A Divine Hot Mess Comes to The Camp of Romans
As a demigod, I shouldn't be surprised whenever something even remotely divine comes to ask me to go on a quest. But hey, what's a 13-year-old to do when a being of pure destruction and chaos appears?
Forgive me, I'll back up a little. My name is Jason Grace, 13-year-old son of Jupiter, Fifth Cohort. As a demigod, I was born into a weird, weird world, blah blah blah, y'know.
Back to the story.
We had just finished the war games. I was tired. Heck, the entire Fifth Cohort was probably tired after the games. Today was chariot racing. Team against team. As I, along with the rest of the camp, walked to the barracks, a giant explosion happened behind us.
Everyone turned around to see what exactly happened.
Some of us ran to the source to gain a better sight of the being. Some merely turned around. I ran into the crowd. I had to muscle my way in, as the crowd was way too focused on whatever it was that caused the explosion to part.
There she was.
Her hair was an undone mess of strawberry red. On her head rested a lampshade. Her dress was constantly shifting colours and forming patterns from the colours, one minute a swirling circle, the next a rainbow river. Her eyes were kaleidoscopic, changing colours seamlessly.
"Jason Grace? Reyna Basil?" she said. "You two are needed for a quest. As well as, um…" She checked her notebook. "Ah! Bobby Messer! You are all needed for a quest!"
Mumbling ensued.
The three of us stepped forward.
Reyna was quite new here. Last year, she was working at a spa with her older sister, Hylla. Bobby, on the other hand, I knew. He was a son of Pomona, goddess of plenty. The guy could conjure up anything out of his cornucopia. Usually, however, it took the form of a lunch box, possibly because it was harder to lug around a giant horn of plenty than to keep a lunch box.
"Octavian Rex? Come forward, please. Write this down for me, dear."
"Y-yes, o goddess," Octavian replied shakily. Taking out his book, he pulled out a quill from his toga.
"Beauty lies lost at sea,
Targeted by an aquatic beast,
Storm and combat begin the spell,
To break the witch's constructed shell."
Octavian, writing carefully, asked a question.
"My lady, Discordia, is it not?"
"Yes?" the goddess answered, attempting to put an ice-cream cone into a toaster she must've conjured up.
"Was that a prophecy?"
"Why yes, my attentive young student," the goddess answered gleefully. "I expect all of you to go prepare for tomorrow, the day when you set off."
Another explosion occurred, and the goddess was gone.
She reappeared.
"Oh, and you have three weeks to help Venus, who is currently trapped on a rock. She can't stay there forever, you know. And you should start at the Space Needle!" Another giggle, before she finally left.
The three of us, with dumbfounded faces, gawked in shock of what just happened.
We were just given a quest.
"Well, well, well," said Gwen. "The new kid, the son of Jupiter and the food guy are going on a quest tomorrow. Hope you guys have fun."
The crowd disbanded. The three of us, unsure of what to make of the events that have just happened, walked toward New Rome together. Reyna, with her tanned skin and dark hair tied back in a braid. Bobby, with his spiky black hair and hazel, almond-shaped eyes. These two, these acquaintances of mine, were now my quest mates.
"So," I said awkwardly, "anyone up for a cup of hot chocolate?"
Both of them nodded.
Good work, Jason, I thought to myself. This is an absolutely perfect way to make friends out of your future quest mates.
I sighed at the thought of us attempting to work together. I mean, we are composed of a son of Jupiter, a daughter of Bellona and a son of Pomona. How could things get any weirder than that?
We walked toward the café. The place was filled with people. I could hear the sound of pan pipes, lutes, lyres and loud burps.
Thankfully, we managed to find a table.
Reyna went off to order. The only two people sitting at the table were myself and Bobby Messer, son of Pomona.
I blame it on myself for trying to make conversation.
"Ahem," I said loudly. "Weather's been mild today."
"No it hasn't. It's blazing hot today."
"No, I think it's pretty mild compared to other days."
"No it isn't dude, it's hot even compared to yesterday. And yesterday was really hot."
"You know what? I blame it on myself for attempting to make conversation."
"Yeah. I blame it on myself for claiming that today was hot."
"No, man. You're right. Today is hot."
Thank the gods Reyna appeared.
"Hey," she said. "Here's your hot chocolate. Careful, it's—"
I drank the hot chocolate with any hesitation. And, I must say, for a guy who'd made plenty of mistakes, that was one of my greatest. I mean, sure, maybe I was parched, but chugging it was a bit out of line.
Plus, the chocolate was hot.
I spat it out onto Bobby's face. I took some random guy's cold water and chugged it like there was no tomorrow.
As soon as my tongue was cooled, I said sorry to the guy whose water I chugged. Mumbling something, he took off.
Bobby, looking unpleased, starting mumbling too and went to the washroom, presumably washing off the hot chocolate on his face whilst mumbling death threats beneath his breath. Reyna laughed at the scene I had created.
"I was going to say it was hot, but obviously, you know now," she said, a smile on her face.
I smiled awkwardly. She burst out laughing.
"Well, now you know not to drink hot chocolate before it cools down, right, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter?"
"Yeah. Sorry, it's just that I was so parched, and hot chocolate's one of my favourite drinks, and-and—"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it."
Bobby had returned from the toilet, still frowning.
"Hey dude, I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's fine. Nothing at all. Really," he said angrily. He averted looking at me, and looked angrily at the beautiful sight of the town.
And then, the damn harpies had to ruin it.