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"what didi do?" leo backed towards the lake. then he glanced up and yelped. "is my hair on fire?" he ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head. phoebe shook her head at the boys antics.
"this can't be good," butch muttered. "the curse—"
"butch, please shut up," annabeth said. "leo, you've just been claimed—"
"by a god," jason interrupted. "that's he symbol of vulcan, isn't it?"
all eyes turned to him.
"jason," annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"
"i'm not sure."
"vulcan?" leo demanded. "i don't even LIKE star trek. what are you guys talking about?"
"vulcan is the roman name for hephaestus ," annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."
the fiery hammer faded, but leo kept swatting the air, like he was afraid it was still following him. "the god of what? who?"
"hephaestus. god of blacksmiths and fire; your dad." phoebe said like it was obvious.
annabeth turned to the guy with the bow. "will, would you take leo, give him a tour? introduce him to his new bunk-mates in cabin nine."
"sure, annabeth ."
"what's cabin nine?" leo asked. "and i'm not a vulcan!"
"come on, mr. spock, i'll explain everything." will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.
annabeth and phoebe turned their attention to jason. piper felt a little bit jealous, but scolded herself for two reasons; one, they weren't checking him out, they were more like inspecting him. secondly, jason wasn't even really her boyfriend. he, apparently, didn't even know who she was.
"hold out your arm," phoebe said.
piper saw what she was looking at, and her eyes widened.
jason had taken off his windbreaker after their dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. how had piper never noticed it before? she'd seen jason's arms a million times. the tattoo couldn't have just appeared, but it was darkly etched, impossible to miss: a dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that an eagle with the letters spqr.
"i've never seen marks like this," annabeth said. "where did you get them?"
jason shook his head. "i'm getting really tired of saying this, but i don't know."
the other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at jason's tattoo. the marks seemed to bother them a lot—almost like a declaration of war.
"they look burned into your skin," phoebe noticed.
"they were," jason said. then he winced as if his head was aching. "i mean ... i think so. i don't remember."
