The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 20 - Alex - Roman Greeks

"And your sword?" Reyna asked.

Percy checked his pocket. The pen had reappeared as it always did. He pulled it out. He'd never shown Reyna the sword. Hazel and Frank hadn't seen it either. How had Reyna known about it?

He uncapped the pen. Riptide sprang to full form. Hazel gasped. The greyhounds barked apprehensively.

"What is that?" Hazel asked. "I've never seen a sword like that."

"I have," Reyna said darkly. "It's very old—a Greek design. We used to have a few in the armory before..." She stopped herself. "The metal is called Celestial bronze. It's deadly to monsters, like Imperial gold, but even rarer."

"Imperial gold?" Percy asked.

Reyna unsheathed her dagger. Sure enough, the blade was gold. "The metal was consecrated in ancient times, at the Pantheon in Rome. Its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors—a way for their champions to slay monsters that threatened the empire. We used to have more weapons like this, but now...well, we scrape by. I use this dagger. Hazel has a spatha, a cavalry sword. Most legionnaires use a shorter sword called a gladius. But that weapon of yours is not Roman at all. It's another sign you're not a typical demigod. As for tridents, they are even more uncommon. Only Neptune has one. There hasn't been a single legend about a hero with a trident. And your arm..."

"What about it?" Percy asked.

Reyna held up her own forearm. She had a tattoo on the inside: the letters SPQR, a crossed sword and torch, and under that, four parallel lines like score marks.

Percy glanced at Hazel.

"We all have them," she confirmed, holding up her arm. "All full members of the legion do."

Hazel's tattoo also had the letters SPQR, but she only had one score mark, and her emblem was different: a black glyph like a cross with curved arms and a head:

I looked at my arms. A few scrapes, some mud, and a fleck of Crispy Cheese 'n' Wiener, but no tattoos.

"So you've never been a member of the legion," Reyna said. "These marks can't be removed. I thought perhaps..." She shook her head, as if dismissing an idea.

Hazel leaned forward. "If he's survived as a loner all this time, maybe he's seen Jason." She turned to me. "Have you ever met a demigod like us before? A guy in a purple shirt, with marks on his arm—"

"Hazel. " Reyna's voice tightened. "They've got enough to worry about."

Percy touched the point of his sword, and Riptide shrank back into a pen.

"We haven't seen anyone like you guys before. Who's Jason?" I asked.

Reyna gave Hazel an irritated look. "He is...he was my colleague. " She waved her hand at the second empty chair. "The legion normally has two elected praetors. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, was our other praetor until he disappeared last October."

Juno had mentioned that it was now June. "You mean he's been gone eight months, and you haven't replaced him?"

"He might not be dead," Hazel said. "We haven't given up."

Reyna grimaced.

"Elections only happen in two ways," Reyna said. "Either the legion raises someone on a shield after a major success on the battlefield—and we haven't had any major battles—or we hold a ballot on the evening of June 24, at the Feast of Fortuna. That's in five days. "

Percy frowned. "You have a feast for tuna?" I snorted.

"Fortuna," Hazel corrected. "She's the goddess of luck. Whatever happens on her feast day can affect the entire rest of the year. She can grant the camp good luck...or really bad luck. "

Reyna and Hazel both glanced at the empty display stand, as if thinking about what was missing.

 "The Feast of Fortune...The gorgons mentioned that. So did Juno. They said the camp was going to be attacked on that day, something about a big bad goddess named Gaea, and an army, and Death being unleashed. You're telling me that day is this week?" I asked, shocked.

Reyna's fingers tightened around the hilt of her dagger.

"You will say nothing about that outside this room," she ordered. "I will not have you spreading more panic in the camp. "

"So it's true," Percy said. "Do you know what's going to happen? Can we stop it?"

Typical Percy, I thought. But I was willing to help as well.

"We've talked enough for now," Reyna said. "Hazel, take them to Temple Hill. Find Octavian. On the way you can answer Alexandra's questions. Tell them about the legion."

"Yes, Reyna," Hazel said.

Percy had turned so purple by not asking all the questions he wanted to ask, I thought he might explode. But Reyna made it clear the audience was over. She sheathed her dagger. The metal dogs stood and growled, inching toward me now.

"Good luck with the augury, children of Neptune," she said. "If Octavian lets you live, perhaps we can compare notes...about your past."

"Oh, yeah, sure," I said as Hazel led the way out. "I can take mean notes. Pretty sure everyone at school would want them."

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