DAYLIGHT ↬ leo valdez x reader

7. ENCHANTED

"These are our guests." Reyna clipped off every word. "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely.
"Good idea," Percy put in. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."
Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile. "You have my orders. Go. "The officers dispersed. Octavian shot Percy a look of absolute loathing.
I mentally noted to find out why that girl was looking at Leo with such unsetting intent..

I was so close to bursting of excitement. The Romans 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 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 Annabeth vertigo.

Reyna and a few of her officers (including the blond kid Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods) sat with me and the crew. Percy joined us with his two new friends, Frank and Hazel. After introductions all around, the Romans and our crew began exchanging stories. I wished that I could have contributed more, but instead I just sent Leo surprised looks whenever the story got juicy, and he'd send me proud smirks with a little eyebrow wiggle, like saying "Oh yeah, I was there."
Jason explained how he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood without his memory, and how he'd gone on a quest with Piper and Leo to rescue the goddess Hera (or Juno, take your pick—she was equally annoying in Greek or Roman) from imprisonment at the Wolf House in northern California.
"Impossible!" Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there—"
"They would've destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish."
Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. I really loved Piper's charmspeak. I noticed Reyna looking back and forth between Jason and Piper, her brow creased, as if just beginning to realize the two of them were a couple.
"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands—Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by...what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."Percy nodded thoughtfully.
"Gaea's been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face." Percy recounted his side of the story. He talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name— Annabeth. Percy told them how 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!"
"On the bright side," Percy said, "both Jason and I outrank you, Octavian. So we can both tell you to shut up." Octavian turned as purple as a Roman T-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump. Even Reyna managed a smile, though her eyes were stormy. I was close to laughing loudly, however I managed to stop myself before humiliation.
"We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later," she said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."
"I'll step aside for Jason," Percy said easily. "It's no biggie."
"No biggie?" Octavian choked. "The praetorship of Rome is no biggie?" Percy ignored him and turned to Jason.
"You're Thalia Grace's brother, huh? Wow. You guys look nothing alike."
"Yeah, I noticed," Jason said. "Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job."
"Back at you," Percy said.