It was not going well.

Honestly, Percy didn't expect a miracle, huge welcome party and light, friendly chatting, but reality cruelly crushed his hopes. Yes, it was obvious from the start there would be lots of glares, arguing and harsh words, however knifes on throats and swords at hearts were a bit too much in his opinion. Didn't they know how to talk? Where's the Athena's cabin when you need them?

"You filthy – "

"Could we please talk – "

"Take that stick from my face – "

"It's not a stick! It's a – "

"Percy, tell her we don't – "

"And we honored you with Praetor's title –"

Irritation was building up in Percy as he watched the scene.

Argo II landed – ah, okay, so "landed" was too big word – the ship hung above New Rome over an hour ago, but it seemed like eternity. At first it went shockingly well (he should've suspected something back then); no one attacked the crew of Argo II the second they stepped off the ship, though it could've been caused by aftereffects of giant's attack. He even got a short while to reunite with Annabeth (smugness raised within him at her gobsmacked expression at his sight) and they all decided to calmly talk.

But as one could expect, it turned out thy didn't agree on… well, everything. From the procedure to set off on a quest, to hierarchy on said quest. Octavian couldn't live down that the seven wasn't planning on having one, supreme leader, too.

At the very least, Percy was glad at who was included in the quest. Frank and Hazel were obviously more than okay, Annabeth even more so, but he had minor doubts about the reminded three. Especially Jason; he was afraid Jason could have some objections to Percy taking his place at Camp Jupiter, with becoming the Praetor and all. However it seemed they were all chill.

Well, maybe 'chill' wasn't the best word to describe Jason, but he was clearly cool with Percy and that made him good in Percy's book. And his girlfriend, Piper, appeared to be pretty cool, too, though he wasn't sure if her Hello Kitty shirt was a joke or no. Also Leo gave Percy an impression of someone he could get along with; most of them all, actually. He thought immediately they shared the same, dumb sense of humor.

Speaking of them, they stood at the side with Reyna, Frank, Hazel and some other uninvolved in the arguments Romans, observing intently the unfolding scene. Only Jason and Reyna tried to calm everyone down, but to no avail.

"Would you all shut up for a sec?" Percy shouted over the noise. And with no success. "Oh, gods help me or I – " he trailed off as his gaze landed on some bottles with water and juice.

Water.

He smirked. The bottles exploded with a slight crash and the water went flying everywhere, soaking people in the area around Percy. He, of course, stayed dry, as some other lucky demigods further away from him.

Everyone fell silent immediately. Then, they turned to him as one. In an afterthought, he didn't think it through.

"So" he cleared his throat. "Can we talk, without pointing at each other with sharp objects, now?"

"Talk!" spluttered Octavian. It seemed like Reyna tried hard to resist rolling her eyes, but Percy had no problem with it. "With this lying, sneaky – "

"Look," he interrupted him. "It's the gods' wish –" kind of." – to unite both camps. Greeks and Romans have to work together – "

"We won't unite with this scum! Good for nothing – "

"Hey!" Annabeth glared at Octavian, causing a whimper to escape from a Roman she had before her knife. "Watch what you're saying. You have no idea what we did last summer and through the years and so, you have no right to call us 'good for nothing'!"

"Please" scoffed some other Roman from the First Cohort, who miraculously managed to stay out of anyone's weapon. "You should kiss our feet after last summer! We won a war while you were – "

"Excuse me?" cut in angrily both Percy and Annabeth.

"You won a war? With whom? Party Ponnies?" he said then.

"Party Ponnies?" Reyna raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't ask. But we were the ones who won the war! We fought Kronos!"

"Mainly Percy" added Annabeth.

"Rubbish" said Octavian disbelievingly as snorts and gasps went around the forum.

And it went downhill from there.

This time, unfortunately, no one tried to calm the demigods down. Nearly everyone got involved in the argument about the war and these who didn't (like the Seven, bar Percy and Annabeth, and Reyna), after getting hit and nearly losing their cool, decided to back down and wait it out.

Only it seemed it was getting more heated and aggressive with a moment. You couldn't hear anyone speak anymore – it was just a giant, angry shout from everyone on the forum. It got out of hand completely, the consequences would be disastrous, if nothing stopped the furious demigods.

Or, it would've been, but a flash of light and a startling thunder overpowered all the noise.

Next to Jason lay a thin book in black cover. A note fell gracefully on top of it, slowly enough to catch everyone's attention.

Throwing hesitant look around, Jason took the note.

"Read out loud" said Reyna. "It may be from the gods."

"Read it" said Jason in a dull voice after scanning it quickly.

"What?"

"That's what it says: read it" he repeated.

"Just that?" Percy shook his head. "Typical."

"Clearly it's about the book" Annabeth nodded at the book at Jason's feet. "I think they want us to read it."

"Yeah, but who's 'they'?" said Leo.

"My guess is on the gods" answered Reyna confidently. "New Rome is unreachable for anyone who doesn't know where it is and besides demigods, only gods could know this."

"True" nodded thoughtfully Annabeth. "But why would gods want us to read, of all the things?"

Percy rolled his eyes, sighing and went to pick up the book.

"Well" he said. "Maybe if we took a look, it would be clear" saying it, he opened the book. He then frowned. "It's in Greek. And… and it says The battle of Manhattan."

He gulped, looking up at Annabeth.

"What battle?" asked a Roman from the back of crowd. Everyone gathered around the book, instantly smelling some news.

"Maybe we shouldn't read it" said Percy quickly, getting a glimpse at the first pages. For some reason, he paled slightly.

"Oh, I think you know what battle" sneered Octavian, wrongly interpreting Percy's worried expression. "I think – " he said loudly enough to be heard by the whole crowd. " – that the gods send us this to show the Greeks' fall and how we had to clean up the mess after them, ending the war!"

Some Romans muttered in agreement, some frowned. Reyna, like a few others, didn't fail to notice Percy and Annabeth share a knowing glance, a mixture of amusement and anxiety.

"Could I see it, Percy?" said Reyna.

She was handed the book and she looked through the chapters quickly.

"Wait, you said it's Greek. But it's Latin" she noticed suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

Newcomers and a few Romans walked up to her and tried to peek over her shoulder.

"No, it's Greek!" protested Percy.

"It's Latin" disagreed Jason.

"It's French" said surprised Piper.

"It's Greek!"

"It's Latin!"

"Greek."

"Latin."

"Latin."

"Greek."

"It's English" blurted out Frank.

Demigods gathered around the book looked up at him.

"Okay, I think it's in the language we can read" said Annabeth. "That would hint again on the gods… but, English, Frank?"

"I don't have dyslexia" he mumbled, scratching his ear. "Just lactose intolerance."

Leo snorted at this, but was quickly silenced by Piper's elbow.

"Right. So, who thinks we should read it?" Reyna turned to the crowd.

"We should make a proper – "

"Who thinks we shouldn't?" she ignored Octavian and gazed around the raised hands.

Obviously, at the second question there were only a few votes.

"We read it" said for her Annabeth.

One more flash of light and startling thunder.

This time, in quite calm atmosphere, the noise was startling and everyone jumped in surprise. Another note fell just as gracefully as the previous one on top of the book in Reyna's hands. A group of demigods around the Praetor eyed it.

"Huh" said Percy.

Reyna took the note and read through it quickly.

"This is from gods. Kind of" she said. "And… it turns out we have a lot of time to read."

"What do you mean?" frowned Annabeth.

Reyna raised her eyes to them.

"The time has stopped."

Yeah, yeah, "time has stopped" cliche, but I swear I have a reason. This chapter is really short, the other are longer (well duh), but even these without text from the books are way longer - I have written a few, so you can keep me on that.

Anyways, welcome to my new story and please, please review. There will be update ever two - three weeks, suggestions are very much welcome!

Okay, the more reviews, the bigger possibility I'll add another chapter sooner (just saying). And btw, I'm not going to make the whole series or a whole book - only most of TLO. Generally the Battle of Manhattan and a few events before it.

I think it's all, if you have questions - shoot! Again, suggestions are good and if you have some constructive criticism, it's welcome, too.

Ronnie's out, folks.