#dreyna

She was self-serving with it at first. As soon as she knew the pirates were looking for something on the yacht, she thought she could find it and use it as something to bargain with instead of treat it as something in need of protection. Then, she was willing to do what Chiron and Silena had tried to get her to do for years and the locket restored itself to its brand new look. A millennia of tarnish and corrosion vanished.

Reyna had convinced her to treat it with the respect she would give to temples and use it as a prayer object to help facilitate a connection between her and her mother. Camp Half-Blood never taught Drew much about praying to the gods. Mostly, it was dump your offering, usually the food you wanted to eat most (unless you felt like cheating, then the food you hated so you didn't have to eat it), and say a prayer Chiron made everyone memorize. Even if you needed aid in a fight, you couldn't just scream the god you needed help from in your mind and ask for help; you had to nearly beg. Then if they heard you, they would help, and you wouldn't know unless you either died instantly or you won the fight. 

Drew's cabin at times could be the most wary of asking their mother for anything. Old notes left by long dead campers gave hints at their lives being screwed up by talking to Aphrodite. Thus began the Aphrodite Cabin Rite of Passage. Emulate the cruelty of the goddess, create the briefest relationship drama, and then maybe their mother would leave them alone. Let them live their lives in relative peace. And it seemed to work so far. No one had died, been cursed, or otherwise ended up miserable.

When Drew explained this to Reyna, she vehemently disagreed. All the gods were meant to be feared to a degree, but fear shouldn't control interactions with them. If they did, they wouldn't have epithets and stories that showed how helpful they were and could still be. She had wanted Drew to start actually praying to her mother. Anything more than ‘here's my desert, please don't ruin my life.’ Reyna had explained prayer more opens a conversation and showed that you're willing to feel or otherwise experience the presence of the god you're trying to talk to. Gods couldn't always intervene when called upon, but according to Reyna, they can direct you to the pieces that help you figure it out for yourself.

Drew was wary, but tried it anyway. She didn't expect anything to come of it, then in a dream she had a conversation with her mother. She was proud of Drew for learning to trust her own powers and offered what help she could to get Drew to the next part of the journey.

The necklace was restored a few days later.

Weirdly, being a pirate for the last few weeks brought her more of a sense of calm than the last five years of camp ever had. Her powers no longer feel impossible to deal with. She just wished she could do the same for Reyna.

Blackbeard has tried his hardest to keep Reyna loyal to him. Playing on the fact that Reyna’s older sister abandoned her with him, and he's the only family she has left. It's only worked because Reyna is fiercely loyal to the people who have at least tried to take care of her for the last three years. Reyna told Drew of her suspicions of Blackbeard lying to her about what really happened. How she remembers Hylla being forced off the ship after fighting for her and Reyna's freedom, despite Blackbeard telling her it never happened and that Hylla escaped in the middle of the night.

"That part could never be true," Reyna had said. "Our father taught us better than that."

Drew never believed him either. She believed he recognized how strong Reyna could be and decided to keep her around for his benefit. She tried to argue with him once to let Reyna go when he let's her go but it was non-negotiable that Reyna was a member of his crew.

When they found out the greyhounds Reyna had rescued from one of the islands they stopped at could tell when people were lying, Drew tried to encourage her to use them to get the truth from Blackbeard.

Reyna had said now wasn't the time. Drew disagreed but knew there was some truth in that. Drew had told her all about Kronos rising, how there was a war coming this August and how Camp Half-Blood has spent the last few years preparing for it. It was why Drew couldn't stay any longer. She needed to be with her cabin when the war began.

There was still that part of her that wanted to be selfish and keep the necklace. Use it's powers to boost her own and help her cabin, but camp was camp there was always a way.

She took it off.

"Reyna?"

"Hmm?" Reyna hummed, turning to look at her.

Drew paused for a few moments to look at Reyna before the sun fully set. "Here," she said, holding up the necklace.

"You know I can't. It's yours."

Drew started latching the necklace careful to avoid accidentally snagging Reyna’s hair. "Yes, you can. Besides, one day you'll get back to your sister." She tucked the necklace under Reyna's shirt. "This will help. Just like it did when Blackbeard sent us on all those stupid errands to get his ship back."

Reyna wanted to protest then she sighed and grabbed Drew's hands. "I wish you could stay. Consider taking the necklace with you. Help your cabin."

Drew freed a hand from Reyna's grasp and cupped Reyna's face, "You need it more than me, but," Drew removed her hand and glanced at the last bit of daylight. "You could always return it to me. Maybe a message in a bottle will reach Brooklyn." Drew joked.

They leaned against each other as the last bit of the sun ducked below the horizon. Drew couldn't help but remember Charlie, Silena, and Clarisse doing the same last summer while Chris sat a few feet away from Clarisse during some "super secret" oldest campers hangout.

"There's still time to ditch Blackbeard and come with me to camp. Then when the war is over we'll go search for your sister."

"I wish I could. There's just something I need to do first."

Drew squeezed Reyna's hand, "just promise me you'll come find me. You know I'll help you find your sister and since I know her name I can use the computers at school and try to find her—"