Disclaimer: I do not own Rick Riordan, the Percy Jackson books, characters, series, movies, or anything else you may recognize.
Author's Note: Look at me go! I have it all in my head ready to go. It's finding the time, but I'm finding it! I'm very excited for y'all to see where this all goes, and you're getting another long chapter so I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think!
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Parting Of Ways
"Here we are now
Everything is about to change
We face tomorrow as we say goodbye to yesterday
A chapter ending but the story's only just begun
A page is turning for everyone."
- "Wherever I Go" from Hannah Montana
Holy Hades. I had never seen the Underworld in such disarray.
When I died, where I ended up in the Underworld was never certain, but it would always be an in-between area – so I'd never end up in the Judgement Pavilion or in the Fields of Punishment, or anything like that. Usually I would be pretty close to Hades' Palace, which worked well if my regeneration took a long time, because then I could at least hang out in the palace with Hades and sometimes Persephone. Once you got past all the death and sibling rivalry, Hades was a cool guy.
I was plopped down in between Hades' Palace and the Judgement Pavilion and had an unfortunately good view of the Fields of Punishment. The dead were literally rioting in the fields. You can't re-kill someone who's already dead, but man…these guys were trying. They were trying to kill each other, ripping off limbs that just went right back and re-attached themselves, and trying to get out of the fields. The Furies were barely able to contain them within the fields and I was actually terrified.
When I looked back at the Palace, it look empty except for one dim light on in one of the top rooms. Hades must be splitting as well.
If Gaea had opened the Doors of Death, and these guys managed to get out of the Fields of Punishment…oh no.
I needed to get out of here. Now.
Come on, body, heal faster! I thought. I was suddenly pulled back into my body, which is very much like getting sucked up by a too-small vacuum. And then all the pain hit me all over again, not as bad as when I had died, but man I was hurting.
I let out a moan, turning on my side and curling up in a ball. Ambrosia, I thought to Annabeth, still too weak to talk. She was by my side in an instant, gently putting small pieces of ambrosia into my mouth. It tasted like lemon meringue pie and it tasted so good. The nectar running down my throat tasted like the sweetest chocolate and my strength was coming back quicker by the second.
"That really hurt," Annabeth said, rubbing her own ribs. With our connection, we felt when the other was in pain on a much lesser extent, and we would always know if the other died. Annabeth had felt me die more than a few times now.
"You're telling me," I grumbled, pushing myself up to a seated position. My shirt was torn to shreds, showing the raised red marks where the Ketos Troias had started to eat me. Everything was healing back nicely though. In a few moments, even those red marks would disappear.
"DID YOU SERIOUSLY JUST DIE?" Leo asked. I looked around and the whole crew was surrounding me. Percy was kneeling on my other side, looking at me with a lot of concern.
"Yes, it happens," I said calmly. "Did someone deal with the Ketos or no?"
"Yes, Percy used your arrows and shot it," Hazel said. "It was very impressive."
"Last time we saw him try to shoot an arrow, it was pretty disastrous," Frank added.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. I knew where this road headed and I didn't want anything to do with this road. I'd rather run naked through the forest if I had no other options.
"Okay, well…bye," I said lamely, getting to my feet as quickly as possible and practically bounding to my room, slamming the door behind me.
There was a soft knocking at my door. "Just me, Dee."
"Come in then!" I said dramatically. Annabeth came in, shutting the door behind her and giving me a look. "What?"
"'Okay, bye?'" Annabeth asked.
"I just…you know the story!" I sputtered.
"I do. And this has happened between the two of you before," Annabeth said. "Except you didn't die the last time." I made a face. "You can't run and hide any time something like this happens. I know what you're afraid of, and I get it to a point, but there's work to do, and you're an elected leader of this quest. You have to act like it."
"I never chose this, Annie. I didn't want it!" I said. "It should have been you."
"I have my own quest to worry about," Annabeth said seriously, and I immediately sobered.
"How long was I dead for?" I asked.
"Too long," Annabeth said. "We're going to reach the Mediterranean by morning."
"We need to have a meeting – I saw some things in the Underworld that the others should probably know," I said, opening my mind up so that she could see. She nodded and did the same with hers, and I saw a lot of new information about the Mark. "Let's go."
We left my room and gathered the others in the control room so that Leo could be present. Apparently the Argo had sustained some damage from the Ketos Troias, so he needed to manually steer for the time being.
I told everyone what I had seen in the Underworld, how chaotic the Fields of Punishment were, and how Hades was in his castle, but that he was definitely splitting and wasn't in control.
"Nico only has two days left after today, and I just know he's necessary for this quest," Hazel said. I just kept imagining Nico along in the jar with two pomegranate seeds to keep him alive, with no idea if anyone even knew where he was or if he needed to be rescued. I just wanted to hug him and let him know it was going to be okay, but I honestly didn't know if it would be at this point.
"He'll most definitely have information on the Doors of Death," I said. "Annabeth said we're going to reach the Mediterranean by tomorrow morning so that will give us –" I tried to calculate the times and locations in my head, but the math and geography was escaping me.
"We'll sail for the rest of the day tomorrow, and we'll end up in Rome with at most twenty-four hours to find Nico," Jason said solemnly.
"I think Nico is the ninth," Percy said. "Why else would he be put right in our path for the quest? He's also been going between both camps – it would make sense."
"I think you're right," I said. "Which makes it even more important that we find him in time. But then we also have the Mark of Athena to deal with."
Annabeth brought out the map which was a bronze disk the side of a bagel, but it was blank. Apparently it had been a map back in her room, so obviously it was meant for her eyes only. She told us it was hard to read, but it showed her a spot on the Tiber River in Rome, which she was sure was where the quest to follow the Mark started.
"What is the Mark of Athena?"
"It's an Athenian coin," Annabeth said, pulling out the silver drachma and passing it around. "My mom gave it to me in a subway station. The Mark itself is an owl, like the one on the coin. I've seen it in countless dreams and at Fort Sumter." She told us all about what she saw at Fort Sumter, Gaea's voice, the spiders, and the Mark burning them all away. "No one can be there with me for this. I have to do this on my own, or like the map, the Mark won't appear. I have to follow it right to the source."
"'The giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won with pain from a woven jail'," Frank repeated. "What is this thing at the source?"
"A statue of Athena." Jason and Annabeth went back and forth on their theory that it was the Athena Parthenos, which was the most famous Greek Status of all time. It was supposed to be forty feet tall, covered in ivory and gold, and had originally stood in the middle of the Parthenon in Athens. It just disappeared one day, and there were so many rumors about what happened to it, but the one that stuck out to me is that the Romans stole it when they took over Athens. That would explain why there was such a huge divide between the two camps and cultures.
"Even if we – I mean, you – find this statue, what do we do with it? You said its forty feet tall – can we even move it?" Piper asked.
"I'm…not sure, but finding it could reunite the camps," Annabeth said, confirming my own thoughts. "It could heal my mom, and it might even protect us against the two giants."
"It could change everything – maybe it's even the key to defeating Gaea," Piper said optimistically. "But if we can't help you…"
"I have to succeed."
"No child has ever found it before," Percy said. "What's down there? What's guarding it? What if it's got something to do with spiders?"
"We'll deal with it when we get to Rome," I said. "Annabeth is going to kick some serious ass."
"You've got that right," Percy said and I smiled at him.
"Well, good pep talk guys!" Leo said. "Now please report to Supreme Commander Leo for your super fun list of chores. We have a ship to fix!"
I was startled awake the next morning by a loud horn. I didn't give myself even a moment to think before running up to the top deck to see what was going on. Annabeth was right – I needed to start acting more like a leader. When I got there, I saw a huge cruise ship passing by, a bunch of tourists waving to us.
I kind of waved back, stunned, and marveled at how good the Mist was. I wondered what they were seeing. Certainly not a Greek trireme with eight demigods in a strange mix of pajamas and armor. Leo had accidentally set himself on fire, which happened sometimes and was very frustrating, Hazel's hair looked like she had been through a tornado, Percy was wearing an interesting choice of cartoon shark pajama bottoms and a bronze breastplate (and somehow it worked?), and Frank is the one who caught my eye. His shirt was inside out, but I saw what it was regardless.
"Where are you from, Frank?"
"Vancouver."
"No. Freakin'. Way," I said. "Me too!"
"I have never met another Canadian demigod, let alone another one from Vancouver," Frank said. "This is great! Is Tim Hortons still good?"
"Last time I was there it was still great! Are you a double-double guy or Ice Cap?"
"Oh, Ice Cap all the way."
"Hell yeah!" I said.
"And Timbits, of course."
"Man oh man, I miss Van even more," I said. "The Seawall."
"Stanley Park."
"Granville Island!"
"I totally forgot about Granville Island, that place was so cool!" Frank said. Everyone was looking at us like we were from outer space – well, everyone except for Annabeth and surprisingly, Percy.
"Was any of that English?" Jason asked. I gave him a death look.
As the cruise ship passed, we were finally able to see where we were. We had made it to the Mediterranean Sea. In front of us was the Rock of Gibraltar and to the south was Africa, as Annabeth pointed out. The area used to be called the Pillars of Hercules. The Rock was one Pillar, and the other was one of the African Mountains, but nobody was sure which was which.
"For the Greek, these are the end of the known world," Annabeth said.
"Non plus ultra," Percy said.
Annabeth looked at him. "Yeah, 'Nothing Furth Beyond'. How did you know that?"
"I'm looking at it," he said. Where there most definitely had not been an island before, there was now. It was small and hilly, covered in forests and white beaches. In the front of the island, what seemed like what was underwater and inlaid in the sand, maybe both or maybe just an illusion, were the words NON PLUS ULTRA.
"Um…should I turn around?" Leo asked.
The closer we got, I was able to see a man standing at the top of the message. He had dark hair, was wearing royal purple robes and had his very muscley arms crossed over his chest.
"Oh dear," I said.
"Oh dear is right," Frank said. "Could that really be –"
"Hercules, the most powerful demigod of all time?" Jason asked. "Yup. That's him."
"You guys, I kind of need an answer here," Leo said. "Do I turn, do I take off? The stabilizers are working again so anything's possible, I just need to know –"
"We have to keep going," I said. "He's guarding the straights, though, so he'll want to talk to us."
"Won't he be on our side? He's one of us," Piper said.
"He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god," Jason said. "You never know who gods are siding with."
True.
"Well, there's eight of us against one Hercules, so our odds are pretty good in a fight," Percy suggested.
"Better idea – let's send ambassadors down to talk to him," Annabeth said. "One or two people, just to convince him to let us through without a problem."
"I'll go," Jason said. "We're half-brothers after all, so maybe that'll help."
"Or he might hate you," Percy said. "Half-brothers don't always get along." He said that like he knew from experience. I supposed as a child of Poseidon he would definitely have some interesting relatives.
"Thanks," Jason said sarcastically.
"It's worth a shot," Annabeth said. "And then we'll need our best diplomat, someone who's got a way with words."
So I thought that was me, being a songwriter and all, but no. It was Piper, because of her charmspeak. Okay, cool. Most powerful demigod of all time – well, maybe before me – and I didn't get a chance to meet him? That sucked.
Apparently Percy was feeling the same way about himself, because he was acted awfully mopey once Jason and Piper had left.
Everyone had a part to play and these weren't our parts.
As we descended over Rome, the skies were blue and everything seemed to sparkle. It was so incredibly beautiful. There were hills and valleys, bridges, and streets and alleys placed with seemingly no rhyme or reason. There were modern glass office buildings next to excavation sites. There were so many old cathedrals, and beautiful old-fashioned neighborhoods with old stucco villas, wide piazzas and streets packed with traffic. We set down in the park, and to the north I could see the top of the Coliseum peeking over the top of the rooftops.
This place was amazing.
"Plans?" Hazel asked, breaking all of us out of our reverie. "Nico has until sunset at best, and the entire city is supposedly getting destroyed today as well."
Right.
"Did you find the exact spot on your map?" I asked Annabeth.
She nodded. "It's right on the Tiber River. I'm sure I can find it, but I should –"
"Bring me along? Good call."
"That's not what I was going to say."
"That's exactly what you were going to say," I said. "Trust me, Annie. I'm coming with you to meet Tiberinus at the Tiber. And then you'll go from there."
"I'm coming too," Percy said. I was about to argue when he added, "no one should be wandering around alone, and once Annabeth's gone you would be by yourself. I know you're fully capable of handling yourself, but it's just better for someone to have your back."
It was a good point, and even though I didn't want it to be him, no one else volunteered. I will give him this though – however unnecessary it was, I did appreciate him looking out for me. It was a nice thought.
"Hazel, do you think you can locate Nico?" Annabeth asked.
"If I get close enough I should be able to feel where he is," Hazel said. "I'm going to need to walk around."
"I'll go with you," Frank volunteered automatically.
"Leo, you should go too, just in case there's any mechanical issues. We don't know what kind of traps they'll have laid out," Annabeth said.
"If you guys do find Nico, don't go in by yourselves. We'll need all of us to do this," Jason said. "We should all meet back here by three o'clock maybe?"
No one mentioned that Annabeth wasn't included in that timeline. My stress levels were slowly rising.
We agreed. "Jason and I can stay here and watch the ship," Piper said. "I'll keep track of everyone with my dagger."
"Alright, let's go."
Annabeth figured that we should head towards the Coliseum, so that's what we did. It seemed simple enough, but that was not the case at all. We kept getting so lost, and I think we found pretty much every dead end in the city. We did get to see a lot of fountains and monuments on our way though, even if it was by accident. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched the whole time, and as I looked around, I would see the occasional Lares, the purple tinged ghosts that hung around the Roman camps, so I guess they would hang around Rome, nymphs and other creatures, all glaring at us and watching us carefully. They weren't attacking us yet, which was good, but it looked like they were barely holding back.
When I looked over at Annabeth and Percy, they looked awful. They were both bright red and drenched with sweat. I forgot that people sometimes didn't react well to the sun. I loved it. As pale as I was, the sun was my element. The heat was so wonderful and nice. The winter was awful – it was so cold, and even when the sun was out, I still froze my little butt off.
And yes, I lived in Canada where it was cold a lot of the time. Stop judging.
"Let's take a short break," I suggested, pointing to a bench in the shade. My companions took a seat and I jogged off to a little café, taking out my emergency international credit card (thanks Val and dad!) and bought bottles of water for everyone, as well as nice cold cans of pop.
Annabeth and Percy look so grateful, chugging the pops faster than I had ever seen. We didn't have much time to sit and rest, so it was back on the road for us.
We finally found the Tiber River, which was wider than I expected and flowed at a nice, easy pace, which contrasted with the fast pace of the traffic around it. Cypress trees hung over it and there was a bridge that led to the other side. "This is it," Annabeth said.
"So what do you do now?" Percy asked.
"I'm not really sure," Annabeth said.
"Let's have lunch!" I suggested, leading the way over to a nearby restaurant. It was nearly empty, seeing as in Italy, they usually ate later in the day, but we were all pretty hungry. The waiter came over and took our orders. Percy got pizza and a coke with ice, Annabeth and I both got paninis, and she got a fizzy water while I got a plain water.
"Why is he giving me such a dirty look?" Percy asked about the waiter.
"Italians generally eat later in the day, they don't put ice in their drinks, and they only do pizza for tourists," Annabeth said.
"They have the best Italian food and they don't even eat it?" Percy asked in shock and I smiled a little. That was kind of cute.
"Excuse me?" someone asked timidly in accented English and I turned to see a group of young girls standing behind me, eager looks on their face. When they saw my face, they lit up. "You're Andee le Fay!"
"I am!" I said in the best Italian I could muster. I knew a little bit from my voice courses at Julliard – Italian was one of the languages we sang in in the classical music classes.
"Can we get a picture with you?" one of the girls asked in accented English.
"Of course!" I replied, standing up as they all whipped out their phones and started taking selfies with me. A few of them had those cute Polaroid cameras so I was even able to sign their photos for them.
When the crowd dispersed, an old-fashioned, baby blue Vespa came up and parked beside us with…Gregory Park and Audrey Hepburn? What?
Annabeth looked in her glory. She loved the movie Roman Holiday, and I honestly thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head.
"I didn't know they had impersonators in Rome?" I said. "Isn't that more of a Vegas and Times Square thing?"
"Oh dear, you have me mistaken!" Audrey laughed. "I'm Rhea Silvia, the mother to Romulus and Remus, back in the day." Apparently back in the day now meant thousands of years ago. Good to know. "And this, of course, is my husband, Tiberinus, God of the River Tiber."
"You're here to help?" Percy asked.
Tiberinus nodded. "My naiads told me you were here. You have the map my dear?" Annabeth nodded. "And your letter of introduction?" Annabeth had a sudden look a panic, her mind racing.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the envelope I had gotten at Google and handed it to Tiberinus. "From Ichnaea."
Annabeth looked at me before thinking, Thank you. I just nodded and squeezed her hand.
Tiberinus opened the envelope and quickly skimmed the letter. "Well, your paperwork all seems to be in order. We should get going – the Mark of Athena awaits!"
"Can I go with her just a little father?" I asked, my chest filling with dread. I didn't want to leave her.
"You can't. You need to return to your ship, gather your friends and confront the giants. Piper's knife will show you the way - you don't have as much time to find the son of Hades as you think you do," Tiberinus said. "Annabeth has a different path and must walk alone." I was just about to ask another question when he said, "And you will not have your connection."
My heart was racing. "I'll be okay, Andee."
"I know," I said. "You're the toughest person I know. We might not be connected, but I'm always there, you know that. As soon as you get to the statue, the connection should come back. Open up and let me know, and we'll come get you, okay?" She nodded and I threw my arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as possible. "I love you, Bethie. I believe in you."
She pulled away and Percy gave her a tight hug, whispering something to her too before she went speeding away on the back of the Vespa with Rhea Silvia and Tiberinus. I stood in spot, watching until I could no long see them.
"She'll be back," Percy said.
"I know," I said firmly. She was Annabeth Freakin' Chase. She was chosen by Athena herself to follow the Mark of Athena, and she would be the first to succeed. She was going to find the Athena Parthenos, return it to Camp Half-Blood and heal the rift between the Greeks and the Romans. She was Annabeth Freakin' Chase. "Can you give me a minute?"
Percy nodded and I walked a bit away from him, pulling out my phone and hitting speed dial. The number went right to voicemail, but I had been expecting it to. "Hi Dad, I know you're probably not going to get this or anything, but I have to try. We're about to fight Ephialtes and Otis, and we need a god and a demigod to do it. I don't know any other gods who aren't splitting and who would fight with us. Dad…we really need your help. If you can help, please, please help."
