◢ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 ◤
LORINDA TRIED TO PAY ATTENTION AS PERCY RENCOUNTERED HIS ADVENTURE WITH FRANK AND HAZEL.
Percy talked about how they'd traveled to Alaska, how they'd defeated the giant, free death, and returned their long-lost eagle to repel an attack by the giants' army.
Jason had whistled appreciatively when Percy had finished, then told him "no wonder that made you praetor."
But Lorinda knew Jason too well that he was jealous.
She dusted the non-existent dust off her armor.
Octavian, who apparently thought that people forgot about his presence cried, "Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!"
You just envy them since you'll never get to be praetor she thought with a roll of her eyes.
"On the bright side," Percy said, "both Jason and I outrank you, Octavian. So we can both tell you to shut up. And I'm pretty sure Lorinda there would help us with that."
Octavian turned as purple as a Roman T-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump.
But Lorinda didn't give any reaction to that. Her face was stony and stern.
"We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later," Reyna cut in, "right now we have more serious issues to deal with."
"I'll step aside for Jason," Percy said easily, "it's no biggie."
"Percy," Lorinda snapped, speaking for the first time the Greeks have arrived.
All attention turned to her, but she didn't mind. After all, she was used to the attention.
"What?" Percy protested.
Lorinda scowled why was Percy giving up such power without a proper fight or proper voting? Didn't he know how many people would have done anything to rise to the praetor position?
Annabeth, sensing tension in the room, cleared her throat.
"We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?"
Reyna nodded, "we call it the Property of Eight. Octavian, recite it, please. In English not Latin."
Octavian looked like a red tomato from frustration, but he sighed. "Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world shall fall.
"An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued, "and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
Lorinda shrugged while the others stared at Annabeth Chase. Her legs were itching to run away from this place. As far away from Jason Grace as she could. To avoid embarrassing herself. But she stayed put, like what her mother would have wanted her to.
Or at least what she thinks her mother would.
Frank Zhang shuffled and asked, "Is it true, you're a child of Min-I mean, Athena."
"Why yes of course," Lorinda snapped, before Annabeth could say anything, "I am pretty sure she knows herself better than you do."
She didn't know why she was in such a snappy mood, and why she snapped at Frank.
Frank was a responsible person after all.
"Lorinda, this is enough" Reyna warned, her eyes warning/pleading with her not to speak anymore.
"Annabeth comes in peace, besides..." Reyna's voice trailed off a little, "Percy had spoken highly of you."
Here comes the awkward part. Her brain told her.
Annabeth's cheeks reddened, "uh, thanks. At any rate, some of the property is becoming clear. Foes bearing arms to the Doors of Death...that means Romans and Greeks. We have to combine forces to find the doors."
Hazel Levesque spoke up, "My brother, Nico, Nico di Angelo went looking for the doors. He disappeared, I'm afraid...I'm not sure, but I think something's happened to him."
Then there it was again, that little part in Lorinda's brain telling her to do something irrational. But she shut it down.
"We'll look for him," Percy promised. "We have to find the Doors of Death anyways."
"Because Thanatos told you you'll find the answers there," Lorinda recalled, "and also because if we don't the giants are still just going to keep reappearing."
And that was when not-sure-how-to-describe Piper McLean twisted the overly bright harpy feather and added: "like water leaking through a dam."
Percy smiled, "yeah, we've got a dam hole."
"Damn?" Lorinda interrupted.
"No, inside joke," he said, "the point is we'll find the doors, defeat the giants and then close them."
Reyna plucked the apple Lorinda was about to reach for and said seriously, "You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do release that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?"
"May who?" Leo asked.
"Mare Nostrum," Lorinda and Jason said together. They glanced at each other then blushed and looked away.
Jason coughed, "Like I-we said, the Mare Nostrum. Our sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."
"The birthplace of not only the gods but also the worst monsters in the world. It would be 10 times more dangerous than America," Lorinda finished unconsciously. Chorusing Jason's words.
Jason started studying her again which she found creepy and irritable. So she took a deep breath and glared at him.
But just her luck, Jason held her gaze and started to ask a million questions with his eyes.
The unfortunate thing was, Lorinda could comprehend that.
Do I know you? Why do you look familiar? etc.
Annabeth (unconsciously) saved her, "We have to hurry up. Eight half-bloods must answer the call," she said. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."
"And me," Percy said. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's seven, we still need one more."
"What!" Octavian shot to his feet, "we're supposed to accept that? Without a vote the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"
The snappy part of her brain once again urged her to shut Octavian up. But it seemed like somebody else had already done the job.
"Percy!" Tyson the Cyclops bounded towards them with a hellhound at his heels and a harpy sitting on his back.
"Ella is scared," Tyson said.
"N-n-no more boats," the harpy muttered. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax...boats are not for harpies. No ships." Then she looked directly at Annabeth who was looking tense, "bad luck, there she is. Wisdom's daughter walks alone—"
"Ella!" Frank stood suddenly. "Maybe it's not the best time—"
"The mark of Athena burns through Rome," Ella continued, "twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won through pain from a woven jail."
Then there was silence. Even Lorinda was surprised, for she stared at the harpy, her brows ceased, as she gaped at her.
Percy recovered first, he stood up and took Tyson's arm.
"I know!" He said, feigning a smile, "how about you take Ella to get some fresh air? You and Mrs. O'Leary—"
"Hold on," Octavian gripped one of his teddy bears, strangling it with shaking hands. His eyes fixed on Ella, "what was that she said? It sounded like a prophecy—"
Lorinda saw Percy's alert face, and choked a laugh, "a prophecy? Seriously Octavian. The harpies I know only have the brains to chew corn."
Annabeth seemed to recover as well, "well, maybe harpies are different on the Roman side. Like Lorinda said. Besides, ours just have enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches I doubt that they usually tell the future. Do you consult them for tour auguries?"
For once, Octavian was speechless, and Lorinda enjoyed the scene. But what the harpy had said really bothered her. She was going to ask Percy or Frank or Hazel after this.
"She's probably just spouting lines from some book or movie as she did with the Titanic on Leo's boat," Annabeth said.
They hurriedly made Tyson and Ella go out of Octavian's sight. It was lucky Octavian didn't have enough brains to come up with a retort.
"Octavian is right about one thing," Reyna said, "we must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."
"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian grumbled.
"Come aboard man," Leo offered, "I'll give you a tour, you can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."
Octavian's nostrils flared, making him look like a skinny monkey with a red face, "how dare you—"
"It's a good idea," Reyna said, "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."
"Be back soon," Leo promised, "this is gonna be epic."
Or it's gonna go down in flames. A nagging part of her brain told her.
The wind spirits cleared the plates during the silence.
"Uh, Reyna," Jason said, "if you don't mind, I'd like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She's never seen New Rome."
Reyna's expression hardened as she glanced at Lorinda.
And suddenly, Lorinda felt her insides screaming, her head buzzing and spinning, making her dizzy.
She forced herself to sit up properly and look indifferent, but she obviously forgot her poker mask today for Annabeth looked at her with concern.
"Of course," Reyna said coldly, but she wasn't looking at Piper or Jason, she was carefully looking at Lorinda as if she were an explosive bomb and was going to explode anytime.
Right, that one time she lost control, and everybody remembered. Even her closest friend Reyna.
But Jason was the only one who hadn't treated her differently because of that.
Or it could be because they weren't even close back then.
But it didn't matter. Not anymore.
Percy took Annabeth's hand, "yeah, me too. I'd like to show Annabeth—"
"No," Reyna snapped, "I'd like a few words with Annabeth. Alone. If you don't mind, my fellow praetor."
Not like Percy minding would have an effect.
"Come, daughter of Athena," Reyna rose from her couch. "Walk with me." Then she stopped and addressed Lorinda, "Lorinda, you can take the day off if you want to."
Lorinda nodded and watched as everybody dissipated from the place.
LORINDA TRIED TO REST IN HER BUNK WHEN THE EXPLOSION CAME.
Her battle instinct kicked in as she raced outside to see what was going on.
And what she saw horrified her.
The Greek warship was firing down at New Rome.
Anger seethed through her, as she raced towards her legion, where people were fumbling for their nonexistent weapons and being very unorganized, to say the least.
"Legionnaires of the first," she bellowed, "stand down!"
"But Lorinda," one of them protested, "they're attacking the city."
Lorinda whipped around, anger blazing in her eyes, "are you the one in charge, or is it me? You will do as I say."
Another cannonball exploded 50 feet away from them.
"Holly," she screamed, Holly the legionnaire stepped forwards, "tell the legion to stand still while I check what's happening."
Then without another word, she raced down the hill to where the main fighting arena was.
All of the centurions and Greeks were there.
A mob of angry legionnaires from the 3rd and 4th was shouting angrily as they closed in on somebody.
Lorinda suited and then cursed when she realized it was Jason and Piper.
They were way outnumbered.
And so she was stuck in a dilemma.
To help Jason and the greeks, or to stand with her camp.
If it were 2 years ago, she would have chosen the latter in a heartbeat.
But now...
Your personal loyalty could cause severe danger to the world. Her mother's words echoed in her head.
"I'm on your side!" Jason pleaded. But even Lorinda wasn't convinced. His camp half-blood shirt didn't help with the matter.
A few Romans from the 2nd were preparing catapults to fire at the Argo II.
"Idiots," she muttered, they were only going to make matters worse.
Then, fortunately, she saw Reyna running towards them. She trusted Reyna with her heart, despite previous conflicts.
She ran further into the chaos.
She heard Percy call Annabeth.
And Annabeth seemed equally confused.
So this wasn't part of the greek demigod's plan.
"I'll tell you what," Octavian cried, "the Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"
"Impossible," Annabeth yelled.
"I was there!" Octavian shrieked, "I saw it with my own eyes. And Lorinda Richardson! Why are you not leading an attack on these traitors!"
"We do not know what is happening yet," she called back. "Romans stand down."
A few of them did, but most of them were too angry to listen to her.
"We need to leave now," she heard Annabeth tell Percy. "Now."
"He nodded grimly. "Hazel, Frank, you've got to make a choice. Are you coming?"
Hazel looked terrified, but she donned her cavalry helmet. "Of course we are."
Lorinda looked at the ruins of her home and sighed, she had made her decision.
She ran closer into the chaos.
"Annabeth," she yelled, "go now. I will buy you some time."
"But how?" Annabeth asked, too anxious to even be surprised that Lorinda was standing on their side.
Lorinda held out her hands.
Conquered a wall of water, and crashed it on the nearest 20 or so Roman demigods.
I give up, the gifs not going to load, I'll come back later to try again.