ANNABETH p.o.v
"We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It seems the Romans are aware of it too?" Reyna nodded.
"Octavian, you have it committed to memory?" She asks.
"Of course," he said. "But, Reyna—" "Recite it, please. In English, not Latin." Octavian sighed.
"Eight half-bloods shall answer the call.
To water or fire the world must fall"
"An oath to keep with a final breath" I continued.
"And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
Everyone stared at me—except for Leo, who had constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits.
I wasn't sure why I had blurted out the lines of the prophecy. I just felt compelled.
The big kid, Frank, sat forward, staring at me in fascination, as if I'd grown a third eye.
"Is it true you're a child of Min—I mean, Athena?"
"Yes," I said. "Why is that such a surprise?"
Octavian scoffed. "If you're truly a child of the wisdom goddess—" "Enough," Reyna snapped.
"Annabeth is what she says. She's here in peace. Besides..." She gave me a look of grudging respect. "Percy has spoken highly of you."
The undertones in Reyna's voice and the fact that Percy looked down suddenly interested in his cheeseburger, confirmed what I had thought in the first place.
"Uh, thanks," I told Reyna.
"At any rate, some of the prophecy is becoming clear. Foes bearing arms to the Doors of Death...that means Romans and Greeks. We have to combine forces to find those doors."
Hazel, the girl with the cavalry helmet and the long curly hair, picked up something next to her plate. It looked like a large ruby; but before I could be sure, Hazel slipped it into the pocket of her denim shirt.
"My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," she said.
"Wait," I said. "Nico Di Angelo? He's your brother?" Hazel nodded as if this were obvious. A dozen more questions crowded into my head, but it was already spinning like Leo's pinwheel. I decided to let the matter go.
"Okay. You were saying?"
"He disappeared." Hazel moistened her lips. "I'm afraid...I'm not sure, but I think something's happened to him."
"We'll look for him," Percy promised. "We have to find the Doors of Death anyway. Thanatos Told us we'd find both answers in Rome—like, the original Rome. That's on the way to Greece, right?"
Percy took a bite of his burger. "Now that Death is free, monsters will disintegrate and return to Tartarus again like they used to. But as long as the Doors of Death are open, they'll just keep coming back."
Piper twisted the feather in her hair. "Like water leaking through a dam," she suggests.
"Yeah." Percy smiles. "We've got a dam hole."
"What?" Piper asks.
"Nothing," he says. "Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated."
"We'll have to hurry," Jason adds. "I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is Growing more conscious all the time. She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."
"Eight half-bloods must answer the call," I say. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason,Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."
"And me," Percy said. "Along with Hazel, Frank and Reyna."
I wasn't very happy with the fact that I was going on a quest with my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend... but there isn't anything I can do about it, so I just have to suck it up.
"What?" Octavian shot to his feet. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"
"Percy!" Tyson the Cyclops bounded toward them with Mrs. O'Leary at his heels. On the hellhounds back sat the skinniest harpy I have ever seen—a sickly-looking girl with stringy red hair, a sackcloth dress, and red-feathered wings. Tyson stopped by their couch and wrung his meaty hands. His big brown eye was full of concern."Ella is scared," he said.
"N-n-no more boats," the harpy muttered to herself, picking furiously at her feathers. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax...boats are not for harpies."
Leo squinted. He looked at Hazel, who was seated next to him. "Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?"
"She's not a chicken." Hazel averted her eyes, as if Leo made her nervous. "Ella's a harpy. She's Just a little...high-strung."
"Ella is pretty," Tyson said. "And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship."
"No ships," Ella repeated. She looked straight at me.
"Wisdom's daughter walks alone
The Mark of Athena burns through Rome
Twins snuff out the angel's breath
Who holds the key to endless death.
Giants bane stands gold and pale,
Won through pain from a woven jail."
The effect was like someone dropping a flash grenade on the table. Everyone stared at the harpy. No one spoke. My heart was pounding.
Around them, the sounds of the feast continued, but muted and distant, as if their little cluster of couches had slipped into a quieter dimension.
Percy was the first to recover. He stood and took Tyson's arm.
"I know!" he said with feigned enthusiasm. "Why don't you take Ella and Mrs. O'Leary and shadow-travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?"
"Large dogs are good," Ella said. "Old Yeller, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gibson and William Tunberg."
"Great!" Percy says. "We'll Iris-message you guys when we're done and catch up with you later."
"Yay!" Tyson went around the couches and gave everyone a big hug—even Octavian, who didn't look happy about it. Then he climbed on Mrs. O'Leary's back with Ella, and the hellhound bounded out of the forum. They dove straight into a shadow on the Senate House wall and disappeared.
"Well." Reyna set down her uneaten apple. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."