Before Reyna could make true her promise, the clouds in front of the helm broke away, revealing the glimmering ocean and a tall golden statue standing guard to a sprawling city.

Reyna stepped forward, "That is Camp Jupiter."

"Wow," Leo and Piper whispered. The camp was magnificent.

The ship gracefully cut through the air and landed, flocks of people gathering around them.

The three demigods descended from the ship, and a booming voice rang out, "AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?"

The voice was just Terminus, of course, but Reyna didn't tell them about him just so she could enjoy watching Leo be startled. His nose caught on fire and he hurriedly slapped at it, making sure no one saw. Of course, Reyna did and she couldn't help a snicker.

She had anticipated that Terminus wouldn't let them pass through the city on the Argo II, and she had requested Leo and Piper to descend from the ship outside the Pomerian Line.

"Terminus," Reyna stepped forward, "It's me."

"Well," if a statue could sound surprised, this one sure did, "Reyna! We thought you were dead, or worse, kidnapped by the Greeks!"

"No," Reyna's face hardened for a minute, "I'm fine. Please let us through."

"Alright then," Terminus replied, "I think Jason and the others are expecting you."

At this Reyna's face blanched, and she tried not to trip over anything as they walked past Terminus.

"Queenie, you okay?" Leo's concerned face appeared in the corner of her vision.

Despite Reyna's nod, Leo reached out and took Reyna's right hand in one of his own and squeezed it gently, "It's alright, it's not like they're going to try to arrest you for being a traitor to the Romans or anything."

Reyna smiled gratefully at Leo but said anyway, "You don't know the Greeks, they just might. And Jason..."

"Who? And what about him?" Leo stopped walking and turned to face Reyna.

"Well, I guess there's something I should have told you about him before we left the ship-" Reyna tried to form the right words to tell him, but was interrupted by Piper.

"Guys? I think everyone's waiting for us." Piper pointed to ahead of them, and there stood a ginormous group of demigods. Some in armor with combat gear in their hands, and some in casual jeans and t-shirts. Not all of them looked very happy to see them either, especially the tall, blond one at the front standing next to another tall, blond teenager. They were both wearing robes, but while the first one looked like he was born to wear bedsheets all day and not look silly, the robes were practically falling off the thin shoulders of the second one. The first one had the aura of a born leader and right now he was glaring at Leo pointedly.

Standing next to them was a girl who was also wearing robes but looked very uncomfortable in them. She was also holding a spear in her hand and looked quite fierce. She wasn't beautiful, but there was something about her that was undeniably alluring.

Two Romans stood next to her, an Asian teenager with a bow slung over his shoulders and a weary expression on his face and a smaller girl with shoulder length cocoa brown hair and skin like coffee who looked shocked to see them.

Reyna stepped forward, one hand still holding Leo's and spoke clearly and loudly, "Romans, I have returned."

"Well, obviously, you have. Everyone can see that," Leo said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Shut up, Leo," Reyna and Piper muttered at the same time.

"Reyna," the leader stepped forward, doing his best to not look at Leo, "It's nice to see you again, who are your companions?"

Reyna let go of Leo's hand and motioned to her friends, "This is Leo, son of Hephaestus or Vulcan, and this is Piper, daughter of Aphrodite or Venus. Guys, this is Jason, the praetor."

She motioned to the other blond boy, "This is Octavian, the augur."

Piper and Leo both nodded their hellos and smiled politely.

"You must be Clarisse," Piper spoke to the girl holding the spear, "Chris and other campers sent their hellos. Chiron hopes you are alright."

"How is Chris?" Clarisse asked, with what might have been a blush on her face.

"Before we get into anything, welcome to our camp," Jason interrupted, "The spirits will prepare food, and we can discuss what had happened so far."

"Jason!" Octavian spoke up for the first time, "You don't mean to let them into camp!"

"It's alright, Octavian, there's only three of them, and so many of us," Jason replied, his tone implying that there was no need for further discussion.

Leo tried not to gulp too loudly when he heard Jason, "Man, these Romans are scary," he thought to himself.

The feast was quiet, with the demigods mainly trading stories about they had been up to for the last year. Piper fished out a scroll-video Chris had recorded for Clarisse, and she accepted it gratefully. Soon Hazel and Frank (those were the names of the other two kids that had been standing next to Clarisse) and Piper and Clarisse were laughing and talking like they had known each other for years. Piper's laidback personality and her easy smile had relaxed everyone. Reyna was discussing camp politics, albeit slightly awkwardly, with Jason. Leo wasn't talking to anyone, he was angrily chomping on a sandwich and glaring at Jason. Finally getting fed up with his fidgeting, Reyna turned to him and suggested he take Octavian for a tour of the Argo II.

"Great idea, Queenie!" Leo stood up, "Let's go, dude!"

Octavian hesitantly followed Leo and they shimmied up the rope ladders into the Argo II.

"Reyna?" Jason tugged at his collar nervously, "Can we talk? Privately?"

Reyna hated him at the moment, hated him for putting her on the spot, and for the glances that were Piper and Clarisse exchanging seriously.

"I guess so," Reyna stood up, "Let's go over there."

Reyna and Jason walked over to the shade of a large oak tree, and Reyna sat down again, tucking her knees under her chin and settling into a crook of the tree.

"Well, what is it?" she asked him.

"Are you really going to go with the Greeks?" Jason spoke.

"Yes, of course!" Reyna exclaimed, "You know the prophecy. We have to go. Romans and Greeks have to work together, we need to put aside our differences."

"I guess I can't stop you," Jason sighed, "Be careful, okay?"

"I will, Jason," Reyna smiled softly.

"One other thing..." Jason hesitated for a second, "It's about you and-"

Jason never got to finish his sentence. A ball of fire and metal was slung down from the Argo II and hit the center of the Forum, scattering the demigods like ants and leaving a large smoking crater.

"The Greeks are firing!"

"I knew it!"

"Get them!"

The Romans were throwing food and cutlery, and Piper was hurriedly talking to Clarisse, Hazel and Frank. Reyna heard a sharp whistle, and a horse trotted up to Hazel. She flung herself over it gracefully and rode through the crowd, distracting the Romans. Frank walked into the crowd and changed shapes, a bear, then a moose, then an alligator, further adding to the confusion and helping to distract the Romans.

Reyna ran up to Piper and Clarisse, "We need to get out of here," she spoke calmly.

"That Greek twerp is firing on us!" Octavian was wriggling down the rope ladders, "He's firing! We have to fight!"

"No, it can't be," Reyna whispered, "Leo wouldn't..."

Clarisse spoke, "We can talk about it once we're on the ship. On three we run?"

"Okay," pale and grasping her dagger tight in one hand, Piper agreed, Reyna nodded her assent.

3. They turned to face the Argo II.

2. "Romans, stand back and leave us alone!" Piper yelled, her voice laced heavily with charmspeak.

1. Reyna didn't wait, she started sprinting.

The three girls weaved through the crowd, Clarisse reaching the ladders first and climbing it. Reyna could see Hazel approaching the ship and when she dismounted her horse, a dragon, Frank, picked her up in his giant claws. They flew up to the ship in a smooth swoop, and Reyna and the girls reached the deck seconds after them.

"Get back here, you Greeks!" Terminus was also shouting along with the crowds, and several cannonballs whizzed over them, some making contact with the ship and sending them sprawling on the deck.

True to Octavian's word, Leo was in a corner of the ship in front of the cannons, loading the next round of bullets.

"Leo, what are you doing?" Piper cried.

He turned around slowly to gaze them, and opened his mouth, "I am not Leo," a mechanical voice uttered, then it laughed ominously, "But they don't know that..."

Then Clarisse tackled him, sending him flying onto the rail, "Someone pilot this ship!" she cried.

"I've got it," Reyna said, "Let's get out of here."

Clarisse picked Leo up like he was a sack of bricks and dropped him in the center of the ship, "We'll have to wait till he wakes up to interrogate him."

As they flew out of the Roman camp, Reyna turned around for a last glance. She noticed Frank and Hazel also doing the same, and she sighed. The glimmering seas that had held so much promise a mere hour ago and the welcoming she had dreamed of getting from the Romans were gone. There also went any chance of them working together against Gaea, they didn't even have seven demigods like the prophecy said!

"Why don't I show you guys around?" Piper broke into Reyna's thoughts and spoke to Frank and Hazel, "I think Reyna has everything under control here."

Piper wanted to give Reyna and Leo some alone time when he woke up, and she wanted to get to know the Romans better.

"Yes, I'm fine here," Reyna replied, "Frank and Hazel, you guys can go if you want."

They smiled gratefully, Hazel might have been blinking away a couple tears there, and Reyna smiled back.

It was only a couple moments later that Reyna heard Leo groaning softly, and she went and knelt next to him, "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," Leo clutched his head and groaned again, slightly louder than before, "Actually I have a headache."
"Do you remember what happened?" Reyna asked him, still kneeling.

"Uh, no," Leo sat up, "What hap- no, no, did I fire on the camp?" He stared at Reyna in horror, wanting with all his soul for her to refute it.

"You did," Reyna replied, "Wait, let me finish. We know it wasn't you. It looked like you were possessed, but the Romans don't know that."

"So we had to leave?" Leo asked.

"Well, we ran away, actually," Reyna replied, grinning, "And then Clarisse body-slammed you and then picked up and dropped you on the deck like a sack of bricks. We also don't have enough demigods to complete the prophecy," she paused, "Should have just kidnapped a Roman from the crowd."

They sat in silence for a while, then, "Well this is shit," Leo whispered.

"Yes, it is shit," Reyna agreed, "Let's get you some ambrosia."

Jason stared at the Argo II flying away from the camp quickly. He knew he had to go with the them. The prophecy called for seven demigods, and he could count, right now there were only six.

Jason strode towards the stables quickly, but Octavian stepped into his path.

"Where are you going?" Octavian asked, "We have to have a council, we have to declare war on the Greeks!"

"No, Octavian," Jason spoke firmly, "I'm going to go after them, I want to help."

"You can't do that! You know if you do, you will be giving up all of your power here?" Octavian asked, unable to control the maniac grin that appeared on his face.

"I don't care," Jason walked around him, "I have to help them."

Seconds later, Jason was high in the sky flying on Reyna's pegasus, Scipio.

"Archers? Anyone?" Octavian lazily called, "Someone hit that guy. Jason Grace has deserted us."

An angry shout rang out among the crowd, and things were hurled towards Jason. He swerved in the air as a brick made contact with his forehead, but was soon out of the range of the Romans.

"It's alright," Octavian cackled, "We'll just sent the eagles after them."

Leo and Reyna were still huddled on the deck, and the others were sprawled around, tending to wounds and resting. Coach Hedge was walking around the deck and muttering, "I can't believe I missed all the fighting!"

"We'll need to restock and repair the ship," Leo spoke quietly to Reyna.

"Yes, I know," Reyna replied, and handed him a piece of ambrosia.

"Hey, Queenie, can I ask you something?" Leo asked.

"Well, it depends on what it is," Reyna replied, though she could guess what he was about to ask.

"Were you and Jason dating?" Leo spoke anxiously.

"We weren't," Reyna muttered, "But, if I hadn't been sent to Camp Half-Blood, if I had stayed for a bit longer..."

"It's alright, you don't have to talk about it," Leo replied quickly, not wanting to upset her, "I just wanted to know, Queenie. Besides, it's not like we're going to see him again, right?"

Reyna's reply was broken off by the sound of a pegasus landing heavily on the deck. A bloody and almost unconscious demigod slid off the back off an equally bloody pegasus onto the deck.

"Scipio! And Jason?" Reyna stood up in shock.

"Spoke too soon, huh?" Leo let out a weak chuckle, "I think this guy needs the ambrosia more than I do."

Jason raised his head and tried to speak.

"What is it?" Piper asked gently, as they all huddled around him.

"I want," Jason coughed, "I want to help."

This chapter was all flashback which is why it is all italicized (in case you were confused about it). Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review, that would be wonderful :)