Before they could take a step forward though or contemplate on the message, they noticed a sword at their necks and thought 'Oh man' before turning around to see...
"Aaah!" they both exclaimed as they stood face to face with a boy with a purple shirt and jeans with blond hair and electric blue eyes.
"Man! You gave us quite a good scare over there! We are not here for a fight!" Nico exclaimed, trying to placate the demigod before he killed them.
"Who are you? How did you arrive here?" he asked, still not taking the sword away. "We were sent here Neptune and Pluto as ambassadors. Proof is in my hand." Percy said as he took out the seals their fathers had given them.
"Um... Alright, but where did you come from? How did you come here?" he asked. "I am the son of Neptune and he is the son of Pluto. As I said, we have come here on their request. They said it would be easier to keep an eye on the developments and report to them. And we came here through shadow travel." Percy explained.
"Right, let us head to camp then. You should show your letters to the praetors. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter." "Percy Jackson, son of Pos- Neptune." "Nico di Angelo, son of Pluto." They shook each other's hands and started to move towards the Garden of Hesperides when they got another shock.
"Bianca? Zoe? How are you here?" Percy asked in shock. "Obviously what was mentioned in the letter, it was not their time" Anhur said, rolling his eyes. "The letter Percy" Nico said at the same time. "One second we were in Elysium, she was in the Fields of Asphodel" Bianca said, pointing at the last girl "And then, suddenly we are here with dad informing that it was not our time" she concluded.
"Bia" Nico breathed out and hugged her while Percy just stood there, dumbstruck. "Anyone explaining this confusion?" Jason asked, totally confused. "Um... That is Zoe Nightshade, former Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, daughter of Artemis and the one with Nico is Bianca, his sister, daughter of Hades." Percy said, trying to explain. "How long has it been since our quest Percy? What do you mean former Lieutenant?"
"Long short story, it has been nearly 8 months since the quest and Thalia is the new lieutenant." Percy said. "Don't you mean... Pluto and Diana? Aren't Hades and Artemis Greeks? What quest? What is happening? Thalia as in... Thalia Grace?" Jason asked rapidly.
Percy didn't know what to say and looked at Nico, mentally contacting him.
"You think Thalia and Jason are full blooded siblings like me and Bianca?"
"Maybe they might be, I don't know. But what about the screw up? Should we tell him about the Greek gods?"
"Idk, might be helpful to have an insider as a friend... maybe our dads can settle this out?"
"Maybe you can ask the prisoners in your head?" Anubis pointed out.
"So... what can you do then? Take over our body and explain?" Percy asked sarcastically
"Um... yeah?" Anhur said.
"And confuse them even more?" Nico deadpanned.
"Point. So call our dads it is?" Percy asked.
"Our only option." Nico replied.
"Nico, pass me a drachma, best call dad." Percy said and created a mist to make a rainbow. Nico threw the coin into the mist and called his dad. "What the hell is happening here? Who are you really?" Jason asked, frustrated at not getting any answer.
"This is an Iris message used to contact each other when in need. And your answers will be answered soon by the gods who sent us into this mess." Nico said as he waited for the call to connect.
"What happened?" the two asked immediately and then saw the audience behind them. "Oh! Hello son, nephews and nieces. Didn't have a clue you would meet them already." Poseidon said nervously. "The explanation dad. We have a frustrated son of Jupiter and you know how his dad is." Percy said. "Wait, you've met my dad?" Jason asked. "Yeah, twice for a quest. Actually met all the Olympians." he added.
"So... the explanation... Hi Jason, I am Poseidon, Percy's dad and that is Hades, Nico and Bianca's dad. We might be more familiar as Neptune and Pluto to you and Hazel." he said, changing into his Roman form along with Hades.
"So... basically Greeks exist and 4 out of you 6 are Greeks, 3 who have come back from the dead as it wasn't their time yet. Oh! Thalia is doing well with Artemis. You will meet her one day, not anytime recently though..." Hades explained.
"Question. If he is also a son of the big 3, why does the prophecy apply to me?" Percy asked. "The prophecy is only for the Greeks, not the Romans." Poseidon said. "So... where exactly am I?" Hazel asked hesitantly. "Hello daughter. You are in the future, in 2008 to be precise. I'll be sending you over to camp with Jason and you can trust these people freely. I won't be able to contact you much due to conditions but... I will try to keep in contact." Pluto said.
"Before any other questions are asked. There is very little time and just so you know, Bianca and Zoe can't go back to CHB or the hunters right now so... either you take them there or to Camp Jupiter. Talks later." Poseidon said as the mist receded.
"Great. Any other doubts? Oh! Hi, I am Nico, brother of Bianca, son of Hades, this idiot near me is Percy, son of Poseidon and that is Jason, son of Jupiter. And you might already know Bianca and Zoe. When are we heading to camp? For it can't be safe here for long as... you know, 5 children of the big 3 and a demi titan near the Titan's base camp, not good at all." Nico said.
"It is quite a long way to the camp, unless you have tour ways of travelling there quickly?" Jason asked. Percy asked Nico started at each other again, debating whether or not to reveal the third group of gods right now.
"Won't be of much help right now. The flashing will attract attention. What about pegasi?" Nico asked.
"Not possible, even they can attract attention sometimes. Mrs. Hellhound?" Percy asked.
"Probably will help. But we need the location as not everyone can hitch a ride on her." Nico replied.
"Why are you staring at each other?" Zoe asked. "Weighing options. Call on Mrs. O'Leary. I will shadow travel myself and Percy to the camp entrance, wherever it is." Nico stated.
"A tunnel near the Caldecott tunnel in Oakland Hills. And who is Mrs. O'Leary?" Jason asked. "You'll see" Percy said with a smirk, letting out a whistle. The shadows started to darken near one of the trees and a hellhound jumped out of it and attacked Percy and Nico. Everyone got out their weapons and got ready to attack and then noticed the hellhound was just licking them all over and they were trying to calm it down and relaxed.
"Now missy, stop all the slobbering and stand aside please. We need your help." As if understanding, she stood aside, panting heavily. "So... this is Mrs. O'Leary, our pet hellhound which Daedalus passed on to us a few weeks ago. And, no questions right now, not while we are serving ourselves in a golden platter to the Titans." Percy said.
"Now just tell her where to go and get onto her. We will meet you at the entrance. We can discuss more there." Nico finalised and Jason reluctantly said the destination to Mrs. O'Leary, before helping the girls onto the hound and finally climbing on himself. "See you there!" Bianca said as Mrs. O'Leary raced towards the shadows and jumped into it.
"We'll move then." Nico said as he held Percy's hand and shadow travelled. And they arrived, just in time to see Jason kneel over and retch badly while the others were petting the Hellhound and bidding her goodbye.
"Never. Doing. That. Again" Jason gasped when he finished. "Oh come on, it was not that bad Grace. You'll get used to it." Bianca said. In the meanwhile, the two people at the entrance headed over, fully armed in case of any hostile attack.
"I thought you were out scouting Jason." One of them asked. "Yeah, that was before these guys popped up. Two of them are Ambassadors of Pluto and Neptune, the other 3 are new comers." Jason explained.
"Excuse me, but we are kind of experienced ones, without formal training." Bianca said. " Whatever, enter before monsters come by. Hard times you know?" The other one informed and let them in.
"Alright, ground rules. Do not use Greek names. I don't have much against them so I didn't react much but the others may not be like me. Two, Romans are more militaristic so... I don't think laid back attitude might be much appreciated. Our fighting styles might be different. And try to be respectful. The way you talked about the gods and to the gods might not be entertained here. So please be careful." Jason said, walking towards the Little Tiber.
"I know, I've been with the hunters for a long time, even before the Romans. So I do know about the changes over the years. We will manage Grace. Plus, all of us have had our own troubles. I mean, Percy has been on 3 quests as far as I've known. All the children of Pluto are from the 30s and 40s, so it won't be a problem... much." Zoe said.
"Alright. This is the Little Tiber, sort of like the river Styx I think. The camp is across it. I've been here for most of my life. Never went out much for quests and all until this scouting thing." Jason said as they stood at the bank of the river. They crossed the river carefully with some help from Percy and reached camp.
"So... this is it. What will happen? Hazel can settle in here just fine, even Bianca can but... what about Zoe? I mean, she has been with girls for a long time and hates males. How will she do at camp?" Nico whispered. "It can be decided later on. It is her decision after all. For now, let us focus on our current problem of getting the Romans to accept us." Percy whispered.
"Oh! And I forgot to tell you one thing. Our camp is a bit... wary about Neptune and Pluto due to an incident years ago so... be careful." Jason said as they entered camp.
"Oh man!"
A/N: And finally a chapter done. Why is it that I always seem to write a chapter just before my exams or during it these days! Will be looking into my other books soon. Hope you all like the chapter! All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated. The next chapter will mostly completely be about CJ and how they settle into their roles and then I will start upon TSS.
Two questions. Should the girls and Jason know about their Egyptian heritage before the two leave Camp Jupiter? And should Zoe and Bianca go to the Brooklyn House? Or only one of them? Please answer in the comments.
Thank you all for reading!
Rasi10 signing off
Published on 19 September 2019