Percy / December 1st
I wasn't completely excited to come back to Camp Jupiter. Mainly because we had only left a couple of days ago and we had already returned, failing our quest to stop Xander from releasing Majin Kai.
Hey everyone, we kind of failed our quest and now the whole world could be wiped out. Layton had stressed the danger of Majin Kai's control over ki. He described it an ancient and dangerous art with pure destructive potential.
"But you can kill fire with fire" He had said, adding that the spell we were going to try and use had to do with ki
Leo was mostly excited about that one. "We get to learn to shoot lasers! Alright!"
Only problem was that ki was a lost art ever since centuries ago, the most powerful ki user history had ever seen, wiped all its users out. Layton didn't say a name but he did mention that they were written about in The Hidden Archives.
The Agro II came to stop, hovering above New Rome, with a crowd gathering that was most likely waiting to hear the good news. From the looks of it, the lake had gone back to normal too so they must've had their hopes up. Only the more reason to feel guilty.
We climbed down the ladder and were immediately met by Reyna and Octavian.
"Well?" Octavian said
"We couldn't stop him, sorry" Hazel apologized
"The Majin is free?" Reyna asked
I nodded. "He's free and we all got hurt pretty bad when we tried fighting him, but we did manage to contain him in the lamp again. We have six days until he comes back out, if not sooner"
"Reyna, that page you have from the archives, we need it" Annabeth said
"The one that looks like a dark spell?" Octavian replied. "Just what are you planning, Greek?"
"We're not planning anything" I insisted. "If we want to defeat Majin Kai before he begins his genocidal rampage again, we need the page"
"Very well, Annabeth can come with me while the rest of you stay out here" Reyna said
The rest of us broke out into different actives mean while. Jason and Piper went to do more exploring while Leo, surprisingly accompanied by Octavian, went to work on the ship. Layton went off to a different part of camp most likely to play tricks on the faun.
Me, Frank and Hazel were hanging out by a water fountain, trying to play a guessing game of what kind of spell we would need to learn.
"What if it's just a simple sealing spell?" I guessed
"It can't be that easy, remember it has to be in the book for a reason" Hazel reminded
"What about an instant kill spell?" I said
"I mean, maybe. Knowing what kind of stuff is in that book, it's always a possibility" Hazel pointed out
"Maybe we're overthinking it" Frank said
Annabeth
"Do you see the small red building over on the northern side?" Reyna asked
It's temple of Bellona, my mother. Unlike most Roman gods, she has no Greek equivalent. She is truly Roman"
I didn't say anything out of respect for my little knowledge about the Roman goddess. Maybe I should have studied about it before coming here.
"When Romans go to war, we visit the Temple of Bellona. Inside there's a symbolic patch of ground that represents enemy soil. We stab a spear into the ground to show that we're at war. You see, Roman's believe that offense is the best defense. Whenever our ancestors felt threatened, they invaded to protect themselves" Reyna explained
"And they conquered everyone around then. Carthage, Ghauls -"
"And Greeks" Reyna finished. "My point is, Rome's nature to cooperate with others is not so there. Conflicts between Greeks and Romans have been some of the most horrible wars in human history"
"But it doesn't have to be that way" I replied. "If we don't work together, we'll both be destroyed"
"I know" Reyna said. "But I'm doubting cooperation is possible. Juno's plan may be flawed. Even gods and goddesses make mistakes"
We entered the principia and Reyna drug through a drawer until she pulled out a small scroll. She placed it in my hands as if it were a delicate glass vase.
"I don't trust Hera, or Juno. But I do know that I trust my friends. We can work together with enough effort" I said
"Very well" Reyna agreed as we made our way out of the building. "But if you're going to go to ancient lands eventually, especially Rome itself, there's something you need to know about your mother"
The silver coin that had been gifted to me from Athena felt heavier in my pocket and my heartbeat picked up.
"W-What?"
"Back on Circe's island, we had many visitors. About a year before you arrived, a young man washed ashore. He'd been at drift for days, and his words didn't make much sense, but he did say he was a son of Athena..." Reyna explained
"So what happened?"
"Eventually he was turned into a guinea pig by Circe. But before that, he kept rambling on about following the Mark of Athena" Reyna informed. "He claimed to have gone to Rome"
"Did he say anything about the quest?"
Reyna shook her head. "At the time I had no idea what he meant. But when I became praetor here, my suspicions arose. There's an old legend that's been passed down and if it's true, it may be the cause between the Greeks and Romans rivalry. Until an old score is settled, they will never be at peace"
"Never be at peace..." I repeated quietly
A bright light flashed in the corner of my eye. I turned just in time to see an explosion blast a new crater into the forum. Demigods surrounding the area began to panic as a burning couch tumbled through the air.
"What's going on?" I questioned
"You've betrayed our trust" Reyna said
"What? Never! I swear, it's not possible! It can't be us!" I insisted
"That may be true, but someone will have to pay regardless"
Down in the forum, chaos was quickly spreading like a violent and out of control wildfire. Crowds pushed and shoved each other and fistfights were breaking out in masses.
"Bloodshed" Reyna muttered
I had the horrible though that this may be the last time and Reyna ever agreed as we ran down the hill. I was sure that if weapons had been allowed in the city, there would tons of deaths, including my friends.
Some threw plates, food, rocks and other objects at the Argo II which did absolutely nothing. Around Piper and Jason, several dozen Romans surrounded them. Jason, whose forehead was bleeding, tried to calm them down while Piper's charmspeak was useless against the anger of the demigods.
"We're on your side! I swear!" Jason exclaimed, but the orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and the warship didn't help his case
The Argo II fired off more flaming spears and one blasted a toga shop to smithereens.
"I hate my job sometimes" Reyna complained before rushing off towards the legionaries in the distance
Where are you Percy? I thought as I scanned the forum. The only familiar face I could recognize from here was Layton who was cornered and fighting off about twenty Romans. His cheek was bleeding and he was struggling to fend off so many people.
I rushed in and Romans tried to grab me but I ducked and plunged into the crowd. Within time I finally spotted Percy. He was with Hazel and Frank standing in the middle of a fountain. His toga was in tatters but other than that, he didn't have too many sustained injuries.
Back on the Argo II I saw Octavian clinging desperately to the rope ladder, trying to climb down to safety. Normally I would have laughed but this was serious.
"Annabeth!" Percy said. "What's happening?"
"I don't know!"
"The Greeks fired on us! They're traitors!" Octavian shouted. "Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"
"You're lying!" I shouted back
"I am not!" Octavian shrieked. "I saw it happen with my own eyes!"
The Argo II fired again and Legionaries scattered around to avoid the attack. If the Romans were going to extract their revenge, they probably outnumbered Camp Half-Blood a hundred to one.
Layton appeared next to the three of us using Instantaneous Movement. Rubrum and Caeruleum were situated on either of his shoulders and they looked scared.
"We have to leave" I said. "Like, now"
Percy nodded. "Hazel, Frank, this is your camp, are you guys coming?"
"Of course" Frank replied
"First we need to get onto the Argo II though" Hazel pointed out
"Easier said than done" Layton said as his wristbands began to spin
A red circular disc appeared in front of Layton with a variety of different symbols. The knowledge dragons reverted into singular orbs of energy and floated through it. Suddenly, the large dragon Ferox bursted to life.
Ferox was a dragon that stood up on two legs with an insanely large wingspan and teeth that could tear through a steel building. His arms looked strangely like a t-rex's from Jurassic Park and his tail was about twenty feet long with a green flame on the tip. Other than that, his skin was a maroon red and the eyes and wings were blue.
Percy continued to blast the Roman mob with water until Ferox stepped forward and scared off the crowd around us.
"Ferox, Mythical Flame" Layton ordered
Ferox titled its head back and then spat a high velocity fireball that hit the Argo II, causing it to grain and tilt sideways. Octavian managed to hang on somehow.
"Romans! Please!" Jason cried from far away
Jason tried to shield Piper from the plates and stones being thrown but a brick nailed him in the eye and he crumpled. With that, the crowd surged forward and Piper ordered them back with charmspeak. They hesitated but it wasn't going to last long.
"You guys aren't getting through the crowd without a distraction. Luckily we have a huge dragon" Layton said
Ferox shrieked and it sounded like something straight out of a Godzilla movie. The dragon titled its head forward and sprayed steam across the entire vicinity that hid everyone from sight.
"That won't do much, so grab those two and get up on the ship. I'll stop the legion from causing more damage to the ship" Layton instructed as he boarded Ferox
Percy
We dashed into the smoke towards where we had seen Jason and Piper. We found them with Jason on the ground and Piper checking for any injuries.
"We have to go, now" I said
Piper nodded and helped Jason up. We scrambled through the crowd and past Romans who had no idea where they were going with all the smoke. We made it in time to see the smoke clear and for the Romans spot us. They surged forward but Layton's humongous dragon landed in front of them.
"Nothing personal" Layton waved his hand and Ferox shot a bolt of thunder from its mouth that destroyed catapults trained on the Argo II.
We climbed up the ladder and past a row of broken aerial oars onto the deck that had its rigging on fire and the foresail was ripped down the middle.
Coach Hedge wasn't in sight but Leo was calmly reloading the ballista as if it was his daily job.
"Leo! What are you doing!" Annabeth shouted
"We must destroy them..." He faced Annabeth and we flinched back at the cursive letter ?ￂﾠon his forehead.
He turned back to the ballista but I quickly tackled him and his head hit the deck so hard that his eyes rolled up so that only white showed.
Around us, the dragon circled the ship until Layton hopped on board. It reverted into a red and blue dot and the pet dragons were back on Layton's shoulders.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" He said
Annabeth ran to the helm and looked over the controls, cursing something under her breath in Greek. She grabbed some kind of throttle and yanked it back. The ship groaned again and the bow titled to a terrifying angle as the mooring lines snapped, and the Argo II shot straight into the clouds.
"Down the rabbit hole we go" I sighed
"So much for getting the Romans on our side..." Frank added
"Xander... he did this" Layton said. "He must have known that we weren't going to let him rest, so he tried setting us back"
Annabeth held up a small scroll of paper. "But we did get this"
"Then that's all we need" Layton replied