Standing calmly in front of a beautiful, seven-foot-tall goddess who frequently wanted to kill me was much harder than running away screaming, but I somehow stood my ground. "What do you want from me?"
The campers murmured at the disrespect in my tone, but it was kind of hard to be nice to Hera. Juno. Whatever. "Nothing at all. Only a warning." I could've sworn she winked at me before turning to the campers and saying sternly, "Romans, I present to you the god of battles and loyalty, son of Neptune. He brings with him either great fortune and unity or rivalry and ruin. The Feast of Fortune comes quickly, as does a mighty battle, and Death must be unleashed if you wish to survive it. Do not fail me!"
As quickly as she had come, Juno shimmered and disappeared, leaving the campers that were present milling in a state of confusion. Reyna's voice came from somewhere behind me: "Percy, my lord, do you realize what this means?"
I turned to see her staring at me, brows furrowed in thought. Maybe it was the fact that a Roman goddess had come to prove my godhood, like a retail employee calling their manager for confirmation or something, but Reyna seemed fractionally more at ease around me; in fact, the string of loyalty she had for me was noticeably thicker. Granted, by 'noticeably thicker' I meant that it had grown from a spiderweb's thickness to a silk thread's, but I'd take what I could get. "What does this mean?"
Reyna said nothing for a long moment, head bowed like she was deciding whether or not to tell me something. Then she said, "Walk with me. I'll show you something."
Bemused, I followed; she led me away from the praetoria and towards the camp's front gate, passing more neat rows of barracks and an elegant bathhouse that looked like a seriously fun place to be, if the laughing campers in swimsuits and towels were any indication. Reyna was silent, but I didn't mind. I had a feeling what she was going to show me was important.
Eventually, we reached Temple Hill, the path under our feet changing into cobblestone as we began to pass temples of every shape, color and size I could imagine—and a couple that I definitely couldn't. Reyna pointed a few of them out to me as we passed, like the stately temple for Bellona and the huge red temple to Mars that I instinctively frowned at, but the only one I caught notice of was a tiny blue building the size and color of a Porta-Potty. "Whose temple is that?"
Reyna's mouth turned down. "Neptune's. Or, I suppose you would say, Poseidon's."
My heart sank as I stopped and squinted inside the temple; there were a few moldy apples sitting below a dusty trident, and nothing else. I didn't have anything to give, but I thought my dad deserved better than this. "Why is this temple so…"
"Dusty? Abandoned?" Reyna stopped beside me and shaded her eyes with one hand. "We Romans have always had a fear of the sea. It's in our blood. The last time a son of Neptune joined our ranks was in Chicago, in 1906, and the resulting earthquake—"
"That was a son of Neptune?"
Reyna met my gaze calmly. "Hundreds of campers died. You'll understand, my lord, if some of us are still wary."
I could understand where she was coming from, but that didn't mean I had to like it. "Where are we going?"
"The temple of Jupiter." Glancing down, Reyna said, "But you might want to sacrifice those first."
Following her gaze, I discovered I was holding three round, completely blue apples. Maybe I had something to give to my father after all. My voice caught in my throat as I flicked my hand at the moldy ones on the altar, watching them dissolve into nothing as I replaced them with my sacrifices; bowing my head for a moment, I didn't hear Poseidon's voice in my head, but I distinctly felt the warmth of his approval. "Thanks, Dad," I said, and looked up to see Reyna watching me with an indiscernible expression. I cleared my throat and said, "We can go."
For a second I thought Reyna hadn't heard me, because she kept looking at me for a long moment, but then she nodded in the direction we'd been heading. "This way." Clouds began to circle rather ominously above our heads as we approached the round pavilion, held up by tall white pillars, that formed the temple of Jupiter.
Reyna saw me looking at it and supplied, "The temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus."
As we entered, I decided she was right. It was definitely optimus and maximus. It also reminded me a little of the principia; mosaics and fancy Latin inscriptions glittered up from the marble floor, and the domed ceiling hung sixty feet above our heads. (I mentally added it to the list of places I wanted to bring Annabeth sometime, and refused to think about the fact that she might not let me have the chance.) In the very center of the temple stood an altar, by which a tall blond kid was making very energetic arm movements, like he was either Zumba dancing or performing some kind of ritual. The Romans didn't seem too into calisthenics, so I guessed he was doing the latter.
Then he turned, and beyond the familiar look of his loyalties, I recognized him. He was the Scowling Blond Kid from earlier, the one who had been holding a teddy bear. There was another teddy bear in his hands, and I was faintly dismayed to see that all of its stuffing had been ripped out and was strewn around the altar. "Reyna! Lord Percy! What brings you to my humble temple?"
"Octavian," said Reyna flatly. "I need you to read something for me."
"Of course," said Octavian with a wild flourish of his teddy bear. When I peeked at his loyalty to Reyna, I wasn't surprised to see how thin it was, especially when I saw that Reyna's loyalty to him was even skinnier. At least Reyna was up front about it, though. I didn't like the look in Octavian's eyes. "Granted, this would be easier if we had gone questing for the Sibylline books, like I'd recommended, esteemed leader—"
"Your esteemed leader thinks that would be a waste of time," Reyna interrupted. Octavian's hands twitched, and thunder shook the temple, but Reyna stood her ground. "Read the augury and tell me: Is the camp in danger?"
"From what? Now, I'll have you know that this morning I read in the auguries, 'the Greek has arrived'. Or possibly 'the goose has cried'. Judging from this one"—Octavian bared his teeth at me in what he probably thought was a smile—"I'm thinking the first interpretation was correct."
"You're not in any danger from me," I said. "Well, I'm kind of bad luck, but I swear I wouldn't hurt any of you."
"Oh, I know," said Octavian airily. "That's not the information dear Reyna seeks. Although…" He peered into the belly of his teddy bear. "I imagine you and it are closely connected."
"Juno came to warn us," said Reyna. "According to her, a great battle is coming, and I want to be prepared."
"Mmm," said Octavian, peering into the guts of his teddy bear. "My lord Percy, would you happen to possess a fitting vessel for the augury?"
I blinked. "Huh?"
"He means a stuffed animal," Reyna explained. If she wasn't so good at hiding how she felt, I would've sworn she was about a few seconds away from rolling her eyes out of her skull. I definitely knew that feeling from Annabeth.
Telling myself to stop thinking about Annabeth already, I patted my pockets like I was hiding another teddy bear in there. Then I remembered I was a god and waved my right hand awkwardly, almost jumping out of my socks when a wide-eyed teddy bear actually appeared. "Uh, here."
Octavian's eyes went almost as wide as the teddy bear's. "A splendid sacrifice!" He plucked it out of my grasp with his left hand and stabbed it smoothly with the knife in his right, a few clumps of white stuffing drifting onto the floor. Reyna and I exchanged twin glances of mild horror. Octavian, meanwhile, placed the teddy bear onto the altar and frowned down at its belly. The manic light in his eyes faded, and when he looked back up at us his expression was completely serious. "Something is wrong."
"What is it?" asked Reyna.
"These signs…" Thunder rumbled above our heads, and Octavian's eyes widened. "I've yet to see anything like them."
"We're in danger, then?"
"Much more than that, Reyna." Octavian picked up a piece of stuffing and kept frowning at it. "I'm afraid that Juno was right."
"What are you even seeing in there right now?" I ventured after another moment of silence.
"Death," said Octavian gravely. "And blood."
"Sounds like just another Tuesday." My attention shifted first to the slight frown on Reyna's face, and then to the floor beneath my feet—I had to work a little to mentally translate the Latin, which was maybe why I got halfway through the first sentence before the meaning of the words hit me in the face. "Wait. Seven half-bloods shall answer the call? This is the Prophecy of Seven. I know this."
"So do we," said Octavian, eyebrows raised. "This is one of the blessed few we recovered from the Sibylline books. But when you try to interpret it…Well. Bad things happen."
"I have an oracle," I began, then realized that Octavian didn't know I was a Greek god and scrambled to fix my blunder. "I mean, I know an oracle. And she told me this prophecy. Is it supposed to be about the Romans?"
"Who else would it be about?" Reyna countered.
"…Nobody?"
"Well, if you count the Greeks as nobodies, then certainly."
I whirled on Octavian with as threatening of an expression as I could muster. "How'd you know?"
The other boy looked nonplussed. "As soon as you entered, I explained to you that the auguries informed me a Greek had arrived!"
He'd barely finished speaking when a sudden, sharp pain lanced through my head, like I'd been stabbed, and I grimaced as my mental view of Percy 2.0, who I'd actually kind of forgotten about, flickered once and then faded out. "Ouch. My father—that's Poseidon, but I guess you would call him Neptune—told me that Romans and Greeks don't really get along. Whenever I tell one of you guys that I'm a Greek…" I experimentally prodded the side of my head, and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when my head didn't scream at me for doing it. "Well, it's not good."
Octavian said, "That's obvious. We Romans have never liked the Greeks."
"Yeah, I got that." But as I thought over his words, they began to remind me of something Hera had said: I would bring unity or rivalry, fortune or ruin. An idea started forming in my head. "Octavian, Reyna…do you think the Prophecy of Seven could be about Greeks and Romans?"
"I can't even imagine it," Reyna answered with a furrowed brow. "But it would fit Juno's words about the unity you're supposed to bring us, my lord."
"Well, it would certainly be very interesting," Octavian added, in a tone that didn't make it seem like he was very interested. "The last time the prophecy was interpreted, the Fifth Cohort lost its honor and its lives, but if you'd like to interpret it again, be my guest!"
"Sure," I muttered. "I'll look into it."
"And I'd better ensure that preparations for the war games are underway," Reyna interjected. "It's like trying to corral a herd of elephants, sometimes."
"Perhaps it would be easier if you had another praetor," said Octavian. "Like me."
"Perhaps I'd consider it, if Jason Grace was dead. Which he isn't." Reyna locked eyes with Octavian, and her aura flashed so brightly for a moment that I almost had to glance away. "I am still the praetor of Camp Jupiter, Octavian, and you would do well to remember it."
"Don't act like your praetorship is permanent, Reyna," Octavian replied. "Because I wouldn't be too sure."
Reyna shot him a glare that could have melted steel and left the principia without another word. I felt kind of bad for her; I might not completely trust her yet, but I liked her way more than I liked Octavian at the moment. Luckily for me, I could do more than just give him a death glare. Mentally reaching out for his loyalties, I found the tiny string of his loyalty to Reyna and thickened it more than I'd ever tried to before, to the point where I could tell he wouldn't be able to go against Reyna even if he tried. Especially with the way he'd threatened her just then, I thought it was a pretty safe measure to take. Octavian's expression began to turn confused, probably wondering why I was still staring at him, but I just narrowed my eyes at him warningly and left the principia, too.
By now Reyna was much farther ahead, and I decided not to catch up with her. Somehow I could sense she wanted some time by herself. But there were two other figures coming up in the opposite direction towards me, and after a moment my godly vision kicked in to tell me it was Hazel and…
"Percy!" she called as she came within human earshot. "Octavian didn't try to kick you out of camp, did he?"
I was prevented from answering by the boy at her side, who was staring at me like I was an alien about to beam him up onto my spaceship. It wasn't Frank, although I wished it was. It was the boy I'd seen so recently that I had no excuse for being as surprised as I was.
It was Nico di Angelo.
Just my luck.
A/N: You know what I just realized? I have Percy becoming a god on the day of the battle in TLO, but the Son of Neptune takes place six months after The Lost Hero, and that takes place two seasons after TLO, so…Let's just pretend I compressed the timeline a bit (okay, a lot). Or Percy went back to Camp Half-Blood for the interim time, but I just never mention it because it's not relevant to the story. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please leave a review! :)
