𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

ii ━━ with your feet on the ground (tell me all that you've learned)

03. chapter two

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

A SEA OF HASTILY ASSEMBLED DEMIGODS parted for us as we walked through the forum. some looked tense, some nervous. some were bandaged from their recent battle with the giants, but no one was armed. no one attacked.

entire families had gathered to see the newcomers. i saw couples with babies, toddlers clinging to their parents' legs, even some elderly folks in a combination of roman robes and modern clothes. it was an entire multigenerational community. that was always my favorite thing about new rome.

at the far end of the crowd, i spotted tyson the cyclops and the hellhound, mrs. o'leary—who had been the first scouting party from camp half-blood to reach camp jupiter. i had met tyson and mrs. o'leary briefly at camp half-blood. they looked to be in good spirits. tyson waved and grinned. he was wearing an SPQR banner like a giant bib.

in front of us, the demigods made way for reyna. she was dressed in full roman armor and a purple cape. dark hair tumbled across her shoulders. her eyes were as black as obsidian. medals decorated her armor. she carried herself with such confidence the other demigods backed away and averted their gaze.

i recognized something else in her face, too—in the hard set of her mouth and the deliberate way she raised her chin like she was ready to accept any challenge. reyna was forcing a look of courage, while holding back a mixture of hopefulness and worry and fear that she couldn't show in public.

leo, piper, jason, and i fanned out on either side of annabeth who led us out. the romans murmured jason's name, staring at him in awe. i even heard my name mixed within the whispers of surprise.

then someone else appeared from the crowd.

percy smiled at annabeth—the same sarcastic, troublemaker smile that leo had. i could see why annabeth liked percy so much. he was a sight for sore eyes.

reyna straightened. with apparent reluctance, she turned toward jason.

"jason grace, my former colleague..." she spoke the word colleague like it was a dangerous thing. "i welcome you home. and these, your friends—"

annabeth surged forward. percy rushed toward her at the same time. the crowd tensed. some reached for swords that weren't there.

percy threw his arms around her. they kissed. percy pulled away and studied her face. "gods, i never thought—"

annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. he slammed into the stone pavement. romans cried out. some surged forward, but reyna shouted, "hold! stand down!"

annabeth put her knee on percy's chest. she pushed her forearm against his throat.

"if you ever leave me again," she said, "i swear to all the gods—"

percy had the nerve to laugh.

"consider me warned," percy said. "i missed you, too."

annabeth rose and helped him to his feet.

jason cleared his throat. "So, yeah....It's good to be back."

he introduced reyna to piper, who looked a little miffed that she hadn't gotten to say the lines she'd been practicing, then to leo, who grinned and and flashed a peace sign. then he went to introduce me to reyna, but she stopped him.

"we've met," reyna said, raising a hand to stop jason. "it's nice to see you again, camille. i presume you're an ambassador of hades, not pluto?"