ALEA IACTA EST ; GRACE

026.

PHILOMENA MANAGED TO REACH the Field of Mars just as the cohorts were forming ranks and managed to slip into the rows of the Fifth just in time and with only few people noticing her.

"Sorry," she mumbled repeatedly as she pushed people aside to find her place next to Hazel.

"Did I miss anything?" Philomena asked, her hand going up to clutch her bow as she surveyed the fort that had been built, a low whistle escaping her. Even after years of having been a part of Camp Jupiter, some things never ceased to amaze her.

"Nothing much," Hazel responded. "Frank and I just explained to Percy how this whole thing usually goes."

Philomena didn't have a chance to say anything else, since Dakota's voice carried over the legionnaires of the fifth cohort. "All right, here's the plan!" He took a swig from his travel flask. "They're throwing us at the walls first to soften up the defenses."

Along with everybody else Philomena groaned. She missed the days in which Jason was a normal member of the Fifth, not a praetor, not a missing praetor, just somebody who made new strategies which allowed them to get the honors from time to time.

"I know, I know," Gwen said. "But maybe this time we'll have some luck!"

Nobody believed in luck for the Fifth, why would they? There was enough evidence to prove that the Fifth didn't know what luck was, but Philomena liked that Gwen was putting in the effort to lift their spirits, even if she herself didn't really believe her words.

The two centurions went on to explain the strategy, but Philomena ignored this, she had stood here too many times not to know that her only job was to do 'whatever' (their words, not hers), just this time, Hazel, Frank and Percy would be doing 'whatever' with her.

How fun!

Next to Frank, Percy frowned, "Do whatever?"

"Yeah, you know, they love us," Philomena told him, a sarcastic smirk adorning her face. "I have some cookies, we can snack on them while we watch the others."

"What's the Mural Crown?" he asked then, ignoring her comment.

"Military medal," Frank said. All of them had been forced to memorize all the possible awards one could get. "Big honor for the first soldier to breach an enemy fort. You'll notice nobody in the Fifth is wearing one. Usually we don't even get into the fort because we're burning or drowning or..."

He faltered, and looked at Percy. "Water cannons."

"What?" Percy asked, and Philomena understood what Frank was thinking.

"There's cannons on the walls," he explained, "If you could control them, like you controlled the river–"

"Kaboom," Philomena expressed, imitating an explosion with her hands. (While she did so, she was reminded of that one character from Disney's Atlantis movie; she had to rewatch that one soon.)

While Hazel also looked thrilled, Percy seemed unsure. "I don't know how I did that at the river. I'm not sure I can control the cannons from this far away."

"See that wall over there?" Philomena pointed to the eastern wall of the fort, nobody would be attacking there, remembering a similar tactic she had used from time to time with Jason. "The defense will be weakest there and honestly, even if we were 20 people, they wouldn't take us seriously. We can sneak up, I distract the few people there once you've reached the wall and try to clear the path for you when you climb the wall, but when you're up there I'll be out. I didn't bring cookies for nothing."

"But how will we sneak up?" Percy asked.

Frank turned to Hazel, the enthusiasm clearly showing on his face. "Can you do that thing again?"