THE VOICES IN JUNE'S HEAD were beatboxing again.

It was honestly so fucking annoying, having to bear with them 24/7. She was trying to listen to something Percy was saying to her, but she kept getting distracted. At one point they began to rap, and that was when she'd had enough.

"Shut up," she muttered fiercely.

Percy froze mid-sentence. His face fell.

June's eyes widened with horror. "No! Not to you—"

"—Don't worry, June's just kinda crazy," Leo butted in helpfully. He gave Percy a Cheshire grin. "Talks to herself all the time, this one."

They were seated around a low table in the forum, pillows and miniature couches strewn about. There were several such tables around them, Roman demigods gathered in groups of ten or twenty, chatting and laughing. Nature spirits flitted around, delivering pizzas, cold drinks, and snacks. The occasional satyr stopped at a table to bargain for food and spare change.

Purple ghosts (Lares, June's voices told her) floated around in Legionnaire armor. She sensed fields nearby, the tiny sounds of the wheat pleading for her help as they got trampled by Mrs. O'Leary and the frolicking war elephant.

Percy was beside her, Leo and Piper across them. The others, Reyna and Octavian included, were at the table as well, talking among themselves. 

The whole scene kind of reminded her of her table at Camp Half-Blood— Miranda sitting tall at the head of the table like Reyna was at the moment, Katie and Billie laughing together across from her in the same manner as Piper and Leo, Steve a comforting presence beside her, and Doug in the centre of it all, poking at his food.

"I'm sorry," June told Percy. "I've been a little frazzled lately. What were you saying?"

He gave her an understanding smile. The look in his eyes made June's hands tremble.

"I was saying I wanted to show you around after this. There are these beautiful gardens I think you'd love, I've been wanting you to see them since forever."

She smiled. Her eyes traced his form, landing on the SPQR tattoo branded on his arm. It was similar to Jason's— except with a trident in the place of Jason's eagle. She'd run her fingers over it many times when she'd been unable to sleep, and if the memory of it stung, he'd never complained.

Percy's lips quirked up. "You like the tat?"

June's mind flashed to her own faint tattoos of five white lilies she'd gotten almost a year ago— three clustered on her right hip and the other two on her left thigh. 

"They symbolize purity and rebirth," the tattoo guy had explained, then chuckled nervously. "You sure you're old enough for this, kid?". 

She'd showed him the fake ID Connor had given her. Travis was still unresponsive. He hadn't shown his face at all besides showing up for the funeral. "For Katie," was all he said to her.

"I want five lilies." Each for one of her siblings. They were in Elysium, she was sure of it. Steve and Katie would definitely try and go for Isles of the Blest. She hoped to see them again, one day. She'd prayed that her father had found Doug; he'd always wanted a little boy to raise as his own.

"Yes," June told Percy. "I like your tattoo."

Her eyes caught the bronze locket glinting on Percy's neck, matching the scarab beetle brooch clipped onto the waistband of her jeans, next to where her gun would've been if she'd been armed. She stared at him in disbelief. "You still—"

She stopped as Reyna gave a toast to friendship. After everyone was introduced to each other and made friendly, they exchanged stories. Jason told them about the quest he, Piper, Leo and June went on a quest to rescue Hera from the Wolf House in California.

"Impossible!" Octavian cried out. "The Wolf House is our sacred place. We would've known if giants had imprisoned a goddess there."

"Nuh-uh," Piper wagged a finger at him. At some point, she'd slid a Hello Kitty barrette into her hair to match her shirt. "Those giants are smart. They would've destroyed Hera and blamed it on us, it would've started a war between the camps. Now do us a favor and shut up."

Octavian gaped at her soundlessly, and June noticed Annabeth bite back the huge smile spreading across her face. Reyna was looking back and forth between Annabeth and Piper, frowning slightly as if she was realizing something.

"...Right, so," Jason continued, scratching the back of his neck. "We discovered that the Earth goddess Gaea is still half asleep, releasing monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the huge leader guy we fought, plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by 'pulling up their roots' in Greece. He said something about the ancient lands."

Percy looked thoughtful. "We've had some run-ins with Gaea over here too."

He recounted waking up at the Wolf House with nothing except a scarab beetle locket around his neck and a picture of him with a girl inside. He wasn't able to remember anything, not even the girl's name, but the picture had given him the courage to forge on until he reached Camp Jupiter.

When she heard that, June fought back tears. The matching scarab beetles were given to them by Beckendorf before the war. He'd intended to turn them into weapons, but he hadn't gotten that far. Later, another child of Hephaestus managed to turn June's beetle into a brooch and Percy's into a locket.

The shape of the beetle, of course, was to represent Percy's infamous nickname for June: June Bug.

June and Percy locked eyes as he talked. Her hand drifted to the brooch clipped to her jeans at the same time his fingers closed over his locket.

He continued about how he, Frank and Hazel had gone to Alaska, defeated Alcyoneus, freed Thanatos, returned with the Romans' golden eagle and battled the giants' army— all in a few days' work.

Jason's eyes were wide by the time Percy was finished. "Holy shit, no wonder they made you praetor!"

Octavian scoffed loudly, diverting the attention to himself. "Which means we have three praetors now! The rules—"

Piper interrupted him by coughing noisily and dramatically for a solid minute. When she was done, she cleared her throat and dabbed her mouth with a tissue.

"Excuse me," she announced primly, trying to hide her grin. June's shoulders shook with silent laughter at the look of infuriation on Octavian's face.

"Like I was saying—" Octavian began again.

Piper launched into another coughing fit. June couldn't hold back her laugh at that, but Octavian had begun to turn purple.

"The rules—"

Leo joined Piper's hacking fit, sneezing in an obviously false manner. Together, they sounded kind of like seagulls. Loud, annoying, hilarious seagulls.

Octavian raised his voice. "The—"

Percy yawned loudly, drowning out the rest of Octavian's sentence.

Octavian gave up, slamming his hands on the table. "UGH!"

Laughter filled the table, and even Reyna cracked a smile, though her expression remained severe. 

"We can deal with the three-praetor issue later," she said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."

"I'll step aside for Jason," Percy tilted his head, flashing them an easy smile. "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 deadpanned. "Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job."

"Back at you," Percy said.

Something in June's chest flipped as she watched the boys' easy camaraderie. They smiled at each other, and then turned to her in an eerily similar manner.

Annabeth cleared her throat, looking serious. "We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It seems like you Romans are aware of it too?"

Reyna nodded. "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. A family tree in every sense—"

"Will grow at its youngest's expense. An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

A strange taste filled June's mouth. The voices apparently did not like hearing the prophecy out loud, going into a clamour in her mind. They concentrated at the back of her head, an uproar of different people saying different things in different languages. She clutched her face as her vision swam, throat dry.

Her blunt nails scraped across her scalp as her hand slackened. Panic filled her as her arm dropped of its own accord, muscles relaxing. She felt her back straighten and her cheek muscles stretch into a smile. She lost control over her own body.

The voices in June's head were arguing with a new arrival— an unfamiliar, louder voice. The others around her— mainly Reyna and Annabeth— continued their discussion, unaware of what was going on.

She felt her mouth open and speak, agreeing with what someone said, but the voices were drowning out everything. The new voice, a deep male one, seemed to be insisting on 'access'— whatever that meant.

Whatever was going on, it was clear to June that she wasn't in control of her body anymore. Fighting the panic rising within her, she tried to take a deep breath— and obviously failed. She couldn't move at all.

Her vision had blurred further into a hazy portrait of blue sky, the table they sat at, and Percy in her peripheral view.

Okay, June thought. I just need to focus.

Listen up, dickhead! One of the voices yelled. You need to get out right now. I don't care what Gaia said, if she finds you in here you're toast!

You don't understand, the new, deep voice rumbled.

I understand DAMN WELL—

Fuck, Anetos, look! Another voice yelled. All the voices quietened suddenly, as if sensing June's attention on them.

Greetings, June Callahan, daughter of Demeter, the deep voice said. At that, there was a chorus of sniggering. 

What's so funny? She wanted to ask.

Demeter herself will smite you if she hears you say that again, one of the previous voices (Anetos?) said.

Why? The deep voice asked.

There was some incomprehensible whispering, what sounded like a gasp, and the deep voice yelled HOLY FUCKING SHIT! before disappearing.

What was all that about? June thought/asked. And why can't I move?

The eidolon left, one of the voices told her. You can move again.

Dammit, Augusta, you weren't supposed to tell her that! Someone snapped.

Wait, now that I can communicate with you guys, June asked, who... are you?

But it was too late. The haze was already lifting— she could feel her tongue again, her limbs were functional, and she realized, once her vision was up and running again, that she was on the ground, looking up into the concerned faces of Percy, Piper and Annabeth. The Romans (Frank, Hazel and Reyna) stood at a respectful distance behind them, peering at June.

She realized her hearing was back when she heard the tail-end of a sentence— "...covered in vines."

It was true. As sensation came back, she could feel the gravel of the ground against her spine, and the thin tendrils of plants curled over her body.

She tried to speak, but all that came out of her was a hoarse croak, followed by a violent coughing fit. As if sensing she was recovering, the vines unfurled from around her, retreating back into the ground.

Annabeth held her arms, easing her up into a seated position, while Percy knelt in front of her, taking her face into his hands and checking her vitals. 

"Can you hear us now?" Annabeth asked.

June nodded, accepting nectar and ambrosia gratefully from Piper, who was behind her, propping her up with pillows.

"What happened?" She rasped.

The others exchanged worried looks. "We were hoping you could tell us. You seemed completely fine, lucid even, until Jason noticed your eyes were glazed over and you were behaving differently. He ran off to get first aid for you when you collapsed out of the blue."

"How long was I out?" She asked, and looked around. "Wait, where's Leo?"

Percy gnawed on his lip as he checked her pupils. "Maybe fifteen minutes. And Leo went aboard the Argo II with Octavian."

The memories of her conversation with the voices flashed through her head all of a sudden. "Oh my gods, guys, I—"

Then she noticed the small crowd around them. "Actually," she murmured, lowering her voice so just her friends could hear her. "I'll tell you what happened later. Could you guys catch me up on what I missed?"

So they settled back into their seats at the table and gave her a recap of their conversation— the significance of the prophecy concerning the Doors of Death, the need for collaboration between Roman and Greek demigods, and Hazel mentioned Nico di Angelo was her brother (??), sharing that he has disappeared while searching for the doors. 

Then they told her their plan: an expedition to Greece via the Argo II, despite the dangers of the Mediterranean, with Frank and Hazel added to their crew of "eight half-bloods," as per the Prophecy. ("And you just missed Tyson!" Percy added. "You passed out right after he left.") 

Jason appeared right after that, sweaty and panting, a first aid kit clutched in his hands. He seemed relieved to know she didn't need it, but insisted on repeating the scrutiny Percy'd put her under just moments prior.

"RA-RA," Jason turned away from June for a second to address his friend. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take June to Proserpina's gardens before the senate meeting. She could use a couple moments of peace."

Reyna's expression flickered with shock from where she stood with Percy, her features soon morphing into what seemed suspiciously like awkwardness. 

"Um, Jay..." She winced. "Percy just asked me the same thing."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "To take June to Proserpina's gardens?"

Percy nodded, taking a step toward them. "It's cool, we can all go together."

His expression was inscrutable, which was so out of character for him that June had to double-take.

Jason paused for a moment. "Sure. Reyna?"

"Yeah, you guys go ahead," she said dismissively. "But I'd like to have a word with Annabeth, if you all don't mind."

June saw Annabeth shiver at that. Piper looked like she wanted to say something, but bit back her words. Instead, she announced, "I'm getting bagels at that cafe over there."

"Rendezvous here in twenty?" Percy offered.

The others agreed, and with that, they went their separate ways.

rory speaks !

guys it took so long to write this

chapter i'm genuinely going insane

(i have exams and presentations

and projects this week and NOW is

when i get the motivation to write)

it's been 8 months and i've barely

proofread this so please lmk if there's

any error/ confusion/ wtv and i hope

this isn't a disappointing update i

haven't written in a while lol

it's almost 1 am pray for me

(also i hope you guys like the

june moodboard on top <33)

[ 05/11/24 ]