before we both turn into ghosts ┊p. mclean

08

"We'll be fine," Annabeth repeated.

"Excellent," Reyna said. She turned to Jason, and Juno thought there was a hungry sort of gleam in her eyes. "Let's talk, and we can have a proper reunion."

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The Romans certainly knew how to prepare a possible war detouring dinner spread.

Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it resembled a furniture showroom. Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while wind spirits—Aurae—swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies. Drifting through the crowd were purple ghosts—Lares—in togas and legionnaire armor. Around the edges of the feast, fauns trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change.

Reyna and a few of her officers including Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods, sat. Hazel, Percy, and Frank joined as well.

Juno chose a seat beside Leo, but for some reason it sent a chill down her spine. She looked over at him like she half expected half his face to be melted off or something extreme, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It had that same uneasy sensation she felt back on the ship. The one that kept her up all hours of the night. He was seemly unbothered, picking through a bowl of strawberries.

A tornado of food platters settled onto the table. Reyna called a toast to friendship.

After introductions all around, the Romans and our 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 Leo, and Piper to rescue the goddess Hera 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. Juno sunk deeper into her chair.

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

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

Percy told them how he'd traveled to Alaska with Frank and Hazel—how they'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 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!"

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

The longer Juno knew Percy, the more she liked him. Octavian turned as purple as a Roman t-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump.