LAST MAN STANDING .... Heroes of Olympus

vii. gaining momentum

"So where to now?" Leo asked once everyone was properly seated. Jason beside Annais and Annabeth and Ezra were on either side of Percy. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things before we head across the Atlantic."

Percy, with his mouth full of pie, insisted, "We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter. Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

Annais let out a frustrated sigh, muttering to herself, "Of course they are."

Across from her, Ezra winced as she could hear Piper chewing on her nails nervously. "I don't suppose we could go back and try to reason with the Romans?" she asked, though everyone already knew what the answer would be. "Maybe... maybe, I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak..."

"What were you supposed to do, Pipes?" Ezra scoffed, making her feelings known. "You can't charm an entire town, not even Medea could do that. There were thousands of people there. Stop blaming yourself."

"Ezra's right," Jason piped up in agreement with the Min girl. No surprise there, the idiot was still trying his best to charm her. "Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart."

Piper still didn't seem certain, though. "Maybe if we could explain that..."

"With no proof?" Annabeth questioned. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side either, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide. Especially since somebody brought a sword behind the Pomerian Line and threatened Reyna with it."

"Wait, what?" Jason gasped, clearly missing that key detail in the recount of what happened. It didn't take long for him to connect the dots, Jason was finally to learn who Ezra's sister really was. "Annais..."

Just as Ezra opened her mouth to speak, to defend, she harshly dug her nails into her palms, Annais' pain and insecurity were bleeding at the forefront of her mind, overriding all of Ezra's rationale. The instinct to lash out rose, the chaos slowly dying out.

The powers of Hera were rising, gaining more power, more momentum every minute of every day.

"Hey, lay off, Superman," Ezra cut in, giving into the madness. "I had my bracelet with me too, remember?"

Jason's responding snarl was easy for her to ignore as she happily pulled Percy's hand onto her lap to trace his palm. "How could I forget?"

"Look, it doesn't matter now," Hazel intervened before Ezra could even think to retort. "Annabeth's right, Piper. Reyna might listen, but Octavian certainly won't. The Romans have honour to think about here. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions later."

Piper sighed but didn't continue her argument. "You're right. We have to keep going. Not just because of the Romans. We have to hurry..."

Hazel hummed in agreement. "Nemesis said we only have six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."

At her words, Ezra bit her lip harshly, trying not to think about the harsh, cruel treatment Nico was being subjected to in this very moment. She'd have her vengeance, with or without the gods help. Ezra refused to lose another member of her family, she'd give her own life to prevent such a loss.