I am so sorry it took me this long to update. There is no excuse for my year-long absence. Thank you so much to all of you who didn't give up on me and especially to everyone who reviewed. You guys are the only reason I have any confidence as a writer.

As usual, I claim the rights to no part of this story that was taken from Rick's work. Only my own ideas and changes are mine.

After my brother finished trying to convince the praetors that Percy Jackson is more powerful than the entire Roman Legion, we decided to actually eat our dinner. When everyone was finished Jason and Reyna stood up on the table and got everyone's attention. "Fellow legionnaires, I would like to introduce a new demigod who will be joining us. His name is Percy Jackson and he is a son of Neptune. He will be joining the—"

"But praetors, I have not yet read the auguries for him." Octavian interrupted Reyna, earning him a fierce glare.

"We are well aware of that, Octavian, but the auguries will not be necessary today." Jason responded.

"But—"

"No buts, Octavian, we know the rule is that any new demigods arriving from the Wolf House must have their auguries read before being allowed to join the legion, but Percy was not sent here by Lupa. He did not come here from the Wolf House. So, as Jason just said, reading the auguries will not be necessary. Percy Jackson is officially on probaito starting today. End of discussion." Reyna interrupted him back.

Chattering filled the room:

"What does she mean by 'he never went to the wolf house'?"

"A son of Neptune? That's a bad sign. We all know what happened last time one of them came here."

"He's hot!"

"I wonder which cohort he will be in."

It took a full ten minutes for Jason and Reyna to quiet everyone down. When they finally succeeded they continued the announcements.

"On a separate note, war games tomorrow will be conducted after dinner as usual. Cohorts four, and five will attack against cohorts one and two and three who will be defending. The attacking team gets Hannibal. Percy will be joining the fifth cohort for the remainder of his service in the legion. Are there any questions?" Reyna finished.

I smiled, glad that Percy would be on my team so I wouldn't have to face him.

"Why do we have to get stuck with the fifth?" a member of the fourth cohort asked.

The rest of his cohort started murmuring in agreement.

"What's wrong with the fifth?" Percy looked somewhere in between curious and indignant.

"They suck, so their team always loses."

"Have you forgotten, Jonathan, that Jason is a member of the fifth cohort?" Reyna said indignantly.

"Yes but he won't be joining will he?" Jonathan asked.

"No, but Percy will." Jason replied with a smirk.

Everyone suddenly turned their attention towards Percy who turned beet red and shifted uncomfortably. "He's new, what can he do?" one demigod shouted, others nodding their heads in agreement.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't be so sure who will win and who will lose; anything can happen. Now, everyone, Curfew is in three hours. Until then you may do as you please."

With that, everyone filed out of the mess hall.

Nico said he was going to give Percy a tour and Frank and I decided to tag along. He first showed him where the barracks and bathhouse are, and then led him down to the armory. On the way there, Vitellius, one of the Lares who used to be a member of the fifth cohort came over to us. "What do we have here? A new recruit for the fifth perhaps?"

"Hi Vitellius, yes. This is Percy Jackson. He'll be joining the fifth cohort." Frank said.

"Why hello, Percy," Vitellius said, walking around and examining him. "If you are going to be joining us, I need to make sure you're up for it. Are you healthy? Can you fight? Do you have all your teeth? Do you clean stables? Do you know who your immortal parent is?"

"Yes, yes, yes, no, and yes."

"That's okay, four out of five's not bad. Better than most in fact. But first you need a bath, you smell like a Greek sewer."

"Um…sorry?" Percy said sheepishly, "I haven't bathed in a while."

"No worries, I once went years without bathing or washing my clothes. After finding that chicken in my underpants—best day of my life—I just didn't want to take it off," he replied.

Percy looked at him incredulously.

"Vitellius, we were just heading to the armory. You want to come?"

"I wish I could, but I need to go teach some of the youngsters of the Fifth how to clean the stables." Vitellius started to run but tripped on his toga and about to fall over when the weirdest thing happened: Percy caught him and he didn't pass right through. But Vitellius is a ghost! Only Nico and I can touch him because we're children of Pluto. But Percy isn't…no…he can't be…but then why? Why can Percy touch him too?

Frank's, Vitellius's, and my open-mouthed stares must have worried Percy because he abruptly let go of Vitellius and stuck his hands in his pocket blushing like crazy. I looked to Nico for an explanation but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Um...Percy? Frank asked, a little scared, "how is it that you are able to touch him. I thought you said you were a son of Neptune, not Pluto?"

"Poseidon actually, but that's not important. What's your point?"

"Then how are you toughing a ghost? Only some children of Pluto and other ghosts can touch a ghost? You shouldn't be able to touch him unless you were dead?"

Percy and Nico shared a knowing look, then Percy shrugged. "Don't know, but let's get going shall we?" He said in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

Accepting that an answer was not forthcoming, we continued on our way.

The armory, right next to the arena, was basically a giant shed filled with imperial gold weapons, armor, and training dummies. And Percy loved it. As soon as it was within sight he sprinted over and started examining the weapons. He was fascinated by the imperial gold and asked us if we had any "celestial bronze."

"What's celestial bronze?" I asked.

"It's what my sword is made out of." He took out his pen and uncapped it, turning it into a glowing leaf-shaped bronze sword. "It can kill monsters, but won't harm mortals." After showing it to us, and even letting us try capping it and uncapping, it he put it back in his pocket.

"That's just like imperial gold! I thought only imperial gold can kill monsters." Frank objected.

"Nope," Nico said, "celestial bronze is what the Greeks used to make weapons out of before the Romans discovered imperial gold. It can also kill monsters and pass right through mortals, but it's even older and rarer."

"Really? Then how did you get one?" I asked, "Especially a magical one that can turn into a pen."

"Oh, well, let's just say this sword has a long history that I need not go into and was given to me by a friend whom I need not discuss," he answered (sort of). "Hey Nico, let's spar. No powers. Let's see how much you've improved with a sword since last time. He said, in another obvious subject change.

"Sure," Nico agreed readily, "but I'm warning you, I've gotten better in the last seven months. You won't be able to beat me as easily as last time." Nico claimed.

"You may have gotten stronger, but so did I." Percy smirked at the younger demigod. "You won't stand a chance."

They exchanged a few more good-humored taunts—something about how Nico was going to make Percy wish he'd never come back (from where I'm not sure) and how Percy would take it easy on Nico so he wouldn't send him crying to Hades—before Nico suddenly charged out of the blue before Percy even had a chance to take his sword out of his pocket. He slashed right towards Percy's neck with much more speed and strength than it looked like his body was capable of producing. The blow would have easily taken my head off but Percy didn't even flinch. He ducked under the swing stepped in under Nico's guard, and was about to punch him in the gut, when Nico back-rolled out of the way.

"Well, well, well. You have gotten better. Last time we fought I would have had you right there."

"Told you," Nico smirked. "You're gonna need to use Riptide this time if you want to beat me." To emphasize his point he stabbed quickly at Percy.

Percy sidestepped the attack and kicked Nico in the side, forcing him to retreat a few steps. "Not likely."

Nico was better than almost everyone at Camp Jupiter. Only Jason and Reyna ever beat him in single combat and they still only won about half the time. But in all the time I had known him, I never saw Nico fight harder than he did against Percy. He even stopped talking so he could focus better (although Nico had never been particularly talkative in the first place). He fought like he wanted to kill Percy, but Percy didn't look fazed in the least. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would say Percy looked a little bored. And he hadn't even taken out his sword!

"Hey, Frank and Hazel" I heard Percy shout over the fighting.

"What?"

"I've already told you so much about me, why don't you guys tell me some stuff about you?"

"But you're in the middle of a fight," Frank protested, "If we distract you, you could get hurt."

"Don't worry about me, I can multitask. Now, who are your parents?" he asked, rolling out of the way of another blow.

"Frank is a son of Mars and I'm a daughter of Pluto."

Percy was silent for a moment. "Wait, so then you're Nico's half sister?" he asked, shocked.

"Yes."

Suddenly Percy go really angry, stopped talking to us, and focused solely on Nico, who was still hacking furiously at him trying to land a hit. In a matter of seconds, with movements so fast I couldn't follow what exactly he did, he had Nico's sword flying across the arena and Nico in a headlock. Nico surrendered, looking disappointed but not at all surprised. Then what Percy did next completely shocked Frank and me.

He let Nico go, then punched him in the face.