
   
      I reached towards my right temple. When I pulled them back, my fingers were bright bright red from the encounter. I but my lip. This was bad. But I couldn't get distracted by a gash on my head.
    
      I pushed the pain aside and tried to turn my body to see my surroundings and almost blacked out from the effort. The only thing I could acknowledge was that I was wrapped in a thick linen blanket laying what seemed to be a hospital tent. There was no sound. This wouldn't do at all. After six weeks on the run, getting captured wasn't on my agenda. And getting hurt was definitely not on my agenda.
     
      I reached for my stick, but it wasn't there. I wasn't too worried. It wasn't as if it would be much help against a real monster. Idiot didn't qualify. He was, well, an idiot. I doubted I could trick another monster into letting my tree branch kiss/stab it's eye.

     I sighed and let my thoughts go wild. What kind of monster would I face this time? Would it be another cyclops? Or perhaps a large, terrifying hamster. That would be about right. It was hard to find anything positive out of this situation. It got easier to focus on the negative the more I spent time fighting an endless army of monsters. It didn't help that I had no idea of what to expect this time. I mean, what kind of monster wraps their enemy in a blanket, lays them in a bed, and leaves them alone in a silent room? The odds that someone brought me here in order to help me were slim.

      I made up my mind. Blacking out again was better than getting eaten. I would walk as far as I could, and hopefully find shelter far away from my present location. I pressed my hands against the cold mattress and hefted myself off the bed. Closing my eyes, I waited for the black spots to come and have a dancing party in my brain. And they did come. They didn't just have a party either, they decided to throw a fiesta. I retched. How lovely, I thought. Breathing heavily, I began to walk one step, then another, then another and kept the process going till I was almost at the door. Then, I heard footsteps.

       I quickly squatted behind the doorway, not to close that I would get hit by the door, but not so far that I would be seen. I heard a girl's voice, it sounded nervous.

      "But why was she there? With the cyclops?" She asked.
    
     I knit my eyebrows. If she had known about the cyclops then I was probably  the girl she was talking about. My memory of what happened after the cylops fell was blurry. Then, I heard a boy's voice respond to the girl's question.

   "I don't know Gwen, but the girl is dangerous. We needed a team of seven demigods in order to defeat a cyclops that large. It seemed as if she destroyed one on her own. It's impossible."

    "Obviously not impossible, Jason, because she did it. Creepy and suspicious, yes. Impossible, no."

       I gritted my teeth. These weren't monsters I was dealing with. They were human or how did they put it? Demigods. But monsters could diguise themselves as different things. I prepared myself for the worst. I was scared out of my skin now, but I couldn't let it show. I had learned the hard way that both monsters and people only respected strength. That's how my sister and I escaped the pirates, and that was how I was going to escape this place.

     I was about to burst out of the room and fight with my hands, when the door creaked open. I balled my fists, waiting for any sort of ugly, hairy monsters. What actually came through the door caught me by suprise.
     There was the girl with hair such a light blonde, it was almost white. She had tied it up in a messy bun and kept blowing at a strand that kept flying into her face. She wore plain ripped jeans with a purple shirt that read "SPQR". I wondered if that was some kind of charity. She looked about my age - 12. The boy had the same appearance, except with dark blonde hair with blue eyes. He had a scar on his lower lip and I wondered what kind of fight he had been in to get it. He looked like a blonde superman.

     I hesitated in greeting them. Monsters could disguise themselves as various things. Why would kids be an exception? I shook my head. If I couldn't trust myself who could I trust? I made my decision, balled my fists, and jumped out of my hiding place.

    "Who are you? And do want my fists in your stomach?" I cocked an eyebrow waiting for the awnser.

       They didn't give the reaction I wanted. They laughed. That made me angry. I had walked for thousands of miles, killed hundreds of monsters, left everything I had to find a stupid camp and all I had gotten was a smirk from my captors? No. No, this would not do.

     I charged at them, my fists flying hitting my target. The boy, Jason, I think it was, bent over in agony. The girl, Gwen, gasped, turned  to Jason then turned to me. "How... why...? Then I guess she decided to quit the chatter.

    She lunged at me, aiming for my face. She didn't reach it ,though, as I had blocked it with my arms. I don't know where I learned to fight, but I fought like an experienced  warrior. Even in my depleted state, I easily took her down. I slammed my elbow into her face, heard her cry out and fall down. I pinned her to the ground and demanded some awnsers.

    "Who the HECK brought me here and why?" I glared at her.

    "Dunno," she muttered, "was just supposed to check on you." I nodded, but didn't release my grip. I didn't know what I was going to do with her, but it turned out I didn't need to decide.

    At that moment, Jason pounced. I flailed and kicked at him, but I was just too unprepared. He grabbed my arms and yanked them back. I was just about to try and knee him, but the world had started to spin like a ballerina. I had forgotten about the gash in my head. Pushing the pain aside for a small while had been easy, but as soon as it had had enough of my efforts, it quit on me.

     I don't care if your life is in danger, it seemed to say, find another way of dealing with it. I'm hurt so I come first.

    "Stupid head," I mumbled.

    "Um.... ok," Jason said. " we're gonna take you to the preator... don't struggle and, so, yeah." I rolled my eyes. I couldn't move anyway. He nudged Gwen, then slung her over his shoulder all the while keeping me in a tight grip. As we started walking, I felt like I was about to faint. I stopped. Jason gently pushed me in the direction he wanted to go,but I wouldn't budge.

    "What's wrong?" He asked.

    "My head, genius," I replied sarcastically. He seemed to have just noticed the large gash on the side of my head, and he nodded.

     "Fine," he said and steered me back toward the hospital tent.

    "Do you want me to faint, dum dum? I can't walk! I thought we already established that," I complained. He rolled his eyes, but picked me up.

   "Hey! Put me DOWN! Get me a wheel chair or something!" I yelled.

    "Shut it!" He groaned under the weight of two girls. I scowled but let him drag me toward the hospital wing. He plopped Gwen on a cot, then did the same for me. I wasn't about to let my gaurd down in front of him, so I sat at the edge of the bed and let my legs swing.

    "Soo..." I started. "Tell me where I am and why you guys were trying to 'check up on me'," I said using air quotes to make it known that I don't believe they were actually checking up on me.

    "Your at Camp  Jupiter and we were checking up on you. Then you attacked us." He clutched his stomach and I wondered if I did any real damage to it.

   "Sorry. I thought you were monsters. Six weeks on your own, and you learn not to trust anyone." I looked down at my feet. I noticed someone had taken my ratty sandles off of my dirty foot. My torn clothes were still on my body though. I was glad. If someone had changed me while unconscious, I would've had a fit.

    Jason nodded understandingly. I was puzzled for a moment, but then remembered we were talking about my trust issues. I shook my head.

   "No, you don't understand. I left my sister, Hylla, ran for days and I still couldn't find camp. I could've died. I would've died." I shuddered at the thought. Jason nodded again.

   "I do understand. My mother was forced to abandon me when I was young, I don't know why though. My father is Jupiter- king of the gods."

   He stated, a little proudly. I couldn't help but laugh a little at the way he stood tall and stuck out his chest when he said that. I wasn't impressed. I got the feeling that this guy was kind, but used to attention. I think it was because of that Jupiter bit he said. He looked taken-aback.

   "Um... what's so funny?" He asked timidly. I but my tougne, hoping I wouldn't laugh again.

   "I don't know who Jupiter is, but I'm sorry for not believing you. You do understand. But right now we have other things to worry about," I said, nodding over to Gwen. She was still out cold, snoring lightly into her pillow. I couldn't get up for fear of falling again, but Jason seemed to get what I was saying. He stalked over to Gwen, feeding her small squares of something.

   "What's that?" I asked. He wipes some sweat off his brow. He looked pretty cute.

   "It's called ambrosia, the food of the gods," he said. I blanked out for a moment. Gods? I flashed back to my time at Circe's island. She had fone feats of magic that always astonished me. I gasped as I connected the dots. I knew that Circe was a magician, different from a mere human, but I never really thought she could be a goddess. I heard a distant moaning. "Gwen!" Jason exclaimed. I blinked rapidly, trying to break out of my thinking trance.

   "Gwen?" I asked.

  "Uuhhhhhmmmm," She relpied. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was my fault she got hurt, and it would have been my fault of she was permanently damaged. Now that she was taken care of... I needed some attention.

   "Jason?" I called for him.
 
  "...yeah?" Jason replied, busy tending Gwen. "I need to know where the bandages are. Gotta wrap this up, yeah?" I asked, pointing to the dried blood on my forehead. Jason looked guilty. He started rambling about how sorry he was and how stupid he was. (which I really couldn't argue about that...) I nodded my head, telling him that he was indeed stupid, but that I would be ok. His expression revealed how relieved he was. I disguised my laugh toward his reaction as a cough. This made him even more worried.

     "Are you ok? No of course your not okay. Otherwise you wouldn't have coughed. Gods this is ALL my fault." He looked like he was about to tear up. I could hardly contain my laughter. I mean don't get me wrong, I wasn't teasing the poor guy, but the fact that he could get so worked up about such a small detail was too funny. It also showed me he was caring. I liked that. I smiled.

   "What?" He asked.

"It's nothing," I said a little too quickly, "and I'm okay. I promise." He smiled at me and I smiled back. Then, I pointed at my head and he started mumbling about how stupid he was again. He gathered some bandages and wrapped my head tightly. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain. He finished, and gave me some of his ambrosia.

  "Um... are you sure this is safe?" I asked, nodding towards the glowing food in my hand.

   "Yeah. It's just like this godly food and if you eat too much you'll burn from your soul outward." That didn't exactly reassure me.

   "Um... sure. I think I'll pass..." I said, shoving the ambrosia into my worn down dress pocket. Speaking of pockets...

   "You think I could get some new clothes?" I inquired, gesturing at my ripped clothing. I was getting uncomfortable in my garments. I hoped I didn't have  holes in any *cough* unworthy places. Jason's eyes widened. The big baby. He nodded vigorously.

  "Yeah... yeah, of course," He agreed while jogging outside the tent.

   "Be right back!" He yelled as he exited the shelter.

   I sighed and leaned back against my bed rest. I glanced at Gwen and saw that she was starting to stir. My headache had gone down from a about-to-die-of-eternal-agony to a about-to-die-of-my-head-being-used-as-a-door-for-knock-knock-who's-there pain. I would say that was a major improvment. I sat up, the bed sheets cringling under my bottom. I touched my bare feet to the cold floor, and this time I didn't feel nauseous. Well. Only a little. I slowly made my toward Gwen.

   "Hey, Gwen. Could you do me a minor favor and not kill me yet?" I asked cautiously.

   I had a feeling she wasn't to happy with getting elbowed in the face. Gwen turned toward me and motioned for me to come forward. I inched closer toward her bed, and she whispered "Yet". Then she chuckled. Then laughed. Then cackled. She wiped a small tear from her eye, then adressed my utterly confused expression. "Of course I'm not going to kill you. Well, actually, no promises. What I mean is that I'm not angry. Those were some pretty advanced manuvers. It looks like Jason got some competition," She complimented me.

   "I heard my name and 'competition'. I just want to alert anyone who dares to challenge me that YOU ARE GOING DOWN!" Jason warned as he peeked his head into the tent.

  "Sure, Jason," Gwen said, winking at me.

  "Gwen! Glad you can join us. We were just talking about how you snore when you sleep," Jason teased. Gwen rolled her eyes, but leaned over and asked me if she really did snore in her sleep. I nodded. She rolled her eyes again. Jason handed me my clothes- they were nicely folded and ironed. Then, he went to Gwen.

   "C'mon Ms. Gwen," Jason said and helped her off her cot. Gwen leaned on Jason's shoulder, and I felt a pang in my chest. Side effects from the Cyclops attack I guess. I limped after them as they walked out of the tent, clothes in hand.

   "Where do I get dressed?" I wondered aloud, scanning the outside terrain.

   "Hey, Jason I gotta show Reyna where the bathroom is," Gwen said. Jason looked embarrassed.

   "You don't have to come, I'm starting to feel better," Gwen added. She was telling the truth. Her skin was not quite as pale, and her face looked good. She pushed off Jason's shoulder, and made her way towards me. I grabbed her arm and she waved Jason off. We agreed to meet him at lunch. Gwen directed me towards the restrooms. 

   We entered, and she leaned against the stall door as I got changed. I stepped out, feeling cleaner and more presentable.

   I now wore a crisp purple shirt that read SPOR, identical to the one Gwen was wearing. I had on ripped shorts that showed most of my legs, but were easy to move in. They weren't the shorts that squeezed your butt and made others uncomfortable. Jason had also brought me some sturdy black Nikes. They fitted perfectly.

  
    Gwen handed me a rubber band and after I washed my hair in the sink, I put my hair up in a messy bun. I also put on a gray baseball hat to keep it from dripping. I inspected myself in the mirror. I was starting to look like myself. Gwen stared at me as if I was a n alien from space.

  "What?" I asked, suddenly feeling uneasy in my own skin.

   "Nothing," she said sensing my uneasiness, "It's just that you look gorgeous. No wonder Jason was making goo goo eyes at you in the hospital."

   "No he wasn't. I thought he likes you," I blurted. Gwen laughed.

  "Of course he doesn't, silly! And I wouldn't want him to. I ship JEYNA!" She exclaimed and began twirling around in circles. Huh. Even injuries to the head couldn't stop this girl.

   "What's jeyna?" I inquired.

    "It's your ship name of course! Jason and Reyna.  Jeyna." She giggled. I rolled my eyes and started toward the door.

    "I won't say I'm in love," Gwen started singing the song from 'Hercules'. I rolled my eyes again but slung my arm over her shoulders and started involuntarily singing along with her. I had a feeling that we were going to be pretty good friends.