The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Terminus is Frustrating

A statue of Terminus appeared at the summit of the hill. The god's marble face frowned irritably. "Well? Come along!"

"You again?" Percy asked. "I thought you just guarded the city"

Terminus huffed. "Glad to see you too, Mr. Rule Flouter. Normally, yes, I guard the city, but for international departures, I like to provide extra security at the camp borders. You really should've allowed two hours before your planned departure time, you know. But we'll have to make do. Now, come over here so I can pat you down"

"But you don't have" I stopped myself, remembering how Terminus reacted when my brother said the same thing earlier, "Uh, sure"

Percy was the first to step up, standing next to the armless statue. Terminus conducted a rigorous mental pat down.

"You seem to be clean" Terminus decided. "Do you have anything to declare?"

"Yes" Percy said. "I declare this is stupid"

"Hmph! Probatio tablet: Percy Jackson, Fifth Cohort, son of Neptune. Fine, go. Lani Jackson, Fifth Cohort, daughter of Neptune. Anything to declare? You don't have any instruments, do you?"

"Why would I have instruments?" I asked.

"Just an old legend, move on. Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. Fine. Any foreign currency, or, ahem, precious metals to declare?"

"No" She muttered.

"Are you sure?" Terminus asked. "Because last time-"

"No!"

"Well, this is a grumpy bunch" said the god. "Quest travelers! Always in a rush. Now, let's see- Frank Zhang. Ah! Centurion? Well done, Frank. And that haircut is regulation perfect. I approve! Off you go then, Centurion Zhang. Do you need any directions today?"

"No. No I guess not"

"Just down to the BART station" Terminus said anyway. "Change trains at Twelfth Street in Oakland. You want Fruitvale station. From there, you can walk or take the bus to Alameda"

"You guys don't have a magical BART train or something?" Percy asked.

"Magic trains!" Terminus scoffed. "You'll be wanting your own security lane and a pass to the executive lounge next. Just travel safely, and watch out for Polybotes. Talk about scofflaws- bah! I wish I could throttle him with my bare hands"

"Wait- who?" Percy asked.

Terminus made a straining expression, like he was flexing his nonexistent biceps. "Ah, well. Just be careful of him. I imagine he could smell a child of Neptune a mile away. Out you go now, good luck"

An invisible force kicked us across the boundary. When I looked back, Terminus was gone. In fact, the entire valley was gone. The Berkley Hills seemed to be free of any Roman camp.

I looked back at my friends. Percy doing the same. "Any idea what Terminus was talking about? Watch out for... Political something or other?"

"Poh-LIB-uh-tease?" Hazel sounded out the name carefully. "Never heard of him"

"Sounds Greek" Frank said.

"That narrows it down" I sighed. "Well, we probably just appeared on the smell radar for every monster within five miles. We'd better get moving."

It took us two hours to reach the docks in Alameda. Compared to my last few months, the trip was easy. No monsters attacked. Nobody looked at me or my brother like we were homeless wild children.

Frank stored his spear, bow, and quiver in a long bag made for skis. Hazel's cavalry sword was wrapped in a bedroll slung on her back. Together the four of us looked like normal high schoolers on our way to an overnight trip. We walked to Rockridge station, bought our tickets with mortal money, and hopped on the BART train.

We got off in Oakland. We had to talk through some rough neighborhoods, but nobody bothered me. Whenever the local gang members came close enough to look in my eyes or my brother's, they quickly veered away. We'd perfected our wolf stares over the last few moments- a look that said: However bad you think you are, I'm worse. After strangling sea monsters and running over gorgons in a police car, I wasn't scared of gangs. Nothing in the mortal world scared me anymore.

In the late afternoon, we made it to the Alameda docks. I looked out over San Francisco Bay and breathed in the salty sea air. Immediately I felt better. This was my father's domain. Whatever we faced, my brother and I would have the upper hand as long as we were at sea.

Dozens of boats were moored at the docks- everything from fifty-foot yachts to ten-foot fishing boats. I scanned the slips for some sort of magic vessel- a trireme, maybe, or a dragon-headed warship like Percy and I had seen in our dreams.

"Um... you guys know what we're looking for?" I asked.

Hazel and Frank shook their heads.

"I didn't even know we had a navy" Hazel sounded as if she wished there wasn't one.

"Oh..." Frank pointed. "You don't think...?"

At the end of the dock was a tiny boat, like a dinghy covered in a purple tarp. Embroidered in faded gold along the canvas was S.P.Q.R.

I heard the confidence wavering in Percy's voice. "No way"

He and I uncovered the boat, our hands working the knots like we'd been doing it our whole lives. Under the tarp was an old steel rowboat with no oars. The boat had been painted dark blue at some point, but the hull was so crusted with tar and salt it looked like one massive nautical bruise.

On the bow, the name Pax was still readable, lettered in gold. Painted eyes dropped sadly at the water level, as if the boat were about to fall asleep. On board were two benches, some steel wool, an old cooler, and a mound of frayed rope with one end tied to the mooring. At the bottom of the boat, a plastic bag and two empty Coke cans floated in several inches of scummy water.

"No wonder Romans fear Neptune. He probably knocked their boats around so they would get an actual boat" I growled, taking a moment to calm myself down as the water was responding to my emotions, splashing against the dock.

"Behold the mighty Roman navy" Frank said.

"There's got to be a mistake" Hazel added. "This is a piece of junk"

I imagined Octavian laughing at us, but I decided not to let that make me angrier. The Pax was still a boat. I jumped aboard, and the hull hummed under my feet, responding to my presence. Percy joined me, gathering up the garbage in the cooler and putting it on the dock while I willed the scummy water to flow over the sides and out of the boat. Percy pointed to the steel wool and it flew across the floor, scrubbing and polishing so fast, the steel began to smoke. When it was done the boat was clean. I pointed at the rope and it untied itself from the dock.

No oars, but that didn't matter. I could tell that the boat was ready to move, just awaiting my command.

"This'll do" Percy said. "Hop in"

Hazel and Frank looked a little stunned, but Frank climbed aboard. Hazel seemed especially nervous, so I offered her my hand. She took it gratefully and settled on one of the benches next to Frank. I saw my brother close his eyes and let myself slip into the confines of my own mind.

Juno was right you know. The sleepy voice of Gaea whispered in my mind, startling me so badly the boat rocked, or maybe that was because of Percy, he looked startled too. You could have chosen a new life in the sea. You would have been safe from me there. Now it's too late. You chose pain and misery. You're part of my plan now- my important little pawn and glorified bait.

"Get off our ship" Percy growled.

"Uh, what?" Frank asked.

We waited but the voice of Gaea was silent.

"Nothing" Percy said. "Let's see what this rowboat can do."

He turned the boat north, and in no time, we were speeding along at fifteen knots, heading for the Golden Gate Bridge.