The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 36 - Alex - Packing

Percy gave me gist of his meeting with the praetor as I towel dried my hair after a hot Roman bath. Apparently Reyna had asked him to join her as praetor, and praetors work closely together. It's common for them to become romantically involved. So Percy, thinking about Annabeth, had obviously turned it down, much to not my surprise.

Reyna had told him that Percy and Annabeth had destroyed her home and her sister's. For some reason, Annabeth and he had visited a spa and decided to destroy it. He couldn't imagine why. Maybe they hadn't liked the deep-tissue massage? Maybe they'd gotten bad manicures? It was awful to hear about, but hey, we didn't remember anything about it.

"Even the senate doesn't know the whole truth." He told me. "Reyna's asked Octavian not to share his auguries, or we'd have mass panic. He's seen a great army marching south, more than we can possibly defeat. They're led by a giant—"

"The Alycone guy?"

"That's what I thought too. But, if he is truly invulnerable in Alaska, he'd be foolish to come here himself. It must be one of his brothers."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense too," I replied, my slightly wet hair dripping as I thought deeply, letting go of the towel.

"Maybe that's why you've got to stay here," Percy added thoughtfully. He was choosing his words wisely. "Maybe that's why Mars wanted you here. You need to lead these people when that time comes."

I knew what that meant. If I am the only one leading, that means Percy won't be there. And that meant- I'd be the only child of Neptune- alive.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "You'll be there too. For Annabeth's sake, you won't go and sacrifice yourself or something."

Percy smiled. "Lupa and her wolves are trying to slow them down, but this force is too strong even for them. The enemy will be here soon—by the Feast of Fortuna at the very latest. If we succeed in bringing back our eagle, if we release Death so we can actually kill our enemies, then we stand a chance. And there's one more possibility.. the one where we lose. And Alex, I can't let them win. We need to win, even if we lose a few things."

A long moment of silence followed where I just stared at the ground. "Don't make me cry, Seaweed Brain," I finally said. "You're gonna be back alive."

Lunch felt like a funeral party. Everybody ate. People talked in hushed tones. Nobody seemed particularly happy. The other campers kept glancing over at Percy like he was the corpse of honor.

Reyna made a brief speech wishing them luck. Octavian ripped open a Beanie Baby and pronounced grave omens and hard times ahead, but predicted the camp would be saved by an unexpected hero (whose initials were probably OCTAVIAN). Then the other campers went off to their afternoon classes—gladiator fighting, Latin lessons, paintball with ghosts, eagle training, and a dozen other activities that sounded better than a suicide quest. Percy and I followed Hazel and Frank to the barracks to pack. Thanks to Reyna, I was allowed to help.

Percy didn't have much. He'd cleaned up his backpack from his trip south and had kept most of his Bargain Mart supplies.

He had a fresh pair of jeans and an extra purple T-shirt from the camp quarter master, plus some nectar, ambrosia, snacks, a little mortal money, and camping supplies. At lunch, Reyna had handed him a scroll of introduction from the praetor and camp senate. Supposedly, any retired legionnaires they met on the trip would help them if shown the letter. He also kept his leather necklace with the beads, the silver ring, and the probatio tablet, and of course he had Riptide in his pocket.

"A final gift," I said as we finished packing, the orange shirt alone left behind. "From none other than your sister."

I took his necklace that was hanging around his neck and slipped on to a pure jade stone that he and I had found by the shore. Percy didn't know I'd saved it.

"Took me a long time to drill a hole into it," I said as he slipped it on. "Congratulations on surviving another summer." Percy grinned.

He folded his tattered orange T-shirt and left it on his bunk.

"I'll be back," he said talking to the T-shirt, but he was really thinking of Annabeth, and his old life. "I'm not leaving for good. But I have to help these guys. They took me in. They deserve to survive."

"I know," I whispered, and gripped his hand firmly.

The T-shirt didn't answer, thankfully.

One of our roommates, Bobby, gave us a ride to the border of the valley on Hannibal the elephant. From the hilltops, I could see everything below. The Little Tiber snaked across golden pastures where the unicorns were grazing. The temples and forums of New Rome gleamed in the sunlight. On the Field of Mars, engineers were hard at work, pulling down the remains of last night's fort and setting up barricades for a game of death ball. A normal day for Camp Jupiter—but on the northern horizon, storm clouds were gathering. Shadows moved across the hills, and I imagined the face of Gaea getting closer and closer.

We got off the elephant. Bobby wished them a safe journey. Hannibal wrapped the three questers with his trunk. Then the elephant taxi service headed back into the valley.

-----------------------------------------------