Waves of Fire || Leo Valdez

II - I Tour a Big Warship

Unfortunately, Octavian sat with us.

The good news was that he didn't sit next to me. That punishment was given to Percy, and I sat on Percy's left, between him and Hazel.

Reyna called a toast to friendship.

After introductions all around, the Romans and Annabeth's crew began exchanging stories. Jason explained how he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood without his memory, and how he'd gone on a quest with Piper and Leo to rescue the goddess Hera (or Juno, take your pick—she was equally annoying in Greek or Roman) from imprisonment at the Wolf House in northern California.

"Impossible!" Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there—"

"They would've destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish. "

Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. My eyes widened, impressed. Charmspeak. Probably a daughter of Aphrodite. Yep, I wanted to be friends with her.

"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands—Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by...what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Gaea's been busy over here, too."

I nodded. "We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face."

Percy and I recounted our side of the story. Percy talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name—Annabeth.

"Well, I didn't remember Annabeth, " I said, rolling my eyes. "It sounds all dramatic when you say it like that. I only remembered mom."

We told them how we'd traveled to Alaska with Frank and Hazel—how we'd defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed the death god Thanatos, and returned with the lost golden eagle standard of the Roman camp to repel an attack by the giants' army.

When Percy and I had finished, Jason whistled appreciatively. "No wonder they made you praetor."

Octavian snorted. "Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!"

"Octavian," I said. "I say this in the nicest way possible, but right now, nobody cares."

A few of the Roman officers, along with Doppelganger Dude-- alright, fine, Leo-- from Annabeth's crew laughed.

"On the bright side," Percy said, "both Jason and I outrank you, Octavian. So we can both tell you to shut up."

Octavian turned as purple as a Roman T-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump. Persassy strikes again. I had a feeling Jason might have a sassy side, too, but Percy hadn't given him much of a chance to show us. Even Reyna managed a smile, though her eyes were stormy.

"We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later," she said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."

"I'll step aside for Jason," Percy said easily. "It's no biggie. "

"No biggie?" Octavian choked. "The praetorship of Rome is no biggie?"

Percy ignored him and turned to Jason. "You're Thalia Grace's brother, huh? Wow. You guys look nothing alike. "

"Yeah, I noticed," Jason said.

"No, their eyes are the same color," I said.

Percy looked closer. "I guess you're right."

"Anyway," Jason said. "Thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job."

"Back at you," Percy said. A bromance has blossomed.

Annabeth kicked his shin. "We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?"

Reyna nodded. "We call it the Prophecy of Seven. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?"

"Of course," he said. "But, Reyna—"

"Recite it, please. In English, not Latin. "

Octavian sighed. "Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—"

"An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. "

Everyone stared at her—except for that Leo kid, who had constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits. I looked at the tool belt again. Definitely Hephaestus' son.

Frank sat forward, staring at her in fascination as if she'd grown a third eye. "Is it true you're a child of Min—I mean, Athena?"

"Yes," she said, suddenly looking defensive. "Why is that such a surprise?"