ON THE WAY OUT OF CAMP, HAZEL HAD BOUGHT percy an espresso drink and a cherry muffin from bombilo the two-headed coffee merchant. karina had asked hazel to buy her one also, but she refused, claiming that since percy was new, he shouldn't have to pay. she felt that was extremely unfair, but still bought herself a raspberry berry muffin since she was rudely interrupted during her snack time and didn't get to finish it, so she was very hungry.

percy basically inhaled his muffin. he acted as if he hadn't eaten in days, which maybe he hadn't. karina had already finished her muffin and now wished that she had a drink to wash it down.

it seemed that percy noticed her want for a drink, as he nudged her slightly and gestured to his coffee. "do you want some?" he asked a little shyly.

karina blinked a couple times and swallowed. "y-yeah, yes, sure." she said, stuttering. it seemed that she lost her voice every time she spoke to him.

he handed the drink to her and she took a small sip, not wanting to drink too much since it was his drink. karina handed it back to him and when he went to grab it from her hand, she felt his fingers lightly brush against hers. the touch was hardly noticeable, but it sent a shiver all through her body.

why did his touch make her feel that way?

karina quickly pushed the drink into his hands and looked away before he could see the deep blush that had been inflicted upon her face.

after that little stunt had happened, she saw percy looking at a bunch of kids in swimsuits and towels head into the bath house. it had steam coming out of the chimneys and laughter and watery sounds could be heard from inside.

"bath house," hazel said. "we'll get you in there before dinner hopefully. you haven't lived until you've had a roman bath."

karina heard percy sigh with anticipation.

as they approached the front gate, the barracks got bigger and nicer. the ghosts looked better-with fancier armor and shinier auras.

"you guys are divided into different cabins?" percy asked.

"sort of." hazel ducked as a kid riding a giant eagle swooped overhead. karina wasn't as lucky, because since she was behind her, she reacted to late and got whacked in the face with the eagles wing. she stumbled backwards and held her face in her hands, shooting out random curses into the universe.

"ouch." she mumbled, a pout forming on her lips. her cheek was tingling from the impact of the eagle wing hitting it. she heard a small laugh come from in front of her, and looked up to see percy holding a tight smile, tiny laughs escaping him, and hazel with a sorry but amused expression on her face.

"are-are you okay, karina?" percy asked, stuttering slightly from his laughs. she looked at him with a fake-hurt expression.

"yes, i'm great. i always love getting knocked in the head by an eagle." she said, taking mock-offense to his actions, rubbing her cheek.

"i'm really sorry nina, i thought you would know to duck." hazel said apologetically, but she could tell she still found it funny, but karina did too, so she wasn't very mad. maybe a little bit.

karina sighed. "i guess it's fine. but, to make it up to me, i think you should buy me a muffin one of these days." she said, clasping her hands together and smiling widely at her, like a little kid asking their mom for candy. it was like she never even got hit in the face.

"are you still mad about me not buying you a muffin?"

"yes! at least percy was nice and shared his coffee." she said, pointing to him. he just looked at the two of them in confusion and amusement, his eyes dancing back and forth between them, not really knowing what to say.

"ok, yeah, whatever. but we need to continue." hazel said, getting back to the point.

"anyway," she said. "as i was saying, we have five cohorts of about forty kids each. each cohort is divided into barracks of ten-like roommates, kind of."

"me and hazel are bunk mates." karina said, grinning at her happily. she smiled back at her.

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

"roughly."

"and all of them are children of the gods! the gods have been busy."

hazel and karina laughed. "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?"

percy looked unsure.

"these legos-"

"legacies." hazel corrected.

"no, i think i like legos better." karina said, looking at percy. he just laughed and nudged her shoulder slightly.

"they have powers like a demigod?"

"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?"

hazel made a sour face. "you'll see."

karina tried not to gag at the mention of octavian. "octavian could literally go run in front of a school bus, and i'd say thank you to the driver." she said, talking in full seriousness about the person who she bears the deepest hatred for.

octavian had shown his dislike for her first, so nobody can tell her she didn't try to be his friend, she really did. right off the bat when she first came into camp, octavian was there. and he didn't even introduce himself, he just immediately started accusing me of being a 'fake demigod' (which makes zero sense) and saying how she shouldn't be there since she didn't go to the wolf house to train with lupa. she honestly had no idea what he was talking about since she had no clue what the wolf house was, or who lupa was, so she just stood there, staring at him with a blank face, which seemed to make him even more angry.

after that, karina still tried to talk to him, since she really didn't like making enemies. she attempted to sit with him at lunch, to which he'd push me off the bench, help him in sparring lessons when he was failing, but he would then pull his gladius on her, which made her back off. and she even tried to decorate the augury with vines and flowers for him, and right as he would notice the change in decor, he'd go around and rip down the vines from the walls, and rip out her beautifully planted hydrangeas out of the ground and he'd put them right outside her barracks door.

after that, she gave up in trying to be nice, and instead she started doing the same things he was doing to her. she always tripped him when he was sword fighting, made the plants around his augury wilt and smell like literal death, so everytime he went there, he'd smell like it. she even replaced his cologne with vinegar, which personally is her favorite prank she did on him. jason usually accompanied her on the little pranks karina pulled on him, but since he's been gone, she's been deprived of her usual entertainment of watching octavian suffer.

karina didn't realize she had zoned out until she saw a flash of hazel's fingers in front of her face. "karina, you still alive?"

"yeah, yeah, sorry." she mumbled, fiddling with the tassels on her praetorian robes. karina tended to zone out a lot without knowing, and it was honestly very embarrassing to her. hazel knew that she felt embarrassed whenever this happened, so she usually changed the topic fairly quickly after snapping her back into consciousness. but it wasn't hazel who did it this time, it was percy.

"so the divisions," percy asked. "the cohorts, whatever-you're divided according to who your godly parent is?"

karina gasped at him. "that's an amazing idea! percy, please tell me more." she said excitedly. she really liked the idea of living with her half-siblings. considering daniel and tessa are in the first cohort, lydia was in the third, and kalen in the fourth, so karina never really gets to see them much.

it seemed hazel had the opposite reaction as her. "what a horrible idea! no, the officers decide where to assign recruits. if we were divided according to god, the cohorts would all be uneven. i'd be alone."

"but we would have sleepovers, right?" karina asked hazel.

"we basically have a sleepover every night, nina." hazel replied, turning to her with a smile. "we live together."

"but there's other people, so it's not as fun." karina said sadly. if hazel had her own room, it would only be the two of them, which would make for a much better sleepover.

hazel laughed. "i'm sorry, i'll try even harder to make our sleepovers satisfactory to your needs."

karina smiled. "thank you."

"wait." percy said. "why would you be alone? what's your ancestry?"

before hazel could answer, 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 us and gasped for air, his purple aura flickering around him.

karina started fanning the ghost with her hand, trying to cool him down. as if that would make a difference.

"this is him?" the ghost panted. "a new recruit for the fifth perhaps?"

"vitellius," hazel said. "we're sort of in a hurry."

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."

"interest wouldn't be the word i'd use." karina mumbled. the old ghost was as nosy as jason whenever she didn't tell him about something he thinks he should know.

on a nearby porch, the 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 calvary! the only respectable member of the fifth cohort is karina! and that's saying something."

"hey!" karina protested. she wasn't that bad, was she?

vitellius continued. "and you, boy-you smell like a greek sewer. haven't you had a bath?"

"i've been a little busy fighting gorgons," percy said.

"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 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.

"o-h-h-kay," percy said.

"sorry," haz said. "he's eccentric, but he's one of the oldest lares. been around since the legion was founded."

"he called the legion. . .fulminata?" percy said.

"armed with lightning," karinatranslated. "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 two are in the fifth cohort," percy guessed, "which maybe isn't the must popular?"

hazel scowled. "yeah. i joined up last september."

percy looked to karina. she then realized he was waiting for her to respond to hazel's statement. "oh, i joined about six years ago."

percy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "damn, you've been here a while then."

karina bit the inside of her cheek. she wishes she didn't have to be here at all. "yeah. . .i guess i have." she looked away, signaling that the conversation was over.

"so hazel, doesn't that mean you joined just a few weeks before that jason guy disappeared?"

karina flinched at the mention of jason. even after months of him being gone, she still hasn't gotten over the loneliness she felt without him here. he was her closet friend, her brother. she felt safe around him, he was the closest thing she had to a family. with him being gone, she felt the same way she felt six years ago, completely and utterly alone. she knows that she had reyna, and her siblings, but jason was different. they just had a different connection than she had to everyone else. he was her platonic soulmate, in other words. she loved him with her whole heart, and with him gone, she felt more hollow. more incomplete.

"come on ," hazel said at last. "i'll show you my favorite view."

they stopped outside the main gates. the fort 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 the hill with all the temples. the other road led north into the city, a miniature version of ancient rome. unlike the military camp, the city looked chaotic and wonderful, with buildings crowded together, at hap-hazard angles. even from this far away, you 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 the city, absolutely," hazel said. "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 pretty 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."

it was hard for karina to wrap her mind around the fact that demigods can actually grow older and raise families. she's always lived in the fear of dying everyday because of her heritage. but to be able to live in peace and normality? it sounded like a dream.

"but if this valley is attacked?" percy asked.

hazel pursed her lips. "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 causing it?"

hazel looked away. karina kept her mouth shut. she knew that percy could tell that they were holding something back.

"it-it's complicated," she said. "my brother says death isn't-"

she was interrupted by an elephant.

"hannibal, my baby!" karina said happily, smiling widely. she loved that elephant so much. almost as much as her tiger.

someone behind them shouted. "make way!"

karina grabbed percy's arm and quickly dragged him out of the road as a demigod rode past on a full-grown pachyderm covered in black kevlar armor. the word elephant was printed on the side of his armor, which was a little obvious.

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

percy spit dust out of his mouths "what the-"

"elephant." hazel explained.

"that's hannibal, my other son." karina said nonchalantly.

"you have sons?" percy asked, looking at karina with a dumbstruck face. she rolled her eyes and got ready to explain to him the situation. she heard hazel let out a deep breath, having already heard the explanation when she had asked her before.

"so basically," she started. "i have technically three sons. my tiger is my numero uno, of course." she stopped for a moment to cough up the dust that had suddenly entered her mouth.

karina felt percy tapping her back, trying to help her recover from her little outburst. she quickly recoiled at the sudden touch, feeling deep memories of her father resurface.

she immediately dismissed the memories, knowing that thinking about them would only dampen her mood.

percy immediately removed his hand after seeing her discomfort. she felt bad for making him feel that way, when it wasn't his fault, but she really didn't want to go into detail about why she backed off from his touch. not yet.

"anyway" karina cleared her throat, quickly going back to her usual cheery attitude. "my second son, is hannibal. him and i go way back. like we have basically been besties since birth." she said exaggerating the connection she has with the elephant.

percy seemed throughly interested in her story, surprisingly. and hazel, of course was standing there in boredom, with crossed arms holding her cheek in her hand.

"and your. . .third son?" percy asked unsurely.

"yes, obviously my third son is nico di angelo." karina said, looking to hazel to see her reaction. she just shook her head with a small smile present on her face.

"who's that?" percy asked.

"oh, you'll meet him soon enough, he's amazing, perce!" she said happily. "he's a little. . .dark, but once you actually talk to him, he gets a little less dark and more mean. but he's great!"

percy just stretched his mouth a bit and nodded. "oh-kay. thank you for introducing me to your. . .sons." he said, smiling a bit after.

"oh, you're welcome." i smiled.

hazel 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," hazel said. "we'd better get over there."

karina groaned and dragged her feet across the pavement, following hazel.

on the way, we passed some fauns hanging out on the side of the road.

"hazel!" one of them cried.

"karina!" the other cried out.

the one that called out hazel's name trotted over with a big grin on his face. he wore a faded hawaiian shirt and nothing for pants except thick brown goat fur. he massive afro jiggled. his eyes were hidden behind little round rainbow tinted glasses. he held a cardboard sign that read. will 'work sing talk', but that was crossed out. instead, it said 'will go away for denarii'.

"hi, don," hazel said. "sorry, we don't have time-"

"oh, that's cool! that's cool!" don trotted along with us. "hey, this guys new!" he grinned at percy. "do you have three denarii for the bus? because i left my wallet at home, and i've got to get to work, and-"

"don," hazel chided. "fauns don't have wallets. or jobs. or homes. and we don't have buses."

"right," he said cheerfully, "but do you have denarii?"

"your name is don the faun?" percy asked. karina's mouth quivered slightly from trying to keep a straight face.

"yeah. so?"

"nothing." karina saw percy trying to keep a straight face as well. "why don't fauns have jobs? shouldn't they work for the camp?"

don bleated. "fauns! work for the camp! hilarious!"

"fauns are, um, free spirits," hazel explained. "they hang out here because, well, it's a safe place to hang out and beg. we tolerate them as best as we can."

karina sighed. "sometimes i wished i was a faun." percy gave her a questionable look and hazel just ignored her.

"what?" percy asked.

she shrugged her shoulders. "fauns have absolutely no responsibilities, except to beg for money. and people don't mess with them because they know better than to. so it's like they're not even here. and, i've always wanted to know what aluminum foil tasted like."

percy gave her a look of respect. "that-actually makes a lot of sense. and, i've always wondered what tin cans tasted like." he smiled at her.

his smile was beautiful. he had small dimples that appeared when he smiled big enough. it was enough to show whether it was a real or fake smile. his eyes always glittered a little more when he smiled, and his face just looks brighter, happier. she could stare at his smile for hours and not even blink.

karinw felt herself begin to blush so she looked away with a smile present on her face and tuned back into the conversation.

"oh, hazel is awesome," don said. "she's so nice! all the other campers are like, 'go away, don.' but she's like, 'please, go away, don.' i love her!"

"wow, thanks don." karina said dryly.

he seemed to just notice her presence. "oh, karina. you're pretty cool too, even though you normally don't talk to me."

"hey, i once gave you my leftover sprite can! i think that's pretty ni-"

she was interrupted when don gasped and tried to reach for something on the ground. "score!" he said.

"don, no!" hazel screamed.

she pushed him out of the way and snatched up a small shiny object, and put it into her pocket. karina could've sworn it was a diamond.

"come on, hazel," don complained. "i could've bought a year's worth of doughnuts with that!"

"don, please," hazel said. "go away."

she sounded shaken, like she'd just saved don from a charging bulletproof elephant.

the faun sighed. "aw, i can't stay mad at you. but i swear, it's like you're good luck. every time you walk by-"

"good-bye, don," hazel said quickly. "let's go, guys."

she started jogging. percy and karina had to sprint to catch up. that was the one thing she was good at, running. she doesn't even understand why, she's just naturally very fast. she never work's out, never runs for fun, but yet, still one of the fastest people in camp.

"what was that about?" percy asked. "that diamond in the road-"

"please," she said. "don't ask."

they walked in uneasy silence the rest of the way to temple hill. a crooked stone path led past a crazy assortment of tiny altars and massive domed vaults.

karina pointed out the temple of bellona. "goddess of war," she said. "a.k.a, my besties mama." she smiled. then they passed a massive red crypt decorated with human skulls on iron spikes. karina went and moved on the opposite side of percy and hazel, trying to be as far away from it as possible.

"please tell me we're not going in there," percy said.

hazel shook her head. "that's the temple of mars ultor."

"mars. . . ares, the war god?"

"that's his greek name," hazel said. "but, yeah, same guy. ultor means 'the avenger' he's the second-most important god of rome."

percy pointed toward the summit. clouds swirled over the largest temple, a round pavilion with a ring of white columns supporting a domed roof . "i'm guessing that's zeus-uh, i mean, jupiter's? that's where we're heading?"

"yeah." hazel sounded edgy. "octavian reads auguries there-the temple of jupiter optimus maximus."

"jupiter. . .the best and the greatest?"

"right."

"a bit narcissistic if you ask me," karina mumbled.

"what's neptune's title?" percy asked. "the coolest and most awesome?" karina smiled at him in amusement.

"um, not quite." hazel gestured to a small blue building the size of a toolshed. a cob-web covered trident nailed right above the door. but one thing stood out amongst the filth, a small patch of blue hydrangeas were planted right next to the door.

percy looked to karina. "did you plant those flowers there?"

she blushed. "i felt bad that we neglected neptune's temple, so i just wants wanted to add something small to try and help, i guess." he looked at her with a face that she couldn't quite decipher. adoration? gratitude? she couldn't tell, but he looked grateful. the look he gave made her blush even harder.

"that's. . .really great of you." she just smiled in return.

percy peeked inside. on a small alter sat a bowl with three dried-up, moldy apples.

"popular place." he said sadly.

"i'm sorry, percy." hazel said. "it's just. . .romans were always scared of the sea. they only used ships if they had to. even in modern times, having a child of neptune around has always been a bad omen. the last time one joined the legion. . .well it was 1906, when camp jupiter was located across the bay in san francisco. there was a huge earthquake-"

"so they say," hazel looked apologetic. "anyway. . .romans fear neptune, but they don't love him much."

percy stared at the cobwebs on the trident. he reached in this backpack and dug out the last bit of food from his trip-a stale bagel, and set it on the altar. karina looked at him, her eyes filled with sadness for him.

"hey. . . uh dad." he said, he looked a little silly talking to a bowl of fruit. "if you can hear me, help me out, okay? give me my memory back. tell me-tell me what to do." his voice cracked.

karina put a hand on his shoulder, and surprisingly, didn't blush. "it'll be okay. you're here now. you're one of us." she spoke softly. after she said that, she suddenly felt something warm engulf her hand on his shoulder. his hand had grasped her's tightly and was looking at her with a sad but grateful face.

now that made her blush.

he was probably a couple inches taller than karina so he was looking down slightly when he looked at her. she just stood there in shock, looking at him with a look of absolute lust. she had no idea what she was doing.

karina blinked a couple times, getting her bearings back together and finally smiled at him.

karina guessed they had been in that position for a bit of time because she heard hazel awkwardly cough behind us, and they quickly separated from each other, deep blushes inflicted both of their faces.

above them, thunder rumbled. red lightning lit up the hill.

"octavian'a almost done," hazel said. "let's go.

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idk if i'm rushing karina and percy too much but they're so cute that i can't help myself