by Amy Laine
It took the rest of the time eating breakfast for her to tell me the entire version. So, Hazel was a kid from way back when. Her mom actually was a crazy lady that a bunch of villagers thought was a witch. Her mom was called Queen Marie- but she wasn’t actually a queen. Hazel had a curse because her mom asked Pluto for anything she wanted. So, her unlucky daughter got a bad case of controlling-all-riches-under-the-ground-but-the-catch-is-they’re-cursed-itis.
So, Gaea Mother Earth forced Hazel to start reconstructing her most powerful son for the Civil War. (This was because she was controlling Hazel’s mom and making her scared and stuff.) And then Hazel defeated her and lived happily ever after.
Just kidding. Not even close. So in the last dark days Hazel stood up to Gaea the evil Mother Earth and destroyed her with her curse. And she delayed the powerful giant son Alcyoneus from rising in that time period. That also, brought down the cave they were in and she and her mom died.
The judges of the Underworld had this argument over where they should put Hazel- and her mom Marie. They decided that Hazel and her mom could just go the Fields of Asphodel after Hazel (I was beginning to like this girl) gave up her chance to go to Elysium (the ultimate underworld party) in order to save her mom from having to go to the Fields of Punishment. (Personally, I think her mom deserved to go there- no mercy after what she did to her daughter.) Then like seventy years later, Nico di Angelo (another kid from the past packed up into a place called the Lotus Casino, where time stood still) and seeing as he was her half brother rescued her. He brought her back from the Underworld for a second chance. Initially, he had been there to rescue his other sister, Bianca, but he was too late and she had gone for rebirth.
Hazel seems…so much older and wiser, from that perspective. I immediately respected her for making such honorable choices, even when it cost her VIP passes to the best place in Hell, and destroying Alcyoneus from rising at the time.
It still didn’t all go together very well. “Why does your spatha look like you just used it?” I question. I want the full story. By now, everybody is being herded out of the breakfast area. I stand up.
Hazel brushes the crumbs off her toga and stands up as well. “Sometimes…I have these; well what would you call them? A black out, maybe. Or a flash back…It’s when sometimes I’m doing something and then something from my past takes over…and I kind of drop everything and go back into the past.”
I scratch my chin. “Like fainting?” Hazel shakes her head no.
“Oh no, Jason this is much worse. I relive my past, and it’s so real I feel like it is happening again.”
The puzzle is making sense now. “So this time…” I say slowly, “You tried to stop the dream- black out, whatever, from happening. You tried to drag yourself away from the image, break the image with your sword, but nothing worked.”
Hazel nodded. “The black out is everywhere. I can’t get away. I can only endure it, until it’s over.”
I feel bad for her. Any moment a black out could over take her, and she’d be just standing there, forced to relive her mom going insane. I realize we are the only ones still standing in the breakfast area.
Oh gods. Reyna will fray me alive if she finds out the praetor isn’t setting a good example- being late to training. The number one most important rule to Rome: Warriors to conquer new lands. And, you can’t be warriors pillaging the stupid graceus- like we did a long time ago.
I tell Hazel I’ll catch her later, and head off. The first on my schedule is Combat Training with Reyna because her mom is Bellona the goddess of war.
Of course, she chews me out for being three seconds tardy. I’m not proud of it, but I rolled my eyes at her and told her, “Reyna you don’t always have to be so nervos all the time.”
She flipped me over onto my back. “Jason Grace, did you just call me irritated?” She asked looking pretty angry. I myself had my own black out where I saw the future: If I ever said that again I would be hanging from the stocks- dead.
It was still pretty funny though, because when she said that- she looked nervos. I muttered under my breath, “Taci din gură.” Which basically means, “Shut up” in Romanian. Thank the gods she didn’t hear me.
Reyna totally kicked my butt at Combat Training. In my defense, I fight best in the air- it’s my safe zone. My home territory. Plus, Reyna had an advantage being the daughter of a War goddess.
I charged at her, and feinted to the side to try and strike her lower hip. Karate chops are not my thing. She anticipated this move and grabbed my hand and twisted it behind my back. In response, I used my other elbow to jab her in the stomach. She made a gasping sound like, “Uh!” but she just rolled backwards and out of range. We circled each other, like boxers in a caged arena.
But the crowd wanted Reyna to win, and booed me away. I’m thinking as we assess our opponent.
She came at me and I was sure she would feint just like I did. Instead of running straight into me, she used my head as a jumping pad and used it to spring herself off me and touch down on my back. Which basically meant: Reyna shoved me into the ground and I tasted soil.
After that it was an easy win for her. She put her shoe on my face (I didn’t really need the taste of her sneakers, it was disgusting), her other foot went on top of my back and she twisted both my arms so painfully I screamed in pain.
Before you go all, “Wow Jason is a wimp,” I’ll have you know that Reyna is the best warrior in camp. She’s like, undefeatable which probably explains why she is the teacher of that class.
After I brushed the dirt off my toga and the soil from my mouth, I bowed to the profesor and left for my next class.
It’s absolutely humiliating to be shoved into the dirt by a girl and have your arms twisted behind your back. Almost, degrading, but as a Roman I didn’t dwell on it too long. Or at least, it didn’t occupy all my thoughts and make me go insane.
Plenty of the campers witnessed my defeat, and that night when we chose who we wanted on our teams for the War Games I was chosen ninth to last. Normally, I’m the first because I can shoot people with lightning. (Although it’s pretty tiring summoning lightning sometimes. I get drained pretty easily.)
I fought like I always did. After I flipped my coin into a sword, it was show time. This guy from the fourth cohort rushed at me, and I just had to think, this guy is an idiot, before sweeping his legs out from underneath him. He was too stunned to know what happened. I pointed my sword at his throat and then gave him to Iolia (daughter of Venus, the love goddess) who was our Prisoner of War Jail guarder.
He went without complaint, stumbling after her. I barely had time to duck as a gleaming gold sword passed over me. I rolled out of the way and came face to face with Houston. He’s a really buff guy, who look’s like he’s been doing bench presses and sit ups his entire life. Which he probably has. His muscles rippled with strength as he bellowed at me.
I responded by chopping a bit of his purple shirt off his right shoulder. Houston seemed surprised. He aimed straight for my heart, and I had a slow reaction. I barely managed to parry the strike, but his sword still grazed my armor. I stepped forward to be on offense instead of defense. Houston went with my plan well. Too late, he realized he was no longer the predator.
We did little. I would strike at him here, and he would block it with his shield or his sword. Finally, when he stepped forward and raised his sword to smash it down on me, I jumped into the air, as Reyna had taught me, and spring boarded off his shoulders. Thus, I landed on his back and pushed him into the dirt. I fought the urge to yell, “Eat dirt you graceus!”
Graceus is basically the worst insult we can muster. It means “Greek” and since we defeated them so easily, it’s no wonder we use it like that.
“Impressive. It took my years to master that.” I turned around and there was Reyna, dressed for full combat. Good for her, because she was about to get full combat- from me.
I was the first to act. I threw my sword like a Frisbee at her which was stupid, be
cause then I didn’t have a weapon anymore. I leaped past her and grabbed up my sword again, but she got me on the small of my back. Blood tricked in a slow stream, but it didn’t hurt much. We danced with our weapons. Reyna with her dagger at her side and her javelin aimed at me.
My sword clashed with her javelin, but neither of us ever seemed to make any mistakes fighting. That’s when I crumpled to the ground. A strike from behind me, on my neck, had caused me to fall. I turned my head and found Octavian. Reyna grinned. “Thanks Octavian. You can go now.” He nodded and ran off to unfairly hurt a demigod in already unfair fight.
My lip curled and I glared at Reyna. “Romans may fight the best, but we don’t fight unfairly.” I growled. Reyna raised an eyebrow at me. “Jason, don’t tell me what war is. I know. My mother is-“I cut her off. “Goddess of battle strategy. Yeah, I know Reyna.” I almost add, “Yada yada, blah blah.”
I only needed that one second, for her to start getting heated. For her to start rolling off all the things her mother did for us Romans. I would never disrespect her mom, she is my role model. She’s basically, the only actual true, Roman god. There is no Greek equivalent for her. I would think that my closest advisor (I hope she never finds I out I called her that) would know that.
In that one second, I lunged at her and tackled her off her feet. She seemed to realize her mistake and cursed herself in some ancient language. “Jason Grace! You will pay for that!” I just grinned at her. “Okay, you can try.”
That got her really mad, which is exactly what I wanted. She threw her javelin at me and I raised my sword. It bounced away, harmless. Now she only had her dagger.
We went at it, sword against dagger. It wasn’t hard. I disarmed her in less than thirty seconds. Reyna looked out raged. “Jason!” She screamed at me, and I blinked. My mistake.
A leg went straight for my face and I got knocked into the grass. I struggled to keep hold of my golden sword. If I dropped it, I would be without a weapon, which is what Reyna wanted to happen.
I jumped up and tackled her into the cold, wet grass. I had her at sword point in no time and beckoned Iolia to come get her. “What are you doing?” Reyna demanded looking longingly at her javelin and dagger lying on the ground, away from her hands. I shrugged. “Prisoner of War.”
She stared at me hard. “Jason. You’ll regret this if you aren’t on my team next time.” I took no heed of the warning.
Lots of shouting broke out above my head. I looked up and saw that I was back to back with the other team’s wall. Hazel was up there holding up their flag triumphantly.
I grinned.
I knew that Camp Jupiter was my home. A warm feeling went straight up through my body, like the time I got my first year tattoo. Like I had earned it.
Beware, little hero. It won’t last for long. Enjoy it while you can. The voice came out of nowhere. It spoke in an ancient tone, like it hadn’t been used in millennia. “Taci din gură.” I muttered. Shut up.
Camp Jupiter is the only safe place for me. I’ll fight for it, until my last breath. Besides, I’m a son of Jupiter- how could anything bad happen to me?
My vision of what WOULD have happened to the Olympians, by Kronos
Poseidon absolutely despised whoever bred the kraken. That would be Keto, mother of all sea demons, of course. Krakens normally minded their own business, and stayed off the coasts of Norway and Iceland, deep in the ocean, were his rule didn’t exist.
If you ever had to fight them, you were in huge danger. Poseidon had about, 20…30 (?) heading on down to his sea palace, to challenge him.
Krakens were the worst of Keto’s race. They were a mixed race of the largest and most powerful sea serpents, a type of crab, and the giant squid. A rather odd blend of monsters, Poseidon thought as he headed for his Trident.
None the less, they were powerful. Reports from his spies claimed that the monsters will attack ships in search for food and extract pure destruction. Kraken are said to have great intelligence, but little is known about them, even to the Sea god, who knew almost all in his domain.
Poseidon sighed, and focused on the image above his fireplace. (Don’t ask how it worked in the water. It just did.)
It was, in short, live ‘footage’ or a hologram, of his palace and the territory around it. He could see the krakens advancing and it made him uneasy.
Such creatures, were uncommon if there where that many…no it was impossible. They’d have to be brought back from Tarturus or awakened only by the most ancient powers…like a certain Titan perhaps?
Oceanus. The sea god before even Poseidon himself. And he was stronger than ever. Poseidon ignored the fact that he was out numbered and tried to concentrate on happier subjects.
Poseidon zoomed in on the nastiest looking monster and aimed his Trident, with precision and accuracy. A blast of boiling water impaled itself into the sea serpent/crab/squid so hard that its skin turned black and bubbly.
It reared up in surprise, bumping into the kraken behind it, and just like that a domino reaction. The monster he had hit vanished into dust. One or two of the ones that had toppled over, exploded as well.
“It isn’t enough.” Poseidon murmured to himself. The most ancient power’s were awakening, the oldest Sea lords and villains that Poseidon had forgotten about.
How he longed to be away from his palace for once. He hated the burdens, upon his shoulders. Unlike the other Olympians, who had faced this trial once before, he had not. Oceanus in the first Titan War had remained Neutral. It was not good if he was fighting now, while Kronos was stirring. It meant that by Oceanus’ judgments, Kronos was going to win this time.
His son, Triton swam up to him. His chiseled features and black hair did not look as favorable as they usually did. Triton had always made time to look good, something must be wrong. The boy’s green skin was paler then usual. He was sweating, and his (small but fast) two fish tails were drooping.
“Father and Lord, I bring to you news.” He begins. Poseidon glowers at him. “Do you think I do not know, boy? I have incinerated three of those lowly creatures already!”
Triton looked uncomfortable. “Lord that leaves plenty more to go around. There are still more advancing at this moment. I say we-” His words are cut short once again.
The Sea god shimmered and his true form blasted the palace with light. A regular mortal, would have been turned to ashes but Triton had only blinked. “Sire, Oceanus is also coming. Look!” He pointed to where the image had used to be above the fire.
Poseidon sighed, and activated the image once more. With the butt of his Trident ™ he tapped the image of a merman larger than the kraken, with the horns of a bull. He looked as if he was riding a chariot pulled by crawfish, and instead of a sword he wielded a live angry looking serpent.
“As if I needed more problems, alas I must call a meeting.” Poseidon tapped the top three points of his weapon and a green light shone around it. Delphin, god of the Dolphins immediately swam in. Yes, he is a dolphin. Wouldn’t the god of the dolphins be a dolphin?
“I’m holding a swamp of leviathans back my Lord. It’s taking all of my forces; most of my dolphins are weakening.” The dolphin chattered nervously. Poseidon didn’t even have time to say, “Status Report,” like he had always wanted too. This dolphin just talked to fast and it was rather annoying.
Poseidon turned to look at his hologram once more. Wounded mermen and merwomen were being carted into the infirmaries. Many were dying defending the ocean realm. It was almost too much to watch. His face had softened at the sight of his people, and he transformed once more, to reflect his sad kingdom. His hands grew old and feeble, and the wrinkles sagged off his face. There were white hairs on his beard, and he had gray regular hair on top of his head.
Triton had stepped back (or swam back) obediently, to stay out of his father’s way. He would come forward only when needed.
Poseidon hated war, and he resented having to do it but he spread his arms an
d yelled, “Proelium mensa!” This meant, battle table in ancient Latin.
Actually, it just showed them the battle map, engraved into the floor as if it had been there many years. The magic part about it? It kept shifting, and changing showing where Oceanus was dominating or losing at. Mostly, he was dominating. The mosaic had full color and the images almost looked three dimensional. It was outside, on the deck, which would be their planning, or headquarters. (HQ for short.)
Triton stepped forward, curiosity obvious on his green face. He’d never seen the Proelium mensa in action. The Sea god shoved him backward with the flick of his wrist, controlling the water.
Triton glared at his father and pouted. But he was unable to swim farther than three feet in front of him. It wasn’t fair.
The other member in the council approached the meeting. Amphitrite, Poseidon’s wife and best warrior.
Delphin leaned over the map with Poseidon. The god couldn’t seem to figure out where he was going to attack. He kept placing pins on the map, and then blasting them off with heated water.
Delphin was smart and didn’t get too close. “Sharks,” Poseidon muttered. “We need sharks. And if we don’t get those leviathans on our side, or at least calm…” His words drifter off when Tyson, one of his Cyclops sons burst in with- Perseus Jackson. Or Percy as he liked to be called.
Triton instantly scowled at the demigod. He hated father’s other sons even more than Oceanus. They thought they were always so important, and so brave! Especially Perseus Jackson, because he had spied on his father when he told that- other- ‘son’ that he was his favorite.