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AELIA ENVIED HOW THE campers were dressed for war. Their polished chain mail and their greaves gleamed over their standard purple camp shirt paired with regular jeans with their giant shields in front of them. She personally hated it. Not because she wasn't allowed to participate but because she had enough of watching children dressed for war. It was her own purgatory, since all this reminded her of was the war a year ago. A war they won, but only by losing themselves in it.
She didn't really pay much attention to the Call To Order until Hazel Levesque and Nico DiAngelo rushed in. Before that, she was fixing her pink toga, trying to get the light material to stay still. Reyna was cantering back and forth on Scipio— nicknamed Skippy because he not only was the color of peanut butter, but he loved it.
Nico separated from his sister, joining the guards beside Percy Jackson, who looked like the titan Ocean granted him one of his 'special' baths.
"Hazel Levesque," Reyna called, "so glad of you to join us."
Hazel knew better than to respond to the snide remark— keeping her head down and rushing to her place as her centurion, Dakota, chalked her name.
"Present!"
The Lares were the last ones to fall in. Their purple forms flickered as they jockeyed for places. They had an annoying habit of standing halfway inside living people, so that the ranks looked like a blurry photograph, but finally the centurions got them sorted out.
Octavian shouted, "Colors!"
The standard-bearers stepped forward. They wore lion-skincapes and held poles decorated with each cohort's emblems. The last to present his standard was Jacob, the legion's eagle bearer. He held a long pole with absolutely nothing on top. Jacob's hatred for the job radiated off him like a gas leak. Reyna insisted on tradition, and even Jason would argue that when they had the eagle back it would look complete, but the scene was pathetic.
Reyna brought her pegasus to a halt.
"Romans!" she announced. "You've probably heard about the incursion today. Two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, Percy Jackson. Juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him a son of Neptune."
The kids in the back rows craned their necks to see Percy. He raised his hand and said, "Hi."
"He seeks to join the legion," Reyna continued. "What do the auguries say?"
"I have read the entrails!" Octavian announced, as if he'd killed a lion with his bare hands instead of murdering Percy's panda pillow. "The auguries are favorable. He is qualified to serve!"
The campers gave a shout: "Ave!"
Frank was a little late with his "ave," so it came out as a high-pitched echo. The other legionnaires snickered.
