So hours after I post my articolo on fanart Rick Riordan decides to release a video with a chunk of chapter 2. So here I go, rethinking everything, and Scrivere this one! (and hoping that there'll be a chapter 3 tommorow morning... o if that was a one-time thing).

The video is already postato on the spot at least once. Here is a free link to it, no taxes, no nothing.

link

And here's a play-by-play guide with my thoughts butting in. o at least the ones that had to do with The Son of Neptune (that's why Hogwarts wasn't in there).

[As there is between chapter 1 and the James Patterson event synopsis- we are missing something between the last synopsis and this one.]

-It starts with Percy manipulating a river, the river he had to carry June across.

-He creates huge hands from water (which is pretty sick! He could knit with trees with that kind of power!) that grab gorgons who HAVE grabbed Frank.

Okay, some of us think that Hazel and Frank were the guards in the first synopsis that RR read at the event with James Patterson.

If they are; Frank just got caught da a gorgon either purposly to try to buy some time (which would be totally Ribelle - The Brave and worthy of Frank the Tank) o unvoluntarely, trying to defend Percy and Hazel, who both seemed to get to Camp Caesar insalata safely. And all that is assuming that Frank and Hazel were the guards. I'm guessing they are because Percy knows their names.

-There are other people around, and they're freaked out da Aquaman. After all, they're used to lightning and wind tricks- this water thing is a brand new concept.

-Gorgons in Tiber- Gorgons die! (yeay!)

I'd like to butt in and say that one of my first theories about the river was the Tiber- so I gave myself a cookie for that (just kidding, I had no cookies).

The river Tiber ACTUALLY exists in Italy (which used to be Rome). It came with river god -Tiberinus- and he was the one who gave Remus and Romulus to Lupa to take care of, after her own litter of pups died (yeah, the whole litter... That's just sad...)

-"His clothes and his skin steamed as if the Tiber's waters had dato him an acid bath. He felt exposed. Raw. Vulnerable."

Let's see what just happened here; Percy is feeling like he suddenly has a lot less going for him, like he's missing something.

I think he just Lost his Achilles curse.

Which means the whole book will be a lot più nerve-wracking, am I right?

-Frank is in the middle of the river and Hazel goes to get him.

Isn't it weird that a daughter of Pluto -or so we're all assuming- is going into water? Is that tresspassing into an ennemy god's terriory, o is Poseidon just più fresco, dispositivo di raffreddamento than Zeus on these things?

Maybe Hades and Poseidon are on better terms.

Maybe they don't kill soldiers.

Maybe Tiberinus controls the river so he can let whoever the heck he wants go into it.

o maybe the river Tiber is like the canoa lake. Jason fell in but Poseidon didn't jump on the shot to drown the guy, and nobody died after that crash- so no demigod can get hurt o killed in there.

-This one girl freaks out when she hears Percy's name. She's obviously a leader, wearing a 'regal purple cloak' over her armour, her chest is decorated with metals (Romans liked and valued their honnor and the honnor of Rome very much). She's about Percy's age with dark piercing eyes and long black hair and she's also this girl ->

-The girl stared at him, as thought she'd seen him in a nightmare.

Really? When I have Percy Jackson and the Olympians/ Heroes of Olympus dreams I don't consider them nightmares. Especially when Leo and Percy are in it. Oh man, I had this one dream... Anyways, this girl has gotten nightmares.

What about? Percy doesn't look scary. It must be what she saw him do o what she was told about him and his actions.

-"Oh yes, you'll have such fun together."

*gulp*

Are we talking fun like 'Reyna and Juno's idea of fun is throwing knives at someone chained to a dungeon wall' fun o 'day on the spiaggia that ends with a kiss' fun. I don't like neither of these options, but personally, I think Percy's got a better chance with the knives. Annabeth is più deadly.

Looking at this logically; it's improble that both Percy AND Reyna would cheat, especially with each other. So either Percy's going to spend some quality time in the damp and dark and get up close and personal to Imperial oro blades, o he and Reyna are going to have some arguments and long discussions about getting along.

-June transforms into Juno. She glows and becomes a seven foot tall goddess in a blue dress with a firm and stately face, goatskin cloak, lotus-flower topped staff without blowing anybody up. Guess she learned when Jason nearly got it.

And again with the color blue. Frank and Hazel wore blue in their character art.

Blue was the color that public servants wore, it's why cops wear blue today (my company thinks he's hilarious right now as he tells me he wears navy blue suits- because of Ancient Rome. Nice try, buster, te had no idea until I told you!)

So why no Roman soldier has worn blue in Film o anything before- I don't know. But I assume that around camp they wear the flashy bronze armor with the red tunic and casco crest, and maybe when they're on quest and they tone down the armor in case they have to go into civilized areas, o maybe just when they're hanging out casually after training, they wear blue.

Maybe wearing it gives them in on Cibo and water and lodging at some places. Nah; that's way too convenient.

I also have a theory that the long sleeves we see with Hazel and Frank are to cover the tattoos.

-So obviously the campers aren't use to having old ladies morph into goddesses because they are like 'oh my gosh the ugly wart toad lady turned into JUNO! She is my PATRON!' (Juno was patron of soldiers, was she not?) And if Olympus is still closed that shock is just multiplied da ten...

But of course nobody says anything about that becasue the good little romans know to shut their mouths. But Reyna kneals and everybody else decides to.

-Someone does talk! Hazel breathes 'Juno'. So to anybody who had a doubt about the June/Juno thing- there te go.

-Percy doesn't bow. He's not really impressed about carrying Juno that far when she's perfectly capable of growing 7 feet tall. He knows he should but he doesn't- that's Percy right there!

-Oh and there he goes again, being all Seaweed Brain. "Juno eh? If I passed your test can I have my memory and my life back?" Foolish boy, it's not going to be that easy.

-And there goes Juno being my voice in the book. "In time Percy Jackson. If te succeed here at camp. You've done well today, which is a good start. Perhaps there's hope for te yet."

Can I just butt in here (I've been butting in forever, so I assume that I can) and say lady are te nuts? This kid here killed Kronos, fought a million monsters, survived the river Styx and 20 million other thing. There is so much hope for him Pandora's box would explode!

And da 'done well today', I assume she means interacting with Hazel and Frank in the bit between the 3 different extracts that we missed, and making his mark, proving his power because that's really what he's done so far.

-Juno forgets about Percy, turns to the rest of the people there and goes...

'Romans, I present te the son of Neptune. For months he has been slumbering, now he's awake. His fate is in your hands. The feast of fortune comes quickly. Death must be unleashed if te are to stand any chance in battle. Do not fail me.'

Which sounds great, but is really puzzling too.

oSon of Neptune- yeah, I got that part.

oSlumbering for months- What, how, huh?

But this does make sence.

Jason and Percy were switched at the same time. Jason landed in a bus when someone finally got track of him, and Percy was one-on-one/nobody knew about him with Lupa. But Lupa was at the lupo House. Well, so were Jason, Piper, Leo, Thalia and a bunch of other girls after they got switched.

Percy wasn't there at the battle- so he wasn't at the lupo house. He was sleeping somewhere- which is about his worst timming ever.

But where was he?

Now there's a domanda with endless posibilities, I won't even think about that, but we'll assume two things.

1) Hera had him sleeping somewhere (she couldn't go to another god for help, because if she could've done that, she'd have gotten help for herself!)
2) She woke him up when the coast was clear. So basically if Jason, Leo and Piper failed and Hera was conssumed; Percy would've slept straight through doomsday o he'd have woken up really confused in a weird place.

Now the domanda is; when did Percy wake up? He's been sleeping for months! With an 's'! That means he didn't sleep through December only, it was probably January, February and maybe March and April. And then the 2-3 months with Lupa at the lupo House... Heck, for all we know, it's June already! (ooh, I'd like that...)

oOur only clue of what time of the anno it is as well as something that Juno brought up; the Feast of Fortune is approaching. Since the quests are all pretty short deadlined, we can assume that it's a week o less before the feast takes place. At the least, 4 days before (one evening to rest up and digest the fact you're on a quest, adn 3 to do it).

Great; so what exactly is the Feast of Fortune?

Well, when I Google it, it comes up as the Veneralia. I wrote a whole articolo on it, so if te want to read that click here; link o if te want the brief click on the little Arrow that gives te the power to scroll down.

It's to Venus and Fortuna. All the statues of Venus are cleaned and decorated with fiori and it's basically just a party (told te it was a simple briefing)

It happens around April 1st which gives Percy time to sleep and time to learn with Lupa.

But someone in the commenti listed, the real bottom one which the user CareyM25 suggested- some other festival, that is equally interesting, and one that I like even better.

The Hilaria- which happened in March (March 22, the giorno after the spring equinox; the first night of the anno where the giorno is longer than the night, is there a night goddess involved?) and venerated the mother of the gods.

What's unclear, however, is if we mean Rhea -wife of Kronos, mother of Hestia, Poseidon, Demeter, Hades, Hera and Zeus- o the mother of everyone. Gaia.

"You killed my mom."
The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream. 'Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too. - page 253, The Lost Hero

Who thinks Gaia will highjack that festival and try to rise?

Great; so do the gorgons.

'Before te Slash me to bits,' he said, 'who's this patron te mentioned?'
Euryale sneered. 'The goddess Gaea, of course! The one who brought us back from oblivion! te won't live long enough to meet her, but your Friends below will soon face her wrath. Even now, her armies are marching south. At the Feast of Fortune, she'll awaken, and the demigods will be cut down like- like-'
'Like our low prices at Bargain Mart!' Stheno suggested.

So the Hilaria was pretty much fun and games the whole day! They had Masquerade balls too, apparently, and te could even immitate whoever te liked. Think about it; if Gaia's armies crash that, and the armies at least look human, they can set up full formation amongst the party goers - without even being noticed, except for someone paying attention to 'hey, there are way too many people here', and strike. It would be a genius move- nobody would recognise them as strangers if the costumes were good!

But here's the thing- this festival is to Cybele (which is 'mother mountain', basically Gaia) so why do the Romans still do it? Is their Gaia -Terra- good to them? Maybe they just do it for a shot to party, rest and just for the sake of old times when the empire was strong? I don't know- but that's the one thing bugging me.

-Death must be unleashed if te are to have a chance in battle. I'm having visions of Percy standing on the ledge over a vulcano filled with boiling lava right now. I mean, it's not even funny how much that sounds like either

a) A human sacrifice- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom/King Kong style.
b) The prophecy from the Lost Hero. But maybe not Hera going ka-boom, maybe just battles before. I don't know, but if armies are coming, so is the blood bath.
c) Maybe just alot of dead cows and pigs and whatnot... Maybe an elephant... (no not Hannibal!)

Anyways, back to the program;

-Percy is making Friends with the Roman leader Reyna. She's looking at him really cold and she looks like she wants to run him through with a dagger (which is his exact way of seeing it).

Can I just point out that she's about as friendly as Annabeth was?

-'So,' she detto coldly. 'A Son of Neptune, who comes to us with the blessing of Juno.'

Reyna is not impressed with this guy o she's pulling and Annabeth and recitazione like she isn't. If so, she's doing better than 'you drool when te sleep'.

Percy tries explaining to the not-so-nice girl who really doesn't like him that his memory is wacked.

'Look, my memory's a little fuzzy. Umm, it's gone actually. Do I know you?'
The girl hesitated.
'I am Reyna praetor of the twelth legion. And, no, I don't know you'. That last part was a lie. Percy could tell from her eyes. But he also understood that if he argued about it here, in front of her soldiers, she wouldn't appreciate it.

So; in front of her soldiers... Are we just talking about the other kids that weren't named (including the one that bowed so fast when he saw Juno that he nearly chick-kabobed himself with his weapon- loser-), o Frank and Hazel too?

And Reyna; doesn't seem to care much about Percy's amnesia. She hates him already! Wow, isn't this promising?

But I keep thinking that she must be really, really scared of Percy and I feel bad for her. That girl's already stressed out because her boyfriend's gone missing and it's been months so he's probably pressumed dead right now (but she really has no idea how mcuh più she should be worrying about Jason and where he is/what he's doing/who he's with).

Okay; Reyna is praetor of the twelth legion, but not the secondo consul. See- Jason is one consul and there is another somewhere. I think he's six feet under, personally.

te know how all the character art has the Roman demigods dressed in blue? But Jason showed up in purple? I think that only consuls go out in the open not wearing blue- they wear purple. And the Cyclops family detto they ate a son of Mercury dressed in purple, so there goes that guy. But, it might be all praetors too, because Reyna's got herself a purple cloak. o maybe she got proclaimed praetor when Jason and his buddy went missing looking for each other.

Anyways, who's Reyna's parentage? Black hair, dark eyes... Does that ring a campana, bell to anyone? It rings Minerva to me (even if she doesn't have grey eyes- I really don't know, okay?), but I think it would be a little tight if Annabeth and Reyna -the leader's girlfriends and leaders themselves- were sisters. But then again; children of Minerva are born for leadership. Smart, good in battle, strategists... There's a piece of George Washington in them all.

Besides, it would be really complex, juicy and most likely entertaining/terrifying if Reyna was a prophecy child and we had her and Piper on that boat.

Can te not see Reyna completely traumatising Piper?

It could also be an all Roman o never-before-seen goddess.

Fortuna (luck goddess), Trivia (ooh I'd like that!), Proserpina (Persephone- but meh, not really; besides she was seen already)... I actually really like Trivia because Hecate has been mentioned forever and I just really want her in this series.

But that would mean that Reyna toughed out being a bit of an outcast amongst the Olympians and fought her way to the superiore, in alto (looking at this girl; I say she could do it), unless Camp Caesar insalata just had better coverage for the minor gods- which they might have. The Romans had più gods to start off with. There is literally a Roman god for everything but duct tape and gum.

-"'Hazel,' detto Reyna, 'Bring him inside. I want to domanda him at the Principia. Then we'll send him to Octavian. We must consult the auguries before we decide what to do with him,'"

Okay, a lot of weird talk here so let's see...

a) Did te notice how RR changed his voice when he read Reyna saying 'Hazel' in the video? It was like barking her name! I think that either Reyna is a cold person and te learn to Amore her, she's completely faking it, o she's not happy with Hazel for some reason.

Either way; Hazel seems to be her inferior. So either her soldier, o another soldier. But seeing as Reyna's troops are near the river that new demigods get to after passing the entrance that Frank and Hazel were guarding; I'd say that those two are her soldiers. Maybe Hazel is Reyna's BFF and that's how Jason knows her.

b) Principia. What the Hades is that?
Principia is the Latin term for headquarters of a roman fort. So basically Percy is going to be taken to HQ- which I can't WAIT to see!

It also gives us a whole insight on what Camp Caesar insalata is going to look like!

Because there are different kinds of camp; summer camp, detention camp, boot camp o a marching camp in the Roman case.

When a legion was on the move, and settled down impermanently (for the night, a week, whatever) they set up a marching camp. It was basically a portable Roman fort.

A good place for it was on raised ground (we're in the baia Area, there are twenty million mountains here that have appeared in the series. Okay, not quite, but I'm sure there's a collina o some raised ground there), near water. Look at that- the river Tiber is right there!

The soldiers dug out a ditch about 1 metre deep and used the earth from it to make a rampart. Each soldier carried one o a few wooden stakes to make an instant pallisade as protection- but the one Camp Caesar insalata has might be a little più solid. Ex. Brick wall.

Different troops were dato different responsibilities- protecting supplies, rampart guard duty...

Maybe it was the twelth legion on the job when Percy burst in so they all went there, o just a bunch of them (because if they're all with Percy someone could just sneak in and that would be stupid).

c) Octavian and the Auguries. Who are the auguries?

An augury (singular form of Auguries I assume) is an official AND a priest in the old days especially in Etruria and Ancient Rome. I know, I know- it's rainning officials in Rome but this one's job didn't have anything to do with the army o running the country.

There were 3 Auguries but da the time a dude called Sulla came to power, the number had scaled to 15. I'm assuming we're still at 3 (see, 1) because 15 seems like a freakishly big number for a place that accepts only the best.

But who, who I ask te could be the auguries at Camp?



-Frank and Jason have close-cropped hair, and I assue it is a requirment at Camp Caesar insalata so it doesn't get grabbed during hand-to-hand combat, because it's a military thing o whatnot, and he has it loose and shaggy.
-He's wearing a toga so he's probably not a soldier, yet the blue goes to mostra that he's a public servant.

This could be it. It explains why this guy isn't like the other Romans we see, but why he's still at camp. Maybe he's one of the auguries- o just the one.

And then Octavian. Who is Octavian?



Not sure his picture should be coming back again, but Octavian...

Octavian could be the augury- maybe Reyna meant 'we'll introduce him to Octavian because the Augury will know what to do with him'

Octavian could be, just a guy at Camp -very possibly the guy above- named after the historical figure- just like Percy and Jason are. In which case we have no chance at finding out who he is just yet.

o Reyna could be talking about the actual historical figure. Maybe he's still at Camp doing... I don't know what he could be doing, maybe he's their Mr D (except probably not as fond of Diet Coca Cola and pinochles... I'm thinking wine and fights-to-the-death).

Okay; so Julius Caesar was assasinated, that's probably not new to most of te guys, and then Octavian joined forces with some other dudes -March Anthony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus- and fought them off. Eventually, Octavian became emperor. He changed his name to Augustus Caesar ('Caesar' just meant 'leader').

Octavian had a hold on most of the legions meaning that he could turn them against the Roman senate. Needless to say, the senate became very docile towards him. I mean, having X number of legions of armed and trained men pointing their Pilums and gladiuses at your ennemies are a great way of ensuring cooperation. Don't te all find?

"His rule through patronage, military power, and accumulation of the offices of the defunct Republic became the model for all later imperial governments."

The rein of Octavian led to Pax Romana which is Latin for 'Roman Peace'. For più than two centuries, the Mediterenean was at peace except for one year-long civil war and continuous wars on the frontiers of Rome- but that's a continuous thing, so really...

Under his rein, Rome grew like Jack's beanstalk, seeing as it now contained Egypt, Pannonia, Dalmatia and Raetia, took some più territory out of Africa and completed the conquest of Hispania. Not bad for one guy, hmm? But there's more.

He built roads, got a courrier system (dudes running from point A to point B to deliver messages o packages- basically a mail man), reinforced taxation, created the Praetorian guard, established a standing army as well as fuoco fighting and police services for Rome. A whole lot of the city was rebuilt under his rein too.

When he died, the senate made him a god. He was actually venerated! So maybe he is the Roman Mr D...

And if he set Rome into Pax Romana, he won't be happy to see Percy there, now will he?

But of course, that's assuming that the Octavian Reyna is talking about is the historical figure. But if it was... Would she call him 'Lord Octavian'? o would it be like Hazel calling the goddess simply 'Juno', especially if she's used to be around him and it's been a long time.

Mystère et boule de gomme! (That's mystery and gumballs in French- don't ask, an expression)

d) domanda Percy... Remember when I was talking about chained to a bacheca with someone throwing knives at you?

"Where do te come from?"
"I don't know!" *flings knife.
"Where is Jason Grace and what did your people do to him?"
"I don't have any of my memories I-!" *flings other knife*

But here's the thing... Should we expect Reyna to be evil, o is she going to let down her mask with Percy? After all, she seems to be scared of Percy- which brings me back to the 'why is she scared of Percy?'

Let's say that she gets dreams including the moments where Percy does something fierce- where he attacks, where he pulls a feat that should be imposible even da child-of-Poseidon standarts.

If she just got flashes of the moments where Percy isn't Percy, where he's a fierce warrior out for blood... If she saw Percy hold the sky, defend Annabeth so fiercily when she took Ethan's coltello for him, fight in the Underworld in his first fight as Mr-invincible, o just plain fighting in the Titan war... Yeah; she would be a little scared, o at least super impressed.

And if a voice comes with the dream, telling her that Jason -who is most likely her boyfriend- is sent to his people... To a whole race of Percy Jacksons... Yeah; she will be scared. o maybe she's told Percy will do something to her, her power, o just Rome.

'He will take your throne, wear the purple cape and rise above any of you. He will change the way everything is and he will be unstopable.'

Translation; Reyna will end up giving him his trono somehow, he will earn power, and become the first Greek with Roman power so più famous than anyone. He will bring peace so change the way things are seen and since Rome and Greece are with him; there's no stopping this guy.

But of course she wouldn't see it like that.

And I have a feeling the interogation is going to be 1 on 1 because Reyna will probably have some domande reguarding how she knows Percy (I'm guessing a dream) for him, and she might not want it all to get out. And if she doesn't bring it up, Percy will bring it up and she won't answer his domande in front of a crowd- o perhaps not at all.

-'What do te mean,' Percy asked, '"decide what to do with me"?' Reyna's hand tightened on her dagger.

Oh good job Percy. Common; make friends, make friends!

Obviously she was not used to having her orders questioned.

Did Lupa not teach him the basics o something? Gee wiz, Percy, she's a Roman praetor, even I know te have to listen to her (then again, I have Google)

-'Before we accept anybody at camp we must interogate them, and read the auguries'

Okay; so this happens to everybody. They probably check for parentage (but I think they all know who Percy's old man is), they probably make sure the person's done his time with Lupa, check for name and age and weapon, sort them in a legion o something... Why do I have a feeling that Percy's is going to go funky?

-"'Juno detto your fate is in our hands. We have to know if the goddess has sent us a new recruit.' Reyna studied Percy as if she found that doubtful. 'Or,' she detto più hopefully, 'If she's brought us an ennemy; to kill.'
At that moment someone else ran into the clearing, a girl that looked nothing like a Roman camper, and looked like she'd ran a long, long, long, long way to get down to San Francisco.
'Wait!' she called. 'Don't kill him! He's friendly- he's good, no matter what te think! It's really complicated but I read the book like 5 times I can totally explain this!'"

Okay; so that last part was just me, but don't te Amore how Reyna hates Percy's guts immediately? And aren't te a little puzzled about it... Actually, I'm a little puzzled da everything. I don't know what to believe, but I hope I might have helped someone with somethings. o maybe I just confused te worst...

Either way, I just helped te spend some of your waiting time (tee-hee!)