Facial hair.

I felt someone shaking my arm, and my eyes blinked open. "Astra," Annabeth whispered, "We're almost there." Leaning out of Rigel's mane, I found my face covered in alicorn hair that it could've been enough for a beard.

"Rigel, are you shedding?" I asked, spitting out the hair from my lips, "Do alicorns shed?" I sneezed and wiped my nose (and no, I won't describe what came out). Rigel rolled his eyes, obviously not giving a peacock's feather about my comment.

"We're about to head towards the Caldecott Tunnel in San Fransisco," Annabeth explained, pointing at the traffic below our feet. The people driving by probably thought that we were airplanes flying a little too low for comfort, but continued to move on with their boring and monotonous lives. "Camp Jupiter's entrance is a service tunnel nearby." Following Annabeth's index finger, the pegasi swooped down into an unoccupied underpass, although a couple of cars honked out of annoyance.

There was a brief moment of darkness, and a shining light revealed everything that Jason described to me. And boy was he detailed. Surrounded by the Oakland Hills, there was a valley at least twice the size of Camp Half-Blood. There was a small river that snaked around one side and turned towards the center, almost like a capital letter "G" and emptied into a beautiful sparkling lake. Directly below the pegasi, which was hugging the edge of the lake, was the city of New Rome gleaming in the summer sunlight. There were all the landmarks Jason told me about, including the coliseum, temples and parks, the hippodrome, the neighborhood of Seven Hills with its winding streets, brightly colored villas and blooming gardens. Dozens of kids in togas were coming from the Senate House to watch our descent. Others watched from shops and cafes, and I was jealous that they had their own personal Starbucks.

A bit from the west was a Roman fort standing strong on a hill. It looked like illustrations Annabeth forced me to look at in history books, with a defensive trench lined with spikes, high walls, and watchtowers armed with scorpion ballistae. Inside, though, perfect rows of white barracks lined the main road, which was the Via Principalis. I seriously studied too much with the Athena cabin. I then realized that this is the first time I was able to enter the camp.

As soon as I finished admiring the view, a loud BOOM caused my eardrums to explode.

"Woah!" I shrieked, nearly falling off Rigel. He immediately tilted himself, adjusting so that I was swing back into his mane. "Bleh!" I spat out more hair as I looked at Annabeth, "What was that?"

"Or who was that?" Annabeth grumbled, "Terminus is here-."

"Unacceptable!" Someone shrieked. I turned back forward, and I found myself eye to eye with a furious looking statue. Apparently he managed to explode into existence right on top of Rigel's head, and my alicorn wasn't entirely happy about it. He tried shaking his head wildly, but to no prevail.

"Woah," Austin brought Blackjack over our Rigel's side, "Who's that?"

Cinders popped around the statue's curly hair. From waist down, there was nothing there. I'm not trying to imply anything, but he was just a square marble pedestal. But from waist up was a muscular human figure with a carved toga. "Greeks! Showing up uninvited, again. What do you think this is, Chuck E. Cheese?"

"Terminus," Annabeth tried to explain, "It's me. Annabeth Chase. We've met before-."

"You! Nearly destroyed our camp with your stupid war machine!" Terminus interrupted her again, angrily leaning forward and getting too close for comfort.

"But it wasn't our fault-!"

"Nonsense!" He snapped, "And no weapons allowed!" He gestured at my belt with his head, because he was lacking arms.

"Uh, okay?" I took off my belt, which held my knife, "Where do I put this-."

With a loud POP, it disappeared with yellow smoke rising from my fingers. I yelped, shaking my hands wildly as if they were on fire. "You'll get that back when you leave," Terminus huffed, obviously having a habit of interrupting people before they could end their sentences. "And why are you here?"

"We need to talk to Reyna," Annabeth attempted to clarify for the third time, "We're going to need her help-."

"Bah! Last time you promised peace you nearly destroyed Camp Jupiter."

She threw her hands up in distress, "I'm done! I'm not even going to try and explain anymore."

"Terminus, the camps have been united by the Athena Parthenos. We will cause no harm to your camp," Lance decided to try this time, "We swear on the Styx."

The statue seemed to ponder about this, and I was wondering if he was scratching his chin with imaginary hands. "Well, I like it if you've clarified, and now that you've sworn..."

"No one's armed," Austin held out his bow and quiver, and Lance mimicked with his sword sheath, "We'll talk in peace. You can make sure we obey the rules. Agreed?"

Terminus sniffed haughtily, and their weapons also disappeared with a puff of smoke. Annabeth's sword also vanished, even though she had no intention of handing it over. "Fine. You may land. Please don't try to destroy my town, again."

* * *

Tons of people apparently thought that demigods riding on flying horses was interesting entertainment. Whole families even came to greet us. I saw couples with children, elderly people, all wearing a combination of Roman robes and modern clothes. Not the greatest fashion sense, I know, but I'm obviously not an Aphrodite child so I can't judge. Could they all possibly be demigods? All the campers at Camp Half-Blood were teens, and if they survived long enough, they could either be counselors or start lives as best as they possibly could in the mortal world.

Far beyond the crowd by the Roman fort was a tall Cyclops waving enthusiastically with a red-haired harpy by his side. A large dog-, no, a hellhound, was curled at their feet sleeping soundly. The Cyclops grinned. He was wearing a SPQR banner like a bib, and I could've sworn that it had peanut butter on it. When we jumped off our horses, Annabeth gestured towards the unique three, "Up there. Let's meet up with Tyson."

"Tyson?" I asked, "Percy's Cyclops brother? I've heard of him."

"He's a unique character," Austin chuckled, "You'll grow an attachment to him."

As we left our horses at the fence with the annoying statue, we headed up the hill. A small girl approached me, shoving a brochure in my hands. "I hope you enjoy your stay!" She smiled cheerfully. She looked a bit younger than Serena, who obviously didn't give the little girl a look at all.

"Aw, thanks darling," I awkwardly patted her head and continued back on the path. I flipped the paper around, realizing that I couldn't read it because it was in Latin. It did have fairly interesting pictures, though, so I decided to keep it in my pocket.

When we finally arrived up at the Roman fort, Tyson made a running dash towards Annabeth. "ANNNABETHHH!" He yelled, tackling the daughter of Athena into a tight hug. The hellhound woke up and trotted after him, although the harpy shyly hid behind a watchtower.

"Hey Tyson," She smiled, returning the gesture, "Have you met Astra and Lance yet?"

He turned around, revealing his over six foot stature. His giant eye blinked as if he was a baby puppy. "You look nice!" Tyson released Annabeth and immediately picked me up as if I was a teddy bear. "We're friends!"

"Ha," I laughed nervously, although the laugh was painful because I was running out of air, "Nice to meet you too."

He placed me back on the ground carefully. Tyson pointed at the hellhound which was enthusiastically licking Austin's face and checking Serena's bonds out, "That's Mrs. O'Leary. She's friendly." He moved his hand to the hiding harpy, "That's Ella. She's pretty." His face turned bright red with a blush.

"I'll agree with you on that," I said, not knowing entirely how to communicate with a Cyclops, knowing that a few have tried to murder me before.

"Tyson, do you know where Reyna and Leo are?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes!" He jumped cheerfully, "Right in there! Reyna's mad at Leo though. Says he's a bad dancer. I'll show you!" He thundered into the fort enthusiastically, and the five of us followed right after him. We passed the harpy, and I waved. She only tried to hide more, and I realized that Ella was more antisocial than I was. Someone give her an award.

* * *

As soon as we entered the room, we found a girl choking Leo in a restraining hold. Calypso made no move to help him, however, because she was busy sitting on a couch reading her own brochure. Hazel was sitting next to her, translating each paragraph and explaining the images besides them. Tyson left, bounding towards the kitchen in hopes of finding full Skippy jars. "Oww!" Leo cried, "Get off!"

"It's nice to be back," Annabeth sat herself down, obviously not caring about Leo one bit.

He looked up sadly, "Annabeth, you too?"

The girl got up, pushing Leo into the rug as she did so. She wore full Roman armor and a flowing purple cape. Dark hair tied into a braid tumbled down her right shoulder. Her eyes were as black as obsidian stones. Reyna. There were famous stories about her back at Camp Half-Blood, and Jason described her well. Even after holding Leo in a choke hold, I could see her as a military leader. Medals decorated her armor. She stood with such confidence that I had to advert my gaze.

"Annabeth," Reyna nodded, a slight smile pulling at her cheeks, "Pleasure to see you again." She turned to me, holding out a strong hand. "I've heard many stories of you, Astra Windlass. It is nice to finally meet the famed daughter of Artemis in the flesh."

I took her hand and shook it, trying to be as formal as I possibly could: "Same to you, buddy!"

She squinted, unable to understand what I was trying to come at. After finally introducing herself to Lance and Austin and Hazel and I reunited with a hug, she gestured at us to sit down. "We've heard the news from Leo, although he isn't the most reasonable person to deal with. Frank is out with a team to find information on Uranus. But what has brought the four, or rather, the five of you here?" Reyna stared suspiciously at Serena, who continued to not say a word.

"We were sent by the goddess Eris to retrieve the cursed necklace of Harmonia in trade for information," Annabeth spoke, "Serena is supposed to lead us there, but the location is by the base of Mt. Tamalpais."

Reyna cringed, "Ah, the Titans. Risky."

"We came by hoping that a group of demigods of accompany us," I finished for Annabeth, "We can't face a hoard of Titans on our own."

"But with a group, there could lead to more risks of getting noticed," Reyna clasped her hands together and leaned forward in her seat. "I will join you. I'm sure Hazel will be fine with coming along as well." She turned to her cohort, and Hazel nodded. "Alas, today is the feast of Fortuna."

"A feast for tuna?" I asked.

"You are literally a replica of Percy," Hazel giggled, "That's what he said too."

"Fortuna. The Roman goddess of luck," Reyna was kind enough to explain, "Every June twenty fourth determines whether or not Camp Jupiter will have good luck for the rest of the year from the goddess. You must understand that we have to stay for this."

"Of course," Annabeth agreed, "We have until Sunday to hand over the necklace."

"Then we'll leave at sunrise," Reyna complied.

I really wanted to complain that I can't wake up early for the third day in a row or else I would slaughter someone, rip out their intestines and sacrifice their entrails to the Egyptian gods, but I decided to stay silent because of the powerful half-blood in front of me. Austin raised his hand, a little concerned to the point where he was worried, "If I may, I just want to ask quick question. Why were you strangling Leo?"

Reyna turned towards the son of Hephaestus, who was busy tinkering something with spare parts from his tool belt. "He started dancing... And called it-."

"The Macareyna!" He jumped up, pressing a button on the machine he just made. It started to play music and he immediately started the hand motions to the original song.

I rolled up my nonexistent sleeves, "I'll handle this."

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Sorry for another informational chapter. I just had to write it in full detail because I've never written about Camp Jupiter before (I realize that I apologize in almost every A/N...) But be glad! I updated sooner than usual to get my schedule back to normal...

Quick question: How did you first find the Astra Windlass trilogy?

The conflicts with Lance will clear up in the next chapter, so stay tuned!

XOXO,
Arisa