Hi everyone. Here goes. Hope you like this chapter

Question: I was thinking of changing the summary for the story, it's kind of lame right now, it only reads, "this story tells of what happened to Percy after he disappeared from Camp Half-blood." Thoughts?

Chapter 11 –

When Liam opened the door on the left, it led into a grand but short corridor, made up of light brown rock, like the one in the tunnel that had almost killed him, but ending after only a few dozen feet in a large gate. The gate was carved into the wall just like the one he had put his hand on before he faced his test of courage. He approached cautiously, looking for a way to open it, but this time there was no need to activate anything. As he got near, the earth rumbled and the walls slid open sideways, letting out a blast of fresh air that hit Liam's face and filled his lungs.

He was blinded for a second by the bright light of what seemed to be midmorning. He walked outside slowly as his eyes got accustomed to the sun. Behind him, the door rumbled again and closed slowly. As he made his way onto the mountain's slope, Liam heard a small yelp off to the side and he turned to see Reyna standing guard close by the door. She was still dressed with her light battle armor and her twin swords were still sheathed behind her back. She looked exhausted, but she walked purposefully towards him.

"Finally," she said in a low voice, "I was starting to wonder if any of you had what it takes to make it through the mountain…"

"Worried about me, were you, luv?" asked Liam, smiling.

"As if…" said Reyna. "I just have some questions you guys need to answer."

"So you waited out here till we came out? Since what… last night?"

Reyna blushed before answering. "Well, yeah…" she said, "I just… I mean… shut up!" she finished as Liam started to laugh loudly at her stammering. He continued to chuckle for a couple of seconds before he sat down by a nearby tree and pressed his back against its trunk.

"Ok, ok," he said. "But first things first, where are Jamie and Percy? Have they come out yet?"

"No," she answered, "you're the first one. And you might be the only one."

"Nah," said Liam, "they're gonna make it, just wait. I'll stay too, until they get here."

"You really believe in them," said Reyna. "What makes you so sure they can pass the tests? They are never easy and there are never two that are exactly the same. They are made especially for each person, meant to put pressure on your biggest weaknesses, so that you show your worst side. It wouldn't be the first time someone failed."

"Look," said Liam. "Jamie might be as useful as a steering wheel on a train when it comes to social situations, but you'll never meet a braver or more loyal girl than her, she'll always stick her neck out for you when it matters. She'll pass her tests, I promise you."

"And what about the other guy?" said Reyna "Percy Jackson."

Liam laughed. "Percy will be fine. He is…"

But whatever Percy was, Reyna would never find out. Right then, the door rumbled again and a few seconds later, Jamie came out, staggering a bit, very pale and looking like she'd been crying.

"Jamie!" shouted Liam. He got up and ran over to her.

"Hi, Liam, Reyna," she said as she walked over. Then, when she got near them, she stared. "Liam! Are you ok? What on earth happened to you?"

Liam looked down and took stock of himself. His clothes were torn, his face was probably covered in blood from the cut on his left eyebrow, his shirt was ripped and there were lots of cuts and scrapes all over his body. He had forgotten about them during his conversation with Roma, but once he looked at them, they all started to sting again.

"Bumps and bruises" he said. "I had to squeeze through a tunnel rougher than a pig's breakfast to get here. It was good fun though. Are you ok? You seem… shook."

Jamie didn't answer immediately and she opened her mouth as if to say something, but hesitated. "I'm fine," she answered finally. "It's just that the tests were… not what I expected."

"Yeah," said Liam, "tell me about it."

"Where's Percy?" asked Jamie.

"Present," said a voice behind them.

They turned around and saw Percy walking out tranquilly out the mountain, taking advantage of the still open door. He didn't seem to be hurt but there was a distant look in his eyes, like he wasn't really there, as if his mind were concentrating on some other, more important, issue.

"Percy!" shouted both Liam and Jamie at the same time. Jamie ran over to him and hugged him whilst Liam walked over and slapped him on the back.

"Knew you could make it," said Liam.

"Thanks, man" said Percy.

"Well, this is all very touching and all," said Reyna, "but now that you are all here, it's time you formally entered Castra Roma and went through your initiation."

"Initiation?" asked Percy. "I thought we were done with the whole testing part. What's it going to be now?"

"Yeah," said Jamie, "I don't know if I've got another one of those tests in me."

"You'll see" said Reyna, "but before I take you back to camp, there are several things we have to talk about. Sit down."

They all plopped down on the ground. "So," said Liam, as he leaned on the tree again. "What's up?"

Reyna paused for a second, considering how to start this conversation. She had never had it with anyone and the whole thing could be hard to explain and even harder to accept if it wasn't said properly.

"You have been travelling for a couple of days now," she began "and you have obviously seen some things that relate to this place, like Garret, the chimera and the three tests you've been through. But, are you aware by now what Castra Roma is? Who the campers who come here really are?"

"No," said Jamie and Liam at the same time. Percy stayed silent.

"It's all been a blur," commented Jamie, "I expected it to start making sense eventually, but everything's become more confusing since we met you. What is this place? Why did we have to come here? Why were we tested… like that?

Reyna didn't answer immediately and wondered what her test could have been that had shaken her so badly. She knew that sometimes, on special cases, Roma wouldn't just make you show your courage or loyalty, she would teach you the meaning of those values through experience, because she believed that only when you truly live courage and loyalty, learn them by using them, can you acquire those virtues and make them a part of yourself, forever. Reyna remembered her own test and the cryptic words that Roma had told her as she left her side. One day, she would figure them out.

"All right," she said suddenly. "If you are going to understand Castra Roma and what goes on here, you have to understand the roots of our culture, of Western culture. You see, what people usually fail to realize is that everyone in what we call Western civilization, no matter where they're from, are heirs to a common history and a cultural beginning that defines all of them."

"Ok…" said Jamie. "How so?"

"It all began in Greece," answered Reyna, "with the forefathers of men like Plato and Aristotle. They started a way of thinking and of seeing the world that had never been before. Their ideas developed into a group of shared beliefs in cities like Athens, Sparta and Thebes, and these shared beliefs then developed into a civilization, the very first brand of Western Civilization. They tried to define the nature of the world and the definitions that they came up with are very much alive to this day."

"That's all very nice," said Liam. "I know that the roots of our culture come from the Greeks. That is why to this day people will still study Greek philosophy and history, it can help understand why some things are the way they are in some places. But what's that got to do with this, with here and now."

"The importance is," said Reyna forcefully, "that in their explanation of the world, the Greeks came up with the gods. The gods were created out of the imagination of the people and the ideas that they incarnated. The Greeks believed that a god participated in almost every aspect of their daily lives and that they gave meaning to the unexplained mysteries of the world. As the culture solidified around them, the gods they created, and along with them their enemies, became real and a link was formed between them and the civilization that believed in them. The gods were brought to life. They became real, solid, with a history and a personality. And they are alive to this day."

"Ok, hold your horses there," said Jamie. "So you're saying that gods, as in immortal, all-powerful gods, are alive because people believe in them? Even if that were possible, and I'm not saying that it is, people believed in them ages ago, nobody believes in the Greek gods now, so they would have stopped existing, I mean there are no more temples to Apollo or people worshipping him now. He's not real anymore."

Reyna seemed scared for a second and she looked up to the sun, with apprehension. "Be careful with names, Jamie" she said, looking back down from the sky. "They have more power than you think, do not name the gods or their enemies lightly. But, answering your question, you might have realized inside the mountain, that faith and belief can take many forms. The gods' power does not come from people praying to them in temples, it never did. It comes from the fact that the ideas that they represent are alive and that the culture that brought them to life has gone on. As long as Western civilization lives, they live too, as a part of it. That is also the reason why gods can disappear, they can fade, when the values that gave them reason are abandoned by Western culture."

"So, they're real," said Percy, speaking for the first time. "Zeus, Artemis, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, all of them. They exist."

"Well yes, but not in those forms," said Reyna. "As Western civilization changed, so too changed the gods. They were once the Greek gods you have just mentioned, but the Greeks became weaker over time and their once great empire collapsed and divided. The flame of Western civilization moved from Mount Olympus in Greece to another place. It moved to Rome and it was the Roman Empire that held it together, under new names like Jupiter for Zeus and slightly different personalities and character. The Greek gods then faded and became the Roman gods."

Percy looked extremely confused by that, but he couldn't understand his discomfort and, once again, he remained silent.

"So," said Jamie. "The gods are alive and they are, what, in Rome?"

"No," said Reyna. The gods follow what has been called the flame of the West, the centre of Western power and culture. And the flame moves from place to place as nations develop, rise and fall. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the flame moved a lot, between France, Spain and Germany, wherever Western power concentrated. Finally, the gods stayed in England for several centuries until America came up and took the role as the world's leading Western power. The gods are now here. To be precise, they are in New York City."

"So the gods are now American?" said Liam with an incredulous laugh. "I know you Americans think a lot of yourselves, but really… American gods?"

"They're not American!" said Reyna harshly. "When the Roman Empire collapsed people stopped worshipping the gods. They remained alive because the culture didn't change its building blocks but their personas were no longer part of the changes in Western culture, they remained the same. They are, to this day, the Roman gods, in their Roman forms."

"Fine," said Jamie. "But even if that's true, what's it got to do with us?"

Reyna paused for a second. "What do you know about your parents?" she asked. "I'm guessing you were all raised by only one of them, either your dad or your mom, right?"

"Yeah," said Liam. "It was my mother."

"Me too," said Jamie, "my dad."

Percy stayed silent.

"Do you know anything about your other parent?" pressed Reyna. "Anything at all?"

"I've been asking my dad for years," said Jamie, "but he won't tell me anything."

"I've actually never asked my mum directly," said Liam. "I reckoned if she didn't want to talk about it, it must be something painful for her. And the guy never even sent a card, so why should I care looking for him?"

Percy stayed silent. Reyna looked at him, waiting for him to comment on his parents too, but he didn't say anything and just stared back at her with bright green eyes, waiting for her to continue.

"Well," she went on. "The gods, they interact with us, with the mortal world and have a bunch of human characteristics, including flaws and weaknesses. Just like in the old stories, they come down here and they mingle with mortals and, quite often, they have kids with them. I'll be quite blunt with you. Your dad, Liam, and your mom, Jamie, are gods, they are one of the Olympians."

There was a moment of silence, before Liam chuckled. "Riight" he said, very slowly. "So you think my dad is an all powerful immortal that's lived since the beginnings of time. Of course, and that would make me-"

"A demigod," finished Reyna. "Or a half-blood. A child of the gods. And yeah, I'm sure of it. The fact that you're here, that you were able to enter Mission Peak and reach this place is proof enough. You are one of us."

They stared at her, incredulously. Jamie was about to open her mouth to protest again, when she was cut short.

"It's true," said Percy suddenly. "She's telling the truth. How else do you explain it all? And I know this, I know it in my gut, she's telling the truth."

"Then who are our parents? Which god or goddess?" asked Liam. "Do you know?" he asked again, directing his eyes at Reyna.

"No," she said. "But we're going to find out soon enough. When we get to camp, you will be claimed by your godly parent."

"Claimed?" asked Jamie. "What do you mean claimed?"

"Come on, you'll see".

She stood up and motioned for them to follow her, making her way down to the immense camp in the valley.

Hi guys. So that was chapter 11. It was originally muuuuch longer but I'm having trouble with the second part, and seeing as how I haven't posted in a while, I thought I'd just get this part out and continue working on Castra Roma and put that in a later chapter. There are several tricky parts, like their claiming, their entry into a cabin, a possible comeback by Lupa, Percy's reception and reactions and I haven't quite figured it all out. Reviews would be awesome.

See ya WPR.