Hey guys! Have a new chapter!
Replies:
The Official Clarisse: Frank's just there thinking 'Dear gods my friend is insane' And yes. We must all love our favorite goat boy.
Weirdhead: Definitely.
Undeath9087: I like to think that Frank's horrified because how the heck does he look after his friend when she's so danger prone? and no, no it's not bad at all!
Guest: Of course it is. Grover is the bestie we all need.

Percy would like it to be known, that she hated Keto and Phorcys- the sight of all those poor creatures drugged and used for entertainment made her furious- though her friends had stopped her from killing either of them until they'd got answers.

Which admittedly they did get, after a fashion anyway. They knew that they had to go to Charleston for some sort of map for this Mark of Athena thing that Percy was secretly very worried about.

They were lucky that Grover had been led away by Keto- if he hadn't then they'd have been in big trouble, since Phorcys had managed to trap her and Frank in their own section of the aquarium.

Thankfully Frank had been able to shape shift in time and Percy and Grover had their empathy link, together they'd managed to bust her and Frank out, temporarily take out the two gods and make a break for it, and Percy was very frustrated by that- she wasn't used to not being able to really use her powers.

It had been stressful to say the least.

By the time they reached the Argo II again they were all barely able to breath- thankfully Nico, Leo and Hazel were on the deck and spotted them, and they helped them back onto the deck before Leo moved quickly at Percy's, "Take off! Take off now!"

"What happened?" Nico was at Percy's side, taking off his jacket and draping it over Percy's shoulders as Hazel hugged Frank tightly and Grover kept himself plastered to Percy's side "What's the rush?"

"Followed." Frank managed to choke out.

"What by?" Hazel's voice was worried, and Percy saw that she was pressing her hand to Frank's cheek, her expression filled with worry.

"I don't know!" Frank panted. "Whales? Sea monsters? Maybe Kate and Porky!"

"Kate and Porky?" Leo turned his head to look at them, "Are you- I mean no offence dude but are you fully sober right now?"

"Gods." Percy wheezed. Keto and Phorcys. Tried to turn us into an exhibit-"

"What?" Nico's voice was horrified, "That-" he tightened his arms around Percy, "We need to get you two down to Will."

"That sounds like a good idea." Hazel spoke up.

"First-" Percy breathed in as steadily as she could, "Leo, we need to go to Charleston okay?" they were in the air now. That was good. They'd managed to get away.

"Charleston?" Nico's brows furrowed, "What's in Charleston-"

"Charleston?" Jason and Piper emerged from below deck, and Jason looked almost uncomfortable, "We're going to Charleston- and are you guys okay? What happened in Atlanta?"

"Those idiots nearly became an exhibit." Grover spoke up- he'd been catching his breath not too far from Percy. "If it wasn't for the Empathy link-"

"Empathy link?" that was Annabeth, and Percy's gaze swung to focus on her and Rachel, a few steps behind Jason and Piper. "You- I thought-"

"We re-established it." Grover's voice was slightly softer.

"Right." Rachel pursed her lips together- and gods they both looked so hurt. "I guess some relationships you don't want to get rid of-"

"Harsh." Leo called out from where he was piloting the Argo II. "No need to be a bitch over it Rache. We've all got more important things to deal with than relationship drama."

"Of course." Annabeth's voice was stuff. "What happened then? What did you find in Atlanta?" Frank unzipped his backpack and starting bringing out
souvenirs.

"Some peach preserves. A couple of T-shirts. A snow globe. And, um, these not-really-Chinese handcuffs."

"That isn't what I mean." Annabeth's voice was strained. "I meant what happened, what information did you get?"

"There's some map in Charleston." Frank spoke up, explaining what had happened to the others- and Percy pressed into Nico's side as Frank explained that Percy hadn't been able to overpower Phorcys' control over the water very well, and as he told them about the creatures that were trapped in the exhibits.

That made Annabeth and Rachel both look over at her, and for just an instant there was genuine concern on their faces before they both managed to block it out and look away as Frank explained that there was also a bounty on their heads, which made Annabeth groan, gripping the hilt of her dagger tightly.

"A bounty on our heads. As if we didn't attract enough monsters already."

"Do we get WANTED posters?" Leo asked. "And do they have our bounties, like, broken down on a price list?"

Hazel wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about?"

"Just curious how much I'm going for these days," Leo said. "I mean, I can understand not being as pricey as Percy or Jason, maybe…but am I worth, like, fifty Nicos-"

"Do you want me to rend your soul?" Nico's eyes narrowed, "Because I will rend your soul-"

"I'm just saying, you might be a big three kid but which one of us is one of the seven-"

"Boys!" Percy laughed, she couldn't help it. "Stop being ridiculous dumbasses-"

"Excuse you, you're the queen of ridiculous dumbassery-"

"Now isn't the time." Annabeth's voice cut across everyone elses. Then she sighed, "We know our next step at least, that's good. We go to Charleston to find this map."

"A map?" Piper asked, leaning against the control panel, "A map to what?"

"The Mark of Athena. Whatever that is." Percy glanced at Annabeth nervously- and once again she felt a rush of pain- would that always happen whenever she made herself focus on either of her exes? But Annabeth did have Rachel at least- the mortal girl was squeezing her hand, leaning into her side despite the fact that Annabeth was giving off very strong 'Back the fuck off' vibes.

"Whatever it is it leads to something important in Rome. Something that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks."

"The giants' bane," Hazel added.

Percy nodded. "And in my dream, the twin giants said something about a statue."

"Um…" Frank rolled his not-exactly-Chinese handcuffs between his fingers. "According to Phorcys, we'd have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?"
Everyone looked at Annabeth at that, and Percy hated that look on Annabeth's face- she was dealing with something huge- and she looked very unhappy.

"I—I'm close to an answer," she said. "I'll know more if we find this map. Jason, the way you reacted to the name Charleston…have you been there before?" Jason glanced uneasily at Piper at that question. "Yeah," he admitted. "Reyna and I did a quest there about a year ago. We were salvaging Imperial gold
weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."

"The what?" Piper asked.

"Whoa!" Leo said. "That's the first successful military submarine. From the Civil War. I always wanted to see that."

"It was designed by Roman demigods," Jason said. "It held a secret stash of Imperial gold torpedoes—until we rescued them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter."

Hazel crossed her arms. "So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say…not cool?"

Jason put his hands in front of him, palms up. "I personally was not alive then. And it wasn't all Greeks on one side and all Romans on the other. But, yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad choices." He looked sheepishly at Hazel. "Like sometimes we're too suspicious. And we speak without thinking. I'm sorry. Hazel, and you Nico. Leo and Piper kinda tore into me-"

"Too right we did." Leo huffed, "You were an a-hole of epic proportions."

"I am sorry- I- all of this is a lot and I haven't- Leo and Piper were right it's not all on me and I don't have to put on the whole 'son of Jupiter' perfect hero act. We're supposed to be a team and- and I need to trust a bit more."

And okay, Percy was kind of impressed by that, and she glanced at Hazel, who was holding Frank's hand tightly and staring at Jason for several moments before she spoke. "We've all made mistakes, said and done stupid things. But if you say anything about my sister again..."

"Noted-"

"And that goes double for me." Nico piped up, "Bi's made some mistakes in her life and done stupid things but she deserves better than that."

"Thank you both. For giving me a chance-"

"Just don't fuck it up."

"Back to Charleston." Hazel pursed her lips, "Are you saying we should check that submarine again?"

Jason shrugged. "Well…I can think of two places in Charleston we might search. The museum where they keep the Hunley—that's one of them. It has a lot of relics from the Civil War. A map could be hidden in one. I know the layout. I could lead a team inside."

"I'll go," Leo said. "That sounds cool."

Jason nodded. He turned to Frank, who was trying to pull his fingers out of the Chinese handcuffs. "You should come too, Frank. We might need you."

Frank looked surprised. "Why? Not like I was much good at that aquarium."

"You did fine," Percy assured him. "It took all three of us to break that glass. And I mean, believe me it could have been worse."

"How could it have been worse-"

"Well, there was this one time in the Sea of Monsters- and this story isn't embarrassing for me okay but for Luke- and- actually it was when we met Reyna- I told you about it I think-"

"Oh!" Frank's eyes widened and Hazel giggled.

"I remember, didn't your brother get turned into a guinea pig?"

"Yep, so see, you did better than he did-"

"Wait- Rey-" Jason started to ask but Annabeth cut him off, a ghost of a smile flitting across her lips.

"You lost your shit, attacked a literal goddess for Luke. You looked so-" she cut herself off, looking away, her expression closing down again- and Rachel squeezed her shoulder tightly as the atmosphere turned heavier and they both gave Percy dark looks. Again. It was getting old Percy knew that much.

"Besides, you're a child of Mars," Jason said, as much as in an attempt to shift the attention away from the unpleasant atmosphere as anything else. "The ghosts of defeated causes are bound to serve you. And the museum in Charleston has plenty of Confederate ghosts. We'll need you to keep them in line."

Frank gulped, but he nodded, "Okay," he frowned at his fingers, trying to pull them out of the trap. "Uh, how do you—?"

Leo chuckled. "Man, you've never seen those before? There's a simple trick to getting out." Frank tugged again with no luck. Even Hazel was trying not to laugh.

Frank grimaced with concentration. Suddenly, he disappeared. On the deck where he'd been standing, a green iguana crouched next to an empty set of Chinese handcuffs.

"Well done, Frank Zhang," Leo said, his voice teasing, doing his impression of Chiron the centaur. "That is exactly how people beat Chinese handcuffs. They turn into iguanas."

"Oh Chiron would murder you if he heard you mocking him." Percy laughed.

"Nah, he loves us too much." but it had broken the tension thankfully, and Frank turned back to human, picked up the handcuffs, and shoved them in his backpack. He managed an embarrassed smile.

"Anyway," Frank said, clearly anxious to change the subject. "The museum is one place to search. But, uh, Jason, you said there were two?"

Jason's smile faded. Whatever he was thinking about, it was clear that it wasn't pleasant.

"Yeah," he said. "The other place is called the Battery—it's a park right by the harbor. The last time I was there…with Reyna…" He glanced at Piper, then rushed on. "We saw something in the park. A ghost or some sort of spirit, like a Southern belle from the Civil War, glowing and floating along. We tried to approach it, but it disappeared whenever we got close. Then Reyna had this feeling—she said she should try it alone. Like maybe it would only talk to a girl. She went up to the spirit by herself, and sure enough, it spoke to her."

Everyone waited.

"What did it say?" Annabeth asked.

"Reyna wouldn't tell me," Jason admitted. "But it must have been important. She seemed…shaken up. Maybe she got a prophecy or some bad news. Reyna never acted the same around me after that."

"A girls adventure then." Annabeth spoke up after several long moments, "Piper, Hazel and Rachel can come with me." she met Percy's gaze for an instant before looking away. "We don't need anyone else."

"I'm always willing to back up my girl." Rachel declared, pulling a knife from... somewhere- Percy didn't even know where, and tossing it lightly.

And in a weird way that was comforting. No matter what else happened, at least Percy knew that Annabeth and Rachel would be fine as long as they had each other.