━━━━HURRICANE!
❝ it's all we know,
the hurricane. ❞
( the mark of athena & the house of hades )
( l. valdez x fem!oc )
( p. mclean x male!oc )
( heroes of o...
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━chapter twenty-three, ❝the mark of athena begins!❞ 『A N N A B E T H』
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━━━Annabeth figures it could've been worse. If she has to go on a horrifying solo quest with no one but Regina, at least she'd gotten lunch with her and Percy on the banks of the Tiber first. Now, she gets to take a scooter ride with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
She only knows about the old movie Roman Holiday because of her dad. Over the past few years, the two of them have made up; they've spent more time together, and she's learned that her dad had a sappy side (and maybe Annabeth shares it a tiny bit). Sure, her dad likes military history, weapons, and biplanes, but he also loves old films, especially romantic comedies from the 1940s and 50s. Roman Holiday is one of his favorites. He'd made Annabeth watch it with him.
She thinks the plot is silly━a princess escapes her minders and falls in love with an American journalist in Rome━but she suspects her dad likes it because it reminds him of his own romance with the goddess Athena: another impossible pairing that couldn't end happily. Her dad is nothing like Gregory Peck. Athena certainly isn't anything like Audrey Hepburn. But Annabeth knows that people see what they want to see━even without the Mist warping perceptions.
When they climbed on, Annabeth made sure she sat in the back. She wants Regina in front of her, in between her and Rhea Silvia━she feels like she needs to protect her, as her big sister.
As the baby-blue scooter zips through the streets of Rome, the goddess Rhea Silvia gives the girls a running commentary on how the city has changed over the centuries. "The Sublician Bridge was over there," she says, pointing to a bend in the Tiber. "You know, where Horatius and his two friends defended the city from an invading army? Now, there was a brave Roman!"
"And look, dear," adds Tiberinus, "that's the place where Romulus and Remus washed ashore." He seems to be talking about a spot on the riverside where some ducks are making a nest out of torn-up plastic bags and candy wrappers.
Regina frowns. "Why doesn't anyone clean that up?"
Rhea Silvia doesn't seem to notice her comment. She sighs happily. "Ah, yes. You were so kind to flood yourself and wash my babies ashore for the wolves to find."
"It was nothing."
Annabeth feels light-headed. The river god is talking about something that had happened thousands of years ago when this area was nothing but marshes and green. Tiberinus saved two babies, one of whom went on to found the world's greatest empire. It was nothing.
