Would that I ──── Leo Valdez [2]

2: Judo flipping is a love language

─────A sea of hastily assembled demigods parted for Annabeth as she walked through the forum. Some looked tense, some nervous. Some were bandaged from their recent battle with the giants, but no one was armed. No one attacked.

Jason, Leo, Piper and Vincent walked behind her, letting her take the lead. Vincent was mostly trying to look confident and not do something embarrassing like trip over air and fall flat on his face with so many people watching him.

Sensing his anxiety (which was ironic since he was supposed to be the calm one), Leo slipped his hand into Vincent's. Immediately, Vincent felt like he had emerged from an ice cold bath and stuck in a room with a heater and fluffy blankets. Leo's hand was warm and his smile was warmer.

He waved and made finger guns at people as they walked by.

Entire families had gathered to see the newcomers. Vincent saw couples with babies, toddlers clinging to their parents' legs, even some elderly folks in a combination of Roman robes and modern clothes. Were all of them demigods? Vincent suspected so, though he'd never seen a place like this. At Camp Half-Blood, most demigods were teens. If they survived long enough to graduate from high school, they either stayed on as counselors or left to start lives as best they could in the mortal world. Here, it was an entire multigenerational community.

Vincent would like something like this one day.

At the far end of the crowd, Vincent spotted Tyson the Cyclops and Percy's hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary—who had been the first scouting party from Camp Half-Blood to reach Camp Jupiter. They looked to be in good spirits. Tyson waved and grinned. He was wearing an SPQR banner like a giant bib.

Some part of Vincent's mind registered how beautiful the city was—the smells from the bakeries, the gurgling fountains, the flowers blooming in the garden, the gilded marble columns, dazzling mosaics, monumental arches, and terraced villas.

In front of Annabeth, the demigods made way for a girl in full Roman armor and a purple cape. Dark hair tumbled across her shoulders. Her eyes were as black as obsidian.

Reyna.

Jason and Cassian had described her well. Even without that, anyone would have singled her out as the leader. Medals decorated her armor. She carried herself with such confidence the other demigods backed away and averted their gaze.

Vincent recognized something else in her face, too—in the hard set of her mouth and the deliberate way she raised her chin like she was ready to accept any challenge. Reyna was forcing a look of courage, while holding back a mixture of hopefulness and worry and fear that she couldn't show in public.

Vincent knew that expression, he could tell Annabeth recognized it as well.

Maybe the two girls should have been the ones who were exchanged. They were certainly similar enough for it.

The two girls considered each other. The Greeks fanned out on either side of Annabeth. The Romans murmured Jason's name, staring at him in awe.

Then someone else appeared from the crowd, and Vincent almost felt Annabeth's heart skip a beat.

Percy Jackson smiled at her and Vincent could tell he had missed her just as much as she had missed him. He didn't even waste time looking at any of the others that came with Annabeth. All that seemed to matter to him was his girlfriend in front of him.

It was so cute, Vincent and Piper shared a look and bit back their smiles.

Percy was as Vincent remembered him to be a few months ago— green eyes that sparkled with mischief but could make any monster shit their pants if he glared at them, a sarcastic, troublemaker smile like Leo's and dark wind-swept hair like he was the lead in some rom-com (Not that Vincent would know, because he didn't watch rom-coms. He didn't! Okay maybe once a week he and Leo got together with the Aphrodite cabin and watched cheesy romantic movies)