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