"Y/N, you've got to come too." Leo patted me on the back, and I frowned.
"No, I don't?" I replied uncertainly, gulping as everyone's eyes averted to me. "I'm meant to stay in the sickbay Leo, it's probably best if I don't come with.
"No!" Coach Hedge finally decided to involve himself once again. "I'll do my shift in the sickbay; you can go off with the special kids." Coach grinned and shot a cheeky thumbs up to Leo, who rubbed his neck in obvious embarrassment.
"If you're sure." I shrugged. What was Coach Hedge gesturing to Leo for?
"Anyway," Frank said, clearly anxious to change the subject. "The museum is one place to search. But, uh, Jason, you said there were two?"
Jason's smile faded. "Yeah," he said. "The other place is called the Battery—it's a park right by the harbor. The last time I was there...with Reyna..." He glanced at Piper, then rushed on. "We saw something in the park. A ghost or some sort of spirit, like a Southern belle from the Civil War, glowing and floating along. We tried to approach it, but it disappeared whenever we got close. Then Reyna had this feeling—she said she should try it alone. Like maybe it would only talk to a girl. She went up to the spirit by herself, and sure enough, it spoke to her."
Everyone waited. "What did it say?" Annabeth asked.
"Reyna wouldn't tell me," Jason admitted. "But it must have been important. She seemed...shaken up. Maybe she got a prophecy or some bad news. Reyna never acted the same around me after that."
"The rest of us girls can go then." Annabeth said. "Piper, Hazel and I." Both nodded, though Hazel looked nervous. Piper's eyes flashed defiantly, like anything Reyna could do, she could do. "So that's settled."
Annabeth turned to Leo, who was studying his console, listening to Festus creak and click over the intercom. "Leo, how long until we reach Charleston?"
"Good question," he muttered. "Festus just detected a large group of eagles behind us—long-range radar, still not in sight."
Piper leaned over the console. "Are you sure they're Roman?"
Leo rolled his eyes. "No, Pipes. It could be a random group of giant eagles flying in perfect formation. Of course they're Roman! I suppose we could turn the ship around and fight—"
"Which would be a very bad idea," Jason said, "and remove any doubt that we're enemies of Rome."
"Or I've got another idea," Leo said. "If we went straight to Charleston, we could be there in a few hours. But the eagles would overtake us, and things would get complicated. Instead, we could send out a decoy to trick the eagles. We take the ship on a detour, go the long way to Charleston, and get there tomorrow morning—"
Hazel started to protest, but Leo raised his hand. "I know, I know. Nico's in trouble and we have to hurry."
"It's June twenty-seventh," Hazel said. "After today, four more days. Then he dies."
"I know! But this might throw the Romans off our trail. We still should have enough time to reach Rome."
Hazel scowled. "When you say should have enough..."
Leo shrugged. "How do you feel about barely enough?"
Hazel put her face in her hands for a count of three. "Sounds about typical for us."
"Okay, Leo. What kind of decoy are we talking about?" I sighed, ready to hear what idiotic idea he had.
"I'm so glad you asked!" He punched a few buttons on the console, rotated the turntable, and repeatedly pressed the A button on his Wii controller really, really fast. He called into the intercom, "Buford? Report for duty, please."
Frank took a step back. "There's somebody else on the ship? Who is Buford?"
A puff of steam shot from the stairwell, and Leo's automatic table climbed on deck. I had never seen Buford during the trip. He mostly stayed in the engine room – Leo was convinced that Buford had a secret crush on the engine. I met him briefly on my tour of the Argo before we set sail though. He was a three-legged table with a mahogany top. His bronze base had several drawers, spinning gears, and a set of steam vents. Buford was toting a bag like a mail sack tied to one of his legs. He clattered to the helm and made a sound like a train whistle.
"This is Buford," Leo announced.
"You name your furniture?" Frank asked.
Leo snorted. "Man, you just wish you had furniture this cool. Buford, are you ready for Operation End Table?"
Buford spewed steam. He stepped to the railing. His mahogany top split into four pie slices, which elongated into wooden blades. The blades spun, and Buford took off.
"A helicopter table," Percy muttered. "Gotta admit, that's cool. What's in the bag?"
"Dirty demigod laundry," Leo said. "I hope you don't mind, Frank."
"Leo!" I said.
Frank choked. "What?"
"It'll throw the eagles off our scent."
"Those were my only extra pants!"
Leo shrugged. "I asked Buford to get them laundered and folded while he's out. Hopefully he will." He rubbed his hands and grinned. "Well! I call that a good day's work. I'm gonna calculate our detour route now. See you all at dinner!"
I had to admit I was annoyed that instead of a girls trip with Annabeth, Hazel and Piper, I was going with Jason, Frank and Leo. Honestly I'd take a day in the sickbay aside Coach Hedge over this.
We didn't even find anything in the Civil War sub or elsewhere in the museum; just a few elderly tourists, a dozing security guard, and—when we tried to inspect the artifacts—a whole battalion of glowing zombie dudes in gray uniforms. The idea that Frank should be able to control the spirits? Yeah...that pretty much failed.
By the time Piper sent her Iris-message warning us about the Roman attack, we were already halfway back to the ship, having been chased through downtown Charleston by a pack of angry dead Confederates.
Then we got to hitch a ride on a giant eagle which had to be the scariest experience of my life. The height wasn't the bad part, it was clutching onto a leg beside Leo who flung around screaming.
A Roman flying chariot had descended from a cloud and was diving straight toward us. Jason and Frank veered out of the way, pulling up to avoid getting trampled by the pegasi. Arrows whistled under Leo's and my feet, which led to more screaming and cursing on his part. Something shot from the Argo and also singed Frank's wings and sent him spiraling out of control. Leo slipped from his grasp (though it oddly looked like Frank just let his left leg go limp). The world was spinning as I yelled questions at Frank like "Are you okay?" and "My gods do you not know how to stop yourself?"
Something slammed into Jason and I watched with my turning vision as he lunged for Leo, caught him, then struggled to gain altitude. He only managed to slow their fall. They started to plummet behind the ramparts of the fort. Frank and I tumbled after them. Fort Sumter hurted to crash into.
Now, as the Argo II raced across the waves, Leo used all his skill just to keep the ship in one piece and I had to rush around, frantically checking everyone for injuries. After I was certain everyone was fine, I decided to look at Leo who looked like his only injury was his self worth after falling in front of everyone.
I walked in on a conversation between Leo and Annabeth. I had to grip onto the railing because we were rocking so hard.
"I can input star charts and order you a smoothie, if you want. Of course I can do latitude and longitude!"Leo yelled, his hair flying around crazily. I gulped back and tried to focus on Annabeth's coordinates instead of the nauseating feeling in my stomach. Leo somehow managed to punch them in while holding the wheel with one hand. A red dot popped up on the bronze display screen.
"That location is in the middle of the Atlantic," he said. "Do the Party Ponies have a yacht?"
Annabeth shrugged helplessly. "Just hold the ship together until we get farther from Charleston. Jason and Percy will keep up the winds!"
"Happy fun time!"
"I think I'm gonna throw up." I yelled over the gusts of air that surrounded us.
"Don't do it on me!" He replied back with a worried glance.
It seemed like forever, but finally the sea calmed and the winds died.
Leo staggered across the deck toward us, looking perplexed. Percy and Jason sat with their backs against the mast, their heads slumped in exhaustion. Annabeth and Piper were trying to get them to drink some water. Hazel and Frank stood just out of earshot from the rest of us, having an argument that involved lots of arm waving and head shaking. I just sipped my glass of water, breathing deeply. The sick feeling was gone now, thank gods. The argument stopped abruptly when Hazel saw Leo.
We all gathered at the mast. Frank scowled like he was trying hard to turn into a bulldog. "No sign of pursuit," he said.
"Or land," Hazel added. I groaned at that.
Leo turned to Annabeth. "Did you find the map you wanted?"
She nodded, though she looked pale. I wondered what she'd seen at Fort Sumter that could have shaken her up so badly. "I'll have to study it," she said, as if that was the end of the subject. "How far are we from those coordinates?"
"At top rowing speed, about an hour," Leo said. "Any idea what we're looking for?"
"No," she admitted. "Percy?"
Percy raised his head. His green eyes were bloodshot and droopy. These were signs of having a stroke which worried me (these were also signs of fatigue, which was probably the issue).
"The Nereid said Chiron's brothers were there, and they'd want to hear about that aquarium in Atlanta. I don't know what she meant, but..." He paused, like he'd used up all his energy saying that much. "She also warned me to be careful. Keto, the goddess at the aquarium: she's the mother of sea monsters. She might be stuck in Atlanta, but she can still send her children after us. The Nereid said we should expect an attack."
"Wonderful," Frank muttered. Jason tried to stand, which wasn't a good idea. Piper grabbed him to keep him from falling over, and he slid back down the mast.
"Can we get the ship aloft?" he asked. "If we could fly—"
"That'd be great," Leo said. "Except Festus tells me the port aerial stabilizer got pulverized when the ship raked against the dock at Fort Sumter."
"We were in a hurry," Annabeth said. "Trying to save you."
"And saving me is a very noble cause," Leo agreed. "I'm just saying, it'll take some time to fix. Until then, we're not flying anywhere."
Percy flexed his shoulders and winced. "Fine with me. The sea is good."
"Speak for yourself." Hazel said. I didn't think I had a tendency of getting seasick but after having been flung around in every kind of way, I agreed with her. She glanced at the evening sun, which was almost to the horizon. "We need to go fast. We've burned another day, and Nico only has three more left."
"We can do it," Leo promised. "We can make it to Rome in three days— assuming, you know, nothing unexpected happens."
Frank grunted. He looked like he was still working on that bulldog transformation. "Is there any good news?"
"Actually, yes," Leo said. "According to Festus, our flying table, Buford, made it back safely while we were in Charleston, so those eagles didn't get him. Unfortunately, he lost the laundry bag with your pants."
"Dang it!" Frank barked.
Percy doubled over and started to groan. "Did the world just turn upside down?" he asked.
Jason pressed his hands to his head. "Yeah, and it's spinning. Everything is yellow. Is it supposed to be yellow?"
Annabeth and Piper exchanged concerned looks. "Summoning that storm really sapped your strength," Piper told the boys.
"It's extreme fatigue. They really should be drinking." I said, standing up to observe more.
Annabeth nodded agreement. "Frank, can you help us get the guys belowdecks?"
Frank glanced at Leo, no doubt reluctant to leave him alone with Hazel.
"It's fine, man," Leo said. "Just try not to drop them on the way down the stairs."
I left on the note of turning back and seeing them stand closely together awkwardly. I didn't know why but I think I understood what Frank was feeling when we left them up there. I had to shake it off, but even then as we walked down the stairs to the sick bay the thought was still in the back of my mind.
➻ AUTHOR's NOTE
Okok this is a long one. im so sorryyy i took so long to update but i mean here it is! hope you like it. will POSSIBLY getting another chapter out to make up for the time i spent not posting
i love oyu all miuamhuhmuhamuamh love amelie