They rode the rest of the night, only starting to slow when the sun started to peer over the edge of the horizon.
"We should find a place to stop before the sun rises," Perseus said. Annabeth nodded. The logic was clear– darkness gave them a cover, but they would need to hide in the daylight. Their escape had surely been noticed by now.
They were all exhausted too. Annabeth had probably gotten the most sleep out of all of them, but even that had been scarcely a few hours, and plagued by bad dreams.
Perseus pulled his horse over, off the road. It was only then that Annabeth realized his steed was jet black, unfamiliar, and he rode without a saddle or reins, instead wrapping his hands in the horse's dark mane. The extra horse followed him, and Annabeth directed herself behind him as well. Piper followed her, still supporting Jason.
"There's a stream half a mile in that direction," Perseus said, pointing to the hilly distance away from the road.
"How could you know that?" Piper frowned. She was still supporting Jason's unconscious form on her horse, but the effort had obviously been tiring for her. Dark rings of exhaustion were strung beneath her eyes.
Perseus just shrugged.
"It moves towards my father's domain. I can sense all water connected to the sea."
"Is it fresh?" Annabeth asked.
"Enough to drink," Perseus said, "We should go before the sun gets too high."
It was much more difficult to ride off the packed dirt of the road, and Annabeth was glad to dismount when they finally reached the stream; her back was aching from the strain of half the day and most of the night.
There were bigger problems than their aching sides, however. Jason had still not risen, though when they set him on the ground he let out a small groan.
"He overexerted himself," Perseus said, placing his fingers on Jason's neck, feeling for his heartbeat.
"Will he ever wake?" Piper asked. Her voice did not sound scared, but she was holding Jason's hand in her own so tightly that her knuckles were almost white.
Perseus didn't answer, instead standing and walking towards his horse. There was a satchel hanging from the animal's neck, and a water pouch. Perseus unhooked the pouch and brought it back to Jason.
"Open his mouth," he told Piper. She looked at him strangely, but obliged, resting his head on her knees so he would not choke. Perseus poured some of the liquid into Jason's mouth, stopping after only half a second. Some of the liquid spilled onto Jason's chin. It was not clear like the water Annabeth had expected, but a bright and shimmering gold.
Jason gasped, then coughed, his bright blue eyes fluttering open.
"What–" he asked, but broke into coughs again. Perseus offered him a little more of the drink, but pulled it back quickly.
"Careful. Too much of this and you'll combust."
It sounded like a joke, but he looked completely serious, handling the pouch like it contained an open flame.
"It's good," Jason said, a little longing in his voice. He pulled himself off Piper's lap. Some color was returning to his face, and he seemed well enough to sit up on his own.
"What is it?" Annabeth asked. Her fascination was probably obvious, but she had never before seen a substance like that before; something that could drag a person back from the edge of death.
"Nectar of the gods. A gift from Apollo. It would kill a pure mortal, but it can heal demigods in small doses."
"Why did you not use it earlier?" Piper asked, frowning. Perseus met her gaze evenly.
"It was stored on my horse, and there was no time."
"Wait. Where are we?" Jason asked, only seeming to notice in that moment that they were outside, nowhere near the house compound. Piper moistened her lips nervously.
"How much do you remember?" she asked. Jason shook his head.
"Not much. Men with knives, trying to murder us in our sleep. I called down lightning, and then… nothing."
"They tried to kill us all," Perseus said, tucking the pouch of nectar in his belt, "The lightning caused enough commotion to let us escape."
"How long ago?" Jason asked, rubbing his temple. Annabeth could only imagine the splitting headache he must be experiencing.
"It was early in the night. But the sun has only just risen," she said, pointing to Eastern horizon where the sun still sat low in the sky. Jason swore softly.
"I should have known. We should have left as soon as I finished with Octavian."
"How could you have known? There was no reason to attack last night," Piper said, "You would think they would let us go, and hope we die on the journey."
Annabeth shook her head.
"The risk of success was too great. If he came back a hero, venerated by the gods, he would be invincible. He could have toppled even the emperor."
"Now they will spin some story, make me out to be a traitor," Jason said, brow furrowing, "All of Rome will be on the lookout for us."
"We don't even know who they are, exactly," Piper said. Annabeth could tell she was more upset than she was letting on. Her magic swum underneath her words, but with no question or command it had nowhere to go. Annabeth felt her own frustration rise artificially as a result.
Perseus glanced over at her, a silent question in his expression.
"Shall you tell them, or shall I?"
Annabeth cleared her throat. The others looked over at her expectantly.
"When Perseus and I were escaping, we overheard some men." Annabeth said, "They referred to a master they were serving."
"Just one?" Jason asked, and Annabeth nodded.
"It's Octavian. It has to be," Piper said angrily, "He has always been impetulant, but he has never been so disrespectful before. He knew it was coming."
"Perhaps," Jason said, begrudgingly. He looked over at Annabeth, like he was waiting for her input. Annabeth bit her lip, but obliged.
"Octavian isn't one to put himself in a position so risky and so obvious," she said, "He much prefers to manipulate the fortunes, turn people behind the scenes. I agree he knew it would be happening, but I doubt he was the master they spoke of."
It felt strange to speak of Octavian so openly, when before their distaste had to be carefully expressed. But there was nothing to risk by it now.
"Octavian. Is he your augur?" Perseus asked. He was frowning, perhaps remembering the offhand comment Annabeth had made to him earlier, when he had insisted their fortune would be good.You have not met our augur.
"Was our augur," Jason said bitterly, "If we survive this, I will see him exiled."
Nobody decided to mention that even if they survived this quest, Jason might not have the power to exile Octavian when they returned. No doubt his name was already being slandered by his fellow political enemies. They had been waiting in the wings for a decade for Jason to show weakness, and their patience had finally paid off.
"If we are to survive this, we'll need a plan," Annabeth said.
Now that they were truly out and on this quest, she realized just how unprepared they were. She, Jason and Piper were still in their sleeping clothes, Jason and Piper's burned at the edges and smelling of smoke. They had no supplies, except for whatever was in the saddlebags which had already been on the horses. They were lucky Piper had had the foresight to take Jason's sword, or he would have been weaponless. As it was, she and Piper were armed only with their knives.
"My ship is docked in a port a full day's ride from here." Perseus said, "We only need to make it there, and we can sail the rest of the way to Athens."
"And what will we find when we arrive there?" Piper asked, looking expectantly at Perseus.
Perseus hesitated, clearly still reluctant to name whatever threat they were facing. But he seemed to realize that he could not keep it a secret much longer. He bit his lower lip, his eyes flickering up to the sky for a brief second, before coming back down to earth, saying,
"I- I don't know."
Piper's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"You don't know?"
Clearly she didn't believe him, and if Annabeth was honest, she wasn't sure she did either. He'd winced at her reaction, and his fingers were twitching into the ground beneath him in an anxious, uncomfortable sort of way.
"No, I don't," he said. His voice was a little more sure now, but he was still looking somewhere above Piper's shoulder rather than in her eye. "But I do know that whatever it is, it's old and it's powerful and it's not going to be easy to defeat."
Annabeth suddenly realized that his shifty demeanor wasn't just guilt. It was fear. Whatever else he did know about this threat scared him. Annabeth had only known him for a day, but she'd seen enough of him to know that if something was dangerous enough to make him nervous… well, she wouldn't want to meet it.
Unfortunately it looked like she was going to. If they ever made it to Athens, that was. Given the state of them that seemed less likely than ever.
"Well, considering they kidnapped a god, I think we all gathered that," Piper said, voice thin. She either did not notice the undercurrent of fear, or did not care. Jason gave her a sideways glance, but said nothing. Perseus didn't seem to know how to respond.
"Which god is the one who's been captured?" Annabeth asked.
It was perhaps the clumsiest change of subject ever attempted by humankind. Piper gave her a sideways look, but Perseus just seemed grateful that they were no longer discussing the information he was withholding.
"Apollo would not say. Someone important enough to throw the rest of them out of order if they remain missing, but that doesn't narrow it down by much."
Annabeth wondered what Apollo, or any of the gods, could possibly have to gain by withholding that information, but Jason spoke before she could voice that thought.
"Mercury?"
Everyone looked at him.
"He's the messenger of the gods," Jason said, a little hesitantly, now that they were all staring at him, "If Apollo was the one to seek you out instead of him…"
The second half of his sentence was clear without him having to say it aloud. Annabeth felt something cold in her stomach. The one time in her life she'd seen Mercury, it had ended poorly.
Of course, nobody here knew that, and Annabeth didn't plan on telling them.
"That would be less than ideal considering we'll be travelling for the foreseeable future, but you could be right," Perseus said, interrupting her thoughts.
Despite her own bad experience with the god, Annabeth was inclined to agree. Without the god of travellers on their side, the expedition might fail before it even really began. And she had a feeling they would need all the help they could get.
"But Apollo has sought me out before. It doesn't necessarily mean anything," Perseus added, perhaps sensing the sinking feeling his words had inspired.
"At least I burned offerings last night, instead of waiting for the morning," Jason said, though he still didn't look terribly optimistic about their chances. "We barely have a chance of making it to Athens on time as it is. And that's without even knowing where to look once we get there."
"We can make it on time, if we go by sea. My ship is faster than most."
Perseus sounded confident about this, which made sense. He was the son of the sea god, after all. But Jason did not look so sure.
"I doubt it will be so simple. We will have to make it to the port first, and the entire province will be looking for us by now," he said.
Annabeth had to agree. However disheveled they all looked now, Jason and Piper's faces were still immediately recognizable to most people in the province, a rather unfortunate side-effect of Jason's open court idea. On the other hand, it might make ordinary citizens less likely to turn them in to the relevant authorities. But there would be soldiers and checkpoints to worry about, if they were really interested in finding them, which Annabeth suspected they were.
"We'll worry about that later," Piper said, "We should rest now, while we can."
Annabeth didn't like moving on without so much as an idea as to how to avoid detection, but she had no good plans herself, and found herself just as willing to take to Piper's suggestion as the rest of the group.
They took advantage of the stream, which was wide and steady; splashing cool water on their faces and drinking their fill from cupped hands. They set the horses downstream and let them drink as well. They weren't tied, but Perseus assured them that they wouldn't stray far. He sounded so confident that nobody questioned him. Piper found empty water pouches on the horses and they filled them, though the fact that they only had four worried Annabeth. If the port was truly a full day's ride, they could need more water than that.
The next order of business, at Annabeth's suggestion, was taking inventory of the little supplies they did have. The saddlebags contained maybe a day's worth of food between the four of them, a few silver denarii, and a small pocket knife. As for actually useful weapons, they had Jason's and Perseus's swords, and Piper and Annabeth's knives. Piper's was caked in dried blood from the night before, and she dipped it into the stream, carefully cleaning the mess off with her fingers. Perseus watched with interest.
"That is an unusual blade." he said, when Piper finally pulled the knife out of the water.
On the surface, Piper's weapon looked similar to any other ceremonial knife used to denote someone of her rank: triangular, with a blade as long as Annabeth's forearm. But it had a strange sheen, like it could not quite decide what metal it wanted to be. Some days it seemed as bronze as Annabeth's dagger; today, gleaming in the sun, it looked closer to Jason's gold sword.
"It was a gift from my mother," Piper said, holding it out for Perseus to inspect, "Its name is Katoptris."
"Looking glass," Perseus translated, holding the knife up to the sun. Light bounced off its sharp edge, landing in the steady waters of the stream. Annabeth could see her own reflection in the blade, and it was not a pretty sight. Her curly blonde hair was a mess, and rings of exhaustion lined her under-eyes.
"I doubt my mother expected me to use it for more than that," Piper said, smiling wryly as she took her blade back, "But I see no reason why beautiful things cannot also be functional."
Annabeth had never considered before that Katoptris was a Greek name, though it seemed obvious now in the presence of Perseus. He had said that Piper's mother had not changed much between her Greek and Roman forms. Maybe that was why she had gifted her daughter a Greek knife.
"We should take turns resting," Perseus said, interrupting Annabeth's thoughts, "Annabeth and I can keep watch first."
Jason was already shaking his head.
"I slept the longest. I can go first."
"Being unconscious and being asleep are not the same," Annabeth countered. It was true that Jason looked the most tired out of all of them, and still was not fully healed. But Annabeth also suspected that the son of Poseidon had chosen her for a reason.
She should have been scared that he had singled her out like that, but she couldn't bring herself to be.
"You need to rest," Piper said gently, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder, "And so do I. We can take our turns later."
Jason didn't look happy about it, but Piper's words were compelling enough that even Annabeth felt her eyelids drooping. Despite the brightness of the sun, which was crawling over their heads at a steady pace, the two were asleep within minutes.
For all intents and purposes, Perseus and Annabeth were alone.
They didn't speak right away, though Annabeth could feel his eyes on her. It made her skin prickle, in a not altogether unpleasant way.
"Thank you. For finding me last night," she said, finally, "I might've died if you hadn't."
She finally glanced over at him. As she had suspected, he had already been looking at her. A small frown was playing between his eyebrows.
"I suspect you could have handled yourself. I just made the job easier."
On the surface it seemed a kind thing to say, especially since he had hardly seen her fight before. But there was something deeper playing in his words, something that seemed to be troubling him. What, exactly, Annabeth wasn't quite sure. She looked away.
"Maybe," she said, picking at a dry tuft of grass with her fingers, "But maybe not. You brought me strange dreams."
As soon as she said it, she was sure it was true. There hadn't been much time to dwell on the matter immediately after waking, but on their long ride through the night she'd played the scenes in her mind over and over again. She felt sure that something about Perseus' presence had jolted the memories awake, the first one especially.
If he thought this statement odd, he did not say so. They dropped into silence, the only noise the scuffing of the horses hooves against the ground, and the babbling of the stream behind them. Annabeth tore the grass to shred with her fingers. She had never been good at keeping her hands idle.
"You seem sure they meant to kill you," Perseus said, at last.
"You heard them as well as I."
She wasn't sure how the words could have been more clear, but looking up at his face again she realized she had misunderstood his question. He was asking how she knew those men had been speaking about her, specifically. She felt her face grow hot.
"Are you asking me if I am Jason's whore?" she asked sharply. To her surprise, his face also flushed in embarrassment.
"No! I just–" he started, then seemed to reconsider what he had been going to say. Annabeth stared at him expectantly
"I did not mean to offend you," he said finally, face still red.
"Well, you have succeeded," Annabeth said. She looked back down at the ground, fingers tearing into a new patch of grass.
"I just– the nature of your relationship confuses me. I do not think you…" he trailed off, clearly unwilling to say the word, but struggling to express the sentiment without it. Annabeth waited. Perseus started again.
"I can see he respects you. If you were… together, it would not be in the way those men suggested. But you two clearly have a bond."
Annabeth was tempted to glare at him again, but she suspected his blunder truly had been nothing more than an accident. For all the gravity his presence held, he got tongue tied easily. She sighed deeply.
"We are not together," she said, wrinkling her nose slightly at the suggestion, "We have never seen each other that way. He's more like a brother to me."
"I have never seen a Roman be so attached to someone so below his status," Perseus said, voice mild. Annabeth thought that he didn't mean the statement as an insult towards her, rather as a question. She answered it as one, anyways.
"I think, rising through ranks so quickly, he never put much stock in them. He sees how arbitrary they are."
"For some it does the opposite," Perseus said. Annabeth shrugged.
"Maybe. But Jason has a good heart."
"Good enough to treat a mortal as his sister?" he asked.
Annabeth heard the slight give in the word 'mortal,' just enough to let her know he knew the truth. But he had said it anyways, perhaps in case one of their companions overheard. He respected her desire to keep it secret enough to take that precaution. Annabeth did not know what to make of that.
"I've known him a long time, since before he was especially powerful. Politically, at least," Annabeth said, slowly "I think he likes to be reminded of that time. When people treated him as human, and not a god. He can pretend he is normal around me."
Annabeth's eyes wandered a few feet away, to where Jason and Piper were sleeping. Jason's expression looked more relaxed in sleep than Annabeth had ever seen it awake.
"I still do advise him. That part is not a lie, as much as others think it is," Annabeth continued, dragging her eyes back towards the creek.
"And he allowed those rumors to circulate about you?" Perseus asked. Annabeth smiled, surprising herself with how fond it felt on her lips.
"I doubt he even knows of them. He can be oblivious, sometimes."
"And Piper?" Perseus asked, correctly guessing that Jason's wife was more observant than Jason himself.
"She knows they're false, so they do not bother her," Annabeth said, shrugging, "But she also knows addressing them would only make them fly faster."
Perseus nodded, and the conversation faded. Annabeth wasn't sure if she was glad for the quiet or not. Every time they spoke something seemed to go wrong, but she had also never talked so freely with someone before, not even Jason or Piper. As much as they cared for each other, there were certain things they couldn't speak aloud.
But maybe this quest would change that. Already the barriers between all of them seemed to be crumbling. Rank and class would matter little on the road, what with them being fugitives. Perseus's very existence threw the social stratification they had struggled with their whole lives into disarray.
But there was still the matter of Annabeth's mother. Things were chaotic now, but Jason and Piper still respected the most basic laws. And Annabeth's life was a violation of an important one.
She sighed, turning her gaze downstream, to where the horses were still standing by the river. They had not wandered far, just to the bank, to eat their fill in grass growing there. It was like some invisible barrier kept them nearby.
Annabeth glanced at Perseus, remembering how he had compelled the horse last night to follow them, and how he rode his black steed with no saddle. He was looking at the horses now, particularly his own. It started wandering closer to them.
"How do you control the horses?" Annabeth asked, curiosity getting the better of her. They must be under his command, there was no other explanation.
Perseus smiled, her question seemed to amuse him. It was enough to almost make her regret asking, except that she truly did want to know.
"You noticed?" he asked. Annabeth shrugged.
"It would be difficult not to," she said.
"Posiedon is the father of horses. They recognize me as a friend, and do as I ask."
It was Annabeth's turn to smile in amusement.
"You mean they recognize you as their brother?"
She knew, intellectually, that she shouldn't speak that way to him, and yet the jab was such low hanging fruit she could not resist. Besides, he had insulted her earlier, the least she could do was return the favor. She did not think he would mind.
Sure enough, her comment made him laugh.
"One could say so," he admitted, "Though I think Blackjack might take offense."
As if it could hear them, Perseus's dark horse knickered indignantly. Annabeth whipped her head around to stare at it. It was looking right at her with wide, dark eyes.
"Can he understand us?" Annabeth asked, keeping her voice low. The horse neighed, this time louder.
"He says of course he can understand us," Perseus translated, face completely deadpan. The horse whinnied again, and Perseus rolled his eyes.
"What did he say that time?" Annabeth asked, still not entirely sure if Perseus was making fun of her or not. The horse did seem to be responding to them though, in an eerie sort of way.
"He asked for fried dough," Perseus sighed, "Always fried dough."
Now Annabeth thought he must be joking. Could horses even eat fried dough? She decided it would be best not to ask. If he was making fun of her, she would never live asking that question down.
The morning passed by quickly, and a few hours into the afternoon Percy and Annabeth woke Jason and Piper, and they switched positions. Annabeth thought she might have trouble falling asleep in the bright sunlight, but she was so exhausted she slipped into dreams as soon as she closed her eyes.