My apologies about the layout of the last chapter, I swear I had things in bold and italicized that were in regular font after it was posted. It was confusing and not at all how I intended it. Hopefully things work out better this time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. All historical figures in this FanFiction are real people but representations of them may be inaccurate. This is a work of fiction. Please note the author of this story respects any historical person she may mention in her work.

John Adams and The Boston Massacre

The increase of taxes had the greatest effect on Massachusetts. The colony made it's money off of trade and shipbuilding. The more tariffs the harder this was to do. Naturally they spoke out against the injustice. But not only did they speak out, they acted out. So British soldiers were sent to the colony. To protect the colonists from other threats, of course. The soldiers that came decided to make extra money by taking some odds and ends jobs. The colonists felt that their jobs were being stolen. They got angrier, and their anger would cause a huge effect on history.

It was a cold day in March, a crowd that had just come from the tavern saw a bunch of lobster backs on duty and began throwing snowballs and calling out various jeers. As more and more people gathered to join in the crowd quickly became a mob. Some of them were armed with clubs and other weapons. Some way or another the soldiers ended up firing into the crowd of people. In the end five people were killed, three immediately and two to die of there wounds later.

This is where John Adams plays a role. The demigod son of Themis, the goddess of justice and oath, had a difficult choice to make. The lawyer needed to decide if he was willing to defend the British soldiers in court. Given what he knew on the subject Adams could safely assume the deaths were unintentional. It was obvious who started the problem, and Preston, the officer in charge, assured him that he had never given the order to fire. The citizens of Boston would disagree. To them the soldiers were murderers, anyone who defended them was a traitor. How could such a crime be forgiven? The soldiers had invaded their homeland and killed their people.

As is often the case with demigods facing difficult decisions, Janus stopped by to... well honestly to add to the confusion. John Adams had not been expecting the visit by any means. Normally you would only expect to see a god when on a quest or visiting Olympus, something John Adams had never done considering Olympus was in England. He would get his chance to see it, but that wouldn't be for a while. So you can imagine his surprise when a god, a Roman god, met him right at his desk.

"Johnny!" his left face exclaimed "How are the wife and kids?" The question seemed to have been asked just to annoy him, but before he could reply Janus's right face spared him.

"Please don't bother with him. Listen to me. You want to defend those red coats, don't you? If not more innocent people will be hurt by this."

This is when Adams felt he had better reply, it would be pointless for the god to have a conversation with himself. And he had a few questions to ask before he made any answers himself. "What really happened? Everyone is saying the soldiers were not provoked but obviously that's not what the soldiers are saying. What's the truth?"

"Who do I look like, Apollo? All I know is those Brits didn't belong here in the first place, and just look at the mess they made now. They deserve punishment for the lives they took, plain and simple." Janus's left half said. Adams was surprised by the term Brits, because most colonists considered themselves British. If that was changing then things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.

"Nonsense. It was a panicked reaction and a mistake any mortal could make. Do you really want to be responsible for an unjust punishment?" Janus's right side asked.

Unjust. That meant a lot to Adams. Janus passed a key he had been holding in his left hand to his right. The candlelight flickered. Sometimes you had to stand up for what you knew to be just, even when you face scorn from your fellow colonists. A whole lot of scorn, that might even ruin your practice and... maybe it was better not to think about it. John Adams was never the most popular man in the colonies, but you had to have respect for the way he was stubborn in his beliefs. One day soon the colonies would need leaders like that.

"How can we say we stand for liberty and not give everyone a proper defense when they need it? I'm going to do it. I willdefend them. We'll give that court Hades and we will win the case."

Janus seemed to give a small smile and Adams remembered to turn away just in time as the god turned to his true form and disappeared. The result of the trials was encouraging. Nine regulars were charged and six of them with Preston included were acquitted and the other two charged with manslaughter. The case wasn't easy, but in the end there truly was justice.

So there you have it. It was awfully short, wasn't it? Please offer any advice or opinions you might have.