Leo had no memory of suddenly attacking the Romans the way he had. In fact, he came around after his knock on the head more confused than any of us. I felt bad for the kid, but right now I was trying to keep the ship from falling apart whilst also helping Piper take care of Jason who seemed to have gotten a nasty bump of his own whilst trying to shield Piper from the angry masses. Seeing as I had the most experience with first aid on the ship, I took care of Jason's injury whilst Percy and Piper helped out, though it wasn't looking good. We'd fed him some nectar but I didn't like the fact that Jason's skin had turned rather ash-grey, and Piper was starting to chew through her lip as I kept some gauze pressed over the wound which had only just stopped bleeding. "Relax Piper, Jason's going to be okay. Maybe he'll have a headache for a while, but I doubt a brick is enough to kill him. Bring me a bowl of water and I'll show you a neat trick I can show you both. Perce pay attention." Hurrying to do anything I asked for Jason's benefit, Piper was quick to bring me a large bowl of water and hand it to me.
Placing it on the bedside table, I pulled the water from the bowl and let it swirl around my fingertips. Extending my will through the water to heal, I rested my hand over the head injury and focused on healing it, the water taking on a degree of luminescence as I focused. Percy found it fascinating that I was able to use water in such a way, whistling softly before calling Annabeth down in order to let her know how things were going and also to find out if she'd gotten anything more out of Leo. With Jason's head now looking a lot better and his skin once more the right kind of shade that looked healthy, I was satisfied that he should be coming around soon. Annabeth told us that Leo confirmed that he had been the one to fire on the Romans and that Octavian hadn't tricked him or bewitched him in any way, but he did say that he hadn't felt in control of his own body when he'd attacked the Romans. That a cold feeling had settled over him. None of us knew what it was and even Annabeth didn't really have a definitive idea of what had happened, but I knew it couldn't have been Leo's fault. Sure he was a little loopy and struggled to stay still for any extended period of time, but he didn't have trigger itchy fingers. Something else had made him do it, and I made that point clear to my brother when Percy sounded like he was ready to tear Leo in half. The poor kid looked rotten enough as it was, I didn't want everyone making him feel worse about what happened. Thankfully Leo was able to share the good news that all the materials he needed to fix up Festus and the Argo was located all in the same place, Great Salt Lake in Utah.
Now in all fairness to Leo he managed to land on the lake without tearing the ship apart and considering the current condition it was in, I was impressed. The others however were in low spirits and no amount of my brilliant sarcasm and wit could raise them, so I just leaned back in one of the chairs in the mess hall and activated the massage function, deciding to at least enjoy a little relaxation before all hell broke loose as it inevitably would whilst the others discussed would could have made Leo attack the way he did. The bell rang to signal that all was clear and good, so we just sat and waited for Leo to come down, bringing Hazel with him. For a moment, there was silence, until Percy spoke up. "So we've landed. What now?"
"Figure out the prophecy?" The guy Frank offered a little shyly, fiddling with his bowstring. With my sight I could take in his form fully, and to be honest I wasn't sure what to make of Frank just yet. He was built like a bear but his mannerisms made him seem softer than a teddy. "I mean…that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?" As several of us didn't understand what this meant, Frank explained how Ella seemed able to instantly memorise any book she had ever read and because of this, had unwittingly memorised some ancient prophecies from a set of books that were thought to have been destroyed a long time ago.
"That's why you didn't tell the Romans. You didn't want them to get hold of her." Leo realised as I toned down the massage function in order to concentrate properly on the conversation at hand.
"Especially not that butthead Octavian. He caught on straight away what Ella had recited and it seemed to completely psyche him out. It's probably a good thing we got her out when we did otherwise…well. I hate to think what Octavian would do to a harpy with prophecies in her head." I noted calmly before taking a sip of my soda, eyes sliding across to Percy who was staring absently of the images of Half-Blood Hill that Leo had installed. He probably missed being there.
"Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want…it doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there." No one disagreed with that, though right now there were more pressing matters at hand which Annabeth pointed out, asking Leo what was needed to get the ship fixed.
"The easiest thing is tar. We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."
"We'll have to hurry." Hazel spoke and now I turned my attention to her and trying to find any resemblance to Nico in her, but they couldn't have been more different from one another. In fact, I'm pretty sure this girl was born and bred in New Orleans from her accent with bright near golden eyes. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a stroke force after us. It's a matter of honour." Even without meaning to, we all looked towards Leo who shifted uncomfortably and fidgeted as we all looked at him.
"Guys…I don't know what happened. Honestly, I…"
"We've been talk." Annabeth interrupted him before he could try to explain himself, because honestly there was no need to. "We agree it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned…I felt it, too. It must have been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaia or one of her minions. But until we understand what happened…"
"How can we be sure it won't happen again?" Frank raised a rather good point and all of us now glanced nervously at one another, as if half expecting one of us to suddenly leap up and draw their weapon to attack everyone else. If this was a ploy of Gaia's then she'd outdone herself this time. Not only has she ruined our chances of peace with the Romans for good but she also had us growing suspicious of one another which was the last thing we needed when embarking on a life and death quest to save the world.
"I'm fine now." Leo piped up rather sheepishly, drawing our eyes back to him. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and Coach Hedge on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."
"Split up? That sounds like a really bad idea." This came from my brother, who sounded like the last thing he wanted to do was break off into smaller groups.
"It makes sense." I argued gently, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Too large a group will draw in monsters and maybe even the attention of Octavian and his search parties. Pairs should work best. I'll take Snowstorm and do a little recon. If I'm in the air then I should be able to reach anyone in trouble fast enough to help out or pull you guys out of a tight spot." The others agreed that smaller groups would be safer and less likely to attract monsters, though Frank worried that I'd be a sitting duck in the air but I assured him monsters wouldn't be attracted to me because I had a bracelet that masked my scent, so I'd be alright with just Snow with me. She and I had flown through hurricanes, storms and just about every flight hell you could think of. I trusted her to always have my back. We all split into teams, Percy of course choosing to team up with Annabeth with Frank being volunteered by Hazel to fly them into town whilst she and Leo would go get the bronze sand the lime.
Calling for Snow we left the deck and circled the air, rising higher and higher before then extending our recon further afield. We kept our eyes peeled for any signs of Romans though I wasn't entirely sure what I should be looking for. Anyway, things seemed clear enough from our vantage point, though as we headed back, we both noticed that Leo and Hazel were running away from what looked to be a bunch of fan-girl nymphs whilst carrying a heavy disk of metal which I presumed to be the Celestial bronze we needed to fix the ship. Also, there was a guy there and even from a distance, I could tell he was stunning. My heart started to race just imagining getting closer to him, but then I snapped myself awake and told myself to get a grip because there were more pressing matters at hand. "Take a dive Snow, let's buy them some time." I said to her and she snorted in agreement, tucking in her wings to plummet downwards at speed. The rush had me grinning, feeling every pulse and tremor as Snow then opened her wings and skimmed across the grass with her hooves only just grazing the blades.
Shooting past Leo and Hazel we pulled up in between them and their pursuers, Snow's wings beating at the air as she reared up and screeched challengingly as I took Amaryllis and brandished her in trident form. "Back! Stay back! Or face the wrath of Poseidon's daughter!" Seeing as name dropping was usually useful when dealing with lesser monsters or in this case a group of rather angry looking nymphs, it came in handy to make them stop and reconsider. All of them froze with a flash of fear on their faces, and now that I was close enough I could get a good look at them all, especially the dude that seemed as dazzling as Apollo, and I speak from experience since I'd met that particular god. For a moment I wondered if they might be related, but when the guy opened his mouth, all charm and attraction instantly shattered, because he was an asshole.
"Don't stop, girls! They do not love me, everyone should love me! Bring back my reflection!" Instantly my face plummeted.
"Oh please. Get over yourself. I'd bet anything you're Narcissus, right? Makes a whole lot of sense now." With a roll of my eyes I brandished my trident again which kept the nymphs back, though Narcissus tried to attack me with what appeared to be a broken bow but as he came charging forwards with elegant courageousness and determination, all it took was one kick to his chest to send him flying. By that time Hazel's horse had appeared, Arion. Now that horse could move, but he was also extremely rude, every other word he conveyed being some cuss or another. Snowstorm huffed and scraped a hoof at the ground the way she did when she was irritated by something, though Arion only whickered at her as she started to scold him in a way that I could only liken to something like a catcall. It made me laugh.
'The nerve! The sheer nerve of that brute!' Snow complained as we wheeled around and took off galloping away from the nymphs and Narcissus, heading back for the Argo as Arion galloped over the water. We returned to the ship and left the angry shouts behind us, alighting on the deck where I could finally look Leo over and quite honestly, I was intrigued to know what the heck had happened that had required him to get all inked up with weird sorts of phrases and things which basically said 'Team Leo' and all sorts of similar things. They both looked rough, but were all in one piece so I considered this a pretty successful snatch and grab mission. The bronze plate turned out to be the mirror that Narcissus had used to stare at his own reflection all day every day but in order to get him to look away from it so that Hazel could steal it, Leo had pretended to be a new, hot celebrity of some kind to rival Narcissus with the help of Echo, the nymph who was eternally in love with that jerk-face who totally did not deserve her.
On the deck Arion was now sniffing at Snowstorm, strutting and prancing around her with interest as she shook out her glistening mane and lifted her head proudly, flicking her tail at him in annoyance though her ears continually followed him, which meant she wasn't entirely against his attentions. 'Hey filly. What's your name?' Arion spoke and I couldn't help but smirk to myself as I folded my arms and observed their interaction. 'You are gorgeous, and such a nice rump too.' At this he playfully nipped at Snow's backside, causing her to yelp and buck a little to kick out at him but Arion playfully sprinted away. Snow wasn't sure how to exactly respond or shake off Arion, she decided to simply take to the air with a word to me that she'd be back soon, though Arion wasn't going to let her shake him off that easy. Snowstorm really had a lot of admirers and it wasn't hard to understand why because she was gorgeous, though Snow never really reciprocated, but this was the first time I'd seen her this unsettled.
She dashed away pretty fast, opening up the deck for when Frank returned carrying Percy and Annabeth who looked like they'd been on their own little adventure considering the fact that they were smeared with the roofing tar that they were supposed to be collecting from town. The stories had to wait since the water nymphs were soon attacking the ship because they were rather pissed at us. Percy and I held them off, they weren't stupid enough to try and defeat not one but two children of the sea god though that didn't mean they wouldn't rock the boat, yelling profanities at us which quite honestly even I was impressed with. They seriously loved Narcissus. I was glad to leave that place behind after the ship was able to take off again though the patch up job was just that. A patch job. If this tub was going to make it over the water to Greece and Rome then there was a lot of work to be done. A team meeting was called where all seven demigods of the prophecy plus one gate-crasher. Me. I took up my usual spot in the massage chair and switched it on as the others settled in and Percy immediately helped himself to some blue pie. Yes, I really said blue. It was apparently a thing for my family to constantly want to eat blue food. I wonder if these plates would cough up blue burgers and pizza too?
Almost before I'd even voiced what I'd wanted the food appeared on my plate which I could tell by the smell so I dug in, using my sight for a brief moment to check and sure enough, everything was completely blue. The burger patty, the cheese, lettuce, onions all the way down to the sauce. Heaven. "So where to now?" Leo finally broke the silence and got the meeting rolling. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things before we head across the Atlantic."
"We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter. Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us." My brother supplied so I took a pause from my blue burger in order to lift my head.
"Eagles? The Romans fly on eagles?"
"Yeah, giant ones." Now that sounded cool.
"I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans?" Piper suggested, sounding more than a little distressed though I couldn't really understand why. Maybe these past couple of hours had just rattled her more than she was letting on. "Maybe…maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charm-speak."
"It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's. Whatever happened, it was Gaia's doing, to drive the two camps apart." Despite Jason's consoling, Piper still felt that we should try again to negotiate with the Romans and Reyna, but Annabeth smartly pointed out that we had no proof that we weren't the ones who open fired on them, at least not willingly. Leo's probably going to beat himself up about this until the entire quest was over and even after that depending on how this entire thing is resolved.
"She's right." Hazel supplied, agreeing with Annabeth that returning to the Romans even under a flag of truce would be suicide. "Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have honour to think about. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions posthan."
"Until we can bring irrefutable proof to Reyna and the Romans that it wasn't our fault that we blew up a couple of their buildings, we should focus on the main quest at hand." I spoke up, hoping that an older voice might sound a little more confident and reassuring compared to a bunch of kids just worrying and guessing. "First things first, we need to make sure the Argo is fit for the crossing and you guys need to figure out exactly what it is you're going to do. Once you have a strategy or at least a first step, the rest should fall into place. Personally I'm worried about Nico and I want to help find him and bring him back to camp. If something happens to him…" I couldn't even bring myself to voice the dark thoughts that were swirling around in my head. Nico was like another little brother to me, we were close, if anything happened to him then I'm pretty sure I'd have the pure rage and grief to destroy any enemy they put in front of me. I'd shake the earth until Gaia had a headache to last an age.
"Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed." There was a lot I seemed to have missed, but I didn't interrupt as this was important. If Nico was going to die in only six days, then I definitely wanted to be there to rescue him. I knew that I was not one of the seven in the prophecy, but having being cursed by a god to always be incomplete, I had a certain leeway with prophecies. So long as I didn't join them on the main quest, then the prophecy should unfold as it was meant to, and I had every confidence that these guys would save the world. Piper also added that she had been seeing visions in her knife, one that had belonged to the original Helen of Troy, and none of it was good. This thing about the twins sounded important, Annabeth noting that they could be the twins that were mentioned in the prophecy and immediately I tensed and pressed my eyes shut. Twins snuff out the angel's breath. Nico. Nico di Angelo I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want the others to worry, but I sensed Annabeth glance my way which made my spine tingle anxiously as Percy recited the lines.
"Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to mean you. Juno told me…well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong." My brother was such an awesome boyfriend, if I do say so myself, and utterly adorable. If he were within reach, I'd ruffle his hair and pinch his cheeks to tease him for being so lovey dovey.
"Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors, something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reasons Greeks and Romans could never get along." I sensed a great deal of nervousness around me after Annabeth had spoken, Leo and Hazel both supplying that Nemesis – who they had apparently met on their travels today – had told them about some wrong that needed to be righted to help bring the two conflicting personas of the gods into harmony. It would have been great if Reyna had been able to tell Annabeth about this supposed ancient wrong but of course, nothing is ever that easy. Percy of course would have no clue since he was only Praetor for a short while, however when he asked Jason, I immediately sensed a deep rooted uncertainty and nervousness surround Jason as he dodged the question by saying he wasn't sure and that he'd think about it. Percy was not the only one who found this suspicious, but right now we couldn't afford to start jumping at each other's throats. To be honest it's a miracle that Romans and Greeks were working together at all, and so far things seemed to have gone relatively smoothly.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out about it soon enough." I broke the tension by speaking up before it could build too much, not wanting it to weigh over everyone's heads. "So we know that Annabeth has something that she needs to do for her mom, Athena, and that she will most likely have to do it alone. Personally, I don't care much for prophecies, so if you want some backup Annabeth, then I'm there for you no matter where your quest takes you. We know that Nico is in some kind of trouble and he only has six days left, which means rescuing him should be one of our top priorities. We know that there are twin giants involved and are most likely the ones holding Nico captive because of the prophecy Ella spoke of." Listing off everything we did know one by one, it made the hundred other things that we didn't know seem too bleak. "The line about the twins and the angel seems fairly obvious to me, though it doesn't tell us anything useful in how to stop them and get Nico back, however the next line could be the answer we need."
"Giants' bane stands gold and pale, won through pain from a woven jail." Frank quickly supplied so I turned my head in the direction of his voice to offer him a warm smile of thanks. Maybe he felt like he should contribute something to this discussion since he'd been pretty much silent since the beginning. I like Frank, I've decided. He was such a sweetheart and he had a kickass ability that was totally awesome.
"Giants' bane," Leo mused aloud. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good." Chuckling lightly at Leo's blunt phrasing, Percy agreed that we would be helpless to kill a giant without the help of a god. Although I didn't say it out loud, I doubted that any of the major gods would bother coming down to help us slay giants even if it meant preventing the end of the world. Dad might, if he heard us and Percy and I were in trouble, but he tends to toe the line with the rules. If Zeus forbids him, then his hands would be tied.
"I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you." Jason noted, most likely to Frank and Hazel since as far as I was aware, no one else had been giant slaying in Alaska.
"Alcyoneus was a special case. He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn, Alaska." Frank explained to us. "But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but…Percy's right, we'll need the gods." The only thing left to decide after that cheerful meeting was where to land to finish repairing the ship, settling on Kansas because of a hunch Piper had. After that, everyone pretty much went off in their own direction, whereby I seized my brother by the scruff of his clothing and hoisted him away from Annabeth with a grin to her.
"Sorry Anna, but I'm borrowing your boyfriend for a while. I need to kill him for vanishing on us for so long."
"Sure thing, don't make it too quick." Annabeth responded without even missing a beat, making me laugh and Percy protest as I forced him to come with me to my own cabin where we could finally sit and talk, just the two of us. I had him tell me his entire story from the top, only this time not leaving out important details the way he did when we were in front of the Romans. To be honest I was just glad to hear his voice again, listening to him speak and feeling gratefulness well up inside me that he was okay. Stupid little brother. I swear worrying about him was going to be the thing that kills me in the end. Once Percy was done, he then asked me all the questions he'd been holding back.
"How's mom? Is she mad? What about Grover? Have you seen him recently?"
"Mom isn't mad, Perce, just upset. Being honest she's in bad shape. She lost a lot of weight these past few months and if it wasn't for Paul, she might have completely lost it. He's amazing. He's been keeping her afloat all the time that I wasn't there with her. When I told her that I finally had news of you and that I believed that you were okay, just stuck in another camp of demigods, mom picked up a little after that since at the very least we knew that you were alive. I didn't tell her anything about the prophecy or about Jason, I didn't want her to worry all over again, but she knows something is wrong. Percy…we can't keep doing this to her. First me and then you…I think if something happens to one of us this time, it might finally kill her." I told him honestly, because although I didn't want to guilt trip him, Percy needed to know how deeply him being missing had affected her. "Once this prophecy is over and done and provided the world is still standing, we need to go home to her. I don't care if I have to kidnap the lot of you. We're taking my ship on a cruise, and we're not coming back for at least a month."
"Yeah, I agree." I could feel how deeply guilt ridden he felt, so I put my arm around him in order to comfort my baby bro.
"It wasn't your fault, Perce. It was Juno or Hera, whatever version she was, messing with you. She had no right to kidnap you, she could have just asked, but it's over now and we have to focus on what's ahead. Just remember, no matter what, we have to make it back home to mom. We owe her the world, and we've made her promises that we have to keep." Pulling him close, I hugged Percy until I felt all the worries and endless months of exhaustion searching for him gradually melt away. "Grover looked for you, you know. He and I probably covered the entire continent looking for you. He's knows that you're okay though, so don't worry. When we get back, we'll throw a massive party."
"Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind." Percy finally lightened a little bit, now listening to me as I told him a little about what had happened whilst he'd been away. Very little on our end, to be honest, other than Jason showing up and turning out to be a Roman with a subsequent quest. We talked like we had never been apart for a second and honestly it felt good. Going to sleep that night I wasn't bombarded with nightmares of Percy being killed by any number of monsters or trapped in some kind of prison, unable to escape. I slept deeply, though the seeds of worry continued to remain deeply sown into my mind, because until Percy, Annabeth and everyone was safely home and the world put to rights, I wasn't going to let my guard down one bit.