REYNA p.o.v
The battle had begun, and it wasn't going well.
The Twelfth Legion was arrayed on the Field of Mars, trying to protect the city. Scorpions fired into the ranks of the Earthborn.
Hannibal the elephant plowed down monsters right and left, but the defenders were badly outnumbered. I flew around the giant Polybotes, trying to keep him occupied.
Veteran demigods from the city had joined the battle,and were pushing their shield wall against an onslaught of wild centaurs.
But then she saw him, riding a hellhound? though I have to admit he looked like a God.
"Fifth Cohort!" he bellowed. "Get your Imperial gold weapons right here!"The campers recovered from their shock and mobbed the chariot. Percy handed out the equipment as quickly as he could.
Soon the Fifth Cohort was equipped with new weapons and shields and helmets. They Weren't exactly consistent. But they were suddenly the most powerful cohort in the legion.
"Follow the eagle!" Frank ordered. "To battle!"
At the base of the aqueduct, the First and Second Cohorts were trying to encircle Polybotes, but they were taking a pounding.
I soared above the giant, diving in with my javelin whenever he turned his attention to the ground troops. Polybotes jabbed his trident and swung his weighted net, but Scipio was nimble.
I locked eyes with Percy and gave him a huge smile.
"Romans!" My voice boomed across the fields.
"Rally to the eagle!"Demigods and monsters alike turned and gawked as Percy bounded forward on his hellhound.
"What is this?" Polybotes demanded.
Percy raised the eagle and shouted, "Twelfth Legion Fulminata!"
Thunder shook the valley. The eagle let loose a blinding flash, and a thousand tendrils of lightning exploded from its golden wings—arcing in front of Percy like the branches of an enormous deadly tree, connecting with the nearest monsters, leaping from one to another, completely ignoring the Roman forces.
Cohorts were facing one surprised-looking giant and several hundred smoking piles of ash. The enemy's center line had been charred to oblivion.
The look on Octavian's face was priceless. The centurion stared at Percy with shock,then outrage. Then, when his own troops started to cheer, he had no choice except to join the shouting: "Rome! Rome!"
Polybotes bellowed. A dozen fresh basilisks fell out of his hair, turning the grass to poison yellow. "You think this changes anything, Percy Jackson? I cannot be destroyed! Come forward, son of Neptune. I will break you!"
Percy dismounted. "Frank, Hazel," Percy said, "help the Fourth Cohort. I've got a giant to kill."
He raised Riptide, but before he could advance, horns blew in the northern army appeared on the ridge—hundreds of warriors in black-and-gray camouflage,armed with spears and shields. Interspersed among their ranks were a dozen battle forklifts, their sharpened tines gleaming in the sunset and flaming bolts nocked in their crossbows.
"Amazons," Frank said. "Great."Polybotes laughed. "You, see? Our reinforcements have arrived! Rome will fall today!"
I couldn't believe it, he had done it. After all these years i'll finally get to see my sister!
The Amazons lowered their spears and charged down the hill. Their forklifts barreled into battle. The giant's army cheered—until the Amazons changed course and headed straight for the monsters' intact eastern flank.
"Amazons, forward!" On the largest forklift stood she stood, in black combat armor with a glittering gold belt around her waist.
"Queen Hylla!" said Hazel. "She survived!"
The Amazon queen shouted: "To my sister's aid! Destroy the monsters!"
"Destroy!" Her troops' cry echoed through the valley.
I wheeled my pegasus toward Percy. My eyes gleamed. My expression said: I Could hug you right now.
I shouted, "Romans! Advance!"
The battlefield descended into absolute chaos. Amazon and Roman lines swung toward the enemy like the Doors of Death themselves.
Percy pointed at the giant."You. Me. To the finish."
PERCY p.o.v
He swiped his trident and smashed the nearest brick arch.
"Go on, then, son of Neptune!" Polybotes taunted.
"Let me see your power! Does Water do your bidding? Does it heal you? But I am born to oppose Neptune."The giant thrust his hand under the water.
"My touch turns water to poison," Polybotes said. "Let's see what it does to your blood!"He threw his net at me, but I rolled out of the way.
I diverted the waterfall straight into the giant's face. While Polybotes was blinded, I charged.
I plunged Riptide into the giant's belly then withdrew it and vaulted away, leaving the giant roaring in strike would have dissolved any lesser monster, but Polybotes just staggered and looked down at the ichor spilling from his wound.
"Good try, demigod," he snarled. "But I will break you still."
"Gotta catch me first," I said. And then turned and bolted toward the city.
"What?" the giant yelled incredulously. "You run, coward? Stand still and die!"
I had no intention of doing that. I knew Polybotes couldn't be killed without a God. But I did have a plan.
I bolted for the city limits.
"Terminus!"
The nearest statue of the god was about sixty feet ahead. His stone eyes snapped open as I ran toward him.
"Completely unacceptable!" he complained.
"Buildings on fire! Invaders! Get them out of here, Percy Jackson!"
"I'm trying," I said. "But there's this giant, Polybotes."
"Yes, I know! Wait—Excuse me a moment." Terminus closed his eyes in concentration. A flaming green cannonball sailed overhead and suddenly vaporized.
"I Can't stop all the missiles," Terminus complained. "Why can't they be civilized and attack more slowly? I'm only one god."
"Help me kill the giant," I said, "and this will all be over. A god and demigod working together—that's the only way to kill him."Terminus sniffed.
"I guard borders. I don't kill giants. It's not in my job description.""Terminus, come on!" I took another step forward, and the god shrieked indignantly.
"Stop right there, young man! No weapons inside the City!"
"But we're under attack."
"I don't care! Rules are rules. When people don't follow the rules, I get very, veryangry."I smiled.
"Hold that thought."I sprinted back toward the giant. "Hey, ugly!"
"Rarrr!" Polybotes burst from the ruins of the aqueduct. The water was still pouring over him, turning to poison and creating a steaming marsh around his feet.
"You...you will die slowly," the giant promised. He picked up his trident, now dripping with green around them, the battle was winding down. As the last monsters were mopped up, my friends started gathering, forming a ring around the giant.
"I will take you prisoner, Percy Jackson," Polybotes snarled. "I will torture you under the sea. Every day the water will heal you, and every day I will bring you closer to death."
"Great offer," Percy said. "But I think I'll just kill you instead."Polybotes bellowed in rage. He shook his head, and more basilisks flew from his hair.
"Get back!" Frank warned. Polybotes pointed his trident and ran toward me. As the giant reached the city, I jumped aside like a bullfighter. Polybotes barreled across the city limits.
"THAT'S IT!" Terminus cried. "That's AGAINST THE RULES!"Polybotes frowned, obviously confused that he was being told off by a statue.
"What Are you?" he growled. "Shut up!"He pushed the statue over and turned back to me."Now I'm MAD!" Terminus shrieked.
"I'm strangling you. Feel that? Those are my hands around your neck, you big bully. Get over here! I'm going to head-butt you so hard—"
"Enough!" The giant stepped on the statue and broke Terminus in three pieces—pedestal, body, and head."You DIDN'T!" shouted Terminus.
"Percy Jackson, you've got yourself a deal! Let's Kill this upstart."The giant laughed so hard that he didn't realize I was charging until it was too late. I jumped up, vaulting off the giant's knee, and drove Riptide straight through one of the metal mouths on Polybotes breastplate, sinking the Celestial bronze hilt-deep in his chest. The giant stumbled backward, tripping over Terminus pedestal and crashing to the ground.
"You'll never win!" the giant groaned. "You cannot defeat me alone."
"I'm not alone." I raised the stone head above the giant's face. "I'd like you to meet my friend Terminus. He's a god!"Too late, awareness and fear dawned in the giant's face.
I smashed the god's head as hard as I could into the Polybotes nose, and the giant dissolved, crumbling into a steaming heap of seaweed, reptile skin, and poisonous muck.I staggered away, completely exhausted.
"Ha!" said the head of Terminus. "That will teach him to obey the rules of Rome."For a moment, the battlefield was silent except for a few fires burning, and a few retreating monsters screaming in panic.
A ragged circle of Romans and Amazons stood around me. Tyson, Ella, and Mrs.O'Leary were there. Frank and Hazel were grinning at him with pride. Arion was nibbling contentedly on a golden shield.
The Romans began to chant, "Percy! Percy!"
They mobbed him. Before he knew it, they were raising me on a shield.
The cry changed to, "Praetor! Praetor!"Among the chanters was Reyna herself, who held up her hand and grasped Percy's congratulation.
Then the mob of cheering Romans carried him around the borders,carefully avoiding Terminus borders, and escorted me back home to Camp Jupiter.
Campers, Amazons and Lares crowded the mess hall for a lavish dinner. Even the fauns were invited, since they'd helped out by bandaging the wounded after the battle.
Wind nymphs zipped around the room, delivering orders of pizza, burgers, steaks, salads, Chinese food, and burritos, all flying at terminal velocity.
Colorful Amazon and Roman banners hung side-by-side from the rafters. The restored golden eagle stood proudly behind the praetor's table, and the walls were decorated with cornucopias—magical horns of plenty that spilled out recycling waterfalls of fruit, chocolate, and fresh-baked cookies.
The cohorts mingled freely with the Amazons, jumping from couch to couch as they pleased, and for once the soldiers of the Fifth were welcome everywhere. Percy changed seats so many times, he lost track of his dinner.
There was a lot of flirting and arm-wrestling—which seemed to be the same thing for the Amazons. At one point I was cornered by Kinzie, the Amazon who'd disarmed me in Seattle. "Otrera stayed dead the second time," Kinzie said, batting her eyes.
"We have you to thank for that. If you ever need a girlfriend...well, I think you'd look great in an iron collar and an orange jumpsuit."I couldn't tell if she was kidding or not.
I politely thanked her and change everyone had eaten and the plates stopped flying, Reyna made a short formally welcomed the Amazons, thanking them for their help. Then she hugged her sister and everybody applauded.
More cheering. The sisters raised their glasses to me and beckoned me forward.
Everybody asked for a speech, but I didn't know what to say. I protested that I really wasn't the best person for praetor, but the campers drowned me out with applause.
Reyna took away my probatio neck plate. Octavian shot me a dirty look, then turned to the crowd and smiled like this was all his idea.
He ripped open a teddy bear and pronounced good omens for the coming year—Fortuna would bless them!
He passed his hand over my arm and shouted: "Percy Jackson, son of Neptune, first year of service!"The Roman symbols burned onto my arm: a trident, SPQR, and a single stripe.
It felt like someone was pressing a hot iron into my skin, but I managed not to scream. Octavian embraced me and whispered, "I hope it hurt."
Then Reyna gave me an eagle medal and purple cloak, symbols of the praetor. "You Earned these, Percy."
I gave her a smile and hugged her, after I pulled away we were both blushing like crazy.
Maybe camp Jupiter will be better than I thought.