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Sally Jackson. A goddess among mortals. Or so every demigod says? Reyna won’t make a decision until she meets Sally, after all, Reyna trusts herself more than anyone else. Unfortunate side effects of an *intense* childhood. Reyna’s schedule finally opened up and lined up with everyone else’s and Percy decided to introduce Reyna to his mom, and bring everyone else for a much-needed Sally and Estelle break.
“Rey, ready to go?” Nico’s voice sounded from the front of her praetor’s villa.
“Let’s get this over with,” Reyna said, walking to Nico as she finished strapping her dagger to her upper arm.
Nico looked at her blatantly obvious dagger. “Don’t you think you should hide that better?” He asked as he pointed at her lack of sleeves.
“The Mist does wonders, Nico, especially when I use a couple of tricks I learned while on Circe’s island.” Reyna reminded the shorter demigod.
“I always forget that you were on Circe’s island.” He commented.
Reyna shrugged. “Most people do. And I don’t exactly tell many people my life story.”
“That’s true.” The two demigods walked out of Reyna’s villa and along the path that connected with the path to Frank’s villa in a small courtyard between the two villas. “Are you nervous to meet Sally?” Nico asked Reyna, knowing that she hasn’t had a great experience with parents.
Reyna straightened ever so slightly before she nonchalantly said, “No I’m not nervous to meet her, I’m just anxious about leaving camp in the hands of only Frank. It’s not easy to manage the camp alone for a couple of days.”
Nico winced. Reyna knew from first-hand experience what it was like to run Camp Jupiter alone, she did it for months during war times. “Well don’t worry we’ll only be gone for the day, and even then we both know Frank can handle himself.”
Reyna nodded, "I know," she sighed, "It's just-" she chewed her lip. "This is the first time I'm leaving the entire camp in his hands and I'm not 10 minutes away in case anything goes wrong."
Nico nodded and gave Reyna a reassuring look. "I know, I get it. Camp Jupiter is really important to you. But I also know that you've been preparing Frank for things like this since his praetorship began. Just try to relax for a couple of days? For all of our sakes." He laughed.
Reyna gave a smile as she looked up to the California sky. "I'll try." "Good, because Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel are worried about you stressing yourself out too much." Nico hummed. "And I'd say those three stress themselves out worrying too much about me." She pointed out.
"That's true," He agreed, "Hazel especially likes to mother hen. Then again so do you." He pointed out.
Reyna made a noise to disagree. "I don't mother hen." She said defensively.
Nico gave her a look. "Every time we see each other you insist on trimming the dead ends off my hair, feeding me a home-cooked meal, and making sure I don't look like I just rolled out of bed. You mother hen. And don't even get me started on how you mother hen Hazel and Leo." He pointed out, clearly exasperated.
Reyna grunted, not wanting to lose the argument, and just changed the topic. "So who are we meeting at the fountain before you shadow-travel us?" She asked.
Nico clicked his teeth as he thought for a minute. "Annabeth, Hazel, Piper, and Jason. Percy's been home for a couple of days and Leo should have gotten there this morning. Said something about how he likes to fly Festus at night sometimes."
Reyna smiled. "Sounds like Leo." Reyna just hoped Leo was wearing a jacket when he flew to New York. She had grown fond of him, and maybe Nico was right, she was a bit of a mother hen.
The two had finally reached the fountain that was agreed on to be the meeting place. It was in the courtyard that was just outside the praetor villas. No one was ever there because of the fact that it was a little out of the way, and not to mention it was just outside the praetor villas and no one was trying to get in trouble for any reason if the praetors happened to be in a bad mood. Nico and Reyna were the last to arrive since Nico had to pull Reyna away from the paperwork that she had gotten absorbed in, in typical Reyna fashion, and lost track of time.
"Finally! I felt like we were waiting forever." Piper sighed dramatically.
"Well sorry for the inconvenience Piper, but someone was engrossed in her paperwork when I got there and still had to change into more suitable clothing to traipse around mortals in," Nico said in a passive-aggressive manner. He was teasing Reyna for still being in the toga she put on for the senate meeting earlier that day.
"Well sorry that I have a job to run the city unlike you who spends all of his days playing games at Camp Half-Blood or the entire day in the infirmary with their own personal ball of sunshine." Reyna quipped.
"Why you-" Annabeth cut Nico off by clapping her hands.
"Yes, Reyna we understand you are the epitome of Roman. Now that we're all here we can get going."
Nico grumbled at Annabeth for interrupting him when she just gave him a nudge and pointed out that she saved him from a debate with Reyna. And no one ever wins a debate against Reyna.
"Ready everyone?" He asked as they all linked hands. The group gave nods and mumbles of confirmation. Nico looked at Reyna and nodded. Reyna then poured strength into Nico, who then conjured up the shadows and dove in.