The Veiled Legacy | PJO - Book Two

thirteen

ARIANA DOESNT LIKE DROWNING

They ran back to the Argo II, where Jason and Piper stood on the deck.

They gathered on deck so that Coach Hedge could hear the story. When Percy was done, Piper still couldn't believe it.

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

"Not kidnapped, exactly." Ariana said. "But I've got this bad feeling ..."

She took a deep breath, like she was trying hard not to freak out. "Anyway, she's - she's gone. Maybe we shouldn't have let her, but -"

"You had to." Piper said. "You knew she had to go alone. Besides, Annabeth is tough and smart. She'll be fine."

Percy and Ariana calmed down.

Percy's houlders relaxed a little. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, 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 said.

Ariana pointed at Piper's dagger. "Tiberinus said you could find Nico's location ... you know, with that!"

Piper bit her lip.

"I've tried." she 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. Ariana wondered how Annabeth ever won an argument with this guy.

"Plus it's Nico, my little emo brother who deserves a massive fucking slap."

"Fine." she sighed, and drew her dagger.

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

"Shh." Piper studied the bronze blade.

The light shimmered. She saw a loft apartment filled with Roman 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."

Ariana did not want to see that. Piper concentrated harder. Light rippled across the blade.

They 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." Ariana 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 dropped the blade.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "It was showing us something."

"We can't go there." Piper shook her head.