sweet dreams • leo valdez

35

Percy, Frank and Coach Hedge had managed to annoy two of the most inconvenient gods given that they were on a boat.

They had apparently been captured and put in a tank. Coach Hedge was also extremely proud of a roundhouse kick which he had managed to plant on the goddess of sea monsters' head. But on the plus side, they had worked out where they needed to head next.

"At least we know our next step is to go to Charleston, to find this map." Annabeth announced, having just stopped Frank and Leo's bickering.

"A map. But a map to what?" Piper asked from where she was leaning against the control panel.

"The Mark of Athena." Percy answered, his eyes on Annabeth. "Whatever that is. We know it leads to something important in Rome, something that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks."

"'Giants' bane stands gold and pale, won through pain from a woven jail'." Delilah supplied, the prophecy practically imprinted in her mind.

Percy nodded and said, "And in my dream, the twin giants said something about a statue."

"Um... According to Phorcys, we'd have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?" Frank said, fiddling with the Chinese handcuffs he'd acquired at the aquarium.

Everyone turned to Annabeth, who seemed to have a thousand thoughts whizzing through her head. She seemed to have an idea. "I-I'm close to an answer. I'll know more if we find this map. Jason, the way you reacted to the name Charleston... have you been there before?"

Jason glanced at Piper briefly before saying, "Yeah. Reyna and I did a quest there about a year ago. We were salvaging Imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."

Delilah had heard about this quest, both from Reyna and Jason. It was interesting, though not necessarily one that she had wished to be on, especially with how shaken it had left Reyna.

"The what?" Piper asked, a confused look in her kaleidoscope eyes.

"Whoa! That's the first successful military submarine. From the Civil War. I always wanted to see that." Leo started to fangirl over the machinery.

"It was designed by Roman demigods. It held a secret stash of Imperial gold torpedoes - until we rescued them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter." Jason carried on explaining.

Hazel crossed her arms. "So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say... not cool?"

Delilah nodded in agreement. "Great-great grandmother, but same. Though it's not completely surprising considering how the Roman Empire was with slavery."

Jason put his hands up in defence. "I personally was not alive then. And it wasn't all Greeks on one side and all Romans on the other. But, yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad choices." He grimaced not so subtly at Hazel. "Like sometimes we're too suspicious. And we speak without thinking."

Hazel just seemed to stare, it not having fully hit that he was trying to apologise.

Delilah lightly nudged Leo, whose eyes widened. He added, "Yeah... bad choices. Like not trusting people's brothers who, you know, might need saving. Hypothetically speaking."

Hazel didn't make a big deal out of it and simply pursed her lips and said, "Fine. Back to Charleston. Are you saying we should check that submarine again?"

Jason shrugged. "Well... I can think of two places in Charleston we might search. The museum where they keep the Hunley - that's one of them. It has a lot of relics from the Civil War. A map could be hidden in one. I know the layout. I could lead a team inside."