Peri's POV

Hazel dragged me down one of the countless dirt paths, as I ogled at everything around me. This camp was flipping huge!

Hazel started talking as we walked. "The bathhouse is special because blah, blah, blah, Romans blah, blah, blah pipes..." Honestly, I love Hazel to pieces, but boy could she drone! Swear, the girl must have been a math teacher in a past life or something!

Tuning Hazel out, the walk went much smoother. Occasionally, I would say things like "Cool!" and "Oh, wow!" so she thought I was really listening. I really needed to ask Frank how he dealt with her. I think he likes her, and apparently they were good friends... ,maybe something more?

We trudged on, and I could just make out a big building in the distance. It was wooden and painted a pretty blue color. There were large letters on the wall spelling out GIRLS' BATHHOUSE in Latin, but somehow I could read it. I remember Jason telling me something about how my Roman brain is hot wired for the Latin language or something.

Hazel let go of my hand and swung the blue door open.

A huge rectangular bathtub about the size of a small pool was in the middle of the room taking up most of the space. Everything was like black and white marble. All along the walls were windows and pearly white sinks. There were all sorts of floral smells going on in here, and I liked it. A black chandelier hanging over the bathtub illuminated the bathhouse. It was all around a lot more impressive on the inside than the outside.

Hazel walked over to the incredibly large bathtub. She bent down and turned a silver lever. Sparkling water rushed out of two faucets, and the bathtub slowly began filling up.

She turned to me, smiling. "Okay, the bathtub will take a while to fill up completely." She pointed to a couple marble slabs under a window. "There are towels over there," She pointed to the other side of the room where glass shelves were aligned. "And there are plenty of fresh clothes in various sizes over there! You can put your old clothes in the hamper there, too."

"Thanks, Hazel!" I smiled at her. She was too sweet for words.

"Okay, when you're all cleaned up you can just follow the signs back to camp!" She turned to go.

"Bye!" I waved at her. "Thanks!"

She giggled and closed the door behind her.

I went and peered into the bathtub. It definitely did have a long while to go. I decided to poke around the bathhouse for a while.

I found tons of delicious smelling soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and lotions. I even found some scented bath beads. They were green tea flavored and I decided to add them into the bath. They turned the water green, and I was concerned a little at first. However, the wonderful aroma of green tea filled the air, so I kinda liked the unique color change. Eagerly, I went back to search for anymore treasures.

Stashed behind a bunch of towels, I discovered a black radio. Finding an outlet, I plugged it up hopefully. I was ecstatic to find it was still in working condition.

Playing around with a few stations, I finally settled on a cool hip hop station.

The tub was nearly full now, so I went around closing all the curtains to the windows.

No creepers gonna get a look at me, no sir!

As I walked about, the song "Amen" by Meek Mill came on. At first, I thought it was a gospel song, but I was incredibly wrong. I couldn't help but laugh at the stupid rap lyrics.

/I'm stacking money to the ceiling/
/All this ice that's in my Rollie I be chillin'/
/And I just made a couple million/
/So I could take care of them children/

I shook my head and laughed. I bent down and turned off the water pressure. The tub was finally filled.

I pulled my hair free of the hair tie, my golden locks falling down.

The radio just happened to change to the song "Strip" by Chris Brown, and I laughed at the coincidence. I started taking off my clothes and dancing at the same time. I giggled a little at my own silliness.

Easing into the hot bath, I sighed blissfully. The green tea scent brought back so many memories...

So many memories...

I sighed again, but this time not from content. I shook my head quickly. I refused to become upset over things that could not be changed.

Because some things could not be changed.

No matter how hard you try.

Suddenly, I felt very small in the bathtub.

I washed myself from head to toe. Scrubbing away the dried blood on my arms and legs, my stomach growled comically. I chuckled a little and finished up, pulling the drain plug.

I wrapped my body and hair in two towels before going to the shelves for something to wear.

Surprisingly, the Romans had a large array of clothes of varying size and shape to choose from. I probably could have browsed for hours, but my grumbling stomach quickened my pace.

I finally settled on a purple v neck tee. Although it was purple like everything else, it was one of the only things that didn't have "SPQR" on it. Just plain purple. I threw on some distressed shorts, and I found some white converse with cute little doodles all over the sides in my size. After my hair dried, I brushed it back in a high ponytail, my side bang the only thing allowed free.

Before leaving, I stowed the radio back where I found it. Hey, maybe that was somebody's secret, and I didn't want to ruin it for them.

I rushed out into the late summer air, the darkness of night overtaking me. I ran through the trees, following the signs that passed me by with one thing on my mind.

FOOD!

SOME RUNNING HAPPENS

I noticed the hustling and bustling that Camp Jupiter held earlier was gone. Everyone was busy in the mess hall eating.

Oi! Where is the flippin mess hall?!

Hazel had said something about it on the tour... but I was too busy laughing at Leo! Stupid boys distracting me!

I crossed my arms over my chest and rocked back and forth, thinking.

Deciding to go with my gut, I ran forward. Gradually, I heard loud laughter, talking, and the clanging of silverware.

Awww yeah! Who's got the best gut in the world? This girl!

Ahead, I saw a rectangular building where the noises seemed to be coming from. The door was cast ajar and a warm orange glow of lights came from within, spilling out over the land directly in front of it. On the wall read the words MESS HALL, also in Latin. I ran forwards, already smelling delicious food from where I was at. My mouth watered in anticipation.

When I reached the doorway, my jaw dropped.

My first thought was that the Romans were having a food fight.

But on closer inspection, I saw what was truly there.

There were people made from air serving food to the Romans.

They were... wind spirits, the term came to me unexpectedly. I stood in the doorway awestruck, just staring as plates of food whizzed by. The Roman kids were sitting in these couches that were low to the ground near tables. People got up, moving about freely to mingle. I scanned the crowd for my new friends.

I spotted Leo and Hazel waving their hands to catch my attention. I grinned and waved back, letting them know I saw them. I navigated my way over, making sure to avoid flying pizzas.

"Hi everybody!" I said to them happily when I got within earshot.

Everyone smiled at me and said their various hellos.

Leo scooted over on the couch, making room for me. I plopped down next to him, grinning.

I gestured towards the wind nymphs around us. "So is this like an everyday thing, or am I just that awesome that the air is feeding us?"

Everyone laughed at my joke.

"No, the wind spirits are very attentive and serve us every day." Jason told me.

"Oh, cool!" My stomach grumbled loudly again. "My stomach says cool, too!"

Leo chuckled. "Well, then tell the wind spirits what you want to eat!"

I looked down and noticed that everyone else had already placed their orders in to the wind spirits. I was the only one without a plate.

Feeling incredibly stupid, I raised my hand. "Excuse me... er winds? I'd like some yakitori and udon, please."

The group gave me peculiar looks, making me feel even more foolish. "I-I-I mean I'll just have some sushi!"

A plate of assorted sushi and California rolls came my way. The food landed in front of me, chopsticks crossed formally onto the plate.

It looked amazing, like traditional Japanese food did. I have not had real Japanese food since before Gram died. I snatched my chopsticks up hungrily. Before I could dig into the masterpiece, Leo grabbed my hands.

"Wait!" He cried.

I'm too fucking hungry for this!

I managed to keep my voice down. "What's wrong now?"

"You've got to give some of your food as an offering to the gods." Percy said to me from across the table. He sat next to the blonde girl from earlier. I was having trouble remembering her name... Something old fashioned... Annabel? Bonnabelle? Yeah, I think it was Bonnabelle.

"Offering?" I mused. Shrugging my shoulders, I picked up my plate and walked to the fireplace they had in here. Once I got close to the blazing inferno, I closed my eyes and looked up.

Mom...? Dad...? Whichever one you are... if you're listening right now, I was wondering if you could give me a sign or something. Anything.

I spooned some sushi into the fiery pit, then slowly made my way back to my friends.