They reached the shore far more quickly than Annabeth would have liked. Hazel had started to cloud the ship from view a mile out, so they were able to dock without much trouble. might've ended up being an issue if someone tried to dock in the same spot as them, but if that did end up being a problem, it wouldn't be Annabeth's to deal with. She, Perseus, and Fai had another path to take.

Seeing land again after days of just open ocean was bizarre. Annabeth had almost forgotten what normal buildings and people looked like. The port was bustling with activity, even busier than the town they'd escaped from only a few days before. Annabeth supposed that made sense, given that this was a major city, and that had just been a small village.

Still, it was disorienting to see so many people walking around, living their usual lives, completely unaware that in the next twelve hours, what happened in their city would determine the fate of everything.

The gangplank was lowered, and the group collected around it. Fai had already transformed into a small lizard, and was sitting on Annabeth's shoulder, hiding in the folds of her dress. After determining that he could keep objects with him as he transformed, they'd decided that he should be the one to hold the nectar. He could transport it to whoever needed it the fastest, if there was an emergency, and it was the least likely to be confiscated from him than any of them.

Annabeth and Perseus stood separate from the group, ready to leave. His bronze sword hung at his side, gleaming in the sunlight. Annabeth had carefully strapped her knife to her thigh, so it was hidden from sight. It would probably be confiscated eventually, but it might be enough to avoid detection in a cursory search.

"We should go. We're already losing time," Perseus said. The sun was hidden behind hills and buildings, but Annabeth knew it would soon be rising over them, indicating that their already precious time was running out.

"Be careful," Piper said, squeezing Annabeth's hand.

"I will," Annabeth said, giving her the most reassuring smile she could muster, "I promise."

Given that Annabeth's entire plan hinged on her not being careful, that was a promise she knew she couldn't keep.

As soon as their feet hit solid ground, the ship disappeared. Annabeth had to take a moment to admire the sheer potency of Hazel's magic before they moved on, slipping into the crowds of people.

He caught her hand quickly, threading his fingers through her own, holding on securely. It might have been out of necessity— it would be easy to get separated here, given the crowds of people around. But it could just as easily have been because he wanted to. Annabeth hoped it was the second option.

They distanced themselves from the port fairly quickly. It felt good to be walking on solid ground after being on the sea for so many days, but Annabeth would be lying if she said her legs were completely used to the change. Perseus had to catch her from more than one stumble.

He, annoyingly, seemed completely unaffected by the change from ocean to land. She had to check periodically to make sure Fai hadn't slipped off her shoulder, but the lizard he'd chosen to transform into apparently had very sticky feet. Even being jostled around by the crowd, he didn't budge from the folds of Annabeth's dress.

The streets of the main city were just as busy as those around the port, if not more. Annabeth had only been to a few genuine cities in her life, and she found herself staring at just about everything— the marketplaces that seemed to pop up every few streets, speakers on corners, yelling out into the crowd, the structure of every last building and statue.

The smells were just as overwhelming, and changed just as fast. The smell of the sea was always in the air, but every once in a while something particularly strong would puncture it— the hot, sweet scent of roasting nuts, the stink of animal as a horse or donkey passed by, a piercing odor of fish as a particularly strong breeze swept air from the port into the main street.

But what drew her attention most was the sound of it all. She hadn't noticed at first, not bothering to try and pick out individual voices in the cacophony of noise, but almost everyone here was speaking Greek, not Latin. Annabeth found that she could actually understand most of it, if she concentrated hard enough. Whether that was because of her own upbringing, or because of her mother, she wasn't entirely sure.

She was so caught up in the sights and sounds of the city that she almost forgot why they were there at all.

Almost.

"What now?" Perseus asked, as they stopped at a street corner, away from the steady stream of movement from the road.

What now was an excellent question, considering that this stage of Annabeth's plan essentially entailed wandering around and acting like bait. They hadn't been at it for very long, but the amount of people trying to take them hostage was unfortunately quite slim.

Annabeth looked around, her eyes catching something in the distance.

"It's easier to capture a god where their essence is strongest, right?" she asked.

"In theory, yes."

"Then maybe we should head towards that," Annabeth said, pointing out over their heads towards the hill overlooking the city, the one that also happened to house a collection of temples.

Annabeth had read about it before, a long time ago. She'd always liked architecture, appreciated the permanence of buildings and monuments and temples. This one was particularly important— the Acropolis, she remembered. It was the main center of worship for the gods within the city, and probably the oldest, though they'd already passed by several smaller temples already as they walked. If someone was going to capture a god and keep them captured, those temples would be the easiest place to do it.

The chances of them actually getting up the hill were basically non-existent, but it at least gave them a direction to head in. They weaved through the streets, still holding hands, passing by all sorts of people— a man and a woman having an argument, a collection of students lounging on the steps of a school, a particularly insistent merchant trying to sell them some sort of baked good.

The closer they got to the hill, the more Annabeth realized just how insurmountable getting up it would be, if that had actually been their goal. It was practically a sheer cliff-face, with no discernable way upwards, though Annabeth would wager there was a staircase carved into the back of the hill, where it was less visible.

Annabeth's other senses were so overwhelmed, she almost didn't notice the slight change of pressure as they approached. But the farther they got from the main roads of the city, the more the streets started to thin, and the more Annabeth started to realize that something was different.

"Do you feel that?" she asked quietly, glancing over at Perseus. He was still holding her hand, though less urgently now that they were out of the major crowds.

"Feel what?" he asked, meeting her gaze with confusion. Annabeth bit her lip, looking back out ahead of them.

"I don't know, exactly. It's like a weight in my chest, almost."

She felt Fai shift slightly in his lizard form, his little feet pressing into her shoulder. Maybe he felt it too, and was trying to let her know. Or maybe Annabeth's words had made him nervous, because he didn't feel it either. Annabeth didn't even know if he could hear them, given that the lizard's ears seemed to be tiny, verging on non-existent. She wished she had thought to ask, but it was too late now.

The strange pressure only seemed to grow the closer they got to the base of the Acropolis. It wasn't a bad feeling, though Annabeth wouldn't necessarily call it a good one either. It was strange, slightly tugging, just verging on uncomfortable. She realized that it was leading her somewhere, and she'd been following it without even realizing it.

Suddenly, they were on an empty street. The sounds of the city were still audible in the vague distance, but this block was eerie, quiet. The roads had been less crowded as they got farther away from the port, but none had been totally barren the way this one was.

They both halted, seeming to realize at the same time that this was beyond just unusual. It was strange. Unnatural. All that feeling wanted her to do was move forward, but she kept her feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Annabeth, I have a bad feeling about this," Perseus said, voice low and quiet.

And why shouldn't he? They were walking right into a trap.

"All part of the plan, right?" Annabeth said, turning her head to look up at him.

He grimaced, but let her lead him forward.

It was a short street, not much to explore. Most of the buildings seemed to be empty, giving the whole street an abandoned, sinister feeling. Every step they took sounded loud against the desolate quiet of the road.

Annabeth knew almost immediately where they were meant to go. There was a temple in the middle of the road, old and broken down, very unlike the bright well-kept ones they'd passed before. The roof was falling in, a few of the supporting columns in the front cracked and broken.

Perseus sighed when he realized she wanted to go inside, muttered something under his breath, but didn't stop her as she started to climb the low steps leading to the temple's door. It opened easily, allowing them to walk inside. The second Annabeth let go of it, it swung shut, leaving them in near-total darkness.

Perseus let go of her hand to draw his sword, holding it out in front of them. At first Annabeth thought he might have sensed a threat, but then she realized he was using it to see, since the soft glow of Riptide was the only real source of light in the room.

There were cobwebs everywhere, dust covering every surface. Annabeth shuddered at the webs— webs meant spiders, and she hated spiders. But she managed to press forward anyways, Perseus still at her side.

It was larger on the inside than Annabeth had realized, or maybe the supporting columns on the inside just gave that illusion. There was a main pathway leading to a small shrine in the back of the room. The dust on the floor was undisturbed, which should have reassured Annabeth that they were alone, but she couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something was watching them, breathing down their necks.

"Annabeth…" Perseus said, trailing off as his voice echoed around the empty hall. Still, his message was clear, even from only one word. We should leave.

In any other context, Annabeth would be only too happy to agree with him. Instead, she kept walking down the main pathway, towards the shrine, which looked to be a small statue. Before long, Annabeth was standing right in front of it.

It depicted a woman, standing with a shield and a sword. She held a smaller figure in her right hand, winged and vaguely female, though in the dark Annabeth couldn't quite tell who or what it was.

"Athena," Perseus supplied, moving Anaklusmos closer to the statue, throwing it into a bronze light, "This must have been her temple."

In the new light Annabeth could see texture on the statue's clothes, an imprint of something she couldn't quite make out. She knew Perseus was right, though— not just because of the depiction of the statue, but because she could sense it, a strange, familiar sort of pull, not unlike the one she'd been feeling earlier, though somehow also distinctly different. This one wasn't so demanding, more a comfortable, settled feeling, despite how decrepit and abandoned this place was.

Almost the second she'd had that thought, she heard a noise— quiet enough that she almost thought she imagined it, except that Perseus's head also whipped in the direction it had come from. They exchanged a silent look. Annabeth could tell that he really wanted them to leave now, abandon the plan and come up with something else. She could feel Fai flick his small tail nervously against her neck, probably an instinctual reaction.

She moved towards the direction of the noise anyways. It had come from their left, the empty stretch of space that was still shrouded in darkness. Perseus followed her, the glow of his sword leading the way, even from behind.

But soon that glow wasn't the only light Annabeth could see. As they approached the far wall, a soft yellow light grew more and more distinct, illuminating the silhouette of a man. She barely even noticed the gaping hole in the wall next to him, a tunnel lit with torches at least several meters down.

Maybe that detail should have mattered to her, but it didn't— not when she saw a shock of blonde hair. The man was facing away from them, examining a marble image carved into the wall right next to the tunnel.

Her heart stopped in her chest, her breath seemed to freeze in her lungs. She took a single step forward, then another, only half-aware of Perseus reaching out to her, trying to stop her.

"...Luke?"

But when the man turned around, Annabeth was met with a different face— though one no less familiar. High, sharp cheekbones, sallow and sunken skin, bright blue eyes alight with malice. Annabeth's heart sank straight to her stomach as she recognized who was standing in front of her.

"Not quite," Octavian said, "Welcome to Athens, Annabeth."