Awakened Memories

I Tell A Highly Trained Warrior Bad News

I Tell A Highly Trained Warrior Bad News

Percy

"You know that Terminus is going to interrogate you and make you leave your weapons behind." Hazel mentioned as we made our way to the Pomerian Line.

"Oh, we know. I don't get why since he knows us."

"He's Terminus. He has to. Sometimes he does it to us too." Frank said.

We reached the Pomerian Line and found our path blocked by none other than the armless statue of Terminus. "Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, and a hellhound and cyclops! Unacceptable. They cannot pass. You two may pass after inspection but the two monsters cannot."

I sighed and turned to Tyson. "This is where you'll have to wait. Keep Mrs. O'Leary here, don't let her run around and ruin everything. Keep that cape in front of you so everyone will know that you're a friend. Okay?"

"I will stay with brother's doggie." Tyson replied and plopped down on the ground next to Mrs. O'Leary.

"We'll stay with him too." Hazel offered and she and Frank stood near them. "You know how to find Jason and Reyna, right?" Nico and I nodded. "Good. We'll watch them while you talk to them."

"Thanks." Nico and I turned back to the statue of Terminus. "Well, Terminus. What do you need us to do?"

"That rock is too close to that tree. Move it to the right one inch." Nico moved the rock. "Perfect. Now, you are not here to kill the praetors, are you?"

"No." Nico and I said together.

"Who are you, your godly parents and why haven't you been here before?"

"I'm Nico di Angelo, the Son of Pluto."

"I'm Perseus Jackson, the Son of Neptune. We have been here before. Nico has been here a lot, and I was here about a year ago. You know who we are! You called us by our names when you stopped us from entering the Pomerian Line!"

"Fine, fine. Weapons? Hand them over to Julia. Julia, where are you?" A little girl peeked out from behind the base of Terminus' statue. She dashed away as Terminus turned to look for her, and squealed when he spotted her. "Bring the tray."

Julia lifted a tray that had a few weapons plus lotion and water. Nico and I glanced at each other. Oblivion shimmered into existence in my palm. "I'll send this to my friend to hold on to." I concentrated and sent the deadly sword to the other Chaos.

"Me too." Nico unhooked his sword from his side and sent it off to the Chaos cabin at Camp Half-Blood.

Terminus eyed us warily. "I will know if you summon your weapons while in the Pomerian Line. Now, rules, since you're new." Nico and I rolled our eyes. Terminus was stubborn. "When you cross this line, you are entering the boundaries of the city proper. Keep the peace. Stay on the right side of the road. Sit on the left-hand side of the Senate House."

Nico and I walked past the statue while it blabbered on about cutting our pants and hair. We made our way to the big white-domed building on the west end of the forum. Senators were filing out of the building, which meant a Senate meeting had just concluded. Hopefully Reyna and Jason would still be in the Senate House. We slowly pushed our way through the crowd of exiting Romans and entered the Senate House.

"Percy?" Jason Grace's voice sounded throughout the large room and caught our attention.

"Nico?" The voice of Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano echoed Jason's.

"Hello, Reyna and Jason. It is good to see you." I greeted the two praetors. They both wore traditional purple togas. Reyna had dark eyes and long dark braided hair, like her sister, Hylla. Jason had blond hair, electric blue eyes and a small scar above his lip. They both were about my age.

"What are you doing here?" Jason asked.

"This isn't a friendly visit, as much as we would like it to be." I told them.

"What do you mean?" Reyna questioned.

"Let us fill you in on some stuff first, otherwise everything else will make no sense. Can we go somewhere private?"

A few minutes later, we sat in the principia, guarded from unwanted ears. "Please hear us out completely before you react." Jason and Reyna nodded slightly. "Okay. We haven't been entirely honest with you. Yes, we are the sons of Pluto and Neptune and Nico is also Erebus, and I am Chaos. But, we're really the sons of Hades and Poseidon. The Greek gods." Jason and Reyna's faces morphed into those of shock and disbelief. "Just like there are Roman gods and demigods, there are Greek gods and demigods. Olympus is real and it's above the Empire State Building. Nico and I are Greek demigods."

Nico said the next part. "There is a camp in New York called Camp Half-Blood, a camp like Camp Jupiter but for Greek demigods. They don't know about you, like you didn't know about them. Only our activities director, the centaur Chiron who trained heroes such as Heracles, knows. I found you, and then Percy found you, and we haven't told anyone."

I took over for the rest. "The reason we are here is that this is all going to change. The Oneiroi and Typhon are rising and want to take out the Olympians. My team is there helping Camp Half-Blood, and so are the Amazons. We had a powerful ally, but he turned on us. He was a Titan whose memories had been erased in the River Lethe, and renamed. He helped us two years ago in a war. The Oneiroi are a bit like the personification of dreams, and they awakened his memories through a dream. He left us, and we need more allies. That is why we need you."

We waited, letting Jason and Reyna comprehend everything we had just told them. Jason spoke first. "So you're saying that the Greeks, our enemies, are real and need our help to keep immortals from destroying the Greek gods?"

"Yes."

"Why should we help you? Romans and Greeks have never gotten along."

"We know. That is why these two camps were separated and never knew about the other. But think about this: if the Greek gods fall, so will the Roman gods. Hades is also Pluto. Jupiter is also Zeus. Poseidon is also Neptune. If our gods fall, yours will too."

Reyna sighed. "You make a good point. It wouldn't do well for either of us. Give us a few minutes while we talk this over." Jason and Reyna walked away from us to talk to each other.

I turned to Nico. "Do you think we convinced them?"

"I hope so." Nico said and tapped his fingers against his leg.

Reyna and Jason returned about a minute later. "We understand the consequences of your deities dying," Reyna started, "And know that when it comes to war, you must do things you may not prefer to. We will help your Greek camp."

Nico and I both let out our breath that we had been holding. "Thank you. How do you want to do this? I was thinking that one Cohort would be enough. Which one do you want to bring? And one of you should come with us."

"I would like to go," Reyna said. "I have not seen my sister in a long time, and I believe you said that the Amazons are helping."

I froze and sighed. She didn't know. "Oh. They are, but, um, Reyna, this may be hard to hear. In the war two years ago, we had gotten the Amazon's help then. Hylla was killed by Gaea as she defeated her." I slowly told Reyna and observed her reaction.

Her face drained of color and emotion. I thought I saw tears well up in her eyes, but none fell. Her hands clenched at her sides. Jason watched her with concern. Reyna composed herself, "That is news. In that case, I would rather not go. I trust the new Queen is worthy."

"Hylla stepped down for her to become Queen." I mentioned.

"I am glad she believed in her." Reyna said and looked fine on the outside, but I could tell she was feeling something else on the inside.

"I am sorry."

"It was not your fault. Jason, you will have to go. Which Cohort would you like to take?" Reyna said calmly. I could tell she wanted to blame me, or possibly Annabeth for Hylla's death.

Why did she have to die? And why did I have to be the one to tell her sister?