anti hero - percy jackson ²

xviii. endless darkness

"no demigod would stand a chance down there"

Something is going to go wrong.

Cassandra tried to stop herself from thinking it, but every part of her was repeating it over and over again, until she couldn't focus on anything besides that one thought.

The ship sailed out of the Colosseum and veered south over the rooftops of Rome, but even that simple fact was hard for her mind to register.

All around the Piazza del Colosseo, traffic had come to a standstill. A crowd of mortals had gathered, probably wondering about the strange lights and sounds that had come from the ruins. As far as she could see, none of the giants' plans of destruction had actually happened successfully.

The city looked the same as before. No one noticed the huge Greek trireme rising into the sky, or the pit of dread growing larger and larger in Cassandra's gut the farther away they got from the Colosseum.

The demigods gathered around the helm. Jason bandaged Piper's sprained shoulder while Hazel sat at the stern, feeding Nico ambrosia. The son of Hades could barely lift his head and his voice was so quiet that Hazel had to lean in whenever he spoke.

Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres, and the visions Gaea had shown them in the bronze mirror. They quickly decided that their best lead for finding Annabeth was the cryptic advice Bacchus had provided: the Emmanuel Building. Frank started typing at the helm's computer while Leo tapped furiously at his controls, muttering, "Emmanuel Building. Emmanuel Building." Coach Hedge tried to help by wrestling with an upside-down street map of Rome.

Percy dragged Cassandra over to Jason and Piper and knelt down beside them. "How's the shoulder?"

Piper smiled. "It'll heal. The three of you did great."

Jason elbowed Percy, and glanced up at Cassandra. "Not a bad team, us three."

She managed to shoot him a smile.

"Better than jousting in a Kansas cornfield" Percy agreed.

"There it is!" Leo cried, pointing to his monitor. "Frank, you're amazing! I'm setting course."

Frank hunched his shoulders. "I just read the name off the screen. Some Chinese tourist marked it on Google Maps."

Leo grinned at the others. "He reads Chinese."

"Just a tiny bit" Frank said.

"How cool is that?"

"Guys" Hazel broke in. "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this."

She helped Nico to his feet. He'd always been pale, but now his skin looked more like powdered milk. His eyes were dark and sunken, reminding her more of liberated prisoners-of-war than the kid she'd known for years.

"Thank you" Nico rasped. His eyes darted nervously around the group. "I'd given up hope."

"You knew about the two camps all along" Percy said. "You could have told me who I was the first day I arrived at Camp Jupiter, but you didn't."

Nico slumped against the helm. "Percy, I'm sorry. I discovered Camp Jupiter last year. My dad led me there, though I wasn't sure why. He told me the gods had kept the camps separate for centuries and I couldn't tell anyone. The time wasn't right. But he said it would be important for me to know..." He doubled over in a fit of coughing.

Hazel held his shoulders until he could stand again.

"I—I thought Dad meant because of Hazel" Nico continued. "I'd need a safe place to take her. But now...I think he wanted me to know about both camps so I'd understand how important your quest was, and so I'd search for the Doors of Death."