MΛЯK ӨF ΛƬΉΣПΛ
LUCIA WISHED SHE HAD AN APPETITE because the Romans sure knew how to eat.
Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it resembled a furniture showroom. Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while wind spirits—aurae—swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies.
Drifting through the crowd were purple ghosts—Lares—in togas and legionnaire armor.
Around the edges of the feast, satyrs, no, fauns, trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change. In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with Mrs. O'Leary, and children played tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits.
The whole scene was so familiar yet so completely alien that it gave Lucia vertigo.
All she wanted to do was be with Percy—preferably alone. She knew she would have to wait. If their quest was going to succeed, they needed to become acquaintances with the Romans, which meant getting to know them and building goodwill.
Reyna and a few of her officers (including the familiar blond kid Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods) sat with Annabeth, Lucia, and their crew. Percy joined them with his two new friends, Frank and Hazel.
As a tornado of food platters settled onto the table, Percy leaned over, kissed her cheek, and whispered, "I want to show you around New Rome. Just you and me. The place is incredible. You'll fall in love with the amphitheater."
Lucia felt thrilled. Just him and she was exactly what she wanted. But something else swelled in her throat. If Percy talked so enthusiastically about this place? What about Camp Half-Blood—their camp, their home? She tried not to stare at the new marks on Percy's forearm—an SPQR tattoo like Jason's. But it was obvious he found his place here. He was even a praetor.
At Camp Half-Blood, demigods got bead necklaces to commemorate years of training. Here, the Romans burned a tattoo into your flesh, as if to say: You belong to us. Permanently.
She swallowed her fears for the time being. And gave him a big smile "I can't wait."
"I've also been thinking," he said nervously. He turned his entire body to face her. "I've had this idea—"
He stopped as Reyna called a toast to friendship.
After introductions all around, the Romans and the Argo crew began exchanging stories.
Percy talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name—Luz.
When she heard that, Lucia had to try extra hard not to grab him and kiss him in front of everyone.
Percy told them he'd traveled to Alaska with Frank and Hazel—how they'd defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed the death god Thanatos, and returned with the lost golden eagle standard of the Roman camp to repel an attack by the giants' army.
When Percy had finished, Jason whistled appreciatively. "No wonder they made you praetor."
Octavian snorted. "Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!"
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²𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐘✸ percy jackson
Fanfiction𝄞 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐘.(n.) behold the blood of Hyacinthus, which had poured out on the ground beside him and there stained the grass, was changed from blood; and in its place a flower, more beautiful than Tyrian dye, sprang up. ❝ Near time...
