Son of Chaos

Chapter 57 - War Games and a Quest

Percy POV

"What we can tell you is this. Gaea is rising, and the giants are as well. Octavian, our augur, has seen an army marching toward Camp Jupiter with a giant leading them. With monsters being harder to kill and everything, soon we won't stand a chance." She said grimly. 

I frowned. 

"Hazel will now take you to the auguries, to see what the gods think about you joining the legion." 

Hazel and I left the principia and walked toward the auguries. 

On the way, we passed some goat-legged guys hanging out on the side of the road. 

"Hazel!" one of them cried. 

He trotted over with a grin on his face. He wore a faded Hawaiian shirt and nothing for pants except thick brown goat fur. His eyes were hidden behind little round rainbow-tinted glasses. He held a cardboard sign that read: WILL ̶W̶O̶R̶K̶ S̶I̶N̶G̶ ̶T̶A̶L̶K̶  FOR DENARII 

"Hi, Don," Hazel said, "Sorry we don't have time-" 

"Oh, that's cool! That's cool!" Don the Faun trotted along with us. "Hey, this guy's new!" He grinned at me. "Do you have three denarii for the bus? Because I left my wallet at home, and I've got to get to work, and-"

"Don," Hazel chided. "Fauns don't have wallets. Or jobs. Or homes. And we don't have buses. 

"Right," he said cheerfully. "But do you have some denarii? Please!

He sounded harmless, but I found that unsettling. I felt like they should be more than just homeless guys begging for denarii. 

Don looked at the ground in front of the two of us and gasped. 

"Score!" 

He reached for something, but Hazel screamed "Don, no!" She pushed him out of the way and snatched up a small shiny object. Percy caught a glimpse of it before Hazel flipped it into her pocket. I could have sworn it was a diamond. 

"Come on, Hazel," Don complained. "I could've bought a year's worth of doughnuts with that!" 

"Don, please. Go away." The faun sighed. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you. But I swear, it's like you're good luck. Every time you walk by." 

"Goodbye, Don." She said quickly. 

We walked along the way, not talking much about what had just happened, and also not chatting much in general. My mind was focused on getting back to Crystal. 

It had been more than a year since I'd been separated from her. How would she be now? Would she be crying every night, searching endlessly?

Or...

Or would she have moved on to somebody else? 

Even though my mind was focused on this, I tried to put it aside. 

We walked towards the largest temple, a round pavilion with a ring of white columns supporting a domed roof. "Is that Jupiter's temple? Where we are going?" 

Hazel nodded. "Octavian reads auguries there. The temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus." 

It meant Jupiter - the best and the greatest. 

Above us, thunder rumbled. Red lightning lit up the hill. 

"Octavian's almost done," Hazel said. "Let's go." 

When we got there, it was exactly how I'd expected it to be. The marble floor of the temple was etched with fancy mosaics and Latin inscriptions. Sixty feet above, the domed ceiling sparkled gold, and the whole temple was open to the wind.