PERI'S POV

Percy, Frank, and Coach Hedge told their story on the quarterdeck so that I could hear as I steered the shitp - after Leo and Hazel returned from belowdecks, that is. When they returned I noticed that Leo walked with an almost imperceptible limp, but was otherwise fine - nectar and ambrosia and pretty curly haired girls do wonders, right?

When Percy told us about the captive sea creatures in the aquarium, I then understood the son of the sea god's reason to be upset.

"That's terrible," Bonnabelle said. "We need to help them."

"We will," Percy promised. "In time. But I have to figure out how. I wish. . ." He shook his head. "Never mind. First we have to deal with this bounty on our heads."

"A bounty on our heads." Bonnabelle gripped the hilt of her dagger. "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 about 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, two Franks, or three Franks?"

"Hey!" Frank complained.

I grit my teeth. Normally, I'd laugh and agree with Leo, maybe even go along with him and say something along the lines of, "Oh, personally I'd bargain four Franks for a Leo Valdez!" But not today. Not at this moment.

"Leo, shut up." I said evenly. "Stop being so rude to Frank." I shook my head. "Just give it a rest."

Frank gave me a grateful look, and Leo looked downright appalled. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

I turned back to Bonnabelle. "Now what were you saying?"

She cleared her throat and continued, surprisingly oblivious for such a brilliant person. "Our next step is to go to Charleston, find this map."

"A map," Piper repeated. "But a map to what?"

"The Mark of Athena." Percy looked cautiously at Bonnabelle before continuing, and I could instantly tell they were hiding something. "Whatever that is, we know it leads to something important in Rome, something that might heal the rift between the Romans and the 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, as he had called them, between his fingers. "According to Phorcys, we'd have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?"

And then we all looked at Bonnabelle. I mean, she is the daughter of Athena, she should know something. Anything. Her eyes darted around the faces staring back at her. Nervously. She was hiding something.

But what?

Curiosity was creeping into me, but I would not press her. If she had secrets that she wanted to share, then she would share them when she was ready. That was that.

"I-I'm close to an answer," she said finally. "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 in Piper's direction, but I had absolutely no idea why-

"Yeah, with Reyna."

Oh.

"We did a quest there a year ago," he continued hastily. "We were salvaging Imperial Gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."

"The what?" I asked.

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

Psh. Lame.

"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?"

I shook my head. "Oh, forget that. Slavery was, like, the lamest thing since Internet Explorer. Or Hitler. Internet Hitler? Hitler Explorer?" I trailed off.

Jason threw his hands up in defense. "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."

Hazel stared at him. Slowly it dawned on her that he was apologizing.

Jason elbowed Leo.

"Ow!" Leo yelped. "I mean, yeah. . . bad choices. Like not trusting people's brothers who, you know, might need saving. Hypothetically speaking."

Hazel pursed her lips. "Fine. Back to Charleston. 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 take 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."

"Besides, you're a child of Mars," Jason said. "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. "Okay. Sure." 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. Stifled laughter was on everyone's face, and even Hazel was trying not to laugh. However, my cheeks were red with shame. I had to look away. I was embarrassed for him. He was so painfully awkward that I had to avert my eyes.

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 dryly. "That is exactly how people beat Chinese handcuffs. They turn into iguanas."

Everyone busted out laughing. Frank turned back into a human, picked up the handcuffs, and shoved them in his pocket. I sighed and turned back to face the open expanse of sky before me, stained orange with the late afternoon's setting sun.

It wasn't funny. It wasn't funny at all.

Poor Frank. Poor Frank, indeed.