Invisible ― Jason Grace

vi. camilla and jason finally say hello

"Twins, like in Ella's prophecy," Annabeth said. "If we could figure out those lines, it might help."

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy said. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to mean you. Juno told me... well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."

Annabeth took a long breath. "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors—something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."

Camilla exchanged nervous looks with Leo and Hazel.

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo said. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"

"The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel recalled.

"'An old wrong finally avenged,'" Camilla recited.

Percy drew a frowny face in his blue whipped cream. "I was only a praetor for about two hours. Jason, you ever heard a legend like that?"

Jason stiffened almost indiscernibly. "I... uh, I'm not sure. I'll give it some thought."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "You're not sure?"

Camilla kicked his shin enough to get the message across: Go easy. Percy scowled, but he didn't interrogate Jason further.

Hazel broke the sudden silence. "What about the other lines?" She turned her ruby-encrusted plate. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death."

"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," Frank added. "Won through pain from a woven jail."

"'Giants' bane,'" Leo said. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good."

Percy nodded. "We can't kill the giants without the help of the gods."

Jason turned to Frank and Hazel. "I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you."

"Alcyoneus was a special case," Frank said. "He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn—Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but..." He shrugged. "Percy's right, we'll need the gods."

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Leo was the first to break the silence. "So..." He pushed his chair away from the table. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put down in the morning to finish repairs."

"Someplace close to a city," Annabeth suggested, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"

No one said anything.

After a moment, Piper finally spoke up. "Well," she ventured, "how do you guys feel about Kansas?"

◈

Camilla had only been in her cabin for a few minutes when there was a knock on her door. It wasn't lights-out yet—according to the very aggressive faun, that was in ten minutes on the dot!—but she wasn't sure who would be knocking on her door. Maybe Hazel needed something.

It wasn't Hazel.

Jason smiled at her sheepishly from the hallway as she opened the door. "Can I come in?"