This is a pretty slow part of the story, especially for someone who already knows what's going to happen. Is that just me? Anyway, I have a million and one plans for the end of this book and especially the next one, but until we get there, bear with me.

Review! All that stuff! I want to hear from you, dear readers!


First Person: Audrey

It was official. I was a terrible babysitter. Don't get me wrong, I was awesome back before the whole demigod business, but before the whole demigod business, the kids that I had to look over weren't able to run away from me at the speed of sound, and silently at that. Within three minutes, Kaze had suddenly disappeared, and I wasn't able to find him anywhere. Even if he was still on the ship, he could probably stay out of my sight like a ninja considering how surprisingly quiet he can be when in speed-mode. He was probably half way through Rome by now, and there'd be no way for me to retrieve him.

When Piper and Jason got tired of pacing the deck, listening to Coach Hedge sing "Old MacDonald" - with weapons instead of insults (I guess I understand why Kaze made a break for it), they decided to have a picnic in the park. Hedge grudgingly agreed, as long as I would go with them and watch over them.

"And stay where I can see you," He ordered.

"What are we, kids?" Jason asked. Hedge snorted.

"Kids are baby goats. They're cute, and they have redeeming social value. You are definitely not kids." We headed out and spread a blanket under a willow tree next to a pond. Piper turned over her cornucopia and spilled out an entire meal - neatly wrapped sandwiches, canned drinks, fresh fruit, and (for some reason) a birthday cake with purple icing and candles already lit.

"Uh, is it someone's birthday?" I asked. Jason winced.

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Jason!" Piper chided.

"There's too much going on," He said. "And honestly…before last month, I didn't even know when my birthday was. Thalia told me the last time she was at camp." I wondered what it was like to not even know the day you were born. Jason had been given to Lupa the wolf when he was only two years old. He'd never really known his mortal mom, but according to Thalia, she was a real…well, his not knowing her might've been a good thing. Plus, he'd only been reunited with Thalia last winter.

"July First," Piper mused. "The Kalends of July."

"Yeah." Jason smirked. "The Romans would find that auspicious - the first day of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno's sacred day. Yippee."

"Sixteen?" I asked. He nodded.

"Oh, boy. I can get my driver's license."

"Trust me, it's hell," I said, smiling to try and keep the mood light. Piper laughed. Considering all we'd been through, how many monsters that we've killed, and how we're currently trying to save the world again, the idea of him sweating over a driver's test just seemed ridiculous. I pictured him behind the wheel of some old Lincoln with a STUDENT DRIVER sign on top and a grumpy teacher in the passenger seat with an emergency brake pedal.

"Well?" Piper urged. "Blow out the candles." Jason did so, and I wondered if he'd made a wish. Well, best not to ask and jinx it, especially with the luck of a demigod. Voice your wishes to the Fates, and they celebrate at the chance to shove it in your face. Yea!

Ever since yesterday when we'd left the Pillars of Hercules, Jason had seemed distracted. I couldn't really blame him. If Percy had ended up being a jerk of a brother when I'd met him, I'd be pretty disappointed too. Not to mention that Achelous had said some unflattering things about the sons of Jupiter, apparently. I mean, if any Greek book that I'd ever read was anything to go by, then yeah, things were crazy a few millennia ago, but surely things have changed. Heroes are different nowadays, most of them, anyway. There's still the occasional rotten apple, but that isn't anything to judge all demigods by.

I looked at the cornucopia Piper had gotten from the old river god. I wondered if he was doing okay. If Zy and Emily's interpretations of the story were accurate, that guy must've had it rough, and having his second horn stolen must've been a major hit to his pride. At least Herc the Jerk didn't get it. I don't understand how such a lonely and depressed spirit could produce a horn of plenty that shot out pineapples and birthday cakes. Maybe the cornucopia had been draining all the happiness out of him over the years, and now that it was gone, he would be able to fill up with some happiness and keep it for himself.

Though he'd attacked the others, it wasn't like he had much of a choice, and when Zy said she might go back and visit a lot of the people we've been meeting, keep them company over the years and/or centuries, it kinda sounded like a good idea. There were a lot of people/gods/other things that were victims of circumstance, suffering fates they never asked for, fates they regret, fates they'd do anything to change. Some are immortal, and therefore stuck suffering forever. Kinda reminds me of Cie'th from Final Fantasy XIII. I may not have been as good at videogames as Veon or Zy, but I did see the storylines of the games they played while we were all together, and I heard numerous times that a Cie'th's only purpose was to wander the world until someone freed them from their pain.

There was also a story of a flood that the river god had apparently mentioned, and Zy explained how it was an old Cherokee version of the Noah's Ark thing. I'm not sure how it applied to life right now, but it definitely meant something, and if my English teachers were watching right now, they'd be telling me how to "think life with literary interpretations," or something like that.

Jason plucked an extinguished candle from his cake.

"I've been thinking." Piper suddenly snapped to attention, probably thinking that the 'I've been thinking' line was not a good thing to hear from your boyfriend.

"About?" She asked.

"Camp Jupiter," He said. "All the years I trained there. We were always pushing teamwork, working as a unit. I thought I understood what that meant. But honestly? I was always the leader. Even when I was younger-"

"The Son of Jupiter," Piper said. "The most powerful kid in the legion. You were the star." Jason looked uncomfortable, but he didn't deny it.

"Being in this crew of…uh, we're at 12 now…I'm not sure what to do. I'm not used to being one of so many, well, equals. I feel like I'm failing." Piper took his hand.

"You're not failing."

"It sure felt that way when Chrysaor attacked. I've spent most of this trip knocked out and helpless."

"Chrysler made all of us feel helpless, Jace," I said. "Heck, Percy was the one who barely came up with a plan to beat him and even he felt helpless. That Chrysler was a better swordsman than Lityerses, meaning you wouldn't have fared much better against him even if you hadn't been knocked out. Even Zy got a cut when facing him, and she's got goddess power behind her."

"Besides," Piper continued. "Being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible or undefeatable. It just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed."

"And what if I don't know what's needed?"

"That's what your friends are for. We've all got different strengths. Together we'll figure it out."

"Diversity is what makes us unpredictable," I recited. "You don't carry this entire quest on your shoulders, Jason. There are twelve of us - thirteen counting Hedge - and we've all got to work together, not leave it all to one person. You know how you worked with Reyna as an equal back when you were a praetor? Think of it like that, just times 10 - or 12, I suppose." I wasn't sure if Jason bought what I was saying, as you can never be sure with the hero types. At least he was the hero that didn't believe in himself, rather than the guy who was full of himself. Having a little self-doubt was a good trait for a hero. He didn't always succeed, but he didn't think the universe owed him an apology whenever something went wrong - unlike many people we'd met recently, and including one that we had seen not long ago.

"Hercules was a jerk," Jason said, reading my thoughts. "I never want to be like that. But I wouldn't have had the courage to stand up to him without your taking the lead. And Zy's, course, but the point is, you were the hero that time."

"Not to mention that time she saved you from Medea," I added.

"We can take turns saving each other," She suggested.

"I don't deserve you," He said.

"You're not allowed to say that."

"Why not?"

"It's a breakup line. Unless you're breaking up-" Jason leaned over and kissed her. I diverted my attention to the food, hoping I wasn't a third wheel.

"No breakups," He promised. "I may have busted my head a few times, but I'm not that stupid."

"Good," I said. "Now, about that cake…" My words were cut off as I saw Percy running towards us, and I could tell from here that he didn't bring good news. We packed up the picnic and gathered on deck so that Coach Hedge could hear the story. He explained how Annabeth and Zy had been taken by Tiber-rinno and Raya Silver - who apparently looked like Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn - and as Percy and Veon had been on their way back, Veon had insisted that he go and look for Nico and Zy, shadow traveling away before Percy could protest and leaving him alone to head back to the Argo II.

"So Annabeth and Zy were kidnapped on a motor scooter by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn," Piper summed up.

"Not kidnapped, exactly," Percy said. "But I've got this bad feeling…" He took a deep breath, like he was trying hard not to freak out. "Anyway, she's…she's gone. Maybe I shouldn't have let her, but-"

"You had to," I said. "You knew she had to go alone. Besides, Annabeth's tough and smart. She'll be fine. I'm worried a bit about Veon, though. If he's run off alone, who knows what kind of trouble he could get into? He could shadow travel right into the giants' trap for all we know."

"I guess you're right," Percy said. "Gregory - I mean Tiberinus - said we had less time to rescue Nico than we thought. Hazel and the guys aren't back yet?" Piper checked the time on the helm control.

"It's two in the afternoon. We said three o'clock for a rendezvous."

"At the latest," Jason corrected. Percy pointed to Piper's dagger.

"Tiberinus said you could find Nico's location…you know, with that." Piper bit her lip. I knew from Emily that drawing Katoptris didn't exactly give Piper nice images. If Veon were here, we could just let him home in on Nico like Haze had done, or if Zy were here, she might know where to look too.

"I've tried," Piper said. "The dagger doesn't always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does."

"Please," Percy begged. "Try again." He pleaded with those sea-green eyes, like a cute baby seal that needed help.

"Fine," Piper reluctantly agreed, drawing her dagger.

"While you're at it, see if you can get the latest baseball scores," Hedge requested. "Italians don't cover baseball worth beans."

"Shh," I hushed. The light in the bronze blade shimmered to reveal a loft apartment filled with Romans demigods. A dozen of them stood around a dining table as Octavian talked and pointed to a big map. Reyna paced next to the windows, gazing down at Central Park.

"That's not good," Jason muttered. "They've already set up a forward base in Manhattan."

"And that map shows Long Island," Percy said.

"They're scouting the territory," Jason guessed. "Discussing invasion routes."

"Zy said she had a plan to hold them off," I remembered. "She's probably got the Greeks prepared for the legion already. Plus, she said she planned to send a surprise their way, make sure the battle stays neutral, no one dying, until we can get back there. They'll be fine." Light rippled across the blade again as Piper concentrated, and next, we saw ruins - a few crumbling walls, a single column, a stone floor covered with moss and dead vines - all clustered on a grassy hillside dotted with pine trees.

"I was just there," Percy said. "That's in the old Forum." The view zoomed in. On one side of the stone floor, a set of stairs had been excavated, leading down to a modern iron gate with a padlock. The blade's image zoomed straight through the doorway, down a spiral stairwell, and into a dark, cylindrical chamber like the inside of a grain silo. Piper suddenly dropped the blade in horror. Emily had told me about what she'd seen, the image of the four of us drowning in that very room.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "It was showing us something." Piper looked like she was going to have a panic attack.

"We can't go there," She declared. Percy frowned.

"Piper, Nico is dying. We've got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed." I wasn't exactly Emily, and I didn't know the right words that would convince Piper, but I had to give it my best try.

"Come on, Piper. We can make it past whatever challenges we face. Besides, we can't just sit here and do nothing." Piper took a few shaky breaths, still not convinced, but not sharing her vision. She reluctantly picked up the knife again, forcing herself to look at the blade.

We saw the two giants in gladiator armor sitting on oversized praetors' chairs. The giants toasted each other with golden goblets as if they'd just won an important fight. In front of them, Kaze sat at the base of the dais the giants were sitting upon, fiddling with the shuriken that his sister had given him with his robotic cat on his shoulder, pawing at him as though it was asking for food. He swatted at it to stop and Neko backed off sadly. Ephialtes said something to Kaze, raising his goblet as though offering him a drink, but he responded with an aggravated look on his face, as though threatening the giant to shut up. Ephialtes just shrugged and drank out of his large gold cup.

"What's Kaze doing there?" Percy asked.

"He kinda ran away a while ago," I admitted. "You try stopping a kid that can run faster than the speed of sound."

"What the hell is he doing with the giants?" Jason asked skeptically.

"He probably found them but was caught. He has to just be playing along and buying time until we arrive. If he ran, no doubt that Nico would be dead already. I can't understand what he says, but I can see that he'd never betray his sister. Just look at him. He looks like he wants to murder the twins, but obviously, he can't win two against one, and he can't kill them without a god. It's smarter to just play along and not waste his energy."

The vision in the knife zoomed into the jar that sat between the two giants. Inside the jar, Nico di Angelo was no longer moving, all the pomegranate seeds eaten. Nico wasn't much of a surprise, but the fact that Zy and Veon were also in the jar with him, made all of us tense together. Zy was gripping either of the boys' hands tightly, her face strained in concentration as her aura from her curse power surrounded the three of them. She was keeping the three of them alive within the poisonous air, and while that did give Nico more time, two of our friends, and one of them the most powerful of the group, were out of commission.

"Guess that explains why Kaze looked so ticked," Percy said grimly. "Zy's bought us some time. We have to hurry." The blade's surface went dark, and Piper sheathed her weapon, trying to keep her hands from shaking.

"We should wait for the others," She said. "Hazel, Frank, Emily and Leo should be back soon."

"We can't wait," Percy insisted. "Zy may be strong and powerful, but it looked like she couldn't hold out for much longer." Coach Hedge grunted.

"It's just two giants. If you guys want, I can take them."

"Uh, Coach, that's a great offer, but we need you to man the ship," I said. "Or…goat the ship, I suppose. Whatever." Hedge scowled.

"And let you four have all the fun?" Percy gripped the satyr's arm.

"Hazel and the others need you here. When they get back, they'll need your leadership. You're their rock."

"Yeah," Jason said, managing to keep a straight face. "Leo always says you're his rock. You can tell them where we've gone and bring the ship around to meet us at the Forum."

"And if there's trouble, we obviously trust no one else to man the ballistae," I added.

"And here." Piper unstrapped Katoptris and put it in Coach Hedge's hands. The satyr's eyes widened. A demigod was never supposed to leave her weapon behind, but clearly Piper was fed up with evil visions. Sometimes getting previews isn't as good as you'd think, especially in this life. "Keep an eye on us with the blade," She suggested. "And you can check the baseball scores." That sealed the deal. Hedge nodded grimly, prepared to do his part for the quest.

"All right," He said. "But if any giants come this way-"

"Feel free to blast them," I said.

"What about annoying tourists?"

"No," We all said in unison.

"Bah. Fine. Just don't take too long, or I'm coming after you with the ballistae blazing."

"Fair enough," I muttered. Percy led us off to our location easily, on an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum. Getting in was easy enough too. Just one swing of my sword and the padlock was sliced in half, the metal gate creaking open. No mortals saw us, no alarms went off, and it seemed like a straightforward path down the stone steps spiraling down into the gloom.

"I'll go first," Jason said.

"No!" Piper yelped. Both of the boys turned to her in confusion.

"Pipes, what is it?" Jason asked. "That image in the blade…you've seen it before, haven't you?" She nodded, her eyes looking on the verge of tears.

"I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the three of us drowning." Jason and Percy frowned.

"The two of us can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question.

"In water, at least," I reminded him. "Remember what I said before? The only thing we can't drown in is water. Maybe it's not water that's down there. Always assume the worst, and never underestimate prophecies."

"Maybe the future changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."

"I don't know," I muttered. "Zy has always told me that prophecies and visions of the future can never change once they're known, and I trust the word of an Apollo girl. Most of the time, though, there's always more to them, a catch that gives us a chance. We shouldn't ever be over confident, but we should still remain open-minded, right?"

"Look, I'll check it out first," Percy said. "It's fine. Be right back." Before Piper could object, he disappeared down the stairwell. I rolled my eyes at Percy's blatant disregard for caution, as he just stormed down the steps without us. If there is a threat, maybe we'd hear him call out to us, but separation is always a wild card, especially when there's a person going on their own. No matter how many times we told him not to walk alone overconfidently into a dangerous situation, he never changed. Piper was clearly counting the seconds until Percy returned, and around 35, we heard his footsteps and my brother returned, looking more baffled than relieved.

"Good news: no water," He reported. "Bad news: I don't see any exits down there. And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this…" We descended cautiously, Percy taking the lead with Riptide drawn. I had my dagger out, walking behind him in second, with Piper behind me and Jason at the rear. The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter. In tight spaces like this, a sword would be at a major disadvantage, and so my dagger and possibly Piper's cornucopia would be the only useful weapons if worse came to worst (which, let's be honest, always happens when it comes to our lives). Maybe Piper could shoot our enemies with high-velocity smoked hams.

As we wound our way underground, I saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian. That meant other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire, but that wasn't reassuring. If monsters were below, they'd ignore mortals, waiting for some nice juicy demigods to come along. At least the monsters were kind enough to not kill mortals, as doing so would make our lives even worse, causing us to have to reveal ourselves as "different" at the least in order to constantly protect them. Nightmare.

We finally reached the bottom, and Percy turned.

"Watch this last step." He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell. If someone had built a stairwell like this, it might suggest that it was meant to trap someone down in this bottom room, the stairs able to easily be cut off. The thought didn't exactly comfort me, but with Piper and Jason behind me, Percy down there below me, and no way to avoid any prophecies, I forced myself to jump down after my brother. Piper clambered down behind me, Jason following.

The curved walls of the room had once been painted with frescos, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above, and around the back side of the room, opposite of the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty. The air felt cold and dry, and as Percy had said, there were no other exits. This was the kind of room that could possibly feel claustrophobic if one focused too much on it, and I didn't want to know what kind of traps could be in here.

"All right," Percy said, raising his eyebrows. "Here's the weird part. Watch." He stepped to the middle of the room. Instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls, and I heard the sound of a fountain despite there being no source in sight. There didn't seem to be any source of light except for the boys' and my blades.

"Do you smell the ocean?" Percy asked. At first, I hadn't really noticed it, considering Percy always smelled like the sea, but he was right. The scent of salt water and storm was getting stronger, like a summer hurricane was approaching.

"An illusion?" Piper hazarded a guess. My mouth began to feel dry, and I was suddenly really thirsty.

"It feels like there should be water here," I said. "Lots of water. But there isn't any."

"You're right," Percy agreed. "I've never been to a place like this." Jason moved to the row of niches. He touched the bottom shelf of the nearest one, which was just at his eye level.

"This stone…it's embedded with seashells. This is a nymphaeum."

"A what?" Piper asked.

"A shrine to nymphs?" I guessed. He nodded.

"We have one at Camp Jupiter on Temple Hill." I walked over and ran my hand along the bottom of another niche. He was right. The alcove was studded with cowries, conches, and scallops. The seashells seemed to dance in the watery light, and they were ice-cold to the touch. This place didn't feel like any nymphs I've ever met before. Usually they were pretty harmless, like the ones at Camp Half-Blood, or streams in the woods where we'd usually encounter nymphs. The ones with Narcissus seemed a bit…crazy, but even they didn't give off the kind of feel I was getting here. This place felt so unnatural, hostile, and very dry.

Jason stepped back and examined the row of alcoves.

"Shrines like this were all over the place in Ancient Rome. Rich people had them outside their villas to honor nymphs, to make sure the local water was always fresh. Some shrines were built around natural springs, but most were man-made."

"So…no actual nymphs lived here?" Piper asked hopefully."

"Not sure," Jason admitted. "This place where we're standing would have been a pool with a fountain. A lot of times, if the nymphaeum belonged to a demigod, he or she would invite the nymphs to live there. If the spirits took up residence, that was considered good luck."

"For the owner," Percy guessed. "But it would also bind the nymphs to the new water source."

"Which would be great if the fountain was in a nice sunny park with fresh water pumped through the aqueducts-" I continued.

"But this place has been underground for centuries," Piper guessed. "Dry and buried. What would happen to the nymphs?" The sound of water changed to a chorus of hissing, like ghostly snakes. The rippling light shifted from sea blue and green to purple and sickly lime. While Veon might like the color pattern, I did not think that it was going to mean anything good for us. Above us, the nine niches glowed. They were no longer empty.

Standing in each was a withered old woman, so dried up and brittle they reminded me of mummies - except mummies didn't normally move. Their eyes were dark purple, as if the clear blue water of their life source had condensed and thickened inside them. Their fine silk dresses were now tattered and faded. Their hair had once been piled in curls, arranged with jewels in the style of Roman noblewomen, but now their locks were disheveled and dry as straw. If water cannibals actually existed, this is what they would look like.

"What would happen to the nymphs?" Said the creature in the center niche. She was in even worse shape than the others. Her back was hunched like the handle of a pitcher, her skeletal hands had only the thinnest papery layer of skin, and on her head, a battered wreath of golden laurels glinted in her roadkill hair. She fixed her purple eyes on Piper.

"What an interesting question, my dear. Perhaps the nymphs would still be here, suffering, waiting for revenge." I knew that Katoptris hadn't been showing us the entire story. Nine evil, desiccated zombie nymphs, and an image of us drowning. Makes sense. I looked back the way we came, and as predicted, the doorway had disappeared. Nothing was there now but a blank wall, and I suspected that it wasn't just an illusion. Besides, I doubt we could ever make it to the opposite side of the room before the zombie nymphs could jump on us.

Jason and Percy stood on either side of Piper with me in front of her. She was the only one weaponless, and while I knew the three of us were strong, Katoptris had already shown us our fate. One way or another, these things were going to defeat us and try to drown us. Still, the boys had their swords ready to fight, and I had my water bottle cap unscrewed.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded. The central nymph turned her head.

"Ah…names. We once had names. I was Hagno, the first of the nine!" It seemed like a cruel joke that this hag would be named Hagno, but I managed to withhold the comment.

"The nine," Jason repeated. "The nymphs of this shrine. There were always nine niches."

"Of course," Hagno said, baring her teeth in a vicious smile. "But we are the original nine, Jason Grace, the ones who attended the birth of your father." Jason's sword dipped.

"You mean Jupiter? You were there when he was born?"

"Zeus, we called him then," Hagno said. "Such a squealing whelp. We attended Rhea in her labor. When the baby arrived, we hid him so that his father, Kronos, would not eat him. Ah, he had lungs, that baby! It was all we could do to drown out the noise so Kronos could not find him. When Zeus grew up, we were promised eternal honors. But that was in the old country, in Greece." The other nymphs wailed and clawed at their niches. They seemed to be trapped in them, I realized, as if their feet were glued to the stone along with the decorative seashells. "When Rome rose to power, we were invited here," Hagno continued. "A son of Jupiter tempted us with favors. A new home, he promised. Bigger and better! No down payment, an excellent neighborhood. Rome will last forever."

"Forever," The others hissed.

"We gave in to temptation," Hagno said. "We left our simple wells and springs on Mount Lycaeus and moved here. For centuries, our lives were wonderful! Parties, sacrifices in our honor, new dresses and jewelry every week. All the demigods of Rome flirted with us and honored us." The nymphs wailed and sighed. "But Rome did not last," Hagno snarled. "The aqueducts were diverted, our master's villa was abandoned and torn down, we were forgotten, buried under the earth, but we could not leave. Our life sources were bound to this place; our old master never saw fit to release us. For centuries, we have withered here in the darkness, thirsty…so thirsty." The others clawed at their mouths.

"I'm sorry for you," Piper said, trying to use her charm speak. "That must have been terrible. But we are not your enemies. If we can help you-"

"Oh, such a sweet voice!" Hagno cried. "Such beautiful features. I was once young like you. My voice was as soothing as a mountain stream. But do you know what happens to a nymph's mind when she is trapped in the dark, with nothing to feed on but hatred, nothing to drink but thoughts of violence? Yes, my dear, you can help us." Percy raised his hand.

"Uh, we're the children of Poseidon. Maybe we can summon a new water source." Might be a little late for that, Perce.

"Ha!" Hagno cried, and the other eight echoed, "Ha! Ha!"

"Indeed, son of Poseidon," Hagno said. "I know your father well. Ephialtes and Otis promised you would come." Piper put her hand on Jason's arm for balance.

"The giants," She said. "You're working for them?"

"They are our neighbors." Hagno smiled. "Their chambers lie beyond this place, where the aqueduct's water was diverted for the games. Once we have dealt with you…once you have helped us…the twins have promised we will never suffer again."

"You were promised that Rome would be eternal and ended up here," I said. "Promises like that are complete bull, and you should know it."

"Ah, but your presence here proves otherwise. The twins spoke the truth of your arrival, and now we shall drink." She turned to Jason. "You, child of Jupiter - for the horrible betrayal of your predecessor who brought us here, you shall pay. I know the sky god's powers, I raised him as a baby! Once, we nymphs controlled the rain above our wells and springs. When I am done with you, we will have that power again. Percy Jackson, Audrey Mavepo, children of the sea god…from you, we will take water, an endless supply of water."

"Endless?" Percy asked. The two of us eyed each other and then each of the nymphs. "Uh…look, I don't know about endless."

"But maybe we could spare a few gallons," I added.

"And you, Piper McLean." Hagno's purple eyes glistened. "So young, so lovely, so gifted with your sweet voice. From you, we will reclaim our beauty. We have saved our last life force for this day. We are very thirsty. From you four, we shall drink!" All nine niches glowed. The nymphs disappeared, and water poured from their alcoves - sickly dark water, like oil.