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THE BRUNETTE GIRL OPENED HER EYES and found herself somewhere foreign. She was on a green hill. In the distance, she spotted the Golden Gate Bridge and skyscrapers.
"San Francisco?" She questioned, sitting up in the grass.
The girl groaned, her head aching whenever she tried to remember anything. Her name, why she was here, where she was from.
But nothing. She couldn't remember anything.
A burning pain was on her wrist and she looked down. On her right arm was a scythe glowing gold.
"I don't understand." She groaned.
"It was not your time, daughter of Trivia." A female voice said behind her, "You are apart of something bigger. Much bigger."
She turned and spotted a large wolf. It growled at her and the brunette girl let out a scream. The wolf took a step towards her and she instinctively grabbed a dagger that was strapped to her outer thigh.
Then she spotted something behind the wolf.
A tunnel.
It was the only way out.
The daughter of Trivia waited for the wolf to attack and once it pounced, she ducked. She rolled underneath the wolf and sprinted into the darkness of the tunnel.
The tunnel cut through solid rock, about the width and height of a school hallway. At first, it looked like a typical maintenance tunnel, with electric cables, warning signs, and fuse boxes on the walls, lightbulbs in wire cages along the ceiling, she thought maybe it was a mine. But why would there be a mine just outside of San Francisco. From the Gold Rush? But the tunnel looked newer than that.
As she walked deeper into the hillside, the cement floor changed to tiled mosaic. The lights changed to reed torches, which burned but didn't smoke. A few hundred yards ahead, she saw a square of daylight.
Once the girl got out, there was a bowl-shaped valley several miles wide below her. The basin floor was rumpled with smaller hills, golden plains, and stretches of forest. A small clear rivercut a winding course from a lake in the center and around the perimeter, like a capital G.
The geography could've been anywhere in northern California—live oaks and eucalyptus trees, gold hills and blue skies. That big inland mountain—what was it called, Mount Diablo?—rose in the distance, right where it should be.
But the girl felt like she'd stepped into a secret world. In the center of the valley, nestled by the lake, was a small city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs. Some had domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. She could see an open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains, and statues. A five-story-tall Roman coliseum gleamed in the sun, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack.
Across the lake to the south, another hill was dotted with even more impressive buildings—temples, she guessed. Several stone bridges crossed the river as it wound through the valley, and in the north, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into the town. She thought it looked like an elevated train track. Then she realized it must be an aqueduct.
The strangest part of the valley was right below her. About two hundred yards away, just across the river, was some sort of military encampment. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes. Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized, mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading toward the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity: dozens of kids going to and from barracks, carrying weapons, polishing armor.
The girl heard the clank of hammers at a forge and smelled meat cooking over a fire.
"Where am I?"
Some secret military base in California?
The brunette made her way over to the riverbank, just across from where the gate was. If she got across, maybe she could lose the wolf?
Luckily she was wearing shorts but she leaned down to take off her hiking boots and socks. She quickly made it through the river, the water only making it above her knee. Once she made it to the other side, she was putting her socks and shoes back on when the gate opened.
A dark-haired girl pointed the tip of her sword at the other girl's neck, "Who are you?" She glared with her black eyes,
The girl glared, "The daughter of Trivia."
Everyone behind the girl started mumbling and looking around in confusion, "Yes, but your name, what is it?" The girl asked,
"I don't know. She called me the daughter of Trivia."
"How did you get here?" The girl growled,
"Reyna." The blonde boy spoke again, "Let's just take her into camp. Question her at the principia. Then we'll send her to Octavian. We must consult the auguries before we decide what to do with her."
The dark-haired girl, Reyna, lowered her weapon and turned back to the boy, "But, Jason-"
Jason crossed his arms, "We'll take her weapons away. Make sure she can't harm anyone."
"If she is the daughter of Trivia, she won't need weapons." Reyna said, looking her up and down, before turning and walking back through the gates, the rest of the group following her.
"Great." The brunette girl sighed, "Not even five minutes in and I've already made an enemy."
