(A/N: Enjoy this new chapter. Remember to wash your hands and partake in safe, healthy practices! Also, side note but if you haven't heard, PJO is getting adapted by Disney, FINALLY! If you're Wattpad you probably saw my rant already.)
Well, my life may or may not suck, I haven't decided yet. Okay, maybe you need some explanation on how and why.
I woke up in this old building. It was pretty cool looking. It had lots of stone pillars and wooden beams supporting it all. It was like a billionaire designed a lumberjack lodge.
How is this bad? Well, for starters, I woke up with no memory and a headache. What do I mean I had no memory? I mean I remember zilch, nada, nothing at all. Naturally, I was panicking. However, I wasn't alone.
I was lying on the stone floor when I woke up. I had some shrubbery on me and dirt as well.
I looked down and saw I was wearing a faded, blue tee-shirt and black leggings, plus some worn-out sneakers. The tips of my hair were a darker shade of auburn, kind of like a dark brown. As well, I had a leather necklace with four beads, one with a green trident, one with a golden... blob or whatever, the third was an intricate maze, and the last looked like a building with tiny writing around it.
Lastly, I was wearing a silver charm bracelet with six gold or silver charms and two identical gold rings on each hand. Before I could inspect them further, I heard a groan from beside me, prompting me to glance to the side.
"Ugh... where-where am I?"
I can face to face with possibly the most handsome guy I ever met.
He had messy black hair and beautiful sea-green eyes. He had a leather necklace like me and was dressed in a blue shirt and shorts too. Besides that though, he looked muscular and probably looked as hot as a... as a god.
I realized I was staring and I turned away, blushing and pretending to look around.
"Um... who are you?" he asked.
I turned back to him, composing myself as best as I could. "Uh... I don't know, and you?"
He sighed, tilting his head towards the roof. "I don't know either."
We sat in silence before we heard a low growl from the shadows. We both turned towards it just as a figure emerged from the shadows.
It was a large wolf, probably taller than the guy beside me. It had dark, red-brown fur and a piercing look, like you know you'll never beat this wolf no matter how strong you were.
"I am Lupa, and I have been tasked to train you. That is, if you're worthy," the wolf- yes the wolf was talking- said.
Turns out Lupa knew who we were, and was a goddess. Yes, a goddess, like one of those 'I can incinerate you if you look at me wrong' type. She's extremely powerful and incredibly critical. Naturally, we were supposed to train under her.
I discovered from her that I was Arina Morales, a demigod daughter of Pluto, Roman god of the Underworld and riches. The other guy was Percy Jackson, son of Neptune, Roman god of the sea and horses.
According to Lupa, the gods were real, all of them. Apollo, Diana, Juno, all of them. They existed and have been secretly running the world alongside other deities from other pantheons, which Lupa told us not to worry about.
For some reason, Percy and I don't naturally call the gods by their Roman names. Lupa said we say their Greek names, which is a bad habit. Apparently the Greeks and Romans have a bad history together.
Lupa trained us for months relentlessly, barely giving us a moment of breath in between drills. Under her tutelage, we learned about our powers and mastered them. As well, she informed us near the end of our training that we must journey south to San Fransisco to a camp for demigods and legacies like ourselves.
Legacies were descendants of demigods basically. It's like if a demigod had a child with someone else, their child would be considered a legacy.
It was around mid-May when she finally sent us off to our either our deaths or future. Well, her motto was 'Conquer, or die'.
Percy and I were currently going through a market together, trying to find an easy place to steal some food before we could continue.
"Don't you find it weird we both woke up with no memory at the Wolf House?" I inquired, eyeing the bins full of fruit.
The Wolf House was the name of the place we woke up.
We had been on our own for weeks, stealing and hitchhiking along the way. Nobody bothered us that much, mainly because I manipulated the Mist, which is this thing that hides stuff from mortals, and Percy just scares them off with his 'wolf stare'.
The wolf stare is like a look that says "No matter how bad you think you are, I'm worse". It's really helpful whenever gangs try to attack us.
"Well, I do remember one thing," he replied, looking around with his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, someone's name, right?"
A wistful look appeared on his face, which made my gut twist in jealousy for some reason.
"Annabeth," he said.
I looked towards the stands, trying to ignore the fact I was jealous of whoever that was.
Percy and I weren't even a thing! Why was I so jealous of a girl neither of us remembers or possibly know? Percy can be with whoever he wants and I don't care.
Yep. Don't care whatsoever.
"How close are we to the camp?" Percy questioned as we neared a thrift shop.
"Well, we're in..." I stood on the tip of my toes, looking for the sign that had the name of the market. "Bargain Mart, so maybe a couple of hours away? We don't really need food if we get there soon enough."
He nodded as we passed by a shop.
"What?" I noticed he stopped and held up a pillow pet jokingly.
"Should I?"
I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. "Yes, Percy, buy a panda pillow pet instead of food."
He rolled his eyes in response before actually buying it with the few dollars we stole and walking out of the store proudly.
"Oh my gods, you're a bigger idiot then I realized." I smacked him upside the head before taking the pillow pet.
"If you wanted it so bad, you could've just asked me," he remarked, snatching it out of my arms.
"Well, was there a peacock pillow pet?"
If I was gonna get a pillow pet, I would've gotten one that looked like my favourite animal.
"Uh... no?"
"Did you read the sign?"
He paused. "I can't read."
"You also can't be killed either, yet," I pointed out as we passed another store with two ladies running it in headwraps and old dresses.
Something about those ladies seemed wrong, like, really wrong. When I passed by them, I could've sworn I heard hissing noises, but I could've been wrong, right? Why would two women make hiss- oh no.
"We have to go. Now." I grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the ladies.
Unfortunately, they caught sight of us.
"Ah! What a beautiful smelling couple!" one lady exclaimed.
"Um, we're not dat- wait what do you mean by smell?" Percy asked, confused.
"Shut up and run Barnacle Boy, I'm pretty sure those are monsters."
Both ladies jumped into the air, abandoning their headwraps replacing them with a head full of snakes and sprouting wings out of their backs.
"Oh great, Gorgons," he muttered as we burst into a run, weaving through the crowd who had yet to notice the monsters.
"We will get revenge for our sister!" one shrieked.
I leaped over a police car, pulling the door open and sliding into the driver's seat just as Percy got into the passenger seat. Then, I hot-wired it before slamming my foot on the gas and spinning the wheel.
"Hold on!" I warned as the monsters stopped in front of the car.
I drove right over them, turning them to dust before driving away from the market as fast as I could.
"When did you learn to drive?"
"I don't know, must be instinct or damn luck." I spun the wheel to the left, following the dirt path towards a field. "We can lose them over there."
"We could've just stayed back and fought," he stated.
"With the way monsters are reforming? No way."
"I can't get hurt, remember?"
"Yeah, well, I can," I argued just as something jumped on the roof.
We both slammed the doors into the faces of the Gorgons before rolling into the field and breaking into a run.
However, just as I started running, I felt a stabbing pain in my shoulder, causing me to whip around and summon my blades and slice whatever hit me. Turns out, it was one of the snakes on the Gorgon's head.
I discovered while training my rings could turn into twin Imperial Gold siccae blades if I will them too. Then, I can transform them back into rings when I finish. Fortunately, I could never lose them like if I dropped them they'll appear on my fingers again like Percy's pen.
Percy had a magical bronze pen that if uncap it, it turns into a sword. Then you can just turn it back by tapping the pen with its cap. Cool, right?
"Are you alright, Arina?" Percy questioned as I caught up to him.
I was practically a full foot shorter than him too. I hated it.
"Y-yeah, just got bit by one of those-"
"You got bit? Y'know those things are venomous, right?"
"L-let's just get there, okay?"
We continued running, but I could feel the venom already start affecting me.
My breaths soon became more laboured as the pain in my shoulder increased. Every step caused a sudden spike of pain in my shoulder making me momentarily see red only.
"It's useless to run to that little camp of yours! Our army is marching as we speak!" one exclaimed.
"How are you even alive? Shouldn't you, I don't know, remain dead after we run you over with a car?"
"The Doors of Death are open now! We have been released by the great earth mother!" the other shrieked.
Something about those words, 'Doors of Death' triggered something in the back of my mind, like a forgotten memory. It felt important, but I didn't know why.
Then, I tripped as we reached a hill, tumbling down and landing awkwardly on my injured side. I cried out in pain as my vision blurred and my limbs started tingling before I lost feeling in them.
"Arina!" a blurry figure above me exclaimed before I shut my eyes and rolled onto my other side.
I felt myself be lifted up, my arms wrapping around something as my head rested against someone's shoulder. They smelled vaguely like the ocean, the salty air and the seaweed mixing all together.
"Percy..." I murmured, opening my eyes and trying to figure out where I was.
"It's fine, I got you now," he said relatively close to my face.
Oh. My. Gods. I'm on his back. My head's on his shoulder. I was sniffing his hair.
Shit.
However, I was too weak to do anything so I let him piggyback me forward.
"Did... did we lose them? The G-Gorgons?" I questioned.
"Yeah," he replied, "we're almost there anyway."
We arrived at a tunnel with two teens standing on each side. One was a chubby Asian boy and the other was a short girl with curly brown hair, golden eyes, and darker skin. They were both wearing standard armour and had a weapon, the girl having a cavalry sword and the boy was wielding a bow. They both looked at us in confusion.
"Monsters! Behind us!" Percy yelled as he ran past them.
We run through the tunnel, arriving at a river. He easily ran through it before I climbed off of him, shooting a beam of shadows towards the Gorgons, who just flew over the tunnel.
Oh yeah, I have shadow powers apparently.
The two other demigods tried helping, one firing arrows while the other tried slashing her sword and it to no avail.
I used the last of my strength to fire more shadows, piercing their bodies just as Percy summoned a water tornado and engulfing them in it. Their bodies disintegrated and were blown down the current of the river.
A crowd formed on the other side of the river a couple of yards from us, some clad in armour and some not, watching us.
A dark-haired girl in armour stood at the front, a purple cape flowing behind her. Something about the way she looked so level-headed told me she was the leader, or praetor as Lupa informed us.
A flash of light appeared between us, causing us all to turn away momentarily. Then a figure appeared once the light died down.
He had a stoic expression as he looked down at the rest of us. He stood at least double or triple the height of the tallest camper, and he wore a well-made suit. However, something about him seemed oddly familiar.
The crowd all went down on one knee as I leaned against Percy, already feeling light-headed and drained from using my powers and the venom.
"Lord Pluto! To what do we owe the honour!" one of the campers exclaimed.
"I've been told to bring you these demigods by Juno. This is Perseus Jackson, son of Neptune," he said with mild dislike, "and my daughter Arina Morales! They both have been put into a deep sleep and finally have awoken. They shall be inducted into the legion immediately!" And with another flash of light, he was gone.
I crumpled to the ground as the pain became unbearable. I vaguely heard someone yelling for help as I laid on the ground, semi-conscious.
The last thing I saw before everything went black was a guy with red-black hair.
I woke up, again, on something relatively comfortable. I opened my eyes and saw a white, marble roof and two figures beside me, either talking or arguing.
I pushed myself up, wincing when I felt pain in my shoulder.
"Arina, you're awake!" Percy exclaimed, being one of the people beside me.
"What... what happened?" I inquired, looking around the room while rubbing the side of my head.
There were rows upon rows of cots with white sheeting. As well, there were a few teens here and there with medical bags, judging from the red cross on the covers. The place was mostly empty otherwise besides from a cupboard in the back filled with jars and bags of some golden liquid and ambrosia squares. There were some other stuff, but I couldn't tell what it was from my spot.
"Well, your dad showed up and claimed you, said some stuff, then you passed out and were carried here," he elaborated, rubbing his neck.
I nodded before looking at the guy next to him.
He had black hair with red highlights and hazel eyes. He was wearing a purple shirt with the letters 'SPQR' in gold with a golden wreath encircling them, much like the rest of the people I vaguely recall seeing earlier. He also seemed to have a marking on his arm, but his arms were crossed so I couldn't get a good look at it.
"Hey, I'm Quilo," he introduced.
"Arina," I responded with a nod.
"Anyway, Reyna said she wants you two to meet with our augur before we can induct you into the legion," he said, "you're feeling well enough for a walk?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sure a little venomous snake can't take me down." I swung my legs off the bed and stood up slowly.
Surprisingly, I didn't fall down or get dizzy.
"Who's the augur?" I questioned as I walked out with them.
"The better question is, what's an augur," Percy pointed out.
"The augur's job is to interpret omens and provide guidance for future endeavours. And it's Octavian, he's a legacy of Apollo," Quilo elaborated with distaste at the name.
"You don't like him, huh?" I questioned.
"He can be... a bit of an egomaniac. He's been trying to become the new praetor."
"What happened to your old praetor?" Percy asked.
"Jason went missing nine months ago after getting appointed praetor. No one has heard from him since."
We stopped just a couple of feet away from the infirmary.
Around us were more buildings lined up together, all designed in Roman fashion. Surrounding them were white pillars of marble. Outside of the pillars were two buildings, one looked like barracks and the other I couldn't tell. Down the hill was a path towards something farther away I couldn't see and a stable.
"Anyway, I need to do inventory for the war games tonight. Hazel said she'll help you get to Temple Hill from here." Quilo nodded towards the girl with curly brown hair from earlier before walking away.
She was wearing a Camp Jupiter shirt, which I'm assuming was the SPQR shirt, a jacket on top of it, and jean shorts. She seemed somewhat distracted, but there was an air of kindness that shone from her.
"Hi, I'm Hazel," she greeted before leading us down the path.
"Who's Reyna?" I whispered to Percy.
"She's this really scary praetor," he responded.
I snorted, punching him in the shoulder. "Wow, you're scared of the praetor?"
"Reyna's quite intimidating," Hazel pointed out, "she's been running the legion on her own for nearly a year since Jason went missing."
I nodded. "Um, by the way, who's your godly parent?" I asked.
Something about her vibe felt familiar. Aside from kindness, there was something much deeper than that inside her.
"Oh, I'm a daughter of Pluto too," she stated brightly.
"Ooh nice, I have a sister."
That's why she felt familiar.
"And a brother."
I gave her a confused expression. "What?"
"I'll introduce to him later. We should get to Octavian soon," she said nervously.
We arrived at Temple Hill, which was just as the name implied. There were temples and shrines dedicated to most major gods. As well, there was another building in the centre, trails of animal stuffing lying around outside.
We walked up to that building to find a very pale, blond dude stabbing stuffies and muttering stuff.
"Uh, your augur, is a teddy bear murder?" I questioned.
The guy turned around, leaning against the table of disembodied teddy bears. "I am Octavian, and these are sacrificial offerings."
"Yes, cause the gods love stuffed animals," Percy remarked sarcastically.
"Octavian, Reyna wants you to consult the gods before bringing them both into the legion," Hazel stated.
"What happened with Reyna?" I inquired to Percy.
"She recognizes me, but she wants to meet you too. Well, when you're conscious," he responded.
"Ah!" Octavian exclaimed, snatching Percy's pillow pet which I didn't notice he was carrying, "perfect!" He began stabbing the panda as we stared at him.
"Told you not to buy it," I whispered.
"Oh shut up."
Octavian examined the insides before discarding it onto the pile of stuffies. "Yeah, you're good. Here's you're probatio tablets." He threw two, small, stone tablets at us both.
We nodded before he turned around again.
"Oh, remember to vote for me in the next meeting. Also, your brother's here," he said, most likely directing it to Hazel, before waving us away.
We walked away once more, but I cast a look behind me.
Octavian had turned back at the same time, narrowing his eyes at me before grumbling something and rubbing his forehead.
Why does he look so... familiar?
We walked further down the hill before coming across a guy in an aviator jacket and all black. He had messy black hair, even worse than Percy, brown eyes, and olive skin. He had a black sword at his belt, tied by some sort of black chain.
"Hey Nico, this is Percy and Arina, they were brought to camp earlier today," Hazel introduced.
"Hi, I'm Nico di Angelo," he responded, holding out his hand, which Percy and I both shook.
"Do I... do I know you?" Percy inquired.
Nico paused, giving me a glance before facing Percy again. "No, I don't."
I stared at him, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. Just something about him looked recognizable to me, but I couldn't place where.
Probably the fact he's also a son of Hades- wait no, Pluto, my conscience reasoned with me.
"Anyway, we should go meet Reyna, let's go," I grabbed Percy by the wrist and pulled him away, waving goodbye to them both.
We walked down the hill to the base before Percy led me to the praetors' house.
It was a large building with two separate rooms. One was locked while the other was opened. Inside the open one was the girl from earlier in a purple cape surrounded by two metal dogs on a throne-like chair.
She had dark hair braided to the side and calculating stare. She had an air of authority around her, but I could sense there was something else in there as well.
"Percy," she greeted before eyeing me.
"Uh, you wanted me?" I questioned, glancing at the dogs uneasily.
"Yes, Lord Pluto said your name was Arina Morales, correct?" she inquired standing up from the throne and walking closer to me.
"Yes."
"Hm... does the name Piper ring a bell then?" she asked, catching me off guard.
I thought for a moment. Did that name seem familiar? Yes? No? Maybe?
"Um... no, why?"
She pulled something out of pocket and handed it to me, a picture. There were two girls in the picture, one looked like a younger me and the other one I didn't recognize. She had brown, choppy hair and kaleidoscope-coloured eyes though. We were making a weird pose in a photo booth from the looks of it.
"The other girl is named Piper, she went missing around the same time as my co-praetor Jason. Some have speculated they ran off together, but Jason knows the bounds of leadership that praetorship entails," she explained.
"And-"
"She mentioned you quite a lot, she always thought you might've been a demigod yourself," Reyna stated.
I bit my lip, struggling to remember anything about her, but nothing came up. I had a very blurry recollection of yelling at a group of girls, but nothing else.
"Well, sorry but I don't remember her," I admitted.
Reyna nodded her head before waving us off. "We will meet outside later to decide what cohort you two would be put in. You can keep the picture though, see if it jogs your memory."
Percy and I nodded in reply before slipping outside and walking around.
"She wasn't that scary," I remarked, slipping the photo into a pocket on my pants.
"Well, at least she didn't claim that you 'ruined her life' or whatever. Also, she held me at knifepoint too," Percy responded.
I laughed. "I guess she likes me more than."
He rolled his eyes in response as we passed a group of kids playing tag or something. They all looked around the age of ten, maybe a little older or younger. They all wore the standard purple shirt and all had markings on their arms I couldn't see quite that well. However, one certain kid caught my eye.
He had black hair and blue eyes. His skin was fairly tanned and he seemed the most serious out of all the kids. The way he tagged the kids and talked to them made it seem like he was in charge, but obviously he wasn't.
"Hey! Dennis! Can you help me with these crates of ambrosia?" Quilo inquired, appearing behind a pillar and talking to that kid.
"Sure," he replied before waving goodbye to the others and helping Quilo.
I stared at the both of them, feeling a tingling feeling in the back of my head, like something was trying to wiggle free. Unfortunately, before I could decipher it, Percy brought my attention back to reality.
"Hey, you okay?"
I turned away from them both and faced Percy. "Uh, yeah, just saw something. Nothing important."
He nodded before we ran into the chubby Asian guy from the tunnel. His name was Frank Zhang, and he was fairly new to camp as well, only arriving about a month ago.
"Who'd you think your godly parent is?" I asked him as he showed us around the Principia, which was the name of the place we were walking in.
"Um... maybe Apollo? I'm pretty good at the bow and I'm hoping he'll claim me soon," Frank stated.
"How long do campers usually wait until they're claimed?" Percy inquired.
"According to Dakota, the centurion of my cohort, campers usually remained unclaimed for quite a while up until recently. Usually, Lupa informs us if we're powerful enough, or we receive a letter of recommendation from our godly parent or our family. Apparently, after August last year, campers kept on getting claimed nonstop," Frank explained.
"Huh, weird," I commented.
A weird expression passed over Percy's face for a moment before disappearing, too quick for me to properly decipher it. However, I feel like it was something related to the sudden burst in godly claims.
"Hey Arina! Percy! Frank!" Hazel greeted, running up to us, "The cohorts are here to claim you!"
"H-hi Hazel," Frank said, turning a bit red.
"Uh, how exactly does that work? Do we have a duel to the death or something?" I questioned.
She shook her head. "You usually get admitted with recommendation letters. The best letters get you into the First Cohort, and worst or none at all get you into the Fifth."
"Which cohort are you two in?" Percy inquired.
"The Fifth," they responded in unison before looking at each other and blushing.
Hm... what's this here? Do I sense something happening between these two?
"Why is the First the best anyway?" I asked as we walked into the centre of the forum.
"Um... I guess because they just are? The Fifth was the best until one of our members lost our legion standard in a failed mission to Alaska, costing the lives of many legionaries along the way thirty years ago. Then Jason was bringing it back up, but then he went missing," Hazel elaborated.
We arrived to the spot where the cohorts were picking us. Several people in togas stood around, talking to each other in a serious manner. The only one who didn't look remotely serious was a tall, black-haired guy. He actually looked more drunk, to be honest.
"Attention centurions!" Reyna exclaimed, "we have two probatios here in need of a cohort, children of Lord Pluto and Lord Neptune respectively. Per tradition, recommendation letters from family members are required. However, they don't have them, so who will invite them into their legion?"
Silence was her response before Hazel spoke up with Frank.
"We will invite into the Fifth."
I glanced at Percy, who nodded in confirmation. "We accept."
The other centurions dispersed without a thought but two remained, the drunk-looking guy and a girl with reddish-brown hair.
"I'm Gwendolyn, and this is Dakota." She gestured to the drunk guy.
"Uh, is he..." I began uneasily.
Something about drunk or drugged people made me feel oddly angry or nervous. I guess people who have been intoxicated in some way are pretty dangerous.
"Son of Bacchus, Kool-Aid has that effect on him," Gwendolyn explained before motioning for us to follow her.
We followed her to the barracks outside.
"Each cohort has four barracks, each one having ten bunks. You two will be in the last one over there, Frank and Hazel will get you settled in before the feast and game tonight," Gwendolyn said before walking off with Dakota.
Percy and I followed Hazel and Frank to one of the barracks.
It looked like a standard barrack, standing double my height from the looks of it. It had typical Roman designs and all the bunks were well made. Nothing was out a place, every sheet and shirt was tucked away seamlessly.
"Here's your bunk," Hazel stated, gesturing to one before climbing onto the top, "I hope you don't mind sharing with me."
I looked over and saw Percy and Frank talking across the barrack, so I decided to ask her a question while they weren't listening.
"Thanks... so, you and Frank, huh?" I questioned, leaning against the ladder.
It was a metal bunk bed, it had a comfy-looking mattress with a purple blanket and a white pillow. The sheeting was white and appeared to be ironed recently. I didn't see any traces of hair, so I assumed it hadn't been used before, but it must've been kept clean because there was no dust either.
She turned mildly pink, fanning herself before shaking her head. "What? N-no, Frank's just a friend."
"Uh-huh, sure." I winked at her before giggling.
"What about you and Percy?"
I rolled my eyes. "As if, he's... he's not my type."
She raised her eyebrow. "I believe you hesitated."
"And I'm sure you stuttered when you were talking about Frank."
Her face flushed as she turned away. "F-fine, but if you like him, you should tell him."
"Same goes for you. Frank seems like a really nice guy," I pointed out.
I looked over to Frank and Percy, the first dropping something clumsily and looking nervous. Percy just laughed and helped him.
I smiled a bit before lying on the bed, avoiding my bad shoulder because it kind of hurt when I laid on it.
"So when you become a legionnaire, you get a tattoo with your godly parent's symbol and the letters SPQR?" I asked Hazel as I fixed my temporary armour.
We had just finished a feast and now we were having a war game called Siege, but it was basically Capture the Flag. Our job was to storm the fortress with our cohort, the fourth, and the third. The defending was the first and second, and Reyna served as a referee.
"Yep," she replied before Gwendolyn ordered us to pay attention.
"So we're gonna be sent in first!" Gwendolyn exclaimed, trying to sound optimistic.
Since we were the worst, we became the automatic scapegoat of the game.
She began ordering around, the majority of us being sent to attack the front.
"What about us?" I asked, gesturing to Percy, Frank, Hazel, and I.
"Uh... you guys do whatever." She dismissively waved us off before a conch sounded to start the game.
Her group went to the front, trying to find a way through that way.
I eyed the fortress, which stood at least fifty feet tall with all sorts of defence. Water cannons, ballistae, the works. Hazel said they built new ones every game, so the wreckage of old ones were littered around the Field of Mars we were in.
"Hey, Hazel, did you ever build tunnels for the war games?" I inquired.
"Um, a couple, why?"
Percy's eyes lit up, understanding what I was getting at. "Where do they lead?"
"Wait you wanna go underground and break into the fortress?" Frank questioned.
"Uh, yeah, some of them do go right under the fortress," Hazel replied.
"Well, enough waiting around. Let's go!" I ran towards the side, away from the main fray before stopping. "Uh, where were they?"
Hazel caught up to me and started leading the way for us. We looped around all structures as battle cries were heard from the main fortress, and maybe an elephant cry from the sounds of it.
"There!" She pointed to a dark tunnel up ahead.
I used my powers to mentally navigate underneath it, feeling the twists and turns of it. I could vaguely feel other people's presence, but they mostly seem to be just playing cards or drinking pop. Then, from above them, I could feel the main fortress.
"Yep, that's it."
Frank ran in first followed my Hazel, Percy, then me. We ran down the dark tunnel, a scarced amount of torches lighting the way.
Eventually, we came across a few people playing cards, arguing who had more points.
"Ahem?"
They all turned to us before I summoned the shadows from around the room. Then I encased their bodies in shadows and throwing them against the walls before they could even fight back.
We continued on, Hazel and Frank shocked by my powers. However, they haven't seen anything yet.
Frank was the first to get on top of the fortress and signalled for our team to strike. After getting over their initial shock of us actually getting onto the fortress, our whole team went in, all three cohorts working together with an elephant.
Yes, an elephant. Camp Jupiter has an elephant named Hannibal. I don't even wanna know why.
Percy blew up all the water cannons, reversing the pressure inside them to blow up in their handlers' faces. Frank shot arrows in non-lethal spots to get the opposing team away as he ran towards their banner. Hazel and I squared off against any that tried to pass us.
A few moments later, I heard cheering from over the wall and saw Frank hold up the opposite team's banner proudly. Then we all went back down to the ground to celebrate.
"That was amazing!" Hazel exclaimed, looking at Percy and I.
We glanced at each other before shrugging.
I looked over her shoulder and saw a crowd forming somewhere when I heard faint buzzing in my ears. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it meant something bad.
I ran over to the crowd, pushing passed some people before gasping in shock. The crowd had formed around Gwendolyn, who had a pilum speared straight through her chest. Two medics were desperately trying to help her, but I could feel her life slowly leaving her before she died.
"Who killed her?" I snapped, looking around at the onlookers.
Frank looked closer at the pilum, reading something off the side. "This belonged to the First Cohort. Whoever did this is missing theirs."
Reyna pushed forward through the crowd, a serious expression on her face. "They'll be an investigation for this. We'll find out who killed her."
"Octavian's missing his pilum," Percy pointed out, glaring at the blond.
"Hm... must've dropped it during battle." Octavian shrugged nonchalantly.
I felt something, a surge of life, then Gwendolyn came back to life. She looked around, confused at why everyone was looking at her.
"Uh, Gwen." Frank pointed to her chest.
Gwendolyn looked down just as Frank carefully pulled the weapon out of her, discarding it to the side. Oddly enough, the gaping hole in her started to heal itself, leaving only a patch of her shirt missing.
"What happened?" Hazel inquired.
"Um, I appeared by this river. This guy was asking for coins, and I didn't have any so I just left. There was this big exit sign so I walked through it and came back here," she explained, confusion written on her face.
"Wait, how can you just come back to life? No one's supposed to be able to unless my father let you," I stated, "no offence though, it's great that you're not, like, dead anymore."
Before she could reply, there was a flash of red flames a couple of feet from us, and a figure appeared. Everyone immediately bowed down except for Percy, Frank, and I.
The figure wore a green camo suit, something the military would wear. He had black shades covering his eye and grenades strapped across his chest, some weapons at his waist as well.
"Ah! Lord Mars! How-" Octavian began before being shushed by the god.
"I'm here by official orders of Jupiter. Also, I'm here to claim my son, Frank."
A glowing red spear appeared above Frank's head while he stared back in shock.
"Your Ares, I think I fought you before," Percy stated, staring at the god, wide-eyed.
The god tipped his black sunglasses down, revealing his eyes to be flames. "I'm Mars, and even if we did fight, you're lucky you're alive. Anyway, I'm here to send my son off on a quest. The god Thanatos is been held in Alaska, the land beyond the gods, blah, blah, blah. You go there and bring those two with, they need to learn to respect me." He pointed to Percy and I.
Did we- did we offend the god of war? Okay, I'm just gonna blame Percy because I don't remember it and it seems like something he's stupid enough to do.
Percy is smart, yeah, but he's also quite impulsive too. I wouldn't put it beneath him to attack a god.
"Uh... Lord Mars, all quests must be issued with a prophecy. Let me get some bears and I can-" Octavian began.
"No, I can make one." A piece of paper appeared in his hand with a pen. He scribbled something down before handing it to his son.
"'Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die'," Frank read out loud with a look of dread on his face.
"Uh- m'lord, prophecy's are suppose-"
Mars cast one firey look at Octavian, which shut him up immediately.
"Yep, that works. T-thanks Lord Mars."
With a flash of fire, the god was gone once more.
(A/N: Sorry if I miss any parts in this story arc. I can't find my copy of Son of Neptune so I have to use the wiki for reference if I miss anything. Thanks for understanding! Also sorry that this seemed a bit rushed near the end.)