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SHE WAS WEARING ARMOUR.
Not the armour from Camp Jupiter. No. It was from somewhere else. On top of her head was a helmet with a blue horsehair plume.
She was in a forest, next to a creek. In front of her was a boy wearing similar armour. Above his head was a trident.
"Your father," She said and she could feel a smile on her face, "He's claimed you, Percy."
"It is determined," Another man announced. Selena turned to see a centaur.
"My father?" The boy, Percy, asked,
"Poseidon," The centaur stated, "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God. "
Selena woke with a start. She laid in a bed, no one else in the room. She was in the fifth cohort barracks.
"Hey." Cato walked in,
"Please tell me it's time for breakfast." Selena groaned. She was so hungry, she could eat a centaur.
He nodded, "Are you okay?"
Selena stood, "Yeah I think so. What about you and Hazel?"
"We're fine." Cato answered. She noticed the bags under his eyes and knew she had similar, if not worse, ones.
"Good." She walked over to him, "I'm sorry. I didn't realise it would do that to us."
"No one's hurt. Well, maybe our ego, but just a little. Not that we had much of one anyway," He smirked at her, "Now, c'mon. A quick breakfast. Then we've got the senate meeting."
"Meeting?"
"Rumour is that there's a prophecy." Selena paused,
Dakota walked through, struggling with his toga. Selena raised her eyebrow, "Um, should I get my bedsheets?"
Cato snorted. "That's just for the senators. There're ten of them, elected yearly. You've got to be at camp five years to qualify."
"So how come we're invited to the meeting?"
"Jason told me we should go. Apparently, we have to be in on the discussion." He answered,
Selena swallowed nervously, "So, a meeting about a prophecy. That doesn't sound good."
"It rarely is."
As hungry as Selena was, she felt too nauseous to eat. A prophecy? That can't be good. Especially since campers who aren't apart of the senate were being invited.
It wasn't long before Reyna announced that the senate would now convene in the city, and all the folks in togas got up to leave.
"Here we go." Cato sighed,
"Where's Hazel?" Selena asked, looking around,
"She wasn't invited." He replied,
"Just the two of us?"
"Unfortunately."
The ghost Vitellius appeared next to them in a purple shimmer. "Bona fortuna, you two! Ah, senate meetings. I remember the one when Caesar was assassinated. Why, the amount of blood on his toga—"
"Thanks, Vitellius," Cato interrupted. "We should get going."
Reyna, Jason, and Octavian led the procession of senators out of camp, with Reyna's metal greyhounds dashing back and forth along the road. Cato and Selena trailed behind.
Dakota stumbled along in his red-speckled robe. A lot of other senators seemed to be having trouble with their togas, too—hiking up their hems, trying to keep the cloth from slipping off their shoulders. Selena was glad she was wearing a regular purple T-shirt and jeans.
"How could Romans move in those things?" She wondered.
"They were just for formal occasions," Cato replied, "Like tuxedos. I bet the ancient Romans hated togas as much as we do."
As they got closer to the city, Selena could appreciate how beautiful it was. The tiled roofs and gold domes gleamed in the sun. Gardens bloomed with honeysuckle and roses. The central plaza was paved in white and gray stone, decorated with statues, fountains, and gilded columns. In the surrounding neighborhoods, cobblestone streets were lined with freshly painted town houses, shops, cafés, and parks. In the distance rose the coliseum and the horse racing arena.
She didn't notice they'd reached the city limits until the senators in front of her started slowing down.
On the side of the road stood a white marble statue—a life-size muscular man with curly hair, no arms, and an irritated expression. Maybe he looked mad because he'd been carved only from the waist up. Below that, he was just a big block of marble.
"Single file, please!" the statue said. "Have your IDs ready."
Selena looked to her left and right. She hadn't noticed before, but a line of identical statues ringed the city at intervals of about a hundred yards.
The senators passed through easily. The statue checked the tattoos on their forearms and called each senator by name. "Gwendolyn, senator, Fifth Cohort, yes. Reyna, praetor, of course. Hank, senator, Third Cohort—oh, nice shoes, Hank! Ah, who have we here?"
Cato and Selena were the last ones.
"Terminus," Cato cleared his throat, "this is Selena Madison. Selena, this is Terminus, the god of boundaries."
"New, eh?" said the god. "Yes, probatio tablet. Fine. No weapons?"
Selena shrugged, "Not allowed my dagger back yet."
"Now, a few rules, since you're new," Terminus hummed, "You are entering the boundaries of the city proper. Keep the peace inside the line. Yield to chariot traffic while walking on public roads. When you get to the Senate House, sit on the left-hand side. Got it?"
"Thank you, Terminus. We need to get going." Cato replied,
"Fine, fine, you may pass," the god said testily.
As they approached the forum, Selena was struck by the sheer number of people. College-age kids were hanging out at the fountain. Several of them waved at the senators as they passed. One guy in his late twenties stood at a bakery counter, flirting with a young woman who was buying coffee. An older couple was watching a little boy in diapers and a miniature Camp Jupiter shirt toddle after seagulls. Merchants were opening their shops for the day, putting out signs in Latin that advertised pottery, jewelry, and half-price tickets for the Hippodrome.
"All these people are demigods?" Selena asked.
"Or descended from demigods," Cato said, "It's a good place to go to college or raise a family without worrying about monster attacks every day. Maybe two, three hundred people live here? The veterans act as, like, advisers and reserve forces as needed, but mostly they're just citizens living their lives."
The senators made their way to a big white-domed building on the west end of the forum. Selena paused at the doorway, trying not to think about Julius Caesar getting slashed to death at a senate meeting. Then she took a deep breath and followed Cato inside.
