Chapter 2: Percy

Percy tried to concentrate. He was with Hazel, Frank, in the senate house telling them about himself and Camp Half Blood. Reyna had told him to wait while she went and got the others when they arrived, but he could only think about looking forward to seeing Annabeth.

"Oh my gods!" cried Hazel. "You fought Kronos?"

"Yeah." Was all Percy said. Maybe his friends could tell he wasn't really in the mood to talk because they stopped talking and held on to their questions.

"They should be here by now." said Percy.

"They probably... got lost or something." said Frank. None of them spoke their true feelings but they all knew what was going through each others minds. What if things got violent? Most of the Romans didn't like the idea of Greeks coming anyway. What if Reyna had told them to wait in the Senate house so Percy wouldn't be able to help his friends when the Romans attacked? Reyna wasn't exactly a great host. All this went through Percy and Frank and Hazel's minds as they waited. Percy was just about to go look and see what had happened when a girl burst inside. Percy looked up and their eyes met. He recognized her instantly. For a second no one moved.

"Percy?" She asked, her voice was barely more than a whisper. Percy stood up, and grinned.

"Annabeth!" He rushed toward her, embracing her in a huge hug. "Your here!"

"Of course I am." she laughed. "You remembered me."

"I never even forgot!" Percy replied. They looked at each other, then kissed.

"Annabeth, I want you to meet some friends." He said, still grinning and gestured behind him.

"Hi! Percy told us so much about you! I'm Hazel." Hazel said as she stepped forward.

"And I'm Frank. I'm a decedent of Neptune too. Like a great great great cousin brother or something." said Frank.

Annabeth laughed. "Thanks for taking care of Percy. I know how much trouble he can get into."

"Hey!" exclaimed Percy. "I don't get into trouble, it finds me usually." They all laughed.

"You guys started the party without me?" came a voice. "Aw man, I like partying." Percy turned to see a Latino kid with a lot of curly hair joining them. "The name's Leo 'Party Master' Valdez" He said.

"Percy meet Leo." Annabeth introduced. "He's a son of Hephaestus."

"Hey what's up?" said Percy.

"In case you guys didn't notice, were discussing important things like how to prevent the end of the world. Get over here punks!" A husky voice said. Clarisse. As Percy turned Clarisse and the others had all settled into the arena inside the Senate House.

"So nice to see you again." muttered Percy, but he and his friends went over to join them.

After Annabeth told him about the new faces from Camp Half Blood, Percy took his seat next to her and Grover. Just like old times, he thought. They were joined by the cabin leaders from Camp Half Blood, Reyna, a satyr Percy had never seen before (Gleeson Hedge), the cohort's senior centurions, and Octavian. Percy noticed a tension in the room between Jason, Piper and Reyna. He remembered what Reyna had told him before he went on his quest, when he had asked if Jason and Reyna were a couple. "We might have been, given time." They certainly didn't look like a 'almost couple' now. They hadn't even looked at each other, and Jason was sitting next to Piper, not Reyna. Percy and Annabeth's reunion went great, but that wasn't the case for Jason and Reyna.

"I think we should all start be saying our names and something about each other." said Leo. Of course he would be the one to break the ice. "My name is Leo, and I like to party!"

"Leo, I don't think that's the way this works." said Jason. He stood up. "We all know each other now and we all know what we have to do. The prophecy states that seven of us will go and close the Doors of Death. The first battle will be in Rome, then Greece.

"Me, Piper, Leo, and Percy are the first four, we need to figure out who the last three are." He sat down.

"We do know at least two more." said Reyna "Juno herself came and told us. The other two are Hazel, and Frank. That leaves one." Everyone looked around. No one seemed to want to join the quest. Percy knew it was Annabeth, and apparently he was the only one, because no said anything. He opened his mouth to speak.

"I-"

"I have read the will of the gods!" exclaimed Octavian. "And the seventh of the seven is... me!"

The entire room started talking at once.