Jason
I
Jason pictured the meetings between the camps going a little better. His own thoughts were getting the better of him and he was sure they would come out today. Whatever loose ends needed to be tied up, they were being tied today. He'd been at Camp Half-Blood for more than half a year and he was anxious to return to his home. So many memories had come back to him that it was a little overwhelming and made him restless to get back home. Secondly, he had been practically dating Piper at this point while many memories of Reyna came back to him : late nights planning War Games, dealing with camp problems, and most clearly, fighting side-by-side and back-to-back in the war. Sure he'd had good times with Piper, she'd saved him from killing his best friend, she'd led me out of the Underworld, and she would've given her dad up to save him. Things like that – life – were non-repayable. Jason had hardly saved Piper besides from falling over the Grand Canyon. Anyway, Piper was easily jealous and Jason was scared of what might happen if Reyna was to run straight into his arms. Jason shivered. The idea was so repulsive, not because he didn't like her, in fact, he too would've liked to hug her, but because Piper's reaction could set off something unwanted. But everybody was on the main deck getting lectured again about precautions.
Jason, Piper, Leo, Grover, and Annabeth stood on a deck positioned as a stage or platform above the main deck.
Jason was speaking, "Where you go when we get there is up to whatever Reyna decides. Now remember, there are-"
"- five cohorts, four barracks in each, and ten soldiers in each barrack." The camp replied in union. They'd been teaching Camp Half-Blood all about Camp Jupiter's system and how they work. Everything needed to be perfect. Even Conner and Travis Stoll had learned to quit joking and stealing for at least ten minutes.
"What about the she-wolf?" Clarisse asked.
"Lupa only sets us on our path to the camp. She test us, sharpens our senses, then we never see her again. She is our mother in many ways. She raised me in the wolf house until I was old enough to join the legion. I've never even seen her in the camp. I don't even think she came during the battle yesterday." Jason explained.
"Then why is she considered so important?" Clarisse asked.
"Because, the only time I've ever known her to enter camp was whenever Greeks and Romans fought. She might even make an appearance today."
Annabeth stood from her chair, "Campers, we're ready. Everyone is in the Forum waiting." Her voice was a little rocky and she was sweating a lot. Jason knew she had butterflies about seeing Percy again. Jason gave her a look of reassurance and she nodded to show she was okay.
Leo and Piper were at his side as they landed.
"I told Nyssa to steer away from the Forum so we don't cross the Pomerian Line." Leo said.
"Jason, are you ready? Everything will be okay," Piper said.
"Promise?" Jason asked.
"Yeah these people are your family. They'll accept you." Leo said.
The ship dropped lower and as they got closer Jason's heart was a rollercoaster of ups, downs, flutters, and 360s. First he saw the Terminus and he laughed a lot inside, then he saw Gwen, not in armor, but holding a Chemistry book, which Jason thought was weird. Next he saw Dakota and remembered questing multiple times with him and putting up with his kool-aid addiction. One by one faces and things rang many bells in his head: Bobby, Vitellius, the Senate House, the camp and more. Finally Jason saw the five people that gave him goose-bumps: Octavian, his camp enemy that was determined to take his spot as praetor, Hazel, who he had comforted in her early days of the legion now standing proud and strong with a way more powerful aura, some guy Jason didn't know with a big body and an un-matching baby face wearing the Centurion Badge and Mural Crown, Reyna in her purple toga with Aurum and Argentum at her side, and last but not least, Percy Jackson, arm around Hazel and the other big guy, wearing a praetor toga and a nervous smile.
The last thing on Jason's 'Why I'm nervous to go back to Camp' List was Percy Jackson. He had worked out that he and Percy were the ones to lead the Prophecy of Seven. The Son of Poseidon and the Son of Jupiter. That's what it all came down to. If Percy and Jason didn't get along then nothing would. At this time ship had landed and Jason, Piper, Leo, and everyone else went down into the lower level—which was so big it could hold both campers and soldiers—out the doors, and down the ramp.
On the way down the ramp, Piper gripped Jason's hand, which made Jason worry even more.
Get a grip, Jason told himself, they'll listen to you.
Before Jason knew it, Annabeth shot past him, while Percy picked up speed towards her, both of their faces overwhelmed with relief, anxiousness, and more. Annabeth couldn't help but let a few tears come from her eyes. They locked in embrace while Jason, Piper, Leo, and the rest of the camp unloaded from the ship. Hazel looked like she might drop and she kept staring at Leo, but she was holding the big baby faced guy's hand. Reyna, Jason knew, was trying to keep it together when until she got alone. It was clear that they would have a private reunion, especially not in front of Piper. Octavian on the other hand was as red as a checker piece, holding, or strangling, a stuffed monkey. That made Jason smile, but it also made him drown inside because Octavian had a way with words almost similar to Piper.
Nobody interrupted Percy and Annabeth. Reyna didn't stop to acknowledge them as she addressed the campers of Camp Half-Blood, "Demigods of Greece," Her voice echoed over the entire grounds, "For days now we have been home to your hero and in little time he has become ours as well. We trust him completely, therefore we trust you. But don't be too easy here. Anything bad could start an open war between the two of us. Also, Jason Grace, hero of Rome, child of Jupiter, and former praetor, welcome home." When she was done, she beckoned for Jason to come over.
Jason, Piper, Leo, Reyna, Hazel, Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and the baby face all met in the center of the forum, while everyone else stood waiting for orders.
"Hello, Jason," Reyna said, "So glad you're back! I've missed you. Making decisions alone around here has been hard. So what's going on?"
"Well to get you acquainted with strangers, this is Piper, Grover, Leo, and-" Jason started.
"Annabeth," Percy finished, "She's my girlfriend."
"Yes I remember her, nice to meet you all." Reyna said, "So we'll call a Senate Meeting, I'll gather the senators and you can gather your… uh…. What do you call it?"
"Counselors," Annabeth said.
Reyna looked like she might laugh at the idea. Camp Jupiter was a military camp with senators and soldiers while the people they were to cooperate with were more of a summer camp with counselors and campers. Nevertheless, Reyna kept a straight face.
"Now, you," Reyna pointed at Grover, "Get away."
"No Reyna, this is Grover. He's with us. Grover is the successor of Pan." Jason explained.
"And my best friend," Percy and Grover quickly exchanged a brotherly hug.
"Good to have you back, Percy," Grover said.
"Okay then," Reyna said, looking stunned, "So back to the Senate meeting. We'll meet there in thirty minutes."
"Okay, I'm guessing by 'there' you mean the nice big white domed building," Leo said.
"Yes," Jason said.
"That's the Senate House." Piper exclaimed.
"Right again."
"So where can our campers go? I don't want any interaction with the two camps until we give them the word that everything is cool," Annabeth said.
"Have them reload onto the ship," Reyna suggested, "I see no other place."
"Alright," Leo said, "Let's go start this Senate Meeting!"
Reyna, Percy, Jason, Octavian, and Annabeth stood on the stage. The crowd was a mixture of orange and purple. The front row had Leo, Piper, Hazel, and the big guy Jason learned to be Frank. And many of the senators and counselors grumbled by sitting next to each other.
"Leaders," Reyna said, "settle down. Well there's no reason for formalities, we first have to get to know each other and get rules spread on the table. You have fifteen counselors and we have ten senators, so if voting ever occurs five people may not participate from your camp, okay?"
"Agreed," Annabeth said, "Counselors of Hypnos, Nike, Hebe, Tyche, and Hecate will not vote in any voting terms. Is that clear?"
Five people that were half to the back sighed, "Yes."
"I will call the names of each senator and you will do the same with your counselors, okay?" Reyna asked Annabeth.
"Yeah," Annabeth answered.
"When we call your name, you will stand and introduce yourself. Senators will say their cohort and godly parent, counselors will say their…uh-"
"Cabins and godly parent, but this only goes if you're allowed to vote," Annabeth said.
While Reyna and Annabeth worked together to address each camp and all, Jason could tell there was definitely tension between them. Both of them always lead with such confidence and only sharing it with someone they were close to. This was a hard task for them.
"Larry Lemings," Reyna called.
Larry stood, his red hair shifted as he spoke, "Centurion of the first Cohort, son of Mercury,"
"Hank Steal," Reyna called.
Hank stood, "Centurion of the Third Legion, son of Minerva,"
After all the senators were called Annabeth stepped up to call the counselors.
"Miranda Gardiner,"
"Counselor of cabin four, daughter of Demeter,"
"Clarisse La Rue,"
"Counselor of Cabin five, daughter of Ares,"
"Will Solace,"
"Counselor of cabin seven, son of Apollo."
"Leo Valdez,"
"Counselor of cabin nine, son of Hephaestus."
"Piper McLean,"
"Counselor of Cabin ten, daughter of Aphrodite."
"Conner Stoll,"
"Counselor of Cabin eleven, son of Hermes."
"Pollux,"
"Counselor of cabin twelve, son of Dionysus."
"Butch,"
"Counselor of cabin fourteen, son of Iris."
"Ashley Clear,"
"Counselor of cabin sixteen, daughter of Nemesis."
"Good," Reyna said, "Now to introduce the ones on the stage. I am Reyna, praetor to the twelfth legion."
"I am Annabeth Chase, head counselor of cabin six and daughter of Athena," Annabeth said.
"I am Octavian, augur here at Camp Jupiter. I am a descendant of Apollo. And may I just say, don't get too comfortable," Octavian said.
"And everyone here knows Jason Grace and Percy Jackson," Reyna said, "Before we settle on anything to do, we must know one another's stories."
Jason explained everything, yet again, from the time he woke on the bus, to now. Hearing what Percy had done for Jason's home was like a stab to the ribcage. He couldn't thank Percy more. The whole time he had doubted that the Romans would accept him and take him in, he'd actually had the blessing of a goddess, won the War games, and saved the camp all in four days. Sure, he'd had help and sure, Jason did things for Camp Half-Blood too. But they weren't in any real danger.
"So I think its okay to say that the Prophecy of Seven is among us. We've already determined three of the heroes of the prophecy; whole will it be from your camp?" Reyna asked.
"Leo Valdez and Piper McLean, along with me. We have a hunch that Annabeth is one too, but Hera hasn't said or done anything to acknowledge her, so we're unsure," Jason explained.
"Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang will represent our camp, along with Percy. We know this for certain," Reyna said, "Will Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Leo Valdez, and Piper McLean join us on the stage, please."
They followed instruction and they all stood side by side: Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper, Jason, and Percy.
"The quest will take us to Rome and then to Greece," Reyna said.
"Rome?" Piper asked, "No offence, but who said anything about going to Rome?"
"When we rescued Thanatos yesterday, he said we needed to find the Doors of Death and start our quest in Rome, and then our quest will take us to Rome," Frank said.
Piper nodded.
"Wait!" Octavian said, "Don't go about discussing this until we get answers and gain your trust! We cannot trust you. All along, for years, I've known about you. No one believed me, but I knew. Senators, are we really going to open our home to opponents? They've admitted to having fought us before. Who's to say they won't do it again?"
"Octavian," Jason exclaimed, "I've lived with these people more than half a year and I know them. They are not deceiving you."
"Clearly they have deceived you, praetor," Octavian said.
"I am no longer praetor. That position is with Percy. You will respect him; if it weren't for him you'd be dead, crushed under the foot of Polybotes," Jason said.
Percy gave Jason a look of gratitude. This was what Jason had to do to get the camps to cooperate, plus Jason meant what he said.
"I for one trust the Greeks completely," Hazel said.
"Me too," Frank said.
"And I trust the Romans," Leo said, "I'm sure all counselors would agree, right?"
All the counselors in the room, even the ones that weren't voting spoke a blur of agreements.
"We Greeks have been preparing for months," Annabeth said, "We're dedicated to this quest."
"Well we Roman's only found out this morning. None of our soldiers know who you are. You'll have to forgive us if anyone has bad reactions," Reyna said.
"Why are you here in a warship, then?" Octavian asked.
"That's obvious enough, Octavian," Percy said, "Gaea is our enemy and the controller of land. If we're to travel to Rome and Greece, we can't travel on land. That's impossible. And to travel two camps, we'll need more than an airplane and I'm pretty sure the Mist won't stop the airport guards from knowing we have some type of weapons. We'll need our own transportation and that's the ship. It should be easy for me to control and navigate overseas."
"It also flies," Jason said, "Which will make it easy for me to navigate it in the sky."
"I'm not too good with air. Zeus and I don't particularly get along," Percy explained.
"Hera told us that it would take the seven demigods sailing to the ancient lands to get the gods to see and cooperate with demigods. If she's telling the truth and we sail to Europe, the gods will see and they shouldn't strike," Piper explained.
"If the goddess has said the seven demigods will sail to Rome and Greece, let them, and only them, sail. That answer is clear," Octavian said.
Piper looked offended. She knew just as well as Jason that Octavian was an obstacle, but if Jason knew anybody that could get Octavian to shut up, it's Piper.
"Hera also said that the gods also needed to see Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter coexisting. We'll tell you anything you need to know to get you to understand," Piper said.
"That sounds promising. I'll take you up on that, beauty. Who is your counselor for Pluto? I see none representing."
"Our counselor doesn't reside in Camp Half-Blood. There isn't anyone to represent anyway, it's just him. After the Big Three promised not to have children, there were no more children of Hades," Annabeth said.
"What promise do you mean?" Octavian asked.
"The three main gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are the most powerful and so were their children. After WWII they swore on the River Styx that they wouldn't have any more children because of how powerful they were," Annabeth explained, "The other reason was that there was a prophecy that said a child of the big three would make a decision that would decide the fate of Olympus when they reach the age sixteen. They didn't want power like that just lying around."
"We have a child of Poseidon in our midst. Are you saying he should be dead?" Octavian asked.
"Not at all," Annabeth said as if the idea repulsed her, "Percy was born against the promise, yes, but he was excused by Zeus himself after Percy saved Olympus."
"Yet, Percy just admitted that he and the sky god do not have good relations," Octavian said.
"Well it was the least Zeus could do after Percy saved him!" Piper said.
"Well, this counselor of Pluto, was he too excused by a god?" Octavian asked, "Or have you Greeks crossed the law of the gods there too?"
"Hades is the one that had him in the first place and frankly, I don't see how it matters. What does it have to do with our camps getting along?" Piper asked.
"Just a question. Unless you have something to hide, I see no reason why I shouldn't get an answer, especially after you promised full answers," Octavian said.
Piper took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. Fortunately Annabeth took it from there, "The counselor of Hades and his sister were born before WWII. Hades didn't want to be the blame for Olympus falling if one of his children were to be the one the Prophecy spoke about, so he hid them in a hotel that froze time. Three and a half years ago a fury in disguise took them out of the hotel. She was working on Hades orders. At this time Percy had been introduced to camp and had gone on two great quests. Hades saw Percy as a threat and realized he wanted his child to decide on the fate of Olympus, wanting to control his child's decision. Also, my best friend, Thalia was another child of the Big Three. She was a daughter of Zeus. She was also a great threat because she was the toughest and the oldest and a child of Zeus. The daughter of Hades died on a quest leaving just one child of Hades. At this point, there were three people that could be the child in the prophecy. Thalia went and joined the Hunters, a band of girls that follow the goddess Artemis that are immortal, so Thalia never aged up to sixteen leaving just the son of Hades and the son of Poseidon. IN the end it was Percy. That's how our counselor doesn't violate the promise."
"Are you telling me," Hazel said, "that my brother is your counselor?" Hazel looked like she might drop.
"Your brother?" Annabeth asked, "Nico de Angelo?"
"Yes!" Hazel said.
"The Ambassador of Pluto is Greek?" Reyna asked.
"The what?" Annabeth asked.
"The son of Pluto has been coming to our camp for almost two years now. We've never been sure what to do with him. He says he lives in the underworld so we called him the Ambassador of Pluto. He is the one that told us the Titans would fall if we defeated their fortress." Reyna said.
"Really he was just trying to get us to not run into each other. He's known from spending time with his father most likely. He may even know what the result of the Prophecy of Seven is; otherwise he wouldn't try keeping us separate. He was letting the prophecy come together by fate," Annabeth concluded.
"He's the one that brought Hazel to camp. He must've known that she was one of the seven," A senator in the second row said.
"Where is he, now?" Jason asked.
Hazel looked like she might cry. Percy spoke for her, "Nico has been kidnapped. Hazel thinks that her father wants us to find him when we get to Rome."
"Why Rome?" Leo asked.
"Because he went missing looking for the Doors of Death and like we said before, Thanatos said the Doors of Death were in Rome," Frank explained.
"People, when have we decided that we'll trust the Greeks?" Octavian asked.
"When everybody in the room started planning to actually win the war," Piper said.
"And why is it that you, Jason, and Leo fought the giant Enceladus?" Octavian asked Piper, "Wasn't it because you almost gave Jason and Leo to him as a peace offering to get your father back?"
"Yes," Piper said, "I almost did."
"And who's to say you wouldn't do it again on this quest?" Octavian asked.
"Because now I know for sure who I am, what I'm capable of, and what's at stake," Piper said with pure confidence. Nobody in the room seemed to be listening to Octavian anymore. Everyone was staring at Piper and the way she radiated beauty and formed her words. Jason knew she was charmspeaking without meaning to, "And if we don't cooperate then our world come to an end. The gods everything. Every one of us, the seven I mean, have been given dreams, messages, or actual communication with a god that let us know we were a part of the seven. Jason and Percy switched camps, Leo talked with his dad about it, I talked to my mom and my dad was kidnapped, and I'm sure Hazel and Frank have had certification too."
"Yea, Gaea sent me a vision yesterday and Frank talked to his dad about it," Hazel said.
"Who's to say my prophecies aren't certification?" Octavian said.
"I am," Annabeth said, "The prophecy clearly says half-bloods."
"If you're suggesting that you are the seventh member than I'll remind you that you haven't any certification either," Octavian said.
"The most powerful seven half-bloods are mentioned in the Prophecy," Percy said, "I know Annabeth and I say she's pretty powerful."
"What makes you say that?" Octavian asked, "Anyone can have battle strategy. Just look at Frank. His father is Mars and he has every bit of battle strategy than any daughter of Minerva. Not to mention his unique ability."
"What unique ability?" Jason asked.
"I can sort of um… shape shift into any type of creature. An eagle, a bear, and an elephant," Frank explained.
"From my understanding, everyone that's a part of the seven have a special ability. I can fly and control electricity which no other demigod can do, Percy can control water and breathe underwater which no other demigod can do, Piper can charmspeak, Frank can shape shift, Leo is fire resistant, and Hazel is…"
"The most powerful female warrior," Frank said.
"And how do you come to that conclusion?" Reyna asked.
"Her horse. Her horse came from the Amazons. Your sister said that only the most powerful female warrior can even go near that thing," Frank explained.
"Then that settles it. Whoever has special abilities and has been certified in some type of way is the one to complete the seven. Before we sail we need a plan. There will not be a Senate Meeting on this. Only a selected few will attend. For now, it's time for the evening muster. Tell everyone to meet in the Coliseum, now, including the Amazons," Reyna ordered.