Chapter 18

Frank's P.O.V.

Their meeting in the dining hall reminded Frank of the Senate meeting, and that just made Frank miss the place. In only a few months' time, he'd harboured a different view of the place. He always thought it was like a military school, where he was the one who was the target of all the bullies. But after their quests, things had finally settled down. Frank had been regarded as a hero, as a leader. Camp Jupiter had felt like home.

And there he was now, away from Camp, away from his home. He just remained sitting there silently, staring at his pizza as everyone else settled for the dinner cum discussion. Jason sat behind Frank, which for some reason, made him feel more self-conscious. After all, he was the Jason Grace; the praetor everyone talked about. Frank felt the same feeling around him whenever Percy was near him. But he had grown used to Percy's presence after the quest, Jason was something else. He looked almost like a Roman God.

It calmed him that at least Hazel sat on either side of him. Coach Hedge, the faun who addressed himself as the chaperone, had decided to eat him in his own cabin. He added that he would not like to miss his favourite martial arts television show. Piper sat across from him, Percy was facing Jason and Leo sat opposite Hazel, while Natalie sat on the chair on the other end, opposite Annabeth. Her hand was fully healed, thanks to the Odonto-whatever-it-was horn, the remaining two of which were now safely inside a drawer in Annabeth's cabin. Why Annabeth's cabin? Because she was the most responsible and wise person on the whole ship, and even though Frank had known Annabeth not even for a day, he wholeheartedly agreed.

"So," Annabeth said, picking a slice of pizza from her plate. "First things first. Leo, how are the repairs with the ship going?"

"I've done all I could to get the ship move without the constant probability of capsizing, but I still need time, and some place we can stop so I can do the repairs properly," he replied.

Frank hoped that the remaining repair would not take too much time. He had been the one to go around the ship taking things and tools to Leo whenever and wherever he needed them, and he could already bet he knew every corner of the ship very nicely. Though his back still ached from the effort.

"Right. Then we should stop at some place soon and get the ship repaired." Annabeth said, with a tone that concluded the topic. But Frank knew otherwise.

"We can't," he said.

"Why not?" Jason asked.

"When Percy and I went to get the tar," he told them. "I scouted the nearby area and saw a few eagles. I am pretty sure they are the scout eagles of Camp Jupiter. They're not far behind us, so we'll have to keep moving to maintain a distance."

Percy nodded.

"Look, man," Leo looked at him. "The ship can't just keep moving alright. It's gotta stop or it'll heat up and burn us all. Friendly reminder that only I'm immune to fire among all of us."

"I didn't say we shouldn't stop. I just said we should keep moving as much as we can."

"Frank's right," Annabeth said, and Frank got the confirmation that everyone will agree, because no one argued with Annabeth anyway. "Next thing. Where are we supposed to go now?"

"Rome," Hazel said. "We've got to go to Rome."

"But that's exactly where we're coming from," Jason said.

Natalie sighed. "She doesn't mean New Rome. She means the original Rome. In Italy. The one that wasn't built in a day."

"Even Camp Jupiter wasn't built in a day," Jason muttered, but only Frank heard him since he was sitting beside Jason.

"Yeah, that's what Nemesis told us," Leo said. "That we have to reach Rome in six days."

"Why just six days?" Piper asked. "What's gonna happen by then?"

Hazel and Natalie explained a meaningful look, then Hazel glanced at Percy, who told them the reason. "It's Nico."

"Nico?" Leo asked. "Isn't he the same Hades kid who you told visits camp from time to time?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah he's the one. And apparently, he knew about the existence of both camps. How, I don't know that. But all we know is that he set off to find the Doors of Death the day we went for our quest. The next thing we found about him was that he's been captured by two giants and Gaea is planning to kill him by the end of the deadline."

Jason cleared his neck. "So we are going to go to Rome just to rescue him? I mean, wouldn't it be a planned trap? We go there and the giants get us."

Frank suddenly felt shocked. It was very unlike that Jason was suggesting this. Whatever he had heard about him, he knew he always did the best.

Natalie glared at him. "So you're suggesting we let him die."

Jason turned red. "Well, no. But Nico does seem a bit...you know, off. He knew about the camps, but still he didn't tell either group about the other one."

"And so did Lupa, Chiron and the gods," Percy looked him in the eyes. "Yet they kept it a secret, didn't they? Maybe he didn't for the same reason. I won't say I know Nico through and through, because he definitely is composed and introverted, but I know him just enough to tell it with finality that he's on our side."

"Yeah, okay. We don't say he's bad. But look it this way," Leo waved his hands while speaking to converse as though all of them were deaf. "What if it's a distraction? What if Queen Dirt Face wants us to go there so she can do her thing, whatever she wants to, somewhere else. What if -,"

"I get it," Hazel said slowly. "I get it, alright. You don't want to go to Rome."

Frank wanted to comfort Hazel, to snap at everybody's face that they've got to go to Rome, but something held him back. It was perhaps the knowledge that people would side with him on the topic.

"No, Hazel," Jason said, his voice carefully controlled as if he were talking to a five year old. "We just -,"

"You," Hazel's voice trembled. "Jason Grace! The Praetor I looked up to. The one who listens to everybody. But you just don't want to rescue Nico. Fine!"

She got up, looking furious. All the silver cutlery started floating as she turned and left the room. She banged the door shut as she left and the cutlery fell down with lots of clicks and clunks. Her stamping footsteps could be heard, even though the door was shut. Everybody seemed stunned seeing her anger and the cutlery floating. Frank immediately got up to follow her.

"No, wait," Piper raised her hand. "She just needs some time. She'll come around. I'll go talk to her, don't worry."

He looked around and got the message that he should stay. He sat back again, hands folded. He could feel Jason squirm a bit beside him, as though he expected Frank might turn and hit him any moment.

Natalie shot an almost dirty look at Jason. Piper spoke again.

"I don't think this is just about Nico. Because we got a prophecy too," she said, looking at Annabeth. "Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome."

Annabeth twirled a spoon absentmindedly, staring hard at it, trying to avoid making eye contact. Finally she looked back at them.

"Yeah. This has to be our prophecy. Which means either way, we need to go to Rome."

Everyone of them had been expecting something more than that particular information from Annabeth, because the annoyance could be seen on everyone's faces. They all, including Frank, expected something more than just obvious from the daughter of the goddess of wisdom.

"The first line is about you, Annabeth," Percy said. "Juno told me you had a hard task ahead of you. Betcha anything it's got to be this."

"What's this Mark of Athena?" Leo asked.

Frank could again feel Jason squirm and shift uncomfortably on his seat. But this time, he could also see Natalie shift a bit. Her face had become paler. Her fingers were tightly clasped together. He didn't know what they meant, but decided not to press on.

Annabeth finally spoke this time, "Reyna was about to tell me something about this matter. She just told me there is this old legend that the Mark of Athena was the reason for the rivalry between Greeks and Romans, but then there was all this attacking fiasco."

Percy thought about this for a moment. "I became a Praetor just yesterday, and I don't know anything about this. Jason?"

"Yeah?" Jason asked. "Um, right. The Mark of Athena. I'm not sure I know."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure that I'm not sure that I know about this business."

"But I'm not sure that you're sure that you're not sure that you know about this business."

"You both are making my head do ballet," Leo said exasperatedly. "Will you just talk like normal humans do, Supreme Gods of being Sure and Not Sure?"

Percy and Jason looked annoyed at that name, though they didn't say anything about it.

"Alright," Percy sighed. "Sis, how about you? You're the longest at camp after Jason in this room."

Natalie glanced at Jason. She seemed tense, unlike anything Frank had seen her before. She was always confident, brave and sometimes sarcastic and funny.

"I don't have an idea about this," she said. Was it Frank's imagination or did she look as though she was a bit... guilty?

"Okay, so we don't know anything about it. Let's just leave it right there," Annabeth said. She, of all people, seemed to be anxious to change the subject. "What about the other lines of the prophecy?"

"Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death," Frank recited.

"This must mean Nico. His surname's di Angelo, which translates to angel in Italian," Piper said.

"You know Italian?" Leo asked.

"Just enough to know the meaning of di Angelo."

"Piper's right," Natalie said, her chin resting on her palm. "Who holds the key to endless death. Nico went looking for the Doors of Death. He must have found them. That's why he got captured. And I'm pretty sure the two giants who we saw in the vision Gaea showed us are the twins in the prophecy."

"See," Frank said, carefully controlling his excitement. "He's in the prophecy. That means we've got to rescue him. And if he knows anything, anything about the Doors of Death, then he's more important to us than we can probably think."

"So that's settled. Now the final lines, Giants' bane stands gold and pale, won through pain from a woven jail," Annabeth told them.

"Anything that's giants' bane is good for us, right? But I don't like that part about pain. I've already had a lot of it. You know, too much of a thing reduces one's interest in it," Leo joked.

Frank smiled. Nearly everyone laughed. That was because they all could agree with that particular fact.

"Alright, so we know that we have to go to Rome. So how long would it take us to get there, Leo?"

"If the ship doesn't get repaired soon, then we never will. We need to stop somewhere soon if we need to get there in six days."

Annabeth sighed. "So where do you suggest we stop?"

"Well," Piper said. "How do you guys feel about Kansas?"

*Line break*

Frank spent the evening with Hazel on the deck, gazing at the horizon. The cool air whipped past his ears, making him feel somewhat at peace. Hazel, who was now at least satisfied that they would go to save Nico, leaned on the railing beside him. Natalie and Jason were practicing their swordplay, both with one hand behind the back. Percy, Annabeth, Piper and Coach Hedge were watching them clash against each other; Percy and Coach Hedge were cheering. Leo was controlling the ship. So that just left him and Hazel together. He felt a bit guilty, for no good reason.

"You know, if we hadn't decided to go to Rome, I'd have left on Arion alone," Hazel said.

Frank tried to smile. "That would have been exceptionally brave and stupid, but you would not have been alone. I'd have gone with you."

"Thank you," she squeezed his hand. They both went on to see the match between Jason and Natalie.