SHOW THEM WHO YOU ARE

"this wasn't the plan"

     THE ROMANS WENT INTO ACTION. All jumped right in, looking for the source of the rumbling, only to sigh when they saw the large vines surrounding Camp Jupiter reaching higher toward the sky.

Reyna shook her head.

Ariadne had only just noticed them. "What the hell?"

"They've been there for months," Reyna said. "We've tried all we could. Nothing has been good enough."

Jason's brows furrowed. "When did they appear?"

Hazel, who stood tall, looked straight at the boy. "Since December."

Annabeth looked at Ariadne, and the brunette cringed slightly. The blonde girl was giving her pinged look to explain the best she could. Ariadne wasn't in the mood of talking about the day she realized Percy had been kidnapped, but she had to.

"I might know why," Ariadne spoke, causing them to eye her. "Uh, the day we found out Percy was gone, I may or may not have set off this chain reaction sending vines everywhere. I have no idea how they ended up here."

Reyna raised a brow. "You caused them? Only gods have that kind of power."

"Well, is there another child of Dionysus—I mean, Bacchus here? Did they try?"

"Dakota tried all he could, and as well as the children of Ceres. None prevailed."

Ariadne sighed. She held out her hand. All at once, the vines quickly retreated into the ground. Romans stared at her with gaping mouths and wide eyes, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

Percy noticed his girlfriend begin to retreat behind her cold exterior she sought after when she became distressed or overwhelmed. "Why don't we eat?" he suggested.

Best idea yet.

***

     ARIADNE WAS GLAD SHE HAD AN APPETITE, BECAUSE THE ROMANS KNEW HOW TO EAT.

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 legionary armor. Around the edges of the feast, satyrs—no, fauns—trotted from table to table, panhandling food and spare change. In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with Mrs. O'Leary, and children playing tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits.

The whole scene was so familiar yet so completely alien that it gave Ariadne vertigo.

She knew she needed to wait to be with Percy—alone, preferably. They needed to build a relationship with the Romans, which meant building some goodwill and explaining everything.

Reyna and a few of her officers ( including the blond kid Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods ) sat with Ariadne and her crew. Percy joined them with his two new friends, Frank and Hazel.

As a tornado of food platters settled onto the table, Percy leaned over and whispered, "I want to show you around New Rome. Just you and me. The place is incredible."

Her heart seemed to dim. Sure, she would love to, but what about Camp Half-Blood. He was speaking enthusiastically of this place, burning her heart.

She tried not to stare at the new marks on Percy's forearm—an SPQR tattoo like Jason's. At Camp Half-Blood, demigods got bead necklaces to commemorate years of training. Here, the Romans burned a tattoo into your flesh, as if to say: you belong to us. Permanently. She swallowed her guilt for thinking that of him, acting as if he forgot about camp.

"Okay," she said quietly. He smiled. "I'd like that."

"I've been thinking," he said nervously. "I had this idea—" He stopped as Reyna called a toast to friendship.

After introductions all around, the Romans and Ariadne's crew began exchanging stories. Jason explained how he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood without his memory, how he'd gone on a quest with Ariadne, Piper, and Leo to rescue the goddess Hera—of Juno, take your pick, she was equally annoying in Greek or Roman—from imprisonment at the Wolf House in northern California.

Percy's hand gripped hers tightly, as if remembering something. His eyes glanced over. She knew he wanted to talk about it alone, in peace, when it was just the two of them together.

Her squeeze was an answer all on It's own.

"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 her mouth, but no sound came out. Piper's charmspeak was love amongst the crew. She noticed Reyna looking back and forth between Jason and Piper, her brow creased, as if just beginning to realize the two of them were a couple.

"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," Ariadne answered. She pursed her lips.

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—Ariadne.

When she heard that, Ariadne had tried not to let her tears fall, her eyes stinging. Annabeth gave her a smile.

Percy told them how he'd traveled to Alaska with Frank and Hazel—how they'd defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed the 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."

Octavian turned as purple as a Roman t-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump.

Even Reyna managed a smile, though her eyes were stormy. "We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later," she said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."

"I'll step aside for Jason," Percy said easily. "It's no biggie."

"No biggie?" Octavian choked. "The praetor ship 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 said. "Anyways, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job."

"Back at you, Percy said.

Annabeth kicked his shins. Ariadne knew that they had serious serious things to discuss. "We should talk about the Great Prophecy," Annabeth said. "It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?"

Reyna nodded. "We call it the Prophecy of Eight. 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—"

"An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. Daughter of the mind shall break her own, And topple the earth from its throne."

Everyone stared at her—except for Leo, who had constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits.

Annabeth looked a bit embarrassed.

The big kid, Frank, sat forward, staring at her in fascination, as if she'd grown a third eye. "Is it true you're a child of Min—I mean, Athena?"

"Yes," she said, suddenly feeling defensive. "Why is that such a surprise?"

Octavian scoffed. "If you're truly a child of the wisdom goddess—"

"Look," Ariadne cut in, "Annabeth is the best strategist we have, and a great warrior. Unless you would rather go fight the Giants head on and risk your life like we're planning on doing, shut up."

Octavian glowered, but it was broken when she did the same. "You're the one who had those vines surround our camp. We can't possibly trust you. Besides, what is a daughter of Bacchus doing on a quest as important as this one?"

Her jaw clenched. A small vine swatted his hand, causing him to flinch.

"Enough," Reyna snapped. "Annabeth is what she says. Ariadne was chose as one of the Eight, we must respect that. They're here in peace. Besides..." She gave Ariadne a look of grudging respect. "Percy has told us you are the best fighter in the last few centuries. He has spoken highly of you."

The undertones in Reyna's voice took Ariadne a moment to decipher. Percy looked down, suddenly interested in his cheeseburger.

Ariadne's lips parted. Oh gods...Reyna had tried to make a move on Perch. That explained the tinge of bitterness, maybe even envy, in her words. Percy had turned her down for Ariadne.

Despite that fact, Ariadne admired Reyna in the few minutes she had known her. She was strong. It reminded her of herself, both carrying a large weight on their shoulders, in the eyes of everyone at both of their camps. She wasn't mad at the praetor.

"Thanks," she told Reyna. "Jason's done the same."

Wrong words, right reason.

Jason glanced at his hands, gulping nervously. Reyna's eyes shone with appreciation, a bit of hope, while Piper looked at the brunette with a gaze of hurt. But it was true—Jason had told Ariadne much about Reyna.

"At any rate," Annabeth started, "some of the prophecy is becoming clear. Does bearing arms to the Doors of Death...that means Romans and Greeks. We have to combine forces to find those doors."

Hazel, the girl with the cavalry helmet and the long curly hair, picked up something next to her plate. It looked like a large ruby; but before Ariadne could be sure, Hazel slipped it into the pocket of her denim shirt.

"My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," she said.

"Wait," Annabeth said. "Nico di Angelo? He's your brother?"

Hazel nodded as if this were obvious.

She decided to let the matter go. "Okay. You were saying?"

"He disappeared." Hazel moistened her lips. "I'm afraid...I'm not sure, but I think something's happened to him."

"We'll look for him," Percy promised. "We have to find the Doors of Death anyway. Thanatos told us we'd find both answers in Rome—like, the original Rome. That's on the way to Greece, right?"

"Thanatos told you this? The death god!"

Percy took a bite of his burger. "Now that Death is free, monsters will disintegrate and return to Tartarus again like they used to. But as long as the Doors of Death are open, they'll just keep coming back."

Piper twisted the few blue strands in her hair. "Like water leaking through a damn," she suggested.

"Yeah." Percy smiled. He nudged his girlfriend. "We've got a dam hole."

Ariadne cracked a smile.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and make sure they stay defeated."

Reyna plucked an apple from a passing fruit tray. She turned it in her fingers, studying the dark red surface. "You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do realize that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?"

"Mary who!" Leo asked.

"Mare Nostrum," Jason explained. "Our Sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."

Reyna nodded. "The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods. It's also the ancestral hole of the monsters, Titans and giants...and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse."

"You said Alaska would be bad," Percy reminded her. "We survived that."

Reyna shook her head. Her fingernails cut little crescents into the apple as she turned it. "Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It's been off limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there."

"Then we're good!" Leo grinned over the top of his pinwheel. "Because we're all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top of the line warship. She'll get us through."

"We'll have to hurry," Jason added. "I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time. She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."

Ariadne shuddered. She's had her won nightmares the past few weeks.

"Eight half-bloods must answer the call," she said. "It needs to be a mix from both of our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, Annabeth, and me. That's five."

"And me," Percy said. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's right."

"What?" Octavian shot to his feet. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"

"Percy!" Tyson in the Cyclops bounded toward them with Mrs. O'Leary at his heels. On the hellhound's back sat the skinniest harpy Ariadne had ever seen—a sickly looking girl with stringy red hair, a sackcloth dress, and red feathered wings.

No idea where the harpy had come from, she found herself smiling slightly to see Tyson in his tattered flannel and denim with the backward SPQR banner across his chest. She's had some pretty bad experiences with Cyclopes, but Tyson was the best of them. He was also Percy's half brother, which made him almost family.

Tyson stopped by their couch and wrung his meaty hands. His big brown eye was full of concern. "Ella is scared," he said.

"N-n-no more boats," the harpy mutttered to herself, picking furiously at her feathers. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax...boats are not for harpies."

Leo squinted. He looked at Hazel, who was seated next to him. "Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?"

"She's not a chicken." Hazel averted her eyes, as if Leo made her nervous. "Ella's a harpy. She's just a little...high strung."

"Ella is pretty," Tyson said. "And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship."

"No ships," Ella repeated. She looked straight at Annabeth. "Bad luck. There she is. Wisdom's daughter walks alone—"

"Ella!" Frank stood suddenly. "Maybe it's not the best time—"

"The Mark of Athena burns through Rome," Ella continued, cupping her hands over her ears and raising her voice. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Eon through pain from a woven jail. Daughter's mind spun through pain, Blood spilled in the gods' name."

The effect was like someone dropping a flash grenade on the table. Everyone stared at the harpy. No one spoke. Ariadne bit her lip, knowing that it was the same prophecy Annabeth had confessed to her a while ago. The Mark of Athena...Annabeth still had the silver coin in her pocket—the cursed gift from her mother.

Around them, the sounds of the feast continued, but muted and distance. As if their little cluster of couches had slipped into a quieter dimension.

Percy was the first to recover. He stood and took Tyson's arm. "I know!" he said with feigned enthusiasm. "How about you take Ella to get some fresh air. You and Mrs. O'Leary—"

"Hold on." Octavian gripped one of his teddy bears, strangling it with shaking hands. His eyes fixed on Ella. "What was that she said? It sounded like—"

"Ella reads a lot," Frank blurted out. "We found her at a library."

"Yes!" Hazel said. "Probably just something she read in a book."

"Books," Ella muttered helpfully. "Ella liked books."

Now that she'd said her piece, the harpy seemed more relaxed. She sat cross legged on Mrs. O'Leary's back, preening her wings.

Ariadne gave Percy a curious glance. Obviously, he and Frank and Hazel were hiding something. Just as obviously, Ella had recited a prophecy—a prophecy that concerned Annabeth.

Percy's expression said, help.

"That was a prophecy," Octavian insisted. "It sounded like a prophecy."

No one answered.

Annabeth forced a laugh. "Really, Octavian? Maybe harpies are different here, on the Roman side. Ours have just enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches. Do yours usually foretell the future? Do you consult them for your auguries?"

Her words had the intended effect. The Roman officers laughed nervously. Some sized up Ella, then looked at Octavian and snorted.

"I, uh..." Octavian dropped his teddy bear. "No, but—"

"She's just spouting lines from some book," Ariadne helped, "like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real propuso worry about."

She turned to Tyson. "Percy's right. Why don't you take Ella and Mrs. O'Leary and shadow travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?"

"Large dogs are good," Ella said. "Old Yelled, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg."

Percy smiled like the problem was solved. "Great!" Percy said. "We'll Iris-message you guys when we're done and catch up with you later."

The Romans looked at Reyna, waiting for her ruling.

Reyna had an excellent poker face. She studied Ella.

"Fine," the praetor said at last. "Go."

"Yay!" Tyson went around the couches and gave everyone a big hug—even Octavian, who didn't look happy about it. Then he climbed on Mrs. O'Leary's back with Ella, and hellhound bounded out of the forum. They dove straight into a shadow on the Senate House wall and disappeared.

"Well." Reyna set down her uneaten apple. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."

"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian grumbled. "The trireme is not a ship of peace!"

"Come aboard, man," Leo offered. "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."

Octavian's nostrils flared. "How dare you—"

"It's a good idea," Reyna said. "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."

"But..." Octavian stopped. Apparently he could tell from Reyna's expression that further arguing would not be good for his health. "Fine."

Leo got up. He turned to Ariadne and Annabeth, and his smile changed. It happened so quickly, she wasn't sure if it was real; but just for a moment someone else seemed to standing in Leo's place, smiling coldly with a cruel light in his eyes. Then Ariadne blinked, and Leo was just regular old Leo again, with his usual impish grin.

"Back soon," he promised. "This is gonna be epic."

A horrible chill settled over her. As Leo and Octavian headed for the rope ladder. The wind spirits began clearing the plates.

"Uh, Reyna," Jason said, "if you don't mind, I'd like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She's never seen New Rome."

Reyna's expression hardened.

Asking to show his new girlfriend around Reyna's city was rubbing said in a wound.

"Of course," Reyna said coldly.

Percy took Ariadne's hand. "Yeah, me, too. I'd like to show Aidan—"

"No," Percy snapped.

Percy knit his eyebrows. "Sorry?"

"I'd like a few words with Annabeth and Ariadne," Reyna said. "Alone. If you don't mind, my fellow for praetor." Her tone made it clear she wasn't really asking permission.

The chill spread down Ariadne's back. She was reluctant to be alone and unarmed with the Roman leader.

"Come, daughter of Athena, daughter of Dionysus." Reyna rose from her couch. "Walk with me."

With a quick whisper to Percy, she pressed a fleeting kiss to his cheek, causing him to nod. He was hesitant to let go of her hand, feeling sad that she had to leave once again.

Ariadne smiled. She promised to be back soon—she wasn't going to break that.

authors note:

Basically a filler ig

Idk man

Hope y'all enjoyed it!

Q: what song do you think fits when they fall into Tartarus?
A: way down we go. Something about it just ❤️

Love you guys!