Noah laid back in the barracks, taking in the momentary peace of the morning. The moonlight flooded in through the window at the end of the row of beds, comforting him immensely. The sounds of his fellow soldiers rhythmic breathing was the only noise that could be heard throughout the camp. Noah had never needed much sleep. Four to five hours at the most, and he would be set for the day. He had been lying there, in his bed, for about an hour or so this particular morning. Although, he knew that the peace would soon be broken when the wake up horn sounded at five. The boy sighed; he wished that he had more time to just lay there. Once the day started, there would be constant commotion, as the camp scrambled to complete its daily chores. He really disliked commotion.
He closed his eyes and imagined his life six years from now. By then he would have completed his prescribed ten years in the legion, and would be free to go as he pleased. He planned on moving away from here to northern Montana. Montana had a relatively low population density, and he knew that it would be easy to find a nice isolated hill to build his own little log cabin. He'd heard that the nights there were gorgeous, that stars littered the sky like thousands of flashlights shining in the distance, producing a view untouchable by man. Just thinking about it made his heart leap with yearning.
Alas, he'd have to wait. These ten years in the legion were crucial to his survival. How did he expect to survive on his own in the mountains without the proper training first? By the time he finished with the legion, he would be perfectly capable of defeating any monster that dared threatened him. In the meantime, he would simply have to deal with the infernally strict ways of Roman life.
Without warning, a loud trumpet sounded through the din of the night snapping Noah out of his reverie. Suddenly, nine soldiers were jumping out of their beds with startling speed. Kids were slapping purple shirts onto their backs. Hospital corners were carefully being formed on each bed. One boy, Parker, was even smoothing down his hair in an effort to look a bit more put together. Noah, of course, was already dressed and had already made his bed. Thus he was the only one to take his time rising to his feet.
No more than two minutes later was there a creaking sound at the door. Immediately, all ten members of the barracks leaped to their positions in front of their bed, straightening their posture and staring straight ahead of them. A studious looking boy with copper toned hair strode into the room. His cold brown eyes scrutinized each bunk and every soldier as he passed by. Because Noah's bed was the last one in the row, he was the final one to be examined.
"Your sheets are wrinkled Wood," the boy noted in disapproval crossing his two tanned arms. Noah internally cursed himself for being so oblivious. Of course they were wrinkled, he had been lying on the made bed for at least an hour now.
"Sorry Hunter," Noah muttered avoiding eye contact.
"You're sorry?" the other boy cried incredulously, a vicious frown cutting into his face. He swung his long arm out displaying Noah's mishap to the rest of his barrack. "This, folks, is why the Fifth Cohort is no longer the most prestigious in the legion. We are full of first generation demi-gods, and yet we can't even make a bed right. No wonder we lose at everything." Noah suppressed a grimace. Great, he thought to himself, I set him off.
Silence. No one dared to speak for fear of getting in further trouble. Finally, after Hunter had finished checking everyone's face to make sure they had full understanding of his message, he ended the morning chastisement. "Ross you're off of tunnel duty during breakfast, Wood will take your place," he finished declaring Noah's sentence.
Freddy Ross suppressed a triumphant grin from three beds to the left of Noah. Nobody wanted to get stuck on tunnel duty.
"Dismissed," Hunter declared as he turned to go examine the other boy's barracks.
Immediately after their Centurion had exited, the ten boys all let out a deep breath, their soldierly manner dispelling.
"Nice going Noah," the boy across from him muttered.
"Like you haven't done the same Quinn," Noah replied lazily.
"I've never set Hunter off like that," Quinn protested. "Not once."
"He gives you special treatment because you're his brother," Noah accused. The other boy didn't have a retort to that. It was true after all, they both knew it. At the age of fourteen, Quinn was three years younger than his brother and two years younger than Noah. His hair was the same copper color as Hunter's, though it lacked the same orderliness, as it tended to stand up slightly. His limbs were unnaturally skinny and long as he was just reaching that awkward teenage phase. A lyre was burned onto his arm below his SPQR tattoo marking him as the son of Apollo.
"Come on," Quinn said. "I was supposed to be the one out there with Freddy today, so we might as well get to our post now."
The two boys made a quick stop by the armory to quickly slap on the standard legion uniform and pick up weapons before making their way over to the Caldecott Tunnel. The sky was still dark when they made it there taking their positions. Truthfully, Noah didn't mind tunnel duty that much, at least not this early in the morning when he could still get a glimpse of the night sky. Sure it was a little cold, but it was better than getting stuck out there at noon when the California sun bore down on his back making beads of sweat form on his brow.
The two boys stood at the entrance to their camp in silence. It was located in the side of the tunnel, overlooking a busy highway. Cars zoomed by on the road below them giving off a distasteful smell of exhaust. The edge that they were standing on really wasn't that big. It barely had enough space for the two of them to stand there without blocking the entrance. There definitely wasn't room for sitting down on the reddish stone ground, but of course they weren't allowed to relax anyway. Legionnaire rule no. 13: no relaxing on the job. In other words, they stand stick straight at attention for the duration of their watch. Thankfully though, if Noah craned his head slightly to the left he could see out the end of the tunnel to the night sky, so he wasn't completely bored out of his mind standing there.
"Hunter's been getting worse you know," Quinn said after they had been on duty for a while.
"What?" Noah asked as he wasn't paying attention.
"I think the other Centurions are getting to him. I mean, I know that he's always been pushing the whole Fifth Cohort honor thing, but it's been worse recently. You heard him earlier 'we're full of first generation demi-gods. How dare you wrinkle your sheets'," Quinn said changing his voice at the end to mimic his brother.
"You think it's that new kid, Octopus or whatever?" Noah offered.
"Octavian?" Quinn asked considering it. The other week two girls from the Forth Cohort had been on tunnel duty when an eleven year old boy walked straight up to them and demanded entrance to the camp. The two girls had taken him into Praetor Carlton's office and they had talked for a while. Apparently, the kid was a legacy of Apollo and had come with a glowing recommendation from three highly respected prior members of the First Cohort. Now usually the augur would review each new recruit before they got accepted into the legion, but recently the old augur had retired and they had begun the process of electing a new one. Noah was sure that Hunter had secretly hoped it would be him, or at least another one of the six children of Apollo in the Fifth Cohort. Instead the new kid, Octavian, had been selected solely because he had such a good recommendation.
"I'd be upset too if I were Apollo's kid and a legacy, who probably doesn't even know how distantly he is related to Apollo, got to be augur over me," Noah reasoned.
"I guess that makes sense," Quinn muttered. "You know I bet he thinks that he wasn't picked because of our bad luck."
"Probably," Noah agreed. "Maybe you should talk to him about it or something."
Quinn laughed bitterly. "And maybe lightning will strike and Apollo himself will float down and tell the camp all about how Hunter should be augur," he said sarcastically.
Noah sighed and chewed on his lips. The sun was starting to come up now and the first rays of day light were inching over the horizon. If he edged a little further away from the camp entrance, he could see a few faint stars still twinkling dimly, but night was ending and soon they'd be gone.
"Hey is your dad visiting on Friday?" Quinn asked after a moment, changing the topic.
Noah just shrugged. Friday, December 21st was his sixteenth birthday and it was common for a demigod's mortal parent to visit for the occasion. After all, turning sixteen was a big deal in the Roman Republic. The milestone signified another step towards man-hood. Furthermore, a lot of demigods got claimed on their sixteenth birthday. If you weren't claimed by then, odds were you weren't going to get claimed at all. To put it simply, Noah wasn't looking forward to it.
"He really should. I mean they sent him a message and everything right?" Quinn pushed.
"I don't think he'll show. Cities and formal ceremonies aren't really his thing," Noah muttered. He thought of his father, a quiet man who hated settings that involved more than about four people, in the mess hall surrounded by two hundred legionnaires. The notion seemed ridiculous to him. He'd known that he wasn't going to be seeing the man again for a very long time once he'd left his home five years ago. It was a sacrifice he had needed to make. His time as a kid living alone with his father in their old isolated cabin had been some of the happiest times of his life. During the day, he used to help his dad hand carve chairs, tables, and other furniture out of tree trunks in the workshop. Then at night the two would go out to the clearing in their back yard and watch the stars. Of course, no good thing could ever last. It wasn't long before the monsters began to come. It was a wonder both of them had stayed alive until he was twelve. Eventually though, he was forced to leave and make the journey to Lupa and later Camp Jupiter.
The night he left his father had put his hand on his shoulder, his crystal blue eyes tearing up, and told him, "I can't follow you were you're going. The Romans, well, I'm not one of them. They live in a big city with lots of people." Noah had been shocked. He'd never seen his father cry before; he'd always assumed the man was too happy to have the ability.
"Well that's kind of rotten of him," Quinn declared, his brown eyes shining defiantly. Noah knew Quinn was just trying to comfort him, but still the words piqued his anger. His friend simply didn't understand Noah's father. Somehow he knew that if that man showed up here, the city would destroy him.
"Its fine," Noah muttered trying to dismiss the topic. Thankfully, Quinn got the message.
Noah returned his gaze to the horizon. Now the sun was about half way up, night was officially over. Something about the lack of stars in the sky made Noah's heart drop. He much preferred the night sky to the uniform blue of the day.
That's when he saw her. There was a girl limping towards on the side of the street. He tapped Quinn's shoulder and pointed silently. As fast as lightening, his friend's bow was out, and an arrow was pointed at the girl. Noah held his hand up signaling to Quinn that he should wait. The girl was clearly injured. He highly doubted that she could be too much of a threat.
"I'm going to go down there and see what's going on," Noah said drawing his sword. "If I give the signal, shoot." Quinn nodded.
Keeping the sword drawn, Noah carefully made his way down to the high way. Of course, it was just about rush hour right now, so there was an obscene amount of cars speeding down the road, blowing his hair back and making him feel uncomfortable. If one of them spun out, he'd be dead within seconds.
Now that he was closer to the girl, he could make her out in more detail. She had long chocolate brown hair that looked slightly damp from sweat and in some spots blood. Scratches covered her arms, and a deep jagged gash cut down her right cheek. Her right foot seemed to be dangling limply, and every time she tried to put her weight on it she nearly fell down. She wore a faded green tank top, a jacket that was badly torn up, and bloodied jeans. Exhausted green eyes with dark bags underneath bored into him. She didn't seem to have the energy to verbally ask for help, but her eyes begged him for it. Something in his gut told him that this girl wasn't a threat. He had to help her.
Sticking his sword back into its sheath, he hurried to her side. "Put your arm around my shoulder," he instructed her. She wordlessly obeyed, letting him relieve the weight off of her injured foot. Slowly, they made their way back to Quinn, but the girl seemed to be slipping. With each step, it seemed as if he was supporting her more and more, and then her left leg seemed to give out altogether. He grunted with the effort of keeping her from falling.
"Quinn!" he yelled urgently. "She passed out."
Moments later, his friend was there putting her other arm around his shoulder. Between the two of them, they managed to get her off of the highway and through the door to camp.
"Did she say who she was?" Quinn asked breathless with exertion.
"Not a word," Noah responded, glancing down at her dirty face. At least she was still breathing. "They should consider building another bridge a bit closer to the tunnel," he muttered. To get her into the camp they would have to cross the Little Tiber, and of course the nearest bridge was a solid quarter mile away. He grunted as he dipped his shoulder a little more so that he could support her weight a bit better. As he did, he heard the soft noise of something light hitting the grass. A piece of parchment had fallen from her pocket.
"Put her down a second," Noah said and the two boys gently lying her down in the grass. He reached down to pick up the parchment.
He yelped. Suddenly, darkness was surrounding him. The girl disappeared. Quinn disappeared. He was standing in a clearing. No, not just any clearing, it was the one he and his father had spent every night sitting in watching the night.
"Hello my Noah," a voice said from behind him. He spun reaching for his sword, but it wasn't there anymore. A woman sat in the grass gazing up at the moon, a knowing smile playing across her face.
"W-who are you?" Noah stuttered out.
The woman chuckled at him. "Why I am your mother of course," she said. The words hit him in the stomach like a well-placed blow. Immediately, he started to compare their similarities. Most demigods didn't resemble their godly parent that much, especially when they were related to someone like Venus who could change her appearance. Instead demigods would inherit tendencies and abilities, the things that set them apart from normal mortals. But Noah was different. He looked startling like the woman who stood before him. He had never really looked much like his father, with the man's golden locks and bright blue eyes. No, his hair was the color of a starless night sky, his eyes a deep raven black, just like this woman.
He found himself struck speechless. Of course, the first question that popped into his mind was which goddess was this? Yet he found he already knew the answer.
"Nox," he whispered in awe. "Goddess of the night."
She smiled. "Sit with me?" she asked. He obeyed, mindlessly taking a seat in next to her in the grass. The night sky was just as gorgeous as it was when he was little, if not more so. "This is where I first met your father," she said, her eyes dancing with the memories of past events. "He and I were of the same mind you see, both lovers of the dark. You are quite like him you know." Noah felt a knot forming in his stomach. Why was she telling him this?
"You are different than him though too," she continued. "You do not have the same fear, of the city, of people."
"I don't like the city," Noah blurted out resentfully.
Nox's smile widened. "I think you'll find that you don't hate it as much as you think," she said.
"Why's it matter?" he mumbled, unable to hold in his curiosity anymore. He drew his knees into his chest. Being here, in this place, made him feel like a child again. Yet it wasn't the same as it used to be. This hill was characterized as much by its view as it was by his father's presence.
"There is someone in the legion, someone with power. If they are still there in the years to come, all will be lost," Nox said. "You must expose them."
Noah paused, thinking on what she said carefully. "That girl," he began.
"Will help you," Nox answered. "She is a messenger. There is something in her memory, something that she doesn't even realize is there, that will be crucial in finding the defector."
Noah felt a sickening feeling form in his stomach. He knew what his mother was asking of him. She wanted him to become a hero, to save the camp. But he didn't want to be a hero. There was too much pressure that came with it, too much attention.
"Why me?" he asked her.
"Hold out your arm please," Nox said. He obliged giving it to her. She turned it over gently in her hands exposing his SPQR tattoo. Like his friend Quinn, and his Centurion Hunter, and, well, every other kid in the legion, it had the laurel wreath around the letters SPQR and a line for each year he'd spent in the legion. However, unlike the other kids, his was missing the third symbol signifying his godly parent. Nox moved her thumb and pressed hard under his three lines. A burning sensation seared his wrist, and he squeezed his eyes closed against the pain.
"Because you are my son," she said. "And I can trust no one else with the task."
When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on the grass beside the Little Tiber. Quinn was shaking his shoulder with a worried expression plastered on his face. Noah glanced down at his forearm. Where before there had been nothing but skin, a black crescent moon glowed an irritated red in the sun light.
A/N So Hi everyone, this is my first fan fiction that I'm writing in the Percy Jackson fandom (I've completed three Harry Potter Fics already). I probably won't be updating on any kind of regular schedule, but hopefully it will be relatively frequently. So tell me what you think of chapter 1, all thoughts and tidbits are greatly appreiciated :)
Also thanks to wyldraven deviantart for the cover of my story