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AS THEY APPROACHED THE FRONT GATE, the barracks got bigger and nicer. Even the ghosts looked better—with fancier armor and shinier auras. The daughter of Trivia tried to decipher the banners and symbols hanging in front of the buildings.
"You guys are divided into different cabins?" she asked.
Why did that concept seem familiar?
"Sort of." Jason ducked as a kid riding a giant eagle swooped overhead. "We have five cohorts of about forty kids each. Each cohort is divided into barracks of ten—like roommates, kind of."
The girl quickly did the math in her head, "So, you're telling me there's two hundred kids at this camp?"
"Roughly."
"And all of them are children of the gods?" She whistled, "Wow, the gods have been busy."
Jason chuckled, "Not all of them are children of major gods. There are hundreds of minor Roman gods. Plus, a lot of the campers are legacies—second or third generation. Maybe their parents were demigods. Or their grandparents."
She blinked. "Children of demigods?"
"Why? Does that surprise you?"
"A bit. So... these legacies... they have powers like a demigod?" She asked,
"Sometimes. Sometimes not. But they can be trained. All the best Roman generals and emperors—you know, they all claimed to be descended from gods. Most of the time, they were telling the truth. The camp augur we're going to meet, Octavian, he's a legacy, descendant of Apollo. He's got the gift of prophecy, supposedly."
"Supposedly?"
Jason made a sour face. "You'll see."
That didn't make her feel so great, if this dude Octavian had her fate in his hands.
"So the divisions," she asked, "the cohorts, whatever—you're divided according to who your godly parent is?"
"Nah, the officers decide where to assign recruits. If we were divided according to god, the cohorts would be all uneven. I'd be alone." Jason stated,
"Why? Who's your ancestor?"
"Jupiter." Jason smirked down at her,
"Jupiter... he's-"
"Roman god of the sky. One of the most powerful. Well, I mean, he is but-" Before Jason could finish, someone behind them yelled, "Wait!"
A ghost ran toward them—an old man with a medicine-ball belly and toga so long he kept tripping on it. He caught up to them and gasped for air, his purple aura flickering around him.
"This is her?" the ghost panted. "A new recruit for the Fifth, perhaps?"
"Vitellius," Jason sighed, "we're sort of in a hurry."
