𝓢𝓞𝓝 𝓞𝓕 𝓝𝓔𝓟𝓣𝓤𝓝𝓔

"THANKS FOR BUYING US MUFFINS ANGIE." Hazel grinned as she nibbled on her sweet blueberry treat

"Mmmyesthankyousomuch," Percy mumbled beside her, devouring a cherry one.

After he basically inhaled the pastry, he took gulps out of the large water bottle Eva had bought for him. She insisted that he needed to be hydrated while droning on about it being the best way to maintain clear skin.

He clearly had been through a lot before arriving at camp— She'd never go against a direct order from Reyna or the legion. But the longer she watched him the more Eva felt tempted to let him sleep instead of forcing him to go meet their augur. The boy needed a break. Also, no one should have to endure Octavian without some mental preparation.

Evangeline laughed, "Anytime My loves. Bombilo gives me things at a discount because one of his heads has a big crush on me. I already told him it isn't happening but hey who am I to deny chai lattes for 1 sesterce!"

Eva took a sip of her tea when she noticed the boy stopped to watch a bunch of kids in swimsuits and towels heading into a building that had steam coming out of a row of chimneys.

Laughter and watery sounds echoed from inside the indoor bathhouses— Probably a paradise for a son of Neptune.

"Bathhouses, " Evangeline told him. " I'll try to get you in there before dinner. You haven't lived until you've had a Roman bath."

Percy sighed with anticipation.

As they approached the front gate, the barracks got bigger and nicer. Even the ghosts looked better—with fancier armor and shinier auras. A clear indication of which cohorts had more prestige and advantage. Percy intently watched the banners and symbols hanging in front of the buildings.

"You guys are divided into different cabins?" he asked.

"Sort of." Hazel 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."

"You're telling me there's two hundred kids at camp?"

"Roughly."

"And all of them are children of the gods? They've been getting busy."

The red-headed girl snorted at the implication. "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. "

Percy blinked. "Children of demigods?"

"Why? Does that surprise you?"

"These Legos—"

"Legacies, Pretty boy." Eva corrected.

He gulped avoiding her eyes, "They have powers like a demigod?'

"Sometimes. Sometimes not. But they can be trained." Hazel responded, "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?"

She made a sour face. "You'll see."

"So the divisions," he asked, the cohorts, whatever—you're divided according to who your godly parent is?"

Hazel stared at him. "What a horrible idea! No, the officers decide where to assign recruits. If we were divided according to god, the cohorts would be all uneven. I'd be alone."

Percy's eyes softened "Why? What's your ancestry?"

Before she could answer, someone behind them yelled, "Wait!"

A ghost ran towards them—Vitellius— an old man with a medicine-ball belly and a 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 him?" the ghost panted. "A new recruit for the Fifth, perhaps?"

"Vitellius, "Evangeline sighed, "Would you go away old man, we're in a rush."

The ghost scowled at Percy and walked around him, inspecting him like a used car. "I don't know, " he grumbled. "We need only the best for the cohort. Does he have all his teeth? Can he fight? Does he clean stables?"

"Yes, yes, and no," Percy said. "Who are you?'

"Percy, this is Vitellius." Hazel's expression said: Just humor him. "He's one of our Lares; takes an interest in new recruits."

On a nearby porch, other ghosts snickered as Vitellius paced back and forth, tripping over his toga and hiking up his sword belt

"Yes, "Vitellius said, "back in Caesar's day—that's Julius Caesar, mind you—the Fifth Cohort was something! Twelfth Legion Fulminata, pride of Rome! But these days? Disgraceful what we've come to. Look at Hazel here, using a spatha. Ridiculous weapon for a Roman legionnaire—that's for cavalry!—And the Venus child! look at her admiring herself in the tiny looking glass instead of doing something worthwhile!—"

"I had to fix my makeup." She shrugged. slipping her handheld mirror back into her shirt. "And if you looked like me, you would see immense value in that."

"—And you, boy—you smell like a Greek sewer. Haven't you had a bath?"

"I've been a little busy fighting gorgons," Percy grumbled.

"Vitellius," Hazel interrupted, "We've got to get Percy's augury before he can join. Why don't you check on Frank? He's in the armory doing inventory. You know how much he values your help."

The ghost's furry purple eyebrows shot up. "Mars Almighty! They let the probatio check the armor? We'll be ruined!"

He stumbled off down the street, stopping every few feet to pick up his sword or rearrange his toga.

"Ohhhkay," Percy said.

"If he listened to me and got the cute rope belt I recommended him that wouldn't be happening." She rolled her eyes in annoyance, not appreciating how her opinion was invalidated yet clearly needed. She whipped out something else from her shirt, addressing the new kid. "He's intense and annoying, but he's one of the oldest Lares. Been around since the legion was founded." Eva hummed, rubbing lip balm on her thick lips.

"He called the legion...Fulminata?" Percy asked, not realizing that he was watching her.

"Armed with Lightning"' Evangeline translated. She rubbed her soft lips together to coat them with the balm before sticking the chapstick back in her bra. Percy tilted his chin upward, his eyes hyper-focused on the top of her head. The tips of his ears burned as scarlet as her hair.

She continued, "That's our motto. The Twelfth Legion was around for the entire Roman Empire. When Rome fell, a lot of legions just disappeared. We went underground, acting on secret orders from Jupiter himself: stay alive, recruit demigods and their children, keep Rome going. We've been doing that ever since, moving around to wherever Roman influence was strongest. The last few centuries, we've been in America."

"And you guys are in the Fifth Cohort." He asked. "Which maybe isn't the most popular?"

Hazel scowled. "Yes, Eva's been here for four years. I joined up last September."

"So...just a few weeks before that guy Jason disappeared."

Evangeline felt herself shut down. Her face fell and she looked away from the pair. Hazel mirrored her frown.

Percy's face displayed guilt, he'd hit a sore spot and he seemed to have noticed, just as he was about to apologize. Hazel broke the tense silence.

"Come on, I'll show you my favorite view."

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

THEY STOPPED OUTSIDE THE MAIN GATES. Hazels' favorite view was situated on the highest point in the valley, so they could see pretty much everything.

The road led down to the river and divided. One path led south across a bridge, up to Temple Hill. The other road led north into the city, a miniature version of Ancient Rome.

Unlike the military camp, the city was chaotic and colorful, with buildings crooned together at haphazard angles. Even from this far away, Eva could see people gathered in the plaza, shoppers milling around an open-air market, parents with kids playing in the parks.

"You've got families here?" Percy asked in surprise.

"In the city, absolutely," Evangeline smiled as she watched a young couple kissing by a fountain. "When you're accepted into the legion, you do ten years of service. After that, you can muster out whenever you want. Most demigods go into the mortal world. But for some—well, it's dangerous out there. This valley is a sanctuary—"

"—You can go to college in the city, get married, have kids, retire when you get old. It's the only safe place on earth for people like us. So, yeah, a lot of veterans make their homes there, under the protection of the legion."

Percy's mouth fell open and closed in disbelief, though Evangeline had no idea why. "But if this valley is attacked?'

Hazel pursed her lips, chiming in. "We have defenses. The borders are magical. But our strength isn't what it used to be. Lately, the monster attacks have been increasing. What you said about the gorgons not dying...we've noticed that too, with other monsters."

"Do you know what's causing it?"

Hazel and Evangeline shared a look. The younger girl looked down. "It's—it's complicated," she said. "My brother says Death Isn't—"

She was interrupted by an elephant.

Someone behind them shouted, "Make way!"

Hazel moved, and Evangeline softly took Percy's hand to pull him out of the road. A demigod rode past on a full-grown pachyderm covered in black Kevlar armor.

The elephant thundered down the road and turned north, heading towards a big open field where some fortifications were under construction.

Percy spat dust out of his mouth. "What the f—"

"Elephant," Hazel explained as if it wasn't obvious.

"Yeah, I read the sign. Why do you have an elephant in a bulletproof vest?"

"War games are tonight" Evangeline reminded, "'That's Hannibal. I call him Hanni, If we didn't include him, well he'd get so upset."

He looked down at her and they locked eyes.  "We can't have that." He teased.

Evangeline giggled, and A wry smile curved at the edge of his mouth. "Exactly, Pretty boy."

Evangeline felt his soft warmth radiating against her and quickly noticed that his hand was still wrapped in hers. When he followed her eyes and looked down. His own widened, he let go of her like her skin had burned him. His hand awkwardly rested over his stomach and his face pinched in a mix of embarrassment and guilt.

Evangeline only smirked. Amused at the way he kept reacting to her. He was a fun one...and the fact he was incredibly attractive didn't hurt at all...

Hazel laughed at Percy. She looked at Eva knowingly and shook her head, It was hard to believe she'd looked upset a moment ago.
"Eva leave the poor boy alone, he just arrived. Even I can smell the pheromones you're emitting right now."

Evangeline smirked mischievously. "Nice, right?"

"Very—" Percy blurted out, he cleared his throat. His eyes widened in surprise at his reaction. "Gods what is wrong with me."

Evangeline's chest shook with laughter. She patted his shoulder, rubbing softly before her hand fell to her side.

"That's my bad, I get a tad greedy when I find someone attractive." She grinned, flashing her pearly white teeth which had the slightest gap. "Let's just say I love being the center of attention."

He was shocked at her bluntness. Evangeline talked nonchalantly. She didn't think she had to hide that she found him hot. She found Reyna hot too, and she told her that multiple times. Evangeline just liked to let pretty people know they were pretty!

"I'll ease up on you pretty boy. Only 'cause your amnesia kinda makes you off limits." She sighed in mock disappointment.

"Erm—uh? Yeah?." was all he managed to stutter out

In all honesty, she was just disappointed that Hazel called her out for messing with him.

Evangeline had a certain power to get anyone who was attracted to her to become temporarily infatuated with her. It was a nice little power she liked to take advantage of when she was bored and wanted to feel loved—though she'd never admit that out loud... She also wouldn't admit how often she'd begun to use this power since he left.

What? The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else... right?

She had decided to give up on the new boy though. As cute as he was she didn't need to complicate her love life anymore. She'd stick to yearning for what was now an impossible love and using boys and girls that didn't have possible lovers waiting for them somewhere to erase him with.

Plus, once she stopped using her power over them, they usually lost deep interest in her. Evangeline wasn't the type of girl people fell in love with....at least that's what she was taught...

So she doubted Hot Stuff would talk to her much after this. Unless, he was up for a no-strings-attached make-out session...

Gods, Evangeline. She scolded herself, Have some etiquette.

"Eva.." Hazel pulled on her toga, she pointed south across the river. Dark clouds were gathering over Temple Hill. Red flashes of lightning washed the monuments in blood-colored light.

"Octavian is busy, " Evangeline sighed. "We'd be better get over
there."