Rob huffed, "oh please, I don't believe for a second that this is a social call. What do you want Grace, and be quick about it. I need to get back to training my men. This time the first cohort fully intended to fight off the whole wave of zombies and the Legion zombie that will appear."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Percy said as he continued to look at the Eagle, "you did a great job with the Eagle Julia, it looks happy to be out here in the open."
Julia nodded, "thank you....but I didn't do it."
Percy tore his eyes away from the Eagle and looked at the Praetor of Rome, "you mean Rob did it? I didn't exactly pine him for the sentimental type."
"No, not me ether," Rob groaned.
"Then who?" Thalia asked.
"We don't know," Julia sighed, "it happened a few days ago. One day we woke up and poof, this thing appeared in the middle of the camp with the Eagle stuck in the middle. We tried to remove it, but we couldn't, it's basically stuck there."
Percy nodded, "I see....and you have no witnesses? Nobody heard or saw anything? Not even the Lares?"
Julia nodded, "yes one Lares did see something. It seems this ghost saw someone walk out of the Principia and to the crossroads. She snapped her fingers and suddenly this structure appeared out of thin air."
"She? As in a woman?" Thalia asked, "did he he get a good look at her face?"
Rob shook his head, "no. She had her hood up, and we are just assuming she is female, it is not confirmed."
"They why did the Lares think the intruder was a female?" Percy asked.
"Because when after she was done she turned away and made to leave the camp. Her hood moved to the side and the Lares saw that she had long blue hair with a very soft jawline," Julia told them, "we have checked every single person in the camp and in New Rome, and so far we got zero leeds."
Percy nodded, "I see.....did the Lares see anything else?"
"Yes, apparently our mystery women also wore some kind of glow in the dark contacts," Julia told him, "when we asked how the Lare knew that he....well he started to shake in fear."
"Shake? More like spas out," Rob said, "I have never seen a Lares more scared about anything. Like their dead, what do the dead have to fear? But apparently this woman's gaze of so powerful it scared the shit out of our Lares. Hell it took us a day to finally convince him to tell us about her."
"So what colour were her eyes?" Thalia asked.
"Yellow," Julia told her, "they were sulphuric yellow."
Percy nodded as he put away the information for latter. He looked out the marble stone, "what does the latin inscription say?"
"We don't know," Julia said, "we brought our resident language expert, a Latin teacher in New Rome college, a he couldn't make heads or tails of this thing. He only managed to translate one words, 'protect'."
Percy nodded and then Observed the block of marble;
Block of marble;
This is a simple block of marble that is inscribed with the names of dead Roman legionaries and # $%# $ which will #$!$ #$# !$ #.
Percy closed the box sighed, 'okay, so we have a new mystery on our hands. A strange woman who somehow managed to transport this thing with a snap of her fingers. And apparently she also placed some kind of spell on it. Maybe that was what caused the Eagle to be stuck in the stone.'
"Anyway, let's move on shall we?" Rob started, "why are you here?"
"We need to talk to the Senate," Percy told Rob, "it's a matter of emergency."
Julia looked surprised, "we can't just summon the Senate whenever we wish Percy. We need to be sure there is a good reason for it."
"We may have a way to permanently destroy the scent of demigods making them untraceable by monsters," Thalia replied, "would that be a good enough reason?"
Rob started with his mouth hanging open, "y-yeah. That'll do it."
"Y-You're serious about this?" Julia asked in guarded excitement, "like you aren't pulling my leg or something right?"
Percy shook his head, "no Julia we aren't. It works, everyone in the Greek camp is currently on it. For my birthday we all went to a water park and spent the whole day there. In the end no monsters were attracted to our location."
"None?" Rob asked, "none at all?"
Thalia nodded, "none. Well, we were attacked, by that was by a mad man, completely unrelated to the scent destroyers."
"We need to call a Senate meeting now," Julia told Rob as she turned around walking to her Principia, "come with me."
Percy and the others followed without question and in one hours time the two leaders of the Greek camp found themselves once again in front of the Senate with Julia addressing them all.
"Senators," Julia began, "once again the Greeks come to our doors and once again they bring us gift. This time it is not something we lost, but something we need, something we all need."
Julia paused, the Senators leaned in closer, they were very much interested in what she had to say. "They claim that they have found a way to mask the scent of a demigod," Julia spoke clearly. Many people gasped in exclamation, "a way to make demigods rejoin the human world."
"Is this true?" Edgar asked with amazed eyes.
"Yes, it is," Percy stepped up to the plate with arms crossed, "we have tested it out on ourselves. The whole camp is currently on it, we went to a water park on my birthday and stayed there the whole day. No monsters found us. We were basically like ordinary teenagers."
"Can you swear by that?" a squeaky voice in the front called out. Percy looked to see that it was Octavian, the Augur and fucking son of Apollo, once again proof that Apollo is a dick.
"Octavian, always a pleasure seeing your face," Percy grumbled, "and what do you mean swear by that?"
"I mean can you swear that these pills work?" Octavian asked.
Percy nodded, "yes, would you like me to do so?"
"Yes."
Thalia gave Percy a look but the son of Poseidon just smiled assuring her it will be alright. Percy turned to the Senate and cleared his throat, "I swear on the Styx that every demigod in the Greek camp currently does not have a scent."
BOOM!
Lighting rang out outside as the Senator started to talk amongst themselves in hushed tones. Thalia sighed and shook her head. She didn't like him swearing on the Styx, but this time it was unavoidable.
"So now that I haven't proven myself," Percy began, "will you all consider trying them out for yourself?"
"Praetor Percy," Edgar spoke up, "can you tell us how this scent destroyer came to be?"
Percy nodded, "yeah. Well honestly this story kind of starts with a child of Hermes named Edward Neak."
"You mean Neak from Half-Blood Inc.?" a Senator asked.
Percy nodded, "yeah, fan of his work?"
"I read the Economy," the senator admitted, "though now that I think about his company's name it should have been obvious that he was a demigod, or at the very least a legacy."
Thalia chuckled, "yeah, Ed isn't the most subtle person. Heck his lobby is basically a Greek museum and his office is filled with paintings and statues of Hermes. It's almost like he wanted everyone to know he was a demigod."
Percy smiled, "yeah....anyway. I meet up with Ed on my very first quest, he helped me out and since then we have been in contact with each other. Now before I continue, do you all know of an organization known as Abyss?"
The Senators shook their heads and Percy sighed. He then began to explain to them everything. What Abyss was, what they did. How he and Thalia helped Ed get the formula for the pills and how Ed created the pills for them.
"So it works?" Edgar asked, "it actually works?"
Percy nodded, "yeah...it does."
"Then the people of Rome deserve to know," Julia spoke up, "for far too long our people have been forced to live separately from the mortals. We have a right to a fair life, a good life. I propose that we accept Percy and Thalia's offer."
"No," Octavian spoke out, "this must not happen."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "you would deny people a chance to live without being hunted by monsters?"
The Senate turned and glared at Octavian who gulped in fear, "l-look, as amazing as this pill is, if we give them to people it would encourage them to leave New Rome. Think of our economy, it would crash into the ground if people just stopped coming here! Pluto, this has been our way of life for more than a century! We can't change now!"
Percy understood the boy's worries, and he wanted to address them all. But Rob spoke first.
"Octavian I understand your concern," Rob spoke in a gentle tone, "but understand this, demigods are alone in this world. We are alone. Though we may look like mortals we are not them, and though we are the children of Gods we don't belong with them. This is our home, people won't just leave it Octavian."
"Look out our camp itself Octavian," Percy continued, "they all got the pill four days ago, and not one person left camp yet. And unlike New Rome camp Half-blood doesn't have homes or shop or school or anything. It is just a camp, this....this is a community, one which I have come to love. The pill is a tool, a crutch if will. It doesn't do anything other than make sure a demigod doesn't get eaten by a monster or something. That is all."
Octavian and his supports fell into whispers. Percy and Thalia waited in anticipation, Julia and Rob looked confident, but inside they were also scared. Soon all talks stopped and Octavian stood up.
"If we do this, there is no going back....is everyone in the Senate in agreal?"
Everyone nodded. Ovarian sighed and sat down without another word. Julia then walked up and cleared her throat, "then it is decided. We start giving these pills out to the people. Percy," she turned to him, "how much do you have on you right now?"
Percy grinned as he took out the two silver briefcases Edward had given him the day before, "lots."
Julia and Rob were the first ones to try them. When the spiciness of the food hit them they began to choke. The Romans thought they had been poisoned and started to point figures at Percy and Thalia. But the son of Poseidon quickly diffused the situation by helping Rob and Julia recover.
Maybe he should have lead with the fact that the pill tasted like raw chills.
Soon every single member of the Senate had taken a pill, even Octavian, though under protest. The Romans kept the rest of the pills in storage, for now the idea of making everyone immune was put on hold. The Senators would test out the pills themselves and only after they are sure there are no side effects would they even consider giving it to other people.
Percy also gave them Ed's number, for when they ran out. The two cases may have been packed with pills, but even those wouldn't' be enough for the amount of people currently living in New Rome.
"I'll make sure people know who to thank for this," Julia told Percy and Thalia as they walked out of the Senate and along the roads of New Rome, "they might not say it, but you Greeks have given us a ray of hope. And the people will know who to thank for it."
"It was nothing," Thalia replied with a shrug, "in fact it was Ed who did all the hard work."
Percy nodded, "yeah, we just...well kind of hung around."
"Either way it was a Greek who gave us a chance at life," Rob smiled, "maybe you lot aren't so bad after all."
Percy smiled, "thanks war boy, that means so much coming from you." Pery then began to look around the streets of New Rome. The buildings were nice, very sturdy. Percy would have to remember to build a strong foundation, maybe 10, 11 feet deep? He needed to increase his molecular manipulation ability, with that he could basically make the buildings into any form or shape he desired.
"Is he okay?" Julia asked Thalia looking at Percy stare and analyze every building they pass by.
"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. He's just looking for inspiration," Thalia replied with a smile, "he wants to see what buildings he can rip off and put on his island."
Rob raised an eyebrow, "island?"
Thalia nodded, "yeah...didn't we tell you guys? Percy owns an island."
"Which one?" Julia asked.
"Gardiner's island," at their confused looks Thalia explained, "it's just off the coast of Long Island."
Rob whistled, "damn, how did he get a place like that?"
"A guy owed me a favour," Percy said, "don't ask."
"So what are you going to do on this island of yours?" Julia asked.
"I'm going to build a city for Greek demigods," Percy explained with a smile, "I actually got the idea off of you guys."
Julia smiled, "I see...well that is very noble of you Percy."
Rob grinned, "yeah, if it was me I would us the entire island as a bachelor pad."
Julia rolled her eyes, "yes, you would."
Rob started stammering as he tried to apologize to Julia but the girl wasn't listening to him. Percy chuckled, the guy had it bad.
Just then a thought passed by Percy's head, "hey Julia, I was wondering, how does New Rome collage work with the outside world?"
Julia looked away from Rob, "what do you mean?"
"I mean this place is hidden away from the outside world right? So that means people don't' know about it. So if a demigod obtains a degree here and leaves how can they prove the college they got to, that no one has heard off, is legit and not made up?"
Julia groaned, "honestly Percy I don't know. Hm...you know what now that you asked I'm curious to find out as well. I know the principle of the college, and since today is a Sunday he would be free. Want to go ask him?"
Percy nodded, "yeah. I want to build a school on the island as well. Obviously I have no idea about the legal issues or things like that. It would be really useful if I talked to the guy."
Julia nodded, "okay then. Let's go."
"Why don't you guys go ahead," Thalia spoke up, "I want to meet up with Jason, haven't seen my little brother in days."
"I'll take you," Rob said, "he should be in the field of Mars training with everyone else right now."
Thalia nodded, "great. Percy, I'll call you when I'm done."
"Right," Percy then turned to Rob, "any funny business Rob and I'll know about it. I pushed the last person who hit on Thalia so hard he flew off of mount Olympus."
Thalia rolled her eyes, "relax Percy. Sometimes you're way too overprotective you know."
"Oh I'm sorry is this coming from the girl who basically fuses her tongue to the roof of my mouth every time another girl even looks at me?"
"...fair point."
Julia chuckled, "alright enough. I'm sure Rob will behave like a perfect gentlemen," Rob nodded, "and besides, I think Thalia can handle herself."
Thalia nodded, "damn right I can."
"I know that, but that's not the point. I'm her boyfriend, it's my job to beat up people looking at her funny. It's one of the perks."
