Disclaimer: I don't own characters created by Rick Riordan.

10 – X

Infiltrating Octavian's trust and group was a lot easier than expected.

For some unexplainable reason, Octavian had offered him a spot in his little Olympian army. Sure, it meant that his job would be easier, but it was also suspicious. Percy still didn't know the Roman's motive.

The next day, however, Percy received news from Katie: a mile stretch of the border was devoid of living guards. According to the Enforcers who'd inspected the area, there were over five thousand confirmed deaths. And the ones who'd killed them… Olympian criminals. The identities of five hundred or so belonged to wanted criminals in State 5. Not all of them committed large-scale crimes, but many were linked to Deu5 M0rti5 and other criminal organizations.

That's two attacks by Deu5 M0rti5, Percy thought grimly. They're going to pay when I get back.

Killing Yancy Turnbuckle was not even close to solving the problem of taking down Deu5 M0rti5. Percy remembered how he'd dismembered the old man. He closed his eyes and shuddered. Even after everything he'd done, and after what Turnbuckle did, Percy still hated the brutality that took his life. Surely, he could have made it quick and painless… or if he wanted him to suffer, send him to prison.

The only problem with that was he had no evidence or legal justification for his killing. He figured that he was lucky to have escaped punishment.

Of course, unless granted by the government, Percy couldn't kill anyone now. In some ways, he liked it better that way. He was kind of tired of killing. But on the other hand, there were so many who hadn't paid the price of crime that he wanted to find.

But that would have to wait until later.

For now, he had to concentrate on marvelling the beautiful architecture of San Francisco.

The trip across the Neutral Zone and the Far West had taken about as much time as it would have taken to get from Boston to St. Louis. It was impressive, considering Percy'd always thought that Olympia took up more than half of the continent.

The Neutral Zone was a lot tamer than he'd been led to believe.

Hordes of bison roamed around the large, outstretching plains, and various villages were scattered around in very strategic locations. Many settlements were along rivers, and it seemed agriculture was very well developed.

Also, there were a lot of attractive girls around his age. Even without those fabricated industrial products for women, these girls were hot. They were all really strong, too. There was even this one girl who beat him five times in a row in arm wrestling. Many of the other guys and girls from Olympia, however, didn't enjoy their times in the villages and got in disputes with the local people. The few who defended the villagers were usually beat up and left behind. All except him.

Once they got to something called the Colorado River, the elevation began increasing. Octavian called the mountains before them the Rocky Mountains. Percy could see the sharp-tipped mountains in the distance, but it seemed as though the path they were taking would lead them right through the mountains without having to climb them to their peaks. The Olympians always dramatized this and claimed the mountains were enormous and had to be conquered before reaching the other side, even though hundreds to thousands of immigrants arrived each year from the Far West.

Despite this, the air became thin, and the criminals were already malnourished from their time without heavily processed food. There was a lack of wine in the Neutral Zone, which led many to abandon the group. But there was a group of five hundred who were loyal to Octavian and marched the heads of those who dared to abandon on spears.

By the time they crossed the Rocky Mountains, each of the five hundred had a head on a spear.

There were many deadly creatures that stalked around the mountains as well. There were large bears and wolves and coyotes that attacked the vulnerable and the weak. Percy found himself protecting the people he wanted to kill. He chastised them about provoking the animals by throwing sticks and stones at them. They didn't listen, and the next time they cried for help, Percy watched the wolves tear them apart.

Of the original ten thousand who'd come on the journey, eight thousand arrived in San Francisco.

There was no doubt that everyone knew why this large group of warriors from Olympia had arrived in their hometown. But Percy was more concerned about the wonderful architecture of the city.

A wide-spread landscape of a marvelous city was laid out around a bay. Miles of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs littered the landscape. Some had domes and columned porticoes. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. He could see at least three coliseums and a variety of building heights. There were small pockets of large, tall buildings—at least eight stories tall. Out in the middle of the bay, he saw what looked like a black brick palace, which looked like a palace of death. In contrast, on the small peninsula way out to the west, there was a white marble palace gleaming with golden light. Even from way out here, he could see a variety of marble statues around it.

That palace, despite its location away from everything else, seemed like the center of the city.

There was a mountain to the north of the city, and Octavian was pointing to that as he explained something to the people around him.

Behind him, a group of five people around his age split away from the group. They ran to escape. Immediately, the sound of a horn blasted in the distance, and a group of Octavian's followers began chasing after the group of five.

Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself running toward the fray, Anaklusmos in his hand, and one word repeating over and over in his head: Kill!

The least athletic girl was cut down first. The other four split in a panic. But two more fell: two guys his age.

"Stop!" the fourth one cried. "We don't want to be a part of this! We just wanted to escape!"

An arrow tore through her neck.

The fifth one stopped and collapsed with his hands in the air. He closed his eyes and shouted, "I surrender. Don't kill me! I surrender!"

And just as someone brought the blade down at his neck, Percy entered the fight. He sliced right through the attacker. His left foot hit the dirt in front of him, and he pivoted. Switching his blade to his left hand, he lunged at a second attacker. The second attacker twisted away, but Percy slashed forward with his pugio and struck his chest.

Suddenly, the attention was on him. He deflected the arrows aimed at him and charged again. His senses opened up, and he was suddenly aware of the arguing and shouting for things to calm down. Percy killed four men and two women before they stopped their attack.

One of the five remaining Roman guards stepped through with an irritated look on his face. Percy recognized him as Marcus, the most capable of Octavian's officers. "What in Jupiter's name is going on here? Gods, more killing? How many times do we have to say that deserting the operation will only allow you to be killed? And you, Percy, what do you think you're doing killing other soldiers?"

He gritted his teeth. He hated Octavian and his officers even more. Not allowing those who wanted to desert to flee wasn't fair. They were going to die anyway. Why did they have to parade the heads? Maybe if Octavian had explained the journey to the Far West, then people wouldn't have joined in the first place. Percy could tell many of the people here didn't want to stay. They wanted to flee, but they were all afraid of dying.

As criminally active as they might have been in Olympia, Percy found himself empathizing with the thousands of people around him. The longer he stayed, the more he felt like stabbing Octavian.

"Come with me, Percy Jackson," Marcus ordered.

For a second, Percy thought about stabbing Marcus and making a run for it. But he looked around and saw the multitude of archers waiting for him to run. Hesitantly, he sheathed his sword and followed the Roman officer.

Marcus led him to Octavian, who was moving amongst the thousands of Olympians, pointing toward the mountain in the north and explaining something about meeting up. When Marcus dragged Percy to Octavian, the fox-faced Roman titled his head in question and smirked slyly. He didn't even need to ask.

"There was a mess over there," Marcus told Octavian. "With his combat abilities, I'm sure he would make a good spy. After all, he does resent you. It'd be good to get him off your shoulders."

Percy glanced at Marcus. He'd just confirmed Percy's fears; they were hesitant about Percy's skill with a sword and his rebellious behaviour. That kind of made him happy because he would be glad to strike fear into Octavian any time he could, but it also made him a little afraid. He had no idea what Jason Grace and Reyna Ramírez-Arellano were like, and a part of him feared that they were somewhat like what Octavian had described them to be.

Octavian whistled loudly, and a golden eagle suddenly shot out of the sky. It landed on his hand. Percy narrowed his eyes. So the golden eagles truly do come from here, he thought.

"Smell the scent of this boy," Octavian ordered the eagle. "Whenever I have a letter for Percy Jackson, find the scent of this body."

The eagle stared at him. It didn't move, but Percy knew it already affiliated his smell and his look with his name.

"Take all of his money, his footwear, and his pugio. Leave him with that beggar clothing of his and that sword. Better from him to look like a poor boy wanting to become a soldier than someone who looks like a threat."

"Very well, sir."

Marcus stripped Percy of all of his money and his footwear. His pugio was taken and shattered by Octavian. Percy tried his best to restrain from decking Octavian. When they were done stripping him of his valuables, Octavian said, "Okay. You're free to go, beggar. My eagle will make sure you do your job, or I will order him to kill you. And if you know anything about golden eagles, it is that they travel near the speed of sound."

Percy scowled but stayed silent.

"Go."

This "Pontifex Maximus" was retarded. Did Octavian really expect Percy to obey his orders by threatening him with an eagle? But a part of him was curious to infiltrate the government. After all, even if Octavian was an ass, if the government was worse, they were the ones that would have to be eliminated. No matter the case, Percy would find a way to kill Octavian. Clearly, once given the power, he would swoop into Olympia and destroy as much as he could.

So the retarded Roman let him free. And he took the opportunity as it came to him.

It was night-time when he made it to the downtown sector closest to that white palace. The whole area was massive. He wished he'd brought Blackjack, but with his suspicions about Octavian, he didn't want to risk his horse's safety. And he was right. If he'd brought Blackjack, surely the horse would be dead by now. That only meant that instead of taking an hour or two, it took him an entire afternoon.

The sun had just as he walked down Main Street. Shops were closing up, and people were scrambling to finish their shopping before people closed up for the night. Percy noticed that there were many alleys between the buildings. They seemed to be poorly lit, and as he adjusted his vision to the night, he saw that the alleys were perfect places for criminals to do their dirty work.

He passed a clothing shop. There was a tall blonde-headed boy standing just outside the door, tapping his foot impatiently. Percy noticed that when a couple people passed by him, they bowed respectfully. The boy looked about his age… or even younger. It was absurd. Still, he awkwardly bowed back. He had icy blue eyes and a scar on his lip. For some reason, Percy tensed up as he walked past the man. For a second, he got a sense of déjà vu.

He tried not to think about it.

"Man, where are Piper and Leo?" the guy grumbled. "They're late."

Percy shrugged it off and kept walking. He made it down a couple blocks when he suddenly heard something from down one of the alleys. He sighed. Probably a rape or robbery or something, he thought.

Glancing around, he made sure that the least amount of people were watching him as he looked down the alley and unsheathed his bronze blade.

"Leo!" a quick shout came.

Percy saw some guy swing a fist. For a moment, Percy saw a short, stocky boy punching a blonde-headed girl. But then reality set in, and he could only see shadows. The light didn't travel well down this alley.

He stepped in to help fight when the most miraculous thing happened. A boy's fists lit on fire. They literally lit on fire.

"I told you to not let him mutter his spell!" one of the assaulter's said.

"Stay back, Piper!" the boy growled. "I got this."

The names clicked in Percy's head, and he immediately glanced down the street. He thought he saw the blonde kid's eyes meet his, but they were too far away. There was no way that was possible. Still, the blonde kid suddenly went rigid.

Before he could stare any longer, the kid named Leo lunged forward with his fiery fists. He managed to land a strike on one of the assaulter's faces, who fell and clutched his face in pain, but a quick leg darted out and struck Leo across the head. He fell to the ground, unconscious, but his hands still on fire. It helped light up the scene for Percy.

There were five assaulters and two victims. One of the assaulters was still clutching his face in pain, but the other four were ganging up on the one girl named Piper. Percy couldn't see her face, but he could see that her clothes were already ripped. The assaulters had knives.

Percy calmly walked forward.

As the leader of the four grabbed the girl named Piper, idiot number four noticed him approaching from behind. Idiot number one slammed Piper against the brick wall, just as idiot number four alerted his fellow friends.

"It's a boy," idiot number one said without even turning around. "If you three lose, I'll be thoroughly disappointed." He grabbed Piper in an inappropriate spot.

For some reason, Percy snapped.

In a matter of seconds, there were four unconscious men on the ground, and Percy was sure a strong strike could kill the one he was on top of right now.

Right then, the blonde-headed boy turned the corner and shouted, "Piper! Leo!"

"Jason!" Piper cried, running toward the boy. They hugged and embraced and shared a quick kiss on the lips.

Percy stood up and looked down at the unconscious men. His sword was lying next to Leo, the kid with magic fire abilities. He shouldn't have been surprised, but he couldn't help it. To be able to hold balls of fire in his hands was a pretty cool ability. He took a step toward his sword when something gold flashed in front of him and he felt the cold metal of a sword pressed to his neck.

"Who are you?" the boy named Jason asked.

The name Jason was all too familiar to Percy. He took a look at the boy. Jason was taller than him and definitely looked more impressive as a soldier. After a good look, Percy decided that the boy in front of him was the praetor Jason Grace. How an eighteen-year-old managed to become a leader of an entire city was a mystery to him. And what a coincidence it was that he somehow managed to run into them right here.

"Hello, Jason Grace," Percy replied calmly. "Good evening to you as well."

Jason pressed his sword closer to Percy's jugular vein. "I don't want to repeat myself three times. So please, answer me. Who are you?"

"My name is Percy Jackson."

"What is your business here?"

"I saw some guys picking on younger kids. I stepped in to help. What else was I supposed to do? Let them get beat up? Sure, helping them seems a little like a scene out of a play or a book, but does that mean I shouldn't help them? Not sure if they would've been all right if I hadn't done anything." Percy gestured to Piper's messed up hair and clothes. "Prime example one!" Then he gestured to the unconscious body next to his sword. "And prime example two."

Jason took a deep breath and lowered his sword. Sheathing it in his scabbard, he said, "Thanks, bro."

Percy was a little surprised at his casual tone, but just shrugged. "Okay." He went over to pick up his sword and then grabbed Leo's body and slung it over his shoulder.

"Whoa, wait!" Jason exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Percy grunted. "I'm helping you guys bring his body to a safe spot. Where do you live?"

"Not far from here," Piper said. "It's a nice small home. I mean, just because Jason's praetor doesn't mean—"

"Hey, would you shut up, Beauty Queen," Leo muttered weakly. "I'm trying to be unconscious over here."

"Leo, you're all right!" Piper went up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Percy looked at Jason, but it didn't seem to perturb the praetor one bit.

Looks like they're good friends, Percy thought sourly.

"Man, getting carried by a dude is so not cool," Leo murmured. "If it was Calypso… oh gods…" Leo sighed as if he was in bliss.

"Your girlfriend?" Percy asked.

"No. But I'm working on it."

"They actually really like each other. Calypso's… well, she's kinda in a funny situation right now so…"

Percy grinned. "So basically they're both too scared to ask each other out?"

Piper laughed. "Haha, yeah."

Jason smiled. Percy was kind of surprised to see that kind of expression on what seemed to be a serious face. The blonde said, "Well, we should probably get going. Darkness is coming. This is when criminals become a real problem." He sighed. "I really wish Reyna would cooperate sometime and make some harsher rules."

The four of them made their way to the house.

He talked to them and watched their actions to get a sense of what they were like. From that walk, he determined that Jason was a very serious young man with a strong sense of honour and justice. He was compassionate and seemed to greatly care for his friends. Naturally, he seemed like the leader of the trio, but when asked about it, criticized himself and frequently brought up his errors and mistakes. Piper was much more aggressive and down to earth than he'd expected. She seemed very perceptive with feelings and seemed to care about her boyfriend, Jason, a lot. Leo was another entity in itself. Even while being lugged by another dude, his tone of voice was easygoing, upbeat, energetic and funny. Despite his joking manner, he seemed very protective over his friends.

These three seemed like pretty cool people.

"Actually, Leo and I are from Olympia," Piper told him. "We were born in State 6, but we left Olympia when we were really young. I remember that day like it was yesterday. There were a bunch of orphans around me and my dad, Leo being one of them, and the Border Guard was helping us flee from some crazy guards who wanted to kill us because we're half-bloods. We traversed the desert and ended up here. My dad, well, he made it to Los Angeles, but let me come up here. Last word I got from him was two years ago. Apparently, he was killed in a random shooting somewhere."

Piper tried not to cry, but she didn't seem like much of an emotionally reserved person. She was sniffling as tears trickled down her face. But Percy didn't bother to say sorry. He simply nodded and kept moving. After a minute or so, Percy asked, "So you're half-bloods?"

"Are you unfamiliar with the whole half-blood thing?" Jason asked. "I can clear it up for you."

"No, no. I'm fine with that. Just… who's your parent?"

"Venus. I mean, Aphrodite." Piper corrected herself to adjust to the Olympian names. "I consider myself a daughter of Aphrodite, but if I call myself that, the Romans get a little angry. Romans weren't exactly fond of the Olympians overthrowing them and kicking them out."

"You don't sound like you're used to saying Olympians," Percy pointed out.

Leo sighed. "Well, here people like us are called Greeks. Why? I have absolutely no idea. But that's the way it is. I'm a child of Hephaestus."

Percy raised his eyebrows, not that Leo could see them. "With that magic, I'd think you'd be a son of Hecate or something."

"No children of Trivia here," Jason muttered. "Guess the Roman version of her isn't so fond of making kids."

"Roman version?"

"Do you want the simple version or the long, winded version?"

"Simple please."

"Different names, different personalities. Man, Olympians sure trash their records if you don't know this basic stuff."

"Not my fault!" Percy put his free hand up in surrender. "Olympia is like a huge landmass dedicated to immigrants. I don't even know how many people of different ethnic backgrounds there are."

Jason smirked. "Like Leo and Piper? They're definitely not like us."

Percy looked at them. Leo definitely looked like someone from the southern part of State 6, but Piper looked different. She looked like someone from one of the ancient tribal groups in the south. If he remembered correctly, there were five ancient tribal groups in the southeast, and the Olympians allowed them to keep their traditional customs—Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Cherokee. Piper most likely descended from one of them.

"Creek."

"No."

"Choctaw."

"No."

"Chickasaw."

"No."

"Chickasaw."

"You already said that."

"I know. I just like saying that. Um, Cherokee."

"Bingo."

"Bingo? You know that game?"

"Well, Olympia and Rome have shared quite a long history. They have lots of things in common. Anyway, you guessed it. I'm a descendant of a goddess of beauty and a Cherokee man."

They stepped into the house, and Percy dumped Leo on the nearest couch.

The small elfish boy immediately stood up and huffed, "Rude!"

Percy titled his head and raised his eyebrows. "You really wanna pick a fight after I saved you?"

"We hardly even know each other!" Leo was dramatizing the whole situation. Pointing his finger dramatically, he said, "How can we bring you inside here without knowing the whole situation? I will ask exactly what my underling Jason Grace asked: who are you, monster?"

"Finally, you guys are home!" came a pair of exasperated voices from the hallway.

Three people stepped into the room. The first one Percy noticed was the big oriental guy. He had the normal brown eyes and short black hair of an oriental person, but had a babyish face. It seemed out of place with his stout body and military haircut. Clearly, the guy worked out and was strong, but it just seemed so weird.

"He's like a Koala bear with muscles," a shorter girl laughed from beside him.

Percy turned to her. The girl was very dark-skinned. She had shoulder-length curly cinnamon brown hair and gold eyes. She looked about four years younger than him, which made her fifteen. She seemed out of place here.

"I'm not sure whether to be insulted or happy…" the big guy said. "Hazel, was that a—?"

"It was a compliment, Frank," the third one sighed. "If you two could stop being so dense and date already."

"Like you have the right to say that!" Frank blurted. Realizing his mistake, he went wide-eyed and covered his mouth. He cowered in fear and jumped behind Hazel, who was trying her best not to burst out laughing. Not exactly a confidence booster for Frank, Percy thought.

The third person was a girl. She looked about the age of everyone else. She had piercing black eyes and glossy black hair worn in a single braid. Her skin tone was a little lighter than Leo's, but it was clear they both had the same ethnic background. She looked like a fierce leader, and the impassive yet analytical look she gave him reminded him of Annabeth.

She wasn't even looking at Frank, who had stopped cowering in fear.

"Reyna? Are you okay?" Jason stepped closer to her.

"I'm fine," she replied stoically, still staring at Percy.

"So you're the other praetor," Percy said, trying to elicit some form of emotion. "I've heard about you, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano."

Jason's look told him that that was a mistake.

Her look of surprise faded quickly. Pretty soon, he found himself on the floor, his arms locked to the ground, and a hand clamping down hard on his throat. He let out a quick laugh, which only made Reyna's hand clamp down harder.

But she made the mistake of not locking his legs. He tangled his legs around hers and began twisting.

He'd never really been pinned down before, mainly because he practiced striking martial arts. That meant he would try to defeat his opponent before they could get to the ground. In the SOF, they often had mixed martial arts competitions to determine who could last the longest in battle. He won some, he lost some, but overall, he did pretty well. The two styles of fighting he'd learned since the beginning of the camps at twelve were two oriental arts: Muay Thai and Kyokushin karate. They weren't similar fighting styles, but they both had the potential to be brutal. He kind of wished he'd learned some wrestling, but the best he could do against a girl was wriggle.

Finally, he felt the pressure on one of his arms decrease for a split second. Using his body weight and his legs, he threw his body weight to the opposite side he was facing. Reyna was caught off balance, and Percy flipped them so that he was now pinning her. He tried to keep the pin as far as he could from being sexual, but it didn't help that she was dressed in thin nighttime clothing.

Nevertheless, he locked her legs and kept a knee on her stomach. With his arms, he twisted one of her arms until he felt like he would snap her arm off, and put his elbow right at her throat, between her chin and her collarbone.

The other five were staring at them in disbelief. It seemed as though Reyna wasn't someone who could be defeated easily.

Percy let go and let Reyna catch her breath.

She looked about as disbelieving as everyone else. When she finally caught her breath, she asked, "How do you know my name?"

Percy opened his mouth, but stopped himself before he said the name. They would get suspicious if he said the name outright. He didn't want to lie, but he would have to come across as more trustworthy. After all, just because they seemed like nice people, didn't mean their way of operation was necessarily any better. A part of him was still puzzled as to how these young adults were in charge of a whole city, but he tried to put that off to the side.

"Well, I kinda hitched a ride with some idiot from here when I fled Olympia," Percy said. It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the truth either. "He was spouting all sorts of bullshit, including stuff out you guys. Of course, I had no idea what you guys were like but I wanted to find out for myself. I fled the group tonight and somehow managed to run into Jason and Piper and Leo."

"Probably why you don't have shoes, I'm guessing," Reyna said.

Percy looked down and remembered how Octavian stripped him of his footwear. "Uh… yeah, kind of."

"So you know Octavian?" Jason asked. His voice was edging on suspicion.

"To be honest, yeah. But don't worry. I'm not spying on you guys for him, if that's what you're thinking. Trust me. You can have Jason or Reyna monitor me at all times. I won't do anything!"

Reyna and Jason shared a look.

Reyna shouted, "Aurum! Argentum!"

Suddenly, a pair of metal dogs suddenly appeared out of what was seemingly thin air. They're more in touch with the magical essence, he noted. Maybe I should find out what children of Poseidon can do.

One of the dogs was gold and one was silver.

"Full name, parentage, age, sex and birthplace," Reyna ordered. "Speak!"

"Do you really need to ask if I'm a guy?" Percy asked.

The two metal dogs growled, which made Percy wary. They looked like they could actually tear him to shreds before he even knew they were coming. With a resigned sigh, he stated, "Perseus Jackson, son of Sally Jackson and god Poseidon. I turned nineteen just under three months ago, I have a penis, and I was born in the Olympian city of Eboracum Nova, commonly known to citizens of Olympia as New York."

Reyna choked. "A child of Neptune?"

"Poseidon," Percy corrected.

Frank's eyes were wide. "No way…"

Hazel was looking at him with giddy-looking eyes. "You're just like Frank!"

Percy expressed his doubt: "Frank's a child of Neptune?"

"No, I'm a descendent of Poseidon, but I'm a child of Mars. Er, Ares where you're from."

"Well, I guess I haven't really fully introduced myself," Jason said. He stood up. "Jason Grace, son of Beryl Grace and Jupiter… ah, Zeus, right? Turned eighteen earlier this year, I'm a guy, and I was born in Los Angeles."

For some reason, Percy felt tense, as if he recognized the boy. Grace. Zeus. Beryl. Los Angeles. Why did all of those things seem to connect?

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. Turned eighteen earlier this year. I'm a guy. And I was born in Houston, State 6."

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite and Tristan McLean. Turned eighteen this past summer. I'm a girl. And, um, I don't remember the city… but the area was called Oklahoma in State 3. The place I was born, I mean."

"Um, Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto and Marie Levesque. I'm turning sixteen in about a month. I'm a girl. I was born in Olympia but moved here when I was really young."

So Romans can be born in Olympia? Percy thought. Can what the Romans call Greeks be born in the Roman cities too?

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars and Emily Zhang. Turned eighteen last month. A guy. Born in Vancouver."

"Is that the northernmost city?" Percy asked.

Frank nodded quietly.

"Cool."

Reyna cleared her throat. "Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano. Daughter of Bellona. Eighteen in spring. Girl. Puerto Rico."

"What's Puerto Rico?" Percy asked.

"It's a place in between Olympia and Rome," the female praetor said. "But my true home is San Francisco. That will never change."

"So now we know a little bit more about each other!" Leo said in an excited tone. "Great, now let's play a game!"

"Um, Leo, I don't think we should be playing a game right now," Frank said nervously. He was trying to send an unspoken message to Leo, but it wasn't working. It seemed like everybody but Leo understood what he was hinting at.

"What?" Leo said dumbfounded.

"Hey, Leo," Jason said suddenly. "Why don't we go upstairs and prepare dinner? I know you love making your tofu tacos."

"Sure." Now Leo's expression took on a more serious tone. "Will it be all right?"

"Go on, repair boy." Piper put as much confidence into her voice as she could. "We'll be all right. Make an extra good dinner for us and, um, our new guest for the night?" It sounded like she was asking for permission.

"Yes," Reyna decided. "We'll be fine."

Leo nodded silently, and he and Jason made their way out of the room and into the hallway. As their footsteps thudded on each step of the staircase, all eyes turned to Percy, the stranger. The son of Poseidon kind of felt awkward with everybody staring at him, but he mustered up his courage and stared straight back at them.

Frank breathed deeply, and his eyes began to wander. The Koala bear with muscles was getting antsy and uncomfortable.

"You can go if you want, Frank," Hazel said, noticing his discomfort.

"But—"

"It's sweet of you to worry," she said with an embarrassed smile, "but I trust that this guy won't pull anything. If he does, he'll have to deal with three well-trained soldiers of Rome."

"I don't think he'll pull anything," he agreed. "But if you make him mad… I don't know if it's because I'm a son of Mars, but I don't think that you can win. He doesn't look like someone who'll go down in one blow, fatal or not."

Percy met Frank's eyes. The son of Mars gave him a wary look. Percy smiled as best as he could. "I swear to Jupiter I won't do anything to physically harm the three girls present in this room unless they physically attack me."

"An oath to Jupiter?" Reyna asked. Her expression was unchanged, but her tone was curious. "A god you hardly know?"

"If he's anything like Zeus, I think I have a general idea," Percy noted with a sly smile. "If they're different forms of the same entity, I don't think they would change drastically."

"So you really don't know much about the Roman gods," Hazel sighed. She turned to Frank. "I'll be fine. Trust me. If you don't want to be here, you don't have to be. Why don't you help with cooking?"

Frank frowned for a moment until suddenly he looked as though he'd gotten an idea. He nodded, hugged Hazel, and dashed out of the room.

Hazel looked away from Piper, Reyna and Percy in embarrassment.

Percy noticed the amused faces of Piper and Reyna as they continued to stare at her. Percy decided it was safe to join in. "You know, Reyna's right. You two should just start dating. Doesn't it seem kind of weird to you that you're the only fifteen or sixteen year old here?"

"Shut up," was her only response.

"Getting back to the topic of conversation," Reyna urged, "I want you to tell me what you know about what Octavian has planned, if you know it at all."

Percy told them all he knew: Octavian's plan to mass a horde of rebels to take over San Francisco. And he told them what he feared: Octavian's desire to take control over all four cities of Rome and invade Olympia.

"So we're on the same boat then," Piper concluded. "Reyna and Jason have been trying, for a couple months now, to quell the riots that he's been starting up. He's brainwashing people into thinking Jason and Reyna are the enemy."

"To him, you are the enemy," Percy said. "Don't judge the situation from your perspective only. Find a way to expose his nastiness. He doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to fight, so maybe if you could bait him out and make him look cowardly, people will stop looking at him as a fearless leader who deserves control of the city."

"The problem is that he's the Pontifex Maximus," Reyna said with a growl. "He has full authority to claim connection with the gods, even if he's never seen them before. He claims to everyone, including us, that he can sense anything with magic in it. How ridiculous does that sound? Who cares if you can sense magic? And not one present has come from the gods ever since he became the Pontifex Maximus. I think he's been driven mad because he was given the augur's sight by his ancestor, Apollo."

"You're contradicting yourself," Percy pointed out. "You criticized his claim to have connection to the gods, yet you appear to admit that he was given the augur's sight by a god. Is it actually Apollo? As in both gods are named Apollo?"

Hazel nodded. "You're right. That is logical. But Octavian, ever since he wasn't elected praetor, has gone mad with power. Maybe he does have the augur's sight, but it's not like he's using it for something useful. Is he seeing visions that bringing in Olympians will help destroy the government?"

Reyna knit her eyebrows. "I don't know."

They mulled in silence some more.

As soon as Percy opened his mouth to say something, there was a shout from upstairs: "Dinner's ready!"

Piper stood up. "Man, I'm hungry. After getting beat up in that alley, I just feel like falling asleep. Ugh! Come on, Reyna. Hazel. Percy. Let's go get some food."

Piper and Hazel left first, but before Reyna could leave, Percy stopped her.

"Hey, Reyna!"

She stopped and turned to face him. Her expression was no different than it had been throughout the conversation: cold, unmoving, calculating. "What is it, Percy?"

"Do you know where Octavian would be staying at night?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes. He has his family property. It is nearby to here. Why do you ask?"

He checked the extremely small pouch strapped to his waist. Untying the belt, he grabbed the pouch in his left hand. He undid the knotted string and slipped two black vials out of the pouch. Both of them were labelled, and he held them up for Reyna to see.

"I just want to check up on our dear friend Octavian," Percy said with a devilish smile. "Now, let me hear your opinion. Which do you think would be better for our friend?"

Her eyes went wide as she recognized the names.

"Cyanide or hemlock?"

I wrote this a really long time ago. I've been really busy with stuff so I haven't had much of a chance to write. Enjoy. Tell me about issues you have with the plot or the grammar.

Thanks,
Shark.