Ok, here's my go.
Hi Hecate!!!! I'm one of your biggest fans and I am THE ULTIMATE BOSS!!! I signed up for Fanpop just to comment on your story! I love it! I was reading ever since you started writing the Son of Neptune! Best stuff ever! When I was reading RR's SON, I was like, whoa! She was right! Reyna is a daughter of Bellona! I reached the same conclusion because I was like hmm, Annabeth is the daughter of Athena, Athena is a war god. Who is a female war god that is not Athena? Then it clicked - Enyo. But then, snap! Enyo is Greek - even better, cause that means Bellona is Reyna's mom!
And then, you killed Hazel. I was all like: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO­OOO­OOO­!!!­!!!­!!!­!!!­!&q­uot­; But then I remembered you don't do stuff for nothing. And you killed Karen! Just when I was getting to like her!
Anways, enough with me getting mad at you! Let's get to good stuff. You are completely brilliant. Josie? Perfect for the seventh. Octavian? Well...I was thinking...ok.... But then I'm like, what the hey.
Aside from that, there's some constructive criticism I'd like to give you. It's mostly about spelling and grammar.
Well, first off: "Common." You seemed to have fixed that, which is great!
Chocked: The correct spelling is "choked."
Scrapped: The correct spelling is "scraped."
I can't think of anything else, so that's it for now.
Another thing, the seventh is a child of Athena/Minerva, and that is because of Olympian Week. There were seven cities each honoring a different god every day of the week. These were the parents of the seven. One was Athena. Just thought you should now. :)
Anyways, keep up the good work! I hope you become an author one day!

She could still be a daughter of Apollo as he is the god of prophecies
Amazing as always

I remembered something else:
Nadda: It is spelled with one "D" and means "no" or "not."

Guess who has no time to reply to comments? MEEEE! (again...) I'm off to school in max. 10 minutes.

TheUltimateBoss: Thanks for the CC and feedback! It means a lot to me! I sort of went 'screw Olympian week, this is what I'm doing'.

Maybe I'll reply to more later, I don't know, I've got to go, later, cool, kay, bye, enjoy!

XXVIV
Hazel
“Wow, your world is a scary place,” Josie said. “So what can Jason do? Fly?”
“The worst part of that statement is that Jason can harness the winds thanks to the blessing of Aeolus he got from a quest. So yes, flying.” Quinn said.
“That’s beside the point and no proof whatsoever!” Josie said. “I’m no psychic. I’m a lost child that’s been abducted from home sweet home. Well okay, the streets, who were more nasty-smelling than sweet.”
“Well if you wanted to be caught by the police, you could’ve just told Percy and sent us a postcard about how the orphanage was working out for you.” Annabeth said.
“My vision of an orphanage doesn’t include mail service. It’s more of a dark brick and low lighting building with grey Jell-O food and sticks. Long sticks that beat children.” Josie said.
“Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but it’s very important. Quinn and Hazel filled you in on what was going on?” Annabeth said.
“Yeah,” Hazel said. “We told her about everything in the last ten or so months.” Well, the parts that Josie didn’t already seem to know.
Since last afternoon, Hazel and Quinn had been spending a lot of time with Josie. Once you swerved around the sarcasm and ‘when’, ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions, she was okay. She was an amazing story teller, and deep down she actually wanted more stories to tell. It was always weird when Quinn would point out that Josie was implying or using a detail she wasn’t supposed to know. Josie would sort of blink and go ‘alright then’, and then the conversation would go on. To Hazel, Annabeth’s explanation made sense. She just knew these things right off the bat, things that no demigod did when they were introduced to the demigod world- even some things you wouldn’t know unless you were really close to the boat’s crew. No matter how much of a cannonball it represented for Josie, which Hazel assumed was a big one, Hazel was pretty sure it was true. Plus it’d come from Annabeth’s mouth.
“Well then you know that prophecies and oracles basically built and destroyed empire.”
“Sibylline books,” Ella said to herself.
“-And if your father is Apollo, it’s even more likely. And see, you didn’t know present facts like everyone’s favourite sodas-”
“That’s because nobody cares about people’s freaking sodas.” Josie said.
Annabeth said. “But things about the future? Guessing what would come next on those cards? You had it.”
“This is mental!” Josie said jumping to her feet. “I can deal with your little plans to save the world and Mowgli over there teaching me to sword fight,” she said gesturing towards Jason, “but this is a lie!”
“Josie-” Annabeth said.
“No!” She yelled. Hazel blinked. She’d seen Josie be snotty, uncooperative, sarcastic, blunt, and maybe even rude. But she’d never yelled. She’d never sounded like this- this being a broken and hurt and mad girl.
“Josie-” Annabeth started.
“No, I don’t want to hear it, for God’s sake!” Josie yelled at Annabeth. “I don’t want to hear another one of your theories or factoids or any of it!”
“Josie, what is your problem with this?” Annabeth asked. “It’s a power; it’s part of who you are.”
“No it ISN’T!” Josie yelled. “It freaking isn’t! Okay? I’m not a half-blood! I’m not like the rest of you! I’m not special!”
“Josie, what is your problem with it? It’s hard, but we all have to deal with it, and some of us have had it just as friggin hard as you,” said Frank. Hazel’s face got hotter when she felt his eyes dart to her.
“I’m not a freak!” Josie said, totally freaking out about this and taking it very, very badly.
“This doesn’t mean you’re a freak.” Jason said.
“Well then it means I deserved being thrown out of the house by my mom, I deserved a year on the streets, scavenging for food and starving and running away from the drug dealers who wanted to make me a vender, or the social services and GOD!” Josie said grabbing her head in her hands, bent in two, and blocking her ears. “You have no idea what it’s like! None of you, okay? Leo’s pretty damn close, but the rest of you always had help or instructions or a clue what the hell was going on in this mess of a dang friggin world that hates us all and make us hate it back!”
It suddenly hit everyone that Josie was human. Her sarcasm and snarky tongue hid that from them usually. It hid the trace of any other emotion she could possibly have. But were they any less present? No. Josie was just snarky because the alternative was being… Well, miserable. And nobody wanted to be miserable. And Josie’s hard life, scared mother and harsh living conditions hadn’t changed her will to be happy, so she’d at least refuse to acknowledge that miserableness. It wasn’t that unlike Leo, who hid behind his jokes.
To everyone’s surprise and then some, Leo was the one who walked up to Josie. Usually Annabeth was good at handling at Josie when the time bomb effect in her came out- mostly because Annabeth was good as replying in equally snarky manner, and dealing with people with hard pasts, hard futures and hard presents.
But Hazel wasn’t surprised. She knew about that soft part of Leo from when he’d come talk to her about his family history on deck.
The world suddenly seemed to pixelate (Hazel had just found out about computer screens), but she pushed it into focus, pushed thoughts of her old life and Sammy Valdez and things from long ago away.
Leo just talked to her in Spanish. Even if the language was foreign to her (and if not completely, at least 99% foreign), Hazel could tell that it was soothing Josie. She let go of her head and literally paid attention to the person talking to her- always a feat. He said something and opened his palm so fire danced across his skin. Hazel heard the word ‘Mamà’, which she knew meant ‘mother’. Her heart clenched for Leo.
Josie took a deep breath and replied something weekly. Leo said something and Josie finally just nodded.
“Fine,” she said. She looked beaten down. “Fine.”
Suddenly there was the splashing sound of the century and it made her jump- remembering that Percy and Tyson were in the water.
“Hey,” Percy said. Riptide was in his hand and Hazel thought ‘shoot’. “You know when the hippocampi were trying to talk to us, before we actually went in?” His tone was urgent and rushed and breathless.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“They say land straight ahead.” Percy said.
“We’re not due to hit any country now,” Piper said, examining the first map she’d been able to grab.
“Well you tell that to the island who’s coming up.”
Annabeth drew her knife, and Jason put his hand on the hilt of his gladus.
“This can’t be good,” Hazel said. She thought back to the illusion of Camp Half-Blood they’d seen before. That was the next step; a Camp Jupiter that’d stir up at the first sight of their warship. Oh brother…
But before anything could be said or done; the ship was at swimming distance of the island.
“WHOA Percy help me with the anchors!” Leo said. Hazel had barely turned her head in time to see them throwing the anchors overboard.
“Any shallower, and we’re stuck in the sand.” Percy explained.
“Damage to the hull,” Leo ranted. “Jake and Nyssa would kill me. I’d kill me!”
“Nobody’s killing you Valdez, we’re fine; Tyson and Percy caught it in time.” Jason said.
“Well, my guess is that we’re supposed to get off now.” Percy said, leaning across the railing. Hazel would’ve grabbed his shirt and pulled him back if he weren’t a son of Poseidon.
“Okay, are we going to go exploring again?”
“No.” Annabeth said sharply. “We shouldn’t go looking for trouble, we have enough of it.”
“Well, we’re here for a reason.” Percy said, probably for the heck of going up against Annabeth.
“Last time we were somewhere, Gaia had planned for us to be there all along and we nearly all died.” Annabeth said.
“Well it’s a darn shame that I missed that,” Josie said. She was looking over the railing quite fascinated herself. “What do you think is there? What do you call a cannibal in this Greco-Roman mythology? What about a tribe of tropical cannibals?”
“Why is she allowed to point that out and not me?” Leo muttered.
“Look, if the psychic is seeing cannibals, we should really stay away.” Piper said. Josie scowled.
“I guess it-”
That’s when they heard the voice.
“Gods- get back! Help me!”
And then this roaring sound that was most definitely something the gods should help out with.
Glances crossed.
“Someone’s in trouble,” Percy said swinging a leg over the railing.
“I’m going with him,” Jason said, kicking off the deck into flight. When both of them agreed to go, everyone melted into the mind frame that someone was going to check it out.
“I’m not going.” Annabeth said. And automatically Hazel thought that that had just a bit too much to do with the fact that Percy was going.
“Me no,” Tyson said.
“Ella follow Tyson,” the harpy said.
“Great, well, I’ll come if that’ okay.” Piper said. Hazel couldn’t help but keep a close eye on Piper and how she seemed attracted to the island, maybe too attracted. Like she was hypnotized, her eyes wouldn’t leave the oasis as if she was looking for something.
“Yeah, I’m going to hang behind. That last time I went out kind-of terrified me and besides, we can’t make the same mistake of no-driver twice.” Leo said. “Especially since we’re so shallow.”
“I’ll stay,” Frank said.
“Me too,” Hazel decided.
“I can’t fight.” Josie said. “So I’m guessing I should stay nice and safe and let you guys hog the life threatening activities.”
“Come on,” Jason said holding out his hand. “We’ll see what we can find, and come back. Quinn, have you got something that blows?”
She blushed but nodded. She reached into her pocket and found two small capsules that could’ve been medicine. She dropped them in Jason’s cupped hand, and he thanked her.
“If you hear a blast, then we’re in trouble. Two blasts mean that you’ve got to leave ASAP. We have Percy who swims and I can fly, we can cover Piper; we’ll catch up if we can.” Jason said. It sounded like a plan to everyone, and nobody wanted to lose the monster’s sound since it was a hot trail; so they left. All eyes were on the three until they disappeared into the shrubbery.
“I think we should back up,” Annabeth said. “We’re in too shallow; a quick getaway won’t work like this.”
“True,” Leo admitted. “Just help me raise the anchors, will you? Pull on those red levers- Frank not that red lever, that’s burgundy! Yes, that one.”
“Why not just label them,” Frank muttered.
“We did, but in Greek.”
“Well that’s a thorough lack of planning,” Frank said, pulling on a lever to raise the anchors; one feature of the Argo II that the Greek trireme did not have. Hazel pulled on one of the levers while Annabeth tackled the last. Leo drove the book further into the waves, and only dropped one anchor. Hazel squinted anyways, to try and see as far as the island, but she didn’t.

Piper
“You’re anxious to get somewhere,” Percy said. Piper looked over her shoulder. Both sons of the Big Three were following her, because for some reason she was in front. She slashed with Katoptris through the jungle, like some kind of Sacajawea. No, don’t think that, Josie’s going to detect it in your brain and replace ‘Pocahontas’ by it.
“I don’t know,” Piper said. “If that really was a half-blood out there…”
“Okay, Josie I can sort-of accept us picking up out of sheer luck. But another?” Jason said. “We’re not even in any country.”
“Cannibals,” Percy said. “I swear, you think it’s just Canada, but they’re everywhere.”
“That’s not something you want to tell us now,” Piper said, ploughing through a bunch.
“Wait,” Jason said. He knelt to the ground and passed his hands over dirt.
“There’s a print,” he said. “But it’s not like a normal print. It’s…”
“A hiking boot?” Percy asked as they crowded around.
“A flat,” Piper said. “A ballerina flat, size 8.”
They looked at her oddly and she blushed.
“Shut up, it was helpful.” She said. Shoe instincts. Yes, no need to be able to find tracks in the wild, or tie knots, solve logic problems or puzzles, climb- no, none of that. Shoe instincts.
“A girl then,” Jason said.
“Maybe Josie has a sister.” Percy said as Jason got back up.
“Jupiter Optimus, I hope not.” Jason said. They followed the tracks for a while and Piper stopped.
“I’m having flashbacks from my cabin here… Perfume.” Piper said. “A lot of it.”
“Okay, shoes and perfume on an island,” Jason said. “Does Aphrodite have a sacred island?”
“I don’t know,” Piper said. “Don’t look at me.”
“So you know shoes but not mythology?”
“Shut up Percy.”
“Let’s keep going.” Jason said. He figured that if the peacekeeper and the son of Poseidon got in a fight, there went that idea.
The perfume grew stronger, but so did another smell, a very, very horrible smell. It wasn’t like the smell of monsters, it was just… Bad. Words couldn’t be twisted and put together to describe it, it just made Piper’s nose want to jump off the rest of her face and run away in terror. The perfume wasn’t masking it, it made it worst.
“Okay, what is that?” Percy asked. “It smells like every monster in the world zeroed-into this place.”
“If you jinx it, I swear I’ll hurt you.” Jason said, drawing his gladus. Piper knocked on a tree and figured that since a tree was the most primary form of wood, she was covered. They advanced and heard a slithering sound again. The demigod yelled again. But it wasn’t out of fear or something. It just sounded like a war cry of some sort. Her heart went faster.
“He’s not afraid,” Jason made out in the sound.
“Well I am,” Piper said. “That sounded like one big snake.”
“I hate snakes,” Percy said. Then he grabbed Piper’s arm.
“Turn,” he said.
Their steps led them to the edge of a clearing. Piper had to choke back about five things right then. First a gag; because this was definitely where the smell was coming from. Then fear, because there was an enormous bonfire in the middle of the glade. And if that wasn’t enough to freak her out, a huge wooden pole was planted in the ground like some distorted totem pole, and a guy was tied onto it.
Then there was shock and surprise. Because she recognised the guy from her dreams.

XXX
Piper
Everything about him was the same as her dreams. His hair was thick and brown. His tan and wind burned skin stretched over muscles made him looked outdoorsy and active, and there was an actual burn on the side of his face. His jaw was square and his eyes were a gorgeous warm brown colour.
She was pretty sure she swore out loud.
“Yeah, I know what you mean, check those captors.” Percy said, which made Piper realise that he did not know what she meant in her head.
But she looked at the captors and cocked her head to her side. They were all women, but nor Amazon, nor Hunter. Besides, they didn’t seem organised enough to be either of those groups. They were dressed way too pretty to fight, wearing white blouses, pastel cardigans, skirts, tank tops, sandals, Mary Janes… Why would you even wear that if you were in the middle of a clearing holding a really-not-hard-to-look-at soccer player captive, anyways?
But they did look good, if out of place. They went from red curls to black waves, pale complexion to rosy cheeks, tall, short, blue eyed, green eyed… But they were all beautiful.
Piper was so beyond glad she wasn’t with Valdez and instead with a guy who was still heartbroken because his girlfriend had gone nuts at random and one who was taken and pretty much in totally unchangeable love, or else she’d have been screwed.
“I told you- I know nothing of this American camp!” He said again. There was a German accent to his voice.
“You liar!” One of the women said. Her sword tip swung through the air and landed just in front of his throat. Piper moved forwards but Percy held her back.
“Wait, we’ll be outnumbered.” Jason said.
“They’re in heels! I am so good at creaming people in heels!” Piper pleaded.
“Tell us now, or my sword will tell the story of a little German boy who got on the wrong island.” The woman said. She had corkscrew curls like Hazel, and a Mediterranean complexion, her eyes were deep cocoa brown and she wore a yellow and white sundress.
“Don’t,” Jason said gripping her under arm so she wouldn’t go. “What is it with you? You’re never this rash.” Jason said.
“She’s going to freaking decapitate him.” Piper hissed at him.
“No, they need him for something.” Jason insisted. “He’s safe. She’s only playing scary.”
“She’s wearing heels Jason. I doubt she knows how to interrogate a victim properly.” Piper said.
“I know nothing!” Their captive said again.
“You know everything there is to know!” She said again.
“I was not praetor in California!”
Percy and Piper turned to Jason who tensed.
“I have never set a foot out of Europe! Either stop playing with your food or leave me!” The guy insisted.
“Cannibals,” Percy whispered. Piper slapped his arm.
“To die maybe,” one of the pale black-haired women said. A few others snickered.
“What have you done to the others?” He asked again.
“Oh, this and that,” the same woman said. “Most of them are dead if that’s what you’re asking. One of those little blond boys gave quite a good chase.”
The guy propelled himself forwards and thrashed like a demon.
“He was seven years old!” He yelled. “He was seven years old you heartless monsters!”
The woman talking to him opened her mouth and for a second Piper thought she turned into a lion because her teeth were sharp and she roared like a feline. The pure force pushed his down.
Suddenly Piper realised what smelled so bad; the women.
“I think I just figured out why there’s all this perfume,” Piper said. She knew there was a connecting myth, she knew it; she just couldn’t figure it out… It was an island, and there’d been a stop somewhere… Was it the Odyssey? No, Odysseus hadn’t been the one to deal with this…
“Then tell us more about the other praetors: Daniela Milano, or Seth Donaldson perhaps.”
“I am a son of Rome, and I will not betray my heritage, or my country.” He said. He got slapped across the cheek, but he barely budged when the contact was made. His face barely changed.
“This is bigger than your spin-off camp, or your little nation,” the woman hissed.
“I am loyal to both,” he said, the red mark on his cheek slowly fading, his gaze just as strong as before.
“We have to do something,” Piper urged on.
“We need an opening.”
“I will godsdamn make an opening.” Piper said.
“Piper, calm down,” Jason said. “Look, I think I remember this myth. A legionnaire told me, when she found out my name was ‘Jason’ like the Argonaut. I must’ve heard the Argonautica a million times. This is the island of Lemnos. A bunch of women here were super rude to Venus, so she made them smell really bad for their husbands to be disgusted enough to leave them.”
“You’re kidding,” Percy said.
“No way,” Jason said. “But they do have their violent tendencies; they felt betrayed and killed all their husbands.”
“I doubt he’s married to any of them, but gosh his chances aren’t looking good.” Piper said. For some reason, the boy’s face was making her edgy. Maybe it was recognising him from her dream, Piper didn’t know for sure. But she desperately wanted him out of those chains.
“For all we know,” Percy muttered.
“Shut up,” Piper said. The woman in the sundress drew a long knife.
“Do you know what this is? A blade that can cut through diamonds and stone and solid gold. It will destroy you if you don’t cooperate with our plans, or for the greater plan of Gaia.”
The three of them looked at each other.
“Quick brainstorm: Gaia gave them those teeth or was that in the myth?” Percy asked.
“Gaia,” Piper nodded. “Probably because this guy isn’t easily intimidated, he’s just brave.”
“Should we go get the others?” Jason asked them.
“No, we don’t have time.” Percy said.
The blade teased they guy’s throat.
“So what is it?”
“Death,” the boy said, “Is preferable to betrayal.”
The woman made an angry roaring sound (real roaring sound) and she raised the blade like a baseball bat ready to score a homer.
Piper panicked and she did the rashest thing she’d ever, ever done.
She jumped from the bushes and fell to the ground in a pile of limbs and person.
The woman hesitated, and Piper pretended to see stars. She hoped Percy and Jason would catch on.
“What in the world… Sophie, investigate!” The woman in the sundress said. But she lowered her blade, keeping a two handed grip.
A young woman came towards Piper, blond pixie cut, rosy cheeks, skinny jeans and a green tank top, and silver flats. Piper tried not to gag as she got closer.
“She’s breathing and conscient, ma’am.” The woman who must be Sophie said.
“Message…” Piper panted. “From… From Gaia…”
The women rushed around Piper, which made the smell a million times worst. Piper wasn’t a superficial person no matter how long she’d stayed in the Aphrodite cabin, but the gag reflex was entirely physical.
“Move!”
The woman in the sundress moved past the others and knelt over Piper.
“Who are you? What news do you bring from Gaia?”
“I… I… Have to tell… everyone… At once…” Piper said. She poured charmspeak into her speech, so they’d even forget to guard their prisoner. They all looked eager to hear her talk more.
Between a mass of red curls and a beautiful darker skinned woman with dozens of braids and golden loop earrings, Piper saw Jason and Percy sneaking up and working on untying the boy. She just had to stall and then figure out how to get herself out of there.
“Speak, messenger.” The woman said. Black kohl lined her eyes, and she seemed more archaic than the rest of them. She must be the leader of these people, which made her Piper’s target to impress.
“From far… From very far…” Piper said, pretending to be exhausted, weak, and thirsty.
“Okay, okay, that doesn’t matter…”
“Tired… Long travel…” Piper said. “But message…”
“Yes, yes, tell us.” The woman edged on. “Tell us, or we’ll go to the source and you will be killed for not doing your job!”
“She said… Lady Gaia said that Rome was weak…” Piper said improvising completely. “You must… Attack Rome…”
“Attack Rome?” The leader said. “How? Did she say how?”
“She said to… To… To release the Kraken…” Piper said thinking back to the last movie she’d seen at Camp Half-Blood.
“Release the Kraken?” The woman echoed in confusion.
“Is that code for something Ma’am?”
“Gaia said that… Surely her most noble… Noble servants of Lemnos would know…” Piper said playing weak and tired and exhausted and scared.
“Would know? Would know what?”
“The code?” Someone asked.
“What’s the Kraken?” Someone asked.
“Girl, you lie.” The leader said, pale as a sheet now. She might fail. She might let down Gaia and be killed, and her body would be left to rot in the pools of blood left by her likes dying. After what she’d done to that guy, Piper actually couldn’t care less. She’d learned that servants of Gaia were rarely real, rarely good, and never deserved to actually be back to life.
Suddenly a sword flew over all their heads. Piper caught the glint of bronze off of it before it dropped back into the trees, but she got it. That was Riptide. It was a message from Percy. Luckily the women of Lemnos were too wrapped up in Piper’s voice to notice. But now she had to worry about her second problem: getting out of here.
“I don’t lie… I serve the Great Gaia… I am her… Prized messenger… A demigod from the Camps in America… If I die she will be… Upset…”
“She’s pretty,” one of them said. “It might be true.”
“It’s probably true, she’s very pretty.”
Piper nearly yelled out something about being more than a pretty face, but she shut up. If superficial was the way to go to live right now, so be it.
“Water…” She begged. “Need… Water…”
About five of the women got up to go rush to wherever their camp or village was to get Piper water. This was her moment, they’d notice the prisoner.
She got up and ran. A hand closed around her hair, and she was thrown back. She pushed herself off to knock the woman off balance as much as she was. She rolled off the woman’s body, gagging, and got up, drawing Katoptris.
“A trick! A trick!” Someone yelled.
“Seize her! If she really is from one of the Camps, then Gaia will reward us greatly! Maybe she’ll rid us of this stench earlier than planned!” The leader said.
“No, don’t attack, don’t attack!” Piper said.
They stopped and thought about it, so Piper knew she had to keep their attention fast. Charmspeaking someone not to attack took a lot of power, like, Medea-sized power- which Piper did not only not-have but didn’t want either.
“Your stench- it’s Aphrodite who cursed you, isn’t it?” Piper said since she couldn’t think of a better stall for time. Time for Jason or Percy to come in with some amazing superpower and save the day, because good gods did she need help.
“Wretched goddess,” the leader said with a locked jaw. “She thinks that just because we don’t respect her cult she can take it away from us!”
“Beauty?” Piper asked. “You’re all beautiful.”
“Thank you dearest, not that that’ll save you. No, not that cult. Beauty we do well enough.”
“Love,” Piper said. Her voice had gotten quiet. “You didn’t respect love.”
“Love is not a power Piper McLean, it’s a side-on for the human heart to feed off and get poisoned with,” the woman said. “I know you now, I recognise you now. Piper McLean, isn’t it? Gaia said to watch for you. She said you could be quite pesky; but you should understand exactly what we’re talking about.”
“No,” Piper said thinking of Annabeth running on adrenaline for eight months looking for Percy, Reyna giving Jason a kiss on the cheek before running off to save Rome, Katie and Travis who were so dang in love without admitting it, the way Frank looked at Hazel and would do anything for her… If that wasn’t power, then Piper didn’t want to wield any weapon. “I don’t.”
“Love, love, love. Yes, it’s beautiful and wonderful and everyone loves those twenty-first century plastic candy boxes. But what hurts more, a deep wound or a broken heart? Or is there no difference?”
“The broken heart is worth it, that’s your dang difference,” Piper said under her breath, her mind centered around Jason. Yes, she hadn’t wanted things to happen like they’d happened. What girl would? But she got the bigger picture and she’d gotten friends out of it. Friends out of finding out about Rome, even the hard way; Frank, Reyna, Quinn, Hazel, Gwen, Bobby, Dakota, and Jason himself.
“Believe what you will.” She said. “But trust me Piper McLean; love is a menace. Especially in your case. Aphrodite has been working on you for centuries and centuries, trying to line your stars to form her perfect little love story achievement. You’re stuck in a paradox and you’ll never get out.”
She had to be talking about Jason. So far, that was the biggest note in her love life. Paradox of what? Falling in and then out of love with someone who could never be hers? Not only was that depressing, but it could not be true. Piper kind-of believed in karma; that your life couldn’t be completely crud if you did good things. That a breakthrough would be due and real at some point. Maybe she wasn’t Mother Teresa and she was human and flawed, but Piper wasn’t an evil person.
“I’m not in a paradox,” Piper said.
“Oh yes you are,” she said. “I could go on right now. You’re not free to love who you want in life, you’re free to love who’s next to you on the big chess game Aphrodite has us all on. How were I and my fellows supposed to respect that? To respect love? It’s a carefully planned diagram and game, hidden behind soft words and bouquets as gifts.”
“Weren’t you all married?” Piper said, getting frustrated now.
“Not by choice, no. Ancient Greece was all about forced marriages and affairs and women being thrown around from man to man until someone took us. Not until we took someone. Not until two people were happy together, that was rare. But that’s love. It’s pretty on the outside, but rotten, ugly, painful and leach-like on the inside. A bit like your mother dearest.”
“Don’t you speak about my mother that way!” Piper said.
She figured any time now the women of Lemnos would get sick and tired of hearing her talk and they’d just stab her. She could maybe handle three if they weren’t the best sword-fighters, but there were just too many of them.
“I’ll speak about your filthy mother the way that I like!”
Piper lowered Katoptris and slapped -open-handedly, hard palm, sound effects- the leader.
“You don’t smell like roses either,” Piper said. “So I suggest you bite your tongue.”
The woman shot Piper a look that made her regret the slap.
“Kill her,” she said.
Piper raised Katoptris and caught the first blade on that one. She kicked up and nailed her opponent in the chest. She felt a hand on her shoulder and let her instincts go over anything else. She fell to the floor and army-crawled between a pair of legs and rolled away. She arrived at the foot of another woman of Lemnos, but she managed to punch her in the shins with her middle finger knuckle sticking out a bit, like Quinn had showed her in the legion, before getting up again.
There was still a pack of sundresses and cute haircuts and eyes shining in pretty ways.
Super. Piper was screwed.
Suddenly the wind picked up in a wild fit. Anybody with a skirt panicked and Piper’s thin windbreaker and hair flapped like some strange kite, the skin not covered by her jean shorts whipped with icy cold air. She’d read about these; squalls. When the wind suddenly picked up during a storm or something.
She smiled.
The leader picked her way towards Piper, which is when she stopped smiling.
“Seize her! Don’t stop- it’s just the wind!”
“Funny, I didn’t know wind came in blond and blue eyed,” she heard Percy say as he bounded from the forest and slashed Riptide through someone’s heart about as coldly as a psychopath. But every half-blood was at that point right then; Gaia’s servants weren’t like mortals or demigods, who were living their lives and had a right to live. They were cheating death, and they had to be stopped before they stopped Olympus. And then those thoughts made you guilty because you thought of Hazel.
That’s when Jason dropped from the sky and managed to kick someone down and take down another woman by clutching onto her shoulder blades and pushing down.
She was too stuck watching these two fights and trying to figure out why they’d come back that she’d paused for a second- which was a second more than any demigod should.
The leader was about to swing her sword in a motion that would’ve been the last thing Piper would see. It sounded cheesy, but Piper’s arms had gone into mush and she was stuck. Time slowed down like in those movies.
Suddenly something pushed into her like a ram trying to burst a fortress’ doors. She landed on a tree root jumping out of it and making her shoulder hurt, and a rock was pushed into her leg- but she was alive.
The boy had pushed her and he was still keeping her pinned, his knife blocking the woman in the sundress’ sword. He turned to look at Piper. She saw his eyes closer than she ever had, she could describe the brown better- a kind of dark colour that made her think of that Belgian chocolate everybody seemed to get at Christmas time. And then she saw it again- that ring, except now it was hanging around his neck on a thin, thin gold chain. It was the same band of gold.
“Sorry if I’m too heavy for you. Are you alright?”
“Never been better,” Piper said. She’d only heard him talk once before today, and that was in German. She could hear his German accent. He grinned.
“I’m Tommy by the way,” he said.
“Piper.” She said. He got to his feet and fought off the leader. Piper got up too, she wasn’t hurt. She starred at Tommy for a few seconds before slicing Katoptris through the air and cutting one of the women through the shoulder.
Jason and Percy were fighting together, attracting the women of Lemnos to them like they had their own gravity.
Piper slashed and hacked, and she saw that Tommy had her back.
“You fight in a legion?” She asked.
“Yeah right,” he said like the idea was ridiculous. “Go meet the other two, in the center,” he said.
She and Tommy met up with the two sons of the Big Three in the center after making a few bodies of their own drop.
“So I realise that the adrenaline might’ve been pumping a bit too high considering I was kind-of in danger and you guys have save-the-martyr instincts like nobody else; but how did you all plan to get out of here?” Piper asked.
“That was all his part to play!” Percy said, nodding his head at Tommy and removing a sword through a brunette’s pierced blouse. “We figured out how to get away.”
“What?” Piper asked wondering what the heck this was about.
Just then Jason grabbed Tommy and Percy each by a shoulder, Tommy grabbed Piper’s hand, and they shot up in the air over the treetops.
“Dust devils, eh?” Percy said. “I knew you’d come in handy, Grace.”
“So far you’re too dehydrated to help, Jackson.” Jason teased back.
“A dust devil? Why didn’t we just do this the first time? I could’ve sat there innocently and dying and you could’ve just popped that sucker-pole out of the ground and onto the ship. I could’ve just said ‘Oh no- the gods are interfering- they know I’m here- I must escape- I will be back!’” Piper complained.
“Well if you’d have stuck around for eight seconds of planning we could’ve come up with that.” Jason said. “How about you give us a five second head start next time you’re in the mood to do that?”
“Make it two, and you’ve got yourself a deal,” Piper said to feed the sarcasm. Hopefully it’d give him energy to keep flying. She doubted the women of Lemnos would notice if they landed now- which was a high likely option considering the effort flying took. With memories of how to fly, tips and tricks, and loads of newly acquired free-time to train, Jason had gotten better at flying, but it was still obviously exhausting him to have two guys about his height and Piper on the same dust devil as him.
Piper had read about those. There were bursts of air currents or winds that shot upwards. Usually they were harmless, but Jason and Percy could make Jell-O and dental floss harmful if he put his mind and creativity to it.
“Jason, we can walk,” she told him once she saw his face getting red.
“No I’m good,” he said. “I’ve got this. I’ve carried heavier loads.”
He insisted and they soared over the tree tops, then over the golden sand, and over crystal blue water until they got to where the Argo II was waiting for them. The figures and crates on deck grew closer. Josie seemed to be talking to Hazel about something, Frank and Leo were playing rock-paper-scissors-sword-light saber-gladus-spear-knife-machete-machine gun, Annabeth and Quinn were reading, Ella and Tyson were just lying in the sun…
Finally Jason landed and he stumbled for a bit, Tommy catching his arm.
“Thanks,” Jason said. He closed his eyes for a second to gather his wits and get rid of the black spots in his eyes, and then stood tall as usual.
“Okay, I’m good.” He said.
“Oh thank gods, now we may move and the earth can start spinning again.” Percy said.
“Shut up,” Jason said.
The others were coming forwards and frowning.
“Percy- what is it with you and bringing back newbies?” Leo said. “That’s not cool. Well, it is, but it creeps me out and it’s not good for them.”
“I thought there was destiny and stuff though.” Josie said.
“There is,” Hazel promised.
“Piper found him,” Percy said. “He’s… Umm…”
“Thomas Rosenberg,” he said.
“Well, nice to meet you Thomas.” Frank said. “I’m Frank.”
He inclined his head and shook Frank’s head like a roman. Between that and his fighting skills, Piper was getting suspicious. Jason didn’t recognise him- which meant he’d never gone to Camp Jupiter. But he’d obviously been somewhere where they taught Romans how to be.
Everyone passed by introductions, Josie tried to convince him her name was Janet, and Piper offered Tommy food and water since he’d just been a captive. He accepted the water but declined the food as Leo steered the Argo II away. Piper brought him both anyways.
Everyone sat down on the deck and let him finish the chicken and rice ration Piper was ready to cut out of her own if it came to that (although she didn’t think it would), while Jason and Percy told the story.
“Thomas, may I ask you a question?” Annabeth asked.
“Oh, please- I go by Tommy.” He said.
“Tommy then,” she said. “The two boys said you knew how to fight. How is that if nobody has ever seen you at Camp Jupiter or Half-blood? Do you even know all that much about demigods?”
Tommy looked up at her.
“You mean… Nobody in America has figured it out yet?” He said.
“What do you mean?” Frank asked.
“You know, if you’re Egyptian, that’s really alright.” Percy said super zen, like he’d been thinking this through and had come to peace with the idea of a bunch of new kids jumping on the boat with their new brand of gods.
“What? No, no, I’m German.” Tommy said. “And Roman. I’m guessing here is a split; some of you are Greek like Percy, some of you are Roman like Jason.”
“Wow he’s got this nailed down.” Leo whisper-shouted.
“What do you mean ‘nobody in America has figured it out yet’?” Annabeth asked again, craving answers like a pregnant woman craved pickles.
“Just that it’s a bit egocentric of you to believe that the gods only dwell in America, especially considering most of ancient history in in Europe. Because really, we demigods are there too.”

:O zomg that was awesome
i would say more, but im in school...shhh

that was amazing!!! you know how to make demigods pop up everywhere hecateA!!!! like in you're SoN you had them a minor god camp! then their is also the romen camp! and who knows what else you will add! like egyptions!!!! anyways you're so amazing and suspenseful!! can't wait till naxt friday!!

Tommy and Piper.....Pommy? or Tiper I like Tiper

WOW amazing chapter and Percy is so funny I love him cant wait till the next chapter

I LOVE tommy ALREADY and yes Leo he's got it nailed down

HOT SOCCER PLAYER!!! YAY! He's on the ship :D! Tommy is amazing!... Psh... Not just because he's hot... Psh... He is also nice, and amazing, and cool... and hot...
So who's his mom/dad then? Probably Venus... You know; 'cause he's so hot. Okay, fine. He's just genetically hot.
OH SHNAP! I just realized that there are now 8 of the seven!... I mean there are 8 people who could possibly be the seventh!
Woman who smell bad?.... That's awkward...
Piper! Back off my man!... I mean... You can have him... Heh...
WhooHoo! Amazing chapter Hec! TOMMMY <3!... I think Quinn might have some competition as the best OC :O...
~ percy4forever

Haha, this guy sounds just like me!
Ever since I read PJO, I've a got a basic line of where the Gods have been going.
I set it up like this:
Greece
Rome until 1806
France until 1815
Britain until 1840's
America since 1840's

I also have another idea: the Greek and Roman Gods go to different countries:
Holy Roman Empire until 1806
Then for Greece is the above list.
But then Rome goes like this:
Holy Roman Empire until 1806
Prussia (Germany) until 1918
Britain until 1933
Nazi Germany until 1945
Soviet Union/Russia until 1989
America until today.
Well, I'm pretty sure that's all confusing. But, I, the American have long figured it out! Take that, Tommy!
Anyways, I think that was pretty confusing so about the chapter!
I loved it; it was great as usual! Right now I'm seeing a lot of Leo+Josie (Losie or Jeo) and maybe Tiper or Pomas.
When Percy and Annabeth broke up, I was thinking maybe a little Perosie (Percy-Josie).

Wow Hecate!!!!!! it's awesome!!!!!!! this is one of the best chapter so far, and I cannot wait for more!!!!!!!!!! How awesome are you??? Thank you for the chapter, it was awesome . . .

so basically the Uk, France, Germany, Spain and all the other countries in Europe have known that there are romans and greeks and how there are camps in each country but the USA didnt.
Is it all Europe or only the countries the Gods have visited?
Where is the UKs greek camp?

Amazing! New demigods?!?! From Europe?! ^Hes right, where is the uk camp? I wanna go! Can't waitt till the next chapter. This is so amazing!

I'm guessing in London for Greece and maybe Manchester or something for Rome. Much more...grrr!!! GO MANCHESTER UNITED!

Ok so I've gotten so lazy that I havent been commenting. So sorry. That was AWESOME!:D Go cute soccer player. I like pommy or tiper. I can also see jeo or losie. (gasp) There's another camp/city! Should I destroy it or go demand I be let in to join? Lol. I like the first. :P Is it more like camp or the city? How old is tommy? Why didn't the gods leave Germany completely? Did something or someone hold them back? Why Germany? Is Tommy their leader like Percy is to camp and Jason is to the city. Who's Tommy's parent? Pluto/hades? That would be all of the big three. Zeus(Jason) posiden(Percy) hades(Tommy) all by the Greek names.

^Destroy? Haha I love Cal :D Where's Cal and Zethes? I miss those two :D
My goodness, Hecate, that was long!
Which made it awesome as usual :D
I was thinking of Perosie and Jeo as well. It's obvious. Leo is single, speaks Spanish, and so far has been the only one to calm her down. Best friends? Romance?
Then again, there's Percy, who thinks Annabeth doesn't give a daisy for him and will try to find something to ease the pain. If he gets with Josie, Annabeth will be jealous. Josie will be confused, maybe smug, Percy will be fine, and Annabeth will finally bring out the, 'I loved you the whole time. I broke up with you for your protection.'
Bam, more drama, more problems, more mysteries and twists, and eventually solves the entire initial problem. Very Rick Riordan like.
But how old is Josie is the question I'm asking. Either you didn't say it or I wasn't paying attention.
That was a good chapter :D If Reyna doesn't survive, Jason wants Piper but it'll be too late because Piper will be with Tommy, creating more drama, problems, twists, etc. Because it seems like Hecate and Riordan have one thing in common with their minds (besides the fact that they rock at writing): torture their readers with drama, cliffhangers, and twists.
Jeez, Hecate, there's so many possibilities where drama and love and twists can occur. A spiderweb. Do you do this in all of your stories???
I applaud you for making a dedicated reader think, even though I'm not liking it 0.0
Please post soon!! I like the cute soccer dude ;) Man, that sounded weird.
Post soon!!:D

but didnt chiron say that the gods had moved to america? and they, well, are there? amd hes kinda like, "the guy". would it be that hard for someone in europe to get on a plane/boat? idk, sounds weird to me... but interesting! so whatevs! post soon!:D

yeah, but there have to be demigods in asia, and stuff, or else that would be kinda weird. at the very least there would be legacies.

cool!!!!!!!!!!

Hecate!!! where are you??????

I'm here! I'm here, I swear! I didn't forget, but I was simply sick and tired and not in the mood. So I decided to stop freaking out about reviewing the story and editing and replying to comments and just lie down with my eyes closed and listen to music with one ear and to my family with the other. I didn't even send in my entry for 'The Writing Games' so I guess I'm out now :P.

@annabeth523- Nope, not Egyptians it is against my beliefs. (my beliefs, oh God, I sound obsessed... Well, I am, but shh.)
@percy4forever- Oh gawsh...
@TheUltimateBoss- I don't think Rome was there for as long, and you left out most of Asia. China had to be in there at somepoint, and Japan during their Samurai and Ninja era.
@iCuStalker- No I don't, one of them is narrated by a nine year old, so :o But I appreciate it.


Questions on Josie: Okay, so she's about Quinn and Hazel's age. 13, 14... Is she going to end up with Leo and Percy- that's for me to know and you to find out, but I promise that there's a reason for whatever will happen.

Speaking of which: I got a lot of comments on FF.net about people worrying about me not putting Percy/Annabeth back together and so forth, and so forth. So I just wanted to say: I'm not pulling another Fire's Revenge here. I'm not going to make it that-totally-tragic and be a wrecking ball on everyone's lives. That said, rough things are going to happen, but don't give up on yours truly. Kay? Cool? Chapter.

XXIV
Annabeth

She was fighting back this really really strong urge to scream because Tommy was so incredibly right. Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Anne Bonny, Ellen Terry! European demigods who’d changed their country or even the whole world, and had all been born and raised in said continent. She’d never thought about it before- she’d assumed they’d stayed hidden, or the amount of monsters was lower in Europe since the gods weren’t there anymore and they hadn’t even realised they were demigods.
“Okay, say that again in very clear and specific terms.” Leo said.
“Demigods in Europe aren’t a foreign thing,” Tommy repeated. “That’s where we started. It’s normal that some of us still live there and besides; most demigods are from single-parent families. Do you think our parents had the means to send us to and from inexact locations in America? What if we got hurt or died? They would never know. What if we never found camp? Do you think they even had the desire to ship us off in airplanes? Besides, we can’t be that far from home, and your country seems to speak uniquely English with some Spanish mixed in. That doesn’t work for the Germans, Hungarians, Polish, French, Swedes, Swiss, Russians, Italians, Norwegians, Portuguese, Spaniards… You get the idea.”
“Nobody realised the gods went back to Europe, apart from the mainland Greece and Rome.” Percy said.
“No, it makes sense.” Josie said. “Gods get homesick, come back, meet someone, poof- baby demigod at your service.”
“More or less,” Tommy said. Piper was thinking that it came from the ‘less’.
“We realised the gods traveled,” Annabeth said. “Just not to…”
“Have kids? None of them probably mean to. Ever. But especially not in Europe. But it still happened every now and then, and so we came up with a camp.”
“A camp?” Percy asked. “What kind of camp?”
“A camp like any other. Tents stationed around a bonfire with a water pump and a small armoury and forge.” Tommy said.
“Wait, wait- you lived like some people camped except 24/7?” Josie asked.
“Yes,” Tommy said. “And I quite enjoyed it, so please don’t talk that way.”
“No, I was just thinking how flipping better than newspaper on a street that sounds,” Josie said. Tommy looked at her.
“Where are you from?”
“Spain.” She said. Tommy said something in Spanish.
“You speak Spanish?” Piper asked.
“And German. And French. Polish. Italian. Latin and English too, of course. Languages seem to rub off on everyone in Europe.” Tommy said. “I had friends from all over.”
“Wait- you keep saying enjoyed, or had,” Piper said. “What do you mean?”
Tommy’s face became undeniably darker.
“That’s a hard question,” he said.
“Then there must be a hard answer.” Piper said. He looked up at her.
“You’re feisty, aren’t you?” He asked. Piper kept his gaze.
“What was your first clue?” Leo asked.
“When she jumped out of the bushes and pretended to pass out,” Tommy said. “Anyways, something terrible happened. I don’t know how to explain it, or exactly what…” He sighed.
“Our camp operates without the gods. They’re done in Europe. They don’t come around often, and even more rarely at the camp. But there is one goddess who does, and another who comes regularly, even if neither of them have children at the camp.”
“Diana?” Frank guessed, probably since Artemis had no children.
“Of course not, she’s with the hunters.” Jason said. He was probably thinking of Thalia again, which meant he must have had a dream about the prisoners. Annabeth would ask later, she knew that Quinn was dying to know what was going on with Jedediah Adams.
“Minerva and Vesta,” Tommy said. “Vesta tends to our fires which gives us one thing less to worry about and Minerva… Minerva is our protector. Our patron, one may say. Actually, both of them are. If we honour any gods it wouldn’t be Jupiter who rules everything but leaves us in the corner, or Mars whose great wars we only get the after-shock of. It’d be those two. The Camp is actually on territory once protected by Legio I Minervia, her sacred legion.
Minerva’s protection always came to us by a magic item; an olive tree.”
“Her attribute,” Quinn whispered.
“You must know the story of what the Greeks saw in the olive tree.” Tommy said.
“The undersides of the olive tree’s leaves were grey, and whenever the wind blew, the bottoms were seen. The Greeks said the olive tree was like having a million of Athena’s eyes watching you.” Annabeth said. She often got annoyed when, during a story, someone had to stop from telling her new things to repeat the old.
He nodded.
“That was exactly our olive tree. Sometimes the leaves turned up without any wind. It grew right between the kitchen tent and the make-shift armoury, and we always had someone protecting it. The little kids would climb all over it. Sometimes we ate the olives when food was scarce.” Tommy said. “As long as we had Minerva watching us, the scent was covered and our location was saved.”
“Gaia destroyed it, didn’t she?” Jason said. Tommy thought for a few seconds, which made Piper think that this one was going to be hard to explain.
“It sunk into the ground. My friends Marie-Pierre and Estefanìa were on guard. Marie bent down to grab Lars who was running away from me, and it just sunk like an anchor. Through solid ground as if it was growing backwards. We dug to try and figure it out; Marie-Pierre was terrified that she’d done something wrong, the little kids were scared half to death, the older ones were trying to keep them away just in case. We found nothing. After a few hours, Camp was surrounded. The monsters ripped apart everything there was in there; our tents, our equipment, half-bloods even…”
Tommy’s jaw hardened.
“You don’t have to keep telling us,” Piper said kindly.
“I do,” Tommy said. “Someone needs to know about this camp. It burnt down when Gaia set it on fire. Well, I’m assuming it was Gaia. Her voice sounded from everywhere and said that since my world was falling apart, so would the rest of it. She addressed herself directly to me.
It soon became clear that saving camp wouldn’t be possible- we had to evacuate. I was helping Schmuel- a little boy from Poland, the nicest kid you’ll ever meet- out, and holding Lars’ hand in the other hand –he was Swede, he was trying to teach me Swedish, it was hilarious- when the women of Lemnos appeared. They took the two kids. I drew my sword and managed to kill the one who had Schmuel, and then they knocked me out from behind. I woke up tied up where Jason, Percy and Piper found me. They’d been interrogating me for days by the time you three came along. They thought I was praetor, but that’s not how things worked.”
“It wasn’t?” Jason asked.
“No. Not everybody’s a roman in the world.” Tommy said. “We were a hybrid camp.”
“And there were no fights?” Percy asked.
“Of course there were fights, there were twenty kids living with each other, gods damn it, it was a miracle if there were no fights.”
“No, I mean, Greek or Roman related fights?” Percy asked. That seemed to blow him away considering the trouble they’d gotten.
“We had to survive. We got our own food, made it, and treated our wounded, found our own water and kept our fires going when Vesta wasn’t around, taught the kids, watched the younger ones, trained ourselves… Why would we fight? We all had that common goal.” Tommy said.
And it made so much more sense than everything anybody in the states had thought of during their time there. Annabeth looked at Tommy under a new light. Survival and the race and wild grasp for it had made enemies friends. She remembered Luke, Thalia and her, running across the country. Maybe it was something like that. The drive of survival. It’d pushed her to do some pretty amazing things for a seven-year-old, and Thalia and Luke to do some pretty amazing things for thirteen and fourteen year olds.
“What about the others who lived? We’re not that far from Spain at least…” Percy said. Annabeth wanted to snap at him that they didn’t have time to go back and try to latch on to the thin chance of finding a demigod again, but she shut up because it would be insensitive to Tommy, and primarily because he was already hurt and it was already her fault and if she did more she’d feel the shreds of her heart torn to ribbons and she’d crack.
“I don’t know about them.” Tommy said. “I don’t even know about Schmuel and Lars who were right next to me when they got me, the women of Lemnos wouldn’t tell me.” His eyes had hardened and now he looked exactly like Jason or Percy would if this happened to their respective Camp. Like he had his people to take care of, but in Tommy’s case, he’d failed, and he hadn’t had a chance to win it either.
“That’s harsh,” Jason said, “about your camp. I’m sorry.”
“I would be more afraid for yours,” Tommy said. “These women of Lemnos are after the ones in America; they believe those will shake the gods more than the Camp in Europe.”
“We’re already afraid for our camps,” Percy said.
 

XXX
Piper

Tommy listened to their story quietly, and that was the main difference between him and Josie. He already knew about gods and scents and monsters, which made it a whole lot easier. There were also about twenty other reasons why Tommy and Josie were different. Tommy seemed more quiet and grounded while Josie was an open-mouthed blob of sarcasm, comebacks and bluntness.
“So long story short, this is why we’re on a flying ship, care to join us and possibly risk your life and soul?” Percy said.
“You are so indelicate.” Annabeth said.
“Yes, compared to you who is always so good at everything she ever does.” Percy spat back.
Piper sighed, hoping this wouldn’t start it.
“Guys…” She said.
“Sorry Piper, I didn’t mean to provoke Percy, I seem to forget that he has only reached the maturity of a three year old.” Annabeth said, standing up and leaving. Percy swore under his breath and walked up the railing and jumped over, into the sea. They didn’t even hear a splash, as per usual.
There was a general frustrated sigh and everybody else scattered. Tommy looked confused.
“If you don’t mind me asking what’s going on with..?”
“Percy and Annabeth? They broke up, like, days ago, after this long thing of ‘oh she loves me? Wait-no, now she hates me. Oh wait, she does still love me’ and then getting together last summer, and making out together- or at least I assume so- no wait, they did, they totally did, and then being separated for months.” Josie said. “They went from PDA to, well, this acting-like-three-year-olds thing they’ve got going on.”
“Alright then.” Tommy said, although Piper wasn’t sure how much of Josie’s spitfire babble he understood. Piper had no idea how Josie knew it either. Wait- psychic.
“Do you want my flashcards to remember who’s who here? Because it’s fudging more complicated than a soap opera, trust me on this.” Josie said.
“I’m okay thanks.” Tommy said. “Thank you for saving me.”
“No problem, it’s our duty to fellow soldiers.” Jason said.
“Josie didn’t even say thank you yet.” Frank teased.
“I’m not quite sure if you deserve it yet, I’m suspending judgement.” Josie defended very categorically.
“Were you the praetor in the American camp?” Tommy asked him. “I know there was at least one, the women of Lemnos thought it was me for some reason. There’s something the praetor of Rome knows that the women of Lemnos want to know.”
Jason nodded.
“Then Percy, but it seems that once this is over Percy won’t be staying around Camp Jupiter, so I suppose it’ll be me again.”
“It will Grace, don’t be all noble and modest.” Piper said, holding her leg straight as Hazel disinfected up a scratch that was apparently deep enough to get infected.
“But that could also refer to Reyna, who’s been praetor for months.” Jason said. “She’s been the one who was there at all times, so assuming it’s her…” He stopped talking. “I hope it’s not, she’s in enough trouble as it is.”
The second Hazel tightened the bandage and Piper thanked her, she was off again. Part of her heart squeezed because of how worried Jason was. She’d come to terms with the fact that they wouldn’t work out together, that Reyna was really important to him, et cetera- but Piper didn’t like those terms, she only respected them.
She changed her trail of thought. Now she knew Tommy’s name and where the heck he was from, but she was doubtful that ‘European Camp heads-up’ was the reason there were dreams. Nobody had gotten dreams as a heads up for ‘Californian Camp that also happens to be Roman’.
And he still had that ring…
I will find your master.
She had to corner him, but not here. Alone. Although she wasn’t sure when that would happen because privacy was about as common on the Argo II as lice on a fish. You had to lock yourself in the bathroom and make sure everyone knew you were taking your shower time so that nobody walked in- and Piper wasn’t going to do that because she feared the jokes Frank and Leo and Josie would come up with.
The occasion sprang up at dinner, when Quinn had fallen asleep at the end of the deck during a conversation with Josie and Hazel. She and Piper were supposed to make supper.
“I can fill in for her,” Tommy said. “It’s the least I can do.”
Piper nearly smiled.
“Alright,” Piper said. “Come on, I’ll show you our kitchenette. It’s the envy of motels everywhere.”
They went downstairs and only Leo and Frank were there. Leo seemed to be explaining Frank how to fix a sword of some sort, but they were very much into their talking.
“Whoa- Piper’s gonna cook?” Leo gasped.
“It’s the Mayan apocalypse!” Frank said.
“Run!”
“Hide!”
“Do something good so you’ll get into Elysium!”
“Valdez- build a bunker, build a bunker!” Frank said.
“I will throw a pan at you if you don’t,” Piper threatened. The two of them took off.
“What was that about? You don’t cook often on this ship?” Tommy asked.
“Oh, I do.” Piper said. “I’m just kind-of a tomboy. Nobody expected me to have any expertise in cooking, but as a matter of fact I do. I used to make breakfast for my dad all the time on Sundays, whenever he slept for ten seconds longer than me. I think sometimes he even humoured me by pretending to be asleep. Eventually I grew out of ‘Froot-Loops’ and got sophisticated.”
“Well then I hope I’m not too incompetent,” Tommy said. “I’ve sort-of made-do with things boiled or grilled at Camp, so…”
“Please, I’m sure you’ll be fine compared to the others.” Piper said.
“Your mother’s Aphrodite isn’t she? Greek goddess of beauty?” Tommy asked.
“Yes,” Piper said. “Why? How did you know?”
“No reason.” He said quickly. A red tint appeared on his cheeks. “Just… You mentioned you lived with your dad.”
“Oh. Who’s your godly parent?” Piper asked. “Or were you not claimed…”
“I was,” he said, “The son of Victoria, Roman goddess of victory. Doesn’t make be invincible, as you know, but I can excel in a few things.”
“She was the equivalent of Nike,” Piper nodded.
“You’re good with your equivalents for someone who hasn’t known about both for long.” Tommy complimented.
“I’m the meditator. I was when we were back in Rome, too. I figured it’d be good to learn a lot about the Romans. Besides, Annabeth helped.”
Tommy nodded. “What’s being made?”
“I think tonight is penne Napolitana. Which is fancy-talk for those tube-like noodles over there, in the cupboard, covered in the tomato sauce in that can,” She said pointing towards the can in question.
For a while it was just boiling noodles and cranking open the tomato sauce and heating that up. Tommy watched the noodles looking uninterested but doing it anyways (which beat half the ADHD kids on this ship). Piper imagined him at a camp, in the middle of the woods, doing the same thing. Maybe with that girl Dani who –from the dreams- seemed to be his best friend, or the two little boys he’d mentioned, Schmuel and Lars buzzing around him.
“Tell me about camp,” Piper blurted. He looked up.
“My camp? It wasn’t much.”
“It sounds amazing,” Piper said. “People from everywhere? You picked up French, Italian and Polish there. That seems pretty amazing.”
“It rubs off,” Tommy said. “In the crowd of people if you couldn’t talk the first one’s language you moved on to the next and eventually you’d find someone you could communicate with. My friend Daniela, well, Dani, could speak five languages, plus Latin and Greek, plus English.”
“That’s incredible. It seems to be a reoccurring theme for demigod camps; the cast of characters.”
“That’s what demigods are,” Tommy said. “A cast of characters. Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
Tommy thought for a second. “It was harsh sometimes. We found and made our own food, got our hands on our own water and boiled it so it was healthy, slept in tents, had few clothing and possessions, treated our wounded and sick, washed everything in creeks and had to teach ourselves everything we had to know.”
Piper thought of Camp Half-Blood and the nymphs strolling in with platters every meal, or Camp Jupiter where your favourite meal landed in front of you.
“But it was home.” Tommy said. “For a long, long time it was home for me, and I’m not sure if I could’ve lived any other way.”
“How long?” Piper asked.
“I was…” He seemed to be trying to think hard. “Nine, I think.”
“Nine?”
“I could barely speak English,” he said. “And my accent is still as thick as a thorn bush.”
“Wow… That’s… A long time…” Piper said.
“I suppose.”
“How did you learn math and geography and all that, then? Have you learned it?”
“There was a daughter of Athena from Norway back then, who taught us everything she thought we had to know. I could read and write and do simple math when I got to Camp, and she just taught us a bit more. She moved on eventually, left camp three years later to try and make a real life in the real world.”
“Have you heard from her since?” Piper asked out of curiosity.
“No,” Tommy said. “But that’s not rare. We weren’t exactly easy to find. When someone left they never came back, even if sometimes we knew they were alive. And since we lost our teacher, others have shared knowledge about this and that. But nobody knows it all quite like Agnetha did.”
“It seems… Nice in a way. Cool. I’m not sure if I could’ve done it, though.”
“I bet you could’ve.” Tommy said.
“Can I ask you about one more thing on that Camp?”
“Of course.”
“Where did you get the ring from?”
He froze and looked at her. Piper was scared that she’d stepped an invisible borderline nobody had warned her about. Like she’d just set off a Rube Goldberg machine that led to a cracking point.
“The ring?” He asked.
“Yes.” Piper said.
“How do you know about it? Do you know about the poem too?” He asked sounding nervous or excited, his German accent picking up.
“No,” she said. “Just the ring, I had dreams about it. The very one that is around your neck.” Her heartbeat was becoming quicker as well; she felt so close to answers…
He snapped the chain off his neck.
“It was under my pillow one day. One day when I was a little boy I woke up with my hand tightened around it, under my pillow. There was a note in gold that I’ve kept ever since, Find its master in German, followed by the poem. It burnt with the camp.”
“I’m sorry,” Piper said. Maybe it wasn’t right to talk to him about a camp he’d just lost. He’d just been through a lot. But a part of Piper told her to keep pushing; he had to know as much as she did.
“It doesn’t matter. I know it by heart.” Tommy said, referring to the lost note and not the lost camp, the lost home.
“Really?” Piper said.
“I have an incredible memory,” he said.
She will dream
He will search
The sun will gleam
The boat will lurch

And deep inside
There’s so much to find
But so much they already know
So much, much so.

The words haunted Piper. She felt like she should know it. They made her think back to Jason’s desperate attempts to explain his memory loss. Like the word was at the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t remember it, or there was an empty pouch inside his brain where he knew he should know but just didn’t.
“Wow,” she said for fault of another word. Tommy nodded, took the chain off, and dropped it on the counter.
“So what do you know about the ring?” He asked.
“Nothing,” Piper said. “I started getting these dreams. Mostly of you, just walking around camp, or playing soccer.”
“Soccer?” He asked.
“Soccer,” Piper repeated. “You know… The goals, and the red and yellow cards, with the black and white ball…”
“Oh!” He said. “Football!”
“Nuh-uh, football is with quarterbacks and the NFL and brown balls that don’t look like balls,” Piper said.
“You’re talking about American football.” He said.
“And you’re talking about European football,” Piper replied. She had to smile at the squabble. “Anyways, that. The last dream I had involved the ring. You were in a tent, looking at it. You said Ich finde dein Meister, which I got Ella to translate for me. That was it. Not even a week later, here we are.”
“I remember that,” Tommy said nodding. “I was losing hope. Nobody new had come to Camp for a while and I’d have to get out to find the master, without any idea where to start.”
“Well thank the gods you didn’t. You’d never have come on the ship.” Piper said.
“I suppose.” He said. “So maybe it is a good thing.”
“Can I see it?” Piper asked.
“Careful- before you touch it I should warn you, it… It’s special…”
“Special?” Piper asked.
“You… You wouldn’t believe me. Here.”
Tommy took her left hand in his and slipped the ring on her index. When he let go, Piper was nearly disappointed. She’d liked the way he’d held her hand. Strong and delicate at the same time.
Anyways, the ring fit well, icy cold to the touch, but other than that nothing happened.
“Do you get it now?” Tommy asked.
“No, not really.” Piper said. “What’s so special about it?”
Tommy picked up a spare pan used to make eggs and Piper nearly gasped. Her reflection didn’t shine back.
“Wh… What?”
“It turns you invisible,” Tommy said.
Piper looked down at her hands, but her limbs were out of sight.
“Oh my God,” Piper said. “That is so… So Cool!”
She took the ring off her finger, careful to hold it by the chain.
“You can touch it, it’s just putting it on that triggers the magic.”
She looked up at Tommy. “My gosh, Tommy, what does it mean? Who’s the master?”
“If I had to say,” Tommy said. “I’d say it was someone here; one of the seven greatest half-bloods alive. And if I had to bet any money, I’d say it were you.”
Piper cocked her head.
“The poem wasn’t bogus for entertainment or an air of mystery. Nothing in the demigod world is bogus; not the prophecies, not the people put on your path, or the monsters, or the hurdles.” Tommy said. “She will dream/He will search/The sun will gleam/The boat will lurch. You had dreams about this ring, and this is the first time I’m on an actual vessel like this. Piper, I think it’s yours.”
“Mine? Why? What do I have to do with a ring that turns invisible? Annabeth has a baseball cap, but that’s a present.” Piper said.
“Consider this a present as well,” Tommy said. “I won’t carry it anymore; I am sure that it’s yours. I’ve never felt like it before, and I’ve found people whom I thought were the masters. It’s yours.” He insisted.
“Tommy…”
“It feels right, Piper.” Tommy said. “You’re the one. I feel it.”
“But…”
“If you won’t have it then throw it into the sea, because I could travel the world for a thousand years, I wouldn’t find another ‘master’.”
Piper tried to convince him this was absurd, but she stopped in the middle of a sentence upon realising she was trying to convince herself.
Tommy got her silence and he closed her fingers around the chain in her palm.
“Put it on or keep it in your pocket if you want.” He said. “All I know is that the magic item is yours.”
“I don’t understand. I know we’re on a dangerous mission here, but an invisibility ring?” Piper said.
“It may do more than that, things I couldn’t learn from it. Because believe me, I’ve tried.” Tommy said.
Piper looked at the ring. Bands of gold intertwined like braids and flat at the start. If not sophisticated or complex or royal, it definitely looked beautiful and secretive. Like a relic someone had dug up from the sand and sent to a museum, like one of those million year old artefacts that lied every few feet or in the garden shed at Camp Half-Blood.
“Well I guess I’ll try some more,” Piper said, tying his chain around her neck.

:O awesome!!!!

cant wait till next fridayyy :DDDDDDDDD

phew . . . you scared me. awesome chapter though. I hope percy's ok . . . he's still my favorite character ever, so i cant help but feel bad for him.
awesome. Tommy will fit in well, and maybe help with the roman vrs. greek problem. awesome hecate.

:D Awesome chapter!!! Are you going to put Tommy and Piper together? It seems that way :) I like Jason and Reyna, so I hope so!
Post soon!

Great chapter HecateA. I love ur writing (always will) Loved the chapter. I think Piper finally found someone :DDD Im really starting to like Tommy :DD

That was such a great chapter and the story is just so good an clever. Your a great author!, not sure why buy I recently just re-read your SoN which was looong and sad, especially when certain events took place *cough*Hazel Ducharme*cough* But I remembered how great it was. Can't wait until next Friday!

My goodness, that was awesome!!:D
And nine year old? Lol XD
Okay, so when you said the ring turned her invisible, one thing popped into my mind: Lord of the Rings.
Who doesn't like JRR Tolkien? :D I mean, really, she turns invisible when the ring is put on. The only difference is that she doesn't transport to the distorted vision of the Eye :D
So I think the ring is way cool.
I only spotted one mistake. In the first part of the chapter, it was Annabeth's point of view, but you switched to Piper's on this one sentence: Piper was thinking that it came from the 'less'.
Did you mean to say 'Annabeth'...? I had to go back and make sure it was Annabeth's point of view and not Piper's.
Otherwise, it was awesome as usual!! According to the prophecy thing Tommy knows, there was a boat so it's not a coincidence they found him. Nothing is a coincidence with these kind of books.
Piper cooks? I think they mentioned that once in the Lost Hero. I think. Not too sure.
A brilliant chapter as always! So much detail, depth, and, well, length. How do you make these so freaking long? 0.0
Awesome!!! Can't wait for the next one!! Post soon!!:D

hehe GREAT CHAPTER

1. I love Tommy soooo much he's just that kind of guy you can't help but like you know
2. Nice poem pretty mysterious
3. OOOHHHOOOHHOOHHOHO Is...*giggle* Piper having feelings for...TOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY­YYY­YYY­YY? Tee hee
4. Haha OMG PIPER IS COOOKING? Hide! Do something good! Run!
5. Percy and Annabeth WILL (WILL) get back together! I will FORCE them too! Or Rick Riordan after he breaks them up (Come on it's obvious no matter how much we hate it he'll break them up or kill Annabeth I rather have them broken up because we all know they'll get back together:)
6. Josie....josie.....Josie....(I felt the need to put that in)
7. And I love how Tommy calls Piper feisty! Haha that just made me laugh and grin for the rest of the chapter
8.PERCY I LOVE YOU! (I also felt the need to put that in:)


OMG Did you see the video of Rick Riordan reading the first chapter of Mark of Athena Gosh I love LEO sooooo much he was hilarious and by the way it was ANNABETH's point of view kind of obvious with the whole Mark of ATHENA but I am soooo excited I can't wait till the book comes out!!!!!

incredable!!! fantastic!!!!!! you're amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and . . .

what secrets dose the ring hold??? plz tell me!!

anyways . . .

can't wait until friday!

I just found this, and it's so good! Even better than your other stories and I absolutely LOVED those! Can't wait until you post next! :)

Psh. If you think that's creepy and stalkery, you should hear the things me and my friends talk about. One word: Six-Packs... Or is that two words?
TOMMY! You're so cool the way you camp ;).
Quinn fell asleep talking to people? I thought that'd be the other way around ;). Haha, I still love Quinn.
It was Piper's ring?! I have a feeling something bad's gonna happen with it...
Annabeth's kind of being a jerk. I mean, I know she's just doing this to protect him; but even her thoughts are against him! I would think she would be a jerk, and then at least THINK "I'm sorry Percy."
So that's about all I have to say. Can't wait until you post on Tuesday *hint, hint*; and I loved this chapter :). It was amazing :D! TOMMY <3!
~ percy4forever

^I agree. I thought Annabeth would think , Omg! Percy is soooooooo hot when he's mad. Or something like that. Did you ever say who Tommy's parent was? That's sad about Tommy's camp! Are we calling it tipper or pommy? Go Tiper/Pommy! Yeah! You rock Hecate. Keep writing.:D

I understand camp euro now! cause, you know, i know you all were worried about that. XD great chapter as alwayss!!

Cannot wait for the next chapter!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!

Hey! Its uh...Sunday and your meant to post on Friday.....right? Not trying to pressure just confused I really want the next chapter!

Hecate???? are you ok?????

1) OMG Mark of Athena, chapter one -Haaaaa
2) Kane Chronicles- Over- D:
3) To whoever asked, Tommy's mother is Victoria. Goddess of, well, victory.

Story time, ladies and gentlemen!

I've been sick for the last little while. Not sure what it is but it saps at my energy and using the computer makes it worst. So guess who momentarily ran out of material? Yeah. Moi. Crisis averted, it's all good now. I wrote some Percy and Annabeth, and Jason getting his hands dirty for the good of everyone, and Josie being creepy. So I do think that this is back on track. But I apologise for the wait. Enjoy!


XXXI
Annabeth
The noodles were even the faintest trait of overcooked which made Annabeth think that something had been going on downstairs with Tommy and Piper. Then she noticed the chain Tommy had had, tucked under Piper’s shirt. She didn’t say anything until she and Piper were sharing the sink in the small bathroom, brushing their teeth. You could barely fit more than two people in there, but Annabeth and Piper had figured out how to make it work.
“What’s the thing with the chain?” Annabeth asked. Piper looked at her confused for a second and then her eyes brightened in recognition, her fingers grasping at the chain.
“Just… Something Tommy had.” Piper said. Piper knew that she had recognised it.
“Why did he give it to you?” Annabeth asked again.
“Just because I asked him about it and he didn’t want it anymore.”
Annabeth wasn’t so gullible, but she didn’t say anything. She just spit toothpaste foam out into the sink and ran the tap. She wanted to warn Piper of a million things. That now wasn’t a good time to get into a relationship if she liked Tommy or if Tommy liked her. That war was just too violent to try and get something as delicate as love through. It broke humans and lives and things made out of concrete and steel. Love had no chances.
But she slapped herself mentally. That was her story. That was the path fate had given her. Piper was on another road and she could do whatever she wanted. She could take her chances. She could try and bring love through a huge damn of everything-that-was-going-on.
She peaked out the bathroom and saw Percy recounting some story making Hazel laugh. It made him smile and Frank said something that made him laugh too.
Annabeth just couldn’t bear it if her friend ended up screwed up and in a mess like she was.
 
Jason
Everyone basically crashed at the same time. They pulled out one of the spare sleeping bags for Tommy.
“Did you know we were coming? Because if you did- I swear I will break something if you didn’t send me a warning letter.” Josie said.
“They were spares, in case equipment was damaged.” Jason told her.
“Hmm- sure.” Josie said, kicking off her sneakers. Hazel caught one that was about to soar midair and lined them at the head of Josie’s sleeping bag.
“We risk our lives by being on this ship- please don’t add ‘shoe projectiles’ on the list of dangers.” Hazel said.
“My bad,” she said.
Tommy thanked them for the help, everyone settled down and someone clapped to turn off the light. Jason heard Annabeth whispering to Quinn, but he’d learned to tune that out because it was a had-to-happen. Tommy propped himself up on his elbows, probably as an instinct of the-guy-in-charge-of-making-sure-everybody­-sl­ept­, but Jason shook his head at him and whispered back.
“It’s okay, they’re allowed. Quinn’s got sleeping deficiencies, I’ll explain in the morning.” He said.
“Sorry. At Camp you got dishes duty for talking after curfew.”
“That’s not nearly as harsh as Camp Jupiter’s.” Jason said. “I got thrown into a river once.”
“Yeah, but we couldn’t spare anybody.” Tommy said, lying down again. “We couldn’t have someone under the weather, that just messed it up for everyone and distraught the little kids.”
Jason nodded to himself, it made sense. He couldn’t believe all the differences between the Camps. Camp Jupiter had been the one demigod sanctuary he’d over known of, so it was the way, the regulation to him. Camp Half-Blood had been a huge shocker, with its lighter style that let people explore and try everything instead of pointing them towards what they had to know. People propped their elbows on tables and made faces and made bubbles in their sodas with their straws. People poked each other in the ribs as they were taking aim at targets and yelled ‘BOO!’ at someone climbing the wall. Jason could only imagine how badly Camp Jupiter would punish for that. Those months had been the hardest of his life, trying to adjust and snap himself out of the ‘praetor’, ‘responsibility’ frame of mind.
But another camp? Locked in the middle of the woods somewhere in Europe, providing for itself, living in secret, sleeping in tents and tending to fires… That was another kind of intense. Where survival wasn’t an instinct, it was a life style. Working was a life style.
Jason couldn’t help but respect that incredibly.

Leo
She descended into the dungeon where Cedric awaited. Jane walked to the end of the row of cells, and bent down to fix the strap on her sandal. At the same occasion she dropped something from the red tunic Romans wore under their armour, and picked something up from underneath the pile of straw Cedric was asleep on; an envelope. Jane got up and looked him over, taking in his features. She kissed her fingers and pressed them to his forehead before leaving.
The scene changed. Jane was in a Roman villa like Jason and Reyna slept in. It was one of those moments where Leo identified Jane Stone as his sister. Diagrams and sketches for different machines dressed up the plain walls. Bits of metal and rare spare parts were over her desk on which a little elephant stood. Possibly a prototype for a second Hannibal. Leo looked at the sketch next to it. Same power of elephant- make us for lost one.
Jane herself was sitting on her bed wearing a white night dress; her hair was loose down her back in thick and defined waves. She ripped through the top part of the envelope and pulled out a letter.
February 15 1865,
Dear Jane,
I hope that the plan with Malinda’s fire will work out. I’m sure it will.
If your last letter was exact, here’s what the Greeks will do for strategy.
They won’t take the bait. They will split their troops. Very few soldiers will be trying to infiltrate through the two different slave routes your legion isn’t guarding. If the legion concentrates on one entrance, you will be able to capture most of them because of your numbers. If you capture and injure most of them, Greek morale will be even lower than if you kill them all. Hopefully low enough for them to bow down, but I don’t know. I still haven’t thought of another way to stop the war. I know we talked about boycotting last time we had time to talk in person, but that would be hard for you and impossible for me.
I miss you. I know that it’s not safe to talk to each other out loud, but I wish I could although I don’t think my voice can say ‘I love you’ quite loud enough for it to feel right. Wow that sounds cheesy, you might gag considering not only are you human, but you’re also you. Maybe you should read my letters near one of those vomitoriums now.
Cedric

Jane smiled and she got up to her desk. She dipped a feather in a beautifully crafted pot of ink and started writing.

February 16th 1865,
Dear Cedric,
Indeed, I had to supress a gag reflex. And Romans don’t use a vomitorium that is a myth. A vomitorium is actually a passageway of an amphitheatre. I’m insulted that you’d think that of me, have my people and I not made a good impression on you? (this is of course, sarcasm. I hope you can tell but you may discover that I’ve gotten a lot better at it since we last spoke. I learned from the best). Only a handful of glutton emperors used a ‘vomitorium’, we soldiers know much better.
Although I must admit, I miss you too. You were sleeping while I came to pick up and drop off my letter, I didn’t even see your eyes.
Tomorrow is the trial of the last plan we discussed; with Malinda’s fire.
The day after I will lead the diversion into the war camps, and I will give my direct orders not to kill but to maim beyond repair. I know it is hard for you to give orders for your people to go through this. You are brave, Cedric, braver than most. I’m not sure if I could do it if our roles were switched and I was a prisoner in a Greek camp.
I wish there was a way for me to contact your fellow leader and explain everything to her. Then she can help me lead the Romans into traps to balance the losses and victories. I will try and find a way; I will need your help so I can prove that you are in on these plans. I have a patent in mind already.
Yours truly and completely,
Jane Stone

The scene changed again.
“Jane, can I talk to you?” Someone asked. Jane spun around to see the speaker. Her brown hair was braided tightly with her bangs pulled out of her face, and her eyes were dark and hard as stone.
“I’m busy, Malinda.” She said.
“Yes, well, you’re always busy.” The girl who must be Malinda said. Unlike Jane, who kept her hair out of her face and her armour on, Malinda seemed to be more openly girly. She wore a dress and wrapped a Scottish shawl around herself. Red waves of hair fell around her clear face. She didn’t seem armed.
Jane stopped and rolled her eyes. “What is it?”
“That Cedric Bailey prisoner, in the cells under the principia…”
“Yes, what about Cedric Bailey?” Jane asked.
“The others were executed months ago.” Malinda said. “The Greeks are cutting our rations. We can’t afford to feed him for much longer, we might as well throw his body to the Greek camp so they can see their leader. Morale and such. Or we could feed Lupa’s wolves.”
Leo shivered.
“Let me take the calls on that.” Jane said. “Return to your barrack. Rest up, get in armour. I do believe that you’re one of the lines of the first cohort following Centurion Matteson on the attack of the Greek camp. Rest up. We’ll need your… Special powers for tonight.”
Malinda stuck out her palm and a flame built up and crackled in it. Leo felt the small of his back warm up. This was the first time that he saw someone else use fire like that. But Nyssa had told him that the power hadn’t been seen since the England fire… But Nyssa was only Greek. Maybe the romans had encountered something like it since.
“Burning down their war camp will do nothing. They will rebuild.” Malinda said.
“No, they will move back.” Jane said.
“I know. But they will rebuild there.”
“You don’t know all the layers to this plan, Malinda, there will be archers. We’ve brought in some half-bloods with no allegiances from the South. Mercenaries, if you will.” Jane said.
“What happened to you, Jane?” Malinda said, dropping her hands. “We used to be friends. We used to talk and wash the bandages at the hospital together. You told me everything. Now I barely see you, we don’t share secrets, we don’t talk. You didn’t even tell me about the archers.”
“You are a legionnaire now. You will learn the details at the same time as your fellows. I have a higher purpose now, and your tricks don’t amuse me anymore.” Jane said.
“You mean burning things?” Malinda asked.
“I mean burning people,” Jane said. “And you know very well I refer not only to your skills with fire.”
Malinda’s eyes brightened with anger.
“Jane Stone, I-”
“Don’t challenge me, Malinda. Don’t make me crack. Don’t defy my orders.” Jane said coldly and shortly. “And my orders were clear.”
Malinda gave a respectful bow that seemed to hurt her, and then she stomped off. Jane sorted out a few more details involving battlefields and inventory and a few maps and theories, she gave a few orders and then she was alone.

She was in her room again, working on a small silver bird of prey, sitting at her desk. She wore boy’s clothes and the sleeves were pulled up. Oil stained her wrists and hands.
She put down her patent and tools. She got up and reached for the necklace around her neck; a probation tablet. But not hers; it belonged to Jamie, her brother.
“I will stop this war,” she whispered to herself. “I will stop it before another little boy falls.”

When Leo woke up he blinked a couple of times to get everything in focus. For a second he got really freaked out about the fact that there was a guy lying between Percy and Jason in their sleeping circle, but then he remembered Tommy and the island and the strange ability of Percy and Piper to show up with new people, and it was all good.
He yawned and saw that everyone was still sleeping, which was a first. He grabbed his bag, went into the bathroom and got dressed, and headed down to the engine room.
Between two pipes, he fished out the beautifully crafted box that he and Brady had found back at Camp Jupiter. He walked back up deck, opened it, and rummaged through the enveloped to find the one dating back to February and read the letters that came after the ‘16th’.
From what he gathered, Jane had led an attack on the war camps of Greece. Enormous tumbleweeds made out of twine and straw had been lit and rolled into their camps, setting fire to everything. The Greek defences had seen them coming and instead of trying to save their tents (which would’ve been useless) had formed a phalanx. The battle had been dubbed ‘Battle of the Flames’ in Rome. Jane said that: “the only way we saw who we killed was if we got close enough to the camp and tents. It was a battle lit by fire”.
The Greeks had managed to push the Romans back, but they’d lost everything and were force to return and give the land to the Romans who set up lines of guards and fortified the area against their intrusion.
He kept reading. Amongst battle plans and strategies there was always an ‘I love you’ or ‘I miss you’, but somehow Leo thought that they were more important than Jane’s doodles of battlefields with ‘X’ and ‘O’s to mark soldiers, and Cedric’s charts of procedures and soldier counts.
The threat of Cedric being executed despite Jane’s veto and pledges was becoming graver by the hour. On Jane’s behalf: ‘I will find more reasons to have the senate keep you around longer, but I fear that I cannot obey them if they decide to veto me. I will have to betray Rome to let you go, for otherwise means betraying myself’. Leo could feel the odds pack up against her.
He read through the letters. Jane had patented an automaton hawk, which must be what he’d seen from his dreams.
‘It voyages and acts like a messenger pigeon’ Jane explained to Cedric in a letter. ‘I will be able to send letters and inform her. Next time I drop some paper off there’s going to be one sheet more than usual, and you’re going to have to write a letter to your partner. Write it in Greek.’
He read through their strategies without finding any letter to or from Jane and this mysterious Greek leader (which he was calling Old Annabeth).
There weren’t, but there were letters involving Cedric and Jane talking about her and her strategies. Stuff like, ‘according to Genevieve’s letters’ and ‘Genevieve said’ and ‘the attack will lead the troops to where Genevieve…’
Leo had never been into reading, but he had most of the letters read and piled up on his knees by the time even Quinn woke up. She didn’t bother him. She said hello, Leo said hola, she starred at him for a few seconds of confusion in her über-yet-sleepy-brain, asked him if he was actually reading, he said that he absolutely was, and she went to read herself.
The last few letters were in quick scrawl, with no ‘I love you’s and just the need-to-know information.
Cedric,
We’ve pushed your escape too long. I’m doing my best to spare you but the senate grows weary. As Genevieve and her army cut our rations furthermore with more efficiency, they do not want them wasted on you. Malinda is petitioning against me- I fear that I’ve made a clever speaker my enemy.
A chill went Leo’s back when he remembered Octavian, probably lounging in New Rome and making the third and fifth cohorts do push-ups, getting fed grapes by incredibly hot girls.
I’ll try and dissuade them. The main meeting on your case is tomorrow, but I’m at battle tonight, the whole night. I won’t be able to free you. If you do make a run for it, it will be in daylight. Such is not my preferences, but your death is much worst.
Jane
He found the answer.
Dear Jane, (I can still use endearment in this mess, aren’t I amazing?)
I don’t mind, I have a bit of strength left. Enough to use my powers and shroud myself in invisibility and run past the borders of the state, anyways. Genevieve will have to assist me from that point, but I trust your skill and lettering system with her. Feed the hawk a rat for me, will you? I trust you with my life (not because of the rat feeding; for everything else).
Find a decent reason to keep me around. A ransom, some torture for information, or something else involving blood that Romans appeal to. Don’t appear attached to me in the senate. That would get you killed. Don’t veto anything, that’ll just look suspicious. Fight hard tonight, I don’t want you dead.
Yours,
Cedric
PS- I love you. And we’ve been so worried and agitated lately that we haven’t said it enough and so I love you.

After that Leo found nothing and he was quite puzzled by it.
“What is this? Valdez reading?” Someone new climbing on deck said.
“’Morning,” Leo said. “Nice to see you too Zhang. Well, I’m not seeing you, because I’ve been reading…”
“Quinn, what the Pluto did you do to him? Man, remind me to leave you two unsupervised more often, this is doing good to him.”
Tommy moved up next, looking around confused.
“Umm…”
“WUNMC,” Leo said. Tommy frowned.
“Pardon?”
“Wake Up Next Morning Confused.” Leo clarified. “Happens to me all the time. It’s when you forget that your location just changed and you wake up and go ‘whoa, what the heck?’ Don’t worry, we’re cool, nobody’s going to hurt you. Mostly.”
“Alright,” Tommy said. “And you know this why, exactly?”
“’Cause Leo’s a runaway,” he said. He turned around and saw Josie walking up on deck. She stretched her arms above her head. Piper had lent her some of her clothes so Josie now wore her ruined sneakers, jeans from Cabin 8 and a clean t-shirt with some kind of romantic painting copied on. Piper had previously drawn a Sharpie moustache on the man and devil horns, like she did to yearbook pictures of popular girls. Josie kept her jacket and running his tongue over his lip, Leo knew why. He always had his army jacket on too.
“Also he suffers from short-term memory loss, and good morning, and also today it’s going to- hey, cool, a piano.”
Leo turned around and he felt that Tommy and Frank’s eyes shifted directions too.
“Oh my gosh,” Quinn said. She got up slowly and investigated the instrument. Leo was still kind-of just shell-shocked that there was a piano.
“Piper tells me that odd things are normal on this ship, but this?” Tommy asked.
“Piper would freak.” Leo promised. “Not used to that.”
“Frank, did Hazel have a nightmare?” Quinn asked.
“Me? I don’t know, how would I know? Why do you ask m..?”
“Well, I assume that you look at her before falling asleep and that you looked at her when you woke up, and so if she moved in her sleep, which she doesn’t do usually, you’d know.” Quinn said like she was explaining a very basic theory.
“Burn.” Leo said. Frank shot him a death glare. “Not literally, but you know…”
“Yeah, she was buried at the bottom of her sleeping bag even though she was complaining about how hot it was last night.” Frank said. “So I guess she had a nightmare. Why?”
Quinn pulled a string of gold beads hanging on the piano leg, which was self-explanatory to everyone but Tommy.
“Some fancy ship with a piano must’ve sunk there,” Leo nodded.
“I think I’m missing something,” Tommy said.
“Hazel and jewellery… Well, it’s a better combo than you’d expect.” Frank said.
“No kidding.” Leo muttered.
“So it’s Hazel that I have to thank for this baby?” Josie said. She walked over to the bench, sat down and ran her fingers from the first key, high-pitch as Octavian screaming, to the lowest key on the piano.
“You play piano?” Frank asked.
“Mmm-hmm. Every loser’s got to excel at something. Granted, the twenty millionth symphony of Mozart bores me to whatever version of death is still reliable,” Frank scowled, “And ‘sit down and practise your ranges’ was the best way to have me run in the other direction, but yeah, I play piano.” Josie said.
“Play something then,” Quinn said.
“It’ll wake up everyone else,” Tommy said.
“It’s a better awakening than what I was planning to give.” Leo said. Truth: Nyssa had told him how to make a bullhorn with an empty soup can, a few unexpected kitchen chemicals, one elastic, and a lot, a lot of hydrogen. He hadn’t believed her, but hadn’t found a time to try it out, and it was better to try it on the Argo II so that he could either deny or support her when he got back and look like a genius at the same time.
“Relax, this is a bit of classical I was forced to memorise Wolfgang.”
“Wolfgang?&” Tommy asked.
“Only German dude I know who wasn’t evil,” Josie said. “Wolfgang Ama-something Mozart. And now you, because I think you’re an okay dude.”
“Well I certainly appreciate it.” Tommy said. Josie flashed him a thumbs up and then started playing.
Leo had never been super artistic or musical. He built stuff, made jokes, built some more. He didn’t know the theory or the practise. Music to him was a pretty thing on the radio (except for certain boy bands), but Josie played [i]really well.
It was odd seeing loud and ruckus Josie playing something soft. Those two things should collide but somehow they didn’t and it just fused and looked really natural. He got a good look at her face while she played. Her eyes were looking at where sheet music should be and her head was cocked to the side and her fingers flew like they had minds of their own on the keys and for the first time Josie looked peaceful and focused and content and interested in something. If a magical bird could rise from ashes, order could come out of Josie.
Her fingers froze pushing down at one end of the keyboard, and her other hand hovered above the black and white keys. She held it until the sound faded.
“Josie, that was beautiful.” Tommy said. “Bolero by Ravel, right?”
“Why of course,” Josie said. “I can also pull off some Lady Gaga, but dusty old music pieces with big-brand composers is always more impressive. And so far that’s all that I seem to have that’s impressive.”
“Not true,” Leo said. “I thought the telling-the-future thing was pretty awesome.”
“Mmm, I suppose. But it doesn’t count for I am still in denial. Wolfgang, how does one stuck in the woods since the age of nine know about Ravel?” Josie asked.
Tommy smiled slyly. “I didn’t tell you about my father yet, did I?”
“No,” Frank said.
“Ooh, story time!” Leo said. As long as I don’t have to go next.
“Yes, do tell.” Someone new in the conversation said. Piper was at the entrance between the Argo II’s second floor and the deck, dressed as well, her hair braided with beads. Hazel was right behind her, looking tired and glassy-eyed.
“Good morning everyone.” He said.
Leo caught Tommy’s brown eyes on her. “Good morning Piper,” he said. “Good morning Hazel.”
“Hiya Hazel. Good morning Sacagawea, now don’t interrupt.” Josie said.
“My father caught the attention of Victoria, and this is the brief bit of family history that I know about myself, because he was a chess player.” Tommy said.
“Chess player? Sounds much more Minerva to me,” Quinn said.
“No, see, he was a champion. He went into tournaments and won them over and over. He was nationally and even internationally known for this, he won nationals in four moves once. My father was a good man, but when he was playing chess I lost him to the pieces on the board and to the stratagems growing in his head. I had a feeling that when he played chess, my father was in a world where he had the power to move and plan on his own without thinking of anyone else. I cannot blame him. It was tough for him, to be a single parent, and he worried about me every other time of the day- even as a child I knew that much. Regardless; he used to tell me; ‘chess is the game of kings Tomas, and kings win. You’d be good at this.’.”
“What does this have to do with music?” Frank asked.
“My father was convinced that since my mother was a goddess, I could do great things if I had the proper chance. He worked most of his life to earn money to send me to America; he believed my mother’s homeland would benefit me more. ‘Give me more chances’, were his words. He even got an extra job because what he’d made-do with tournament money was no longer enough. He conditioned me from the time I was born to live a good life and be what he called ‘well-balanced’. Virtuous, active, intelligent on many plans, strategic and so forth. He tried to find out what put me at the best. He let me try different things and two of them stuck. Football -or I suppose soccer-”
“What the hell is soccer?” Josie asked to herself. Europeans, getting mixed up in their sports, gosh, Leo thought. He actually found it hilarious.
“-And listening to classical music when I did my homework.” Tommy finished. “I don’t know why. I'm not a big fan of music –no offence Josie-, but I could always remember these pieces and symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven, Bach and Tchaikovsky.”
“I can’t even remember that guy’s name.” Frank said.
“Can you play?” Piper asked out of the blue. Her eyes were nailed on Tommy as if they wouldn’t move. Kind of like when you saw a dead body or something terrifying and you couldn’t look away, except she looked much more interested and not generally displeased at the sight of him.
“Maybe,” he said. “I’ve spent the last seven years far from society in general. Pianos don’t come as often in the woods as they apparently do in the ocean.”
“This? Pff- this is the least Hazel can subconsciously fish out of the ocean, we’re lucky the whole freaking ship didn’t slam into ours.” Leo said. Frank shot him a look.
“What?” Hazel asked confused.
“Try,” Piper asked. “Please?”
Tommy met her eyes for a second. “If you insist.”
“And if I don’t mind sharing my baby,” Josie said. “If Leo can have the ship I can damn well have this piano.”
“Yes,” Tommy said. “If you don’t mind.”
“Well aren’t you lucky I don’t.” Josie said, getting off the bench. Tommy took her place and looked at the scales for a few seconds before positioning his hands and playing. Josie immediately seemed to recognise it. Goodness gracious, this was more classical music than Leo had ever heard in his whole life, why must he be so cultured?
“Carmen: Habanera,” Piper said once he was finished. “By Bizet.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” Tommy said. “How did you..?”
“I don’t know.” Piper said. “I must have heard it sometime. Maybe at Camp…”
“Well you did spend a fair amount of time with Will Solace,” Leo teased.
“Will Solace?” Tommy asked.
“The husband of mine Leo’s imagination has cooked up, who’s actually just a friend.” Piper said. “But don’t tell Leo that, he’d be devastated.”
“What, that Santa isn’t real?” Percy asked, climbing over deck. He was followed by a weary looking Annabeth and Jason.
“No, the Easter bunny, we were waiting before breaking Santa Claus to him. Oh well, now he knows.” Piper said.
“What’s with the piano?” Annabeth asked, looking at the instrument puzzled.
As Leo and Frank explained, he noticed that Jason looked ticked off. Maybe it was time to pile on more classical music. Or would that tick him off furthermore?
“Can I bring something up?” He asked.

Amazeballs!!!!! That was great chapter, and I saw the chapter one of Mark of Athena! Thats was also great but I'm upset that they didn't get as far as to actually meet the romans.. Guess well have have to wait a few more months :'( Can't wait till net Friday and I hope you feel better!

lol! awesome!

haha, a random piano XD that cracks me up
LOL soccer- football- soccer- idk. xD

awesome! post soon :DD

Dun, dun, dun! Jason has something to say!
I loved reading the MoA chapter one :D! 'Cept, the stupid evil snowman thing took up the time and space that they could have been meeting the Romans with.
Pipey! They are pretty much obsessed with each other :p.
WHAT! Santa's not real?!!! Haha, just kidding :P.
PIANO! Haha, randomness.
Josie's gonna be even creepier O.o?
Can't wait for you to post again :D! Oh, and feel
better :).
~ percy4forever

Leo was wrong, Octavion died T_T

“We risk our lives by being on this ship- please don’t add ‘shoe projectiles’ on the list of dangers.” Hazel said.

“WUNMC,” Leo said. Tommy frowned.
“Pardon?”
“Wake Up Next Morning Confused.” Leo clarified. “Happens to me all the time. It’s when you forget that your location just changed and you wake up and go ‘whoa, what the heck?’ Don’t worry, we’re cool, nobody’s going to hurt you. Mostly.”
“Alright,” Tommy said. “And you know this why, exactly?”

“Play something then,” Quinn said.
“It’ll wake up everyone else,” Tommy said.
“It’s a better awakening than what I was planning to give.” Leo said. Truth: Nyssa had told him how to make a bullhorn with an empty soup can, a few unexpected kitchen chemicals, one elastic, and a lot, a lot of hydrogen. He hadn’t believed her, but hadn’t found a time to try it out, and it was better to try it on the Argo II so that he could either deny or support her when he got back and look like a genius at the same time.


“Will Solace?” Tommy asked.
“The husband of mine Leo’s imagination has cooked up, who’s actually just a friend.” Piper said. “But don’t tell Leo that, he’d be devastated.”
“What, that Santa isn’t real?” Percy asked, climbing over deck. He was followed by a weary looking Annabeth and Jason.
“No, the Easter bunny, we were waiting before breaking Santa Claus to him. Oh well, now he knows.” Piper said.


Wow Hecate, you were awesomeness as usual. And this time I couldn't help but post these quotes from this chapter!!!!!!

I just cant wait for the next one . . . .

I hope you get better, I was scared when you posted two days late. it isnt like you.

You know, I should stop being lazy and immediately comment the second your chapter is up :P
I could make a book out of my mental list of procrastination problems. I swear...
Anyways, OH MY GOSH. As usual, it was an EPIC AWESOME CHAPTER.
I need another word for awesome because your chapters need more than that...
Now that I've become officially obsessed with the Hunger Games, I've been comparing Johanna and Josie. I mean, come on. They're both incredibly sarcastic, crazy, and they pretty much initially hate the protagonists. Right?
Haha I love them both.
Oh and don't forget the fact that both their names start with 'J'. No coincidences in the literature world, yes? 'Course not. That's not Hecate, Collins, OR Riordan.
I am sooo off track today.
Okay, I absolutely LOVE Tommy now. He reminds me of Peeta and Finnick; cute, sweet, and slow to anger. Told you I was obsessed with Hunger Games. I prefer Gale overall :P
ALMIGHTY MARS, I AM SO FREAKING DISTRACTED.
As I was saying, Tommy is amazing. Aw I love soccer. He's now one of my favorite characters, next to Leo and Josie.
I am seriously starting to dislike Piper. Even more since the Mark of Athena sneak peek came out. I mean, seriously? She and Jason are already a couple before Reyna can do a daisy-cup-filled thing? I don't like her very much.
And I was soooo excited for that sneak peek, but after contemplating it a little (I was mad they didn't cut right to the chase of Greeks and Romans), I was like, 'Nevermind, Hecate's is better.'
I DID say you were better than RR, didn't I? Well, I meant it.
Gosh, I'm a rambler.
Josie and Tommy!! I think they'd make a surprisingly good couple, but Piper and Tommy are better. The only problem is that they're really...perfect. Hey, Tommy is cute, Piper is beautiful, they're both kind and sweet. It's like honey and bread. Perfect.
Too perfect.
I don't think even Jason was that perfect.
But...I still like Piper and Tommy together. I also like Leo and Josie. Then Hazel and Frank. Percy and Annabeth. Jason and Reyna.
Yep, I love those couples. You should sooo get Percabeth back together. They worked hard for each other, didn't they? After the war, there should be rest.
And what about the Sibylline books? What do they do about that?
So many more questions.
But I will end with the typical ending any reader should say on Fanpop.
Post soon!!:D

Amazing HecateA !! I love tommy and Josie .


There are many times I started cracking up and people thought I was nuts . Awesome chapter can't wait till you post again :DDDD

Amazing chapter post soon I love Piper and Tommy sooooooooooooooooooo much

1.why is Jason pissed off? Well..you'll answer that next time:)
2. AND OMG YES MARK OF ATHENA and I finished Serpants Shadow two days ago great book loved it as usual

that was a great chapter post soon
ohh i love the couples in your story
AMAZING!!!

you're amazing!!!! the chapter was exallant!!!!

and the serpant's shadow was amazing!!!! i loved the ending!!!!!! with all the hints in the last couple chapters and spicificly the 3rd to last paragraph!

and why is jason angry????

also i got to see the advengers on friday!!! it was sooo funny!!!

also it's okay that the chapter's late with me because i was grounded from my laptop over the weekend and it wasn't even because i was going on it to much! but i'm back now and you're amazing!!!!

can't wait till next friday!

Runs to freakin catch up.

Ohmagosh it's been a LONG TIME since I read u hecate and well…I missed you :(

Well anyways sorry it's been so long since I commented I have been epicly busy since well... Febuary so yeah since I have missed so much let me just compile all of my comments down to one.
RUN JACSON RUN OCTAVIANS KNOWS PIPER CAN CHARMSPEAK

NOOOOOOOOO!… reyna :( you fudging jerk Octavian

Ok reyna breath in, breath out the walls will not make you go squish, it's ok…maybe

Ok Quinn it is better when you talk to someone about your "problems" it is the first step to recovery.

Wait wait wait wait wait? Octavian likes… OCTAVIAN LIKES REYNA?!

Joan you are just plain EVIL

Woah Tartarus… BAD PERCY BAD yeah ok I get it's annabeth and all that but really the fate of rome come on I thought you where better than that.

WHY YOU NO LIKE PERCABETH ( leaves to go cry in a corner)


monopods? NARNIA FTW!

Wow this new girl is interesting … i guess

PSYCIC ?!?!

Another island really? DON'T GO TO IT WE KNOW BAD ISLANDS ARE BAD

WOAH stinky lady's :P

WOAH it's like Harry cloak but it's not a cloaks… it's a RING!

Wow its like one of those "well thats a wired place to…" moments but really a piano just how unoriginal can you be? Jk Jk that's prety original

Well i am done I know that's not all that happened but I am just one person I can't remember every thing. Anyways it feels good to be back and imbracing the Hecate once again ( wow that sounded stalkerish lol).


EDIT
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Wow I just noticed how long this is

Am I all by myself… I'm lonely

EDIT-----------------------
Yay I am not alone! (and yay me for not posting more than 2 comments :)

Please Hecate, post on time today!!!!! We all want you to, and it would make us happy!!!!!!

If you are still sick though, we understand . . . .

^Hey,not trying to be horrible or anything but we don't pressure HecateA at all...I think there was a problem with pressure and spam in her SoN so......just wait is all I'm saying. :)

That is why I said we understood if she didn't. I don't want to put pressure on her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!