Disclaimer: I do not own all characters in this fanfiction. The general setting some of the characters belong to Rick Riordan. Some of the characters I have made, and some I have acquired the permission to use.
VII
JAKE
Jake wanted the truth from Agnes. Immortality wasn't something he was particularly interested in, but knew that with all the lives she's lived, she must have known something about their connection to Aeneas and this quest of secrets he was pursuing.
"How are you immortal?" Jake asked again. She was deliberating, probably finding some way to play it down. But he was able to see past it. He knew too much to be ignorant. He had to know.
"I must first inform that my real name is not Agnes," she explained. Jake knew there was going to be a revelation about a lie in there somewhere, he just wasn't expecting it to be so soon.
"Then what is your real name?" he asked.
"Clara," she simply stated. "I am, however both Clara and Agnes. I was born Clara, but when my mother died, I became Agnes, as she had when her mother passed on."
"I don't understand," Jake spoke.
"I am Agnes Westfield," she declared. Jake was beginning to become really confused at this point. "Long ago, Silas, son of the past Agnes, was stripped away from his mother. In her sorrow, she made a plea with the gods. That for as long as her line continues, untouched by the gods, that she will watch all of her children grow."
"So you're Agnes, but you're also Clara?" Jake asked.
"The spirit of Agnes passes through the Matriarch of the Westfield as its hosts their lives," the Matriarch explained. "She is the accumulation of our memories, and she shares those memories with me. Therefore, I am Agnes."
"You said, as long as the family line is untouched by the gods?" Jake indicated. He was referring to his mother, who was a daughter of Neptune, a god. "Is that why you haven't passed hosts yet?"
"Yes, your grandmother broke my oath when she laid with the sea god," Agnes confirmed. Surprisingly, she didn't sound bitter about it at all. Jake would have understood if she would have been just a little upset, considering it was her immortality and everything. "But I cannot blame her. The spirit of Agnes would have eventually reached its end anyway."
"But what does that mean for you?" Jake asked Agnes, just a little concerned about this centuries-old family spirit.
"When I die, there will be nowhere left for Agnes to go," she explained. She sighed and took a moment to herself. "I have seen many things in all my years. But never before have I seen so much destiny in one person than you. I fear that the path you walk will be a difficult one. Many trials, many, many losses. But in the end, you will have to make a choice. I know you will make the right decision when the time comes."
Jake's face went a little pale when he heard his future being read to him by a two-hundred year old spirit inhabiting his great-grandmother, who might as well have been that old.
"Now, my time is running short, so ask what you must ask," she said, breaking the silence. Jake smirked a little. He kind of liked her dry humor, considering how old she was. "I swear, I've seen the economy move faster than you."
"I need to find a secret society," Jake explained. He was mentally retrieving all the information he had acquired in his search. "There was an inscription on the side a fountain bowl in town. It said to follow the bloodline, through back in time, of the ancestors of Rome, find our new home. I looked through the Hall of Records, through the Westfield family history up to Silas Westfield. Now I'm here talking to you."
"When did they make you stop reading the Aeneid?" Agnes asked rhetorically. "When Aeneas fled from Troy, he eventually found himself on Roman soil. He had to fight a contender by the name of Turnus, of whom he later slain in combat. So he built what was to be Rome. What you're looking for are the founding families. You know one of them, us. The Westfields. Find the others."
"Where do I start?" Jake asked, seeking clues from the age-old woman. "Which ones are the founding families?"
"Find the descendants of Aeneas," she prompted. "Not just our family, but the other families as well. Find them, and you will find what you are looking for. Now, go."
The next day…
Jake and Cindy were reviewing notes inside the lair of the Order of Romulus together. He was still suspicious of her, but found himself having to be dependent on her. As much as he hated that, he knew he was going to have to embrace it if he were going to find this secret society. From their collaboration, Jake was able to determine that the society was consisting of the descended families of Aeneas. He considered Agnes' part of the Westfield family part of that society, though not as active as other potential families. Jake had followed the bloodline back through time and found Agnes, discovering that she was one of the ancestors of New Rome, and that her ancestors were one of the ancestors of Rome, the old one.
But that was only half of the puzzle. These old descendants of Aeneas sought out a new home. New Rome was their new home. But why? What was wrong with living in old Rome?
"These modern descendants of Aeneas didn't come from Italy, at least not Agnes' generation," Jake deducted. Cindy looked at him, like she was hoping he would come to the right conclusion. "They had to come from a place that they were forced out of. But where would a place for legacies exist, if not New Rome?"
Jake was stumped. His mind was wandering now, as were his eyes across the room. He looked up at the ceiling, and then at a map of North America hanging on a wall. He stared at it for some time, noting its shape, all the big cities. His eyes started on New Rome, which sat in the West, then trailed across the map until he reached the other demigod camp, Camp Half-blood in Long Island, New York. Jake stared at it for some time, until… epiphany.
"They came from Camp Half-blood," Jake hypothesized. He was trying to think of a scenario that would make sense, at least in regards to the once united world of demigods. "They had to have been a Union at one point or another. A Union, like during the American Civil War. Yes, that's how it happened. And then, and then… they seceded or lost, and moved to California and founded New Rome."
"Is that what you think?" Cindy asked him after he completed his theory.
"I don't see you adding anything in," Jake commented. "In fact, I don't see you helping out at all!"
Cindy wasn't reacting, at least not verbally. Of course, she knew what he was looking for, but she wasn't going to tell him. But Jake was getting really, really tired of this game. He only had so much patience before he just got really mad.
Jake rethought his theory. He tried to think some catalysts that would force the Greeks and Romans to tear apart from one another. From what Jake knew, Camp Half-blood did not operate under a unified Legion. They were a collection of separate, and sometimes unequal, cabins dedicated to particular god. The Romans did not organize themselves by parentage, but rather referrals and socials connections. Aside from that, they also interpreted the gods differently, some of them not even existing in one pantheon while being in another.
So the camps eventually split from not seeing eye to eye on those issues. The Romans moved west, where the founding families founded Camp Jupiter. A war to keep them united must have broken out shortly after they seceded. From what the previous generation had learned, the gods were so horrified by the losses on both sides, they crafted the Mist to be so powerful, that even the demigods would forget about each other.
Jake was starting to see the picture unravel itself. These descendants of Aeneas at one point must have been at Camp Half-blood, as Roman legacies. They left when the Romans seceded, finding their new home. Yes, it was becoming clearer. They were other non-Aeneid legacies that contributed to the founding of New Rome, but Jake's ancestors were Trojans.
"They wanted to find a new Troy," Jake finally spoke. Cindy's face lit up. "They lost it in the Trojan War, when the Greeks destroyed it. And they couldn't stay at Camp Half-blood too long with all the Greeks there. No, that was definitely Greek territory. They wanted to make a new home, like Aeneas did with Rome. So they went west, and founding New Rome, their new home."
Jake noticed how that rhymed.
Cindy was nodding, excited by his discovery. He knew she wanted to tell him he was correct, but that she couldn't. The thought counted, he guessed. Still, he was surprised he was able to figure out the puzzle. The information was there right in front of him, in front of everyone the whole time. All they had to do was pay attention, just a little. With most demigods and demigod legacies suffering from some form or another of ADHD, it might have been too hard.
But now that Jake knew what this secret society was, he had to proceed accordingly. But first, he had to figure out where the other cells were on tracking down the society.
"We have to talk to Howard," Jake commented. Cindy looked a little distressed. "We have to know where everyone else in their investigations. Who knows, we might find something we missed. Either way, it wouldn't do us good to be caught in the middle."
"You have to promise me you won't tell him," Cindy pleaded. She was looking deep into his eyes. Jake could see the worry in her light brown eyes. He almost felt sorry for her. Everything for her depended on his next course of action. He could end up saving her… or ruining her. Agnes' words about him making a decision was starting to ech in his mind. "Promise me, please."
Jake exhaled.
"We go and do this your way, and you have to tell me," Jake responded after a moment. "Not just some open-ended statements. You have to tell me everything."
Cindy was put back on the hot seat. She looked like she was weighing her options very carefully.
"I… will show you everything," Cindy pledged. Jake got up and was already heading for their next stop.
"Come on, the sooner we get this done, the better," Jake said.
They went over to the Principia. He knew to head over there because of the hours when he was home. Since a year ago, Howard had offered to stay with Jake at his place, along with Javier and Ashley Beas. If it weren't for them three, the place would have been empty with the absence of his mother, father, and sister. If he wasn't at work in the Legion, New Rome, or the Order, then the praetor was using whatever hours left to himself. Howard's dedication was something that inspired Jake.
When they got there, they found Howard at his desk. Jake saw that he was looking at something in his hand, like a picture or something. By the gods of Olympus, he had found the great praetor in a moment of weakness. Jake would have to remember that for later.
"Jake, Cindy," Howard said after looking up at the two of them. He quickly put away his token of affection and prepared himself for the two. "I thought you two were supposed to be out in the field."
"We were," Jake responded. Jake knew that Howard was very good at reading people. He was almost like a human lie detector, but he was close enough with him to hopefully not be put on the radar. "We needed to cross-reference anything else the other cells might have pulled up."
"Dead ends?" Howard asked, pulling out some black folders. He opened them up and pulled out some freshly written papers. "You two were interviewing some of the senior citizens?"
"Yeah, most of them couldn't keep up with the questions," Jake jested. Howard made a smirking nod, acknowledging the joke. "Maybe there was some kind of info we could use as leverage."
"Sure, anything in particular?" the praetor asked, already separating some of the information.
"Potential meeting places, some mutual friends," Jake stated. He felt Howard's vision on him like a pair of hot laser rays. For a moment, Jake was on the hot seat. He could see why Howard didn't have many rivals, and the ones that he did, didn't prefer to confront him head on.
Howard handed him some of the papers. Jake quickly took them and took a step back.
"Thanks," Jake said. Cindy echoed him.
They were just about to leave when they were suddenly stopped by Howard's words.
"Be sure to put that to good use," Howard said, almost as if it were a warning. Jake fought himself to not gulp.
When the two finally left the Prinicipia, they both let out a big sigh of relief. For a moment, they were both smiling and laughing a little. But then Jake caught himself and set himself back into his rough demeanor. Cindy looked a little disappointed.
Jake looked through some of the places. Most of them, as he had seen before, were places he had passed by a hundred of times and never paid much attention to them. He browsed over them until he saw one place in particular that caught his attention. It was on the other side of town, but Jake knew that other members of his cell would have probably looked over it.
"Where are we going?" Cindy asked Jake. He was folding up the papers and putting them in his pocket. He wasn't exactly sure how they were going to do it, but they were needed to. "Jake?"
"Temple Hill," Jake finally spoke. "Right in plain sight. We're going to Temple Hill."
Jake tried to wrap his mind around the situation, the setting, and how it could have been used to the advantage of the secret society. It was out in the open, anyone, literally anyone could see them congregate. For a secret society, that wasn't really secret at all.
There wasn't any way he could perceive how it could possibly help them until he got there. He saw a large crowd of people in dark robes. Their faces were covered by hoods. They all seemed gathered around a shrine dedicated to Venus. Some of them had incense to burn, others were chanted ancient Latin phrases. It completely made sense at this point.
Jake and Cindy kept a cautious distance while the group went about their rituals. Most of them didn't pay the any attention as they chanted and made their worshipping gestures.
The gods had many cults within the society of Rome. It was an accepted part of Roman life. This group, this secret society, the ones who descended from Aeneas, operated within these cults. It was possible that they even disguised entire groups of members as religious cults.
"The only thing is… we don't know which one is our descendant of Aeneas," Jake commented. He noticed one of the attendants was acting a bit strangely. They were looking around over their shoulder, more suspicious of their environment than the others. "And I think I just found one."
Jake was beginning to move in on who he thought was a member of the secret society, until the person started moving away from the crowd. It wasn't long before it turned into a full on pursuit when the suspect started fleeing from the scene. Jake chased after the runner, who was heading into the city.
They were coming closer and closer to the city line, bringing a smile on Jake's face. That was until the runner ditched whatever weapons he was concealing right before passing over the Pomerian Line. Jake did the same, tossing his gladius before Terminus could give him a pat down.
The chase was going to take on turns Jake wouldn't even see coming.
