Chapter I
Furtivus
Stolen
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RING! RING!
I shot up from my desk, extremely disoriented. That vivid image... I couldn't get it out of my mind.
I didn't exactly have any time to ponder over my weird dream, because I nearly got stampeded by the eager feet that were running out of the room for recess. I didn't exactly have any other choice, so I trailed after them.
Usually, recess at 'Habortown Middle School' (which I deemed as 'Old People School'--literally, this place was filled to the brim with old people! Well, except for the students, of course) was complete pandemonium. One time, there was even food fight. Wait. No, make that five times.
So, at the end of those days, I was basically covered from head-to-foot with bright red tomato sauce, melted cheese (I must have looked like some monster from the planet Cheesio), and not to mention the wilted salad. So, yeah... there you have it.
Today, the atmosphere (luckily) was pretty subdued, probably because we all had to write a five-hundred page essay. And with my ADHD and dyslexia... well, let's just say that school was like dropping me in a pit full of hellhounds without a weapon.
Oh, and I forgot: I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, praetor of the First Legion at Castra Romana, blah, blah, blah. Sorry, I'm too lazy to finish the sentence, but I think that you guys get the idea.
Anyways, I made my way to The Corner. It was just a corner that was choked with weeds and grass, and most of the time, bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. But I loved it there; it was literally the only place where I could sort my turbulent thoughts out.
I wasn't there for a second when a shadow fell over me. I groaned, knowing who it was.
"Hey, whassup?"
I jerked up, surprised not to see the school bully, Roy. Instead, I was staring into a pair of sparkling blue eyes.
Alex.
My thoughts drifted, only to settle on the most painful subject in the whole entire universe: Thalia.
Seriously, those two--Alex and Thalia were, like, clones to the last detail, other than the fact that Alex had long, black hair tied up in a ponytail, and Thalia just had short and spiky black hair.
"Well?"
"Um..." I intelligently answered. "Hi."
Alex huffed, acting annoyed. "What's up with you today?"
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. "Ah, Alex, I'm like this every single darn day!"
"Really?" Alex asked in mock fascination. "I never noticed that!"
I started to say something back--I think a friendly retort--when Roy came bouncing over with his gang. "Hey, guys, looks like the two lovebirds are hanging out together!"
Alex's face turned bright red, and I felt the heat creep up my face. I probably resembled an overripe tomato.
"Aw," Roy teased. "Look, he's not denying it! I--"
Alex shot to her feet, and it looked like there was going to be an all-out brawl, but Mrs. Callow, the monitor, stalked over. "Now, now, honeys, what's going on?"
I shivered. I had never really ever liked Mrs. Callow; it looked like she was a monster.
Roy flashed me a smug look, and said innocently, "Oh, of course not, Mrs. Callow, Alex was about to beat me into pulp, and I was just standing up to defend myself!"
"That's a load of Minotaur dung!" I yelled, standing up. I immediately shut up after that, cursing in the mythological way.
Mrs. Callow frowned suspiciously at me. "Now, now, Mr. Grace, why are we using mythological terms?"
She had this hard glint in her eyes that I did not like one bit.
"Um..." I cluelessly said. "I... er... um...." Well, could you blame me? I couldn't say anything without revealing that I was a demigod! And, I was pretty sure that that was exactly what Mrs. Callow was waiting for.
Roy smirked. "Are ya only capable of saying three-worded--"
"Shut up!" I snapped, flaring up.
"Language, Grace," Mrs. Callow coldly said. "Perhaps it is best if you come with me--"
I was getting really mad, and the next second, Roy was on the ground, his clothes smoking. His eyes were spinning like he was shot from a cannon at two million miles per hour.
Alex's jaw looked like it was about to be dislocated any second now. "But... how..."
Mrs. Callow grabbed me by the arm, and her sharp nails dug into my skin. "Honey, I think that you'd better come with me."
I gulped, but I was powerless to stop this. I cursed myself over and over again. Why did I have to be so reckless? Why?
We trudged along the bland gray hallways until we reached an empty classroom. I hesitantly stepped in, and Mrs. Callow slammed the door behind me.
"So," I said, trying to sound lighthearted. "What do you want?"
I turned around, only to find a slight mist that smelled like ocean water. "Mrs. Callow?"
"Right here, sweetie," her voice soothingly said. I felt her breath on my neck, and flinched. "What?"
"Where is it?" she snarled, changing her attitude completely. "Where? Tell me!"
I was at a loss for words. "Wh--What? I don't know--what, is some sort of...." My voice trailed off.
Since April, the weather has been real weird, first thunderstorms and hurricanes, and now earthquakes and tsunamis. I was pretty sure that this wasn't a freak weather chain, and the Big Three were known for their petty (but huge) quarrels... it looked like Neptune and Pluto were plain angry.
"You mean that Pluto's helm has been taken?" I nervously asked.
"No!" Mrs. Callow snapped, and then abruptly stopped. "I mean yes, but it has already been returned to Corpse Breath!"
I blinked. I had never heard a Fury calling their master 'Corpse Breath'. Unless... unless that this 'Mrs. Callow' didn't work for the Lord of the Dead... perhaps, the King of the Seas.
I was almost afraid to even think about it, let alone speak, but I found myself asking, "Neptune's trident?"
"Right," she agreed. "Where have you taken it? It was you, son of Jupiter, we're sure of it!"
"Whoa," I said, instinctively putting my hand in my pocket. "Whoa, back up a sec."
I flipped Ivlivs, (a.k.a. Julius) and a second later, I was holding a lance. "What do you mean?"
"Trident!" she screamed. "Gimme!"
And then, she snapped her fingers. Nothing happened.
"Wow," I said. "That's the best you can cook up?"
I regretted that I said anything, because the window jerked, and then blew open in a multi-colored rainbow of shards.
This huge, white, stallion with even huger wings emerged from the rainbow of shrapnel. I didn't have time to admire its beauty, I was sure that it was here to kill me.
But Mrs. Callow turned purple with rage. "No! No, no, no! You were not summoned!"
"I know that!" a figure on the stallion irritably said. "That's because I directed Arion here!"
I sighed in relief. "Hazel. What are you doing here?"
"Saving your miserable life, of course!" she snapped as a reply.
"But..." I started.
"You know how Reyna is!" she sighed. "Now, get on, unless you want to become food for Cyclopes!"
Hazel was a daughter of Neptune, so I couldn't figure out why the heck she was here.
"You don't bite, do you?" I asked.
Hazel huffed. "I'm not a vampire, Sparky!"
Mrs. Callow frowned. "Your father--"
"Change of plans," Hazel dismissively said. "Grace, are you coming or not?"
I could hear loud thumps outside of the classroom, and quite a few grunts too. I decided that there wasn't a better alternative, so I hopped on behind Hazel. She yanked on the harness of Arion, and the winged horse shot into the night sky, doing loops that left my stomach behind on the gray floor of the classroom.

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING: WRITING OVERLOAD

So: let's count how many fanfictions I'm currently doing right now!

1.) My version of the Son of Neptune
2.) Vial of Spirits
3.) Life of A Tree: On the Run
4.) Romans Read the TLT
5.) The Odyssey of Jason Grace-Wanted: Neptune's Trident
6.) Preparing, Planning, Puzzle

So, as you can see, I'm doing six fanfics at once. Please fare with me for slower updating, as I have now discovered that doing multiple stories is basically asking for a death wish. Thank you very much for your cooperation!

Signed,
RomanGreekDemigods

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! I've always wanted to read a book from Jasons begining

Chapter II
Praeterita Memoriam
Past Memories
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Hazel absolutely refused to talk to me in the first five minutes. I couldn’t get a peep out of her.
“Do you believe that I stole the trident?” I asked desperately for what was probably the billionth time.
Hazel broke her silence, and turned to look at me. Her green eyes bore urgently into mine. “Actually, I don’t.”
I retched and nearly fell off of Arion. “You don’t?”
Hazel pulled on the harness sharply to keep Arion from doing more loops. “Look, Jason, I’ll admit, you’re a good guy. You don’t seem to be the type to steal Neptune’s item of power.”
I relaxed. Since day one of the Roman Camp, it seemed like Hazel had held a grudge against me. She always singled me out in training, and let’s just say that during the assessments… it wasn’t pretty.
We touched down on a grassy field. I hopped off of Arion, and Hazel led Arion away towards the stables, not saying a word nor looking back.
A force tackled me from behind. I landed straight on my face, getting a mouthful of dirt. “Ouch! Reyna, you Owl Head!”
Reyna snickered above me. “Shut up, Sparky. Did I mention that you and Hazel were just in time for the Blitz?”
I mumbled a Latin curse under my breath. “Aw… assessment as soon as I return to camp. Joy to the world! I refuse to get smacked by a pine tree—”
As soon as I said the words ‘pine tree’, everything around me wobbled, and everything sank into oily blackness.
I landed on my bottom in a most unflattering way on a hill. I heard yelling and barking.
“—Hurry up!” a faun was yelling. “Hades’ hellhounds and the Kindly Ones are catching up!”
Huh? Who in Styx was Hades?
A blond girl stumbled, blood leaking from a cut on her leg. She wasn’t—couldn’t be more than seven years old.
I wanted to go and run to her to help, but I was frozen to the ground. I couldn’t move a muscle. I started straining.
A boy—sort of like me—grasped her hand and continued to stagger up the hill. He yelled behind his back, “Thalia! Let’s go!”
I froze. But it wasn’t because of the ‘frozen in place’ thing it was from the name. Thalia. I only knew one Thalia, and that was my older sister. But she couldn’t be alive; it was utterly impossible: Juno told me that she was good as dead.
But sure enough, there was this girl that was an exact replica of her, down to the last molecule.
And for some insane reason, she stopped sprinting, standing motionlessly in the moonlight.
The blond boy let go of the girl’s hand, and she stopped too. “What in Styx are you doing?” he yelled. “You’re going to die!”
The boy gestured impatiently towards the pack of hellhounds and the cackle of the Furies.
“True,” the girl agreed calmly. “But only one of us will die if they stay behind.” She got a dark, humorless glint in her eyes.
I wanted to scream at her, tell her that this was an absurd decision. I hoped that this was a nightmare, but it was too close to reality to be true.
The boy apparently had the same thoughts. “What? No!”
“Um, yes,” Thalia snapped. “Either I stay behind and you guys stay alive, or we all stay behind, and no one will be alive to tell camp what happened.”
“But… but…” the boy faltered, seemingly struggling for a retort. He couldn’t find one.
“Don’t ‘but’ me! You know that it’s true! Just let me go. I’ll see you in the Underworld!”
“That’s going to take forever,” the girl stammered. “No! I agree with Luke. Either we all die, or we all go together and stay alive!”
Her answer was logical—sort of. But, as my sister said, there wasn’t exactly a choice.
Thalia shook her head vigorously. “Stop being so obstinate! Just go already!”
The faun came stumbling back. “Thalia, come on!”
I tried to say the same thing, but I was probably no more than an invisible mirage to them. This was a memory.
“Oh my gods,” Thalia exasperatedly said. “Do I have to shock you all over the property line? GO!”
She pointedly flashed a glance at the monsters that were behind them.
I covered my eyes. Now, I know that a whole lot of you are thinking, you’ve seen bunches of people die. What’s the big deal?
The big scoop: that was my sister. My sister, the one who I haven’t seen for ten years straight. I wanted her love, her protection—even though I didn’t really need it. And now, if she wasn’t dead, I didn’t want her to slip from my grasp, again!
Everything fast-forwarded. There was a lot of yells, snarling, and the wicked flash of the Furies’ whips.
When everything slowed down enough to come into focus, I peeked through my fingers and saw a lightning bolt rip down from the sky, vaporizing all of the monsters instantly. I knew that Thalia couldn’t have summoned that. She didn’t look strong enough to even stay alive for one second.
In fact, there was blood stained around a patch of grass. The bodies of the boy, Luke and the blond girl (who was rocking uncontrollably) blocked the final view that I had of my sister.
Electric blue lights suddenly encircled all of them, and in a flash, Luke and the girl were staring, confused at this huge pine tree. The vision shut off.
I woke up, gasping. Partly from the ice water that Reyna had poured onto me, and partly because of what I had just saw. I was yelling something about evil blue lights, hellhounds, and pine trees.
“—And—and then, there was—this—um,” I jabbered.
Reyna yelled something about me needing immediate medical attention.
I was still shouting insanely when they carted me into the infirmary.
Lupa snarled at me, in a very vain attempt to shut me up. It didn’t work.
“Jason Grace, what IN STYX IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” I heard Hazel shout.
I continued to yell meaningless strings of sentences at the air, but eventually, I got tired out. My futile attempts to translate my trance dissolved into normal stammering, and eventually stopped all together.
Lupa sat on her haunches. Praetor. What happened to you? At this rate, you won’t be able to complete the Blitz.
I mumbled something about cockroaches.
Hazel smacked me around the face. “Are your senses shut down?”
“And there was this huge pine tree—” I whispered.
No matter. Tell the legions that the Blitz will be put off until tomorrow, Daughter of Neptune. NOW!
Lupa bared her teeth, and Hazel hastily bowed, scampering off.

Wait, just to give you a glossary:

Blitz: First assessment. Takes place in the hottest weather. Basically, there are twenty-four legions in the camp, the First Legion being the absolute best, and the Twenty-Fourth being the (in the greatest possible respect) worst.
Within all legions, only three may be in a group. The only thing a demigod is permitted to carry is one weapon, no more, no less. Armor is not mandatory, although it is highly recommended. Shields are not allowed.
You will be thrown into the woods for five days straight with no supplies, whatsoever. You are all to wear metal detectors that signify to Lupa whether you are conscious or not. If you are indeed conscious, the light on the detector is green. If you are not, the light is red. Lupa will send a wolf to fetch the unconscious demigod back to the infirmary to heal. ALLIANCES ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
The last team to remain standing will be declared the winner. No rewards, other than maybe an upgrade of legions.

Freeze: Second assessment. Takes place in the coldest weather. Rules are slightly different in the Freeze.
Armor is mandatory, and you may have only the following weapons: sword and bow and arrows. You must have the preceding weapons on you.
Shields, again, are not allowed. Hunting is strictly prohibited to one kill per day. Alliances are encouraged.
This time, the following teams must be followed:

ALL FIRST LEGION LEGIONARIES MUST FOLLOW THIS RULE:
1 First Legionnaire, 2 Twenty-Fourth Legionaries

SPECIAL CASES
CHILDREN OF THE BIG THREE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FORM ALLIANCES, THEY ARE IN THEIR OWN SEPARATE GROUP.
Currently, Jason (Praefectus castrorum/Preator of the First Legion), Hazel (Tribunus of the First Legion), and Gwendolyn (Tribunus of the First Legion) are required to work with each other in the Freeze.

When there is a child of the Big Three that is appointed Legatus legionis/Consul of the First Legion, they will be required to work with the Tribunus's and Praetor as well (hint, hint).

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! And these games sound really cool!

Chapter III
Confessionum
Confessions
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Lupa sent me to training without a further glance. I didn’t have any choice but to follow her orders.
I glumly set out to the Coliseum in the middle of our camp. I’m pretty sure that all of you know that we aren’t in Rome; instead, Castra Romana has its own, exact replica of the real Coliseum in Rome. Cool, huh?
I came upon a bloody sight when I entered—literally.
See, the ‘motto’ of the Roman fighting style: Killing is banned, but maiming is encouraged—applied highly to all of us. Well, to say, most of us. I didn’t exactly approve of it.
I immediately hated the rule even more when I saw a son of Mars (who happened to be named Hudson) club a new, unclaimed boy—Bobby over the head.
I wound my way towards them. “Hey. No killing, remember?”
Hudson scowled at me, but he stopped torturing Bobby. I didn’t think that he wanted to be food for Lupa’s wolves.
Gwendolyn studied me with her dark, almost black eyes, frowned, but didn’t say anything.
Hazel muttered something to Gwendolyn, who shook her head.
I walked over to Reyna, who had a very faraway look in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Back when you were spazzing out,” she said, flashing me an accusing look, “you mumbled something about this ‘Thalia’. That was one of the Greek Graces, not to mention the muse of idyllic poetry and comedy. So what are you doing, repeating Ancient Grecian deities?”
As usual, Reyna knew how to nail me.
“W—what?” I asked, completely startled by her remark. “I, um—”
Reyna frowned. “Jason, you know that you’re never going to tell me the truth.”
I winced, and stood up abruptly. “Why don’t we… go for a walk?”
“Aw!” someone giggled. I looked up, startled. Everyone was keenly paying attention to our conversation. “That’s so romantic!”
I felt my face turning red, but Reyna didn’t seem to be the least bit embarrassed. “All right. Let’s go.”
There were some snickers, but Reyna grabbed me and hauled me towards the direction of the First Legion’s cabin.

‘Cabin’ doesn’t really pin down the First Legion’s living quarters. That place was about to size of a mansion, with separate rooms for each of the children of the gods.
Romans usually don’t have really posh living quarters, but being in the First Legion… well, we get an overall advantage in the ‘housing’ section.
So basically, it’s marble-tiled, has really plush sofas that can suffocate you if you’re not careful, and as I said before, rooms for all the gods’ offspring.
The gods designed the living quarters themselves, so… yeah. It would be bound to have a lot of luxury in each of the rooms.
To signify which demigod goes to which room, there are symbols of the gods on each of the doors.
For instance, Jupiter’s room (mine!) has an intricately carved, golden, eagle with a lightning bolt on its pure platinum door. Neptune’s room, home to the ever-annoying Hazel, has a silver trident—an exact, smaller replica of his real one—hammered into this type of bronze that I can’t quite name… something like ‘Celestial Bronze’ or something like that. It doesn’t really matter.
Hades’ room, of course, would probably be very dismal. Don’t ask me how Gwendolyn survives in there. I really have no idea. It has this dark obsidian skull nailed into an equally black Stygian Iron door.
Anyways, I think that you get the idea. But the one, absolute rule that must be followed: Don’t go into other demigod’s rooms. Take, for instance, Sherman. He was this fun-loving guy, always ready for a joke, and an excellent fighter. In fact, he was the Praetor of the First Legion before me.
One day, Sherman must have been real tired, because he never looks at the rooms’ doors other than Apollo’s (his godly parent), much less steps into them. That day, he accidentally stepped into Diana’s room. Diana swore to be an eternal maiden… there were only ashes left. So when Reyna shoved me into the Minerva part of the cabin, I naturally freaked out.
“DON’T BLAST ME!” I screamed as thunder rumbled. Reyna waved aside my panicking, and closed the door behind me.
I was still hyperventilating when Reyna hit me around the head. “I gave you permission!”
“Oh,” I said. I probably sounded incredibly stupid, but hey, I didn’t spend any time learning the loopholes of going into other gods’ rooms!
Reyna crashed onto a couch. “Now, tell me what you wanted to tell me!”
I sat next to her. “Well… I didn’t mean that kind of ‘Thalia’—”
“Then what did you mean?” Reyna interrupted.
“Let me finish! Then you’ll know,” I irritably said. “So, um, she was my, um…”
Reyna arched a skeptical eyebrow. “Next thing you’ll be telling me, she’s your sister.”
I blanched. “Huh?”
“What, she really is your sister?” Reyna asked indifferently, fingering the couch’s felt.
“Uh… what if I said ‘yes’?”
“Give me a straight answer,” she exasperatedly said. Gods, children of Minerva can be so annoying!
Thunder rumbled.
I flinched, and gave a hurried mental apology to the goddess of wisdom. “Um, yes, she is.”
Reyna lost her concentration. “Excuse—wait, WHAT?”
I flinched away from her anger.
“AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME?”
“No?” I weakly replied.
Reyna let all her anger out in a rather loud sigh. “Okay, sorry for the outburst. But why didn’t you ever tell me?”
I looked down at my scuffed sneakers. “Because it was too painful.”
“Painful?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “It’s… I haven’t seen her in, what, ten years? Yeah, ten years. And then, when I saw her turn into a tree… well, yeah.”
Reyna thought for a moment, and slowly nodded. “I suppose. What makes you care so much about her?”
I sighed. “My mom… well, she never really did exactly take care of me. I think that I told you that she was an alcoholic?”
Reyna nodded. “Yeah.”
“Thalia took over the responsibility,” I quietly said. “She was the only real person that I ever felt a connection with. Juno told me that she died, and when I just learned that she didn’t, she dies right in front of me!”
“How do you know that she died?” Reyna asked quizzically. “For all you know, she could have been on the brink of death, and a godly force turned her into a tree to prevent her soul from going to Pluto.”
A glimmer of hope began to bubble within my chest. “Reyna. Where’s the nearest rainbow?”

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see what happens next

That was awesome

SCREAM!!!!
I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO JUST WAIT A BIT LONGER--I HAVE A 3-5 PAGE ESSAY DUE TOMORROW AND I HAVE THIS GUILD PIANO AUDITION. MAY IS AN INCREDIBLY BUSY MONTH FOR ME, I'M SORRY, AGAIN. CAN YOU WAIT A LITTLE LONGER? SORRY, AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!!!! *sobs*

Okay, this has been also transferred to Fanfiction...same as the Vial of Spirits...again, sorry...