PJO: Son of a Primordial

{Camp Jupiter, 18th of June 2006}

Jason POV

I was sitting on a bench in one of the Colosseum's gladiator rooms, brushing my head off with a towel. The cool fabric felt good against my skin, still hot from the intense fight I'd just finished. Honestly, I didn't really like it - fighting out there, everyone staring at me. But hey, it was better than cleaning the basilisks' nests or dealing with Octavian. Speaking of which, ever since I'd risen to become a Praetor, the Augur's attitude towards me had gone from bad to worse.

This fight was one of my exhibition matches after becoming a praetor. It had only been a few days since I'd been raised on the shield, but I still didn't feel like I'd earned it. The main reason I got promoted to praetor was because of the eagle. Somehow, I'd taken credit for retrieving it, and no matter what I said, no one seemed to believe me when I told them that a person named Odysseus had given it to me a year ago.

None of them recalled an Odysseus coming into camp, and I couldn't exactly spill the beans on the fact that a Greek camp existed. Knowing most of the legionnaires, I was pretty sure they'd vote to go and conquer it right away. You know the famous quote, "I came, I saw, I conquered"? That pretty much defined everyone at camp, even the retired demigods in New Rome.

I looked down at my praetor weapon, Ivlivs. It was a marvel of craftsmanship, made from imperial gold and able to transform from a spear to a sword at will. I couldn't help but smile as I ran my fingers along its cool surface. But that smile quickly faded as I recalled the SPQR nickname I'd been given.

"Super Powerful Quirky Roman," I muttered under my breath. "How is that even a nickname? It's like they just came up with words that started with those letters and pushed them together. And how did it take them two months to come up with that?" I sighed heavily. Honestly, I would have preferred if they hadn't come up with any nickname at all.

My thoughts were interrupted by three sharp knocks on the door.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

I stood up from the bench, my muscles aching slightly, and walked towards the door. Opening it up, I was met with... nothing. The hallway was empty, save for the flickering torchlight that lit up the corridor.

"I'm losing it," I couldn't help but say as I closed the door behind me. But when I turned around, I saw something weird - and that's saying something, considering all the strange things I've seen as a demigod.

There, standing in the middle of the room as if he'd materialized out of thin air, was a teenage boy. He had curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a wispy beard. But that wasn't the weird part. No, the weird part was that this boy had small horns poking out of his hair and, instead of normal legs, he had the furry hindquarters of a goat. Yeah, you're telling me.

My eyes narrowed as I tried to process what I was seeing. Then I noticed a Yankees cap in his hand, and suddenly his appearance made a bit more sense. Not much, but a bit. Lightning crackled from my fingers as I realized I'd left my weapon on the bench where I'd been sitting. Rookie mistake, Grace.

But that didn't matter. I summoned the wind from behind me, using it to dash towards the goat-man thing. My hand, crackling with energy, was mere inches away from his face when I heard his voice. There was a nervous bleat first, and then words that made me stop in my tracks.

"Baah, Jason, I'm here about Ozzy."

Ozzy. That's what Odysseus had told me to call him. How did this creature know about that? Did he even know who Odysseus was, or was it just a coincidence? I didn't reply for now, instead walking over to my golden sword and transforming it into a spear.

"Speak," I muttered towards the goat man, pointing the spear at him. After becoming a praetor, I'd been getting better at actually being threatening, though I still felt weird doing it. Part of me still felt like that little kid who'd shown up at camp with no memories, not this powerful demigod everyone expected me to be.

Grover Underwood POV

Holy Pan, that was close. I mean, I knew this mission was going to be dangerous, but I didn't think I'd be seconds away from being barbecued by lightning within the first five minutes.

I told Annabeth that this wasn't going to be a good idea. I told her over and over that Thalia should be the one to go. Heck, even Thalia agreed with me! But Annabeth, in her infinite wisdom (or stubborn determination, depending on how you looked at it), had insisted that I needed to be the one to go.

"You're the best choice, Grover," she'd said, her gray eyes intense with that look she got when she was dead set on a plan. "Only you can wear the invisibility cap since we can blend in, you can't. Besides I think you're the only one who can do it."

Okay, so maybe she didn't say that last part exactly, but you get the idea. And now here I was, face to face with an eleven-year-old demigod who looked ready to skewer me with a very pointy, very golden spear.

As I stared at Jason, I couldn't help but see the family resemblance. Sure, his hair was a different color, and the shade of blue in his eyes wasn't quite the same as Thalia's. But that intense pressure, that overwhelming scent of ozone that seemed to crackle in the air around him? That could only come from a child of Zeus... or Jupiter, in this case.

I swallowed hard, trying to steady my nerves. My legs were trembling beneath me, and not just because they were goat legs. "So," I started, my voice coming out higher than I'd intended. I cleared my throat and tried again. "You see, my name is Grover Underwood. I'm a satyr and licensed searcher of Pan from the Greek camp, and I'm here with your sist-"

Before I could finish my sentence, a bolt of lightning shot out from Jason's spear, striking the wall just inches from my head. The smell of scorched stone filled my nostrils, and I could feel the heat of the blast on my face.

"Don't lie to me," Jason growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Ozzy already said that Thalia got turned into a pine tree."

Sweat trickled down my brow, and I silently thanked Pan for my quick reflexes. If I'd been standing just a little to the left... I shuddered at the thought. Taking a deep breath, I tried to steady myself. I had to get through to him, had to make him understand.

"Yes, that was the case," I admitted, choosing my words carefully. "But you see, Ozzy actually cured her. She isn't a pine tree anymore." I watched Jason's face, trying to gauge his reaction. His expression remained guarded, but I thought I saw a flicker of something - hope, maybe? - in his eyes.

Encouraged, I pressed on. "We got a quest, telling us to come here, to you. Thalia and a few other campers are here with me. And, well..." I trailed off, suddenly unsure how to continue. Jason's gaze seemed to bore into me, those storm-blue eyes making me more nervous with each passing second.

"So yeah," I added lamely, mentally kicking myself for not having prepared a better speech. "Thalia and a few other campers are here, and since she's your sister, we thought you could help us with the whole 'Roman camp not killing us as trespassers' deal."

I couldn't think of what else to say. I was getting pretty nervous, especially since Jason's eyes only seemed to be getting stormier by the second. It was like looking into the eye of a hurricane, and let me tell you, that's not a comfortable place to be.

Jason stood up from the bench, spear in hand. He walked closer to me in small, almost gliding steps. I looked into his eyes, and all I could see was the raging storm that Zeus invoked every time he was royally ticked off. I couldn't help but think of the worst - maybe coming here wasn't just a bad idea, maybe it was going to be my last idea.

But then, something unexpected happened. Jason's expression softened, and he did something I definitely wasn't prepared for - he smiled. It wasn't a big smile, mind you. More like the kind of smile you'd give when you're trying not to show how excited you are. But it was there.

"Why didn't you say so?" Jason said, lowering his spear. "This is going to be amazing. Could you please bring me to Thalia? I'm dying to meet her."

I blinked, not quite sure I'd heard him right. One moment he was ready to turn me into a crispy satyr, and the next he was... excited? I could still see some speculation in those sky-blue eyes of his, but beneath that, I could see a joy and giddiness that could only come from a child.

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