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Every pup must grow up and leave the pack eventually, Lupa knew. But that did not make any such parting easier to bear. She nosed gently at the youngest pup, and he rolled easily onto his back in a gesture of submission. She panted over him, baring all her teeth. You must leave here soon.
He whined, and a bigger pup came nosing in to put her head on his belly, flashing pleading eyes up at Lupa. Can’t he stay a little longer? She wriggled forward, covering the pup entirely under the length of her belly. He’s still so small!
It is time for him to grow with his own pack now, not ours. Lupa nudged her older pup away and mouthed at the little pup - gentle with her teeth, but ferocious all the same - drawing him up to his feet. Come now.
He whined again, but followed trustingly after her all the same. He was of the pack, and she was the mother of all the pack. She would not lead him to harm that he could not handle.
It broke her heart to be the second such mother to break his trust in her.
***
Marcus Aurelius, fourth generation legacy of the god Mercury, knew that Lupa’s pups appeared sometimes to supply demigods in training. But that didn’t mean they didn’t scare him half to death every time they appeared. He was counting travel mugs when a sharp bark from behind startled him so much that he dropped a pile of mugs with a tremendous clatter on the ground. “Sorry about the noise!” he exclaimed in a rush, spinning around to face the wolf. It looked enormous to him, filling half the doorway with its bulk, all of its massive teeth visible in its mouth as it panted in his direction. He tried with effort to keep his voice from shaking as he asked, “Do you, um, need something?”
The wolf kept staring at him. He curled his hands into fists so he wouldn’t nervously pick at the hem of his clothing. Oh gods. They couldn’t really smell fear, could they? He’d only spent two months with the wolves during his training two years ago, and he’d kept as far away from them as possible. He swallowed hard. “Do you need… food?” he suggested. “Um… canteens? Camping supplies? Clothes?”
The wolf barked again and took a step further into the room. Marcus inched backwards as it approached. “Clothes then?” he squeaked, his voice cracking on his nerves. “I can get you clothes! Here!” He snatched a purple Camp Jupiter t-shirt off the rack and held it out before him like a shield. The wolf leapt forward and snatched it out of his hands with its jaws. Marcus squealed, and fell backwards onto the floor. The wolf stood in front of him, t-shirt dangling from its mouth, staring at him expectantly. “You need… more?” Marcus guessed. “Um… pants and shoes?”
The wolf stepped forward again, and Marcus scrambled to get to his feet and gather the requested items before it could get closer. He shoved a random pair of pants and a set of sneakers in the wolf’s direction, and watched in horrified awe as it managed to pick up everything in its mouth at once. Without another glance in Marcus’ direction, it trotted out the door and down the street, out of sight.
Alone at least, Marcus allowed himself one heartfelt sigh of relief before he went back to counting cups.
***
Praetor Julia Evander knew her day was going to suck as soon as she saw Lupa’s new recruit.
For once, both Julia and her fellow Praetor Alexander were both available when they received Lupa’s summons, and were obediently trailed by whoever else wanted to come see the new recruit to the Twelfth Legion. There were no legacies or demigods from New Rome who had been taken to train with Lupa recently, so she could only assume that it was a new kid who hadn’t been in New Rome or the legion before. This had the opportunity to be spectacularly good or bad, depending on how good they were at learning fast and following orders.
Lupa’s silhouette appeared first, as always, looming tall and dark through the shadows of the trees as she approached. Julia bowed her head respectfully as the wolf advanced, remembering well her own time under Lupa’s paws. Beside her was a small figure, one hand tucked into the fur at Lupa’s side like a kid clinging to their mother’s hand. Julia squinted, then frowned.
“Is it just me,” Alexander whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth, “Or is the new recruit really, really small?”
“I was just wondering that,” Julia breathed, staring in horror at the figure approaching beside Lupa. Most people looked small beside Lupa’s seven-foot bulk, but none of them had ever looked that small before. Could it really be -
Lupa halted before Julia and Alexander and bowed her head, nudging forward the boy at her side with her muzzle. Here is Jason Grace, she said. Treat him well. She melted back into the forest before Julia could respond.
Shocked, unsure what to do, but knowing she had to do something, Julia sank to her knees beside the boy - beside Jason . He couldn’t be more than four or five years old, she thought, and he looked like he was drowning in his far-too-large Camp Jupiter t-shirt. He was carrying a pair of pants and sneakers in his hands, clearly also too big to even try putting them on. “Hi, Jason,” she said carefully, noticing the way his gaze darted around and cataloged everyone in the clearing. This kid’s going to be a smart one. “Welcome to the Twelfth Legion.”
***
Julia decided to figure out what to do with the kid at evening muster, and set up little Jason in the principia until then. He’d taken two steps into the room, and instantly became enraptured with her carefully displayed collection of knives and daggers arranged along the edges of the room. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to leave a four-year old alone with a very large number of polished and sharpened blades, but it sounded equally as smart as letting said four-year old be raised by a wolf goddess and her pack for gods-know-how-long, so she thought he’d probably be fine. Lupa’s training was deadly and intense, no matter their age, a fact which Julia knew all too well. She’d been a demigod born and raised in Los Angeles, only finding out her identity as a daughter of Minerva at the age of twelve after being attacked by a pack of hellhounds, and narrowly saved from death by Lupa’s pups. She was safely escorted to their mother, and brutally protected and trained for the next six months, before Lupa dropped her off in the woods and told her to make her way to camp. She supposed that Jason’s personal escort straight to the borders of camp was the biggest concession Lupa would make to his age. She sighed, glancing over at Alexander. “What are we going to do with a kid in the legion?” she said.
Alexander, a New Rome born-and-bred demigod, glanced back at the door to the principia with a thoughtful expression on his face. A third-generation legacy of Vulcan, and son of a Muse, he’d grown up training with swords and other weapons, was ceremonially trained with Lupa at the ritual age of fifteen, and had been a part of the legion for eight years by now. The idea of putting such a young child in the legion, while still unnervingly young, was less foreign to him, who’d been practically born with a sword in his hand, than it was to Julia. “He doesn’t have any letters of recommendation. We could put him in the Third or Fourth cohort,” he offered. “If we assign him as a messenger, it would keep him out of most of the grunt work.”
Julia considered this, but shook her head with a frown. “If he survived Lupa at four years old, that’s as good as a letter for me. He deserves at least the Second cohort for that. Messenger would be a good place for him to start though,” she agreed.
“Let’s start by getting him some clothes that actually fit,” Alexander suggested as they passed the storehouse on the far side of the square, “And then we can consult the auger before muster.”
***
The auger, a son of Apollo named Aaron, gave them a funny look as they entered the temple. “Did I hear that a four-year old is joining the legion?” he asked, glancing meaningfully at the tiny set of clothing Alexander had tucked under his arm. “I hope you bought him more than one set of clothes.”
“We’ll… pick up the rest later,” Julia said quickly, making a mental note to actually order more before muster. Most of the clothes in the camp were meant for members of the legion, who ranged between twelve and thirty years of age. They would probably have to go into New Rome proper to find a decent range of small children’s clothes. “We were hoping to do the auguries now, so we could appoint him properly at evening muster.”
“And where is the kid? It’s a little difficult to do an augury without the person present.”
Julia winced at Aaron’s bone-chillingly dry tone. “He’s at the principia, ” she said. “We didn’t want to drag him all over camp if we didn’t have to.”
“We can go get him, if you want,” Alexander said.
Aaron huffed out a sigh. “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll make do.” He crossed over to the far wall and considered the array of stuffed animals there, finally selecting a large purple bear, like you might find as a prize at a carnival or something. “Do we at least know his name?”
“Lupa called him Jason Grace,” Julia said, relieved to have a question she could answer without guilt.
“Jason Grace,” Aaron repeated thoughtfully. He closed his eyes and stood very still for a long moment, then brought his knife down along the belly of the bear in a quick, bright flash. Polyester stuffing spilled out and along the floor, like fluffy white clouds in the stone of the temple. Aaron stood considering the fluff for a long time.
“So?” Julia dared break the silence after several minutes. “What’s going on with the kid?”
Aaron winced, jerking away from the fluff like he was breaking out of a trance, and rubbing at his forehead. “A lot,” he said. “Most of it I can’t make out. But what is there - this kid is a big deal. ”
“A big deal?” Julia echoed. She exchanged a glance with Alexander. “A good deal or a bad one?”
“That remains to be seen,” Aaron said. “But I can say for sure that he’s going to be very important to the legion.”
“Well,” Aaron said. He shifted the bundle of clothing to his other arm. “I guess we’re accepting him properly then.”
The wind was starting to blow thick, gray clouds over the sky when they exited the temple.
***
They returned to the principia to give Jason the good news, and found him sitting on the front steps, watching a probatio from the Fifth cohort as she groomed one of the unicorns. She was talking in Jason’s direction, and gesticulated wildly with her free hand as she spoke. Jason didn’t seem to be responding, but watched her solemnly with bright, intelligent eyes, and nodded occasionally when she slowed down her speech, prompting her to continue.
“Gwen,” Alexander called sharply as they approached. The girl jumped, spinning away from the unicorn and snapping to attention as she saw her praetors.
“Sirs!” she said. “I was, er, talking to the new recruit!”
“I can see that,” Alexander said, amused. “Is that the last of the unicorns?”
“Erm. Nearly, sir!”
“Go finish up with them,” Alexander commanded. “We need to talk to the new recruit now. We’ll see you at evening muster”
“Yes sir! Of course, sir!” Gwen agreed hastily. She hustled the unicorn down the road in the direction of the stables, still muttering into the unicorn’s mane. Alexander chuckled, then turned to hold out the clothes to Jason.
“We got you some better clothes,” he said. “Here, let’s go inside so you can put them on.”
Jason stood without a word and let them lead him inside. Julia turned her back and busied herself with her desk while Alexander helped Jason put on the undergarments, pants, socks, and appropriately-sized t-shirt they’d found in the stores. Julia came back around to watch as Jason sat down to pull on a pair of tiny, soft brown boots, and snickered softly.
“Maybe we should call him Caligula,” she muttered to Alexander, who snorted and shook his head.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
Jason pulled on the second boot and looked up at them. “Why?” he asked.
Surprised, Julia and Alexander both froze and looked down at the boy. It was the first time Julia had heard him speak. His voice was soft with disuse, clearly unused to making sounds beyond the whines and growls of the wolf pack, and hauntingly young. “Well,” Julia said after a moment. “There used to be a Roman emperor called Caligula, because of his little boots.”
Jason looked down at his feet. “These are little boots,” he said. Julia wasn’t sure whether it was a statement or a question.
“They are,” Julia agreed. “But no one liked Caligula, because he was a cruel leader. So we aren’t going to call you that.”
Jason appeared to consider this for a moment. “Was he strong?” he asked. He had a scar on his lip that moved as he spoke. Julia wondered how he’d gotten it.
“Um…” Julia glanced helplessly at Alexander, who only shrugged cheekily in her direction. “Pretty strong? He had a lot of power.”
“But no one liked him,” Jason confirmed.
“No one,” Julia agreed.
Jason appeared satisfied with this answer, though what he’d gotten out of the conversation, Julia had no idea. He stood up, stamped his foot a couple of times, testing the feel of his new boots, then wandered back over to peruse Julia’s knife collection some more. Julia leaned over to murmur in Alexander’s ear. “Thanks for the backup there, praetor ,”
He chuckled. “You’re the senior praetor here, you get to educate the new recruits.” he whispered back.
Julia smacked him in the ribs.
***
Julia and Alexander escorted Jason personally to evening muster. It was an honor not afforded to most new recruits. But then again, most new recruits were not hand-delivered - paw-delivered? - by Lupa straight to the camp borders either. The streets of the camp were mostly empty, as Julia had decided that today, they would be the last ones to arrive. Jason gazed around at everything as they passed, like he was cataloging the buildings into his mind one by one. The sky was darker than usual, with thick black clouds covering the sunset, and the harsh wind was starting to bring droplets of rain splattering down the streets. Julia hoped the storm proper wouldn’t start until after they’d finished muster, and she could get inside somewhere warm.
“So, Jason,” Alexander said after several minutes of only their silent footsteps, obscured by the rising wind. “How much do you know about Camp Jupiter?”
Jason looked at Alexander silently, and for a moment, Julia feared he wouldn’t answer. “I know a little,” he said at last. “There’s five cohorts. I’ll be joining one of them.”
“How do you know that?” Alexander asked curiously.
“Lupa showed me around,” he said simply.
“Lupa showed you around ,” Julia echoed, surprised. That was something she’d never heard of Lupa doing before. “When?”
“Last night,” Jason said. “Before you met me. She said I should know what I was getting into.”
That was indeed a great kindness on Lupa’s part. Julia certainly had not been afforded that luxury. “Did no one see you?” she asked.
“Lupa didn’t want them to,” Jason said, as if that were an answer. She supposed that, knowing Lupa, it was about all the answer they needed. It didn’t matter how many legionnaires or lares were out on the streets at night. If Lupa didn’t want to be noticed, she wouldn’t.
The cohorts were fully assembled by the time they arrived. Jason looked smaller than ever, standing in the center of the gathered legion. Julia raised her hands for attention, and the legion fell silent. “Romans!” she announced. “Today, Lupa has brought us a new recruit. This is Jason Grace.”
A murmur swept through the crowd as the legionnaires craned their necks to see the tiny child standing between Julia and Alexander. Julia knew what they must be thinking. She forged on. “He seeks to join the legion,” she continued. “His auguries have been read.”
She gestured to Aaron to join her, who stepped up and raised his hands. “His auguries are auspicious,” he announced. “He is qualified to serve the legion.”
More whispers swept through the crowd. Auspicious. People were rarely pronounced auspicious when joining the legion. It was a heavy legacy for a four-year to begin with.
The centurions stepped forward and arranged themselves in front of Jason. “Do you come with credentials or letters of reference?” Mayli, the senior centurion of the Second cohort, asked, leaning down to look Jason in the eye.
Jason shuffled his feet nervously, glancing up at Julia for a cue.
“He has no letters,” Julia answered for Jason. “But he comes with the personal blessing of Lupa, and Praetor Alexander and I stand on his behalf.”
The crowd murmured again. Julia knew she was only heaping unwanted notice on his head through so much special attention, but what else was there to be done? The augury had done enough damage as it was, and there was no hiding Lupa’s attentions to him. Mayli nodded in acceptance, stepping back into the line of centurions. “Will the First cohort accept him then?” she asked.
The First cohort’s centurion, Barry Berchus, stepped forward. “We would accept the recruit,” he said.
“No,” Jason said suddenly.
The crowd erupted in barely-disguised whispers. No? No? The child was refusing the First cohort? The most promising recruit of the legion in decades, offered a position in the most prestigious cohort of the legion, and he refused ?
“Jason, I thought you said Lupa explained this to you,” Julia said, desperately trying to get the ceremony back on track. “The First cohort is the best cohort in the legion. You would be perfect - “
“I want to join the Fifth,” Jason said.
Julia blinked, not sure she could understand what was happening. Jason wanted to join the Fifth cohort ? The disgraced cohort? “Are… are you sure?” she asked desperately.
Jason nodded solemnly. “I want to join the Fifth cohort,” he repeated.
Helplessly, Julia looked first at Alexander, then at Conor, the Fifth cohort’s centurion. They both looked just as bewildered as Julia felt. Shrugging, Julia beckoned Conor forward. What else is there to do? “The recruit wishes to join the Fifth cohort,” she said, raising her voice to be heard above the crowd. “Will you accept him?”
“I… We would accept the recruit,” Conor stammered, his voice wavering, then growing in strength as the crowd quieted.
“Then we present you with this sword,” Julia said, nodding for someone to pass Conor the new Imperial Gold gladius she’d fetched from the armory for Jason. Despite being among the shortest of their weapons, it was still almost as tall as the boy himself as Conor set it ceremonially in his arms.
“May you serve the legion well with it,” Conor said, his voice smoothing out as the ceremony shifted into more familiar traditions. Jason ran his hands down the studded sheath and looked at it like he expected it to do something.
Julia felt a shiver run down her spine, and hurried to continue the ceremony. “Congratulations, Jason Grace,” she said. “You stand on probatio . You will be given a tablet with your name and cohort. In one year’s time, or as soon as you complete an act of valor, you will become a full member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Serve Rome, obey the rules of the legion, and defend the camp with honor. Senatus Populusque Romanus!
Thunder boomed as she finished her speech, obscuring the sound of the cheers from the rest of the legion. There was a sharp crack as lightning split across the sky, nearly concurrent with the thunder. The heavens opened for a flood of rain, a deluge which nearly instantly soaked Julia to the bone. She raised a hand to cover her eyes as she shouted for attention. “All troops assemble for dinner, then go to your barracks! Games tonight are canceled due to weather!”
Any sounds the crowd made was covered by the crack of another bolt of lightning. This one felt like it was right over their heads, and thunder which instantly followed shook the barracks behind them. Julia could feel her bones rattling as the stones shook. She covered her ears, and hurried back towards the principia , but looked up when Alexander grabbed her by the shoulders. “Jason!” he yelled in her ear.
“What?” she yelled back.
“Jason! He’s - “
Alexander pointed, and then she saw him.
He was still standing in the center of the parade grounds. He hadn’t followed his cohort towards the mess hall. Julia saw Conor sprinting back from across the camp, saw Jason unsheathe his new gladius and hold it high towards the sky, felt the metallic tingle on her lips and the rising of every fine hair on her body that forebode a lightning strike.
“Jason!” she shrieked, and then the lightning struck.
Pure light blinded her vision. Julia felt herself falling over, couldn’t make out anything beyond the piercing light covering her eyes. She felt Alexander’s hand falling off her shoulder. Thunder shook the camp, building and ringing in her ears until she knew nothing more than the storm. She blinked rapidly, willing her vision to clear as the ringing subsided. She’d been… she was… Jason!
She’d been looking at Jason. The lightning had struck directly where he was standing.
“Jason!” She yelled, struggling to her feet. The light was still blinding. Was it an afterimage, or was the lighting still sticking around? “Jason, are you okay?”
She was starting to be able to make out some outlines now. She could see the blocky shape of Alexander’s silhouette as he staggered to his feet beside her. The other members of the legion were scattered across the road and around the grounds, slowly pulling themselves upright after the enormous blast. Julia squinted into the center of the parade grounds, where the light was still lingering. “Jason?” she called, uncertainly. Was it on fire? A sustained lightning bolt? What was happening?
Jason’s shape slowly began to form out of the light. He was standing as tall as his four-year old frame would let him, gladius still upraised to the sky. And he was glowing. Glowing with the brilliance of the lightning itself as it was slowly absorbed into the blade, down his arm, and into his body. He glanced in Julia’s direction, and his eyes gleamed like piercing blue blades through the darkness of the storm. He looked back up at the sky, and Julia saw his shoulders move like he was taking a deep breath before he expelled all the light and power back up to the heavens.
It exploded out of him like a reverse lightning bolt, arching from the ground to the sky. The air itself seemed to sing like thunder as it released. As the sound and light faded, the storm cleared, until the pale red sunset was revealed on the horizon, and only the soaking wet streets and shell-shocked campers bore witness to the storm that had passed.
The remaining light coalesced over Jason’s head, and formed into a gleaming lightning bolt. Jason looked up at it curiously. It dissolved as he reached out to touch it.
But everyone had seen it. And everyone knew what it meant.
“Son of Jupiter,” Julia whispered under her breath. Slowly, she crossed the square to stand again by Jason’s side. “All hail Jason Grace,” she announced to the stunned legion. “Son of Jupiter!” The legion erupted into cheers. Julia turned to Jason, who looked as though he didn’t fully understand what was going on. “Your power and control over lightning prove your worth as a Roman. We welcome you as a full member of the legion,” she announced formally. “Aaron, will you?”
Dazed, Aaron met her gaze. She met his glare with her own, and tilted her head meaningfully towards Jason. They had to act quickly. Appointing Jason as one of their own would cement his favor in the legion, no matter how much the thought of what she was about to have done to a four-year old turned her stomach. Otherwise, the cohorts might take the lightning as a challenge against the legion. A challenge against their praetors, even.
Aaron nodded slowly, stepping forward, and took Jason’s tiny, pudgy hand in his own. “Jason Grace, son of Jupiter,” he said. “First year of service!” He ran his hand over Jason's arm.
The lines seared themselves on the soft skin of his forearm, covering white lines and nips left by the pups. An eagle, SPQR, and a single line. Jason screwed his eyes closed and bit his lip in discomfort, but didn’t make a sound. Julia was impressed and awed by his pain threshold. Many legionnaires still winced when they received their marking. A four-year old shouldn’t have had to. But what was done, was done.
“You were so brave, Jason” she told him, as the cohorts drifted towards the mess hall, chattering excitedly about the events of the last half hour. “You’re going to become truly great someday.”
Jason looked up at her calmly, with his intensely blue eyes, his slightly tangled pale yellow hair, the little scar which curled up the corner of his lip. A child too young and too old all at the same time. “I will bring greatness to us all,” he said. “We’ll all become strong together.”
Somehow, Julia knew this was a promise that would come true.