𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲, [ PJO ]

𝟶𝟻: 𝙷𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚛.

"𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎,
𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠,
𝙸 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛,
𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎,"

───» Light, Sleeping At Last «───

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

FINN THOUGHT HE WAS DEHYDRATED, or that his brain was more poorly wired than he originally thought. The camp was filled with dead people. Well- not filled, but more than you'd expect to see in one spot. They were all ghostly, glowing dudes doing normal tasks. They seemed peaceful enough.

Codeword: seemed.

As the group walked by, Finn beside Reyna while Percy, Hazel, and Frank followed, they drew a few eyes.

A few of the ghosts looked shocked, some looked angry even. They had all stopped their tasks to watch Finn and Percy like they would blow up on the spot. The little boy ghost shrieked something like "Greggus!" and turned invisible.

Percy seemed to try to shrink down, while Finn bumped his fist into Percy's, attempting to distract him.

"Am I seeing things?" he asked, nodding to Finn gratefully. "Or are those—"

"Ghosts?" Hazel turned. She had startling eyes, like fourteen-karat gold. "They're Lares. House gods."

"House gods?" Finn asked. "Like- the Gods of the houses?"

Hazel turned her head, muffling her laughter.

"They're ancestral spirits," Frank explained.

"Uh-huh," Finn hummed, eyes locking with Percy, who shrugged.

"The Lares are kind of like mascots," he continued. "Mostly they're harmless, but I've never seen them so agitated." 

"They're staring at us," Percy said. "That ghost kid called me Greggus. My name isn't Greg."

"You would make a horrible Greg,"

"Shut up, Finn,"

"Graecus," Hazel said. "Once you've been here awhile, you'll start understanding Latin. Demigods have a natural sense for it. Graecus means Greek."

"Is that bad?" Percy asked.

Frank cleared his throat. "Maybe not. You've got that type of complexion, the dark hair and all. Maybe they think you're actually Greek. Is your family from there?"

Frank's eyes shifted to Finn. "Oh, uh- I don't think so." 

"When we remember, we'll let you know," Percy said.

Frank said. "Romans and Greeks have an old rivalry. Sometimes Romans use graecus as an insult for someone who's an outsider—an enemy. I wouldn't worry about it."

Finn didn't believe him for a second.

They stopped at the center of camp, where two wide stone-paved roads met at a T.