the_blood_of_olympus_-_rick_riordan

The pace of the journey was maddeningly slow. They could only shadow-travel a few hundred
miles each night, resting during the day to let Nico recover, but even that required more stamina from
Nico than Reyna would have thought possible.
He carried so much sadness and loneliness, so much heartache. Yet he put his mission first. He
persevered. Reyna respected that. She understood that.
She’d never been a touchy-feely person, but she had the strangest desire to drape her cloak over
Nico’s shoulders and tuck him in. She mentally chided herself. He was a comrade, not her little
brother. He wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.
‘Hey.’ Coach Hedge interrupted her thoughts. ‘You need sleep, too. I’ll take first watch and cook
some grub. Those ghosts shouldn’t be too dangerous now that the sun’s coming up.’
Reyna hadn’t noticed how light it was getting. Pink and turquoise clouds striped the eastern
horizon. The little bronze faun cast a shadow across the dry fountain.
‘I’ve read about this place,’ Reyna realized. ‘It’s one of the best-preserved villas in Pompeii. They
call it the House of the Faun.’
Gleeson glanced at the statue with distaste. ‘Yeah, well, today it’s the House of the Satyr.’
Reyna managed a smile. She was starting to appreciate the differences between satyrs and fauns. If
she ever fell asleep with a faun on duty, she’d wake up with her supplies stolen, a moustache drawn
on her face and the faun long gone. Coach Hedge was different – mostly good different, though he did
have an unhealthy obsession with martial arts and baseball bats.
‘All right,’ she agreed. ‘You take first watch. I’ll put Aurum and Argentum on guard duty with you.’
Hedge looked like he wanted to protest, but Reyna whistled sharply. The metallic greyhounds
materialized from the ruins, racing towards her from different directions. Even after so many years,
Reyna had no idea where they came from or where they went when she dismissed them, but seeing
them lifted her spirits.
Hedge cleared his throat. ‘You sure those aren’t Dalmatians? They look like Dalmatians.’
‘They’re greyhounds, Coach.’ Reyna had no idea why Hedge feared Dalmatians, but she was too
tired to ask right now. ‘Aurum, Argentum, guard us while I sleep. Obey Gleeson Hedge.’
The dogs circled the courtyard, keeping their distance from the Athena Parthenos, which radiated
hostility towards everything Roman.
Reyna herself was only now getting used to it, and she was pretty sure the statue did not appreciate
being relocated in the middle of an ancient Roman city.
She lay down and pulled her purple cloak over herself. Her fingers curled around the pouch at her
belt, where she kept the silver coin Annabeth had given her before they parted company in Epirus.
It’s a sign that things can change, Annabeth had told her. The Mark of Athena is yours now.
Maybe the coin will bring you luck.
Whether that luck would be good or bad, Reyna wasn’t sure.
She took one last look at the bronze faun cowering before the sunrise and the Athena Parthenos.
Then she closed her eyes and slipped into dreams.