I
Percy

"Where would you like me to drop you off?" Percy asked the old lady who was on his back. To his surprise, June had disappeared. The Panda Pillow-Pet he had acquired was gone as well.

"Hippy ladies," he muttered. Yes, she had taken his Pillow-Pet! How dare she? But Percy had other things to worry about. He noticed that as soon as one of the guards came rushing over and stuck a point of a black iron sword under his chin. The other guard ran over as well and he slipped behind Percy, a arrow loaded onto a mahogany bow, pointed straight towards Percy's neck.

The guard who had her sword at Percy's throat shrugged off her helmet where it landed with a clatter on the asphalt. She had extremely dark blue eyes, raven-black hair, and a guarded expression on her face. "Who are you, boy?"

Percy glanced down at the sword that was digging into his throat, although there was just a slight pressure that was applied from the point. "I don't know," he truthfully said. He saw no point in hiding anything, so he just poured out all the memories he had.

"My name is Percy Jackson," he said, remembering the name that one of the gorgons had told him he was. "I don't really remember anything else."

The girl arched an eyebrow. "Percy Jackson," she said, her voice like ice. "Interesting name."

"Um, yeah," Percy whispered, eying the blade of the sword with some degree of annoyance. "But I think that I do remember one person from my past...this girl with blond hair and gray eyes."

The girl waited and lowered her sword. "Well?" she prompted. "Who's this 'girl' you're talking about, Percy Jackson?"

"Annabeth," he said. As mentioned before, he didn't see any point to hide his memories. He only had two, anyways.

She clicked her fingers at the other guard, who lowered his or her bow and arrow. She turned her attention back to Percy. "Hazel Wright," she supplied, holding out her hand. "And no, I'm not a descendant of the Wright brothers."

Percy nodded and turned to the boy, who had taken of his helmet. "Frank Duran." He smiled. "I'm guessing that you're a demigod. You didn't seem to be fooled by the Mist."

"Demigod? Mist?" Percy asked, confused. Those words gave him a massive brain freeze; it was as if he knew the words but something, or someone had taken away his memories.

Hazel and Frank exchanged a glance. "We better take you to Lupa," they both said tersely. Percy's eyebrows scrunched together. "I already saw her. She told me to use my senses or something like that. Then, she said vaguely said something about this camp called 'Camp Jupiter.'"

"Percy," Frank smirked, "you came to the right place. If you already met Lupa, come on and meet the Legion Camp."

Hazel caught his shoulder and looked at him seriously. "Most of the campers won't be as nice to you as we were," she said. "Just keep a cool head and ignore any sarcastic remarks that are thrown at you. They're trying to unbalance you. Don't let them do it." She gave me a sly smile and then murmured something under her breath. She placed her hand on the wall, and where skin met brick, a glowing golden eagle with the big block letters SPQR emblazoned on it appeared. A door that Percy could swear had not been there a moment before silently slid open and admitted him into a long corridor.

"C'mon," Frank invited again. "Let's go."

Percy took one last uncertain glance at the world behind him and nervously followed Frank into the tunnel. Hazel winked, shot him with a finger gun, and resumed her position at the front of the entrance, which sealed itself behind them. No escaping now.

"So," Frank said, attempting to make small talk. "You can't remember anything, eh? No problem. We'll fix ya right up!"

Percy managed a weak grin. "Thanks. But Hazel mentioned something about the campers...not being as nice as you guys were."

Frank's smile melted off his face. It was replaced with a weary expression. "Percy...Camp Jupiter isn't exactly known for its 'niceness.' We're trained to become warriors, skilled fighters who can take on any challenge. To prove yourself worthy to the camp, you have a Colosseum brawl with the Praetors of each of the legions. There are seven legions total, the Seventh being the worst, and the First being the absolute best. When you get knocked out by the Praetor of, say, the Fourth Legion, you stay in the Fourth Legion. You can work your way up, though. That's what happened to everybody in the First Legion but Jason—"

His face darkened. "Anyways, me and Hazel, we're both in the First Legion. My dad is Mars—"

"Ares," Percy corrected. He blinked. He had no idea where that came from.

Frank arched an eyebrow. "Ares? That's the Greek counterpart. We usually don't use the Grecian names of the Olympian gods. They've died out, but the Roman gods are still living, like Jupiter, Neptune, Minerva—their faded Grecian names are Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena. So, Percy, use the Roman names. Besides, most of the campers would kill you as soon as you uttered 'Zeus.' And trust me, when my half-siblings catch you saying that...well, let's just say that there's always a really bloody fight that usually always results in a fatality of the new camper."

"Ah," Percy gulped. "Nice camp."

Frank smiled. "Yep. Oh, and here we are. Camp Jupiter in its full glory."

Percy stared across the camp in awe. "Wow," he whispered.

There were seven long complexes at the end of the green, each of them having a flag with a number stitched on it, like "1", "2", "3", etc. Occasionally, little figures entered and exited the compounds. They were all wearing armor.

There was a large pit in front of the buildings where a bunch of tables were loitering around, cluttering the already small space. However, it was roofless, and Percy asked, "That pit. Is that the mess hall or something?"

"Yeah," Frank said. "It doesn't have a roof because this camp is weather controlled. Only Lupa decides whether or not rain, snow, sleet—pretty much any type of weather—can enter the camp."

"Oh."

Frank laughed. "I was confused too when I first came to camp. Don't worry, kid, it's natural. Everybody who comes here feels a bit out of place at first, but you'll soon blend in with the other campers. I'll give you a tour around camp. But whatever you do, ignore everybody. Hazel told you this, right?"

Percy nodded, but then asked, "Does that mean that I have gotta ignore you?"

Frank smirked. "Tours are always boring, so you can blot out my words and just take in the view."

"Hey, Frankie!" somebody called from across the green. Frank scowled and Percy noticed that he obviously did not like being called "Frankie". He could hardly blame the son of Mars; he would hate it if somebody called him...Perseus. Okay, where in Styx did that name come from? It was totally out of the blue.

"What do you want, Aaron?" Frank asked the boy who had just appeared in front of them. The boy was tall, at least having a three-inch difference between Percy and Frank, who were about the same height. He was shirtless, which Percy thought was quite unnecessary, and was totally ripped. He had a deep six-pack and huge muscles that could rival Hercules'.

Aaron's gaze drifted towards Percy and he sneered. "Well, well, Frank...a newbie."

"Don't even think about it, Smith!" Frank hissed, putting himself between Percy and Aaron. "Shut your trap up! Lupa and Reyna will have you hide if you do anything rash!"

"Exactly," a cold female voice agreed. Percy's heart almost stopped when the girl, Reyna appeared out of nowhere, her gray eyes fixed on Aaron, who backed away. Reyna looked so familiar—like a person who was important to him in his past: Annabeth.

"Back to your quarters," Reyna ordered. "No buts, ands, or ifs. Go!"

Aaron retreated, throwing one last glare over his shoulder.

Reyna nodded coolly at Frank. "You are dismissed."

Frank bowed and hastily walked away, shooting a look over his shoulder at Percy that said, Catch you later.

Reyna turned her full attention to Percy, studying him as if he were a complicated machine that she couldn't wait to take apart. "Well, then. Another new camper." She sounded tired and resigned, as if she had to go through this every single day. "Who are you?"

"Percy Jackson," he said. "I don't have any memories except for a girl's name. Annabeth."

Reyna narrowed her eyes at him and she proceeded to start walking around him, inspecting every single inch. It made Percy feel self-conscious. "Nothing else?" she mused. "Seems like you have a severe case of amnesia."

Her eyes lighted on his pocket and in one swift, fluid motion, she reached in and brought out a ballpoint pen and a clay bead necklace.

"Yes," she whispered. "Interesting. What's the pen for?"

Percy frowned as Reyna turned it over and grimly smiled. "We don't often see Ancient Greek in here, but it seems that you have some letters inscribed on your pen that is in that exact language, Percy Jackson. Anaklusmos, translates into Riptide. What is it? It's most certainly not a tide that opposes another or other tides, causing a violent disturbance in the sea."

Percy gaped at her. "Did you memorize the dictionary or something? I don't even know the definition of that, and it's in my jeans pocket!"

Reyna uncapped it, and her eyebrows shot up as it extended into a glowing bronze sword, the hilt riveted with gold studs and a leather wrap around it. "Three feet long. You're unusual," she admitted. "I haven't seen this metal in ages. It's extremely rare, even more rare than Imperial Gold. Where did you acquire a sword that is fashioned out of Celestial Bronze?"

"Like I said," Percy muttered, "I don't remember anything but my name and the other girl's name."

Reyna peered at him closely but didn't say anything. She turned her full attention to the necklace. "There are four beads on here...where do you assume that you got this?"

Percy tried to access the vaults of his memory and found them hopelessly, spotlessly bare. "Really, I don't know. I assumption is that I got it from some store or whatever."

"No!" Reyna snapped. "Arts and Crafts stores don't sell anything like this!" Her hand clenched around the necklace. "Are you a son of Neptune?"

"Am I a what?" Percy asked, flabbergasted. "Son of Neptune? Isn't that Po—" He suddenly remembered Frank warning him about not saying the Greek names around here. "Um, never mind."

Reyna shot a look at him but didn't press the matter. She dangled the necklace in front of him. "Percy, tell me exactly what you see on here. Tell me what are on the beads."

"Well," Percy said, looking closely at the beads, "there's a picture of a miniature building on one of them with some weird letter surrounding it in a spiral—"

"The Empire State Building," Reyna said. "The letters are in Ancient Greek, as your pen."

"There's another one with this weird maze-ish thing on it—"

"The Labyrinth," Reyna clarified.

Percy continued. "A big, fuzzy golden bath mat on another—"

Reyna sighed. "You really do need some training. It's the Golden Fleece, Jackson."

Percy shrugged. "Okay, and the last one is pitch-black with a green spear with three points in the middle. So?"

"So?" Reyna asked, tossing the necklace back to him. "It's a trident, you dimwit. The symbol of Neptune, Lord of the Seas, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. I think that you're a son of Neptune, Percy. Which isn't a good sign, considering that Jason..." Her voice faltered when she said "Jason", very much like Frank's had, but she recomposed herself and continued. "That Jason disappeared. He was a son of Jupiter."

"Jupiter..." Percy stared off into the distance, lost in thought. "Who is he? Zeus?"

Reyna frowned, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Why do you like Greek names of the gods? They've died off. Only the Roman gods exist now."

Percy nodded uncertainly, although he wasn't entirely sure if that was true. "Right."

Reyna handed him back his sword and the cap of the pen. "I don't know how to change this weapon into pen form," she said. "You have got to be assessed. Be ready in an hour; I'll be waiting for you in the Colosseum."

She indicated towards a large building that looked exactly like the Colosseum in Rome, without the huge chunk of stone taken out of it. Percy wasn't sure how he knew that, but he accepted the image. "Frank told me that the Praetors from—"

Reyna smiled mirthfully. "Yes, that's true. I've got to go, Percy. Remember, one hour, and you come to the Colosseum." She glanced at a wristwatch. "Precisely 3:27 p.m. sharp."

She jogged off towards the Colosseum, leaving a dumbstruck Percy behind her.

"She's been like that ever since Jason disappeared," a voice quietly said behind him. Percy turned around to find Hazel and Frank giving him identical smirks. "Jason," Percy said. "I've heard that name three times now. Who is he?"

Hazel and Frank exchanged a terse glance and Hazel uncertainly said, "He was the Praetor of the First Legion."

"Was," Percy noted.

"Then, he disappeared about three months ago. Nobody knows where he went, and if Lupa does, she didn't tell any of us. Reyna took over as the temporary Praetor of the First Legion."

"Oh," Percy said absently. "So why was Reyna acting so brief and brisk?"

Frank squirmed. "Um, they were dating after the Second Titan War."

"Dating?" Percy asked, bemused. "Second Titan War?"

Hazel shrugged. "Saturn, the Lord of Time and basically the ruler of all these beings called Titans tried to make a comeback last summer. While he assaulted Mount Olympus, the gods held him back while we demigods confronted Krios, Titan Lord of the South and Constellations. Eventually, Jason sent Krios back to Tartarus and toppled Saturn's black throne. At about the same time, the Olympians sent Saturn to Tartarus."

Percy frowned. "No...that's not right," he muttered. "The Olympians didn't fight Kronos. They fought Typhon. I..."

Frank glanced at him. "Yeah?"

Percy looked frustrated. "It just evades me every time I think about it! I can't grasp the memory directly, but I remember that there was a lot of chaos and Annabeth."

Hazel sighed. "Well, that's good. At least a tiny bit of your memory already came back."

But Percy was staring in the distance, lost in thought. Frank placed a firm hand on Percy's shoulder. "Hey, Percy, let's start training with you before Reyna orders that Colosseum brawl. You need all of it you can get."

Percy eyed him strangely. "Is that against the rules?"

Hazel didn't smile. "No. So let's start before the Praetors kick the living lights out of you. They're not afraid to do that."