A/N (I recommend reading this): I'm going to MAKE THIS CLEAR. Just like I mention on my bio page about every other fanfiction I done: I DON'T OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIAN SERIES OR IT'S CHARACTERS as the rights goes to Rick Rioran. Also I suggest you guys start paying attention to the Author notes and my warnings that I left on EVERY chapter of EVERY story.

Sorry if this chapter is too much like the book.

Due to the limited number of characters posted, I'm forced to post only the names of the characters telling their tales in this story. When I get to the House of Hades and Blood of Olympus, I'll list off the first four characters listed in the order they tell their tales. I'll post the pairings if the two of the four characters listed are a pair. Other than that, the Pairings stay the same for this story.

Jason x Piper
Percy x Annabeth
Frank x Hazel

Warning: Certain ancient Greeknames matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Magical Labyrinth' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Stolen Chariot' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Sword of Hades', 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Bronze Dragon' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Last Olympian' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Staff of Hermes' 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero' 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Quest for Buford' and 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune' before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.

The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena

Annabeth's POV Part I

All I wanted was to see Percy again. Even with this quest going on, as long as I find Percy, I know I can get through this.

At least, that's what I thought until I met the exploding statue.

I paced the deck of our flying warship, the Argo II, checking and double-checking the ballistae to make sure they were locked down. I confirmed that the white "We come in peace" flag was flying from the mast. I reviewed the plan with the rest of the crew—and the backup plan, and the backup plan for the backup plan.

Most important, I pulled aside our war-crazed chaperone, Coach Gleeson Hedge, and encourage him to take the morning off in his cabin and watch reruns of mixed martial arts championship. The last thing we needed as we flew a magical Greek trireme into a potentially hostile Roman camp was a middle-aged satyr in gym clothes waving a club and yelling "Die!"

For a minute I thought I could relax. It seemed things were in order and nothing could go wrong. Even that mysterious chill I'd been feeling since the ship launched had dissipated, at least for now.

And yet I couldn't help but second guess myself as the warship descended through the clouds. What if this was a bad idea? What if the Romans panicked and attacked us on sight?

The Argo II definitely did not look friendly. Two hundred feet long, with a bronze-plated hull, mounted repeating crossbows fore and aft, a flaming metal dragon for a figurehead, and two rotating ballistae amidships that could fire explosive bolts powerful enough to blast through concrete… well, it wasn't the most appropriate ride for a meet-and-greet with the neighbors.

I had tried to give the Romans a heads-up. I asked Leo to send one of his special inventions—a holographic scroll—to alert our friends inside the camp. Hopefully the message had gotten through. Leo had wanted to paint a giant message on the bottom of the hull—WASSUP? With a smiley face—but I vetoed the idea. I wasn't sure the Romans had a sense of humor.

Too late to turn back now.

The clouds broke around our hull, revealing the gold-and-green carpet of the Oakland Hills below us. I gripped one of the bronze shields that lined the starboard rail.

My three crewmates took their places.

On the stern quarter deck, Leo rushed around like a madman, checking his gauges and wrestling levers. Most helmsmen would've been satisfied with a pilot's wheel or a tiller. Not Leo though. He installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a Learjet, a dubstep soundboard, a motion control senor from a Nintendo Wii. He could turn the ship by pulling on the throttle, fire weapons by sampling an album or raised sails by shaking his Wii controller really fast. Even by demigod standards, Leo was seriously ADHD.

Piper paced back and forth between the main mast and the ballistae practicing her lines.

"Lower your weapons," she murmured. "We just want to talk."

Her charmspeak was so powerful, the words flowed over me, filling me with the desire to drop my dagger and have a nice long chat.

Ever since Silena Beauregard—daughter of Aphrodite head counsellor of Cabin Ten and Piper's half sister—made Piper her second-in-command, Silena gave Piper advice on how to control her charmspeak, but every once in a while Piper would accidentally slip up and used her charmspeak without thinking about it.

Still, out of all of children of Aphrodite, Piper is the only one I know of that tries hard to play down her beauty. Today she was dressed in tattered jeans, worn-out sneakers, and white tank top with pink Hello Kitty designs. (Maybe as a joke. Although I could never be sure with Piper.) Her choppy brown hair was braided down the right side with an eagle's feather.

Then there was Piper's boyfriend—Jason. He stood at the bow on a raised crossbow platform, where the Romans could easily spot him. His knuckles were white on the hilt of his golden sword. Otherwise he looked calm for a guy who was making himself a target. Over his jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, he'd donned a toga and purple cloak—symbols of his old rank as praetor. With his wind-ruffled blond hair and his icy blue eyes, he looked ruggedly handsome and in control—just like a son of Jupiter should. He'd grown up at Camp Jupiter, so hopefully his familiar face would make the Romans hesitate to blow the ship out of the sky.

I tried to hide it, but I still feel uneasy about this guy. I mean, sure he was the younger brother of Thalia, and I accepted him as a brother because of it. But he acted too perfect—always following the rules, always doing the honorable thing. He even looked too perfect. A part of me was worried that this might be a trick and Piper Leo and I were some peace offering as his prisoners.

I doubt that would happen. Still, I couldn't look at him without being reminded that he was part of Hera's forced "exchange program" to reintroduced the two camps. Her Most Annoying Majesty, Queen of Olympus, had convinced the other gods that their two sets of children—Roman and Greek—had to combine forces to save the world from the evil goddess Gaea, who was awakening from the earth, and her horrible children the giants.

Without warning Hera had plucked up my boyfriend Percy Jackson, wiped is memory, and sent him to the Roman camp. In exchange, the Greeks had gotten Thalia's long lost brother Jason. None of that was Jason's fault; but every time I saw him, I remembered how much I missed Percy.

Percy… my boyfriend whom I knew since I was seven, was somewhere below us right now.

Oh, gods. Panic welled up inside me. I forced it down. I couldn't afford to get overwhelmed.

I'm a child of Athena, I told myself. I have to stick to my plan and not get distracted.

There it was again. That familiar shiver, as if a psychotic snowman had crept up behind me and was breathing down my neck. I turned, but no one was there.

Must be my nerves. There was no way a brand new ship that was heavily protected could be haunted. The Celestial bronze shields along the rail were enchanted to ward off monsters, we got crates of Myrmekes Gunk down below in case we need to mask our scent (it wasn't easy getting all the supplies we need to make it), and our onboard satyr, Coach Hedge, would have sniffed out any intruders.

I wished I could pray to my mother for guidance, but that wasn't possible now. Not after last month, when I'd had that horrible encounter with my mom and gotten the worst present of my life…

The cold pressed closer and I thought I heard a faint voice in the wind, laughing. Every muscle in my body tensed. Something was about to go horribly wrong.

I was about to ordered Leo to reverse course when in the valley below, horns sounded. The Romans spotted us, which means we can't turn back now.

I still can't believe after three years since my dad move to San Francisco and the time I lived there with him, I never knew I was so close to the Roman Camp. Then again, most of the time I been in San Francisco, I been keeping an eye on Mount Tam for Titan related activity—which I realized some of the activities I thought were the Titan Army up to no good might of been some Roman demigods dealing with the Titans themselves.

Anyways, I thought I knew what to expect. Jason had described Camp Jupiter to me in great details. Still, I had trouble believing my eyes. Ringed by the Oakland Hills, the valley was at least twice the size of Camp Half-Blood. A small river snaked around one side and curled toward the center like a capital letter G, emptying into a sparkling blue lake.

Directly below the ship, nestled at the edge of the lake, the city of New Rome gleamed in the sunlight. I recognized landmarks Jason told me about—the hippodrome, the coliseum, the temples and parks, the neighborhood of Seven Hills with its winding streets, colorful villas, and flowering gardens.

I saw evidence of the Romans' recent battle with an army of monsters. The dome was cracked open on the building I guessed was the Senate House. The forum's broad plaza was pitted with craters. Some fountains and statues were in ruins.

Dozens of kids in togas were streaming out of the Senate House to get a better view of the Argo II. More Romans emerged from the shops and cafés, gawking and pointing as the ship descended.

About half a mile to the west, where the horns were blowing, a Roman fort stood on a hill. It looked just like the illustrations I had seen in military history books—with a defensive trench lined with spikes, high walls, and watchtowers armed with scorpion ballistae. Inside, a perfect rows of white barracks lined the main road—the Via Principalis.

A column of demigods emerged from the gates, their armor and spears glinting as they hurried toward the city. In the midst of their ranks was an actual war elephant.

I wanted to land the Argo II before those troops arrived, but the ground was still several hundred feet below. I scanned the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of Percy.

Of course it was when I was looking down below, something behind me went BOOM!

…

The explosion almost knocked me overboard. I whirled and found myself eye-to-eye with an angry statue.

"Unacceptable!" he shrieked.

Apparently he had exploded into existence, right there on the deck. Sulfurous yellow smoke rolled off his shoulders. Cinders popped around his curly hair. From the waist down, he was nothing but a square marble pedestal. From the waist up, he was a muscular human figure in a carved toga.

"I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian Line!" he announced in a fussy teacher voice. "I certainly will not have Greeks!"

Jason shot me a look that said, I've got this.

"Terminus," he said. "It's me. Jason Grace."

"Oh, I remember you, Jason!" Terminus grumbled. "I thought you had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome!"

"But they're not enemies—"

"That's right," Piper jumped in. "We just want to talk. If we could—"

"Ha!" snapped the statue. "Don't try that charmspeak on me, young lady. And put down that dagger before I slapped it out of your hands!"

Piper glanced at her bronze dagger, which she'd apparently forgotten she was holding. "Um… okay. But how would you slap it? You don't have any arms."

"Impertinence!" There was a sharp POP and a flash of yellow. Piper yelped and dropped the dagger, which was now smoking and sparking.

"Lucky for you I've just been through a battle," Terminus announced. "If I were at full strength, I would've blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already!"

"Hold up." Leo stepped forward, wagging his Wii controller. "Did you just call my ship a monstrosity? I know you didn't do that."

The idea that Leo might attack the god that is clearly the statue talking to us with his gaming device was enough to snap me out of my shock.

"Let's calm down." I raised my hands to show I had no weapons. "I take it you're Terminus, the god of boundaries. Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of—"

"Oh, I know who you are!" The statue glared at me with blank white eyes. "A child of Athena, Minerva's Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for that goddess."

I clenched my jaw. This statue wasn't making it easy to be diplomatic. "What exactly do you mean, that goddess? And what's so scandalous about—"

"Right," Jason interrupted. "Anyway, Terminus, we're here on a mission of peace. We'd love permission to land so we can—"

"Impossible!" the god squeaked. "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!"

"Which is it?" Leo asked. "Surrender, or leave?"

"Both!" Terminus said. "Surrender, then leave. I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that."

Terminus must be only able to do so much with his powers and no arms because Leo didn't seem fazed. In fact, Leo seemed to be studying him with professional interest.

"Wow!" Leo said. "You're wound up pretty tight. You got any gears in there that need loosening? I could take a look."

He exchange the Wii controller for a screwdriver from his magical tool belt and tapped the statue's pedestal.

"Leo," Jason cleared his throat in a warning way. "Terminus is a god, not an Automaton."

Leo seemed to have not listen as he kept searching for gears or something to work on. I don't even know if the gods take the form of an Automaton.

Then again after finding out that my hero and half-brother Daedalus lived a thousand years by transferring his soul into an automaton, I don't know what to think of it anymore.

"Stop that!" Terminus insisted. Another small explosion made Leo dropped his screwdriver. "Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line."

"The what?" Piper asked.

"City limits," Jason translated.

"And this entire ship is a weapon!" Terminus said. "You cannot land!"

I looked back down to the valley where the legion reinforcements were halfway to the city. The crowd in the forum was over a hundred strong now. I scanned the faces and… oh gods. I saw him. He was walking toward the ship with his arms around two other kids like we did with Thalia and Luke ten years ago for a group photo. One kid was a stout boy with a black buzz cut, and the other was a girl wearing a roman cavalry helmet. Percy looked so at ease, so happy. He wore a purple cape just like Jason's—the mark of a praetor.

I felt my heart do a gymnastics routine.

"Leo, stop the ship," I ordered.

"What?"

"You heard me. Keep us right where we are."

Leo pulled out his controller and yanked it upward. All ninety oars froze in place. The ship stopped sinking.

"Terminus," I said, "there's no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?"

The statue frowned. "Well, no…"

"We can keep this ship aloft," I said. "We'll use a rope ladder to reach the forum. That way, the ship won't be on Roman soil. Not technically."

That statue seemed to ponder this. I wondered if he was scratching his chin with imaginary hands.

"I like technicalities," he admitted. "Still…"

"All our weapons will stay aboard the ship," I promised. "I assume the Romans—even those reinforcements marching toward us—will also have to honor your rules inside the Pomerian Line if you tell them to?"

"Of course!" Terminus said. "Do I look like I tolerate rule breakers?"

"Uh, Annabeth," Leo said. You sure this is a good idea?"

I closed my fist to keep them from shaking. That cold feeling was still there. It floated just behind me, and now that Terminus was no longer shouting and causing explosions, I thought I could hear the presence laughing, as if it was delighted by the bad choices I was making.

But Percy was down there… he was so close. I had to reach him.

"It'll be fine," I said. "No one will be armed. We can talk in peace. Terminus will make sure each side obey his rules. I looked at the marble statue of the god of boundaries. "Do we have an agreement?"

Terminus sniffed. "I suppose. For now. You may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my town."