***Hi all, here's Chapter 33. After this one, only seven chapters left—one final chapter from each of the Seven. Can't believe we're so close to the end. Chapter 34, from Hazel's POV, will be up by Thursday, June 26. Thanks again, as always, to everyone who has reviewed, you guys are the best!***

XXXIII. ANNABETH

Whatever Hera did to zap them halfway across the planet did nothing good for Annabeth's stomach. When her feet hit the ground, she felt almost as disoriented as she had riding the elevator from Tartarus back to the mortal world. The sun was just rising over the hills, which completely confused Annabeth, since it had been afternoon in Greece, but then she realized, of course, there was a seven hour time difference between Greece and New York—it was still early morning here.

When Annabeth took in her surroundings, her stomach did a few extra rollovers. She and the rest of the crew were standing on the summit of Half-Blood Hill, right next to Thalia's pine tree. On one side of the hill, down in the valley of Camp Half-Blood, the Greek army was gathered. On the other side, near the road, the Roman army was massed. Hera, being the fantastic (not!) goddess that she was, had deposited the seven of them exactly in between the two armies. Their sudden arrival had taken everyone by surprise. But the armies were quickly recovering.

From the Greek side, she could hear cheers and shouts of "Percy!", "Hey, Jackson's back!", "Annabeth!", "Jason!", "Piper!", and "Leo!". But the Romans stunned expressions were quickly turning to fury. At the head of the Roman lines, a skinny warrior with three teddy bears strapped to his belt screamed, "Get them! Kill the traitors!"

Frank moved faster than Annabeth would have believed possible. He transformed into a giant eagle and swooped down the hill. Octavian screamed shrilly as Frank dove down and locked his talons around the augur's skinny arms. Frank soared back up the hill with Octavian kicking and screaming, then dropped him at the top of the hill, right beside the great pine tree.

Percy, Jason, and Hazel all went for their swords, but Annabeth got there first. She backed Octavian up against the tree with the blade of her drakon bone sword at his throat. "Reyna. Where is she, you worthless little—"

"Annabeth!"

Annabeth kept her sword pressed against Octavian's throat, but she turned to see the Roman ranks parting as two people walked through: Reyna, leaning heavily on a red-mouthed demigod whose name Annabeth thought might be Dakota. The praetor still looked pale, but Annabeth was enormously relieved to see her up and moving. However, she was surprised when Reyna looked directly at her and said, "Release him."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. She studied Reyna, but she couldn't make out anything from the praetor's expression or stature. Reyna, Annabeth realized again, had an excellent poker face. But Annabeth trusted the praetor. Reluctantly, she lowered her sword. Octavian stumbled away, gasping and rubbing his throat, as if she'd actually hurt him. Annabeth suppressed the urge to punch him in the nose.

Before anyone could say or do anything else, there was a roar from above and a shadow fell across the hillside. Cries of alarm rang out, but it was only the Argo II, descending from the clouds.

Unfortunately, the sight of the ship that had fired on their city didn't do anything to erase the hostile expressions from the Roman's faces. Annabeth knew what she needed to do, but she didn't know if her strategy would work in this environment, with the two armies facing each other and with it unclear whose side Reyna was on. It probably wasn't a good sign that the praetor was staying close to the Roman army, rather than approaching the hill, but maybe that was just because she was still weak from her injury. Annabeth hoped so.

Reyna was watching them, her face inscrutable. "I assume since you're all here, Gaea has been defeated?"

"Yes," Annabeth said. "We put her back to sleep. But if demigod blood is spilled here, she'll wake up again. And this time, we won't be able to stop her."

"Lies!" Octavian shrieked. He had worked his way halfway down the hill, almost back to the Romans. "The Greeks are still trying to deceive us. We must crush them!"

"One good blast," Jason muttered. "I could hit him from here."

"Hold," Annabeth said. "We need the Romans on our side." She locked eyes with Reyna again and raised her voice. "There is a way to bring peace. But we have to work together."

"We don't have the statue," Reyna pointed out. "Nico left with it."

"Yes!" Octavian chimed in. Annabeth wanted to wring his skinny neck. "The son of Hades ran away, after stabbing our beloved praetor."

"Shut up," Reyna told him. Her glare was so intense, Octavian actually shrank back. Annabeth had no idea why Reyna hadn't told everyone the truth, that it had been Octavian who stabbed her in the back, but she trusted the praetor had a reason.

Suddenly, the shadows beside the pine tree rippled. The darkness solidified, revealing a massive golden and ivory statue and a teenage boy dressed in black.
"I'm here," Nico gasped, stumbling forward. He looked around at the assembled armies. "Hera sent me with the statue so we can stop this war."

"The statue can heal the rift between the Greeks and the Romans, if we let it," Annabeth said.

"You said that in Greece. But how exactly is it supposed to work?" Reyna asked suspiciously.

"I'm not sure," Annabeth admitted. "But I have an idea. I think the Romans need to officially return the statue to the Greeks. And the Greeks have to forgive the Romans for stealing it. If we can make peace, hopefully we can cure the gods of their schizophrenia and the two camps can work together."

In truth, Annabeth had no idea how the stupid statue was supposed to work. She was going off of pure gut instinct right now. But she had to believe that there was truth in it. If the Romans offered the statue back to the Greeks, and the Greeks forgave the Romans, it could end the two-thousand year old feud.

There was a lot of muttering and dirty looks going back and forth between both sides, but Annabeth kept her eyes fixed on Reyna. At the moment, the praetor's opinion was the only one that mattered. Reyna's expression gave nothing away; her dark eyes were serious, but with no hint of what she was thinking. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay," she said. "Let's try it."

Dakota helped Reyna walk up the hill. The praetor placed her hand on the base of the statue and looked up at the face of the goddess. "The greatest Greek treasure," she murmured. "Taken to Rome, rescued recently and taken back to Greece, then brought here to New York, the new home of the gods. The statue's history is, now, both Greek and Roman, but it remains a Greek treasure." She looked at Annabeth. "And I am sorry we took it from you. I offer it back to the Greek demigods and to the children of Athena in particular." Reyna took a step away from the statue.

Annabeth's heart was pounding and her mouth was dry as she stepped forward. She put a hand on the statue's base, as Reyna had. She could feel the power and magic radiating from the statue. If she was wrong, there was a good chance she would be incinerated by her mother's image. "On behalf of the children of Athena, I accept your apology. Thank you for bringing the statue back here."

She hadn't been incinerated, which Annabeth took as a good sign. The statue didn't do anything though. There was no sign that the exchange had worked. But Annabeth couldn't dwell on that; she had another dangerous request to make. She took a deep breath. "I must also ask the Romans to forgive the Greeks for firing on your city. The attack was orchestrated by Gaea. She's been defeated for now, but that won't matter if we kill each other—she'll still win. Please," and now Annabeth spoke directly to Reyna, "please accept our apology and call off the attack."

After a long moment, during which Annabeth tried to surreptitiously wipe her sweaty palms on her jeans, Reyna nodded. "I accept your apology. There will be no attack on the Greek camp today."

"Now wait just one minute." Octavian charged forward, fuming, the teddy bears on his belt swinging wildly. "We were attacked. New Rome was fired upon by that ship." He pointed at the Argo II still hovering about fifty feet above their heads. "Someone must be held accountable."

"And who would you suggest?" Reyna asked coldly.

A cunning expression stole across Octavian's face and Annabeth's stomach twisted. "I seem to remember that Percy Jackson, a praetor of Rome, swore on his life that the Greeks meant no harm. He also promised, in front of the entire Senate, that if the Greeks did attack, he would help to defend the city. But he didn't. Instead, he betrayed the city and ran away on the very ship that launched the attack." Octavian turned to Percy, whose fists were clenched. "In traditional Roman law, traitors are punished most severely."

"Yes." Reyna said. The fierce glint in her eyes chilled Annabeth's blood. "It is Roman law. Traitors must be punished."