Chapter 50
Annabeth
I awoke in Percy's arms to a gentle tapping at our door. "Come on guys! Its almost nine! We need to get moving!" I heard Rachel say as she continued to knock. I dragged my butt out of bed and opened the door just so she would stop. Of course the mighty sea lord just slept right through it.
"Geez Rachel! We've got all day, most of us were up late last night! Now come in and have some coffee while I get ready. Maybe you can get Percy to wake up."
"I'm awake" I heard him mumble.
"All day is not enough! We can't see EPCOT in a day! Now you two get ready and I will get breakfast in here, come on! Get going!"
Even without Piper's voice Rachel's enthusiasm could be compelling. Percy got up and shooed her from his room and into mine so he could shower and get ready and by the time we were both washed and clothed breakfast had arrived. Any thought of enjoying it however was dashed by Rachel's exuberance. I did my hair and makeup with a brush in one hand and either a bagel or coffee cup in the other while our now six year old friend nearly wet herself in anticipation of visiting her favorite park.
We got to the Disney doorway just in time to meet Reyna and Neville, who seemed particularly lovey dovey today.
"You guys back to Rome?" Percy asked.
"No, we thought we might spend the morning with you guys at EPCOT. We've never seen it and Neville and I need some couple time. Frank is going to drill the legion this morning, I'll go over for afternoon drills." Reyna smiled. "Or I may just let Frank take care of those too. I'll make sure he and Hazel take the day off tomorrow. Plus we have some new, uh, information? Prophecy? We need to discuss with Rachel and you guys. But lets do that later."
Jason, Piper, Harry, and Ginny met us just as we were about to go through. I figured they had gone ahead and would meet us, but apparently they have better ideas on what time to wake up on a day off than Rachel allowed the rest of us.
Thanks to the monorail system, and that Rachel's parents had already gone shopping for the day, we were at Epcot within minutes.
It was amazing!
The first thing you see is this big silver ball and it has nothing to give it scale so it keeps getting bigger as you approach and you walk and walk before you get up to it. I have no idea how big it is, not as big as Typhoon, but bigger than most any other giant or titan we ever fought. There was a ride inside it that was supposed to tell the history of earth, but Rachel dragged us on saying we could come back to it. She wanted us to get tickets to something called "Soar" which was nearby, although again, its hard to give anything scale around that big ball.
We got there and the tickets were already backed up to one o'clock. While Rachel tried to describe Soar to us we road on our first ride, a trip on a boat through the green houses there that Neville and Reyna totally enjoyed, well, they sat in the back and made out through out it anyway so we all guessed they enjoyed it. When they weren't making out, Neville was surreptitiously casting growth spells on the plants they liked to Reyna's constant giggles. Anyway, Rachel was telling us how Soar was just like flying and we pointed out that thanks to brooms we could all already fly, but she telling us this was different and just fantastic. We decided there was time to both ride the history of the world thing and have brunch before our Soar tickets came due, perhaps we could even see some other stuff around the park. But as we stepped out into the Florida sun, Rachel stopped and seemed confused for a second.
"Whats up Rachel? The earth thing is over there." Ginny said as she pointed to the big silver ball.
"Uh guys, I think we should go this way." Rachel replied, pointing off towards a huge lake that was surrounded by what were described as national pavilions.
"But.. well, what is over there?"
"I don't know, but you remember in the labyrinth? How I said there was a line on the floor I was following? Well, the same line is right there, and it leads off that way" She pointed.
"I don't see it."
"Me either, I thought you wanted to do the earth thing"
"I see it" Ginny said, surprising everyone. "It starts right here and goes straight through those three guys over there."
"Yes! You can see through the mist too!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Well I have plain sight. Its a wizard thing that means I can see through most illusion spells if that is what you mean."
"Its not too plain, there are at least fifteen people over there." Jason said.
"No, there are just three. Trust me on this, Ginny's right. So whoever they are have illusory people around them. Is everyone one armed?"
We all agreed we had at least our wands, while Neville and the Half Bloods had wands and swords. Those that only had wands were admonished briefly for not carrying their survival bags, and we later got the word out that it was mandatory for all.
"We should proceed with caution, Rachel, you lead but be ready to get out of the way fast okay?" Percy said by way of taking command.
"Got it." She replied.
"Okay, lets have our wands out but be discrete. Try to act nonchalant as we approach them." Percy told us, with Reyna and Jason agreeing. Harry and Neville seemed to be itching to fight, if only to impress their dates. We'd have to talk to them about that.
"Hey guys, whats up?" Hermione said as she and Ron approached.
"Oh good, you're just in time for our next adventure. Wands at the ready." I told them, to which they acted accordingly at once." As we walked Neville and Reyna explained what was going on.
We got to where Ginny and Rachel had seen the three guys but of course they were gone. It was decided that Ron and Hermione would wait there as a rear guard and follow us by a hundred yards or so, close enough to keep us in sight, far enough back to spot any dangers from the rear and act upon them. The yellow line, according to Ginny and Rachel, continued, so we followed it.
The line led us around the right side of the lake, which we thought was generally the west side, where the national pavilions were. I wanted to see all of these and Rachel agreed it was worth it to stop at all, although most just sold Micky Mouse and Epcot tees and the like. Occasionally we would get a glimpse of one of the three guys, always as a body in their crowd of illusory tourists. We all found it easier to follow that group rather than any of the three, except Rachel and Ginny of course who kept their eyes on them all the way to the Moroccan Pavilion. The line there turned into the building's entry way.
"Do we wait for Ron and Hermione?" Rachel asked.
"Well if they remember their urban training they will know to secure the exits. We could leave a couple people here to help and to be the reserve." Reyna said.
"I'll stay. Ginny can see through the mist and she's a better fighter than me." Rachel volunteered.
"Me too" Piper said.
"Great, everyone else... wait, do we know what is inside? Is it another shop?" Percy asked.
"No, its a restaurant, one of the better ones. I was going to suggest it for lunch in fact." Rachel said. "There is an empty area in the middle, that is the stage, and the tables are wrapped around it like a doughnut. It doesn't open for a couple of hours though."
Jason pushed on the door which swung in.
"Seems open now, Neville and Jason will go right, Annabeth and I left. Ginny uh..."
"I'll go with you and Annabeth. I bet you are going to see a bunch of sods that aren't really there."
"That's what I'm thinking too, Rachel, before you post up out here, how about checking out the entry way with Jason and Neville so they will know."
"Better yet, lets cast a dispell charm as soon as we go in. Problem solved." Harry offered, and it was agreed.
We quickly went in and saw the place was packed. We cast multiple dispell illusions since no one had agreed to be the one to cast it, expecting the room to then be empty except the three, and the whole room of customers disappeared. I was looking on the floor for a yellow line I couldn't seen anyway when a wand touched my throat and an arm reached across my chest. By not agreeing who would dispel, we had left ourselves open to be grabbed from the shadowy edges of the room. A stupid mistake.
"Lets just drop those wands now" A voice in the darkness said. I looked as best I could. They had Percy and Reyna as well. Everyone was standing back with their wands drawn at what appeared to be our three attackers.
"Not this shit again." I mumbled. "Neville, Please lower them, its like the Hall of Prophecy all over again!" I begged, hoping to sound sincere. I just knew he had the power to do it.
Neville just nodded, paused a second and just as the voice was saying "lets not do anything stupid" his and his cohorts wands flew across the room to Neville, and each of us flung them over our hips and to the ground.
Reyna's landed on a table breaking it with a grunt from the attacker, while Percy's went about ten feet through the air and landed with a solid thud against one of the columns supporting the ceiling. Mine ended at my feet, with a knee pressed to his chest and a sword drawn back to stab him in the forehead. The others were covered with swords and wands almost instantly as well.
"Amazing!" The guy at my feet said.
"I warned you that your normal recruiting tactics would not work Mortimer." Said a familiar voice stepping from the shadows.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Neville asked as the Professor entered the room.
"Indeed. An excellent disarming Mr Longbottom. And you as well Miss Annabeth, Miss Reyna and Mr Jackson. Good work by all. Please, let your captives up and let us explain. This is Mortimer, who prefers to be called 'Marty', Cynthia and Stephen. They attend three of the several magical universities in America and are graduates of American schools of witchcraft and wizardry much like Hogwarts. Occasionally we have students who excel enough to go on to higher education, most normally at the British School of Witchcraft, which muggles call the Advanced Physics Department at Oxford. Some however attend the Mathematics College at Cambridge of course as well. We get a half dozen or so per class at Hogwarts and don't announce it lest everyone would want to attend."
"You see, we can't just build colleges of witchcraft everywhere, there are not that many practitioners, and most of those, well most of those would not meet our standards. In America we have the New Roman University, or as the nomaj's know it, Stanford Applied Physics Lab." Marty said.
"Wait, what's a 'nomaj'?" Hermione, who like Ron had caught up to us a moment before, asked.
"Oh, you would call them muggles. People that use no magic. Anyway, in addition to Stanford, you could continue your education at Georgia Tech, or MIT, or, although they aren't with us today, Princeton. Each has a school of wizardry within."
"How? Why?" Percy asked.
"Well lets sit down and we can explain, we have an hour or so before the nomaj's need the room. Lets see. How is easier than why. Nomaj's see what they want to see so we are able to hide in plain sight at their excellent facilities. As to the 'why', well lets see. Have any of you ever heard of the wizard writer Arthur C. Clarke?"
"He wrote '2001 A Space Odyssey' didn't he?" Hermione replied as she and Ron came in the doorway.
"Exactly! I'm impressed, everything Professor Dumbledore wrote us about you is true! Clark once stated that 'any science sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.' Well the converse must also be true then that any magic, reduced to its base components, must look a lot like science."
"But its not science." Ron said.
"No, no one said it was. It just looks like it to someone who knows neither. So we conduct classes and research in departments of the universities that have no students except us under names so arcane and frightful that only a madman would want to take classes in it, and remarkably none are required for any degree so no muggle actually does. We then award degrees based upon our own standards and in fact the awards ceremony takes place with the college's regular ceremony. Its the one time of the year when all the faculty and the graduates wear wizarding robes so we fit in nicely. Mostly though we are research institutes trying to rediscover arcane lost magic, and create new magic which we share with the nomaj's as appropriate. Velco, powdered sports drinks and zip lock bags came from us for instance, as did the silicon boron processor chip. But that is old news. With our creations the nomaj's, or muggles, have been able to create hand held devices that can access most of the world's learning and information in an instant. " Stephen said.
"But being muggles they use them to watch cat videos and argue with strangers about politics." Marty added.
"We network constantly and keep our eyes on the American schools looking for talent, but we were uncertain Camp Half Blood even existed, although we are obviously familiar with Camp Jupiter from its arrangement with New Roman. Are we to understand that you are the children of the Greek facets of the gods, and you have big three members?" Cynthia asked.
"Who are you?" Percy asked.
"Uh, Cynthia, I'm from MIT."
When this got her only a long stare she added "Massachusetts Institute of Technology?"
"Oh, I've heard of it, one of the best colleges in the world. But how does that empower you to know anything about us? There is an approved list. You're not on it." Percy replied.
"I see. Uh..." Cynthia looked side to side with her partners, dumbfounded.
"Uh, lets talk hypothetically then. First, no one at Hogwarts has given us that information, it was deduced from what we already knew. We knew there was a Roman camp. That meant there should be a Greek one. Even an Odinist one, or native American one, but certainly a Greek. We knew from media reports in the British magical news, the Quibbler and the Prophet, that a group of American student magicians were visiting Hogwarts, and that these had some contact with the Titan Typhoon during the last Titan war. We knew of this only because we have folks that can see through the mist and saw the media reports of the storm that hit New York. We knew only a few of those visiting magicians came from any of the known magical schools in America, that being Jupiter, despite what the Daily Prophet reported, and so we figured that they came from the Greek Camp. And the scuttlebutt around Jupiter since last spring's attack has been all about the Greek Camp. Now, is there anything we're wrong about?" Marty asked.
There was a long silence again as we all thought about whether these guys should be brought in. Clearly they were not on the list of allies we had when we left for Hogwarts, and we could not expand the circle of those with proof of the gods. At the same time they offered us further education and seemed to know a lot already, and already had proof of the titans so probably the gods as well. It was a conundrum.
"Okay, full disclosure. I think the reason we three were chosen is that we are all either first or second generation children of Hecate or Trivia. Cynthia is the daughter of the Goddess of Magic, while Marty and I are both grand children. She came to us herself in a dream two weeks ago, about a week before you left Scotland, and told us to contact Dumbledore about recruiting you for school. She told us who and what you were, although I'm not, well, we don't have any other gods' children, just Hecates and her descendants. So that part may be wrong. Anyway, that you are proficient in magic and the descendant of gods. Oh, and that several of you are big three. I know its hard to believe, but Hecates herself came to us and gave us a directive to meet you. Its the first time we've had direct contact with the goddess in generations, other than those she bestowed children upon and that was usually without them knowing who she was at the time, so you know, if you haven't had any godly contact don't feel bad or anything. We're pretty advanced." Stephen said.
"So you are children of Hecate? Why wouldn't she send you to the Greek camp? If there is one." I asked.
"Because we are sent to witch, wizard and magic school instead."
"Tell us about your schools." I said as I finally sat down and sheathed my sword.
"Is that, uh, is that a greek sword for fighting? It looks too, uh, beautiful." Marty asked.
"No, its not greek per se'. It was made from a Drakkon rib, killed by Iapetus. Hephaestus wove Imperial Gold, Celestial Bronze..."
"What are those? Those metals?"
"Imperial gold is gold which was forged under the senate in ancient Rome. It is among the rarest of metals and will kill most magical creatures. Celestial bronze will generally kill the rest. It is bronze forged at either the Temple of Athena or the Acropolis in Ancient Greece. The sword is also laced with Silver of Artemis, which is exactly what it sounds like, silver provided by Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, which will kill all lycanthorpes, and Stygian iron, which is iron forged from ore taken from the river Styx. It will kill all undead monsters. Together they make up my sword. My knife is only celestial bronze, so it will pass through mortals without harm, but lately I've relied mainly on my sword for the better reach." I replied.
"How did you come to have it?"
"Iapetus gave it to me in the underworld, in Tartarus. Hephestus took it and retooled it while I slept one night and returned it to me in a dream."
"So you have met gods in your dreams as well?"
"Uh, met them there? No. Look, you've sold me, but you need to understand we are on a quest and bound by the requirements of that quest. Part of that is not letting too many people have confirmation of our or the god's existence." I said.
"Lest they lose faith. That is why we work privately at the universities we attend. Still, Hecate herself told us to contact you and we have. Our message is, there are other universities that teach and conduct research in advanced magic, and you, all of you, have a place waiting for you at any of them from Hecate's endorsement alone."
"I feel it is an individual's choice as to what to reveal, but like I said, I'm sold. I am Annabeth Chase. Daughter of Athena. You asked if you were right in your story regarding us, no. You are not. What you described with Typhoon we do call the first Titan war. Percy led us to victory in New York in that one, while Jason and Reyna led the Roman Legion to victory in California. There was a second war against Gaea and her minions, it was most fought in a running battle across Italy, Rome and Greece, although some of it came back here. There were seven of us on that quest, and along with Reyna and a child of Hades Gaea was defeated and peace restored between the camps after decades or even centuries of fighting. You asked if I met the gods in dreams. No, I met them on Mount Olympus. I am the current architect of Olympus, selected by Zeus and the gods to render new designs for those parts destroyed and damaged in the first war."
Some of that the Hogwarts crew didn't know, and I'm not sure if Reyna and Rachel knew about my architecture gig, so the room got really quiet then.
"I'm Percy, son of Poseidon, big three."
"Uh, little short on your bio there guy." Jason said.
"Not much else to add. My mother is an artist and I go to school in New York when I'm not in Scotland."
"And he turned down deification, fought Ares to a draw, and is friends with Artemis and a half dozen other gods. A couple of years ago he blew up Mount St Helens, led the fight against Typhoon, settled a dispute between the gods so they could organize for the war and win it. And walked through Tartarus, three or four times. Oh, and Zeus once threatened to shoot him down if he ever flew again." Jason laughed. "And that's just the parts I know."
"You turned down deification?"
"Don't ask." Jason said.
"Oh go ahead and ask, I love to hear that story." I said as all eyes turned to Percy.
"They weren't going to deify Annabeth too." Percy said. "Who would want to live eternally without the girl they love?" Everyone got quiet with that while I snuggled up against him. I may have purred a little.
"I'm Reyna. Praetor of Rome, commander of the 12th Legion. Daughter of Bellona. You know about us."
"I'm Neville. I'm not related to anyone, but last night Mars blessed me. So I got that going for me I guess."
"Mars? You met the god of war?" Marty asked, seemingly stunned.
"One of them" Reyna smiled.
"You actually met and spoke with Mars? An actual god?"
"Yeah, nice guy. Really proud father. But so are Poseidon and Athena, I met them at a quidditch match earlier in the fall." Neville said.
"Oh yeah, they were super nice." Hermione added. "I had tea with Athena, Aphrodite, Bellona and Hephestus earlier this year. They are a lot more down to earth than people give them credit for."
"Oh now you're kidding." Stephen laughed.
"No... well, full disclosure, Hephestus didn't stay. The tea was kind of a girls only thing. That's when he gave Annabeth, Piper and Hazel their swords." Hermione said, looking at me.
"Indeed. Well my sword. Hazel's and Pipers belonged to Generals Grant and Sherman, but Hephestus improved on them."
"I'm not giving it back" Piper said as she drew it forth and held it for all to see with a wicked grin.
The college kids were now agog.
"Jason Grace. Former Praetor. Pontifius Maximus. Son of Neptune. So, yeah, big three. But all my life I've been on loan to Hera."
"I'm Harry Potter. Chosen one." He giggled.
"Ginny Weasley, girlfriend of the chosen one."
"Hermione Grainger, uh, friend.."
"We know about you already Miss Grainger. You're reported to be the greatest wizard of your generation by no less than Dumbledore. Do you guys even know how lucky you are to have Dumbledore as an instructor? The man is a genius, probably the most intelligent wizard of our age, except maybe Einstein."
"Einstein was a wizard?" I asked.
"Uh, you don't think a muggle could come up with relativity do you?" Marty said while using his hands to make it look like his head was exploding. "The muggles use it as the basis of modern physics, but its applications to the energy transference of lightning spells is more useful if you ask me. Before Einstein the strongest anyone could shoot was barely above a spark. Now we have guys shooting several volts at half an amp or more with only a few hours rest in between. That's not only a visible arc, but capable of stunning or even killing."
"Like this? Jason said as he drew his wand and blew up a table across the room. The thunderclap was so loud and sudden that the shock wave knocked over every chair and table not in use at the moment and dust fell from the ceiling.
"How..."
"Oh, its a Jupiter thing, but if you really want to be impressed, Neville would you blow something up for them?
"No no! That's quite alright. So its true, your spell craft is exponentially greater than has ever been seen. I thought, well, with all due respect, I thought Professor Dumbledore was exaggerating that."
"Every word I wrote to you was true. There are no more powerful witches and wizards than these and their friends. Including the dark lord. There are more creative ones in so far as use of spells is concerned, and those that are more experienced, but as to the actual power behind each, there are none." Dumbledore quietly said.
"You... uh, you sure? About the dark lord I mean, his studies in the dark arts have, well he's beyond anything we've looked at." Stephen said.
"Then we'll just throw more light." Percy said, to our universal agreement. "So, Rachel, Piper, you guys going to introduce yourselves?"
"I thought you all had forgotten me!" Piper said.
"Never!" Jason nearly shouted.
"Good answer! I'm Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love."
"And procreation! Don't forget!" I said.
"You would know dear heart!" Piper smiled to everyone's laughter. Oh well, I guess that one backfired on me. I'd get her back.
"And I'm Rachel."
"Whose child are you?"
"Oh, a financier developer and a lawyer. I'm not a demi god, I'm the Oracle of Delphi."
The college kids just stared.
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"The Oracle of Delphi?"
"Thats the one. Me, voice of Apollo. Font of divine prophecy. Ooohhhhhh Super spooky!"
"And... well... uh, nevermind I..." Stephen mumbled, now completely at a loss for words.
"I'm curious" Piper said. "Who did you think we were?"
"Well we gathered that you were gifted magicians of course, and from what the Professor told us, skilled warriors. We know about how the Roman's drill, and can surmise that the Greeks must drill similarly, oh, and from what we read on the quidditch pitch you are a force to be reckoned with."
"The Greeks do not drill like Romans." Reyna said.
"No, well, we do now. We have integrated the individual style of the Greeks, really our drills were almost always a free for all in the end, and the order and discipline of the Romans into one style. We've also added some purely British spells and such to our order of battle and created a very powerful force. But before Reyna and the other Praetor Frank drilled us, Greek drills were chaos. " Percy said. "You got a taste of it when we came in. And as far as quidditch"
"We've heard you may be the best in a generation." Cynthia said.
"Who? Me?" Percy asked, "No, I suck. Besides, we cheat."
"What? How?" Harry asked.
"Oops, never mind. We play them in a few weeks. We won't cheat then. I promise." Percy grinned.
"How do you cheat at quidditch?" Harry pressed.
"We'll tell you after the season is over."
"No! Tell... arrrrghh! Now we've got to drill to figure it out." He said to Ginny who agreed and gave first Percy and then the rest of us an evil look.
"Perhaps we should return to the discussion." Dumbledore grinned. "I set up this meeting as each of you, as well as your comrades, are eligible to continue your education and I hope you will. For next year many of our American friends were interested in New Rome, however there are a variety of schools you should be investigating and visiting, and our delegates from those schools would like to tell you more about theirs. Upon our return to Hogwarts representatives from Cambridge, Oxford and Eaton would all like a chance to recruit you as well.
With that each of the three put on a brief presentation about their colleges and invited us all to visit. Interestingly, all three were summer interns from their schools to Disney World and told us that all the Disney and Universal parks were under constant protection spells to keep out monster incursions, so we need not worry about being attacked while there and there was no reason for us to carry arms. It had been that way since Disney himself, apparently a great wizard in his own right, had cast the original spells so he could work undisturbed. He had hired so many witches and wizards to help build and many of them had go on to work at Universal, so protection was cast there as well. The only monsters were the alligators in the moats and lakes and they had always lived there. We all knew we would go armed anyway though. We all had varying degrees of interest, but I was intrigued that all had architecture programs. Percy seemed to like Princeton and MIT for their proximity to his family in New York, and Stanford as it was like MIT close to the ocean. I think mainly he was settled on going where ever I went though as we wanted to use that time to start a family as well.
Wow. Life was beginning to move fast.
The meeting broke up cordially. Since we had no email, phone or permanent mailing address, Reyna agreed that the schools could contact us in the future via Camp Jupiter, so long as they didn't become pests. Rachel demanded that we rush back and catch Soar before time ran out on our tickets. Hermione insisted on putting the room right and repairing the damage Jason's lightning had caused but that took only moments. As we walked back, Reyna and Neville asked if afterwards we could find some privacy to talk. Dumbledore decided to join us for Soar and made his own ticket magically. The three college reps walked with us telling us about their schools, as well as their experiences growing up in the American magic community, and we shared some stories from Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter. Their past was pretty similar to the Hogwarts kids except on a different continent, and without a formal government ministry overseeing them. Instead the American witches and wizards were governed by a series of accords and the Act of Secrecy that came into being after Salem.
Soar was, well okay it was pretty cool actually. It started off about the same as a broom ride but the scenery changed at an unbelievable speed and soon we were flying over mountains and all around the world. So yeah, pretty neat. Afterwards it was decided that we should grab lunch and went back to the Moroccan pavilion for some great middle eastern food. Dumbledore and Stephen continued to hang with us, the Professor wearing his robes which I suppose the mist covered for, and Stephen shorts and a Stanford tee.
"So you're Roman Stephen?" I asked.
"No, grandchild of Hecate, remember? I just go to school there as they were the first school to recruit me. I'm on an athletic scholarship, although I don't play anymore. I was a kicker in high school and still hold the record in my home state for longest field goal. I've switched to quidditch but just on an intramural level. Our school team is pretty impressive though."
"Is that an American football thing? Kicker?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, if you can't score a touchdown by fourth down you have a chance to kick it through the uprights for three points. In the state playoffs I kicked one 52 yards."
"Wow, impressive. You must have trained all your life." Jason said.
"No. Used magic. I cheated. After that the Dean of the magic department at Stanford, uh, New Rome, came to see me and told me to cut it out." He smiled.
"And you've been here all fall?"
"Yep. My internship isn't up until May. Its pretty cool though, although I miss my girlfriend. She's a senior this year, First Cohort. Perhaps you know her? Her name is.."
"I don't know most individual legionnaires. We communicate through the Centurion. Sorry. When did you last see her?" Reyna asked.
"No, its cool. Oh, I saw her in August, just before I shipped here." Stephen answered.
"Annabeth thinks the university is the best part of Camp Jupiter, but I know it is the coffee." Reyna said.
"From that little shop overlooking the practice field and the road with the temples?" Stephen asked.
"That's the one! Why don't we go there after lunch? I can catch the morning review and we can meet with Hazel about the new prophecy. Hazel knows Hecate better than any of us."
"That sounds great! So, you get prophecies? From, her? The Oracle?" Stephen asked.
"Not so much at the moment, although there have been a couple this year surprisingly." Rachel volunteered.
"How is that surprising?" Stephen asked.
"Well, after the last war, uh, Apollo took a lot of heat for releasing the prophecy that led to the war. Now, all it did was predict that seven half bloods would go to Rome and then Greece and fight Gaea and her forces, but he released it back in the twenties or thirties and it caused a lot of problems for the gods. Its why there aren't many children of big three around at present."
"But the ones that we have are very special." I said as I squeezed Percy with a smile.
"I agree" Piper said with a hug to Jason.
"Bleh. Our other big three friends won't make you nauseous, I promise. Anyway, Apollo has been silenced by the gods since the end of the second war. He has snuck a couple of quick prophecies to us, in bad haiku, but lately we have been getting more info from the rest of the gods directly. Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite and Hecates started this quest for instance.
"Bad haiku?"
"Its an Apollo thing. Don't worry about it. Usually prophecies are in verse, dense and hard to interpret. When he's in a hurry he just does haiku. Poorly." Rachel explained.
Lunch was great, and Stephen rose and said good bye, reminding us to think about New Rome/Stanford.
"Weren't you going to coffee with us? Maybe see your girlfriend?" Rachel asked.
"Oh sure, I should be back to Stanford by the time you enroll, I would love to meet you for coffee and to show you around. And yeah, I'll introduce you to Michelle too, if she's still talking to me after this internship."
We all looked at each other confused.
"Uh, Stephen we're going right now. You're welcome to join us on the review stand."
Reyna said.
"I.. how?" he asked.
"Come on, we'll show you. We have a couple friends that are very clever with parallel space and non euclidian geometry."
In fifteen minutes we were back at the monorail, and ten minutes later back at the Leodis door. We went through one, into what we were now calling the "door room" and through another and were now at Camp Jupiter at nine a.m. It took a moment for Stephen to adjust. This time we went by Terminus with little fanfare and saw the cohorts assembling before their morning drills. Frank was alone on the review stand and smiled upon seeing us. He looked more and more the perfect Praetor, half Marine Corp drill instructor with his high and tight hair, and half angry young man with his cheeks flustered red.
"Greetings Praetor Zhang, where is Centurian LeVesque?" I asked as we arrived.
"Out there with the Fifth Cohort. We couldn't come up with an excuse for her to sit up here with out the rest of the Centurions, and we didn't want them. Who is this guy?"
"Oh, this is Stephen. He had lunch with us at Epcot and is trying to recruit us to attend the University here." I said.
"It's an honor sir." Stephen said holding out his hand to shake.
Frank took his hand, shook it and said, "You just had lunch with the Senior Praetor, the Pontifix Maximus and the only two guys to step down from Praetorship for the good to the Legion, and the rest of these folks and you're honored to meet me? Frank asked incredulously.
"Don't sell yourself short." Neville grinned. "If I didn't know you already I'd be honored too."
Frank smiled at this.
"Praetor we have a new prophecy we would like to review but would like Centurion LeVesque to hear it as well." Reyna said.
"Well, I guess we could have her out for that. Who wants to send a patronus?" Frank said.
"I would suggest, to avoid any suggestion or appearance of favoritism you use the more traditional method." Reyna said. "That way all can hear and none can argue it."
"Good point." Frank said as he picked up a bullhorn and shouted through it. "Centurions, your Cohorts should have been organized five minutes ago. Get it done now, then begin small arms practice. We will review each individually this morning. Centurion LeVesque, as leader of the combined Roman/Greek quest to Europe, report to the reviewing stand immediately."
"So, you're in charge of recruiting a bunch of people that already want to go to school here? That must be tough." Frank said to Stephen.
"Well, you wouldn't think so, but there is competition from Georgia Tech, Princeton, MIT and the euro schools. I confess though, I'm only here to see my girlfriend right now, Praetor Reyna said it might be possible, she's in the First Cohort, Michelle Baldwin?"
"Don't know her, but I don't know many individual Legionnaires outside the Fifth."
"Once you become Praetor individual legionnaires only communicate with you through one of their Centurions." Reyna explained. "You know Stephen, if you want to be impressed wait until you meet Hazel. Hecate taught her magic last spring."
"What?" was all he had a chance to say before Hazel's arrival.
"Sir! Centurion LeVesque reporting as... oh, hi guys!"
"I think you're in charge of this meeting now Hazel." Frank grinned.
"Uh, I hope not for long, my cohort sucks! I don't know if Dakota drilled them at all the last four months." Hazel said as she climbed on the stand. "Oh. Hello. Who are you?"
"This is Stephen, from the university. We picked him up at Epcot and he's here to see his girlfriend, Michelle, uh, something. She's in First Cohort." Piper said.
"Well we can't meet with him here. In fact, this is lame as a meeting place Praetors, if I may?" She said, drawing her wand. "Lets all go to the coffee shop. We can see the field from there and Stephen can get a table to meet with this Michelle person." Hazel said.
"Uh sure. And its Baldwin, Michelle Baldwin." Stephen replied.
Hazel then sent her patronous, a bear, to the First Cohort with orders for Michelle Baldwin to report to the coffee shop. When what appears to be the ghost of a bear shows up its a startling experience for all, most especially the one it talks to, in this case Michelle Baldwin.
By the time she recovered and was on her way, we were seated and Reyna ordered espresso and biscotti for all. Stephen hung about for a minute, until Hazel told him he couldn't be a part of this meeting and pointed towards the back of the cafe's outdoor seating. From there he could not be seen from the field.
"Legionnaire Baldwin." Reyna said by way of announcement.
"Praetors, Pontificus, and uh..." She said as she knelt.
"Friends. These are our friends from the European quest we are on, well, a good number of them anyway. Legionnaire, I'm told you are a senior yet have never become a Centurion or advanced. Why is that?"
"Uh, well, most of the Legion never advances. I'm proud to serve in any capacity you ask of me, although I have never been selected for a quest. I am hopeful I will be summoned for one though. I was awarded honors after the battle with Polybotes last year so if you have a quest for me to serve on..."
"No, the gods continue to be silent as to other quests, however I will remember your valor when next one arises. Today though,we have someone here who would like to talk to you about educational possibilities after you finish at Camp Jupiter. Take the afternoon and tour the University with him if you like."
"Yes Mam," She said as she arose and looked around, saw Stephen and nearly lost it.
Once she was gone, Piper said "Gee Reyna, you're in a romantic state of mind today."
"Ummm, yeah, I suppose I am" She smiled. "I guess that has a lot to do with what we need to talk about."
"Well, I'm all about the romance so fine by me!" Piper replied.
Reyna grinned, then began. "Okay, so for those that were not here yesterday, Neville, Frank and Hazel took on all five cohorts of the Legion and won handily, thanks in no small part to Leo and Professor Slughorn's inventions. So we now know they work in practice, at least against demigod legionnaires. The bombs appeared to be 100% effective, but against attackers that are less bunched up I suspect a lower rate of success. Afterwards Mars visited, bragged on all, especially Hazel, then spoke to me. I've told Neville already, but, well the rest of you need to know too I think. I mean, its kind of personal, but I think it counts as a prophecy, or directive, or.. whatever. Lets go back to a meeting I had with Venus in Charleston two years ago where she told me about, well about my romantic future. Our love doctor, Aphrodite's kid, or Venus's if you wish to be proper" She grinned, " well, last spring she read her little knife and told me the same thing, that I would never find love among the half bloods. Of course everyone I know is a half blood, so that was kind of heart breaking. Then I met Neville."
"Awww, you're in love!" Piper said, her voice purposely sarcastic and gooey with sugar and honey.
"Well, yes, yes we are thank you. I'm very happy to say it. I'm blissful to in fact, most of the time I feel like shouting it." Neville said with a smile. "And I'm pretty sure everyone else knew all that already, so if you didn't, uh, are you sure about who your mom is?"
He got a high five from me for that one.
"Anyway children," Reyna said as everyone laughed at Piper and Neville's antics, "that's not the important part, well it is, I mean to Neville and I, but last night Mars took me aside, pointed out Neville and told me that he was the one Piper had foretold, and that, and this is the prophetic part, that we would bring the worlds together."
A long silence followed then Percy asked what I think all of use were thinking.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. I guessing the worlds of demi gods and magicians, but it could mean... well I don't know what it could mean." Reyna said.
"I'm beginning to wonder if we need to start classifying things as either true prophecies or just times the gods are being cryptic." Hazel said.
"Indeed you are starting to have quite a collection." Dumbledore said.
We batted it around, thanked Reyna and Neville for bringing it to the crew's attention and then just generally enjoyed our coffee on a sunny Californian morning. Some things are too baffling to solve.
The rest of the week was spent at Disney, as well as drilling the Romans and hanging out at Camp Half Blood. Dumbledore, the Order and the professors really enjoyed hanging out with Chiron, with the exception of Mr Weasley who could not get enough of Orlando and its muggle contraptions.
Chiron organized a chariot race tournament, won by George and Fred for the magicians and myself and Percy for the greeks. The Romans chose to drill rather than participate, although Jason and Leo ran a mixed group chariot in their place. In the end we could not compete with either Leo's technology, his chariot was stupid fast, or George and Fred's evil twisted ways; they blew the wheels off our chariot at the starting line.
But the real entertainment wouldn't start until Colorado.
