LAMBDA | GREGORY PECK AND AUDREY HEPBURN STEAL PERCY'S GIRL
Disclaimer: I do not own the Heroes of Olympus series or any of the characters. I only own the character Nerissa Jackson and her original plot lines and dialogue.
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO LuckyGo, NicoleR85, yasminasfeir1, One Smart Waffle, Agazeamongstthestars, Eh AND Guest. THE CHAPTERS WILL START TO GET SHORTER BY A LITTLE FROM NOW ON AND THERE AREN'T MANY LEFT UNTIL THE END OF THE BOOK!
Riss bobbed her head in a nod, lips pursed tightly together and her eyes glowing luminescent green. She was agreeing to Jupiter's terms and although she was nervous about what it entailed, Riss was more than willing to make a deal with a god to save her friends.
"I swear it on the River Styx."
Silently, Riss slipped from the temple, pulling her jacket now closer around her shaking form. What had she done? The demigod pressed her lips tightly together and blew out a breath.
"I did what needed to be done."
XXXXX
When Riss finally made it back to the Argo II, her hair was flying around her face in a tangled mess of ebony and her sea-green eyes were rimmed with red. She hadn't been crying, no, but she was desperately trying to hold back tears. Jason stood up, getting up from the small picnic he had been having with Hedge and Piper.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked immediately, his hands drifting from Riss' shoulders to the tips of her fingers and back up to cup her cheeks. Jason was highly attuned to Riss' feelings, same as she was to his, and he could tell that something was wrong the second she came into view.
Riss' shoulders slumped. "I think I just made a big mistake." The girl waved away Jason's worried expression. "It was necessary. Just please, trust me. Trust my judgment."
"Okay," the Grace boy nodded slowly. His heart weighed heavily in his chest but he agreed quickly to Riss' request. "Okay. I trust you, without a doubt."
"I adore you," Riss sighed gratefully and leant forward to kiss the son of Jupiter.
Jason exhaled breathily against Riss' lips and allowed himself to get lost in the moment. The quest had been draining—pulling all time for just pure relaxation away and shoving it into the category reserved for fighting monsters and figuring out what the Underworld was happening. Not even nights were relaxing, because it was either Jason or Riss experiencing a nightmare and waking the other up. Of course, they didn't mind as they helped the other fall asleep again but all the demigods were being pushed to their limits and were expected to just keep going.
The entire world was on the line.
Riss repeatedly pecked Jason's lips and moved on to different parts of his face, her fingers brushing the contours of his sharp features. Jason's eyes slipped shut in bliss, just feeling the tension seep out of his body at the daughter of Poseidon's touch.
The son of Jupiter pulled Riss into another passionate kiss (ignoring Piper's coo from behind them at the sweet sight) and picked her up, spinning the both of them in a half-circle. Riss beamed at the romantic action as Jason ran his fingers lovingly along her waist, replying, "I adore you too."
Riss smiled dreamily and fake-glared at her boyfriend after a moment. "Oh, you're not off the hook yet, mister. Just when did you plan on telling me it was your birthday? I had to get an Iris-Message from Thalia."
Jason blushed. "It just wasn't ever the right time to celebrate." He gestured around them, "But look at this. Great view, great girlfriend—"
"Great time to die at any moment?"
The Grace boy pinched at Riss' side, furrowing his brow at the pessimistic response, "No. I was going to say 'great time to be sixteen.'"
Riss wrinkled up her nose, looping her arms around her boyfriend's neck, "Don't remind me that you're almost an entire year younger than me. It makes me feel ancient."
"Shut up," Jason smiled widely, pressing a kiss to Riss' nose. "You'll never be ancient to me." His pale blue eyes ran over the girl hugging him, finding her absolutely perfect, "I don't deserve you."
The dark-haired girl huffed out a breath. "I don't deserve you, Superman. But…can we just agree that we're too lame to be with anyone else and stay together? Because, you know, that was totally a break-up line."
Jason rolled his eyes, "I may have busted my head a few times, but I'm not that stupid."
"Better not be, darling," Riss mock-threatened and glanced over her shoulder, "Now, about that cake—" Riss' voice faltered and she let out a cry of annoyance, "Seriously! Perce, what have you done now!?"
The son of Jupiter groaned, allowing his head to drop onto Riss' shoulder because he had glanced behind him too. So much for a small birthday celebration with his girlfriend. That would clearly not be happening any time soon because Percy Jackson was running toward them and, just from his expression, they knew he brought bad news.
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"Gregory Peck. And Audrey Freaking Hepburn?" Riss repeated incredulously. "On a scooter?"
The small group had gathered on deck so that Coach Hedge could hear the story. When Percy was done, none of them could believe it. Riss was near-tears at her twin's hurried explanation, which, if they hadn't been demigods and had dealt with just about anything, they wouldn't've believed.
But this was just a regular day in the life of a demigod.
"Not kidnapped, exactly," Percy said, refusing to acknowledge the fact that Riss sounded like she was making fun of him. "But I've got this bad feeling.…" He took a deep breath, like he was trying hard not to freak out. "Anyway, she's—she's gone. Maybe I shouldn't have let her, but—"
"You had to," Piper said. "You knew she had to go alone. Besides, Annabeth is tough and smart. She'll be fine."
Piper put some charmspeak in her voice, which maybe wasn't cool, but Percy needed to be able to focus. If they went into battle, Annabeth wouldn't want him getting hurt because he was too distracted about her. Riss shifted awkwardly, uncomfortable with her friend manipulating her brother but she stayed silent.
His shoulders relaxed a little. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, Gregory—I mean Tiberinus—said we had less time to rescue Nico than we thought. Hazel and the guys aren't back yet?"
Piper checked the time on the helm control. She hadn't realized how late it was getting. "It's two in the afternoon. We said three o'clock for a rendezvous."
"At the latest," Jason said.
Riss frowned, "Do any of us even have watches? I mean, no phones means no clocks and watches tend to…you know, get destroyed."
Percy pointed at Piper's dagger. "Tiberinus said you could find Nico's location…you know, with that."
Piper bit her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was check Katoptris for more terrifying images. "I've tried," she said. "The dagger doesn't always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does."
"Please," Percy said. "Try again."
He pleaded with those sea-green eyes, like a cute baby seal that needed help. Piper wondered how Annabeth ever won an argument with this guy. The Cherokee girl glanced at Riss, noticing the similar puppy-dog eyes (plus pout) that she was sporting. The daughter of Aphrodite wondered how the Jackson twins' mother hadn't let them have whatever they wanted—Piper hadn't even know either of them long and she was already caving to the sea-green, puppy-dog eyes.
"Fine," the brunette sighed and drew her dagger.
"While you're at it," said Coach Hedge, "see if you can get the latest baseball scores. Italians don't cover baseball worth beans."
Riss raised a brow, "Hedge, shut up. Let Piper focus."
Piper studied the bronze blade. The light shimmered. She saw a loft apartment filled with Roman demigods. A dozen of them stood around a dining table as Octavian talked and pointed to a big map. Reyna paced next to the windows, gazing down at Central Park.
"That's not good," Jason muttered. "They've already set up a forward base in Manhattan."
"And that map shows Long Island," Percy said.
"They're scouting the territory," Jason guessed. "Discussing invasion routes."
"They look halfway done," Riss added quietly, seeing scribbles for invasion strategies in a long list on a piece of paper.
Piper did not want to see that. She concentrated harder. Light rippled across the blade. She saw ruins—a few crumbling walls, a single column, a stone floor covered with moss and dead vines—all clustered on a grassy hillside dotted with pine trees.
"I was just there," Percy said. "That's in the old Forum."
The view zoomed in. On one side of the stone floor, a set of stairs had been excavated, leading down to a modern iron gate with a padlock. The blade's image zoomed straight through the doorway, down a spiral stairwell, and into a dark, cylindrical chamber like the inside of a grain silo.
Piper dropped the blade.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "It was showing us something."
Piper felt like the boat was back on the ocean, rocking under her feet. "We can't go there."
Percy frowned. "Piper, Nico is dying. We've got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed."
"What aren't you telling us?" Riss asked tentatively, seeing the same look on Piper's face that she saw in her own mirror whenever she was keeping something from someone. Like now. "Pipes…"
The McLean girl's voice wouldn't work. She'd kept that vision of the circular room to herself for so long, now she found it impossible to talk about. She had a horrible feeling that explaining it to Percy, Riss and Jason wouldn't change anything. She couldn't stop what was about to happen.
She picked up the knife again. Its hilt seemed colder than usual.
Piper forced herself to look at the blade. She saw two giants in gladiator armor sitting on oversized praetors' chairs. The giants toasted each other with golden goblets as if they'd just won an important fight. Between them stood a large bronze jar. The vision zoomed in again. Inside the jar, Nico di Angelo was curled in a ball, no longer moving, all the pomegranate seeds eaten.
"No…" Riss moaned out painfully, her fingers digging into Jason's arm.
"We're too late," Jason said.
"No," Percy said. "No, I can't believe that. Maybe he's gone into a deeper trance to buy time. We have to hurry."
The blade's surface went dark. Piper slipped it back into its sheath, trying to keep her hands from shaking. She hoped that Percy was right and Nico was still alive. On the other hand, she didn't see how that image connected with the vision of the drowning room. Maybe the giants were toasting each other because she and Riss and Percy and Jason were dead.
"We should wait for the others," Piper said. "Hazel, Frank, and Leo should be back soon."
"We can't wait," Percy insisted.
Coach Hedge grunted. "It's just two giants. If you guys want, I can take them."
"Uh, Coach," Jason said, "that's a great offer, but we need you to man the ship—or goat the ship. Whatever."
Hedge scowled. "And let you four have all the fun?"
Percy gripped the satyr's arm. "Hazel and the others need you here. When they get back, they'll need your leadership. You're their rock."
"Yeah." Jason managed to keep a straight face. "Leo always says you're his rock. You can tell them where we've gone and bring the ship around to meet us at the Forum."
Riss didn't trust herself not to laugh so she just nodded quickly, trying to look serious.
"And here." Piper unstrapped Katoptris and put it in Coach Hedge's hands. The satyr's eyes widened. A demigod was never supposed to leave her weapon behind, but Piper was fed up with evil visions. She'd rather face her death without any more previews.
"Keep an eye on us with the blade," she suggested. "And you can check the baseball scores."
That sealed the deal. Hedge nodded grimly, prepared to do his part for the quest.
"All right," he said. "But if any giants come this way—"
"Feel free to blast them," Jason said.
"What about annoying tourists?"
"No," they all said in unison.
Riss frowned, "Why not? Evil tourists woke us up."
"Bah. Fine. Just don't take too long, or I'm coming after you with ballistae blazing."
XXXXX
"You shouldn't have agreed to that!" Hera cried, storming into Olympus. Her image flickered from her Greek and Roman form but both sides were equally angry at her husband. "She has a life!"
"She had a life," Zeus corrected coldly. "She is far too wild to be left to roam free."
Hera's eyes flashed with fury, "She is not an animal under your control, husband! So help me, if harm comes to her—"
The sky flashed with lightning as Zeus got up from his throne. "Do not threaten me, wife. I am still king here."
"You won't be for long," Hera promised coldly. "Not if she dies." With that, the goddess swirled from the room, appearing in the throne room of the only one who could help her. "Hello, brother."
Poseidon straightened in his throne. He was able to maintain his image, not feeling as conflicted between his Greek and Roman forms as his children kept him grounded. "Why have you come, Hera?"
XXXXX
Finding the place was easy. Percy led them right to it, on an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum. Getting in was easy too. Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock, and the metal gate creaked open. No mortals saw them. No alarms went off. Stone steps spiraled down into the gloom.
"I'll go first," Jason said.
"No!" Piper yelped. Both boys turned toward her.
"Pipes, what is it?" Jason asked. "That image in the blade…you've seen it before, haven't you?"
She nodded, her eyes stinging. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the four of us drowning."
Jason and Percy both frowned.
"I can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question.
"We can't drown," Riss corrected, more adamantly than her twin.
"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."
Piper wished he was right, but she suspected they wouldn't be so lucky.
"Look," Percy said. "I'll check it out first. It's fine. Be right back."
Before Piper could object, he disappeared down the stairwell. She counted silently as they waited for him to come back. Somewhere around thirty-five, she heard his footsteps, and he appeared at the top, looking more baffled than relieved.
"Good news: no water—"
Riss scoffed, "That's not good news."
"—bad news: I don't see any exits down there. And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this…"
"And…now I'm scared."
They descended cautiously. Percy took the lead, with Riptide drawn. Riss followed, then Piper, and Jason walked behind her, guarding their backs. The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter. Even though Percy had given the "all clear," Piper kept her eyes open for traps. With every turn of the stairs, she anticipated an ambush. She had no weapon, just the cornucopia on a leather cord over her shoulder. If worse came to worst, the boys' swords wouldn't do much good in such close quarters. Maybe Piper could shoot their enemies with high-velocity smoked hams.
Riss had extracted a small blade from her jacket ("Neri, where in the Underworld did you get that?") and was tossing it up a down in her hand; catching the blade, tossing it and then catching the hilt gracefully, Riss kept her gaze sharp and her tongue sharper.
"We look like morons," she huffed. "I'm sure nothing's down here."
As they wound their way underground, Piper saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian. That meant other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire, but Piper wasn't reassured. If monsters were below, they'd ignore mortals, waiting for some nice juicy demigods to come along. Finally, they reached the bottom.
Percy turned. "Watch this last step."
He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell, and helped his sister down too. Why would someone design a set of stairs like that? Maybe the room and the stairwell had been built during different time periods. She wanted to turn and exit, but she couldn't do that with Jason behind her, and she couldn't just leave Percy and Riss down there. She clambered down, and Jason followed. The room was just like she'd seen it in Katoptris' blade, except there was no water. The curved walls had once been painted with frescoes, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above.
Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty.
The air felt cold and dry. As Percy had said, there were no other exits.
"All right." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Here's the weird part. Watch."
He stepped to the middle of the room.
Instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls. They heard the sound of a fountain but there was no water. There didn't seem to be any source of light except for Percy's and Jason's blades.
"Do you smell the ocean?" Percy asked.
Riss' eyes narrowed, "Stranger: I can feel it. At least, I can feel what was here decades ago." She wheezed out a cough, "Gods, I feel gross in here. Like I'm too dry and all the water is seeping out of me."
The scent of salt water and storm was getting stronger, like a summer hurricane approaching.
"An illusion?" Piper asked. All of a sudden, she felt strangely thirsty.
"I don't know," Percy said. "I feel like there should be water here—lots of water. But there isn't any. I've never been in a place like this."
Jason moved to the row of niches. He touched the bottom shelf of the nearest one, which was just at his eye level. "This stone…it's embedded with seashells. This is a nymphaeum."
Piper's mouth was definitely getting drier. "A what?"
"We have one at Camp Jupiter," Jason said, "on Temple Hill. It's a shrine to the nymphs."
"Nice nymphs," Riss inquired hopefully but her only answer was a shrug.
The alcove was studded with cowries, conches, and scallops. The seashells seemed to dance in the watery light. They were ice-cold to the touch.
Piper had always thought of nymphs as friendly spirits—silly and flirtatious, generally harmless. They got along well with the children of Aphrodite. They loved to share gossip and beauty tips. This place, though, didn't feel like the canoe lake back at Camp Half-Blood, or the streams in the woods where Piper normally met nymphs. This place felt unnatural, hostile, and very dry.
Jason stepped back and examined the row of alcoves. "Shrines like this were all over the place in Ancient Rome. Rich people had them outside their villas to honor nymphs, to make sure the local water was always fresh. Some shrines were built around natural springs, but most were man-made."
"So…no actual nymphs lived here?" Piper asked hopefully.
"Not sure," Jason said. "This place where we're standing would have been a pool with a fountain. A lot of times, if the nymphaeum belonged to a demigod, he or she would invite nymphs to live there. If the spirits took up residence, that was considered good luck."
"For the owner," Percy guessed. "But it would also bind the nymphs to the new water source, which would be great if the fountain was in a nice sunny park with fresh water pumped in through the aqueducts—"
"But this place has been underground for centuries. Completely void of any source of water," Riss continued. "It would drive me crazy to be here, without water."
"Dry and buried," Piper added. "What would happen to the nymphs?"
The sound of water changed to a chorus of hissing, like ghostly snakes. The rippling light shifted from sea blue and green to purple and sickly lime. Above them, the nine niches glowed. They were no longer empty. Standing in each was a withered old woman, so dried up and brittle they reminded Piper of mummies—except mummies didn't normally move. Their eyes were dark purple, as if the clear blue water of their life source had condensed and thickened inside them. Their fine silk dresses were now tattered and faded. Their hair had once been piled in curls, arranged with jewels in the style of Roman noblewomen, but now their locks were disheveled and dry as straw.
"What would happen to the nymphs?" Asked the creature in the center niche.
She was in even worse shape than the others. Her back was hunched like the handle of a pitcher. Her skeletal hands had only the thinnest papery layer of skin. On her head, a battered wreath of golden laurels glinted in her road-kill hair.
She fixed her purple eyes on Piper. "What an interesting question, my dear. Perhaps the nymphs would still be here, suffering, waiting for revenge."
Riss gulped nervously. She was incredibly pale, feeling a type of kinship and pain for the desiccated nymphs. Her heart ached, her mouth falling open as she felt the dehydration seep from the nymphs. "You can say 'I told you soon' now, Pipes."
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This chapter is a bit all over the place and Riss didn't have a large part at the end but the next chapter, she'll definitely have a bigger role.
I've already planned out how Mediterranean will end and I swear, it will be worth the wait!
Please review!
~ Raven