Hi again! We're finally on summer vacation…the shortest one in history! We will be having only about three weeks before we have to return to school. So sad…

Anyway, since it's vacation, regardless of its length, we'll be updating regularly! We're really sorry for the numerous delays in earlier chapters.

Enjoy, Chapter 15!

-Amber-

P. want to give our special thanks to our guest reader 'percyfan96': Thank you for sticking with us all this time and giving us all those wonderful reviews! We would love to PM you if we could, but since we can't, I can only express our thanks here!

Chapter 15 Landyn

With July's hand in mine, I made way in the Roman camp, trying to avoid stares and looking for a way to leave inconspicuously. The sky was growing dark. There was no reason for us to remain here any longer.

June wasn't here. We've gone through so much trouble just to have our hope crushed. I was so dazed that I didn't really know where I was going until July suddenly jerked me into a stop.

"What…" The question died in my throat as I turned to see a tall tan girl with long dark hair and obsidian eyes standing a few feet away. From the number of shiny medals on her equally shiny armor and the look of authority and pride on her face, I guessed she was some sort of a leader of the Romans. From the way she looked deliberately and expectantly at us, I guessed….we were busted. What was the name of the leader of Camp Jupiter again? I was certain I've heard it before.

Quickly, I swept a glance around us: I had somehow led us to the back of some "Vulcan's E-Z Removable Stables", where a single peanut butter colored horse with wings stood, swishing his sleek tail. Except for the girl glaring at us, no one else was in sight. Oh, right, two huge metal hunting dogs circled us, most likely under the command of the Roman girl. July glanced at me uncertainly, asking in silence What now?

I cleared my throat. "Um…hi."

Both girls stared at me. I could almost see July slapping her forehead and groaning. The Roman girl scowled at me and turned to July instead: "What are you doing here?"

Such a simple question. But I knew she knew what the answer was….no, what the answer wasn't.

"I…" July started to answer. The gold and silver dogs' metal lips lifted up to a snarl. I cut in quickly: "We're looking for something." Something in the glowing ruby eyes of the dogs told me lying wasn't a good idea. July looked at me in surprise. In return, I squeezed her hand once: Stay quiet and let me do the talking. I hoped she understood.

The Roman girl narrowed her eyes: "Looking for something? Didn't you go with Octavian to track down ArgoⅡ, June? You'd better watch your words…I wouldn't want Argentum and Aurum to attack our new recruit. But if you do lie, there will be nothing that I can do."

Thank goodness I stopped July before she said anything. July's eyes were wide. I answered: "Something happened. An accident." Well, that was sort of the truth. Suddenly, I remembered. She was Reyna, praetor of Camp Jupiter. Oh joy, I also remembered Nico warning us not to get on her bad side, which was just what we were doing.

"An accident?" Reyna glowered. "Why didn't I hear anything about that? Were you among us all this time? And, who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Landyn Green. June's friend." I replied, ignoring the first two questions.

Reyna looked at us long and hard. "All these days…I have never seen you, June, and neither did I hear anything about you. Where were you? If you were here, so should Bob. Where is he? I haven't seen him either."

Damn. Reyna's inquiries were getting harder and harder to answer. Who the heck is Bob, anyway? The other Roman guy had mentioned him too. Part of me wondered.

"You be quiet. You're suspicious enough." Reyna ordered me menacingly. I gulped. It was not like I knew what to say anyway. I just hoped July could think up something plausible.

"Um…" July started but Reyna suddenly took a step closer, staring intently at her.

"Wait…where is your camp T-shirt? Why are you wearing such a ridiculous hat? And your probation tablet?" With every question, Reyna took a step closer, eyebrows furrowing steadily. She seemed to grow taller, towering over us in her rage. Goldie and Silver growled, visibly becoming agitated. When they snapped, the sound reminded me of electric meat choppers.

When Reyna came within reach of us she thrust out a hand and…swiped July's hat off. She gasped (I imagined, though in reality, nothing showed on her hard regal face). In stead of June's new choppy/messy hair, July's long white blond hair tumbled down.

"You're not June." Reyna gritted her teeth.

July took one look at the growling dogs and shook her head meekly. I sighed. I knew July's perfect, uncut hair would give her away immediately if it was exposed, but I had hoped the hat thing would protect her identity a bit longer.

I decided I should just confess, since there was no easy way out anyhow. "I'm sorry, Reyna." Reyna turned towards me at the mention of her name. "You're right, she's not June. She's July Loras."

Reyna blinked. Then she turned even angrier, if possible. "July Loras?Are you kidding? Lift whatever despicable spell you used to duplicate June and tell me your real identity."

She had unsheathed her gladius and was pointing it at me. I raised both of my hands to show I had no weapons and replied: "No, I wasn't joking. How would I dare? I'm no spell caster and this is not a duplicate of June. Look at your dogs. They aren't attacking me. I'm telling the truth."

I waited as she glanced at her pets and back at me, a look of confusion overcoming her expression of anger. I continued: "She is July, twin sister of June Loras, your new recruit, and I am Landyn Green, as I said before, friend of June. We're here to look for June, who was separated from us several days ago."

"Twin sister?" Reyna said in shock. "June never mentioned she had a twin!"

"She probably thought I was dead." July muttered, speaking up at last.

Reyna fell silent, brooding over the things she just learned. When she finally looked up, she asked: "Even if what you said was true, how did you know we're here? Did you follow us all across the country? If so, how did you do that? We rode eagles and pegasi!"

I figured out Reyna was one with a lot of questions.

Apparently, July was getting impatient too. She answered: "Of course we didn't follow you all across the country. We came from Camp…"

"No!" I cried out. "I mean, we've always been in New York. We just happened to hear about your arrival…" Damn, it's so hard think up an excuse when you know you would be devoured if you told a lie.

But it was too late. The damage was done. "Camp?" Reyna's face darkened suddenly. "You mean Camp Half-blood. What are demigods from Camp Half-blood doing here?" She hissed, raising her blade again and pressing it to my chest. The Roman sword gleamed in the dark.

"Looking for June." I said bluntly.

Reyna looked like she was going lose it at me, but then a horn was blown. Reyna was so focused on threatening me that she jumped, almost skewering my chin, when she heard it. She cursed and sheathed her gladius. "I've wasted too much time. The scouts are back."

"What about us, then? Are you letting us go?" I asked hopefully.

Reyna gave me a glare that rivaled July's and said to her dogs: "Take them to my tent…and keep them there." She turned on her heel and ran off.

I looked at the red eyes of Argentum and Aurum glowing like small balls of fire in the dark and smiled wearily: "Nice to meet you two. Please don't bite me." The two metal hounds barked in response and herded us away from the stables.

xxx

As the praetor of Camp Jupiter, Reyna sure had a modest tent. Inside the purple water-proof tent, there were only a simple fold-away bed and a desk with maps and scrolls littered across. There was a single chair, but since it was Reyna's, we didn't dare to sit on it and had to stand idly. The dogs prowled outside the tent, throwing huge hideous shadows on the tent drapes. Slowly, the night grew on, but no one came to get us. July first plopped down on the floor, leaning on the desk leg and started to doze off. I couldn't fight sleep longer and slid down next to her. Soon I lost conscious too.

Sometime around six in the morning, I woke up with a start. I was lying on the floor beside July. Someone had given us each a blanket. Sitting up gingerly so as not to wake July, I looked around in the dim tent. Dawn's pale fingers had already traced the tent, giving away the positions of the dogs patrolling outside by their light shadows. Turning my head, I saw a familiar figure sitting at the desk. Reyna's head rested in her arms as she breathed steadily in her sleep. I pushed away my blanket and picked myself up as quietly as I could. My question of why she didn't sleep in her bed was answered when I peered over her shoulder and saw the map lying before her—a map newly marked with battle strategies and soldier arrays. I examined her plans and shuddered. They were exquisite, simple but smart, and very effective-looking. Suddenly, Reyna stirred and sat up abruptly.

"Ow!" I cried, rubbing my chin and backing away. Never did I know Reyna's head would be so hard.

Reyna was up in an instant. "You! You were spying on our plans!" She was so angry that the finger she pointed at me was shaking. July was waken by the noise and got up in confusion.

"Wait! I wasn't spying! I was just curious!" I yelled as the praetor leap towards her sword. "I promise, I promise nothing that I've seen will leave this tent."

Reyna studied us warily, still posed for attack.

July tried to soothe her down: "Come on, Reyna. We really aren't spies. We came here on the behalf of no one except for ourselves. Camp Half-blood probably already exiled us for disobeying direct orders… I just wanted to find June. Now that we know she's not here, we have no business here anymore."

Reyna was not convinced. "Why should I believe you? I am going to contact Octavian and have her brought back immediately, though it'll still take at least two days. We will then decide what to do with you three."

"Have who brought back?" I asked, though I already guessed the answer and my pulse quickened.

"June Loras. The fact that you're twins with June but a Greek demigod means June had lied to us. Pretending to be Roman to infiltrate our camp is serious crime, regardless of the reasons and purposes." Reyna said coldly, pointedly at July.

That pushed July over the edge. "What else could she have done? Expose her identity as a Greek and voluntarily let you Romans keep her under house arrest and inquire her of Camp Half-blood? You're the ones that are treating us with hostility! Who knows what you would do to her after ArgoⅡwent wrong if you had known she was Greek?"

"Excuses!" Reyna snapped. "Crime is crime; it is not alterable." With one last hard look at us, the praetor of Camp Jupiter swept out of the tent, into the morning mist that had settled over the camp site. Her angry voice calling someone to bring her "the emergency cell phone" carried throughout the camp.

"That…that woman!" July growled in frustration, "Why does she have to have so much Roman discipline and dignity?"

I patted her shoulder and said: "Calm down. This way, Reyna would have June sent straight into our hands. Saves us a lot of time and energy, actually."

July's hands were balled. "Yeah, so we can join her in the imprisonment of the Romans instead of sneak her out as we originally planned."

"Don't be so pessimistic. We'll figure it all out." I replied, not believing myself a bit.

I had scarcely finished my sentence when a horn sounded outside, followed by an uproar. As far as I could hear, campers were rising all around Reyna's tent, all shouting and trampling around. I looked at July and at once, both of us ran out of the tent.

The moment we tore our way out of the tent flaps, Argentum and Aurum materialized in front of us, growling and baring their razor sharp teeth.

"Whoa! Down, boys, we're not going anywhere!" I cried as the dogs began circling us menacingly. The sun had just risen to the tree tops, its rays piercing through the light morning fog. Roman campers were pulling on armors, shouting questions and demands towards each other. I saw in the faces of the guys and girls in purple shirts rushing past us without so much as a glance at us that something was wrong, and it had put all the demigods on guard.

"What's going on?" July exclaimed in bewilderment.

I grabbed a passing guy by his shirt. The guy stumbled and almost fell over in his haste. He steadied himself and turned around to shout at me: "Watch it, man! What do…"

Too late, I realized in my anxiety, I had accidentally let out my illusional ability. The guy wore the same confused and shocked expression as every one of my previous "victims" did. I blinked quickly and lowered my eyes. Not now! I cursed myself. Everything is already in a mess without me confusing people.

July gave me a small reassuring squeeze on my arm and apologized for me. Though the guy seemed to have trouble understanding July's words and was constantly wondering who we were, we had no time to explain more explicitly. July asked: "What's going on? Why are you all in such a hurry?"

"There's a…wait." The camper narrowed his eyes: "I've heard the praetor had caught some spies from Camp Half-blood…you look suspicious." His hand went towards the gladius hanging on his belt.

Why do rumors spread so fast in a Roman camp? I wanted to just attack the camper and escape, but the dogs were still eyeing us hungrily. July and I held up our hands and backed away slowly. Just at this time, a hand clapped on the guy's shoulder. He started and looked back.

"Enough." Reyna said. "You did well. Now leave them to me."

The guy nodded obediently and hurried to join his comrades, giving us doubtful glances all the way. Before we could protest, Reyna shoved us back into her tent and growled: "Were you trying to escape? You are indeed twins with June Loras, July."

"What?" July blinked in surprise.

Reyna gripped the handle of her sword tightly: "June is gone."

My heart went up into my throat.

"Octavian said she had disappeared in the middle of a fight with the crew of ArgoⅡ." Reyna continued, the knuckles of her hand on the sword growing whiter visibly.

Both July and I were at a loss for words. June had disappeared? Did that mean she was killed? No, that's impossible. She must have escaped. I was so filled with hope and worry at the same time that I couldn't form words.

July, on the other hand, suddenly laughed. "I should've known! June is totally capable of taking care of herself. Why was I freaking out anyway? It's totally ridiculous!"

Unfortunately, I couldn't smile as well. It seemed to me that July's laugh was nothing if not bitter.

Reyna's frown grew darker. "June had condemned herself to the strictest sanction of the Roman laws and you can still laugh?"

She was probably about to make some threats when a camper yelled outside the tent: "Praetor! The Cychreides has broken through the first line of defense and the second line is collapsing too!"

Reyna cursed and shouted at us: "Stay where you are. I'll be back…if I can finish off the blasted Cychreides." Then she ran out of the tent once again.

"The Cychreides?" July said the word carefully, as if studying the syllables. She shook her head: "I think the Hunter's Survival Guide Thalia gave us upon our first meeting mentioned it before. But I don't remember much about it. Just that it's a huge dragon and it was killed by some ancient son of Poseidon…I think"

"So… what should we do now?" I said.

With a determined look, July said: "Definitely not sit and wait."

"No, not sit and wait." I confirmed. "Let's escape, for real."

July smiled at last. "Of course. What's the better time to escape than when an unexpected dragon attacks?"

Together, we ran out of the tent. Luckily, the dogs were nowhere in sight—they must have followed their master into battle. The camp was in chaos. Campers were all heading towards one side, armed with swords, spears, shields and other wicked weapons. While some giant eagles shot into the area of fight, more flew towards places of peace with hurt demigods on their backs or in the grip of their claws. My eyes followed the direction of the stream of demigods and saw, in disbelief, a huge dragon with dark glinting scales and a spiked tail towering over dozens of Roman campers. With a jolt, I realized the small flying object that looked like a pony toy next to the gigantic dragon was the pegasus we saw in the stables and Reyna was mounted on it.

"Which way should we go?" July asked, ignoring the dragon howling not far away. I looked around. No one was paying attention to us. We could go whichever way we choose and slip out of camp easily. But…the cries of hurt demigods and the clashing sound of metal against scales harder than metal flooded my ears.

I swallowed hard and said: "Let's help them."

I was afraid July would be shocked and start protesting, but instead, she smiled: "I thought so. Come on, goodie-two-shoes, let's go help those Romans and show them the spirits of Camp Half-blood!"

Running as fast as we could, we headed towards the Cychreides. As we ran, we watched the dragon fight, inspecting its body and moves to look for its weakness. The way the dragon moved its head and neck soon caught my attention. I pointed it out to July and with her better-than-normal eyesight she saw the crucial point immediately.

When we were finally within fighting distance with the dragon, July pulled out her gold pin quickly and ran off the get a position advantage for her archery. I, on the other hand, yelled for Reyna. After shouting so loud that my vocal cords seemed to be on the verge of snapping, Reyna finally whirled towards me in the air. Her eyes widened and instantly nudged her mount to fly back to the ground. She ran to me and said, breathing hard: "What on earth are you doing here? Go back to my tent! This is not a place for you…you'll get killed!"

"Hey! Don't underestimate us! We're here to help." I protested.

Reyna looked at me unbelievingly and started to say something, but I cut her off and told her our discovery and plan. When I finished, Reyna was no longer glowering at me. She glanced at me critically before looking back at the dragon. After some time of silence, she agreed.

I climbed on the pegasus behind Reyna and we took flight, ignoring the gawking campers around us. Just before we were getting out of hearing distance to those on the ground, I shouted: "Game's on, July!"

"Sit tight!" Reyna warned as she spurred the winged horse. The peanut butter colored pegasus neighed and shot straight towards the head of the huge dragon. On sudden thought, I hoped the dragon didn't breathe fire or spat poison. Too late to turn back. In half a heartbeat, we were hovering right before the magnificent monster's eyes. The red serpentine pupils bore right into mine, paralyzing me. I couldn't move; my heart raced; my adrenaline surged.

Don't freak out. Keep calm. I told myself. I forced myself to hold the monster's gaze and tried to put power in my eyes. I had to make the power of Aphrodite's blessing override the paralyzing power of the Cychreides. For the longest minute in my life, I battled the urge to tell Reyna to take me back and poured all my energy in the power my eyes held. Suddenly, the dragon's pupils dilated and its spell over me shattered. I stared into its eyes in full focus, capturing it in illusions. I nodded slightly at Reyna and she commanded the pegasus to rise, ever so slowly, in the air. The dragon's head lifted as his eyes followed mine, caught in my stare. But even as we rose, I felt the inner-conscious of the Cychreides fighting under the dazed surface. I knew I couldn't hold it much longer. Hurry, July!

Whoosh! I heard the sound of arrows slicing through the air and thump, hitting their target. For a moment, the dragon froze. Then, my eye contact with the yellow eyes broke and the dragon screeched horribly, thrashing around wildly. Reyna steered the pegasus deftly to duck the dragon's swings and flew us to safety. From a distance, I saw that a cluster of July's golden arrows had sprouted from the juncture of the dragon's neck and head—the only place that was not completely covered with scales. Dark red blood poured out of the wound. The Roman soldiers kept on whacking the dragon on every place they could lay their blades on and the few Roman archers followed July's suit, firing even more arrows into the Cychreides' neck. Slowly, its struggles slowed and finally died down. With a huge crashing sound, the monstrous dragon fell, smashing several tents underneath its ponderous body.

In a split moment, the whole Roman camp erupted into deafening cheering. I had slipped off Reyna's pegasus as inconspicuously as possible earlier and now, seizing the moment, set off to find July and escape in the midst of disorder. July was looking for me too so it didn't take long for us to meet.

"Good job, July." I whispered to her as we pushed through the crowd.

July rolled her eyes but not without a smile: "What did you expect? You already gave me the clearest target I could get!"

"Yeah, I'm so great! You'd better put this back on, if we don't want to get caught again." I replied, taking out the large bucket hat I had hid in my pocket since Reyna caught us and pulled it over July's too-obvious long hair. She quickly tucked her hair in. Navigating through the clusters of Romans with our heads lowered, our escape was fairly easy. No one thought to interrogate us in the joy of the victory against the Cychreides dragon and at most clapped us in the back and congratulate each other.

Steadily, we moved towards the edge of the camp. When we finally stepped outside the marked borders of camp, we broke off into a run. The sun was shining bright in mortal Central Park—it must be well past ten o'clock. Peaceful people in their morning strolls glanced at us curiously but not unfriendly. The sunshine was so warm; the grass under our feet was so green. As we ran, I sighed in content. Looking back at Roman campsite, I saw nothing but a fenced area of new tree saplings—the mist's doing. I wondered what Reyna would do when she finds out we had escaped…just as June did. That brought me to our new problem: If June had disappeared…how should we find her? Maybe we could try an Iris-Message first…

My planning was stopped short when July suddenly gasped, swinging out an arm to make me stop.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. Surely we weren't already besieged by Romans? But July was breathing hard, staring unwavering ahead. To my surprise, tears glistened in her eyes, threatening to fall.

I turned my head and looked ahead. My breath left me.

Some feet away from us, a girl in a crumpled purple shirt and plain jeans with a gleaming gladius hanging by her side stood. She had windblown hair that seemed to be cut just to scare gangsters and bore many bandages covering various injuries. Light-blue eyes that gave you the feeling of a pool of icy spring water glittered under bangs held aside by a golden pin.

"June." I whispered.

The Loras twins finally REUNITE! How exciting! I can't wait for the next chapter (though I'll be the one writing it.)! So…what do you think about this chapter? I think I did OK…sort of. Anyway, give us some feedback!

-Amber-