Hello, little midgets! Today, I will be doing a slight POV change. I think that it would normally be Ginny, but right now it's going to be Reyna.

READ ON, MY LITTLE MIDGETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Reyna POV

I grabbed Leila's hand, and we shadow traveled. I opened my eyes to find a forest, pretty thick. We were in a grove.

I looked up and saw smoke coming from an area. Only one thing was strange. The smoke was red.

Leila yawned next to me. "You okay?" I asked her, looking down at her face, since she's more than a foot shorter than me.

"I'm fine," she answered. Next to me, Piper frowned. "The smoke is red."

"No Styx, Sherlock," Leila said sarcastically.

Annabeth frowned at the smoke. "We should try to track down where it's coming from. It's probably a camp Sylvia set up."

"Good idea," Piper muttered, hoisting the white flag. We marched onward.

We were immediately blind-sighted by a trap. Annabeth had stepped into a rope, but she quickly slashed it with her knife. "Well then," I said. Then I heard a rustling noise behind us. Then one next to us. Slowly, three Cyclopes came out from behind the trees. Three more followed, surrounding us.

"There are too many of them," I muttered, again wondering how many times I have said that.

The Cyclops on my left said, "That's right, daughter of Bellona. We are six and you are three. Time to give up your little diplomatic quest!"

Three of us? Weren't Piper, Annabeth, and Leila with me?

I looked behind me, where Leila was.

Where Leila should have been. She'd disappeared.

Well, then it was three to six, since Leila had disappeared. So much for her fatal flaw.

The Cyclopes advanced on us. I drew my gladius, ready to fight.

Suddenly, there was a click, a small sound, but you could still notice it. The Cyclopes noticed it too, because the looked around, confused. They quickly turned their attention back to us.

This would be a sad way to die, I thought. Killed by Cyclopes, even though I survived Orion.

Then a sound occurred. A bang, not like the last one. The Cyclops closest to Piper disintegrated, and the smell of sulfur filled the air. As she stepped out of her hiding spot, Leila grumbled, "I hate the smell of monsters disintegrating."

The remaining five Cyclopes roared and one swung his fist at Leila's head. She ducked and rolled out of the way, and shot him in the forehead.

I plunged my gladius into one's stomach and slashed his leg off. Annabeth had managed to jump over one's swinging fist and cut off his head. Without a head, you can't really function, unless you're a cockroach. Piper, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Her Cyclops gave her a blow to the ribs, like how the spirits wrapped in stone had to me in Pompeii. I managed to stab it, but Piper stumbled over, clutching her midsection.

We all screamed, "PIPER!!" and ran over. Annabeth gently laid her down, and I made a pillow for her out of my praetor's cloak. Leila ripped through her backpack and fed her a square of ambrosia. Piper's vision focused and she reached out a hand to ruffle Leila's hair. She coughed out, "Thanks,
Leila. You saved our butts."

Leila looked like she was trying not to cry. Piper turned to me as her sister sniffled. "How do you survive this sort of thing? You told me you had taken a fist in the ribs by a Pompeiian spirit wrapped in stone, and could still stand upright."

I smiled wryly. "I've been in this business much longer than you, McLean. Now shut up."

Annabeth said, "Yes, shut up. It's not good to talk while you've taken a Cyclops fist in the ribs."

"You shut up, Chase."

We all laughed, stupidly. Piper said, "Now I'm fine. Help me up."

Annabeth responded, "If you're fine, you should be able to get up by yourself." Piper shot her a look, and we helped her up. She took a few steps, stumbling around, but she started walking normally, though she had to be supported by Annabeth for the first twenty or so steps. I took her small burden, otherwise known as the truce flag.

Eventually, the smoke got closer. We could smell the fire burning stronger. We stumbled across a camp, finally.

The camp was pretty normal. Tents, campfire pits, and such were there. The only things were the monsters milling around and there were two Cyclopes guards, bigger than any ones I had ever seen, guarding a cave. They were about fourteen feet tall, with Roman armor. There were also a lot of spartoi, skeletons.

Then Leila said, "Plug your ears." So I did, and so did Annabeth. The two Aphrodite sisters yelled something, which sounded like, "Go to sleep for five hours!" My guess was correct, since the monsters curled up and started snoring. I took my fingers out of my ears and said, "Dang."

Annabeth's eyebrows knit together and her lips pressed together. She said, "We should go to the cave. That's probably where Sylvia is."

"Wow, Annabeth," Leila murmured, "We totally had no idea that Sylvia would be in the cave. Good observation."

"Shut up," Annabeth responded, and we marched to the cave. The thing was, by the time we got there, a girl was already emerging. She had brown hair, braided down to her right, like how I braid mine. Her skin was so pale, paler than Nico's. Her amethyst eyes stood out against her skin.

"Hello," she said, greeting us, "My name is Sylvia Rutho, the next Voldemort. Come in. Let us parlay."

None of us moved. Leila demanded, "Why are you doing this?"

She turned to face the eleven-year-old. "Little girl, isn't it obvious? I want revenge."

"I'm not a little girl," Leila snapped. Her hand went to her pocket, where she kept her Swiss Army Knife that could turn into a variety of weapons.

We didn't really need her attacking Sylvia. That could turn out horribly. I cleared my throat and said, "How do you have these dead people under influence?"

Annabeth answered my question, "She's a daughter of Pluto."

Sylvia's eyes rested on me. "Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano," she said softly, "I have heard a lot about you."

I didn't even ask how she knew my name, but I did start quivering with anger.

"You- you have a spy," I stammered out, "Just like Saturn- I mean, Kronos did."

The girl smiled without humor and responded, "No. I know from this spirit."

She stepped aside and a spirit in army fatigues floated forward. I hadn't seen this person in years, but I knew who he was. My mouth went dry.

"Reyna?" Annabeth asked, "Who is that?"

With my throat hoarse, I responded, "He is my father, Julian Ramirez-Arellano."

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DAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

-da dam author.