Mercurius watched as Percy took in his first sight of New Roma with its several miles wide valley. The basin floor rumpled with smaller hills, golden plains, and stretches of forest and the small clear river cut a winding course from a lake in the center and around the perimeter, like a capital G. Tuyshtak rose in the distance, right where it should be. To think that only six months had passed when Drew, Leo, and Jason took Enkélados down with vengeance.
Speaking of his niece and pseudo-sister in law, she was in the midst of flirting with the Hunters that dropped in on the camp. Her lips painted red like blood, Lea's hooded red and black jacket and a black choker as she got in their personal space. Ártemis hated it so much, watching her huntresses turned just as red as the girl's lips. They swore to stay maidens, swearing off Aphrodítē's touch of passion, and all of it was threatened when faced with Drew's charm. "The grass is greener wherever I'm at," the girl smirked.
Aphrodítē beamed proudly and Apóllōn laughed good-naturedly because she used the same lines as he, but they swore off love.
"Camp Jupiter," Magnus was saying as they continued onwards. Percy, however, was still distracted by sight of the city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs at the center of the valley, nestled by the lake. The open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains, and statues alongside the five-story-tall Roman coliseum that gleamed in the sun, next to the long oval arena like a racetrack. He had wanted to take Lea to a show at one point though he knew that would have caught his Father's attention. "We'll be safe once—"
Medea burst into the light behind them, breathing hard while covered with stone dust. She lost her helmet, so her hair fell down around her shoulders and there was along slash mark on her arm that she absently ran a hand of magicka over to heal. "I slowed them down, but they'll be here any second."
Magnus cursed. "We have to get across the river."
Iūnō squeezed Percy's neck tighter. "Oh, yes, please. I can't get my dress wet."
Venus snorted softly.
"But Percy has to cross the river himself. Not teleport or he'll never get his memories back."
Medea and Magnus tensed.
"You don't have your memories?" Medea demanded while Magnus look offended on the behalf of his cousin. The boy shook his head and the couple exchanged looks. Medea turned to look at Iūnō. "And why should we believe you?"
"Why, it is the will of the gods."
"Like I don't have enough divine issues," Medea grumbled before running to the river with Magnus and Percy. Every time the later stumbled, they kept him on his feet, stopping at the riverbank so that Percy could catch his breath. Iūnō must have been increasingly her weight, a sort of personification resembling the weight of the world on his shoulders as he drew closer to the boundary in the metaphysical atmosphere that kept the grecian world separate from the roman.
"Go, Medea," Magnus stated, turning around. One of his hands was coated in magicka while the unsheathed Sumarbrandr that was already talking a mile a minute. "Escort Percy so the sentries don't shoot him. It's my turn to hold off the baddies."
"If you die, I'll bring you back and kill you myself and then I'll let Pranjal have a turn," she threatened before she waded into the stream. The current was fast, but it wasn't too deep. It was just powerful, flowing with the power of the empire's river. Maybe Percy could sense it. The underlining distrust and hostility that it bore. Maybe he could sense the hatred within it from the Trojans that fled their homes to escape the Achaeans, the blood that they shed to defend the home that they created imbued in its rivers. Maybe he could sense the weight of Ancient Roma and all that it entail as the world's superpower pressing upon it as if saying: Look child, gaze upon my strength. Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one.
A bunch of hogwash that Mercurius hadn't heard since that one buddist so long ago though he could admit the man had style.
"The Little Tiber," said Iūnō sympathetically. "It flows with the power of the original Tiberis, river of the empire. This is your last chance to back out, child. The mark of Akhilles is a Greek blessing. You can't retain it if you cross into Roman territory. The Tiber will wash it away."
"If I cross, I won't have iron skin anymore?"
Iūnō smiled. "So what will it be? Safety, or a future of pain and possibility?"
The gorgons screeched as they flew from the tunnel only to be stopped by a life sized design of sticky paper. Sumarbrandr chopped them into pieces, but they only reformed. From the middle of the river, Medea yelled, "Percy, come on!" Up on the watchtowers, horns blew. The sentries shouted and swiveled their crossbows toward the gorgons.
Percy forged into the river and the gods could see Tiberis ridding the boy of his sister, Styx, touch. The boy reached the other side, placing Iūnō down as the camp's gated open, their children and legacies spilling out of it. His eyes moved across the camp, taking in the earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes. Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized, mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading toward the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity: dozens of kids going to and from barracks, carrying weapons, polishing armor.
Medea turned, hair flying in the air with as she smiled in relief before her expression became horrified as she took in the sight of her boyfriend. The boy was in the midst of teleporting across the river when the gorgons caught him, snatching him out of the midst of his spell. He screamed in pain as their claws dug into his skin; Sumarbrandr falling into the river.
"MAGNUS!" came the frightened voice of Medea mixed with their other blessings. It sounded appropriately shrill over the excellent quality of Vulcanus' surround system. The other kids drew swords and got ready to charge into the water as the sentries yelled, unable to get a clear shot.
It may have been because he was watching so intensely that he registered the flash of recognition and horror on Percy's face before he thrust out his hands. He took note of the affrontment and surprise that came from Tiberis as the boy's will pressed down upon him. The river surged, forming whirlpools on either side of Magnus. Giant watery hands erupted from the stream, copying Percy's movements. The giant hands grabbed the gorgons, who dropped Magnus in surprise. The boy teleported midair to land at Medea and Pranjal's side, the latter quickly checking him over while the girl smiled proudly at Percy. The giant hands lifted the squawking monsters in a liquid vise grip while the legionnaires yelped and backed away.
Over on Temple Hill, a certain someone, the son of Troy, turned towards the riverbank, the blue hue of his eyes engulfed by the golden lights of heaven.
Percy made smashing gesture with his fists, and the giant hands plunged the gorgons into the Tiber. Tiberis' feelings of offense poured deeper into the air as the monsters hit the bottom, breaking into dust. With barely a thought, he swept their essence downstream as they struggled to reform, sending them off to Tartara.
The legionaries all stared at him, but Medea rushed to check him over, murmurs of not-having-Lea-angry-at-me-again falling from her mouth.
"Well, that was a lovely trip," Iūnō said as Magnus got to his feet to also check Percy over, his and Medea's magicka roaming over his body to check for injuries. "Thank you, Percy Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter."
"Percy...Jackson?" The daughter of Bellōna; the praetor, choked. Her eyes grew flinty in horror and rage and that underlying fear that she may lose another home due to the actions of the Earthshaker's son. Her cloak, regal and purple, seemed to drown her. Her fingers twitched with the need to pull it closer as if she could rid herself of the icy chill of death that followed her since the Municipio Autónomo de San Juan all the way to the Kírkē's resort and spa and further to the sea when Edward Thatch and his crew took them hostage before Kírkē could rescue them. The pirates were settled into different kindergarten classes across the globe or finally in the Netherworld because the goddess' temper got the best of her. The medals that she earned and inherited glittered across her chest, just as distracting as her dark, piercing eyes that gazed upon Percy as if he was the monster that lingered in her nightmares.
He wondered how she would feel to see his Leaneíras, if his beloved was to emerged from the river behind her brother like some sort of eldritch horror, mageia wafting from her so strongly that even mortals would have been able to perceive it. She'd probably faint if Lea appeared, draping herself over her brother, both of them with their gleaming green eyes that grasped the soul of all those gazed upon them.
It'd be pretty funny. He would have to make that happen as soon as he found his Leaneíras. Venus would help him because she gained unstrained joy at the pain of anyone that harmed her children and their feelings. His sister was a menace to society and while he was named the Divine Trickster, she was no slouch in the department.
Iūnō laughed with delight. "Oh, yes. You'll have such fun together!" Before she began to shift in her preferred mortal vessel, her divinity washing over her until the rags that she wore changed into a blue dress, the same colors as the disney's princess, Cinderella, and her favored goat skinned cloak settled around her shoulders. Her staffed, imbued with the power of the heavens situated in the lotus flower that sat on top of it, gleamed in her hand.
All of the mortals save Percy fell to their knees before the Queen of the Dii Consentes, Sāturnus' stern daughter.
"Juno," Medea murmured.
"Juno, huh?" the son of Poseidón said. "If I passed your test, can I have my memory and my life back?"
The goddess smiled. "In time, Percy Jackson, if you succeed here at camp. You've done well today, which is a good start. Perhaps there's hope for you yet." She turned to the other kids. "Romans, I present to you the son of Neptūnus. For months he has been slumbering, but now he is awake. His fate is in your hands. Fors Fortūna comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle. Do not fail me!"
Iūnō shimmered and disappeared to check in with Jason at Camp Half-Blood. Percy looked at Medea and Magnus for some kind of explanation, but they seemed just as confused as he was. Magnus held onto two small clay flasks that he banished to his work station in the Fifth Barracks.
Bellōna's daughter rose to her feet, stepping forward as she examined Percy warily. She probably wanted to carve his heart with her dagger and feed it to him, but Mercurius knew of the protection spells that Lea weaved around her brother. If anything, the girl would be the one to eat her heart out if she tried. Though the spells were weak since his Leaneíras was not even in the same dimension of Percy.
He should have never showed her how to world walk.
"So," she said coldly, "a son of Neptune, who comes to us with the blessing of Juno."
Completely ironic given that Jason Grace was a son of Iovis with the blessing of Iūnō.
"Look," Percy said, "my memory's a little fuzzy. Um, it's gone, actually. Do I know you?"
The girl hesitated. "I am Reyna, praetor of the Twelfth Legion. And... no, I don't know you."
That last part was a lie.
"Medea," said Reyna, "bring him inside. I want to question him at the principia. Then we'll send him to Octavian. We must consult the auguries before we decide what to do with him."
"What do you mean," Percy asked, "'decide what to do with' me?"
Reyna's hand tightened on her dagger. "Before we accept anyone into camp, we must interrogate them and read the auguries. Juno said your fate is in our hands. We have to know whether the goddess has brought us as a new recruit...." Reyna studied Percy as if she found that doubtful. "Or," she said more hopefully, "if she's brought us an enemy to kill."
A move that would result in her death.
The quartet moved through the camp. Percy's eyes were wide as he took everything in, staring just as much as the spirits that stopped to stare at him.
"Am I seeing things?" he asked. "Or are those—"
"Ghosts?" Medea turned, magicka dancing in her eyes. "They're Lares. House gods. Children of Mercurius and their brethren."
"House gods," Percy said. "Like...smaller than real gods, but larger than apartment gods?"
"They're ancestral spirits," Magnus explained, his dreadlocs had grown longer, styled in a low bun at the base of his neck. "The Lares are kind of like mascots," he continued. "Mostly they're harmless, but I've never seen them so agitated."
"They're staring at me," Percy said. "That ghost kid called me Greggus. My name isn't Greg."
"Graecus," Medea said. "With your memory gone, its not surprising, but I do know that you know Latin. Graecus means Greek."
"You know me," Percy asked. Medea nodded, twirling her fingers and allowing magicka to keep their conversation private. "I do," she said truthfully. "You're not supposed to be here, but we cant get you back home with your memories in tact just yet. So, you know... don't bring up the fact that we know each other unless directly asked. Just ... just be careful. And try not to be so... greekish? I don't know. Just don't do whatever your instincts tell you. I am not taking another trip to the sea, dammit."
"I mean my memory is gone."
The couple snorted as Medea let the spell dissolve when the four of them stopped at the center of camp, where two wide stone-paved roads met at a T. A street sign labeled the road to the main gates as via praetoria. The other road, cutting across the middle of camp, was labeled via principalis.
Along the Via Praetoria, rows of shops advertised food, armor, weapons, coffee, gladiator equipment, and toga rentals. A chariot dealership had a big advertisement out front: CAESAR XLS W/ANTI LOCK BRAKES, NO DENARII DOWN! Lea would love it.
Medea and Magnus' blessing, Pranjal, had ducked back into the valetudinarium.
"Your headquarters?" Percy asked as he nodded his head towards the most impressive building—a two-story wedge of white marble with a columned portico like an old-fashioned bank. Roman guards stood out front. Over the doorway hung a big purple banner with the gold letters SPQR embroidered inside a laurel wreath.
Reyna faced him, her eyes still cold and hostile. "It's called the principia." She scanned the mob of curious campers who had followed them from the river. "Everyone back to your duties. I'll give you an update at evening muster. Remember, we have war games after dinner."
The crowd dispersed reluctantly. Some muttered comments about Percy's chances, but Reyna scowled at them, and they cleared off.
"Medea, Magnus," Reyna said. "Come with us. I want your report on what happened at the gates."
Reyna waved the trio toward the headquarters. "Now, Percy Jackson, let's see if we can improve your memory."
The principia was even more impressive inside. On the ceiling glittered a mosaic of Romulus and Remus under their adopted mama she-wolf while the floor was polished marble and the walls were draped in velvet. Along the back wall stood a display of banners and wooden poles studded with military symbols. In the center was one empty display stand.
In the back corner, a stairwell led down. It was blocked by a row of iron bars like a prison door. In the center of the room, a long wooden table was cluttered with scrolls, notebooks, tablet computers, daggers, and a large bowl filled with jelly beans, which seemed kind of out of place. Two life-sized statues of greyhounds—one silver, one gold—flanked the table. Reyna walked behind the table and sat in one of two high-backed chairs.
"So..." he started to say though the praetor's dogs bared their teeth and growled.
Percy froze.
"Easy, guys," Reyna told the greyhounds. They stopped growling, but kept eyeing Percy as though they were imagining him in a doggie bag. "They won't attack," Reyna said, "unless you try to steal something, or unless I tell them to. That's Argentum and Aurum."
"Silver and Gold," Percy said, a little unnecessarily but he was better skilled in latin than his sister who never hesitates to take Latin off of her schedule despite the fact that she needs it for some of her spells and obscure potions.
Reyna set her dagger on the table though Mercurius knew that she was skilled enough that being unarmed hardly meant anything.
"We have met," Percy noted. "I don't remember when. Please, if you can tell me anything—"
"First things first," Reyna said. "I want to hear your story. What do you remember? How did you get here? And don't lie. My dogs don't like liars."
Argentum and Aurum snarled to emphasize the point.
Percy told his story—how he'd woken up at the ruined mansion in the woods of Sonoma. He described his time with Lupa and her pack, learning their language of gestures and expressions, learning to survive and fight, teaching him about demigods, monsters, and the gods. He carefully kept any mentions of what Medea and Magnus told her.
"No memory at all?" she asked. "You still remember nothing?"
"Fuzzy bits and pieces."
Reyna spun her dagger. "Most of what you're describing is normal for demigods. At a certain age, one way or another, we find our way to the Wolf House. We're tested and trained. If Lupa thinks we're worthy, she sends us south to join the legion. But I've never heard of someone losing his memory. How did you find Camp Jupiter?"
Percy told her about the last three days—the gorgons who wouldn't die, the old lady who turned out to be a goddess, and finally meeting Medea and Magnus at the tunnel in the hill.
Medea took the story from there with interjections from Magnus. They described Percy as brave and heroic though there was a familiarity in her words that Reyna picked on.
"You know him," Reyna accused. Medea shrugged casually. "We went to school together before he transferred. We stayed in touch over the years. I never would have originally suspected that he was a demigod. He's actually close with Magnus' cousin."
And well, it wasn't a lie. She had never suspected the twins were of divine birth.
The aforementioned boy nodding his head. "I go to school with him and my cousin. It's because of them that I met Medea actually."
"Yeah, I read the mission reports." Reyna murmured, turning back to Percy and studying his form. "You're old for a recruit. You're what, sixteen?"
"I think so," Percy said.
"If you spent that many years on your own, without training or help, you should be dead. A son of Neptune? You'd have a powerful aura that would attract all kinds of monsters."
"Yeah," Percy said. "I've been told that I smell."
"You must've been somewhere before the Wolf House," she said.
Percy shrugged and Reyna sighed. "Well, the dogs haven't eaten you, so I suppose you're telling the truth."
"Great," Percy said. "Next time, can I take a polygraph?"
Reyna stood to pace in front of the banners while her pets watched her go back and forth.
"Even if I accept that you're not an enemy," she said, "you're not a typical recruit. The Queen of Olympus simply doesn't appear at camp, announcing a new demigod. The last time a major god visited us in person like that..." Another thing that was in the mission reports as it was Iūnō again, and that time she was bringing Jason. "I've only heard legends about such things. And a son of Neptune...that's not a good omen. Especially now."
"What's wrong with Neptune?" Percy asked. "And what do you mean, 'especially now'?"
Reyna kept pacing. "You've fought Medusa's sisters, who haven't been seen in thousands of years. You've agitated our Lares, who are calling you a graecus. And you wear strange symbols—that shirt, the beads on your necklace. What do they mean?"
"I don't know," he said.
"And your sword?" Reyna asked. Medea and Magnus tensed. Percy hadn't pulled out his sword since the moment he appeared before the tunnel. Still, the boy pulled it out and uncapped allowing to spring to full form. The greyhounds barked apprehensively.
Magnus jerked, eyes moving down to the pendant around his neck where his own sword lied dormant. No doubt that the talking piece of junk metal was yapping his ear off.
"It's very old—a Greek design." Reyna noted darkly. "We used to have a few in the armory before..." She stopped herself. "The metal is called Celestial bronze. It's deadly to monsters, like Imperial gold, but even rarer."
"Imperial gold?" Percy asked.
Reyna unsheathed her golden dagger. "The metal was consecrated in ancient times, at the Pantheon in Rome. Its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors—a way for their champions to slay monsters that threatened the empire. We used to have more weapons like this, but now...well, we scrape by. I use this dagger. Medea has a spatha, a cavalry sword though she changes weapons every other month so. Most legionnaires use a shorter sword called a gladius. But that weapon of yours is not Roman at all. It's another sign you're not a typical demigod. And your arm..."
"What about it?" Percy asked.
Reyna held up her own forearm, showing off her tattoo on the inside: the letters SPQR, a crossed sword and torch, and under that, four parallel lines like score marks.
Percy glanced at Medea and Magnus.
"We all have them," she confirmed, holding up her arm that had the letters SPQR with seven score marks underneath twin torches. And when Percy glanced at Magnus, the boy showed off his SPQR tattoo with one score mark underneath a crossed wheat-sheaf and sickle. "All full members of the legion do."
Percy looked at his own arms. A few scrapes, some mud, and a fleck of Crispy Cheese 'n' Wiener, but no tattoos.
"So you've never been a member of the legion," Reyna said. The trio in front of her kept their faces carefully blank. "These marks can't be removed. I thought perhaps..." She shook her head, as if dismissing an idea.
Medea leaned forward. "If he's survived as a loner all this time, maybe he's seen Jason." She turned to Percy. "Have you ever met a demigod like us before? A blond guy in a purple shirt, with a scar on his lip and marks on his arm—"
"Medea." Reyna's voice tightened. "Percy's got enough to worry about."
Percy touched the point of his sword, and Riptide shrank back into a pen. "I haven't seen anyone like you guys before. Who's Jason?"
Reyna gave Medea an irritated look who rolled her eyes. "He is...he was my colleague." Medea scoffed under her breath as Reyna waved her hand at the second empty chair. "The legion normally has two elected praetors. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, was our other praetor until he disappeared last October."
"You mean he's been gone eight months, and you haven't replaced him?"
"He might not be dead," Medea said strongly. "We haven't given up."
"Elections only happen in two ways," Reyna said as she grimaced. "Either the legion raises someone on a shield after a major success on the battlefield—and we haven't had any major battles—or we hold a ballot on the evening of June 24, at the Feast of Fortuna. That's in five days."
Percy frowned. "You have a feast for tuna?"
"Fortuna," Medea corrected. "She's the goddess of luck. Whatever happens on her feast day can affect the entire rest of the year. She can grant the camp good luck...or really bad luck."
The trio glanced at the empty display stand, as if thinking about what was missing.
A chill went down Percy's back. "The Feast of Fortune...The gorgons mentioned that. So did Juno. They said the camp was going to be attacked on that day, something about a big bad goddess named Gaea, and an army, and Death being unleashed. You're telling me that day is this week?"
"You will say nothing about that outside this room," Reyna ordered as her fingers tightened around the hilt of her dagger. "I will not have you spreading more panic in the camp."
"So it's true," Percy said. "Do you know what's going to happen? Can we stop it?"
Hērmês stared. For someone that tended to complain about the being the child of the prophecy and how he didn't sign up to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, he sure had a bleeding heart. Not that Hērmês was complaining himself. He had benefited from that caring nature himself.
"We've talked enough for now," Reyna said. "Medea, take him to Temple Hill. Find Octavian. On the way you can answer Percy's questions. Tell him about the legion."
"Yes, Reyna."
"Magnus, I need you to go to the armory. Check our inventory. I'll call you if I need you."
"Yes, Reyna."
The daughter of Bellōna, sheathed her dagger while her dogs stood and growled, inching toward Percy. They may have found no lies in his words, but his existence as a roman demigod was a lie in itself.
"Good luck with the augury, Percy Jackson," Reyna said. "If Octavian lets you live, perhaps we can compare notes...about your past."