As the two of them walked out of Temple Hill, Medea spent the time teasing Percy about Octavian. It reminded him very much of Drew teasing Lea about himself.
It was as they were walking down the side of the hill that the son of Háidēs seemed to bleed from the shadows. Father tensed before turning slowly towards his brother with an unimpressed frown. Háidēs himself shrugged unrepentant.
"Hey," Medea called, nodding her head at her technical prince for Trivia was a goddess of the Netherworld and Nico's Father was its king. "I've brought a blast from the past."
Nico turned to look at them, dark eyes peeking out through messy black hair.
"Percy Jackson," Medea announced with gravitas. Not that she needed to since they all knew each other though the son of Poseidón wouldn't remember that. "Percy, this is Nico, the son of Pluto."
Percy scowled. "I—I know you."
Nico raised his eyebrows. "Do you?" He looked at Medea for explanation.
"Drop the act," Medea scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Percy's lost his memory." She explained what happened since Percy arrived at the gates before turning to look at the son of Poseidón. "Nico travels all over. All I know is that you helped him out one time, but Lea didn't explain much more."
"This story about Gaea's army," Nico said, changing the subject. "You warned Reyna?"
Percy nodded. "Who is Gaea, anyway?"
"She's the earth goddess." Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children."
"Mother Earth...is evil?" Percy asked.
"I wouldn't say that," Dēmḗtēr mused. "More as in she's protective of her children as she rightfully should be. It's just the fact that there is no right answer in how to treat them."
"Very," Nico said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos—um, I mean, Saturn—to kill his dad, Caelus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Dii Consentes gods, overthrew them."
"That story seems familiar, but I don't think I ever heard the part about Gaea."
Over in the armory, Reyna stormed in with her dogs, looking troubled. "Magnus. That's enough with the armor. Go find Medea. Get Percy Jackson down here. He's been up there too long. I don't want Octavian..." She hesitated. "Just get Percy down here."
Her words would be insulting if she knew that the two of them were khaos-mates, but alas she did not. She had good reason to worry though. The Son of Troy was mildly power hungry, but more in the effect that if he could, he would bring New Roma out of the shadows and establish it as the world's leading power all over again with a healthy dose of money being poured into underdeveloped avenues like mental health, ocean exploration, and scientific research to expand on the human body.
Truthfully they should be glad that the boy was so busy fighting against the corruption within New Roma and subsequently adjusting his plans when Apollō or Dīāna or Venus or Mārs killed any adult that dared to touch him before he became of legal age.
That was also without mentioning his new passive aggressive stance against Reyna by weaponizing the law book and paperwork against her since she was the last to see Jason Grace.
The boy was the last of a great legacy... Well, one of the last. Mercurius wouldn't bring up attention to the other line and carefully pushed that thought to the deep recesses of his mind. Either way, the boy had lost so much in life that he would kill to hold onto what he carved out for himself.
With Percy at his side, that meant that he got Lea also and he had the support of Jason even if the boy was "missing"; Octavian had a lot of friends, most of them bought but the others... the ones that really mattered to him approached like sunflowers reaching for Sol.
Still, Magnus nodded his head and turned to leave as the weaponry did not react well to magicka.
Nico shrugged. "She got mad when the gods took over. She took a new husband—Tartarus, the spirit of the abyss—and gave birth to a race of giants. They tried to destroy Mount Olympus, but the gods finally beat them. At least...the first time."
"The first time?" Percy repeated.
Nico glanced at Medea, and she sighed, turning to Percy. "The last four years have been hell. Saturn tried to make a comeback by starting the Second Titan War. The Legion stormed Mount Othrys, across the bay on Mount Tamalpais, where he was planning to rebuild his castle. We took out thousands of monsters and hundreds of the demigods and mortals that he employed under him. Jason took on his brother Megamedes himself, beat him in hand to hand combat actually and toppled Saturn's black throne. The gods took care of Saturn themselves, but now..."
"Now it looks like the Titans' defeat stirred up Gaea," Nico jumped in. "She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods..."
"You've told Reyna this?" Percy asked.
"Of course." Nico's jaw tensed. "The Romans don't trust me. That's why I was hoping she'd listen to you. Children of Pluto...well, no offense, but they think we're even worse than children of Neptune. We're bad luck."
"Which is bullshit," Medea stated, "Like they're doing nothing but pissing off the god who rules over the dead and the underworld and can very much bypass the three judges and fuck their afterlife up!"
A small smile flitted across Nico's face. "But look, Percy, the giants aren't the worst problem. Even ... even Gaea isn't the worst problem. The thing you noticed about the gorgons, how they wouldn't die, that's our biggest worry. Death isn't—"
Before he could finish, a shout came from down the hill. Magnus jogged toward them, wearing his jeans, purple camp shirt, and denim jacket. His hands were covered with grease from cleaning weapons.
He reached the shrine. "Hey, Nico..."
"Magnus." Nico smiled. He seemed to find Magnus amusing, maybe because Magnus was one of the only ones at camp who wasn't uneasy around the child of Ploutō. Then again, Cerēs was over the mysteries.
"Reyna sent me to get Percy," Magnus said. "Did Octavian accept you?"
"Yeah," Percy said with a small blush on his cheeks. "He slaughtered my panda."
"He...Oh. The augury? Yeah, teddy bears must have nightmares about that guy. But you're in! We need to get you cleaned up before evening muster."
"You're right," Medea said. "We'd better—"
"Magnus," Nico interrupted, "why don't you take Percy down? Medea and I will be along soon."
"That's—that's a good idea," she sighed. "Go ahead, guys. We'll catch up."
Percy looked at Nico one more time, as though he was still trying to place a memory. "I'd like to talk with you some more. I can't shake the feeling—"
"Sure," Nico agreed. "Later. I'll be staying overnight."
"You will?" Medea blurted. The campers were going to love that—the so-called son of Neptūnus and the son of Ploutō arriving on the same day. Now all they needed was some black cats and broken mirrors.
Mercurius knew exactly what he was going to be doing.
"Go on, Percy," Nico said. "Settle in." He turned to Medea, and she got the sense that the worst part of her day was yet to come. "Medea and I need to talk."
Percy was scratching his head from the conversation that he was having: "How does a god become Roman? If he's Greek, wouldn't he stay Greek?"
"The way Romans saw it, they adopted the Greek stuff and perfected it."
Percy's disgruntled face was mimicked by the gods in the throne room. "Perfected it? Like there was something wrong with it?"
"No," Magnus shook his head. "It's complicated. Mind you, I heard more about this from Medea and Lea debates even before—" Before both girls were tricked and threatened to not speak about it. When they learned they were both demigods and arguing about the smallest things in their worship or non-worship in the case of Leaneíras. The other children may think that she was weird and disrespectful, but there were a bunch of atheists in Ancient Greece also. Hērmês found it refreshing. "The gods ruled the world. They crafted it. They bled for it from their predecessors. They've existed in different aspects. Even the minor gods are considered major in another pantheon. Like...I met your dad once..."
"You've met my dad?"
"You and Lea look just like him or well, just like the mortal form that he uses," Magnus nodded. "But um, he told me once that there are no other gods of this world other than them. Most of the pantheons were created by accident like the norse gods were because three of them were drunk. Like I said, its complicated, but here, it's well...Rome was more successful than Greece. They made this huge empire. The gods became a bigger deal in Roman times—more powerful and widely known. That's why they're still around today." The boy nodded his head decisively as he continued to lead the way to the bathhouses "So many civilizations base themselves on Rome. The gods changed to Roman because that's where the center of power was. But again, the empire was invading everyone and forcing their gods on them, so they were taking these other aspects of the gods and chiseling out what they didn't like and leaving behind something more admirable to them, I guess. Jupiter was...well, more responsible as a Roman god than he had been when he was Zeus. Mars became a lot more important and disciplined. Well, I can't say that about Zeus. He was responsible. He was a king. Everyone just saw his affairs as being irresponsible, but then they realized that most of his children were a part of prophecies that needed to be completed or they were destined to become khaos-mates to gods like how your sister is or they just needed to start family lines. Like Dardanos, king of Dardania, Father of Troy, and the Grandfather of Roma. He's Octavian's ancestor making him the one person at camp with the most deities in his blood."
"What—who?"
"Uh, Zeus. Electra, she's one of the Pleiades. Apollon with an N. Aeneas' older sister who kick started the line. Then Aphrodite since she was the mother of Aeneas who founded Rome and Aeneas' kids married his sister's kids. Yeah, gross I know but that's how it was back then. And Aeneas became a god. Then there is Mars as the Father of Remus and Romulus. Then there's the fact that Romulus became a god too. Then it makes it way through the republic until we get to Julius Caesar and then the first Octavian, the first emperor. And the line just continues through there with a few minor deities."
"Huh," Percy murmured, glancing back at Temple Hill where unknowingly to him, Octavian scrubbed the dirt and mud that he tracked out of the temple. The boy had feelings about proper care of the temples, and a lot of people in New Roma that were down on their luck and needed some extra cash found that he was willing to pay for them to clean the temples if they did it correctly.
They always skipped over Ploutō and Neptūnus's temples, and he took that cut out of their pay, but the gods all watched as the boy zeroed in on those temples and knew that they would soon be getting major makeovers. Nothing less than the best for his blessed.
"So you're saying the old Greek gods—they just changed permanently to Roman? There's nothing left of the Greek?"
"Uh..." Magnus started nervously. "That's a sensitive topic. Some people say Greek influence is still around, like it's still a part of the gods' personalities. I've heard stories of demigods occasionally leaving Camp Jupiter. They reject Roman training and try to follow the older Greek style—like being solo heroes instead of working as a team the way the legion does. And back in the ancient days, when Rome fell, the eastern half of the empire survived—the Greek half."
Percy stared at him. "I didn't know that."
"It was called Byzantium." Magnus stated. "The eastern empire lasted another thousand years, but it was always more Greek than Roman. For those of us who follow the Roman way, it's kind of a sore subject. That's why, whatever country we settle in, Camp Jupiter is always in the west—the Roman part of the territory. The east is considered bad luck. Your sister hates all of it, but she's also an atheist sooo..."
"What," Percy started dryly. "How is her soulmate a god and she doesn't believe in them?"
"Aliens," Magnus nodded because of course she got him to go along with her insane theory. "They are inter dimensional aliens that are trying to take over the world by impregnation and there's a parasite in our bodies that will eventually awaken once they complete their mission of takeover."
Percy stared at him. "You watch a lot of sci-fi movies?"
"I had this exact conversation with Lea before," Magnus laughed before he sobered up as they reached the gates. "I'll take you to the baths to get you cleaned up," Magnus said. "But first... about those vials I found at the river."
"Gorgon's blood," Percy said. "One vial heals. One is deadly poison."
Magnus's eyes widened. "You know about that? Listen, I wasn't going to keep them or well... I just—"
"I know why you did it, Magnus."
"You do?"
"Yeah." Percy smiled. "If I'd come into camp carrying a vial of poison, that would've looked bad. You were trying to protect me."
Magnus stared. "You really are too good to be true, but no. I mean if we could figure out which vial was which, it might heal your memory, but also, your sister is like a potion specialist and she learned from Circe so I wanted to try it, but your memory is more important dude."
Percy's smile faded as he gazed across the hills. "Maybe...I guess. But you should hang on to those vials for now. There's a battle coming. We may need them to save lives."
"Again, too good to be true. And poison is the least worrying thing that had been brought to camp before. Chelsea, one of the legionaries literally rode through on the back of a myrmeke ant before and Pranjal supposedly came in dragging a dead body, but I think that was a rumor Octavian started because Pranjal is the scariest person here at camp and Octavian's terrified of him."
Percy laughed, "Duly noted. I think?"
"Anyway, you don't remember anything?" Magnus asked. "Family, friends? I mean it's obvious you don't remember Lea which is crazy because you two literally shared a womb, but no Annabeth or Eliza?"
Percy fingered the clay beads around his neck. "Only glimpses. Murky stuff. I think I remember them. They all sound familiar and the picture of Lea.. I— I knew— know that I love her and she's important to me, but it's also like watching a movie from the 1920s and not knowing who the people are supposed to be."
The two of them stopped at the bathhouse entrance. "Well, I'll tell you what little I know of your relationships with them. Eliza and Medea go to school together while the rest of us are at B.A.G."
"Bag?
"Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted," Magnus explained as they walked into the steam room.
Another screen however showed Medea and Nico's conversation.
"You know what's going on with him, don't you," Medea said as they sat on the roof of Ploutō's shrine that was covered with bones and diamonds which the Netherworld god placed there to fund his son's habits at the camp. Nico swung his feet like a little kid. His Stygian iron sword lay by his side, next to Medea's spatha. He gazed across the valley, where construction crews were working in the Field of Mārs, building fortifications for tonight's games.
"Percy Jackson." He said the name like an incantation. "Medea, I have to be careful what I say. Important things are at work here. Some secrets need to stay secret. You of all people—you should understand that."
"So something is going on..." Medea mused. "The Prophecy of the Seven. He's a part of it." Her head tilted to the side. "Jason and Lea too?"
"No," Nico said, twisting his skull ring. Around him, bones began to quiver as if they were trying to form a new skeleton. "Not Lea. I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I can't interfere. Percy and Lea have their own paths to walk."
If only he, as her blessing, knew what path that she was currently walking.
"Then it's true about Death? Is Alcyoneus to blame?"
"I think so," Nico said. "It's getting bad in the Underworld. Dad's going crazy trying to keep things under control. From what Percy said about the gorgons, things are getting worse up here, too. The quicker we get Mors back the better. The quicker we get his Doors back even better than that."
Mercurius tuned the rest of that out, turning his attention to the backlog of orders that he needed to go through and also keeping one eye on the screen that was showing the Real Housewives of Poseiria. Truthfully, he didn't start back paying attention until it went on a commercial break just in time to witness Medea teleporting into her place for the evening muster. Her magicka flowed over her, dressing her for war with her polished chain mail and greaves that gleamed over her purple t-shirt and jeans. Her weaponry was hidden carefully on her person, so she and all the other legionnaires that utilized magicka or were children of Mārs, Venus, and Vulcanus were the only one that were not carrying pilums, gladiuses, daggers, and all the other equipment since they either hid them in pocket dimensions or simply had their armor adjust to hide them away.
Reyna was cantering back and forth on her pegasus while her dogs trotted at her side and her purple officer's cape billowed behind her.
Nico joined Percy, who was standing off to one side with a couple of guards. The son of Poseidón was in fresh clothes, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Mercurius wondered if he had any memories of when he and Lea attended a military school.
Octavian shouted, "Colors!"
The standard-bearers stepped forward, wearing lion-skin capes and held poles decorated with each cohort's emblems.
"Romans!" Reyna announced as she brought her pegasus to a halt. "You've probably heard about the incursion today. Two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, Percy Jackson. Juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him a son of Neptune."
The kids in the back rows craned their necks to see Percy. He raised his hand and said, "Hi."
"He seeks to join the legion," Reyna continued. "What do the auguries say?"
"I have read the entrails!" Octavian announced with all the gravitas to adhere to. "The auguries are favorable. He is qualified to serve!"
The campers gave a shout: "Ave!"
Reyna motioned the senior officers forward—one from each cohort. Octavian, as the most senior centurion, turned to Percy.
"Recruit," he asked, eyes of adoration on Percy who was not prepared to have the full focus of his blessing's attention on him. "Do you have credentials? Letters of reference?"
Percy shifted. "Letters? Um, no."
Dodie, the one that was always trying to undermine the Son of Troy, wrinkled his nose.
"No letters," Octavian said regretfully, considering his family had been sending kids to camp for over a century. Well, since his Family were the founders of Roma. "Will any legionnaires stand for him?"
"I will!" Magnus stepped forward. "He saved my life!"
Reyna wrinkled her nose, but she turned to Octavian. The augur smiled and shrugged, like the idea amused him. It probably did. With him at the top of the totem pole and Percy at the bottom, any of Octavian's enemies would be caged in so similar to how he and Jason ran the legion.
"Very well," Reyna announced, though her eyes were pained as she realized how similar it was to before. When her authority was undermined because Jason was the son of their King, the champion of their Queen, Octavian was of imperial blood and the two of them stuck together. "Magnus Chase, you may stand for the recruit. Does your cohort accept him?"
The other cohorts started coughing, trying not to laugh as Magnus pounded his shield against the ground. The other members of the Fifth followed his lead, though they didn't seem very excited.
"My cohort has spoken," Dakota said. "We accept the recruit."
"Congratulations, Percy Jackson. You stand on probatio," the daughter of Bellōna stated. "You will be given a tablet with your name and cohort. In one year's time, or as soon as you complete an act of valor, you will become a full member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Serve Rome, obey the rules of the legion, and defend the camp with honor. Senatus Populusque Romanus!"
The rest of the legion echoed the cheer.
She turned away from him to address her troops. "Centurions, you and your troops have one hour for dinner. Then we will meet on the Field of Mars. The First and Second Cohorts will defend. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth will attack. Good fortune!"
A bigger cheer went up—for the war games and for dinner. The cohorts broke ranks and ran for the mess hall. Medea waved at Percy, who made his way through the crowd with Nico at his side. One of the guards had given Percy his probatio nameplate where he placed it alongside his beads from Camp Half-Blood.
"Thanks, Magnus," he said. "Um, what exactly does it mean—your standing for me?"
"I guarantee your good behavior," Magnus explained. "I teach you the rules, answer your questions, make sure you don't disgrace the legion."
"And...if I do something wrong?"
"Then he gets killed along with you," Medea said with a somewhat mean smile. "Hungry? Let's eat."