Chapter 19

Percy POV

"So, what's the plan?" Piper asked, ignoring my crappy attempt at lightening the mood.

"I'll get the legion to prepare. Looking at the size of that army it'll take them at least a day to reach us and to get ready to fight. We should have time to get a defence set up." Reyna said, she spoke confidently but I could tell she was a little worried but trying to hide it. I couldn't blame her, it was a large army and I knew she cared a lot for Camp Jupiter and New Rome.

"Tell me where you want the hunt and I'll get the girls into position," Thalia said confidently. I was always amazed how much Thalia changed when she had to start giving orders. Her usually casual, laid-back, don't give a damn attitude disappears and is replaced by the fierce lieutenant of Artemis and daughter of Zeus who will fight for what she believes in no matter who or what she faces. Part of me wondered if others saw a similar change in me.

"-and we'll have the 5th cohort on the far south-east." Jason was saying while I was zoned out thinking.

"Will that be enough?" Piper asked.

"It'll have to be." Reyna said determinedly. "The roman gods aren't as involved as the Greek and usually leave us to fight our battles ourselves. Still it wouldn't hurt if Jason or Thalia could try contact Lord Jupiter."

I looked at Thalia silently asking her if we should tell them about Artemis. She seemed to catch on to what I was asking her, and she gave me a slight shake of her head in return. I wasn't sure why she elected to keep it a secret but Artemis was her goddess, so I went along with it.

Reyna turned to the lookout who had been sanding to the side still watching the horde of mythological beasts. "Stay here for now, I'll get someone else to take a shift when the legions all briefed." The girl just nodded and turned back to her assignment.

We walked swiftly and in a worried silence back to the dining area where the legion was still eating blissfully oblivious to the oncoming threat. The 3 full immortals made their way back to the head table while me and Thalia split off in the direction of the hunts allocated table. We hadn't quite gotten to our seats when Reyna tapped her spoon against her glass attempting to gain the attention of the romans, a few of the hunt glanced over in her direction but most were just waiting for Thalia to explain.

The glass wasn't loud enough to get the full attention of the legion so Reyna decided a more direct approach would be better. "Quiet!" she bellowed of the chatter of the combined cohorts. It was certainly much more effective and silenced each legionnaire. "Thank you," she said in a quieter voice but still loud enough to be heard. "One of our lookouts has sighted an army entrenched to the east." There was an outbreak of worried chatter but Reyna continued none the less. "Currently they are stationary but we will set up defences asap. Now, all legionnaires go and get your armour and weapons, centurions are to come with me."

Immediately the romans leapt up and rushed out to follow their orders and meanwhile the hunt started to bombard Thalia with questions. Thalia however ignored them all and just turned to her mistress who was the only one not to have said anything.

"Come, lets head back to our camp." Artemis said while standing up from the table. "Thalia will bring us up to date while we walk." She said while turning and walking away. The hunt immediately followed the disguised goddess leaving me to trail behind. While we walked Thalia explained what we had seen and occasionally turned to me for confirmation on some of the details. She had just finished talking and the conversation turned to strategy when Chloe fell to the back of the group so that she was walking alongside me. I could tell from her face she was terrified and had tears welling up in the corners of her eyes both reactions I found more than understandable.

"Hey it'll be ok," I said softly to her, I knew it was cliché but it was the first thought that popped into my mind.

"But I've only just joined the hunt." She said.

"Exactly," I said stopping and crouching down to her level. "No ones expecting anything of you, I expect you'll be sent into New Rome until the battles over." I said to her it seemed to soothe her a little.

"But what about you and the rest of the hunt, you'll all be fighting. You could all get hurt."

I placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's sweet of you to care but there's no need to worry. This is far from any of our first battles. I not spent that much time travelling with the hunt but I've fought with them multiple times and they're incredible, they've also got Thalia who is the daughter of the king of the gods and I know from first-hand experience that she can fight just about anything and win. Not to mention Lady Artemis is with them and she's not just an Olympian but one of the most gifted gods in combat. I'm sure the hunt will be fine." As I spoke I realised that I was also trying to reassure myself, the hunt had suffered serious losses during the giant war and weren't as powerful as they once were. I was mainly worried about Thalia as I didn't have any personal connections with anyone else aside from Chloe but I knew any casualties the hunt might take would have a serious effect on my cousin.

"What about you?" Chloe asked seeming a little further from tears now but still worried.

"I'll be fine, I promise," I said standing up.

"Pinkie," Chloe demanded.

"Okay I pinkie promise," I said. "We should catch up with the others." I say noticing how far behind we were.

AN/: I'm back! It's been well over a month since I last posted a chapter so sorry about that, I've been struggling IRL but hopefully will get at least one more chapter out this month. Thanks everyone for the support and advice you've been giving me, I hope I'll be able to incorporate what you've said. Please keep all the feedback coming it really helps to know what you guys think.