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"Great" Percy handed the bucket of tar to Frank and Annabeth "You guys help Leo I’ll hold off the water spirits as long as I can"
"On it!" Frank pro Hazel at the cabin door The ship listed again, and Hazel hugged her sto to be sick
"I’ll just…" She sed, pointed weakly down the passageway, and ran off
Jason and Piper stayed below as the ship rocked back and forth For a hero, Piper felt pretty useless Waves crashed against the hull as angry voices ca at the lake Festus the figurehead breathed fire several times Down the hall, Hazel ine roo an Irish line dance with anvils tied to their feet After what seean to huroaned, and Piper felt the ship lift into the air
The rocking and shaking stopped The ship becaed froine room He was caked in sweat, liht in an escalator and chewed to shreds The TEAM LEO on his chest now read: AM LEO But he grinned like a madman and announced that they were safely under way
"Meeting in the mess hall, one hour," he said "Crazy day, huh?"
After everyone had cleaned up, Coach Hedge took the helathered below for dinner It was the first tiether--just the seven of the all of them in one place only re at last Nofor Leo to finish the ship Nothe future was still a long way off They were under ith a bunch of angry Roiants would be waiting Gaea was rising And unless they succeeded in this quest, the world would be destroyed
The others must’ve felt it too The tension in the , which was totally possible, considering Percy’s and Jason’s powers In an aard moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table Sparks literally flew from Jason’s hands After a brief silent standoff, like they were both thinking, Seriously, dude?, they ceded the chair to Annabeth and sat at opposite sides of the table
The crew compared notes on what had happened in Salt Lake City, but even Leo’s ridiculous story about how he tricked Narcissus wasn’t enough to cheer up the group
"So where to now?" Leo asked with a et us out of the lake, but there’s still a lot of daht before we head across the Atlantic"
Percy was eating a piece of pie, which for so, crust, even the whipped cream "We need to put some distance between us and Cales over Salt Lake City We figure the Romans aren’t far behind us"
That didn’t improve the , but she felt obliged…and a little guilty "I don’t suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Roh with the charmspeak"
Jason took her hand "It wasn’t your fault, Pipes Or Leo’s," he added quickly "Whatever happened, it was Gaea’s doing, to drive the two carateful for his support, but she still felt uneasy "Maybe if we could explain that, though--"
"With no proof?" Annabeth asked "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you’re saying, Piper I don’t want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea’s up to, going back is suicide"
"She’s right," Hazel said She still looked a little queasy fro to eat a few saltine crackers The rim of her plate was embedded with rubies, and Piper was pretty sure they hadn’t been there at the beginning of the ht listen, but Octavian won’t The Romans have honor to think about They’ve been attacked They’ll shoot first and ask questions post hac"
Piper stared at her own dinner The etarian stuff She especially liked the avocado and grilled pepper quesadilla, but tonight she didn’t have ht about the visions she’d seen in her knife: Jason with golden eyes; the bull with the hu a bronze jar fro in black water
Piper had always liked the water She had goodwith her dad But since she’d started seeing that vision in Katoptris, she’d been thinking randdad used to tell to keep her away from the river near his cabin He told her the Cherokees believed in good water spirits, like the naiads of the Greeks; but they also believed in evil water spirits, the water cannibals, who hunted mortals with invisible arrows and were especially fond of drowning sht," she decided "We have to keep going Not just because of the Romans We have to hurry"
Hazel nodded "Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed"
Jason frowned "You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?"
"I think," Hazel said "But if so, that’s not much time"
"Why six days?" Percy wondered "And how are they going to destroy Rome?"
No one answered Piper didn’t want to add further bad news, but she felt she had to
"There’s s inkid, Frank, froze with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his s such as… ?"
"They don’t really iants, dressed alike Maybe twins"
Annabeth stared at the ht now it showed the living roo House: a cozy fire on the hearth and Sey contentedly above the mantel
"Twins, like in Ella’s prophecy," Annabeth said "If we could figure out those lines, it hter walks alone," Percy said "The Mark of Athena burns through Root to mean you Juno told me…well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome She said she doubted you could do it But I know she’s wrong"