Rise of House Neptune

Sparta's Revenge

Chapter 14

If Octavian's meltdown frightened any of the Roman questers none allowed it to show. The departure from Camp Jupiter had been a quiet one. Jason swore to Percy that they would be as fast they could so he could help him hunt the monster in the Oceans, but the son of Neptune tried not to hope for his help too much. After all Jason had been given his own quest from Olympus, and he couldn't mess that up to help Percy with his. The goodbyes were short, the hugs, and promises were given while the questers all went off in their own direction.

Initially Percy thought they were going to have a problem with transportation and resources since the Praetor had not shared his plan with his traveling companions, but Mark had it all covered from the get go. It immediately became clear to the children of the Eldest Olympians that Mark had been prepared for something like this for a long time. Their first stop was a garage in South Berkley. Mark greeted a young Hispanic man with a hug, and big smiles. He introduced Bianca, and Percy to Tino the owner of the shop. The young man owned the garage, and was once in the legion as a member of the third cohort. The legacy of Vulcan took some cash from Mark, and showed them the way towards a four door compact crossover SUV. He promised the vehicle was armored with bits of Imperial Gold inlay into the metal, and would survive an average monster attack. Percy didn't have the heart to tell the man they weren't hunting an average monster, but with papers signed Mark had the keys, and they were off. They were thirteen hundred miles from Pikes Peak after all, and they had some serious ground to cover.

In the car Mark talked about splitting the drive in two segments of ten hour drives. Their first stop would be in Salt Lake City where they would get some rest before resuming their journey. It was the only way to travel with Bianca and Percy being taken into consideration. Percy may have been on the quest at the request of Lord Jupiter, but flying two of his brother's children into his domain may have been too much temptation for the Lord of the Skies to strike them down.

The first stop was in Reno where Mark decided it would be a good idea to teach Percy how to drive. He would be fifteen in a few short weeks, and his ability to traverse the roads for coming quests could be invaluable. It didn't take long for Mark to teach Percy everything there was to know about cars. From learning how they drive to actually driving one on the interstate system. Percy took to driving quickly as they passed through the remains of Nevada. The first day was winding down quickly.

Mark, Percy, and Bianca held many conversations of Camp to pass the time. This came along with legion politics, and what life had been like in the legion before Mark was Praetor. It was a little before Mark's time, but his mother was a legacy of Venus while his father was obviously Mars Ultor. His mom went on the Michael Varus' expedition. The expedition was nothing but a legend to Percy, Bianca, and their cohort. They were fascinated to learn from someone who had been affected by it first hand. His mother had fought for the fifth cohort explaining why he held such a soft spot for their particular group. He was among the few who wanted to see the glory of the fifth cohort return. Mark himself had served in the third cohort, and rose to Praetor in an election after being the most dominant fighter for years. Being a descendant of a legacy, and having a father for an Olympian made him powerful and well respected throughout New Rome. He took his Praetorship just a year before they arrived, and Cassie had taken over from her sister Maria nearly three years after Percy had arrived.

The conversations were light into their arrival at Salt Lake City. Mark had booked them a room on the phone with another legionnaire son of Mercury that owned a place on the outskirts. The Praetor's connections seemed endless, and this impressed Percy greatly as their journey had been nothing but smooth sailing thus far. Of course with Bianca and Percy traveling together it made their scents dangerously powerful, and an attack would be imminent at this point.