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XII

Camp Jupiter was how Jason remembered, only less populated. To their left, five cohorts were spread along a wide range of buildings, the Mess, the barracks and the Principia.
'So,' Jake said. 'I've always wanted to see Camp Jupiter.'
'Well, here it is, hot stuff.' Clarisse said.
Jason ignored them and walked towards a small building.
'And where do you think your going?' Clarisse ordered.
'What? No where.' Jason said bitterly. 'Just seeing an old friend.Why?'
     'Who?'
'Oh, just my fellow praetors. Frank and Reyna. You remember them, right?'
'No.' They both said in unison.
'Anyway, they might help us.'
'Might?' Clarisse asked, but Jason was already halfway there.

Jason walked past some old faces, and new, but none of them said anything, just stared. He was trying to find Nico, because he wasn't at Camp Half-Blood.
'You know,' Jake said, out of breath. 'On second thought, maybe going on this quest was a bad idea.'
     'Don't think like that.' Jason assures him.
     'Are we going to see them or not?' Clarisse barked.
     'Yeah,' He said, staring intensely at the faith of the cohorts. 'My cohort was the fifth, the worst, but I chose it because I felt the need to say that the cohorts don't reflect the demigods personality. Reyna was part of the fifth, like me, Percy when he was here, and Frank and Hazel.'
     'Wow,' Jake said. 'That's a lot of names.'
     'Don't get me wrong, but we're they some of the seven?' Clarisse asked, obviously not interested.
     Jason smiled. 'Yeah, except Reyna.'
     'Oh.'

'Hello?' Jason heard his voice echo around the walls of the fifth cohort.
     'Hello?' A voice came from the back of the room.
     'Dakota?' Jason asked, sounding excited.
     'Jason, is that you?'
     'Ere, Dakota! What's going on at camp?'
     'Oh, nothing. Just the usual. And I heard Apollo was stripped of his godly power. Is that true?'
     Jason was awestruck. 'I dunno. Chiron- nobody- told me.'
     'Oh, well. Anyway, how are things going?' Dakota asked. 'And who are they?' He pointed to Jake and Clarisse.
     'Oh, silly me.' Jason said. 'This is Jake Manson, son of Vulcan. And this is Clarisse, daughter of Mars.'
     'Er, hi.' Both Greeks said in unison.
     Then a voice called, 'Dakota!'
     'That's my queue.' He said as he walked out, and Jason immediately thought of the note Mr D gave him.
     'Wait,' he said. 'Here. It's from Bacchus, your father. He wanted me to give this to you before we left for our quest.'
     Dakota took it from him. 'Thanks.' He said as he placed the coin in his pocket. 'I'd better go, and thanks. I'll meet you guys soon.'
     And they said bye.

'What does "must the queen's defeat" mean?' Clarisse asked as they walk towards the principia.
     Jason stared at her.
     'You know, the prophecy.'
     'Oh, right. West must the queen's defeat mask the scent of betrayal. I don't know.'
     'We are west.' Clarisse said.
     'Yes, buy maybe the queen's defeat is figurative.' Jake pitch in.
      'Maybe,' Jason sounding agitated. 'Just think about it.'
     'Your worried about Leo, aren't you?' Jake asked.
     'Couldn't be more right.' Jason said.
     'Cheers up. Look on the bright side, at least you'll see another friend, your fellow praetor.' Jake said.
     'Not really. I'm not the praetor anymore. I gave it up to Frank because we needed to control some dead stuff, only Roman praetors can, but because of my time at Camp Half-Blood, my Roman part is slowly fading, in a way.'
     'Depressing story, now come on!' Clarisse yelled.
     'Er, wrong way, Clarisse.' Jason told her.
     'I knew that.' She joked, though she didn't sound like she was joking.
     Then, a voice behind them said, 'Jason!'
     Jason turned to see a woman running towards them. Long dark hair follows behind her, her eyes were the colour of midnight and her armour glistened in the moonlight.
     'Reyna!' Jason said.
     They hugged, awkwardly, and her armour dug into Jason's skin. 'Where have you been?'
Jason didn't know how to answer. 'Camp Half-Blood, you left just before, remember?'
'Oh, right. The war of Gaia. How could I forget?'
'Oh, and this is Jake Manson. He's a son of Vulcan, and this is Clarisse, daughter of Mars.'
'Hello.' Reyna encourages.
'Er, hello.' They said, embarrassed.
'You three look like you have just crawled out of a tunnel!' She exclaimed. The three of them exchanged looks. 'Now, you'd better follow me. You guys need some rest. And I bet you'll sleep like a rock.'