Surface Pressure

by kneeshee

Watch as she buckles and bends but never break

12. Seventeenth Year Incoming

Livia giggled.

"This is harder than I thought," the voice of Jason rang out around her. She laughed again, "It'd be easier if you just told me where we were going."

Her boyfriend scoffed, "And ruin the surprise? I'm pretty sure that Leila would kill me."

"Surprise? My birthday has already passed," she smirked as another branch almost tug her off the ground.

"Not your birthday," he muttered before placing his hands on shoulder, stopping her. She raised her brow behind the blindfolds over her eyes. She could theoretically track where she was using the water in the air or at least opening up her primal instincts but—

But she trusted Jason.

She let out a surprised oof as he picked her up. Livia let out a string of curses, "This is genuine Pontia from Venus' newest fashion line. Deadly Fashion. If you rip it, you owe me 52 denarii!"

Jason paused as he contemplated her words. "You spent 3000 us dollars on this dress?"

"It was a limited edition," she sniffed. Her boyfriend laughed as he kept walking.

It was silent for a few more minutes. "How did you pull this off anyway? I know Esra still had a mountain of paperwork for us to go through."

It was thankfully the last of it. Livia would probably scream if she had to do more paperwork.

(Thankfully, she and Jason had come to an agreement that she would oversee training while he focused on the legislation, but there will be trade offs.)

"Esra and Tav agreed to keep the place running while we have a day for ourselves," he told her simply. He slowed to a stop, placing her back on her feet. "I decided that it would be a good thing to take advantage of for our first date."

A smile bloomed on her face at his words, angling her body into his direction. "First date?"

Jason hummed, moving around noisily until he stood behind her. He untied the blindfold carefully, and Livia gasped as her childhood home came into view.

Mist curled around the Wolf House tightly. A part of Livia can sense it telling her to leave. If she were fully mortal or vulnerable to manipulations, then she would have allowed it to sink within her and go away.

But she wasn't and the smoky appeal of the mist gave the building an otherworldly feeling. Fairy lights were sprung up around the structure. Situated in the middle was a table for two.

She recognized food catered from Flaming Skillet. There was a sound from a lyre playing around them.

It suddenly made a lot of sense why Daniele had cornered her this morning and dragged her to the salons in the city.

(And also why Gwen had rushed into the hair salon as soon as she had gotten into the chair with products directly from her mother for Livia.)

Livia turned around.

Jason stood behind her with a shy smile, a bouquet of krokus flowers in his hands.

"Jason."

"Do you like it?"

She smiled prettily, leaning in to press a kiss to his face. "I love it."

Jason mimicked her expression, taking one of the flowers and weaving it throughout her hair. "To new beginnings," he whispered as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and led her to the table.

She accepted the glass of what smelled like grape juice. They clinked their glasses.

Eyes two different shades of blue gaze into one another. Livia smiled softly, "To new beginnings."

The scene changed.

Livia was still at the Wolf House, but now she was a little girl– no more than three years old. She picked around the corner of the walls as a woman knelt before a little boy. It took her, but a moment to realize that it was Jason.

She did not know who stood within her home, but she could hear the woman's voice clearly.

I will be back for you, dearest, she said. I will see you soon.

The scene changed.

Livia was in a hospital, but now she was a baby. A face appeared before her— it took her but a moment to recognize her Father. He reached within the bassinet, poking at her with his finger. " Basilea," he muttered. He cradled her into his arms gently.

"Have you made up your mind, Sally," another voice stated as her Father wrapped her in a pretty pink blanket that began to shimmer like the sunset over the ocean waves. Livia could see her name woven into the corner.

Neptune turned around. She could see whom she assumed was Percy's parents. Poseidon and Sally Jackson. The other god was holding another baby. Livia realized with a jolt that it was Percy. His mother stepped forward, and her Father's hold on her stiffened.

The woman wrung her hands together. "I-I choose Percy," she said, reaching for her son. Neptune hummed, as he cradled Livia closer to him. His voice book no argument as he told her: "You will never see her again."

A hand covered her eyes and then the scene changed.

"Who are you," a voice demanded followed by the son of a loaded gun.

Her Father chuckled as he held her closer to him. "Peace, Prudence. I come seeking your sister's aid."

"You didn't answer my question," Prudence replied.

"Peace, sister," another voice stated. "It is not everyday we gain the attention of Lord Neptune himself."

The hand was removed from her eyes, and the infant version of herself blinked. In front of her were two women. Different shades of blonde graced their hair but their features looked incredibly familiar. The realization washed over her the second she saw a small blond toddler hiding behind the woman's legs.

Octavian.

"How may I be of service, Lord Neptune," the second woman asked.

Her Father held her up for the women to see clearly. "I require your youngest sister's aid. She needs a weapon forged to bring about the strongest storms. One that will be as an unpredictable as the sea."

"Of course," the woman said again. "May we know the name of the child you sired?"

Neptune looked at her in his arms. Her little face moved into the resemblance of a smile. "Her name is Livia, and she will be the best of us. And that, Aurelia Verus, I swear."

---

Livia woke up, an ache in her heart that she couldn't completely process. She laid still for a few moments, imagining that she was breathing in all her anxiety and pain and heartache before exhaling and letting it disperse within the atmosphere.

She stood slowly, walking over to her newly set up altar. "Dolor, Androctasiae, Machae, Miseria, Fatum. 'Tis your names that I invoke. I invite thee into my presence to reign strife and discord within the battlefield. Blood shall coat the earth in your names. This I manifest."

---

Livia walked out into the abandoned vineyard. Stretched out before her, acres of dead grapevines hung in rows on wooden lattices, like gnarled miniature skeletons. At the far end of the fields stood a cedar-shingled farmhouse with a wraparound porch. Beyond that, the land dropped off into the sea.

She stretched lightly as she looked over the entire Twelfth Legion that was camped in the northern-most field. They'd dug in with their usual military precision – ten-foot-deep trenches and spiked earthen walls around the perimeter, a watchtower on each corner armed with ballistae.

The tents were arranged in neat rows of white and red. The standards of all five cohorts curled in the wind. It was a small force, barely two hundred demigods, but they were well trained and well organized. If Julius Caesar came back from the dead, he would've had no trouble recognizing Livia's troops as worthy soldiers of Rome.

Better than anything he could have come up with anyhow.

Livia took a deep breath, letting her body relax. Any and all other thoughts faded away. She pushed her dreams to the back of her mind. She cared nothing for Jason anymore. She cared nothing for relationships at the moment. This was her moment. This was war.

She and Octavian had sat the Legion down yesterday— every troop that they had. They had explained to them about Reyna's quest to bring back the statue— and Octavian explained his familial history with the statue. He explained how it was Athena that cursed his family and how Alastor had tormented them for generations. After all, Alastor was the personified spirit of the family blood feud–the inflicting of vengeance upon younger generations for the crimes of their forefathers.

Octavian named every murder he knew by heart and how they were murdered due to the curse. How even before the statue had been brought to Rome… Athena had been against their family since back to the Trojan war where the family's matriarch had resided in Troy.

"Aeneas' paternal half-sister. Daughter of Kymopoleia, a sea-nymph daughter of the god Poseidon and the wife of the hundred-handed, storm-giant sister was considered the second most beautiful mortal woman, right after Helene of Sparta. She was a lover of Apollon bringing Greece to Rome alongside Aeneas. Their children–for they had twin boys– would go on to start our lineage and Apollo began to interact with the lineage, pushing Alastor away and fighting off the curse. At one point, Neptune joins the lineage also.

Octavian had given her a small smile, eyes filled with pain. "His daughter then was named Livia also. She was a gladiator as rare as they were. And now look at how history repeats itself since another daughter of Neptune named Livia has joined my family once more."

He turned back to the others: "I'm not telling you this for sympathy. I don't need it. I don't want it. I'm telling you this because if Reyna succeeds with her quest—"

"If she succeeds with her quest, it could be enough prestige to reinstate her. But it will not be equal to the blood owed. Do not forget that she killed her Father. A fact that she knew very well and yet she still accepted the praetorship offered. She has turned her back on all of our traditions and laws for what? Her hopelessly crush on Jason? On Perseus? For peace with the graecus after one of our own… one of her own closest friends has suffered so much because of them? After she herself suffered at the hands of two of the people she gifts her loyalty to?"

Her voice was firm and absolute as she looked over her troops. "She prides herself on being above favoritism. She never liked to join the lighthearted conflicts that roused between our friend group. I would have thought that she would have stayed neutral in this conflict between her friends. But I had to realize this was not a conflict between friends. I am the sole consul of Rome. My duty is to Rome and nothing else. I am a child of Rome before I am a friend or sister to anyone. I don't care that she betrayed me. I'll deal with the broken friendship later. What I care about is the pride of Rome being broken because she let love be the weapon against her instead of utilizing it against our enemies. She allowed herself to be weak."

Muttering broke out against the legion, all of them moved by her words. Rome roared with approval within her. She could hear whispers about making use of the colosseum once more for gladiator battles to kill the traitors.

"I am not weak," she declared. "And neither are any of you. I will give you a battle of strength and glory."

Her smile sharpened as bloodlust seeped from within her. "And I will strike back against Athena for the pain she wrought. I will cart her precious statue back to New Rome myself!"

The Romans cheered.

Livia made her way to the porch of the Farmhouse, neck prickling in a way that told her someone was watching her. She stood in the shadows, grimacing lightly as she took in Octavian. He had told her of his newest plan.

She had almost ordered him to not go through with it as she was sure that it would lead to his death, but she also knew that he would do it regardless of what she had to say. But he had quietly pointed out that this was the perfect punishment for killing Gwen.

The consul in her could not argue with that though the friend and sister in her argued with it quite loudly.

Octavian sat in a gilded chair that looked suspiciously like a throne. Along with his senatorial purple-lined toga, his centurion badge and his augur's knife, he had adopted a new honour: a white cloth mantle over his head, which marked him as Pontifex Maximus, high priest to the gods.

Livia smirked. No demigod in living memory had taken the title Pontifex Maximus. By doing so, Octavian was elevating himself almost to the level of emperor. A status which put himself on the same level as the greeks' Oracle of Delphi.

To his right, reports and maps were strewn across a low table. To his left, a marble altar was heaped with fruit and gold offerings for the gods.

At his side, the legion's eagle bearer, Jacob, stood at attention, sweating in his lion-skin cloak as he held the staff with the golden eagle standard of the Twelfth.

Octavian was in the midst of an audience. At the base of the stairs knelt a boy in jeans and a rumpled hoodie. Mike Kahale stood to one side with his arms crossed, glowering with obvious displeasure.

'Well, now.' Octavian scanned a piece of parchment. 'I see here you are a legacy, a descendant of Orcus.'

The boy in the hoodie looked up, and Livia caught her breath. Bryce Lawrence. She recognized his mop of brown hair, his broken nose, his cruel green eyes and smug, twisted smile.

'Yes, my lord,' Bryce said.

'Oh, I'm not a lord.' Octavian's eyes crinkled. 'Just a centurion, an augur and a humble priest doing his best to serve the gods. I understand you were dismissed from the legion for ... ah, disciplinary problems.'

Much like his godly forefather, Orcus, the underworld god of punishment, Bryce was completely remorseless. The little psychopath had survived his trials with Lupa just fine, but as soon as he arrived at Camp Jupiter he had proved to be untrainable. He had tried to set a cat on fire for fun. He had stabbed a horse and sent it stampeding through the Forum. He was even suspected of sabotaging a siege engine and getting his own centurion killed during the war games.

If Reyna had been able to prove it, Bryce's punishment would've been death. But because the evidence was circumstantial, and because Bryce's family was rich and powerful with lots of influence in New Rome, he'd got away with the lighter sentence of banishment.

Livia, however, had suspected it greatly when she read the reports. If she had been there, she would have utilized Octavian's sight, conferred with Nico Di'Angelo, and killed him herself. With Reyna and Octavian backing her, his family's prestige would have meant nothing.

And Reyna wasn't that crafty. It would have been next to nothing to quietly employ a few members that were out in the field searching for Jason to dispatch the boy while he was in exile. It's what Livia would have done.

'Yes, Pontifex,' Bryce said slowly. 'But, if I may, those charges were unproven. I am a loyal Roman.'

Livia scoffed and even Mike Kahale looked like he was doing his best not to throw up.

Octavian smiled, but she could read the disgust and disbelief in his eyes. 'I believe in second chances. You've responded to my call for recruits. You have the proper credentials and letters of recommendation. Do you pledge to follow my orders and serve the legion?'

'Absolutely,' said Bryce.

'Then you are reinstated in probatio,' Octavian said, 'until you have proven yourself in combat.' He gestured at Mike, who reached in his pouch and fished out a lead probatio tablet on a leather cord. He hung the cord around Bryce's neck.

'Report to the Fifth Cohort,' Octavian said. 'They could use some new blood, some fresh perspective. If your centurion Dakota has any problem with that, tell him to talk to me.'

She raised a brow. She didn't think there was any discontent within the Fifth, but she supposed it made sense. All of their core traitors came from their cohort and all of them were the prophesied seven.

Bryce smiled like he'd just been handed a sharp knife. 'My pleasure.'

'And, Bryce.' Octavian's face looked almost ghoulish under his white mantle – his eyes too piercing, his cheeks too gaunt, his lips too thin and colourless. 'However much money, power and prestige the Lawrence family carries in the legion, remember that my family carries more. Moreso now that our consul has been added to our family line. I am personally sponsoring you, as I am sponsoring all the other new recruits. Follow my orders, and you'll advance quickly. Soon I may have a little job for you – a chance to prove your worth. But cross me and I will not be as lenient as Reyna. Do you understand?'

Bryce's smile faded. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he changed his mind. He nodded.

'Good,' Octavian said. 'Also, get a haircut. You look like one of those Graecus scum. Dismissed.'

After Bryce left, Mike Kahale shook his head. 'That makes two dozen now.'

'It's good news, my friend,' Octavian assured him. 'We need the extra manpower.'

'Murderers. Thieves. Traitors.'

'Loyal demigods,' Octavian said, 'who owe their position to me.'

Mike scowled. Livia watched as Octavian's gaze dropped down to the other's biceps that were as thick as bazooka barrels. He had broad features, a toasted-almond complexion, onyx hair and proud dark eyes, like the old Hawaiian kings. She wasn't sure how a highschool linebacker from Hilo had wound up with Venus for a mom, but no one in the legion gave him any grief about that – not once they saw him crush rocks with his bare hands.

She had known about his crush on Octavian for years. In fact, she knew about it since Octavian had first sponsored his inclusion in the First Cohort. He was very loyal to her friend and Livia would see to it that loyalty was rewarded.

Octavian rose and stretched. 'Don't worry, old friend. Our siege teams have the Greek camp surrounded. Our eagles have complete air superiority. The Greeks aren't going anywhere until we're ready to strike. In eleven hours, all our forces will be in place. My little surprises will be prepared. On August first, the Feast of Spes, the Greek camp will fall completely.'

'But Reyna said –'

'We've been through this.' Octavian slid his iron dagger from his belt and threw it at the table, where it impaled a map of Camp Half-Blood. 'Reyna has forfeited her position. She went to the ancient lands, which is against the law. That's no even mentioning the murder of her Father. Livia has banished her, writing her out with her own blood.'

'But the Earth Mother –'

'– has been stirring because of the war between the Greek and Roman camps, yes? The gods are incapacitated, yes? And how do we solve that problem, Mike? We eliminate the division. We wipe out the Greeks. We return the gods to their proper sole manifestations as Roman. Once the Roman gods are restored to their full power, Gaia will not dare rise. She will sink back into her slumber. We demigods will be strong and unified, as we were in the old days of the empire. Besides, the first day of August is most auspicious – the month named after my ancestor Augustus. And you know how he united the Romans?'

Livia snorted. The Earth Mother had risen against the greeks gods in her fully fury. And as the Etruscan goddess of earth which predates Aeneas' travels to the future site of Rome… Cel was the mother of giants that did not dare to rise against the Dii Consentes.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand just why Octavian was attempting to make Mike dislike him.

'He seized power and became emperor,' Mike rumbled.

Octavian waved aside the comment. 'Nonsense. He saved Rome by becoming First Citizen. He wanted peace and prosperity, not power! Believe me, Mike, I intend to follow his example. I will save New Rome and, when I do, I will remember my friends.'

Mike shifted his considerable bulk. 'You sound certain. Has your gift of prophecy –'

Octavian held up his hand in warning. He glanced at Jacob the eagle bearer, who was still standing at attention behind him. 'Jacob, you're dismissed. Why don't you go polish the eagle or something?'

Jacob's shoulders slumped in relief. 'Yes, Augur. I mean Centurion! I mean Pontifex! I mean –'

'Go.'

'I'll go.'

Once Jacob had hobbled off, Octavian's face clouded. 'Mike, I told you not to speak of my, ah, problem. But to answer your question: no, there still seems to be some interference with Apollo's usual gift to me.' He glanced resentfully at a pile of mutilated stuffed animals heaped in the corner of the porch. 'I can't see the future. Perhaps that false Oracle at Camp Half-Blood is working some sort of witchcraft. But as I've told you before, in strictest confidence, Apollo spoke to me clearly last year at Camp Jupiter! He personally blessed my endeavours. He promised I would be remembered as the saviour of the Romans.'

Octavian spread his arms, revealing his lyre tattoo, the symbol of his godly forefather. Seven slash marks indicated his years of service – more than any presiding officer aside from her.

'Never fear, Mike. We will crush the Greeks. We will stop Gaia and her minions. Once that happens, I'm sure Apollo will restore my gift of prophecy. Camp Jupiter will be more powerful than ever. We will rule the future.'

Mike's scowl didn't lessen, but he raised his fist in salute. 'You're the boss.'

'Yes, I am.' Octavian pulled his dagger from the table. 'Now, go check on those two dwarfs you captured. I want them properly terrified before I interrogate them again and dispatch them to Tartarus.'

Mike left and she stepped forward, moving out the shadows. Octavian had wrenched the mantle off his head as soon as Mike had left, sinking into his seat with his head in his hands. Livia's lips quirked, "The weight of leadership is not an easy burden to bear."

Octavian relaxed further at the sound of her voice. She snickered lightly, reaching for her the medicine that Pranjal had crafted for her. "I do not see how you do it," Octavian admitted.

Livia shrugged. "That's why it's a two-person job. With Reyna's exile, I have you willing to step up to the plate alongside Esra. I have told her also of your plan. She does not approve but she will not argue. You are but a loyal roman officer."

He looked at her gratefully, "I am glad that when I pass one of the few people that I respect will know the truth." He nibbled on his bottom lip, "Will you— will you tell Mike the truth? I don't want him to think badly of me after I am gone."

She forced herself to hold back the tears in her eyes. "I'll bring you back as a lare myself," she swore. "You can tell him yourself." She smiled lightly, "Though, I was planning to tell the Legion either way. A self-imposed punishment for yourself in retaliation for killing her while also sparing me the pain of having to kill you."

His eyes glowed just a bit as he told her, "I wish I could spare you for the little that is to come."

She furrowed her brow as Arce cawed above them. Livia glanced up, catching images of the Greeks back at the meeting place. "The greeks wish to speak once more."

"I know," he sighed. "Leila and Mike and Ezra will be in charge in our absence?'

Livia hummed. "Dakota and Daniele and Malysia and maybe Chelsea too shall come with us." She paused as she thought over it all. "And bring forth Jenever also."

Octavian winced. Normally, the female fauns stayed hidden away from sight as they were very few in numbers. They stood under the protection of Diana and Mercury, and only ventured out of whatever hidey-hole they were in if they learned of another female faun. They knew about their greek counterparts for years and the two tribes helped one another whenever it was needed.

Livia had only met the roman leader once. She had been about seven years old. Lupa had taken her to a river to work on her powers when Jenever had rushed through, injured and being chased by what she now knew to be satyrs. Lupa had torn into the beasts with Livia providing assistance where she could. She had stayed with them for a few days as she healed, but Livia never saw her again, so she thought she had died and that it was once in a lifetime experience. But when Grover brought forth information about a cloven of elders, Livia had sent out feelers to see if anyone knew of said counsel.

Jenever had been the one to respond as she felt that they were being slighted as there no female representative nor any boon had been given by said counsel. Livia was smart enough not to mention that considering female fauns were supposed to be a secret then there wouldn't be one. She was strategic to know that it would be a waste of good warriors to not utilize their powers.

Livia was thorough.

"Let's see if they are here to surrender and if not, we will march on the camp immediately."

Octavian snorted and Livia smiled.

---

Livia was not smiling.

At the moment, she wasn't sure if the storm booming above her was from the gods or herself. The pressure within her head was pushing down on her. White noise echoed around her as hysteria clawed at her.

"What the fuck is this?"

She could barely recognize her own voice. Her eyes were wide in panic as she tried her best to not look at the first person to ever break her heart.

"Livia," the woman breathed. "My baby girl."

Thunder boomed around them.

"You have a lot of nerve," Livia snarled. The hue of her pupils darkened as if one was looking in the eye of a storm. She turned to look at the graecus scum before her. "What did you hope to achieve by bringing forth this egg donor?"

"She's your mother," Grover stated, with a nervous smile. Stormbringer appeared in her hand with a decisive sliiink.

"Livia, please."

Livia looked at her, sneering in disdain. She allowed her sword to return to its resting position. "As much as I want to tear your head from your body, feast from your blood, and use your body as a decoration for Ferālia… I will not. I am a loyal Roman soldier. Patricide and matricide are the most disgusting forms of parricidia. Mortals who commit such a hideous act are closer to twisted monsters than to humans. And I will not stain my honor by killing you, Sally Jackson. No, you are not even worth the effort to draw my sword."

She looked at the people with her, "We are leaving." She turned her glance back at the graeceus. "Pray to your gods that my sword does not meet you in battle for I will not leave until I have filled the sea with your blood and this I swear ."

She turned to leave, but she crumbled on the ground. "LIVIA," was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

Livia was sitting on a chariot. She could hear horses cursing at another animal in her head. It was also extremely hot. She stood slowly, and was almost blinded. The gold wings were overkill. She squinted as best as she could. Someone was standing before her in a glittering sleeveless dress. A piled-up braids of dark hair was circled with a gilded laurel wreath.

Her brow furrowed and then she heard a somewhat familiar voice.

'Lady,' he said, 'could you fold your flappers, please? You're giving me a sunburn.'

'What? ' The person in front of her head jerked towards him like a startled chicken's. ' Oh ... my brilliant plumage. Very well. I suppose you can't die in glory if you are blinded and burned.'

She tucked in her wings. The temperature dropped to a normal hundred-and-twenty-degree summer afternoon. Livia glanced around her, immediately scowling at what she saw. Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Percy.

She didn't see any of the others and she didn't care for where they were. As far as she was concerned, she would team up with Gaea if it meant killing them and bringing back glory to Rome (And then luring the earth mother back to sleep herself.)

'So !' Leo pointed his index fingers at the person manning the chariot. ' I didn't get the briefing, and I'm pretty sure the information wasn't covered in Frank's pamphlet. Could you tell me what's going on here?'

' We must have victory!' they shrieked. ' The contest must be decided! You have come here to determine the winner, yes?'

Frank cleared his throat. ' Are you Nike or Victoria?'

"They are two separate goddesses," Livia snarled. But she remembered Octavian's words. Victoria and Nike were at war with each other. And she knew this war was trying to merge the Olympians and Dii Consentes together.

'Argghh! ' The goddess clutched the side of her head. Her horses reared, causing Hazel's pet horse to do the same.

The goddess shuddered and split into two separate images. Livia almost fell off the chariot, eyes wide in disbelief. That was— that was a successful merge.

On the left was the first version: glittery sleeveless dress, dark hair circled with laurels, golden wings folded behind her. On the right was a different version, dressed for war in a Roman breastplate and greaves. Short auburn hair peeked out from the rim of a tall helmet. Her wings were feathery white, her dress purple, and the shaft of her spear was fixed with a plate-sized Roman insignia – a golden SPQR in a laurel wreath.

'I am Nike! ' cried the image on the left.

'I am Victoria!' cried the one on the right.

This goddess was literally saying two different things at once. She kept shuddering and splitting, making Livia dizzy.

'I am the decider of victory!' Nike screamed. ' Once I stood here at the corner of Zeus's temple, venerated by all! I oversaw the games of Olympia. Offerings from every city-state were piled at my feet!'

'Games are irrelevant!' yelled Victoria. ' I am the goddess of success in battle! Roman generals worshipped me! Augustus himself erected my altar in the Senate House!'

'Ahhhh!' both voices screamed in agony. ' We must decide! We must have victory!'

Hazel slid off her horse's back when he bucked so violently to avoid getting thrown. Before she could calm him down, the horse disappeared, leaving a vapour trail through the ruins.

' Nike, ' Hazel said, stepping forward slowly, 'you're confused, like all the gods. The Greeks and Romans are on the verge of war. It's causing your two aspects to clash.'

'It's caused us to merge,' The goddess corrected as she shook her spear, the tip rubber-banding into two points. ' But we cannot abide unresolved conflict! Who is stronger? Who is the winner?'

'Lady, nobody's the winner,' Leo said. 'If that war happens, everybody loses.'

'No winner?' Nike looked so shocked. ' There is always a winner! One winner. Everyone else is a loser! Otherwise victory is meaningless. I suppose you want me to give certificates to all the contestants? Little plastic trophies to every single athlete or soldier for participation? Should we all line up and shake hands and tell each other, Good game? No! Victory must be real. It must be earned. That means it must be rare and difficult, against steep odds, and defeat must be the other possibility.'

The goddess's two horses nipped at each other, as if getting into the spirit.

'Uh ... okay, ' Leo said. 'I can tell you've got strong feelings about that. But the real war is against Gaia.'

'He's right ,' Hazel said. 'Nike, you were Zeus's charioteer in the last war with the giants, weren't you?'

'Of course!'

'Then you know Gaia is the real enemy. We need your help to defeat her. The war isn't between the Greeks and Romans.'

Victoria roared, 'The Greeks must perish!'

'Victory or death!' Nike wailed. 'One side must prevail!'

Frank grunted. 'I get enough of this from my dad screaming in my head.'

Victoria glared down at him. 'A child of Mars, are you? A praetor of Rome? No true Roman would spare the Greeks. Livia was right to cast you out! You and all those that claim Rome and betrayed us! I cannot abide being merged and confused – I cannot think straight! Kill them! Win!'

'Not happening, ' Frank said, though Livia noticed Zhang's right eye was twitching.

Livia was struggling, too. Victoria was sending off waves of tension, setting her nerves on fire. She was like a rubber being twisted until its last line with one wrong move allowing her to completely snap. She had the desire to wrap her hands around Frank's neck. A feeling she usually felt since the punk left her home in disarray.

'Look, Miss Victory ...' Percy tried for a smile. ' We don't want to interrupt your crazy time. Maybe you can just finish this conversation with yourself and we'll come back later, with, um, some bigger weapons and possibly some sedatives.'

The goddess brandished her spear. ' You will determine the matter once and for all! Today, now, you will decide the victor! Four of you? Excellent! We will have teams. Perhaps girls versus boys!'

Hazel said, ' Uh ... no.'

"There isn't even enough girls, " Percy pointed out.

"Of course there is," Victoria crowed. She reached behind her, plucking Livia up like a disgruntled cat and shaking her in front of them. "The Roman consul is here."

"Livia!" The four yelped. Livia kicked her feet, twisting in her hold. "The roman consul doesn't even know how she got here physically!" She was not on the verge of death when she passed out.

"Hmm, " the goddess said. "Oh, the divinity in your blood is growing day by day. It's a similar form to astral projection. You're halfway to ascending completely, but as of now, you are still a demigod and can still participate."

"In that case, it should be a loyal Roman against enemies of Rome!"

"Absolutely not," Leo declared.

'Shirts versus skins!'

'Definitely no,' said Hazel.

'Greeks versus Romans! ' Nike cried. ' Yes, of course! Two and two. The last demigod standing wins. The others will die gloriously.'

"I'm not fighting with them," Livia snarled even as a competitive urge pulsed through her body. "I'd wipe them from the face of earth and there will never be a true winner."

Leo forced his fists to unclench. 'Look, lady, we're not going to go all Hunger Games on each other. Isn't going to happen.'

'But you will win a fabulous honour! ' Nike reached into a basket at her side and produced a wreath of thick green laurels. 'This crown of leaves could be yours! You can wear it on your head! Think of the glory!'

'Leo's right,' Frank said, though his eyes were fixed on the wreath. His expression was a little too greedy for Livia's taste. She could understand though. She had stopped struggling, her own gaze drawn to the wreath. ' We don't fight each other. We fight the giants. You should help us.'

'Very well!' The goddess raised the laurel wreath in one hand and her spear in the other.

Percy and Leo exchanged looks.

'Uh ... does that mean you'll join us?' Percy asked. 'You'll help us fight the giants?'

'That will be part of the prize,' Nike said. ' Whoever wins, I will consider you an ally. We will fight the giants together, and I will bestow victory upon you. But there can only be one winner. The others must be defeated, killed, destroyed utterly. So what will it be, demigods? Will you succeed in your quest, or will you cling to your namby-pamby ideas of friendship and everybody wins participation awards?'

Percy uncapped his pen. Riptide grew into a Celestial bronze sword. Livia wondered if he would turn on his comrades. She might spare him if he does. Nike's aura was that hard to resist.

Instead, Percy pointed his blade at Nike. 'What if we fight you instead?' Livia swallowed down the urge to agree to that. That was something that she would definitely enjoy.

'Ha!' Nike's eyes gleamed. 'If you refuse to fight each other, you shall be persuaded!'

Nike spread her golden wings. Four metal feathers fluttered down, two on either side of the chariot. The feathers twirled like gymnasts, growing larger, sprouting arms and legs, until they touched the ground as four metallic, human-sized replicas of the goddess, each armed with a golden spear and a Celestial bronze laurel wreath that looked suspiciously like a barbed-wire Frisbee.

'To the stadium!' the goddess cried. 'You have five minutes to prepare. Then blood shall be spilled!'

The goddess sat Livia back down on the chariot. She curled into herself, the need to draw her sword and fight overwhelming her.

'Run!' Nike bellowed. 'To the stadium with you, or my Nikai will kill you where you stand!'

The metal ladies unhinged their jaws and blasted out a sound like a Super Bowl crowd mixed with feedback. They shook their spears and charged the demigods.

Nike's chariot wheels rumbled and her horses whinnied. Livia groaned heavily, biting down on her lips hard enough to draw blood. It still was not enough. Her aura was so strong. If she's sending out those vibes to all the Greeks and Romans, even if Livia had wanted peace… there was no way to retrieve it.

The sound of trumpets echoed around her. Nike's chariot appeared on a field, the Nikai arrayed in front of her with their spears and laurels raised. Livia leaned heavily on the horse the goddess placed her own.

'Begin !' the goddess bellowed.

Percy and Leo sprinted through the archway. Immediately, the field shimmered and became a maze of brick walls and trenches. They ducked behind the nearest wall and ran to the left. Back at the archway, Frank yelled, 'Uh, die, Graecus scum! ' A poorly aimed arrow sailed over Leo's head.

Livia snarled, eyes turning stormy as she sat up straight. She felt like an old white man sitting in front of his television cheering and screaming as his favored group of men pummeled each other into the ground and chasing after a ball.

'More vicious!' She yelled. 'Kill like you mean it, Zhang!'

Percy yelled, 'Die, Romans! ' and lobbed a grenade over the wall.

BOOM! The smoke cleared and the smell of buttery popcorn filled the air.

'Oh, no!' Hazel wailed. ' Popcorn! Our fatal weakness!'

"What," she shrieked. "You dare to mock Rome in such a way! Levesque, KILL THEM!"

Frank shot another arrow over their heads.

Nike yelled, 'Try harder! That popcorn was not fatal!'

Poisonous popcorn?

Nike began to circle the perimeter of the field – Victory taking a victory lap.

Another grenade exploded over Percy's and Leo's heads. Livia cheered. They dived into a trench as the green starburst of Greek fire singed Leo's hair. Unfortunately, Frank had aimed high enough that the blast only looked impressive.

'Better, ' Nike called out, 'but where is your aim? Don't you want this circlet of leaves?'

"Are you a coward, Zhang," Livia snarled. "Are you not a child of Mars? PROVE ROME'S SUPERIORITY! GAIN VICTORY!"

Livia's gaze was drawn to Percy dashing away as Leo pulled a ball-peen hammer from his tool belt and yelled, ' Hey, Bronze Butt!'

The Nikai turned as Leo threw. His hammer clanged harmlessly off the metal lady's chest, but she must have been annoyed. She marched towards him, raising her barbed-wire laurel wreath.

'Oops.' Leo ducked as the metal circlet spun over his head. The wreath hit a wall behind him, punching a hole straight through the bricks, then arced backwards through the air like a boomerang.

As the Nikai raised her hand to catch it, Percy emerged from the trench behind her and slashed with Riptide, cutting the Nikai in half at the waist. The metal wreath shot past him and embedded in a marble column.

'Foul! ' the victory goddess cried. The walls shifted and Leo saw her barrelling towards them in her chariot. 'You don't attack the Nikai unless you wish to die!'

A trench appeared in the goddess's path, causing her horses to balk. Livia was thrown away and she rolled as she came down for a landing. Leo and Percy ran for cover.

Out of the corner of her eye, maybe fifty feet away, Leo saw Frank the grizzly bear jump from the top of a wall and flatten another Nikai.

'No! ' Nike screamed in outrage. ' No, no, no! Your lives are forfeit! Nikai, attack!'

Leo and Percy leaped behind a wall. The terrain shifted around them – opening new trenches, changing the slope of the land, throwing up new walls and columns. Livia struggled to contain herself as she crouched on the ground. Her breath turned heavy, as something within her began to unravel.

What had the goddess said?

She was halfway to ascending?

Yeah, Livia could feel it.

The ground rumbled as another grenade exploded, sending spirals of whipped cream into the sky.

Somewhere close by, Hazel cried out in pain.

Livia stood slowly, wounds from the gravel bleeding sluggishly. She grimaced at the reddish-gold tint.

The walls fell away on either side of the maze. Leo was in an open stretch of field. Frank stood at the far end of the stadium, shooting flaming arrows at Nike's chariot as the goddess bellowed insults and tried to find a path to him across the shifting network of trenches.

Hazel was closer – maybe sixty feet away. The fourth Nikai had obviously sneaked up on her. Hazel was limping away from her attacker, her jeans ripped, her left leg bleeding. She parried the metal lady's spear with her huge cavalry sword, but she was about to be overpowered. All around her, the Mist flickered like a dying strobe light.

Livia realize that the girl was controlling it and was losing said control.

Percy rushed to Hazel's defence. Leo darted towards Nike, yelling, ' Hey! I want a participation award!'

'Gah!' The goddess pulled the reins and turned her chariot in his direction. ' I will destroy you!'

'Good!' Leo yelled. 'Losing is way better than winning!'

'WHAT? ' Nike threw her mighty spear, but her aim was off with the rocking of the chariot. Her weapon skittered into the grass. A new one appeared in her hands. She urged her horses to a full gallop. The trenches disappeared, leaving an open field, perfect for running down small Latino demigods.

'Hey! ' Frank yelled from across the stadium. 'I want a participation award, too! Everybody wins!'

He shot a well-aimed arrow that landed in the back of Nike's chariot and began to burn. Nike ignored it. Her eyes were fixed on Leo.

'Percy ... ? ' Leo's voice sounded like a hamster's squeak. From his tool belt, he fished out a sphere and set the concentric circles to arm the device.

Percy was still sparring with the last metal lady. Leo couldn't wait. He threw the sphere in the chariot's path. It hit the ground and burrowed in, but he needed Percy to spring the trap. If Nike sensed any threat, she apparently didn't think much of it. She kept charging at Leo.

Naked fear was on his face and for a moment… all Livia could see was Annia.

The chariot was twenty feet from the grenade. Fifteen feet.

'Percy! ' Leo yelled. ' Operation Water Balloon!'

Unfortunately, Percy was a little busy getting smacked around. The Nikai thumped him backwards with the butt of her spear. She threw her wreath with such force it knocked Percy's sword from his grip. Percy stumbled. The metallic lady moved in for the kill.

Leo howled. He thrust out his hand and shot a white-hot bolt of fire straight at the Nikai. It literally melted her face. The Nikai staggered, her spear still raised. Before she could regain her balance, Hazel thrust her spatha and impaled the metal lady through the chest. The Nikai crashed into the grass.

Livia's eyes slipped close, frustration brewing within her. She turned towards the victory goddess's chariot. Just as those huge white horses were about to turn Leo into roadkill, the carriage passed over Leo's sunken grenade, which exploded in a high pressure geyser. Water blasted upward, flipping the chariot – horses, carriage, goddess and all.

Livia stared blankly even as the sound grated at her ears. Celestial bronze crumpling, wood splintering, stallions screaming and a goddess wailing in two distinct voices, both of them very surprised.

Hazel collapsed. Percy caught her. Frank ran towards them from across the field. Leo was on his own as the goddess Nike disentangled herself from the wreckage and rose to face him. Her braided hairdo now resembled a stepped-on cow pat. A laurel wreath was stuck around her left ankle. Her horses got to their hooves and galloped away in a panic, dragging the soaked, half-burning wreckage of the chariot behind them.

She turned to face Livia.

'YOU!' Nike glared at Livia, her eyes hotter and brighter than her metal wings. 'You dare?'

Livia felt dead inside, staring absently at the goddess. Her core ached as it pulsed with power.

'I know, right?, " Leo called out, drawing the goddess' attention. " I'm awesome! Do I win a leaf hat now?'

'You will die!' The goddess raised her spear.

'Hold that thought! ' Leo dug around in his tool belt. 'You haven't seen my best trick yet. I have a weapon guaranteed to win any contest!'

Nike hesitated. ' What weapon? What do you mean?'

'My ultimate zap-o-matic!' He pulled out a second sphere. ' How many laurel wreaths have you got? Because I'm gonna win them all.'

He fiddled with dials. Livia watched all of that through hazy eyes.

'Behold!' Leo clicked the final dial. The sphere opened. One side elongated into a gun handle. The other side unfolded into a miniature radar dish made of Celestial bronze mirrors.

Nike frowned. ' What is that supposed to be?'

'An Archimedes death ray!' Leo said. 'I finally perfected it. Now give me all the prizes.'

'Those things don't work!' Nike yelled. ' They proved it on television! Besides, I'm an immortal goddess. You can't destroy me!'

'Watch closely, ' Leo said. 'Are you watching?'

Nike could've zapped him into a grease spot or speared him like a cheese wedge, but her curiosity got the best of her. She stared straight into the dish as Leo flipped the switch.

Even so, the blazing beam of light left her seeing spots. Livia cried out, staggering as she clutched at her eyes.

'Gah! ' The goddess staggered. She dropped her spear and clutched at her eyes. ' I'm blind! I'm blind!'

Livia blinked slowly, absently feeling something crawl alongside her skin. She looked up as Leo hit another button on his death ray. It collapsed back into a sphere and began to hum. Leo tossed the sphere at the goddess's feet.

FOOM! Metal filaments shot upward, wrapping Nike in a bronze net. She wailed, falling sideways as the net constricted, forcing her two forms – Greek and Roman – into two separate beings.

'Trickery !' Her doubled voices buzzed like muffled alarm clocks. ' Your death ray did not even kill me!'

'I don't need to kill you, ' Leo said. ' I vanquished you just fine.'

'I will simply change form! ' she cried. 'I will rip apart your silly net! I will destroy you!'

'Yeah, see, you can't. That's high-quality Celestial bronze netting, and I'm a son of Hephaistos. He's kind of an expert on catching goddesses in nets.'

'No. Nooooo!'

Leo left her thrashing and cursing, and went to check on his friends. Percy looked all right, just sore and bruised. Frank had propped Hazel up and was feeding her ambrosia. The cut on her leg had stopped bleeding, though her jeans were pretty much ruined. Livia crawled over to the goddesses who were kicking and screaming at each other. Their bodies merge and unmerge with every blink.

The four idiots walked over to them. Livia glared weakly before groaning at the pain in her core.

'What do we do with them?' Percy asked.

'Take them aboard the Argo II,' Leo said. 'Chuck them in one of the horse stalls.'

Hazel's eyes widened. ' You're going to keep the goddess of victory and champion of Salacia in the stable?'

'Why not? Once we sort things out between Greeks and Romans, the gods should go back to their normal selves. Then we can free them and Nike can ... you know ... grant us victory.'

'Grant you victory? ' the goddesses cried. 'Never! You will suffer for this outrage! Your blood shall be spilled! One of you here – one of you four – is fated to die battling Gaia!'

'How do you know that?'

'I can foresee victories!' Nike yelled. ' You will have no success without death! Release me and fight each other! It is better you die here than face what is to come!'

Hazel stuck the point of her spatha under Nike's chin. 'Explain.' Her voice was harder than Livia had ever heard. ' Which of us will die? How do we stop it?'

'Ah, child of Pluto! Your magic helped you cheat in this contest, but you cannot cheat destiny. One of you will die. One of you must die!'

'No, ' Hazel insisted. ' There's another way. There is always another path.'

'Hecate taught you this?' Victoria laughed. 'You would hope for the physician's cure, perhaps? Or the elixir of the Verus? But that is impossible. Too much stands in your way: the poison of Pylos, the chained god's heartbeat in Sparta, the curse of Delos! You have made enemies of the sole heirs to the Verus. No, you cannot cheat death.'

You cannot cheat death.

A semblance of a plan was beginning to form in her mind.

Frank knelt. He gathered up the net under Nike's chin and raised her face to his. ' What are you talking about? How do we find this cure?'

'I will not help you,' Nike growled. ' I will curse you with my power, net or no!'

She began to mutter in Ancient Greek.

Frank looked up, scowling. ' Can she really cast magic through this net?'

'Heck if I know,' Leo said.

Frank let go of the goddess. He took off one of his shoes, peeled off his sock and stuffed it in the goddess's mouth.

'Dude, ' Percy said, ' that is disgusting.'

'Mpppphhh!' Nike complained. Her form unmerged and Victoria gagged. Frank took off his other shoe and stuffed that sock in her mouth. ' Mppppphhh!'

'Leo,' Frank said grimly , 'you got duct tape?'

'Never leave home without it.' He fished a roll from his tool belt, and in no time Frank had wrapped it around Nike's head, securing the gag in her mouth.

'Well, it's not a laurel wreath,' Frank said, ' but it's a new kind of victory circle: the gag of duct tape.'

'Zhang,' Leo said, ' you got style.'

Nike thrashed and grunted until Percy nudged her with his toe. 'Hey, shut up. You behave or we'll get Arion back here and let him nibble your wings. He loves gold.'

Victoria shrieked once, then became still and quiet.

'So ...' Hazel sounded a little nervous. 'We have one tied-up goddess and one pale consul. Now what?'

Livia snorted as she struggled to sit up. "You do not have me."

"And what's this about the elixir of Verus?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"You helped us," Percy said. " I wasn't even concentrating on the grenade when it exploded."

She scoffed, "Cut out your tongue. I do not help traitors."

" But you'll help your brother," he said hopefully.

Livia forced back the pain she was feeling to look him in the eyes. "I had a dream of the day that I was born. Poseidon and Neptune stood within the hospital room that Sally Jackson had been admitted to. She chose to keep you." Her eyes narrowed. "Sally Jackson got married about a year ago. Poseidon was there. Amphitrite was there. You were there. And where was I? I stood outside with Mercury watching her go on about her life as if she did not have another child out in the world. I asked him because Mercury does not lie… not to me. I asked him if she ever loved me or was she always happier without me?"

Livia leaned in closer, her senses slowly waking up in her real body. "There was never an answer."

And then she woke up.

---

Livia was being watched from every end. Since her collapse at the meeting where Jenever had almost speared everyone on the roof and Dakota had to tie Octavian up like prey after he tried to kill them for whatever he thought they did… no one let her out of their sights in fear that the greeks might try anything else.

Though admittedly, it had only made the Romans even angrier in their desire for revenge. While Pranjal, Leila, and Octavian had been assured that it was nothing more than a dream-vision, the others saw it as a direct attack from greeks on their consul. Especially since she was apparently bleeding and smoking as they brought her back to camp.

She could barely admit that she was still feeling the aftershocks of being so deeply entrenched in the victory goddesses' aura. She was feeling too much all at once.

"You need to take a break, Liv," Octavian muttered to her as she paced around the war room. Her eyes were crazed with grief, bloodlust, betrayal, and rage. There was a lot of rage. She looked nothing like the untouchable soldier that he's known for years.

"I am feeling the effects of masculinity right now. I feel the testosterone. I want to go to WAR!"

Her brother snorted, "Well look at this." She turned to him and stepped closer to the basin of water in front of him. "With my powers of prophecy not working, I had to get creative with the things in Mom's books. Look."

The water rippled and suddenly, she could see a bunch of– ugh– graeceus surrounding a ping-pong table.

Livia wants it on record that she loves the Verus family and she was so honored to be a part of it.

At one end sat a centaur, his equine posterior collapsed into a magic wheelchair so he looked like a regular human. His curly brown hair and beard had more grey streaks. Deep lines etched his face.

Chiron. The immortal horse trainer that Annabeth had told Reyna about.

'– things we can't control,' he was saying. ' Now let's review our defences. Where do we stand?'

A girl sat forward. She was the only one in full armour, which was practical. She had to be a child of the war gods. If she weren't greek scum, Livia would have recruited her.

As she spoke, she gestured with her dagger, which made the other greeks lean away from her.

'Our defensive line is mostly solid,' she said. 'The campers are as ready to fight as they'll ever be. We control the beach. Our triremes are unchallenged on Long Island Sound, but those stupid giant eagles dominate our airspace. Inland, in all three directions, the barbarians have us completely cut off.'

Livia snorted. "Not for long. Their little naiads will either obey me or they will die."

'They're Romans,' said Rachel, doodling with a marker on the knee of her jeans. 'Not barbarians.'

Clarisse pointed her dagger at Rachel. 'What about their allies, huh? Did you see that tribe of two-headed men that arrived yesterday? Or the glowing red dog-headed guys with the big poleaxes? Theylook pretty barbaric to me. It would've been nice if you'd foreseen any of that, if your Oracle power didn't break down when we needed it most!'

"So it's affecting her too," Octavian muttered. "Something must be wrong with their oracular spheres."

"Will that be a problem," Livia asked.

"Not for us," he assured. "There are other ways to tell the future, but if the problem prolongs…"

Livia nodded. "This first and then deal with that."

Rachel's face turned as red as her hair. ' That's hardly my fault. Something is wrong with Apollo's gifts of prophecy. If I knew how to fix it –'

'She's right.' A blond boy put his hand gently on the armoured girl's wrist. He got her to lower her dagger. 'Everyone in our cabin has been affected. It's not just Rachel.'

His shaggy blond hair and pale blue eyes reminded Livia of Jason, but the similarities ended there.

From the intensity of his stare, his constant alertness, the coiled up energy in his frame, you could tell that Jason was a fighter. This boy was more like a lanky cat stretched out in the sunshine (or Octavian that one time she let him taste kelp-sea wine from her Father's palace.). His movements were relaxed and nonthreatening, his gaze soft and far away.

'We don't know what's going on at Delphi,' the boy continued. ' My dad hasn't answered any prayers, or appeared in any dreams ... I mean, all the gods have been silent, but this isn't like Apollo. Something's wrong.'

"Apollon," Octavian corrected absently.

Across the table, another kid grunted. ' Probably this Roman dirt-wipe who's leading the attack – Octavian what's-his-name. If I was Apollo and my descendant was acting that way, I'd go into hiding out of shame.'

'I agree,' the child of Apollon said. 'I wish I was a better archer ... I wouldn't mind shooting my Roman relative off his high horse. Actually, I wish I could use any of my father's gifts to stop this war.' He looked down at his own hands with distaste. 'Unfortunately, I'm just a healer.'

Livia growled low in her throat. Primal. Voice cords twisting in a way that was definitely not natural. Lupa would be proud.

'Your talents are essential, ' Chiron said. 'I fear we'll need them soon enough. As for seeing the future ... what about the harpy Ella? Has she offered any advice from the Sibylline Books?'

Rachel shook her head. ' The poor thing is scared out of her wits. Harpies hate being imprisoned. Ever since the Romans surrounded us ... well, she feels trapped. She knows Octavian means to capture her. It's all Tyson and I can do to keep her from flying away.'

'Which would be suicide.' Another kid crossed his burly arms. 'With those Roman eagles in the air, flying isn't safe. I've already lost two pegasi.'

"Lost is such a strong word," Livia snorted. "More like I've acquired them and granted them the offer of keeping their lives if they surrendered."

'At least Tyson brought some of his Cyclops friends to help out,' Rachel said. 'That's a little good news.'

"Jacob," she called out. The eagle bearer stood to attention. "Send in the senate."

Over by the refreshment table, another boy laughed. He reminded her very strongly of Mercury and Hermes. He had a fistful of Ritz crackers in one hand and a can of Easy Cheese in the other. 'A dozen full-grown Cyclopes? That's a lot of good news! Plus, Lou Ellen and the Hecate kids have been putting up magic barriers, and the whole Hermes cabin has been lining the hills with traps and snares and all kinds of nice surprises for the Romans!'

The second boy frowned. ' Most of which you stole from Bunker Nine and the Hephaestus cabin.'

The officers filed into the room, but the two friends did not look up from the bowl.

"I want all of Trivia's kids working on this magical barrier they have claimed to put up and I want all of Mercury and Vulcan's kids on traps and snares."

The unnamed girl grumbled in agreement. ' They even stole the landmines from around the Ares cabin. How do you steal live landmines?'

"Mercury is the patron-god of thieves. How about we steal these landmines and throw them at them," Octavian muttered.

'We commandeered them for the war effort.' Connor sprayed a glob of Easy Cheese into his mouth. 'Besides, you guys have plenty of toys. You can share!'

Chiron turned to his left, where the satyr Grover Underwood sat in silence, fingering his reed pipes. 'Grover? What news from the nature spirits?'

Grover heaved a sigh. 'Even on a good day, it's hard to organize nymphs and dryads. With Gaia stirring, they're almost as disoriented as the gods. And the Romans clearly have tricks up their sleeves. Female satyrs? I never thought I'd see the day. Katie and Miranda from the Demeter cabin are out there right now trying to help, but if the Earth Mother wakes ...' He looked around the table nervously . 'Well, I can't promise the woods will be safe. Or the hills. Or the strawberry fields. Or –'

'Great. ' The second boy elbowed another who was starting to nod off. ' So what do we do?'

'Attack. ' The unnamed girl pounded the ping-pong table, which made everyone flinch. 'The Romans are getting more reinforcements by the day. We know they plan to invade on August first. Why should we let them set the timetable? I can only guess they're waiting to gather more forces. They already outnumber us. We should attack now, before they get any stronger; take the fight to them!'

Livia snorted. "Such false information. We leave out at high noon."

Another kid coughed into his fist. ' Clarisse, I get your point. But have you studied Roman engineering? Their temporary camp is better defended than Camp Half-Blood. Attack them at their base, and we'd be massacred.'

'So we just wait?' Clarisse demanded. 'Let them get all their forces prepared while Gaia gets closer to waking? I have Coach Hedge's pregnant wife under my protection. I am not going to let anything happen to her. I owe Hedge my life. Besides, I've been training the campers more than you have, Malcolm. Their morale is low. Everybody is scared. If we're under siege another nine days –'

'We should stick to Annabeth's plan.' The child of Hermes stated Easy Cheese around his mouth. ' We have to hold out until she gets that magic Athena statue back here.'

Clarisse rolled her eyes. 'You mean if that Roman praetor gets the statue back here. I don't understand what Annabeth was thinking, collaborating with the enemy. Even if the Roman manages to bring us the statue – which is impossible – we're supposed to trust that will bring peace? The statue arrives and suddenly the Romans lay down their weapons and start dancing around, throwing flowers?'

"Not happening," they all swore.

Rachel set down her marker pen. 'Annabeth knows what she's doing. We have to try for peace. Unless we can unite the Greeks and Romans, the gods won't be healed. Unless the gods are healed, there's no way we can kill the giants. And unless we kill the giants –'

'Gaia wakes, ' the child of Hermes said. ' Game over. Look, Clarisse, Annabeth sent me a message from Tartarus. From fricking Tartarus. Anybody who can do that ... hey, I listen to them.'

Livia swiped through the water. She turned to look at the others. "Game over, huh? I do so love winning. Let's move out!"

Their troops were ready to head out. She placed a hand on Octavian's shoulder, "Before we leave, I need a favor."

"What is it?"

"Make me something to keep me from blacking out and dreaming."

"What?"

She turned to look out at the legion. All of them stood waiting for her orders. Fluttershy was frothing at the mouth at the prospect of fresh blood. One of Vulcan's children had somehow convinced the horse to be placed in armor that covered her entire body. Nothing was left unguarded.

She was chittering excitedly inside of her mind about how lightweight the armor was and how all the horses back on Triple G Ranch would be so jealous.

"I need to stop blacking out and dreaming. We're at war. I have a duty to Rome to our people… our family. One wrong move… a mere second and they could take me out right as the Legion needs me. I can't take that chance."

Octavian bit his lip. "There is one thing, but it's– it's risky."

"Do it," she declared.

"Livvy…"

"That is an order," she told him. His mouth snapped shut and he knew she meant serious business. He nodded once, going over to the Ceres children to demand some herbs.

She turned back to her troops.

Livia glanced down the hill at the valley of cabins. The greeks exclaimed in shock, running around trying to gather their weapons. She smirked as the children of Trivia stepped forward and began to bat the magical defenses out of the way. Livia's voice echoed around them, carried by the wind to be heard by all. "I pray, old gods, rise from the deep. If eternal madness I cannot shake, a thousand bodies leave in my wake."

The group of campers that she had seen within the vision pool rushed out alongside the centaur. The girl, Clarisse, snarled with a spear that Livia could taste electricity running through it.

"Leave, Romans," she spat. "You're not welcome here."

Livia sat atop Fluttershy with an amused smile, eyes sparkling with cruelty. She removed her helmet, relishing in the gasps of shock that they let out to see a face so familiar and unfamiliar to them. Percy having her face was starting to be a little fun.

Livia barked out a laugh. "I leave when I want to, and quite frankly, I'm not ready to go."

The Legion snickered.

"Surrender now child," the immortal centaur, Chiron, called to her. "If you continue on, you will only be known as an enemy. Surely you wouldn't want that."

"Maybe my name could also be known," she smiled, madness in her eyes. Her smile widened as he aimed his arrow in between her eyes. "That I help return good to the people and restore greatness to Rome!"

Rome roared within her. The ocean stormed beneath her skin. Stormbringer whispered promises of death and destruction within her mind. Wipe it off the face of earth. Get rid of them forever. She had dreamt of this for years.

"I know you, child," he replied. "You do not truly want war."

"I think you'll find, pony man," she replied. "That I want nothing more."

The dragon snarled at her, crouching on its hind legs as if to lunge. Livia aimed the palm of her hand towards it, power surging through her. She was done holding back. The earth shook around it, crushing the beast within the grasps of Gaea.

"Legion, mandata captate." The greeks began to back away. She urged Fluttershy to move forward. "Cohorts – lock shields!"

She pulled water from the air, using it as steppingstones for the legion. She and Octavian had come up with the plan earlier to get rid of the last traitors and murderers and thieves that opposed the Legion. Those had been marked with bands that she would use as human shields.

"PERCUTE!"

The Legions stormed through the barrier, stepping onto her water rug easily and passing over the landmines that the children of Mercury were digging and tossing through. She smiled proudly as her troops began to decimate the damned graecus.

Octavian appeared at her side, "Annabeth had told Reyna that her cabin was number six."

Livia smiled, "And it will be number one on the list to fall."

"Let's win this," he told her. "You, me, Kalina. Bear skin and grape soda on ice. Tyler Perry movies."

"Deal."

Blood soaked her skin, a feeling she was so intimately familiar with. She turned to the river, cyclops rushing towards her. She blinked and they were thrown away. The naiads yelped as she drew closer, the river burning with her rage.

"Surrender or die," she smirked. They narrowed their eyes, shaking their heads in defiance. Livia scoffed, reaching out to the connection within her. "So be it."

She pulled.

Seally roared, limbs plucking archers and cyclops and naiads up and swallowing them whole. Otters began to rush in from the sea, chittering away as they fought off naiads and nymphs dragging them under the water to never be seen again.

Two greeks tried to charge at her from both sides.

Livia snapped her fingers.

Boiled blood dripped from their pores as their bodies hit the ground.

Rome laughed with delight within her.

Livia could see Dakota struggling. He was beginning to fall back. "SERVA MILIX ORDINEM POSITUM," she barked, hand swiping out knocking his enemies away.

A greek stepped in front of her. She recognized them from the roof when they brought Sally Jackson. Livia's eyes narrowed, her janus swords appearing in her hands. She made a promise after all.

Livia smiled and she attacked.

Time became a social construct as Livia lost herself to her bloodlust. She knew that Octavian could tell that well as she acknowledged him in the back of her mind shouting orders. He had pulled her aside at one point to tell her of how he sent off Byrce. Her cackle had rung around the battlefield making more than one person unnerved by the cruelty within it.

Fluttershy was tearing into one of those abominations. Its siblings desperately tried to attack her horse. Livia appeared behind, sword flashing through the air quickly before she turned away. Their heads rolled across the ground.

She was caked in blood, but she didn't care.

Who was Livia if she were not drenched in the blood of her enemies?

She had dismissed Seally so that her friend may get some rest as Spades herded some of the otters away.

Four greeks surrounded her on all sides. "Surrender, Roman!" The water morphed behind them, making liquid copies of herself standing almost as tall as skyscrapers. "Do you want them to surrender too?"

The graecus dropped their weapons and the clones smashed them under their feet.

She owed Octavian blood. She would give him his revenge.

Octavian was surrounded, defending himself easily. There was a pile of bodies at his feet already. His sword glowed as it parried another enemy, a high pitch ringing emerged. Livia could absently feel her body becoming numb at the sound, but she forced herself to push through.

She sneered, trident piercing the heart of two graecus that tried to sneak up on her brother. One of them glared at her, croaking out: "You won't win."

"Tibi mentula parva est," she snapped. "I already have."

Livia had to give it to them. These Greeks knew how to fight. Unsurprising when she considered her brother, but they still put up a decent fight against the legion.

Unfortunately for them, they had not accounted for her. She wondered absently if this was how Jason had felt as he lived here… Her Jason who had been stolen from her. Her Jason who was not Greek and yet he was no longer Roman either.

Her eyes landed on the famed Chiron. He was firing arrows against their archers. He was good… great as expected of someone raised by Apollon. She turned away.

She walked calmly through the masses of fighting demigods; feet bringing her to the hearth in the center of the camp. Two little girls covered in veils sat there, tending to the dying flames. But Livia knew that they were no little girls. She could sense the divinity, and she bowed to her knees. "Lady Vesta," she murmured in reverence. "Lady Hestia." The goddesses shivered as the flames died more. The one on the left flinched away from Livia. "You will kill me."

The demigoddess closed her eyes as the words were repeated once more: "You will kill me. You will kill my family." Tears streamed down Livia's face, "I am a child of Rome." Vesta cried alongside her, "You are an enemy of Olympus."

Livia flinched back, standing to her feet abruptly: "A family that treats you like an enemy is no family to be proud of." She walked away before anything else could be said.

Her feet carried her around the camp until she made it to the cabins. Her eyes fluttered over them all, but her gaze was drawn to Cabin Three. The cabin was long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. She pushed open the door; inhaling the salty scent of the interior.

It looked lived in–well loved. There was a fountain filled with glittering coins on one side, candy wrappers on the floor, and an unmade bed. But her attention was drawn to the pictures along the wall. She stepped forward; eyes tracing over them.

In one picture, there was Percy and Annabeth, arms wrapped around each other smiling widely. Another picture with him and Rachel. Another with him and Grover. The cyclops, Tyson, was crushing him in a hug with another. But in the last picture, rage swirled within her dangerously. She could sense the elements reacting accordingly.

Percy stood smiling at the camera on his right side stood what seemed to be Poseidon and Amphitrite. But on Percy's left side stood, an unknown man…the stepfather he spoke about and their mother. She was wearing a wedding dress, bouquet of flowers in her hands.

They all looked so happy.

Like

One

Big

Happy

Family.

The way she could go from passivity to extreme hate was almost frightening. She pulled the picture from the wall, startling when another picture flew from behind it. She grabbed it, freezing completely when she registered the picture. A polaroid picture of Sally Jackson holding a baby in her arms. The writing on the bottom read: Sally and Percy. August 16th.

She couldn't breathe.

Her eyes trailed over the happy smile the woman bore; taking in the love that was within the picture. Her gaze caught on a shimmering pink in the background. She recognized those letters woven into the corners. Livia.

Her steps were silent as she exited the cabin. Her body was taunt like a bow; power brewing through her. That searing ache she felt within began to crack once more. She was born from tempered winds of a storm. She was the sea and the storm. Mortal as she may be; to push her well beyond her limits was to ask for the rage of nature. She didn't feel so human anymore. She was born from the same celestial dust of the creatures within her fathers' respective kingdom.

Her eyes were blank as she walked around. She moved closer to the cabin with the number six on the door. She could sense people within, hiding under the floorboards. Children too young to fight, she would wagger.

Not that she understood that. She had been running missions for years. Her first kill had been at six. She stepped closer to the cabin, hands burning with power. Her skin was smoking once more. She remembered Victoria's words. She was halfway through ascending.

Livia placed her hands onto the cabin walls and let the earth shake within.

She couldn't sense anything anymore.

She turned away.

Every touch to the First Mother's earth shook with divinity. High winds blew through the measly camp; the trees uprooted as they grew stronger and braver and wilder. The heavens opened up and rain flooded the ground.

She spared no glance to the dead hearth. The campers paused in face of her wrath. Lupa and her wolves had rushed into the valley. She looked over them all. She was a force of nature. At her core, all the wildness of the universe. The cabins shuddered and folded into themselves and a part of her felt viscous pleasure.

Livia took in the petrifying fear that danced in the campers' eyes. This– this had been something she had wished for since the day she crossed Camp Jupiter's borders.

The feeling of success was not as sweet as she led herself to believe.

This was what she had wanted. She would have to make peace with it as the hatred began to brew in the greeks. She was the villain in their story even when she thought she was doing the right thing. She couldn't tell them how to narrate their experience, but—She was a child of Rome.

The ground began to crack under her feet from where she had stopped. Her body was burning with the need to conquer…. To avenge the honor of Rome. She would die; she was sure of it. Her body could not handle this power but—

Born a roman… Die a roman.

Her body burned with the knowledge that nautical miles away the Blood of Olympus had been spilt. She could taste it on her tongue; divinity that rushed through the land. She stepped forwards once more; drawing the campers and the wolves and dryads and Chiron and the satyrs forward, careful of the weapons they held. She pushed a thin strip of water under their feet, lifting them from the ground. A bubble of water surrounded them separating from the earth.

'Octavian!' Dakota called. 'We have new orders.'

Octavian's left eye twitched so violently it looked like it might explode. 'Orders? From whom? Not from me!'

'From Reyna,' Dakota said, loud enough to make sure everyone in the First Cohort could hear. 'She's ordered us to stand down.'

'Reyna?' Octavian laughed, though no one seemed to get the joke. 'You mean the outlaw I sent you to arrest? The ex-praetor who conspired to betray her own people with this Graecus?' He jabbed his finger in Nico's chest. 'You're taking orders from her?'

The Fifth Cohort formed up behind their centurion, uneasily facing their comrades in the First. Dakota crossed his arms stubbornly. 'Reyna is the praetor until voted otherwise by the Senate.'

'This is war!' Octavian yelled. 'I've brought you to the brink of ultimate victory and you want to give up? First Cohort: arrest Centurion Dakota and any who stand with him. Fifth Cohort: remember your vows to Rome and the legion. You will obey me!'

The son of Apollon shook his head. 'Don't do this, Octavian. Don't force your people to choose. This is your last chance.'

'His last chance?' Livia whispered, madness glinting in her eyes. The boy began to choke, blood bubbling from his lips and dripping down his face. 'You dare threaten my brother?" She scoffed, turning to look at Dakota. "Reyna is no longer praetor. She has betrayed the Legion. And if even she had not done so so openly, she let them go back at Fort Summer. That's not even counting the murder of her Father."

Octavian laughed, "I will SAVE ROME! Now, Romans, follow my orders! Arrest Dakota. Destroy these Graecus scum. And reload those onagers!'

"No," she snarled as more the greek army began to appear. She raised her fist in the air, concentrating on the centurion before her. Dakota turned as red as lips as she boiled his blood and burst every blood vessels one by one. "If you stand with the enemy, then I will treat you as an one."

Dakota dropped to the ground dead. Livia looked around her at the greeks and the romans. "Does anyone else want to join him?"

'DON'T BE STUPID!' the child of Apollon yelled. 'LOOK!'

He pointed to the north, and Livia turned.

The Athena Parthenos gleamed in the sunrise, flying in from the coast, suspended from the tethers of six winged horses. Roman eagles circled but did not attack. A few of them even swooped in, grabbed the cables and helped carry the statue.

Octavian stumbled at her side and she could feel something heavy within her begin to fade away. Which was worrying as she had not even noticed it.

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano rode on a pegasus' back. Her sword was held high. Her purple cloak glittered strangely, catching the sunlight.

Both armies stared, dumbfounded, as the forty-foot-tall gold and ivory statue came in for a landing.

'GREEK DEMIGODS!' Reyna's voice boomed as if projected from the statue itself, like the Athena Parthenos had become a stack of concert speakers. 'Behold your most sacred statue, the Athena Parthenos, wrongly taken by the Romans. I return it to you now as a gesture of peace!'

The statue settled on the crest of the hill, about twenty feet away from Thalia's pine tree. Instantly gold light rippled across the ground, into the valley of Camp Half-Blood and down the opposite side through the Roman ranks.

'Romans!' Reyna yelled. 'I do this for the good of the legion, for the good of Rome. We must stand together with our Greek brethren!'

For the good of Rome? Livia was Rome.

'Listen to her!' Nico marched forward. 'Reyna risked her life for all of you! We brought this statue halfway across the world, Roman and Greek working together, because we must join forces. Gaia is rising. If we don't work together –'

YOU WILL DIE.

The voice shook the earth. Wind swept across the hillside. The ground itself became fluid and sticky, the grass pulling at Livia's boots.

A FUTILE GESTURE.

She was standing on the goddess's throat – as if the entire length of Long Island resonated with her vocal cords.

BUT, IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, YOU MAY DIE TOGETHER.

'No ...' Octavian scrambled backwards. 'No, no ...' He broke and ran, pushing through his own troops. Livia closed her eyes, knowing it was all a part of the plan.

I love you, Octavian. I love you, my brother.

'CLOSE RANKS!' Livia yelled.

The Greeks and Romans moved together, standing shoulder to shoulder as all around them the earth shook. The auxilia troops surged forward, surrounding the demigods. Both camps put together were a minuscule dot in a sea of enemies. They would make their final stand on Half-Blood Hill, with the Athena Parthenos as their rallying point.

But even here they stood on enemy ground. Because Gaia was the earth, and the earth was awake.

Livia doubled over, pain erupting from every inch of her body. She felt as if she were burning alive. "Leila," she screamed. "Mike!"

Her centurion rushed to her side, hands hovering over her in fear. Livia shuddered. When they said she would burn through her mortal body to ascend, they weren't lying. Images flashed through her mind too quickly and yet so easily to understand.

Her voice boomed over the entire battlefield… possibly the entire state.

"Leila Shaw! Mike Kahale. I, Liva Jackson Verus, consul of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata and–and goddess of New Rome, give you my final orders: Under no circumstances can Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Frank Zhang, Jason Grace, Hazel Levesque, Nico Di'Angelo, Perseus Jackson or any greek born demigod be placed in a position of power within the legion. I resign my post and give you emergency field promotion to consul, with the full powers of that rank. Take command of this legion!'

Gasps rung out from the Legion as her body glowed every more.

"Livia," voices cried out.

She could recognize some so easily. Leila… Esra… Percy… Reyna… Jason.

Her power rushed around them once more as she placed them at her back.

A figure emerged from the ground.

A body catapulted into the air.

A dragon flew in.

To storm or fire the world must fall.

Livia charged, the polaroid flew out of her hand.

A soul-binding snap echoed within her.

A newborn girl gave her first cry.

The world went black.

---

octavian's daughter being born

🎶 now to skip to my lou… jersey… do do do do do do do do

octavian dying at that exact moment

oh my god liyah wtf 🎶