Daughter of Poseidon, the Girl Who Lived

20. Harriet know the one in charge everywere

Harriet explained the concept of the Roman camp for me during the ride there, not that I got much wiser about how the same gods could have kids of two ethnicities, but, whatever.

At Berkeley hills, Severus told the chauffeur to drop us off. Seemingly random. When he explained that we would have to walk a bit from here, I groaned. It had been a long day and the difference between time zones had made it literally longer as well.

Harriet snorted.

"If that's your opinion on a bit of exercise, you should be happy you're not Roman. Though the Roman aspect of Athena doesn't have any demigod children, so the risk would have been low."

She led the way until we reached what Severus pointed out to me as the entrance to Camp Jupiter. A service tunnel guarded by two armed adults. When we got closer the woman raised an eyebrow at us.

"Can we help you?"

"Hi! I'm Harriet Potter, we're from Camp Half Blood," she said with confidence.

"Yeah, your shirt kinda gives that away." The man half smiled.

"Hope van Dyne. And the idiot right next to me is Scott Lang." Hope nodded towards the guy named Scott.

"Nice to meet you! We would like to spend the night in New Rome before we continue our quest tomorrow. Can you allow us entrance?"

The guards shared a look before turning to Harriet again.

"Scott will take you to the praetors. You'll have to talk to them."

Harriet thanked them and Scott gestured towards the entrance he just opened. We walked through a narrow tunnel that I couldn't see the end of. Scott asked us multiple questions, seemingly afraid of a potential awkward silence.

"So, Camp Half Blood, huh? Is it good there?"

"Yeah, it's nice." Though, I only spent two days at camp, and was unconscious one of those days.

"So, who's your parents, then?"

"Um, my mother is Athena, and you?"

"Mercury."

"Who?"

"He is the Roman counterpart of Hermes."

"Ah."

I don't think it was his fault, but his attempts to make it less awkward was more counterproductive. Reaching the Praetorium at Camp Jupiter was a blessing sent from mum. (But not literally, from what I know.)

We were greeted by an Afroamerican young woman and an Asian broad man. They both looked at us with curiosity and smiled when they saw Harriet.

"Harriet! How are you doing? We haven't seen you since last time Percy took you with him for a visit. You've grown a lot!"

The woman hugged her followed by her Asian colleague as if they were all old friends, which they probably were.

"I'm so glad to see you! There's so much that has happened since last time, and I want to tell you everything." I couldn't remember ever having seen Harriet this excited, not even when she won her very first game of quidditch. "But, it might have to wait. We're on a quest you see. I was hoping you'd allow us to spend the night here. We had to take a detour to the underworld."

The praetors shared a quick look before coming to a decision.

"Of course you're allowed to spend the night, Harri. You're always welcome at Camp Jupiter," the guy said. "Scott, go get Clint Barton. Then you can return to your post."

"Yes, sir!" Scott made a salute and left.

"Now, while we wait, why don't you introduce us to your friends, Harriet?" The woman looked at me and Severus.

"Oh, sure!" Harriet turned to us. "Guys, this is Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. The Roman aspect of Hades," she added when she saw my confused face. "And Frank Zhang, son of Mars, the Roman aspect of Ares. They fought in the second Giant War alongside my brother." She turned to the war veterans and continued. "And this is my Potions professor Severus Snape, son of Hades and swords instructor at Camp Half Blood. The blond guy is my classmate Draco Malfoy, son of Athena."

"Welcome to Camp Jupiter, Draco and Severus. We hope you'll like it while you're here. Now what quest are you going on?" Hazel Levesque asked us.

Harriet explained how we were sent to find and return Poseidon's trident preferably before summer solstice. Hazel and Frank looked at each other. They knew something.

"We've heard about Neptune missing his greatest weapon. We don't know what it means, but it's a critical situation. We have heightened the security and are currently in preparation of a potential attack of some kind. Given the chain of events that unfolded when Jupiter's master bolt was stolen, we don't want to take any chances. Veterans of the legion have had to help out as well," Hazel explained to us. Harriet was not very found of this news.

"You're preparing for war?" she whispered, but we heard.

"Well, I'm not very found of it either, but better safe than sorry." Frank shrugged.

That didn't seem to calm her down.

We were offered dinner in the mess hall before going to New Rome, where Clint Barton had prepared us a guest room in his house. The food here was great after our trip to Hades. Despite that, Harriet wasn't eating, she just sat there picking at her food while her thoughts was elsewhere. Frank noticed this as well.

"So, Draco. You want to see Temple hill. I'm sure Harri would gladly take you there."

"Huh? I do?"

Frank nodded frankly.

"I mean, yes I do. You can take me there, Po- Harriet?"

Harriet looked confused.

"Um, yeah, why not."

She stood up and headed towards the exit. I looked at Frank.

"Get her to talk," he exhorted.

Frank had probably assumed Harriet and I were good friends since we were on a quest together. He was wrong, but I still grabbed some apples and hurried after her. The logical side of my brains told me she must still be hungry, even though she didn't feel like eating.

Temple hill was where the Romans had all their temples to the gods. Some of these temples was big and magnificent, while others were more modest shrines. Harriet pointed out each and every one of them like she had done with the cabins back at Camp Half Blood. When we passed Minerva's shrine, the Roman equivalent of Athena, I left the best looking apple I'd taken with me.

Thank you for contacting me, mother.

Harriet walked to a shrine that seemed to have been renovated newly. A trident was nailed to the door, so it wasn't hard to figure out who it belonged to.

Well, here goes nothing, I thought and followed her inside.