Sons of the Big Three

The Other Camp

Disclaimer: Can’t be stuffed writing the disclaimer. It’s there, okay? Just invisible.

Well, here it is. All roads lead here, and even though the destination is not detention, it could be close to it for the trio.

Will’s POV

We approached the two sentries standing guard, which was a little conspicuous to me but then again the Mist would prevent the mortals from seeing anything out of the usual. They would probably see a maintenance crew.

They were in full armour, spears raised and their eyes glaring. They seemed to be aggressive and I didn’t really want to confront them but Nick was striding towards them confident and I wasn’t keen in leaving my friend to die by himself, so I exchanged a look at Desmond and gripped the hilt of my blade tightly as we followed.

When we were metres away the guards lowered their spears. Nick stopped and held his hands up, showing he wasn’t armed. ‘Hey guys, we’re here for some Roman thing, sent from Camp Half Blood on behalf of the Greeks. We say hi and can we please enter so we can destroy you Romans and go home after?’

‘And eat cheeseburgers,’ I couldn’t help myself adding, and Nick turned around and scowled at me while Desmond whacked me in the head lightly.

The Romans frowned at us. I sighed when I remembered what Annabeth had said, that the Romans weren’t as humorous and were serious about everything. ‘How do we know you are truly who you say you are?’ one asked.

Nick sighed. ‘Look, were you expecting anyone else this morning right now? No? Then of course it is us. Now we’re either going to your camp by you showing us in like good door people, or we’re going to destroy you and then walk in. Your choice.’

They glared at him, but lowered their spears and stepped aside. ‘Enter of your own will,’ the talkative one said. ‘Soon you will regret coming here and die of humiliation.’

Desmond snorted. ‘Not likely. Doesn’t he want to talk?’

I saw the same guard smirk. ‘Only when he needs to. Other than that he keeps his mouth shut.’

I opened my mouth to reply but Nick shot me a warning. ‘We’ll see you later then,’ he said, and we walked past them.

The tunnel we were in was encased in solid rock, about the same dimensions as a school hallway, usually the ones to the headmaster’s office where they would sentence you to twelve punishments of doom to prove yourself. Wait, no, I’m sorry, that was Hercules’s quest.

The strange thing was it actually looked like a maintenance tunnel, electrical cables, signs warning us of stiff and boxes on the walls and the lightbulbs inside the wire ages along the ceiling above us.

But as we progressed it slowly started to change. The cement floor turned into tiled mosaics, while the lights changed into torches that burned but didn’t produce any smoke. At the end of the tunnel I could see light.

‘So, we ready to face them?’ I asked.

Nick nodded. ‘Ready as ever could be.’

Desmond laughed. ‘This will be interesting.’

We stepped outside and looked down into a beautiful valley. There were forests and plains, small hills all spread out. The perimeter was encircled by a river that made a capital G around the valley, coming from the lake in the middle. 

And nestled in the lake was a small city. I was pretty sure I was gaping at this moment, because I couldn’t believe what I saw. I thought I could make out the outlines of a coliseum, buildings with dome tops, and even palaces and gardens.