ANNABETH WANTED TO HATE NEW ROME…time and love into the project.
"What's the point if somebody doesn't build their city with love and respect?" Reyna mused.
"It won't feel like home otherwise." Dakota sighed.
"Well, we had a good architect because Olympus feels like more than home." Hermes declared and smiled at Annabeth who was blushing under the praise. Giving such a compliment to her work was the highest praise to her.
"We have the best architects…Percy seemed interested in this fact."
"I think we all seemed interested in that fact." Beckendorf chuckled.
"Yeah, I mean the concept is totally foreign to us." Silena chuckled.
"So when you said that we can expand CHB, did you mean that we could extend the boundaries of camp?" Percy asked Chiron curiously. The centaur nodded slowly.
"I believe that there might be a way to do that but we will have to deal with a few more technical issues such as seeing where we can expand and everything." Chiron answered. "I'd like you, Annabeth and few more campers to come up with a few suggestions while I do the same. Then we can call a counselors meeting seeing as all the counselors are already present here." He said to Percy. The son of Poseidon nodded.
"We'll work on it during the breaks." He said. The Greek campers looked extremely excited at the prospect of having a city within CHB.
Annabeth wondered what that…"You've got fire in your eyes."
Everybody laughed.
"Well, that was the start of a great friendship, I must say." Reyna mused and then looked at Annabeth who nodded in agreement.
"Oh definitely." She said.
"Sorry." Annabeth tried to tone…her to pieces if they chose.
Reyna smirked. "That's the beauty of it." She said. "I don't mean ripping you to pieces." She clarified to Annabeth who snickered.
"Technicalities are brilliant when they are for your benefit." Percy nodded. "But if they're against you, they can get you landed into a cell in the underworld for eternity." He added, giving Hades a look and the god of the dead smirked.
"I am still impressed about how Reyna practically smuggled weapons into the city but without them being literal weapons." Leo shook his head in awe.
"There's a reason that she was our praetor." Dakota said.
Reyna led her to an outdoor café…"But chocolate is universal," Annabeth said.
"Wow. First we had a budding bromance between Jason and Percy and now one between Reyna and Annabeth. Even I don't know why we kept Romans and Greeks separate for so long." Hermes laughed.
"They have dangerous bromances, bro." Apollo told him. Hermes shrugged.
"I'd say its worth the risk especially looking at these guys now." He said.
"Exactly…Not for Romans
"But how come Bellona and Athena share domains?" Chris asked
"They don't really share domains. Bellona is the goddess of war and Athena is the goddess of strategy." Reyna said carefully. Athena was trying to maintain her temper and not say anything. Sometimes listening was important.
"Then how come you guys don't consider Minerva important as a war goddess?" Beckendorf asked, his tone curious rather than accusatory.
"We've always considered strategy as a part of Bellona's domain itself. And as she's also the goddess of war and that our principles also focus more on the military and honor side of things, we worship her as the war goddess rather than Minerva but its not like we don't respect Minerva for the rest of her domains." Dakota explained.
"Then I don't understand why you have a problem with the Romans. I mean I get that battle strategy is pretty important in your domains but the rest of them aren't less important. They still have respect for you." Apollo said to Athena with a tilt of his head.
"Its easy for you to say. You have the same respect between Greeks and Romans but to be reduced from a major goddess in Greece to a minor one in Rome is ridiculous." Athena gritted out.
"I have to say I agree with my brother here. Greece and Rome were never same anyways, Athena. I understand why you are angry, I will not deny that. It makes sense for you to be angry for a while but not anymore, if I'm being honest. Greece and Rome function on different principles. And even if you choose to remain angry, it makes no sense to take it out on the demigods. Especially not these generations seeing as they are not the ones who have disrespected you." Artemis said to her sister. The goddess of wisdom clenched her jaw but kept quiet.
Zeus took the silence as a sign and continued reading. The twins had pretty much covered what he had wanted to talk to his daughter about but he still had something to say to her about the Mark of Athena.
She's also a maiden goddess…had sprung from the head of Zeus.
"Yeah but technically she was born using the traditional method." Jason pointed out uncomfortably. "It was only later when dad pulled a Kronos and swallowed Metis." He said. Zeus shifted awkwardly.
"I guess something had to happen if somebody is bursting out somebody else's head, you know. Isn't there like a physics law like that? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction or something?" Percy said hesitantly. Athena's mouth dropped open as she looked at Percy and the son of Poseidon shifted uncomfortably but he continued. "So like because she came out from a head, she got the ability to make children with her thoughts?" he said.
"That…makes sense." Jason said.
"When did you start liking physics enough to remember it?" Thalia asked her cousin. Percy grinned.
"I hate physics. I only remember this one because its very similar to karma and because I like law…and for some reason this is included." He said. Athena shook her head in surprised, half ready to believe that she was dreaming. Poseidon glared at her, noticing her reaction.
"Also, by the way, Jason. Pulled a Kronos?" Percy grinned at his cousin who looked at him sheepishly.
"You're a bad influence." He grumbled and Percy laughed.
"You like law?" Apollo asked Percy who nodded.
"I took it as a second major." He said. Everybody shot him confused looks. "Doing marine biology as a major barely took any time at all. The biology names popped into my head without me ever hearing them. They didn't see any need for physics seeing as I could handle wave movements easily. And in math, we only have to Trigonometry. So they allowed me to take a second major. They said it happens a lot with people who take a major related to their parent's domains." Percy explained.
"That's pretty awesome." Apollo admitted.
"Actually I have an amazing idea. Seeing as our domains cover every single profession, what about we train these guys in whatever profession they wanted to do? They can continue it at Olympus seeing as they couldn't finish college and work in the mortal word?" Hermes asked the Olympians, his eyes bright.
"That's actually pretty good. You guys can let us know your choices soon." Poseidon said with a smile to the younger gods after all the Olympians looked like they approved. The younger gods cheered happily.
Talking about that always made…she was some sort of freak
"Don't worry about it. We're all freaks." Thalia snickered.
"We weren't even supposed to exist. Don't stress about it." Nico said to Annabeth, gesturing to the big three kids. The big three winced and refused to look their wives or children in the eye.
People usually asked her whether…goddess would have children—"
"Again, they aren't born because of two people hooking up. So technically, no vows have been broken." Percy shrugged.
"Well, it is a technicality." Reyna pointed out with a small smile.
"We live on and for technicalities." Nico laughed.
"Got it." Annabeth's hot chocolate…Not leaders of dangerous quests."
"I have to say, I don't think your godly parentage defines who you are and what you will do in your life. I mean I'm a daughter of Demeter but I'm not going to start my own farm or garden." Katie mused. "No offense, mom." She added but Demeter nodded.
"No, I agree with you." She admitted.
"Well, I'll be damned." Hades muttered under his breath.
"That's actually pretty true." Reyna admitted. "That's what we learnt from you guys. We had to stop focusing on the stereotypes." She said.
Annabeth started to object that she…rank as the son of Jupiter
Jason, Percy, Thalia and Grover snorted in amusement.
"Its not like you would've cared either way." Thalia told Annabeth fondly who nodded.
"That is true-" she said sheepishly.
And Coach Hedge, who didn't…"You were younger, I think."
Percy shook his head in disbelief.
"I still cannot understand or comprehend how you can remember so well." He said. Annabeth winked at him.
"But like, seriously. How?" Percy whined. Annabeth chuckled.
"Its kinda inbuilt." She said, wagging her eyebrows for more effect. Percy pouted at her.
Reyna gave her a dry smile…it might be safer not to respond.
"Good choice." Aphrodite and Silena nodded in unison.
They reached the top of the hill…"The Garden of Bacchus."
"Flattering." Dionysus said dryly to Reyna.
Grapevine trellises made a canopy…made her feel a little better.
"I'll take that back." Dionysus shook his head.
"It's a beautiful place." Frank reassured the god.
"Oh no doubt. But the image that Annie Bell has smeared in my mind is quite frankly, traumatizing." Dionysus said. Annabeth grinned sheepishly at her camp director and at Chiron who was looking at her, amusement written on his face.
"I missed you, Mr.D." Annabeth told Dionysus innocently who looked at her dryly.
"You made my day." He told her, suppressing any hint of a smile.
Reyna stopped at the edge of the…shouldering a job meant for two people
Reyna winced at the perceptive skills of the daughter of Athena. Annabeth grimaced as well, not happy with the way her thoughts were being projected especially since these thoughts weren't even about her.
Jason closed his eyes. He'd never meant to leave Reyna to govern and look after New Rome on her own but at one point he had discovered that there was more to life than making sure that other people realized that. He'd understood that though his childhood was spent at New Rome, he found Camp Half Blood to be more home than there. He liked leading, no doubt about that. He liked being praetor and though he liked New Rome, he fell in love with Greece. He fell in love with Piper. And yet somewhere, the guilt of leaving somebody who had cared for him personally and professionally to shoulder all the weight and burden of leading a city, ate at him.
Percy gave Reyna an apologetic look. It didn't say that he was sorry for what she had to go through but it was an apology that he played a role in it. He understood just how important praetorship was and he was ready to help Reyna lead New Rome but only till the time he went home because he had realized that Camp Half Blood was home and he couldn't leave the only place that he felt comfortable at because the regret of that would suffocate him every single day.
When Annabeth had arrived…open up quite that much
"So…your daughter had nightmares because of something you did?" Poseidon said as he gaze snapped to Athena. His face showed no amusement whatsoever. Athena glared at him but he still had the same cool expression on his face. "Tell me you at least apologized to her." He said. Athena took a deep breath and tried not to yell. After she calmed herself down. She looked the god of the sea, dead in the eye.
"I think that statement is quite hypocritical, uncle. Its not like you ever apologized to Percy for making him go through something or the other throughout his entire life." She said with the same coolness. Poseidon looked like he got punched in the gut but that expression was gone before anybody could say 'Styx' but of course, it wasn't missed by his brothers and Percy and nor his wife.
Annabeth looked at Percy and he knew that she would not stop him if he wanted to say something bitter to Athena for the statement that she made. He gave her a small smile and looked Athena, levelly in the eye.
"I do not think that that is fair, Lady Athena. I am also never this nice to people who say such things to my dad especially when I am involved into that argument but you see I love your daughter and I cannot say anything to you that would hurt her. So what I am going to say to you is that please, get all the facts before you make a statement like that even if you are the goddess of wisdom because as we all know wisdom is not the same as knowledge. Which further means that being wise does not mean that you are automatically knowledgeable." Percy said to her, in the coolest voice that he had but it conveyed that any further argument would aggravate the son of Poseidon.
Athena's eyes widened in shock at the first and then she glared at the son of Poseidon. Annabeth gave Percy a small smile and kept her hand on her mother's arm to calm her down.
"I'm sorry but I said please." Percy said to the goddess of wisdom, not breaking eye contact. Everybody seemed to have frozen and it felt like so had time. Nobody said anything and it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
"Holy shit." Apollo muttered under his breath but because of the silence, it rang out in the hall. Percy had finally broken eye contact with Athena and had slung his arm around Poseidon's shoulder. Hades looked at his nephew with raised eyebrows. He had not known one person who could counter Athena especially since she was his most probable mother in law but he knew that Percy was right this time.
"I mean, he did say please this time around even when he's right." Hades told his niece who gave him a light scowl.
When Annabeth was done talking…Hera did make mistakes
"Everybody makes mistakes at one point, Annabeth. Even us." Hephaestus said. Hera looked at her son in surprise, not expecting him to be the one to stand up for her then.
"Yeah. We're aware. Except mistakes and decisions that may have felt small to you meant the whole godsdamned world to us and sometimes you keep making the same mistake and hurting us. That's something to think about." Annabeth snapped. Hephaestus held his hands up.
"I am not denying that. I am truly sorry about any of the mistakes that I have made. That is precisely the reason why I prefer staying away." He said. Leo and Beckendorf winced but said nothing. Annabeth nodded and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'm sorry. I-I wasn't accusing you of anything. You're one of the gods who has done the least damage for us." She apologized. Hephaestus gave her a small smile to let her know that he understood that she had said what she had because of her frustration about the topic.
Annabeth had had nothing…same lines Ella was just reciting.
Athena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She remembered a vague image of the boy's face.
"What was his name, Athena?" Apollo's voice rang out. Nobody had seen the normally calm god look that angry in a while. His eyes shone as he looked at the goddess of wisdom as he made to stand up but Hermes kept a hand on his shoulder and made him sit back down. Yet, the anger did not disappear from his eyes.
"What. Was. His. Name?" Apollo gritted out. Athena looked at him and she tried to remember. She really did but she blinked slowly.
"I-I don't remember." She whispered finally. Annabeth's froze in her place as her mind swirled. Had she not made it out, her mother would not have remembered her a few years from now either. She edged away from her and sighed.
"So you sent your son on a quest which was practically a death sentence and you cannot even be bothered to learn his name. You keep talking about how we have to treat our kids right because otherwise there will be never ending wars against them and this is how you follow your own advice?! You hand your children death sentences only because you cannot do what you are telling them to. You cause them to starve themselves. You drive them so fucking insane that all they can remember is whatever bullshit you gave them about your quest and then you expect them to like you?!" Apollo said to her, his voice increasing with every word, till he was yelling at the end. Athena refused to look Apollo in the eye and instead stared straight ahead.
"Then you can't even remember their name. Honestly, its no surprise that the Romans don't like you. Good for them, I'd say. At least they're safe from this." He spat out finally. Everybody stilled in their seats. They knew that the god of music could get angry but they knew it took a lot to be able to piss him off and they had barely seen him angry and so seeing him get so frustrated about this was genuinely surprising to a few especially to his kids. Athena's eyes widened before she finally regained her composure.
"Stop pretending you care either. I'm pretty sure you had unclaimed kids as well because you didn't know they existed." Athena retorted.
"Oh really?" Apollo asked dangerously. "You know what, Athena? Percy was right when he said that you need to have all the facts before you say anything. I know the name, birthplace and mortal parentage of every single kid I have." He said. "And for the ones…for the ones who died, I know the exact day, the exact way and exactly where their grave is." He said. "I may seem carefree but family means everything to me." He growled.
"Unclaimed kids." Athena prodded. Apollo growled at her.
"Actually, Lady Athena, Apollo was the only one who never had a single unclaimed kid stay more than a night in our cabin. They were all claimed at a maximum of one day after they reached camp. Even Percy stayed two nights and Nico stayed a week before they were claimed. Heck, Nico was never claimed in front of us either. So, technically Apollo was the only one who was regular about claiming his kids." Travis told Athena with raised eyebrows. This rendered Athena speechless while Apollo smiled at the Stolls.
"My brother is the protector of the young, Athena. He's similar to me there. I may not have been to camp but what Travis is saying comes as no surprise to me and nor does my brother's anger towards you surprise me. In fact, I think you should be hoping that nothing major related to this mark occurs later because I do not think that even Hermes would be able to stop him." Artemis told the goddess of wisdom.
"I think that we should progress with the reading to find out what happens next." Zeus sighed. "And I must admit, daughter, I cannot help but agree with the twins on this matter." He added to Athena, disapproval and a flicker of anger in his eyes.
"But, father-" She started but Zeus held up his hand.
"I already told you, we shall speak of this later." He said.
But you say that you've never…"You've betrayed our trust."
Everybody swore violently. Leo looked down, guiltily. While he knew that it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel guilty that it was his hands that had manned the controls that led to such a disaster.
"It may not be the giants directly but it definitely is their doing." Persephone said grimly.
"What? No…"Pluto's pauldrons," Reyna cursed
Even Hades was too engrossed and worried about the situation that he didn't even pay any attention to the curse. Reyna heaved a breath of relief at that. Artemis seemed worried about what they were reading but she shot Reyna a look of amusement at her reaction.
"Look…but he looked unhurt.
"Tell me you were wearing something underneath." Rachel said to Percy, trying to lighten the mood. A few people looked like they were suppressing smiles but nobody laughed out rightly.
"Luckily. I wasn't that comfortable yet." Percy chuckled and now the Romans couldn't help but laugh.
Annabeth called to him as another…Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"
Everybody who didn't know the truth turned to look at Leo who still kept his gaze trained to the floor.
"Leo would never do anything of that sort." Hephaestus said, keeping his hands on Leo's shoulders.
"But I think he just did." Demeter said dryly.
"He didn't." Annabeth sighed.
"It wasn't him. I believe we will read about it." Zeus said grimly.
Annabeth's chest filled with…million frozen pieces.
Athena gasped and tried to take deep breaths as panic squeezed her heart as a result of the curse.
"You're lying," she said…caught him above the eye.
Zeus gave a small shout of pain as the area above his eye started to bleed and before anybody knew it, he passed out.
"Shit." Jason said.
"This gonna happen every time you got hit by a brick?" Percy asked his younger brother.
"I think so." Jason sighed.
"Well, that's going to be a lot of times, seeing as you and the brick had true love. #Brason." Percy said with a snicker.
"Shut up." Jason complained.
"Guys, jokes apart, Zeus seems to be losing quite an amount of blood. Its like a waterfall. I'll attend to it but please continue reading." Will said. And to add to his effort, it looked like Zeus regained consciousness, since the fates really did not want anybody to miss any part of the reading but his blood loss did not stop and it looked like he was in need of a pain killer which of course, Will could not give, seeing as there would be no point.
"I'll read for now." Poseidon said, taking the book from his younger brother.
He crumpled, and the crowd…"He has a few special talents."
Everybody snickered.
"I like that description." Frank nodded.
"Understatement," Annabeth muttered…"Destroy them all."
"Okay. What the fuck?" Thalia said, holding her palms up.
"You'll find out." Annabeth told her friend.
He turned back to the…that only the whites showed.
Hephaestus groaned and Percy grimaced.
"Sorry." He said to the god of fire who waved his apology off with a nod. Leo winced as he looked at Percy who sighed.
"I'm sorry, Leo. That was the only choice I had." He said.
"No, no, its all right. I get it." Leo said with a sad smile.
"Remind me to never get tackled by Percy." Pollux said with a chuckle, trying to ease the atmosphere.
"Will do." Everybody chorused, genuinely not wanting to be at the end of it.
The gray dragon soared into view…who both collapsed.
Aphrodite and Zeus groaned. Seeing as the fates didn't want them to pass out, they added the pain which came with hitting the floorboard. Zeus' bleeding was still continuous though Will had managed to get under control.
"I've gone through more cotton right now than most people do in their lifetime." The son of Apollo muttered as he threw another piece of cotton and took a new one to wipe the blood.
"Go!" Percy yelled…Argo II shot into the clouds
"Chapter's over." Poseidon said in relief. Even Will looked relieved as Zeus' bleeding stopped and even the god of lightning exhaled as the pain stopped.
"I'll read." Katie said. Poseidon passed over the book to his niece.