Percy was getting used to the whispers, the comparisons between him and the renown son of Jupiter. Jason had arrived the day before Percy did, the Son of Jupiter had returned and everyone was happy, whilst when Percy returned in the wagon of Mercury And only the praetors along with his friends batted an eye to him because the rest was busy groveling in front of the god.
The celebrations of the son of Jupiter's return hadn't ended yet but Percy had yet to catch a glimpse of the Jason they all spoke of. It was hard not to feel jealous because Percy had restored the rightful place of the lightning bolt while Jason had retrieved a lost package from an old container.
"Don't mind them." Reyna repeated. It was the only thing she said to him nowadays, along with, 'Keep your sword up, smartass.' She didn't change over the summer, except for the tan she got from training in the sun.
"The son of Neptune." Their cohort leader called out as they continued to march down the field of Mars. "Praetor is calling for you." There was a smug smile appearing on several faces of the First Cohort. "Maybe it is to question you about your whereabouts."
"I literally stepped out of Mercury's wagon." Percy muttered and straightened his back before calling out, "Sir, yes, sir!" After he reached the weapon rack, he neatly placed it down before he ran over to the Principia.
He ran in a light jog, he left behind his weapons with Terminus who by now, already knew the drill. The statue just rolled his eyes, told him to hurry and to stop throwing his swords at him. Percy passed his former roommate, he turned his head and held up his hand to wave.
His hand faltered when he saw the blonde next to Frank, patting his back and telling him to look out in front. There was a crowd of people following the two of them, and even Gwen who narrowed her eyes at him when he ran past them.
The son of Jupiter returned and he felt more on the tip of his toes than ever before.
Percy turned his head back forward as he came to a halt in front of the Principia. The doors opened and the clerk said that they were in the usual room. When Percy awkwardly stood still for ten seconds, seeing that the clerk wasn't going to guide him to where it was, he just walked down the tunnel where he had been only once.
"Perseus." The praetor Mack greeted shortly as he walked past Percy. The son of Neptune greeted him with a nod as he continued down the hallway.
"Blue." Praetor Jess smiled and walked over, giving Percy a quick hug before nudging him over to the big table. "You've had quite the impression on some gods, Blue. I don't know what you did, but you did it." She chuckled and laid down a few scrolls on the big table.
"What are these?" Percy asked as he curiously looked at them.
"Quests," Jess said with a bright smile, "Normally quest are issued through our augur but these have come for you directly. Lord Triton said that you are to only do the quests in the matter of urgency and routine."
"Urgency and routine?" Percy questioned.
"Well, some are more urgent than others." The praetor said, "Some even require you to go to New York." She let out an impressed whistle. "Really, this is a very big gift from the gods."
Percy didn't have the heart to say that he had to do the quests to show his loyalty towards Olympus, or else he would be killed at an instant by the lightning bolt that he had returned. So he just smiled. "I'm very honored."
Jess snorted, "No you're not." She said and squinted at him. "I know when you lie, Perseus." Percy raised his eyebrows when she said his whole name. "But I am not going to question the gods, I don't want to be smited by the King of Gods."
He let out a relieved breath and looked at the scrolls. "So which one do I have to open first?" He asked.
"Lord Triton's." Jess said with a twinkle in her eyes. "He has specific instructions and it so happened to need a building permit, which I already got you." She said and placed down another scroll. The scroll looked the same as any scroll, but the closer Percy looked the more difference he could place between the scrolls. The emblem on the ends of the scrolls vary.
Percy grabbed the scroll and sat down on the extra chair that Jess had put down for him. He frowned a bit when he realized that it was written in Greek. He was still behind on his reading class in Ancient Greek.
'September 12th
Dear Perseus
I know what you're thinking, 'does he seriously need to write it in greek?'. The answer is yes, yes I do. I know that you have been switching your activities with canoeing instead of your classes.
I should have forced Chiron to place you in more Greek courses, even though the Athena cabin hates you.
As you can see by the pile of scrolls, a few gods have already sent their errands for you to do. So far, I have stacked them by urgency and the potential wrath of the gods. Don't worry, they won't be able to smite you. I'll ensure that.
I have whispered to our father that he let you have breaks between tasks so that you can rest, five days before you start your next task. He agreed to it.
You'll start the task of Lord Bacchus first as it is going to happen on a set date in Alabama. Lord Bacchus has already provided a costume and a ticket to Alabama.
Your errands start in two weeks, in those weeks. Prepare to build a proper temple to honor our family, Perseus.
Good luck, Perseus'
Percy had difficulty reading it at first before he had no problem with it at all. He rolled it back up and reached out to the next scroll. "So, what did Lord Triton have to say?" The former babysitter in purple asked.
"He said that I have a five day break between errands." Percy answered, "He made a list of urgency for me so I can avoid the wrath of the gods."
"That's odd, normally gods hate their bastard brothers." Percy grimaced at the word. He had forgotten that he was a bastard child, he was so comforted by his older brother that he just forgot that he wasn't a child of marriage. "Sorry, Perseus." Jess said softly and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Percy just clenched his jaw and nodded at her. "It is the truth." He said quietly, "My brother had always looked out for me though."
Jess nodded, she believed what he said, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I have a present for you, Perseus. As a welcome as an ambassador of Neptune and the sea." She laid down a deep blue cloth on the table.
"A cloth?" Perseus questioned.
"A toga." Jess corrected, "Just wear it over your usual clothes." She said as she saw Percy reach for his shirt. "Like we all do."
He got a bit too excited, he had been reading up on the Rome culture while he was in Camp Half-Blood. That was what he was doing in the canoes. He was ashamed of it at first, because he just couldn't understand the culture of the romans. His hand grazed over his SPQR tattoo. "Right," He said softly. "Jess."
"Yes?"
"How am I going to build a temple?" He questioned, "Everyone is superstitious and won't help me."
Jess pursed her lips as she thought. "I wouldn't know, but, see it as an exercise." She suggested, knowing that no-one would help him. She was too busy to help him as well. "Maybe use your water powers or something."
Percy buried his head in his hands as he let out a breath. "I'm doomed." He breathed out. He hadn't practiced his refined form of water power ever since he left Lady Lupa's training. After the time he spent in the woods, he had only used large volumes of water to help him.
If Lupa were to see him struggle with his refined water powers, she would be disappointed in him and would order him to run from her pack until she said that it was enough. Percy stood up and looked at the scrolls.
He took Lord Bacchus' scroll and Triton's under his hands as he looked at the remaining ones. "Could you keep the scrolls here?" He asked nicely, "I'm not sure if any legionnaires are going to haze me."
"They're hazing you?"
"Harmless pranks," Percy said to calm Jess' worrying nature. "They know I'm the son of Neptune so they throw water over me to wake me up. Harmless pranks." How could he admit that he was first so afraid of being woken up by water being splashed on him.
"You're a legionnaire as well, they should respect you." Jess frowned.
"I know, it's fine." Percy waved it off, "Can I keep them here?" He asked again.
"Yeah, it's fine." Jess said and took the scrolls in her arms. Percy could recognize a few insignia's, he saw the sun of Apollo, the hammer of Vulcan and one more glance, he recognized the fire of Vesta.
Before Percy left the strategy room, Jess called out to him. "I'll send a messenger to excuse you from three hours of training to start working on the temple."
Percy turned his head to look at Jess and grimaced, "Jess, they already hate me. If you're going to excuse me to work on a temple of a god they have a distaste for, they will absolutely despise me." He said, "I'll work on it after dinner." He compromised.
Jess smiled and nodded.
Percy stepped back out into the hallway and walked up the steps to enter the main hall of the principia. "Ah, Perseus." Mack greeted as he appeared with five different scrolls in his hands. "You're issued to go out on a post run tomorrow." Mack said.
"I don't want to question your order, praetor." Percy said and he held back a grimace as he saw Mack's face harden. "But I thought that only legionnaires who have been in the legion for over three years are allowed to do it."
"That's right," Mack's hardened face softened. "Tomorrow is a special day, the Senate is putting pressure on me to make you unavailable tomorrow." Percy wanted to argue, he was finally going to participate in the first Roman War Games ever since he arrived at the camp.
Tomorrow was the 13th of September which meant that it would be Roman War Games, a game dedicated to Jupiter. A bitter taste entered Percy's mouth as he realized. They were going to celebrate the son of Jupiter's return, and they were going to let him win to please him.
"A post run only takes two hours." Percy stated.
Mack clicked his tongue, "Right." He hummed, "Visit your mother, maybe, go to the ocean and visit your people. Visit me before you leave, I'll make sure that you have the means to get to the post office."
Percy took in a breath as he felt anger rise in his throat when Mack said, your people. The praetor was just disrespectful. "Yes, Praetor."
"Don't mention this to anyone but your cohort heads, they'll understand that an asset had to be dismissed." Mack said and patted Percy's shoulder before entering the hall that Percy had just walked out of. Percy unclenched his fist, his cohort heads were going to place him away from the battle, he knew. He had noticed that the pawn that represented him was a bronze soldier figurine with a blue helmet.
He was the only one left behind enemy lines. They wanted him to miss out on the action and he was going to let him. He was after all just a legionnaire and they were centurions. He stepped into the dining hall and glanced at the fifth cohort's table.
They were all surrounding the son of Jupiter, Percy even recognized some centurions from the fourth and third cohort around the table. The buzzed hair from Frank poked over the heads of all the others.
As if feeling eyes on him, Frank looked up and smiled at Percy. Before the son of Neptune could smile back at him, Frank was pulled back down into the group as Percy heard a centurion scold Frank for not paying attention to the story.
The son of Jupiter must have been telling his story. Jess said that Jason didn't enjoy the praise and the attention. But there he sat amidst the group, recounting his story like it was a modern myth of Hercules.
Percy averted his eyes back at the table of the first cohort and sat down, facing Reyna. "Don't mind them." She told him, "They always swarm around Jason when he returns."
Percy took in a breath and gave Reyna a smile as he tried to keep his cool. A rumbling in the sky sounded and a few nervous probatio's jumped up. "Wow Jason! Don't scare us like that!" The centurion of the Third laughed and clapped the back of a purple t-shirt.
Percy closed his eyes and took a sip of his drink as he eased the feeling in his gut. Reyna looked over at the fifth cohort's table in confusion, "Jason can't do that without praying to his father," Her eyes glanced over to Percy. "Maybe the weather is acting up." She stated.
"Yeah, maybe." Percy nodded.
Reyna looked like she took note of Percy's behavior, and instead of confronting it as usual, she changed the subject. "I'm going to visit Hylla." She said, "This summer, I asked if maybe you could come with me, along with Frank." Reyna shook her head, "But Hylla said that only I was allowed to go."
"That sucks." Percy gave Reyna a small smile. "Don't worry, I'm not staying here during the summers." He said, "I think mom might have enrolled me in a bootcamp, I'm not so sure about it but she said that I'll see her more often."
"Did the praetor give permission?" Reyna asked and Percy felt bad for lying to his friend so casually.
"Yeah, she did." Percy nodded. The summers will be spent at Camp Half-Blood, like the gods wish for him to do. He wasn't going to complain about it, but he couldn't help but grumble as he glanced back at Frank being immersed in the story that Jason was telling. "We shouldn't concern ourselves about Frank either." He said, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice, but it prevailed.
"Are you jealous?" Reyna asked softly after she looked to the left and right.
Percy prided himself on not being a jealous person, never before had he felt like this. His stomach churned at the thought of losing his friend to someone who just walked in with a higher status.
"I'm just scared." He lied through his teeth. "Maybe Frank likes Jason more than me." He stated. Reyna looked afraid to say something and Percy just finished the food on his plate. "It's fine," Percy said, "I'm going on another errand soon anyways." He tried to wave away the feelings of jealousy.
Now Percy could finally understand what Jameson would talk about when Chet had to follow a class in the other room. Jameson would always talk about how he envy's that Chet's parents always fly in on weekends when Jameson would stay at the school.
Only this time, Percy felt like Chet, who was constantly leaving Jameson, Frank behind with Jason. His stomach twisted when he stood up and walked out of the mess hall. He knew that Reyna was looking at him with those angry eyes of hers but he didn't cower.
Jess nodded at him as he walked past the praetor's table. He didn't storm off to the Temple Hill but the unconscious thought on his mind told him that he was doing exactly that.
He let out a breath as he opened the toolshed's door, he fell down to his knees in front of the small altar. "Father," He breathed out, "I don't know what to do."
The waves crashed behind him and Percy turned around, "Father is busy, undersea politics." His brother smiled at him.
"Triton." Percy breathed out and rubbed his chest. "I can't get the knot out of it." He said quietly.
Triton walked out of the water and sat down in the sand next to Percy, a hesitant hand rested on his back. Slowly, Triton rubbed circles on it. "We're all slaves of our feelings, Perseus." He said quietly. "Don't try to deny them."
Percy rested his head on his arms as he looked down at the sand, Triton rubbed his back just like his mother would when he used to be younger. "I haven't felt like this before."
"Envy, fright and ache are all common feelings that we all must feel." Triton said quietly, the god looked out over the sea, watching the sun hide behind the endless water. "I'm afraid that sometimes we get choked up by our feelings. Us gods, use our feelings to destroy." Triton looked amused as he glanced down at his younger brother. "You as well, little demigod."
Percy looked up at his brother as he panted out, "What?" He breathed out and averted his gaze over to the sea. A storm happened as the water grew wilder and even more unrestful.
"Take in the tide and breathe." Triton said calmly.
Percy focused on the tide and breathed out slowly. Minutes passed as Percy watched tranquility wash over the sea. The hand from his back lifted up to his head and ruffled his hair.
"That's it." Triton encouraged softly. "It doesn't have to happen in just a day's time." He said and took his hand off of Percy's head. "Tomorrow, enjoy the pier and eat some food. Laze around in the sun, instead of working in the sun. Maybe take a dive in the water."
"I will."
"Who knows, there might be some underwater temples." Triton grinned. "Take some inspiration or find advice."
"Where do I find advice to build a temple in California?" Percy let out an amused breath as he listened to his brother. The two of them laugh softly, "Thank you, Triton."
"Don't fully submit to your feelings, Perseus. When we do, we either blow up or wallow in them. For the sake of people around us, we don't do that." Triton stood back up and Percy missed the warmth of a body next to him in the sand. "Havoc, chaos and disorder follows our strong emotions."
"Yes sir." Percy said as he watched his brother disappear in the waves once again, just like he had done when he showed up after the battle with Ares. His brother has always been in his corner.
–––
"I'm going, Reyna." Percy said as he shouldered his backpack. "An order is an order. Besides, you guys will win without me." They would win if Jason hadn't showed up, the legionnaire by being claimed was going to make all of the centurions fight on their tip toes because of his father.
Reyna protested but Percy continued down the path between the bunk beds. The head of their cohort patted Percy's back and nudged the son of the sea out.
Percy let out a huff as he walked towards the principia. Once again, he left his weapons with Terminus. This time, he left them behind gently.
He walked underneath the banner and down the hallway before he entered the strategy room. "Perseus." Mack called out. "Good, right on time." He said and set down a big bag on the table. It looked like whatever might be in there would spill out any time.
Percy just stood there like a good legionnaire, which seemed to please Mack. "Take this bag down to the post office and get it sent out." Mack said and set down a bag of coins. "They'll accept this and maybe a fight."
The son of the sea gave Mack a confused look as he hesitantly grabbed the bag of money. "Right." He said, slowly. "After I deliver, I get the rest of the day?"
"That is right, preferably, do not return before dinner." Mack said and set down a wallet. "This is your allowance. I'm sure that you'll get by for the entire day."
Percy reached out and stuffed the wallet down in his pocket. "So, drag this over to the post office and spend the day in town so that I don't return before dinner?" He repeated.
"Yes." Mack nodded.
He honestly just took the win, despite aching to fight in the war games, there was no place for him on the roman battlefield at the moment. Only one child of the big three at a time to minimize destruction, he likes to think. "How will I get there?"
"Right," Mack looked at his watch. "A taxi will show up in ten minutes. Make sure you are right by the tunnel."
Percy's eyes widened as he blinked a few times before he reached out and grabbed the bag. "If you don't make it on time, you walk!" Mack called out as Percy raced down the hall. The walk and even run to the tunnel is fifteen minutes.
Percy cursed as he nearly ran into the Fifth Cohort that was marching over to the Field of Mars. "Sorry Frank!" Percy called out, only knowing Frank because Gwen didn't like him anymore and the other son of the big three was just going to glare at him.
Percy continued his sprint through the barracks and he hesitated before taking the shortcut. Through the Little Tiber, he closed his eyes and prayed to the deity inside, 'I apologize for the intrusion.' He prayed before bending the water to flow over him as he ran underneath.
He climbed up the hill and ran through the tunnel. Percy let out a breath of joy as he saw the taxi in front of him.
A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry for the late update, like, 3 months late update. I had to lock in for school before I went on vacation, and when I came back my laptop started to act up like crazy. Had to get my motherboard replaced LOL.
Thank you for all of your support! Leave a review! Any theories on why Mack is acting like that?