𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓! [pjo]

III; The scarecrow speaks

━━━𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬

.・゜゜・───・゜゜・．

Cal had never had a more delicious muffin. She split hers in half and handed one half to Percy, who did the same with his own. They were following Hazel to the augury. Cal's ankle felt as good as new, but obviously, Percy didn't get that because he kept looking at her with concern.

    "Honestly, I'm fine Perce. I could skip to the augury if I wanted!" She whispered.

    Percy grabbed her hand, "you won't!"

    Cal giggled.

They watched as a group of kids wearing swimsuits walked laughing to a building with steam rolling out of it.

    "Roman bathhouse." Hazel said, "We'll get you in there before dinner, hopefully. You haven't lived until you've had a Roman bath." Percy sighed with anticipation. Cal smiled.

    Percy pointed toward the summit. Clouds were swirling above a large temple, a white round pavilion. "I'm guessing that's Jupiter's temple?"

    Hazel nodded. "Octavian reads his auguries there, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus"

    Cal snorted. "Jupiter the Best and Greatest?" God, that's so stupid.

    "Yeah."

"What's Neptune's title?" Percy asked. "The coolest and most awesome?"

"Um, not quite." Hazel gestured to a small blue building the size of a toolshed.

A cobweb-covered trident was nailed above the door. Percy peeked inside. On a small altar sat a bowl with three dried-up, moldy apples.

Cal's heart clenched. "Popular place."

"I'm sorry, Percy," Hazel said. "It's just...Romans were always scared of the sea. They only used ships if they had to. Even in modern times, having a child of Neptune around has always been a bad omen. The last time one joined the legion ...well, it was 1906, when Camp Jupiter was located across the bay in San Francisco. There was this huge earthquake—"

"You're telling me a child of Neptune caused that?"

"So they say." Hazel looked apologetic. "Anyway... Romans fear Neptune, but they don't love him much."

Above them, thunder rumbled.

"Looks like Octavian's finishing up. Come on." Hazel walked off toward Jupiter's temple. Cal reached forward and grabbed Percy's hand, placing a kiss on the back of it. He flipped their hands and kissed hers.

    In the center of Jupiter's temple stood a statue of the big guy himself, decked out in a purple silk toga and clutching an XXL lightning bolt. Something about it didn't sit right with Cal.

    "It doesn't look like that," Percy muttered. Cal nodded.

The kid at the altar raised his hands, and the rumbling stopped and the clouds parted.

    "Cool trick" Cal muttered.

The scarecrow-looking kid grinned and nodded at her.

    "Percy, Callahan," Hazel said, "this is Octavian."

    "Ah, the oceanum and the fortuna!" Octavian said, "right on time!"

    Cal stepped forward, "you're not killing small animals, are you?"