***Here's Chapter 18. Chapter 19, featuring Hazel's POV, will be up by Tuesday, May 6. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!***

XVIII. ANNABETH

After Apollo left, Annabeth, Leo, and Piper filled Percy and Jason in on what had happened at Demeter's altar.

"Darn," Percy said, looking at the corn-cob torches, "I was hoping for a Celestial bronze nuclear warhead or something."

"Same here," Leo said.

"Demeter said they'll help us," Annabeth told the boys as she put the torch back in her backpack. "We'll have to trust that it's true."

The five of them set off to hike back to the ship. Piper had insisted she was fine to walk back, but after stumbling twice, turning pale, and wincing as she put a hand on her stomach, she agreed to let Jason fly her back to the ship. This left Annabeth, Percy, and Leo to make the short walk back to the pier, which they did in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Demeter's corn-cob shaped torch bounced lightly against Annabeth's back with every step she took. She tried not to recoil from it. Despite what she had told Percy and Leo, she hated the idea of the torches. Sure it was great they had a weapon that would supposedly help them defeat Gaea and the giants, but Annabeth didn't like how Demeter had answered Piper's question about knowing when to use the torches.

"You will know it is the right time because there will be no other options."

The goddess had made it sound like they were already doomed, as if every other plan would fail, leaving them with only the torches to use as a last resort. Annabeth refused to believe that. There had to be more than one way to win.

When they reached the ship, they found Piper and Jason consoling Frank and Hazel, who looked frantic.

"What's going on?" Percy asked.

"You guys were gone all night," Hazel said. "We've been terrified."

"What do you mean 'all night'?" Annabeth said. "We just got out of the caves less than two hours ago."

"We came out of the caves yesterday," Hazel said. She looked exhausted. "Frank and I got back to the ship yesterday. We've been here all night and most of today waiting for you guys to get back. We even went back to the ruins, but without the cornucopia we couldn't get in."

"So we've been gone an entire day?" Leo asked, his brow furrowed. "How is that even possible?"

"Time flows differently in magical places," Annabeth said, echoing Piper's words in Demeter's cave. She took a deep breath. "But at least it was only a day. We still have plenty of time to get to Athens."
"That's not all, though," Frank said, exchanging glances with Hazel. "We had a visitor."

Quickly, Frank and Hazel told the rest of the crew about their visit from Neptune and the message he had left for Percy.

"'How do you put to sleep that which is not awake?'" Annabeth repeated. "That was the message?"

Hazel nodded. "He said Percy would understand."

"Well, he's wrong," Percy said bluntly. Everyone turned to look at him and Annabeth's stomach dropped. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were overly bright. "I have no idea what he's talking about." He shook his head in disgust. "The first message from my dad in a year and that's it."

Waves were rising around the ship, responding to Percy's anger. Annabeth fought to keep her balance. "Percy—."

"Thanks a lot, Dad!"

"Percy!"

"Thanks for your cryptic, useless advice. It's just great. Gods forbid you actually help us!"

The Argo II was now rocking wildly, like in a storm. Waves were beginning to wash across the deck. Hazel stumbled against Frank, who caught her. Jason and Piper were flung against the railing and Leo slammed into the controls as a particularly large wave hit the ship. Annabeth just managed to keep her footing. She took a step towards Percy, determined to slap him if she couldn't get his attention. "PERCY!"

Percy finally looked at her. He blinked and suddenly seemed to realize what was happening. His eyes widened in horror. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and the waves died down. The crew managed to get back to their feet. Percy looked at Hazel. All the color had drained from her face, which was now tinged with green. Frank was still supporting her. "Hazel, gods, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—."

Hazel waved away his apology. "It's fine. But I'm just going to—," she pointed down the stairs. Frank put an arm around her waist and helped her walk, throwing a look at Percy that was equal parts nervous and annoyed.

As they disappeared, Percy turned to the rest of the crew. "Guys, I'm sorry."

Leo shrugged. "Dude, we've all got daddy issues."

Percy snorted. Annabeth was watching him closely. He was still angry; she could see the tension in his neck and shoulders. He turned to her and said, aggressively, "What?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You want to try that again?"

He looked at her for a moment, then seemed to deflate. His shoulders drooped and he leaned back against the railing, running his hands over his face. Annabeth moved closer to him. Piper, Jason, and Leo, gathered around the controls, studiously ignored them.

"I'm sorry," he said again, his voice muffled from his hands over his face. He dropped his hands to look at her and the hurt expression in his green eyes made her heart twist. "It's just that after everything, the amnesia, Camp Jupiter, Rome, Tartarus, the first thing my dad says to me is that." Percy slammed his fist against the railing. "And he doesn't even give me the message in person."

Annabeth took another step closer, so she was standing right in front of him. "Hazel's father let her be dragged off to Alaska to die. Jason's never even talked to his dad. My mother sent me on a suicide quest that ended with me falling into Tartarus. None of us are doing that great with our godly parents, Seaweed Brain."

Percy took a shaky breath. "Yeah, you're right. I was being an idiot."

"It happens." Annabeth took his hand. "Besides, your dad cares about you. You know that. I'm sure he wouldn't have bothered giving you this message unless it's going to help in some way."

"Maybe," Percy said. "Plus we've still got, what, a week before the Feast of Spes? That should be enough time to figure out a battle plan for Athens, how to use those torches from Demeter, and my dad's advice, right?"

"We'll figure it out," Annabeth assured him. She kissed him, lightly, since their friends were only twenty feet away. "We always do."

Leo suddenly yelped and Annabeth turned in time to see his nose burst into flames. He quickly patted it out, but he looked stunned.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked him.

Leo swallowed. "Guys, Festus says we've been gone seven days."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Annabeth asked.

"Today is July thirtieth," Leo said. "The Feast of Spes is the day after tomorrow."

Percy cursed. "I hate magical places."

"On the plus side," Piper said, "we didn't miss it."

"Yeah, but this changes things." Jason looked grim. "I'll get Frank and Hazel. We need to decide what we're going to do now."

"A week," Annabeth said. "We lost a week. For all we know, the war with the camps could already be over."

"I don't think so," Leo said. He punched a couple of buttons and a holographic message appeared above the controls. "I got an e-mail from the Kerkopes guys. Don't ask me how; they probably stole someone's laptop. Anyway, it says, 'Still slowing down the Romans. Collecting lots of shinies. Hope you're not dead, Blue-bottom.' It was just sent today."

"Why do they call you 'Blue-bottom'?" Percy asked.

Leo turned red. "Not important. Point is, it sounds like the Romans haven't attacked Camp Half-Blood yet."

"So there's still time for Reyna, Nico, and the coach to get the statue there," Piper said.

Jason reappeared on deck with Frank and Hazel, who still looked pale. "We've been gone a week?" she said.

"Looks like it," Leo said.

Frank groaned. "That gives us a day to make a battle plan and execute it before the giants raise Gaea."

"Before the giants try to raise Gaea," Annabeth corrected. "They're still missing a crucial part of their plan."

"Demigod blood," Piper said, nodding. "They still need two of us."

"With that in mind," Leo said, "I suggest staying here tonight. We make sure the ship and our supplies, weapons, everything are in top condition. We're only fifteen miles or so from Athens. Probably not smart to get any closer until we're ready to actually fight. No reason to make it easy for them to capture us."

"That actually sounds like a really good plan," Annabeth said, impressed.

Leo grinned. "No need to sound so surprised."

Frank frowned. "But we still need to make a battle plan for Athens."

"The problem is we don't know exactly what we're facing when we get to Athens," Percy pointed out. "Hard to make a plan when you don't know what the other side's army looks like."

Annabeth's mind was racing. "You're right. We need to know what type of forces Gaea has assembled in Athens." She glanced at the horizon, where the sun was beginning to set.

"It's too late to do anything about that today," Jason said, echoing her thoughts. "But we could send out scouts tomorrow, see if we can figure out what's going on. Like Leo said, it's only fifteen miles away."

"I'll go," Frank volunteered. "I can turn into a hawk or a pigeon or something."

"A pigeon?" Leo's mouth twitched.

"What?" Frank said defensively. "There's tons of them in all the big cities, no one would notice another pigeon."

"That's a great idea," Annabeth cut in before Leo could respond. "So, for now, let's focus on getting everything ready and tomorrow morning, when Frank gets back, we'll come up with our battle plan. Does that work?"

There was a general murmur of agreement, then the crew broke up in order to get to work on their various tasks of preparing for the battle ahead.

For the first time in a week, Annabeth didn't dream about Tartarus. But her new nightmare was so bad, she almost wished she had.

She was standing on Half-Blood Hill, next to Thalia's tree, but something was wrong. Peleus the dragon was gone. So was the Golden Fleece. She heard a snort and looked to her right. Her heart thudded as she saw Octavian standing there, his arms crossed, a grimly satisfied expression on his face as he gazed down at Camp Half-Blood.

Annabeth felt a hot rush of anger as she looked at the skinny augur. She would have punched him, but considering the fact that Octavian hadn't commented on her sudden appearance, she knew she wasn't actually on Long Island; she was just observing what was going on through her dream.

Down in the valley, she could hear the familiar sound of Clarisse shouting orders. The valley was full of activity as campers prepared for battle, rushing around priming catapults, putting on armor, and sharpening weapons. At the bottom of Half-Blood Hill, Annabeth could see a small Roman contingent, like a scouting party. They looked bored. Two of the kids were sitting on the grass playing Mythomagic. Others were leaning on their spears (pila, Hazel had called them) and chatting.

Octavian turned and started walking back towards the other Romans but stopped when there was a rustling in the trees nearby. He hesitated, glanced down at the Roman soldiers, then gripped the knife at his belt and stepped through the trees.

Ten feet into the forest, they came upon a sight that made Annabeth want to cry with joy. Reyna, Nico, and Coach Hedge were standing there, at the base of the Athena Parthenos statue. Reyna was saying to Nico, "—glad you didn't pass out this time."

Nico shrugged. "Maine to Long Island isn't a bad leap." He looked up at the statue. "So, we're back. Now what do we do with this thing?"

"It's a weapon, right?" Coach Hedge said. "Let's blow something up!"

"We're not blowing anything up," Reyna said wearily, like she'd had this conversation before.

A twig crunched under Octavian's foot and Reyna, Nico, and Hedge tensed, all reaching for their weapons. But as Octavian stepped into the clearing, they relaxed. No one but Annabeth noticed the knife he had drawn and was now holding behind his back. She wanted to shout a warning, but the others wouldn't hear her. She could only observe as Octavian walked slowly toward the group gathered around the foot of the statue.

"Octavian, what are you doing here?" Reyna asked. Her eyes narrowed. "If you launched an attack without my orders—"

"The attack hasn't started yet," Octavian said smoothly. "We're waiting until the Feast of Spes so that the goddess of hope will favor us." He looked up at the massive statue. "So it was true. That Chase girl really did find the statue. Impressive—I'd assumed she would die."

Annabeth took a swing at him, but her fist passed right through his stupid head.

"Yes, we need to meet with the Greeks," Reyna said, turning to look up at the Athena Parthenos towering over the group. "Nico will go find the head of the Athena cabin, I'll return the statue to them, and hopefully then we can work this mess out."

"No."

Reyna looked at Octavian over her shoulder, like she didn't understand him. "Excuse me?"

"You are no longer a praetor," Octavian said. "You traveled to the ancient lands, making you officially a traitor. As a true Roman citizen, I have the right to kill you on sight."

Octavian whipped the knife from behind him and sank it into Reyna's back. Annabeth watched in horror as the praetor sank to her knees. Nico and Hedge were standing in complete shock. Before they could recover, Octavian screamed, "Help! HELP! This Greek traitor has stabbed the praetor!"

There was a crashing sound as three Roman centurions came running through the trees. Nico shot a murderous look at Octavian, but as the centurions burst into the clearing, he grabbed Hedge's arm and the base of the statue and shadow-travelled away.

The centurions froze in horror as they saw Reyna kneeling on the ground with the knife in her back. Octavian bent down and put his hand on the knife again.

"No, don't—" one of the centurions said, but Octavian had already pulled the knife out, causing the wound to bleed even more.

"I'm sorry," Octavian gasped, his face a mask of grief. "I was just trying to help."

"You made it worse," one of the centurions growled. "You shouldn't have removed the knife."

"I'm sorry," Octavian said again. "I'm just so shocked. I heard a noise and came to investigate and I found the praetor lying here. The Greek traitor, that child of Pluto, stabbed her."

One of the centurions, a big guy built like a football player, picked Reyna up while another pressed a shirt against her wound. "We need to get her to the infirmary, now!"

Reyna seemed to be losing consciousness, but she muttered, "Octavian—traitor—statue."

"She's delirious!" Octavian said as the group left the clearing. "We must take revenge for what the Greeks have done, to our city and to our praetor!"

Focused on Reyna, the centurions ignored him, but Annabeth doubted that would last long. The Romans would want revenge. And if they believed Octavian's lies, they would take their revenge on Camp Half-Blood.

"Will she live?" the guy carrying Reyna asked.

The girl holding the shirt against Reyna's back had tears in her eyes. "I don't know."

Annabeth tried to follow them, but the dream was fading, the woods turning to darkness around her. She thought she heard a low rumble, like the earth was laughing at her, but she couldn't be sure.

Someone was shaking her. "Annabeth. Annabeth! Wake up!"

Annabeth jerked awake. Her heart was racing and she was covered in cold sweat. She blinked and Percy's face swam into view above her, his brow furrowed and his sea-green eyes full of concern. She sat up and grabbed a fistful of his shirt.

"Annabeth, what—?"

"Reyna," she choked. Tears were spilling down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them away. Percy now looked downright alarmed. "Octavian stabbed Reyna."