Chapter Title: Percy, Luke, Colton, And I Become A Band
(A/N: Before we begin, a shout-out to AO3 user DcNinja for their fanfic "The Prince Of Changing Tides", in which the Romans after the War with Gaea find out the hard way about what Percy Jackson and the Greeks had to deal with in the Second Titan War. I include this shoutout not because I'm using any of their OCs, no. I include this here more because I am touching on some of the ideas they wrote in that fanfic of theirs in this and a couple of the following chapters.)
There was quite a bit more to the place than just the fortress erected on the hill, as we soon discovered - how we did not see this earlier is beyond me honestly. Off to the right of the fort, there was a hill dotted with what seemed like temples, with several stone bridges crossing the river as it wound through the valley. From the hills ahead of us past the fort, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into probably the most unique part of this entire place.
In the center of the valley, behind the fort and nestled by the lake, was what seemed like a small city of white marble buildings nestled by red tiled roofs. Some had domes and columns, while others looked like palaces, with seemingly golden doors and large gardens. There was an open plaza with free standing columns, fountains, and statues, and a five story structure, the biggest of all, gleamed in the sunlight, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack. All in all, it was like we had time traveled back to an ancient time. I had no other way of even describing it honestly.
The part that sucked honestly.. was the fact that seemingly half of the people in camp were dead. Shimmering warriors in purple stood outside what looked like an armory, polishing ethereal looking swords. Others were hanging out in front of other buildings. A small ghostly boy chased a ghostly dog down the street. And at this one place that seemed to be the stables, this big glowing red dude with a head of a wolf stood guard over a herd of - and I kid you not, I am not making this up - unicorns. Literally, he was guarding unicorns. Like, was this ancient history or a damn fairytale? I couldn't decide which at the moment.
None of the campers paid any of the ghosts much attention honestly, but as we walked by, with Reyna in the lead and Frank and Hazel on either side of the four of us, all of them stopped sugar they were doing to stare at us, which made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. A few of them looked angry. The little ghost boy shrieked, "Graecus!" and then turned invisible.
Percy stayed in between Hazel and Frank, trying to look inconspicuous. "Are these ghosts?" he asked them. That is what I was wondering too, if I had to be any bit honest here.
Hazel turned to look at him. "They are Lares. House gods."
"House gods.." Percy replied, trying to understand this. "Like.. smaller than real Gods, but larger than apartment Gods?"
Colton looked like he was trying his hardest not to smack him in the face right now. Luke just groaned, as if he had realized that it most likely was not like that. I didn't know what to think honestly.
"They're ancestral spirits.." Frank explained. Oh, I thought to myself. That makes more sense. He removed his helmet, and his face.. dude definitely looked like a high school football player, maybe a marine as well. "The lares are kind of like mascots. They are mostly harmless, but I'm never seen them so agitated before."
"They're staring at me.." Percy started, before Luke simply butted in.
"All of us, Percy. It's not just you.." he said as if to clarify.
"Fine.." Percy huffed. "They are staring at all of us. The ghost kid called me Greggus.." I really don't think that is what the lare had said at all. "..my name isn't Greg."
Honestly, Percy didn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed, if one were to be accurate with him.
"Graceus.." Hazel corrected him. "Once you all have been here awhile, you'll start understanding Latin better. Demigods have a natural sense for it. Graceus means Greek."
Something about that seemed to resonate within me, and looking at Colton and Luke, it was safe to say that the same thing was happening to them too.
"Is that bad?" Percy asked. I hoped it wasn't.
Frank cleared his throat. "Maybe not. You've got that type of complexion, well all of you do.. as well as the dark hair and all. Maybe they think you're all actually Greek. Is your family from there?"
"Eh.." Colton replied. "Mine's from Kentucky. So I don't exactly know why they would call me Greek."
So he remembered where his family was from, I thought to myself. Huh.
"Like he said, our memories for the most part are gone.." Percy said to Frank.
"Or maybe.." Frank started, but hesitated to finish the thought for some reason. Something about it told me that whatever he was thinking about definitely was not good.
"What?" Percy asked.
"Probably nothing.." Frank said. "Romans and Greeks have an old rivalry. Sometimes Romans use Graecus as an insult for someone who's an outsider - an enemy. I wouldn't worry about it."
He sounded pretty worried as he said it though.
We stopped at the center of camp, where two wide stone-paved roads met a T-shaped intersection. A street sign nearby labeled the road to the main gates as via praetoria. The other road, cutting across the middle of camp, was labeled via principalis. Seems like they were not kidding about Latin being the main language around these parts it seems like, I thought to myself.
Under those markers were hand-painted signs like Berkeley 5 miles; New Rome 1 mile; Old Rome 7280 miles; Hades 2310 miles (pointing straight down); Reno 208 miles, and the last one was just creepy to be honest, Certain Death: you are here!
It eerily reminded me of Juno's warning earlier. I don't know why.
Neither did I know why the word "Hades" sounded very, very familiar to me. It felt like I knew it from somewhere before, I just didn't know where.
One thing that did make sense to me though, was.. New Rome. If I had to guess, that must be the name of the city behind the fort - camp, I mean. Since this was the camp of Roman Demigods, from what Reyna had told Colton, that did make perfect sense.. since this was the Roman Gods' passing down of their traditions to their demigod children.
I had to admit, for a place that was labeled certain death, they sure had this place looking clean and orderly, to be honest. The buildings were all clean, laid out in neat grids like the camp had been laid out by a very skilled planner. There were shady porches on the barracks as they called them, where campers - I wanted to use the term "soldiers" rather than campers to be honest with you - lounged in hammocks or played cards and drank sodas. Each dorm had a different collection of banners out front displaying Roman numerals and various animals - eagle, bear, wolf, horse, something that looked like a hamster, you name it.
All.. except this last one. It was the 5th one down, and looked incredibly dull as if somebody had found that this was the underperforming cabin and had levied severe punishments against its inhabitants. The fact that Frank and Hazel only spared glances filled with guilt and shame every-time they looked at it made it clear.. that something was not right here.
Along the Via Praetoria, rows of shops advertised just about anything. Food, weapons, armor, coffee - you name it. There was even a chariot dealership there too, which just felt really, really weird if I had to be honest with you. Sure, I'm guessing this was their version of a car dealership, but still.. who even has a business like that?
At one corner of the crossroads, however, stood the most impressive building of the bunch - this two-story tall hulk of white marble with a column put in like an old fashioned bank. Guards stood out front, and over the doorway hung a big purple banner with the letters SPQR - which by coincidence, I had noticed many a camper with the same letters branded on their arms - embroidered inside a Laurel wreath.
"Your headquarters?" Percy asked, before Colton decided to smack him in the back of the head.
"Ow!" Percy called out. "What was that for?"
"Keep your mouth shut, dude.." Colton said back. "..it's most likely called something else."
"Your companion would be correct, Percy.." Reyna said looking back at us, her eyes still cold and hostile enough that I still felt a chill running up the back of my neck from her gaze. "It's called the principia."
Her eyes scanned the mob of curious campers, which from turning around, I had noticed had followed us up from the river. "Everyone back to your duties.." Reyna said to them. "I'll give you an update at evening muster. Remember, we have war games after dinner."
Percy's stomach rumbled, but I was not paying much attention to that. I had an ominous feeling as to what "war games" meant.
The crowd dispersed reluctantly, but from what I could hear, some of them didn't exactly have nice words for us - well, all of us except somehow.. Colton.
"They're dead.. except the kid with the gun. He's something alright.." said one.
"Would be those two that found them.. though I have to admit, they did a good one in finding Colton.." said another.
"Yeah.." muttered another. "Let the other three join the Fifth Cohort. Greeks and geeks. Honestly, even if the other one is among them, I'd be surprised if he doesn't join another cohort."
Several kids laughed at that, but Reyna scowled and Colton looked.. well.. pretty pissed off at those remarks, and they cleared off.
"Hazel.." Reyna said. "Come with us. I want your report on what happened at the gates."
"Me too?" Frank asked. Reyna simply rolled her eyes. I sighed.
I had a bad feeling about what her response would be.
"Colton saved my life.. all of our lives.." Frank continued, referring to himself, me, Luke, Percy, and Hazel. "We've got to let him and them —.."
Reyna gave Frank such a very harsh look, that it shut him up and he stepped back. I was right, I didn't like her response at all.
"Need I remind you, Frank Zhang.." she said harshly. "..you're on probatio yourself." I had a feeling that whatever she was referring was the lowest of the low — in some manner. I didn't know what exactly. "You've caused enough trouble this week."
Frank's ears turned red. He fiddled with a little tablet on a cord around his neck. I turned to Colton and Luke, and gulped. Both of them looked rather angry with Reyna now, though it was only in their eyes as they were keeping it contained.. for now.
"Go to the armory.." Reyna told Frank. "Check your inventory. I'll call you if I need you."
"But —.." Frank started, but caught himself. "Yes, Praetor Reyna." Then, he hurried off.
She waved us over towards the principia. "Now, Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Michael Yew, and Colton Reynolds.. let's see if we can improve your memories."
- — - — - — -
I had to admit, the principia looked even more impressive on the inside than on the outside honestly. On the ceiling glittered a mosaic of two dudes - most likely Romulus and Remus - under the same wolf lady that had greeted us and told us some stuff at the Wolf House when we had woken up.
The floor was polished marble, the walls were draped in velvet, and along the back wall stood a display of banners and wooden poles studied with bronze medals - probably military symbols, if I had to guess. There was one exception to it all, though - a single empty display stand in the middle of it all, that gave off a similar aura as that dull barracks had earlier. I guessed that somehow, those two were connected.
A stairwell led down somewhere in the back corner, barred by a row of iron bars like a prison door. I was pretty sure that all four of us definitely had a thought or two looking at it about what was down there, I'll admit. I know I did, for one.
There was a long wooden table cluttered with scrolls, notebooks, tablet objects, daggers, and this large bowl filled with.. jelly beans, odd choice that seemed very.. very out of place. Two greyhounds that weren't colored in typical dog colors flanked the table. Reyna walked behind the table and sat in one of two high backed chairs. We all remained standing, but looking at Colton, he was staring at the empty one, seemingly deep in thought.
"So.." Percy started to say, before the dogs barred their teeth and growled, causing Percy to freeze. These dogs had ruby eyes and fangs that looked sharp as razors, so I didn't blame him for doing so.
"Easy, guys.." Reyna told them and they stopped growling, yet kept eyeing us warily. "They won't attack, unless you try to steal something.." We all looked at Luke, who threw his hands up in surrender as if to say 'I'm not even thinking about that at all'. "..or unless I tell them to. That's Argentum and Aurum."
Silver and Gold, my brain said to me, the meanings of the Latin words popping into my head just like Hazel had said they would. Reyna set her dagger down on the table.
It seemed like Percy was about to speak, but Colton jumped in ahead of him.
"Forgive me for asking questions, Praetor Reyna.." he said politely. "..but is it fair to say that your city is based off of Roman architecture designs from the past?"
She simply nodded. "Very observant.. you are a rather interesting one, Colton Reynolds.." she replied, her cold tone seemingly lifting for a little bit before going back down to cold and scary. "But let's get down to business.. I want to hear your story. All of you. What do you remember? How did you get here? And don't lie. My dogs don't like liars."
Both dogs snarled to empathize the point, which definitely worked, if you ask me.
So we did - telling her how we had woken up at the ruined mansion - the Wolf House - in the woods at Sonoma, with no memory as to what had happened in the past few years. We described our time with Lupa and the pack, how Colton had - despite his rather skinny size, but then again, we all were more or less in the same boat for the most part so I could not complain - somehow beat off a monster attack on the Wolf House all by himself with nothing but a sword loaned to us by Lupa, and how we had learned their language of gestures and expressions, learning to survive and fight - and how Colton seemed to acclimated to a different sort of fighting somehow, which had only reared its head once more when we got here.
The thing is, none of it seemed to surprise Reyna - except two things.. one was.. Colton in general. You can tell from the look in her eyes that she definitely considered Colton as different - unlike anything she had ever seen before. Other than that, she seemed to find our experience pretty ordinary — except for the second part.
"No memory at all?" she asked. "You still remember nothing?"
"Fuzzy bits and pieces" Percy replied.
"Yeah.. here or there.. maybe a fragment, but nothing solid.." Luke added.
I thought about the one name I remembered. Jake. I didn't want to mention it to her at all, honestly. I was pretty sure by now that we had met at a camp, but this wasn't the right place.
Reyna spun her dagger. "Most of what you all describe is normal for demigods. At a certain age, one way or another, we find our way to the Wolf House. We're tested and trained. If Lupa thinks we're worthy, she sends us south to join the legion. But I've never of someone losing their memory, much less someone who came to the Wolf House and seemed to have difficulty adapting to our styles of fighting. How did you find Camp Jupiter?"
Percy went on to explain the last three days - the Gorgons who wouldn't die, the bowling ball incident, the old lady who turned out to be Juno, and finally meeting Hazel and Frank at the tunnel. We all didn't really have much of an answer as to how Colton simply just picked up a gun, and then proceeded to kill both Gorgons with a single headshot as if it were nothing when we had failed to kill them multiple.. and I mean multiple times in the past three days.
Hazel took the story from there. She described Percy and Colton as brave and heroic, which made both of them uncomfortable. All Percy had done was carry the lady and Colton.. well.. he was still trying to process how exactly he did what he did. It all seemed so natural for him to do so as he did it, as if he done it countless times before. I was certain that I knew why, I just couldn't remember how no matter how hard I tried.
Reyna studied us. "You all are old for recruits. You all are what, sixteen?" she asked us.
"Fifteen for Luke. But sixteen, I think so for the rest of us.." Percy replied, and I nodded.
"If you all spent that many years on your own, without training or help, you all should be dead. A son of Neptune among you? You all would have a powerful aura with you that would attract all kinds of monsters" she said to us.
"Yeah.. I've been told that I smell.." Percy remarked back, and me, Colton, and Luke couldn't help but just laugh a good bit.
Reyna almost cracked a smile. Key word here being almost.
"You all must have been somewhere before the Wolf House.." Reyna said and that kinda did make sense. Juno had mentioned something about us all slumbering back there at the river. So it was possible.
Reyna sighed. "Well the dogs haven't eaten you. So I suppose you all are telling the truth."
I sighed too. That's a relief. I really wouldn't like the idea of having my life end here at the hands of these two dogs.
"Great.." Percy said.
"She's not done yet.." Colton muttered, just as Reyna stood up from her chair. She paced in front of the banners. Her metal dogs watched her go back and forth in front of them.
"Again.. Colton.." Reyna said as she did so. "..you are a very perceptive demigod. Unusual."
"Pretty sure I have heard that last word a lot over the past few days.." Colton replied, and he was right. He had.
"Even if I accept that the four of you are not an enemy.." Reyna continued. "..you all are not typical recruits. The Queen of Olympus simply does not appear at camp, announcing a new demigod.. let alone four of you at that. The last time a major god visited us in person like that.." She shook her head, not wanting to finish that thought. I was confused, but once again.. Colton filled in the pieces.
"You don't want to talk about it because it's a dark chapter that has something to do with the empty display stand and the dull looking barracks, doesn't it?" he said, and I wondered how exactly he was getting all of this, since I was the son of Apollo and even I couldn't get this much from what I had seen.
Reyna just looked at him in shock. She could only nod in reply, as if to say that he was once again correct. She then continued. "I've only heard legends about such things. And a son of Neptune among you all.. that's not a good omen. Especially now."
"What's wrong with Neptune?" Percy asked, almost as if he had been in this kind of situation before. "And what do you mean, 'especially now'?"
Hazel shot him a warning look. Reyna kept pacing. "You all escaped the wrath of Medusa's sisters, who haven't been seen in thousands of years, only for Colton to use a gun to kill them - using a gun in combat is unheard of in Camp Jupiter. You've agitated our lares, who are calling you all a graceus. And you all wear strange symbols - the shirts, the beads on your necklaces.. and that weird one Colton has. What do they mean?"
Our beads and tattered shirts felt familiar, they did, but none of us could explain any of it right now, nor could we explain that odd necklace Colton always wore.
"I don't know.." Percy replied.
"And your gun?" Reyna asked, before turning to Percy. "And your sword?" Colton was still holding his gun in his hands, he looked it over. But Percy.. a sword? Percy had a sword? I hadn't seen him use a weapon other than the ones Lupa temporarily let us use at all. Percy decided to reach into his pockets now and pulled out what looked like a simple pen.
Then, he uncapped it. In a matter of mere seconds, the pen changed from a mere pen to a full blown sword.
Hazel gasped. Luke, Colton, and I were amazed. The greyhounds barked apprehensively.
"Whoa.." Luke muttered.
"What is that?" Hazel asked. "I've never seen a sword like that before. Much less a gun like that before."
"I have.. both of them.." Reyna said darkly. "The sword.. it's very old — a Greek design. We used to have a few in the armory before.." She trailed off and stopped herself again.
"That event you can't talk about?" Colton asked. Reyna merely nodded again before continuing. There was something about Colton, that much was true. "The metal is called celestial bronze. It's deadly to monsters, like Imperial gold, but even rarer. The gun.. it's a Whitworth rifle, used in the American Civil War era. Popular among Confederates, used especially as a sniper rifle when used with a telescopic sight."
"Imperial gold?" Percy asked, and Reyna unsheathed her dagger. Sure enough, her blade was gold — a certain fierce kind of gold, to be exact from the way it looked to me, it seemed. "The metal was consecrated in ancient times, at the Pantheon in Rome. Its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors - a way for their champions to slay monsters that threatened the empire. Only one collective person - for numerous wielders of his power existed throughout the time of the Roman Empire - knew of this and had devised plans for his monsters to counter it. The Monster King."
Colton gulped, and I turned to him. The way it resonated in him - the almost instant recognition, the fierce struggle to remember only to fail in the end - those two words were almost definitely connected to him. I just didn't know how or why.
"We used to have more weapons like this.." Reyna continued. "..but now.. well, we scrape by." Something had to have happened to cause that, something that she definitely did not want to talk about. I was certain of it now, certain of what Colton was figuring out. "I use this dagger. Hazel has a spatha, a cavalry sword. Most legionnaires use a shorter sword called a gladius. But the weapons you two use are not Roman at all. It's another sign you all are not typical demigods. And your arms.." she trailed off.
"What about it?" Percy asked, once again clueless to everything. Colton had to fill in the blanks for him once again. "We don't have the things she has on her arm, dumby" he said back to Percy. "Look."
Percy hissed back at Colton, but looked anyway. She had a tattoo on it, consisting of the letters SPQR, a crossed sword and torch, and under that, four parallel lines like score marks. Percy's eyes lit up in understanding.
"Oh.." he muttered. I looked at Hazel. She had a similar one on her arm, but it was only with one score mark, and her emblem was a black glyph like a cross with curved arms and a head.
"So you all have never been members of the legion.." Reyna said. "These marks cannot be removed. I thought perhaps.." She once again trailed off as if dismissing an idea.
Hazel leaned forward. "If they've survived as loners all this time, maybe one of them has seen Jason and the other ones" she said, before turning to us. "Have you ever met a demigod like us before? Two guys and two girls in purple shirts, with marks on their arm —.."
"Hazel.." Reyna's voice tightened. "They got enough to worry about."
I turned back to Percy. He touched the point of his sword, and it shrank back into a pen. "I haven't seen anyone like you guys before.." he said to them. "..and I believe none of these guys have either." He was referring to me, Luke, and Colton. "..who are you all talking about?"
From out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Reyna give Hazel an irritated look, as if she had done something wrong. "Four of our members are missing. Jason Grace, Bryce Harper, Alyssa Hadley, and Clara Everett."
I froze. The name Grace sounded familiar to me — and from the looks of it, the looks on Luke's, Percy's, and Colton's face told the same story. It was familiar to us, we just didn't know from where.
"Who exactly were they?" Percy asks, an innocent enough question. But from the grimace Reyna gave in reaction to Percy's question, I had a feeling it was more than that for at least one of those missing. Then again, that could be just me.
Reyna took a deep breath, and then she spoke. "Bryce and Alyssa are legionnaires.. while Clara is one of the Centurions of the Third Cohort. Lastly, Jason.." she paused for a moment. "..Jason is my fellow praetor, hence the empty seat."
Percy hissed again, and he was again clutching his head when I looked. Seemed like he had a really bad headache right now. Colton, meanwhile, just looked at the empty throne and then back at Reyna and nodded.
"Are you okay?" Hazel asked in concern.
"Yeah.." Percy replied. "I just.. I had a really bad headache."
"I think we should drop the subject until we know more for certain about the past of these four.." Reyna suggested.
"Sorry about that.." Percy commented. Luke looked like he had something similar when I glanced back at him, but I'm not sure why Colton and I weren't having it, even though the name Grace sounded familiar at the same level to both me and him from what I could see.
"Has that happened before?" asked Reyna.
"Once in a while.." Percy replied. "..but that was the most intense one yet, oh boy." He shook his head, looking left and right for some reason, before looking at Reyna once more.
"How long exactly has Jason and the others been missing?" Luke asked from behind me.
"Since last October.." Reyna replied. "The legion normally has two elected praetors. Jason was our other praetor until he disappeared. The legion also normally has two Centurions for each cohort, thus with Clara gone, there is one for the Third Cohort right now."
Colton looked like he was in deep thought for a moment before he spoke up. "I'm guessing that Praetor means like leader of the legion basically?" he asked, and Reyna nodded. "So with Jason gone, it's just you here.. and you obviously aren't comfortable having to manage things by yourself now, correct? And would that be the same for the Third Cohort's remaining Centurion right now too?"
Reyna simply nodded again. "Indeed. By the gods, you are again.. a very perceptive person.." she murmured. She wasn't wrong at all. Colton couldn't help but scratch the back of his head as he looked away shyly a little.
"But he might not be dead.." Hazel said. "We haven't given up yet."
Reyna grimaced again, and I started to get the impression that Reyna might have more than just professional-related feelings for Jason. "Either way," she continued. "Elections happen in two ways. Either the legion raises someone on a shield after a major battle — which we haven't had any major battles in a long while — or we hold a ballot on the evening of June 24th, at the Feast of Fortuna. That's in five days."
I grimaced this time. There it was again, the Feast of Fortuna. Juno's warning echoed once more in my head. I didn't like what she implied by it, much less what was meant by the word "death" and the phrase it was a part of. I hated it for some reason. "Fortuna — that's the goddess of luck, right?" Percy asked, as if he knew somehow exactly who Fortuna was.
"Yes.." Hazel clarified. "Whatever happens on her feast day can affect the entire rest of the year. She can grant the camp good luck.. or really bad luck."
A chill went down my back, a real good one.
Reyna and Hazel both glanced at the empty display stand, as if they were thinking about what was missing from there. I looked over at Colton, and from what I could see, the gears in his head were once again definitely turning right now.
"The Feast of Fortuna.." Percy said. "..the Gorgons mentioned that." Yeah, they did. "So did Juno. They said the camp was going to be attacked on that day, something about a big bad goddess named Gaea.." He trailed off, as all of us — and I was definitely looking at the others — had a very bad feeling at the mention of that name for some reason. "..and an army.." Percy picked back up. "..and death being unleashed." God, I hate that word "death" so much right now. "So you're telling us that day is this week?"
There was a long silence, as my eyes widened in horror at that revelation. Well.. at least there was a silence until Colton broke it.
"Well shit.." he muttered. "..no pressure or anything." Even so, you could definitely tell that he wasn't comfortable with that knowledge at all either.
Reyna's fingers tightened around the hilt of her dagger. She definitely didn't looked pleased by what Percy said there at all, to be honest. What she said next sounded.. oddly familiar, at least to Percy and Colton it seemed.
"You will say nothing of that outside of this room.." she ordered. "I will not have any of you spreading more panic in this camp."
I felt a little bit miffed at that. Colton, however, looked like he was a volcano ready to erupt for a while before he calmed down. He was definitely ticked off by that. Percy was definitely annoyed as well. Luke just had a look of pure confusion on his face.
"So it's true.." Percy said. "Do you know what's going to happen? Can you stop it?"
I remembered what Juno — or should I say her as the old lady — had told us at one point while we were heading south after encountering her on our travels. Where you are heading to will not only be at risk. Your old life, those you care about, those that hold your heart, those who are loyal to you — that part had been specifically aimed at Colton by her own admission for some reason, the gods, and the entire world might be destroyed if we failed. Whatever was about to go down, it was definitely huge.
In a moment that seemed oddly familiar again, this to all of us, Reyna just seemingly dismissed the concerns. "We've talked enough for now. Hazel, take them to Temple Hill. Find Octavian. Along the way, you and Frank can answer their questions about the Legion."
"Yes, Reyna" Hazel replied.
Percy looked like he still had many questions to ask, but Reyna sheathed her dagger and the metal dogs stood and growled, inching closer towards Percy and thus making it clear that this was over. I glared at her for a while before walking away.
"Good luck with the augury Percy Jackson, Colton Reynolds, Luke Castellan, and Michael Yew.." she said to us. "If Octavian lets you live, perhaps we all can compare notes.. about the pasts of you four."