(Y/N)'s POV
As he sat there, watching Annabeth caper off to what might have been her death, she took his breath with her. Watching the back of her head disappear into the distance almost brought tears to his eyes.
The thought, the concept that there was a chance, even a one in a million, chance that that would be the last time he saw her, was so painful his ears began to ring. He collapsed back into his chair.
He wished he had said a hundred more things to her, he wished he had told her about his dream, and the warning he was given, he wanted her to confide in him what she feared was behind all this.
He wanted to tell her who he thought his puppet master was, and why everyone was so afraid of them, he wanted her to tell him that he was being ridiculous. Because he would have believed it then.
She had been gone for mere minutes, but he found himself craving to hear the sound of her voice, it was the strangest thing. He never really realized just how much he relied on her until she was gone.
With her not here, he felt stagnant, as if all he could do now was wait for her to return. It was far from healthy, he knew that, but the thought of her not being with him was more hurtful than the thought of her not returning.
Whereas one felt as though it was an off chance, a fear prickling the back of his mind, the other was just a reality he had to face. He felt as though he couldn't make a move without her, that to do so would be disrespectful or something.
It was because he didn't want to move on without her. It felt odd, like going into battle not wearing your chest plate. He felt like he was exposed to the world. Worst of all he feared that the person behind the curtain knew that.
He wondered if they would capitalize on the weakness, the chink in his armour usually kept safe by Annabeth being there. That thought scared him, part of him imagined that he would have sat in this silly little shop by the Tiber for years waiting for her to return.
Wait. Why am I already thinking about her like she'd dead? "Oizys if this is you, I swear to the gods-" He began, only to be collided into. The feeling that was coiling around his heart began to relent.
"Percy?" He said, looking at the son of Poseidon in confusion, as his friend caught his breath. "Where's Annabeth." He asked breathlessly. "We need her where is she?" "Left for her quest, why? What's going on?"
Percy let out a frustrated yell, then looked at (Y/N), "Has anything attacked you yet?" "What? No." "Then you might be our answer." "What's that supposed to-" 'BOOM!' (Y/N) got the answer to his question before he finished asking it, as Annabeth's half eaten food exploded, and not into an eruption of food, into a fireball.
That was his first thought, that somehow food was now his enemy. Until a second fireball hit him in the back of the head, which to be honest, was not as painful as you would think. It felt like he had held a hairdryer to his head too long, "Ow!" He said, rubbing the back of his neck instinctively, not thinking about turning to see who his aggressor was.
Not that he would have got the chance anyway, because Percy tackled him from his chair as a third fireball turned it into a bubbling mess. "We gotta go!" Percy insisted, pulling him up and breaking off into a sprint of his own.
As much as (Y/N) wanted to wait for Annabeth's return, the decision was made for him when he saw what was chasing his friend, and when he saw that it wasn't alone. The two of them took off running. Not looking back. Until Percy remembered something.
"Wait! Grab the pizza!" Percy said, scrambling back to rescue the food, managing to pick up a singular slice before the table turned into splinters, blown apart by a fireball. As it blew up into smithereens (Y/N) shouted "What did you do!"
"It's not my fault! Blame Zoe!" He shouted as they ran fort their lives chased by a stampede of what looked like just about every animal, mythological or otherwise, that could be found in the animal kingdom. "What did she do!"
Annabeth's POV
ANNABETH FIGURED IT COULD'VE BEEN WORSE. If she had to go on a horrifying solo quest, at least she'd gotten to have lunch on the banks of the Tiber with (Y/N) first. Now she got to take a scooter ride with Gregory Peck.
She only knew about that old movie because of her dad. Over the past few years, since the two of them had made up, they'd spent more time together, and she had learned that her dad had a sappy side.
Sure, he liked military history, weapons, and biplanes, but he also loved old films, especially romantic comedies from the 1940s and '50s. Roman Holiday was one of his favorites. He'd made Annabeth watch it.
She thought the plot was silly—a princess escapes her minders and falls in love with an American journalist in Rome—but she suspected her dad liked it because it reminded him of his own romance with the goddess Athena: another impossible pairing that couldn't end happily.
Her dad was nothing like Gregory Peck. Athena certainly wasn't anything like Audrey Hepburn. But Annabeth knew that people saw what they wanted to see. They didn't need the Mist to warp their perceptions.
As the baby-blue scooter zipped through the streets of Rome, the goddess Rhea Silvia gave Annabeth a running commentary on how the city had changed over the centuries. "The Sublician Bridge was over there," she said, pointing to a bend in the Tiber.
"You know, where Horatius and his two friends defended the city from an invading army? Now, there was a brave Roman!" "And look, dear," Tiberinus added, "that's the place where Romulus and Remus washed ashore."
He seemed to be talking about a spot on the riverside where some ducks were making a nest out of torn-up plastic bags and candy wrappers. "Ah, yes," Rhea Silvia sighed happily. "You were so kind to flood yourself and wash my babies ashore for the wolves to find."
"It was nothing," Tiberinus said. Annabeth felt light-headed. The river god was talking about something that had happened thousands of years ago, when this area was nothing but marshes and maybe some shacks.
Tiberinus saved two babies, one of whom went on to found the world's greatest empire. It was nothing. Rhea Silvia pointed out a large modern apartment building. "That used to be a temple to Venus."
"Then it was a church. Then a palace. Then an apartment building. It burned down three times. Now it's an apartment building again. And that spot right there—" "Please," Annabeth said. "You're making me dizzy."
Rhea Silvia laughed. "I'm sorry, dear. Layers upon layers of history here, but it's nothing compared to Greece. Athens was old when Rome was a collection of mud huts. You'll see, if you survive."
"Not helping," Annabeth muttered. "Here we are," Tiberinus announced. He pulled over in front of a large marble building, the facade covered in city grime but still beautiful. Ornate carvings of Roman gods decorated the roofline.
The massive entrance was barred with iron gates, heavily padlocked. "I'm going in there?" Annabeth wished she'd brought Leo, or at least borrowed some wire cutters from his tool belt.
Rhea Silvia covered her mouth and giggled. "No, my dear. Not in it. Under it." Tiberinus pointed to a set of stone steps on the side of the building—the sort that would have led to a basement apartment if this place were in Manhattan.
"Rome is chaotic aboveground," Tiberinus said, "but that's nothing compared to below ground. You must descend into the buried city, Annabeth Chase. Find the altar of the foreign god. The failures of your predecessors will guide you. After that...I do not know."
Annabeth's backpack felt heavy on her shoulders. She'd been studying the bronze map for days now, scouring Daedalus's laptop for information. Unfortunately, the few things she had learned made this quest seem even more impossible.
"My siblings...none of them made it all the way to the shrine, did they." Tiberinus shook his head. "But you know what prize awaits, if you can liberate it." "Yes," Annabeth said. "It could bring peace to the children of Greece and Rome," Rhea Silvia said.
"It could change the course of the coming war." "If I live," Annabeth said. Tiberinus nodded sadly. "Because you also understand the guardian you must face?" Annabeth remembered the spiders at Fort Sumter, and the dream Percy had described—the hissing voice in the dark. "Yes."
Rhea Silvia looked at her husband. "She is brave. Perhaps she is stronger than the others." "I hope so," said the river god. "Good-bye, Annabeth Chase. And good luck." Rhea Silvia beamed. "We have such a lovely afternoon planned! Off to shop!"
Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn sped off on their baby-blue motorbike. Then Annabeth turned and descended the steps alone.
(Y/N)'s POV
What the hell is going on?" "Later, just RUN" Percy advised as they narrowly avoided another attack with a fireball by rounding a corner. Chased by every animal you could imagine, who all seemed rather upset with them.
As they ran what must have been halfway across the river Tiber, something occurred to (Y/N). If they were being chased by animals how were they still not being outran. He turned his head mid sprint to see.
The herd of animals moved almost as a unit, a wall of legs and claws and tusks. They swept through the streets, it was a stampede so big that it would have made Mufasa nervous. Another weird thing was, nobody else seemed to notice.
As two pythons circled around their fifth tourist and a hippopotamus jumped over a kissing couple, (Y/N) understood this wasn't just the mist, the animals were set on attacking them, and only them.
They weren't going wild, this wasn't like Grover's Panic. Someone was controlling them. Making them run in a specific line, as if they were being told to, and short of Pan's resurrection, (Y/N) didn't know anyone who could do that.
Getting an idea that hopefully wouldn't end up with him becoming a collection of blood and hoofprints on the steps of Rome, (Y/N) paused. He stopped running and Percy kept going. As expected, the animals all circled him and charged straight past (Y/N) to pursue Percy.
He used magic to catch up with his friend, telling Percy that the animals still had their survival instincts, they still wanted to avoid him, "Oh, good for you!" Percy yelled as they kept running but came to a bridge.
On the other side of it they saw a madwoman with a bow chasing after an Eagle or something. "Idea!" Percy said as they crossed the bridge over the river and caught up with Zoe, the two paths converging. "WHAT DID YOU DO!" (Y/N) shouted at her.
As the bird flew out of sight Zoe cursed. She turned to see them with the stampede behind them as if she was seeing them for the first time. "PERSEUS!" She shouted angrily as they crossed the bridge over the Tiber.
As the back of his shirt was seized and Zoe sprinted towards the river, (Y/N) understood Percy's idea "Percy, you better not-" Too late. Sploosh. He landed face first in the river Tiber and despite being with the son of Poseidon, he definitely felt the impact .
He took a sharp breath to avoid crying out in pain and losing oxygen. But it wasn't needed, by the time he opened his eyes again, he was breathing air. Percy's own personal air bubble formed around them.
How does that even work? Does the air just appear around him? Is it taken from above them? He'd have to ask Annabeth later. Right now he was too busy freaking out. He glared at Zoe and Percy. "WHAT DID YOU DO!"
Zoe sighed, blowing her hair from her face as it floated in the water. "Remember I said that I could see if I still had contacts in the city to aid us?" "Vaguely, it's been a long day." "Well, one of them is going to help us, but we're going to help him first."
"Who is 'we', why am I being dragged into this? What the hell is going on!" He repeated for the thousandth time. This was all happening so fast and so suddenly after his heartbreak that he genuinely couldn't cope with it all.
Zoe sighed, "My friend, Melampus. He is a soothsayer and a very good healer, a while after he was given eternal life, he left Greece to seek refuge in Rome after it was set ablaze, so that he might heal the injured in the city. He has stayed since."
"I hoped we might use his abilities to track down Nico Di Angelo, plus, as a bonus, he is introduced the religion of Dionysus to Greece. So, I figured who better to ask for a clue regarding how to sate the gods requirements for aid."
"The only problem was, after tracking him down, Melampus wanted payment for his services, I offered him gold and wine, but he did not want any of those things. He promises to tell us what he knows about Nico, but only after we bring him an animal."
"He said he wants the most glorious of them all, brought to him alive. Among the herd I spotted the Aetos Kaukasios. The Caucasian Eagle. I believe that must be it. It was the one sent by Zeus to feed upon liver of the Titan Prometheus after he was chained to a peak of the Kaukasos"
"Melampus wants it so he can sell it to the titan, as a form of revenge on Zeus. The healer has little respect for gods other than Dionysus these days, he considers what the gods did to Prometheus an insult to humanity."
"He believes that to ground that bird is to pay back the disrespect. He brought it here after the Titan war, when Prometheus was freed by Kronos. But it is elusive. The seer, he can understand the language of animals."
"He tried to use them as a force to capture the bird, but they rally against him instead. They protect the creature" (Y/N) rolled his eyes. "We might as well get this guy a weed whacker and be done with it. Seriously what is it with old guys and birds?"
Zoe just raised an eyebrow, confused, Percy said "Long story." Which brought (Y/N) to his second point. "Okay then, but why is Percy here?" Percy grabbed them both by the wrists and began to lead them down the Tiber, doubling back on themselves as he explained.
"As I was walking back to you and Annabeth, I ran into Zoe, she told me she needed to distract 'the rest' while she hunted for some bird or something. I said okay, and all of a sudden, they were chasing me."
"I had to jump into the Tiber alone the first time to get this far away from them, I don't think there are any aquatic animals among them left. I sort of swept some away, I dropped the letter of passage in the river, I was running back to tell you when I saw you alone."
"Alone? Has Annabeth departed already?" Zoe asked as she pushed a grocery bag out the way. "Can you not say it like that, please. She isn't dead, in fact, she isn't even alone, Terry's with her so-"
An eruption of bubbles masked their screaming as a humanoid figure manifested itself in front of them, "Hello my Lord. Good to see you again. In Rome no less-" Terry began, (Y/N) was just as flabbergasted as his friends.
"Terry, what are you doing here!" "Protecting you my lord. Do you want me to slaughter these two?" He said happily. "No you idiot you're supposed to be protecting Annabeth!" The stressed out (Y/N) replied. "That was the one thing I told you to do!"
"I cannot sir." The ghost said suddenly, (Y/N)'s heart sank, "Why not, you don't mean-" "She is gone sir." (Y/N) nearly had a heart attack on the spot, which for him, would have been quite something.
Not thinking, he seized the spectre around the neck. "Gone, what do you mean gone? She isn't dead, I'd know if she was, I'd know. Why are you lying to me?" He asked. Terry didn't seem at all phased by the hand around his neck.
"She is out of my reach my lord, she has ventured past where I am able to provide aid." That sentence made (Y/N) incredibly emotional, both angry and sad, the emotional turmoil weighed on him.
It was like his last link to her, the little bit of protection he could have offered her was now worthless. He grit his teeth. trying not to focus on it. "Fine. Terry. How about you do me a little favour and-NO don't attack them-"
Annabeth's POV
She'd been underground plenty of times. But halfway down the steps, she realized just how long it had been since she'd adventured by herself. She froze. Gods...she hadn't done something like this since she was a kid.
After running away from home, she'd spent a few weeks surviving on her own, living in alleyways and hiding from monsters until Thalia and Luke took her under their wings. Then, once she'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, she'd lived there until she was twelve.
After that, all her quests had been with (Y/N) or her other friends. The last time she had felt this scared and alone, she'd been seven years old. She remembered the day Thalia, Luke, and she had wandered into a Cyclopes' lair in Brooklyn.
Thalia and Luke had gotten captured, and Annabeth had had to cut them free. She still remembered shivering in a dark corner of that dilapidated mansion, listening to the Cyclopes mimicking her friends' voices, trying to trick her into coming out into the open.
What if this is a trick, too? she wondered. What if those other children of Athena died because Tiberinus and Rhea Silvia led them into a trap? Would Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn do something like that?
She forced herself to keep going. She had no choice. If the Athena Parthenos was really down here, it could decide the fate of the war. More importantly, it could help her mom. Athena needed her.
At the bottom of the steps she reached an old wooden door with an iron pull ring. Above the ring was a metal plate with a keyhole. Annabeth started considering ways to pick the lock, but as soon as she touched the pull ring, a fiery shape burned in the middle of the door: the silhouette of Athena's owl.
Smoke plumed from the keyhole. The door swung inward. Annabeth looked up one last time. At the top of the stairwell, the sky was a square of brilliant blue. Mortals would be enjoying the warm afternoon.
Couples would be holding hands at the cafés. Tourists would be bustling through the shops and museums. Regular Romans would be going about their daily business, probably not considering the thousands of years of history under their feet.
Unaware of the spirits, gods, and monsters that still dwelt here, or the fact that their city might be destroyed today unless a certain group of demigods succeeded in stopping the giants. Annabeth stepped through the doorway.
She found herself in a basement that was an architectural cyborg. Ancient brick walls were crisscrossed with modern electrical cables and plumbing. The ceiling was held up with a combination of steel scaffolding and old granite Roman columns.
The front half of the basement was stacked with crates. Out of curiosity, Annabeth opened a few. Some were packed with multicolored spools of string—like for kites or arts and crafts projects. Other crates were full of cheap plastic gladiator swords.
Maybe at one point this had been a storage area for a tourist shop. In the back of the basement, the floor had been excavated, revealing another set of steps—these of white stone—leading still deeper underground.
Annabeth crept to the edge. Even with the glow cast by her dagger, it was too dark to see below. She rested her hand on the wall and found a light switch. She flipped it. Glaring white fluorescent bulbs illuminated the stairs.
Below, she saw a mosaic floor decorated with deer and fauns—maybe a room from an Ancient Roman villa, just stashed away under this modern basement along with the crates of string and plastic swords.
She climbed down. The room was about twenty feet square. The walls had once been brightly painted, but most of the frescoes had peeled or faded. The only exit was a hole dug in one corner of the floor where the mosaic had been pulled up.
Annabeth crouched next to the opening. It dropped straight down into a larger cavern, but Annabeth couldn't see the bottom. She heard running water maybe thirty or forty feet below. The air didn't smell like a sewer—just old and musty, and slightly sweet, like moldering flowers.
Perhaps it was an old water line from the aqueducts. There was no way down. "I'm not jumping," she muttered to herself. As if in reply, something glowed in the darkness. The Mark of Athena blazed to life at the bottom of the cavern, revealing glistening brickwork along a subterranean canal forty feet below.
The fiery owl seemed to be taunting her: Well, this is the way, kid. So you'd better figure something out. Annabeth considered her options. Too dangerous to jump. No ladders or ropes. She thought about borrowing some metal scaffolding from above to use as a fire pole, but it was all bolted in place.
Besides, she didn't want to cause the building to collapse on top of her. Frustration crawled through her like an army of termites. "What I wouldn't give for some wings right now!" She seethed.
She could almost imagine (Y/N) jumping down the hole, without a second thought, not caring about the possible danger at the bottom, or the need for safety. She imagined that he would tease her for it too. "Wow, sure is dark down here." He would say, still able to see perfectly.
It reminded her of their treacherous time in the Labyrinth, where she had to put in the effort and swing across the monkey bars from Hades, he just glided along the air with that same smug look on his face.
She had spent her life watching other demigods gain amazing powers. Percy could control water. If he were here, he could raise the water level and simply float down. Hazel, from what she had said, could find her way underground with flawless accuracy and even create or change the course of tunnels.
She could easily make a new path. Leo would pull just the right tools from his belt and build something to do the job. Frank could turn into a bird. Jason could simply control the wind and float down. Even Piper with her charmspeak...she could have convinced Tiberinus and Rhea Silvia to be a little more helpful.
What did Annabeth have? A bronze dagger that did nothing special, and a cursed silver coin. She had her backpack with Daedalus's laptop, a water bottle, a few pieces of ambrosia for emergencies, and a box of matches—probably useless, but her dad had drilled into her head that she should always have a way to make fire.
She had no amazing powers. Even her one true magic item, her New York Yankees cap of invisibility, had stopped working, and was still back in her cabin on the Argo II. 'You've got your intelligence,' a voice said.
Annabeth wondered if Athena was speaking to her, but that was probably just wishful thinking. Intelligence...like Athena's favorite hero, Odysseus. He'd won the Trojan War with cleverness, not strength.
He had overcome all sorts of monsters and hardships with his quick wits. That's what Athena valued. Wisdom's daughter walks alone. That didn't mean just without other people, Annabeth realized. It meant without any special powers.
Okay...so how to get down there safely and make sure she had a way to get out again if necessary? She climbed back to the basement and stared at the open crates. Kite string and plastic swords.
The idea that came to her was so ridiculous, she almost had to laugh; but it was better than nothing. She set to work. Her hands seemed to know exactly what to do. Sometimes that happened, like when she was helping Leo with the ship's machinery or drawing architectural plans on the computer.
She'd never made anything out of kite string and plastic swords, but it seemed easy, natural. Within minutes she'd used a dozen balls of string and a crateful of swords to create a makeshift rope ladder.
A braided line, woven for strength yet not too thick, with swords tied at two-foot intervals to serve as hand- and footholds. As a test, she tied one end around a support column and leaned on the rope with all her weight.
The plastic swords bent under her, but they provided some extra bulk to the knots in the cord, so at least she could keep a better grip. The ladder wouldn't win any design awards, but it might get her to the bottom of the cavern safely.
First, she stuffed her backpack with the leftover spools of string. She wasn't sure why, but they were one more resource, and not too heavy. She headed back to the hole in the mosaic floor. She secured one end of her ladder to the nearest piece of scaffolding, lowered the rope into the cavern, and shimmied down.
(Y/N)'s POV
As they resurfaced, (Y/N) knew his job, that didn't mean he liked it. He thought back to his conversation with Zoe, where he tried to protest. "Okay, another quick question. Why on earth are we helping the guy who wants to cage a free bird just to stick it to the man?"
Zoe sighed, "I like it no more than you do, but if he can help us find Nico, it will be worth the shame." (Y/N) hoped that she was right, he hoped he was doing the right thing, even though it felt so wrong.
He told himself that even if he couldn't protect Annabeth, he would protect Nico, no matter what he had to do, he owed the kid that much, he owed Bianca that much, he was going to do anything to get Nico back safe.
He appeared behind the stampede this time, looking at the floor. "Sorry." He said as he launched a ball of flame towards the animals, closing his eyes, hearing the clucking of chickens and an explosion. When he opened them he felt a pang of sadness in his heart.
All the normal animals were gone now, all that remained were the monsters. He hadn't seen them in the huddle, but they turned and glared at him, three of them. One was a drakon, a small one, about the size of a dog, the other was a two headed snake.
The third one was what really unsettled him though, with body of a lion and red fur. It had the hooves and tail of a horse. Its head is a cross between a horse's and a wolf's. Blood red eyes, and instead of teeth, it had two solid plates of bone that make a clacking noise when hit together.
Soaring above them was the bird in question, as all three monsters hissed and roared at him, he raised his sword. Then lowered it, with the signal given, it didn't take long for the others to strike.
The two headed snake was washed into the River Tiber and did not resurface, the drakon was pierced by a ghostly spear. The third creature however, survived the three arrows that hit it, they bounced off harmlessly.
Each, 'clack' from it's mouth sent shivers down his spine. (Y/N) shot fire at it, but it snarled and jumped to one side, it's hooves crashing against the stone. (Y/N) was about to fight it, but was soon hit in the chest by a fireball.
It sent him reeling, he fell back onto the stone. The creature reared back and got ready to stomp on him, managing to stomp on his leg. There was a horrible 'snap'. That followed, but (Y/N) ignored it and slashed out at the beast.
His sword however, just clattered off the creature. Percy tried the same, but nothing happened. During this time, the creature tried to bite down on (Y/N)'s head, not knowing what else to do, (Y/N) punched it in the eye.
The creature reeled back, crushing (Y/N)'s leg again, but he didn't care, he healed the wound and scrambled to his feet just in time to avoid another fireball that rained down on him. Looking up, he could only see the eagle in the sky.
As he fought off the wolf, horse, fox, thing. He called to his friends. "If it's just a bird, why can it shoot fireballs?" "I don't know!" Percy cried, but Zoe saw the truth. "Because that's not what's shooting them, look!"
She said, pointing to a creature that hung in the sky. Just behind the eagle. "Oh, you're kidding me." (Y/N) said as he saw it. Though that distraction proved near fatal. Because before (Y/N) could think of what to do next, the fox creature charged.
Annabeth's POV
As Annabeth hung in the air, descending hand over hand with the ladder swinging wildly, she thanked Chiron for allthose years of training on the climbing course at Camp Half-Blood.
She'd complained loudly and often that ropeclimbing would never help her defeat a monster. Chiron had just smiled, like he knew this day would come.Finally Annabeth made it to the bottom.
She missed the brickwork edge and landed in the canal, but it turned outto be only a few inches deep. Freezing water soaked into her running shoes.She held up her glowing dagger. The shallow channel ran down the middle of a brickwork tunnel.
Every fewyards, ceramic pipes jutted from the walls. She guessed that the pipes were drains, part of the ancient Romanplumbing system, though it was amazing to her that a tunnel like this had survived, crowded underground with all theother centuries' worth of pipes, basements, and sewers.
A sudden thought chilled her even more than the water. A few years ago, she had gone on a quest inDaedalus's labyrinth—a secret network of tunnels and rooms, heavily enchanted and trapped, which ran under all thecities of America.
When Daedalus died in the Battle of the Labyrinth, the entire maze had collapsed—or so Annabeth believed. Butwhat if that was only in America? What if this was an older version of the labyrinth? Daedalus once told her that hismaze had a life of its own.
It was constantly growing and changing. Maybe the labyrinth could regenerate, likemonsters. That would make sense. It was an archetypal force, as Chiron would say—something that could neverreally die.
If this was part of the labyrinth...Annabeth decided not to dwell on that, but she also decided not to assume her directions were accurate. Thelabyrinth made distance meaningless. If she wasn't careful, she could walk twenty feet in the wrong direction and endup in Poland.
Just to be safe, she tied a new ball of string to the end of her rope ladder. She could unravel it behind her as sheexplored. An old trick, but a good one.She debated which way to go. The tunnel seemed the same in both directions.
Then, about fifty feet to her left,the Mark of Athena blazed against the wall. Annabeth could swear it was glaring at her with those big fiery eyes, as ifto say, What's your problem? Hurry up!She was really starting to hate that owl.
By the time she reached the spot, the image had faded, and she'd run out of string on her first spool.As she was attaching a new line, she glanced across the tunnel. There was a broken section in the brickwork, as ifa sledgehammer had knocked a hole in the wall.
She crossed to take a look. Sticking her dagger through the openingfor light, Annabeth could see a lower chamber, long and narrow, with a mosaic floor, painted walls, and benchesrunning down either side.
It was shaped sort of like a subway car.She stuck her head into the hole, hoping nothing would bite it off. At the near end of the room was a bricked-offdoorway. At the far end was a stone table, or maybe an altar.
Hmm...The water tunnel kept going, but Annabeth was sure this was the way. She remembered what Tiberinushad said: Find the altar of the foreign god. There didn't seem to be any exits from the altar room, but it was a shortdrop onto the bench below.
She should be able to climb out again with no problem.Still holding her string, she lowered herself down.The room's ceiling was barrel-shaped with brick arches, but Annabeth didn't like the look of the supports.
Directlyabove her head, on the arch nearest to the bricked-in doorway, the capstone was cracked in half. Stress fractures ranacross the ceiling. The place had probably been intact for two thousand years, but she decided she'd rather not spendtoo much time here.
With her luck, it would collapse in the next two minutes.The floor was a long narrow mosaic with seven pictures in a row, like a time line. At Annabeth's feet was a raven.Next was a lion. Several others looked like Roman warriors with various weapons.
The rest were too damaged orcovered in dust for Annabeth to make out details. The benches on either side were littered with broken pottery. Thewalls were painted with scenes of a banquet: a robed man with a curved cap like an ice cream scoop, sitting next to alarger guy who radiated sunbeams.
Standing around them were torchbearers and servants, and various animals likecrows and lions wandered in the background. Annabeth wasn't sure what the picture represented, but it didn't remindher of any Greek legends that she knew.
At the far end of the room, the altar was elaborately carved with a frieze showing the man with the ice-cream scoop hat holding a knife to the neck of a bull. On the altar stood a stone figure of a man sunk to his knees in rock, adagger and a torch in his outraised hands.
Again, Annabeth had no idea what those images meant.She took one step toward the altar. Her foot went CRUNCH. She looked down and realized she'd just put her shoethrough a human rib cage.
Annabeth swallowed back a scream. Where had that come from? She had glanced down only a moment beforeand hadn't seen any bones. Now the floor was littered with them. The rib cage was obviously old.
It crumbled to dustas she removed her foot. Nearby lay a corroded bronze dagger very much like her own. Either this dead person hadbeen carrying the weapon, or it had killed him.She held out her blade to see in front of her.
A little farther down the mosaic path sprawled a more completeskeleton in the remains of an embroidered red doublet, like a man from the Renaissance. His frilled collar and skullhad been badly burned, as if the guy had decided to wash his hair with a blowtorch.
Wonderful, Annabeth thought. She lifted her eyes to the altar statue, which held a dagger and a torch.Some kind of test, Annabeth decided. These two guys had failed. Correction: not just two guys.
More bones andscraps of clothing were scattered all the way to the altar. She couldn't guess how many skeletons were represented,but she was willing to bet they were all demigods from the past, children of Athena on the same quest.
"I will not be another skeleton on your floor," she called to the statue, hoping she sounded brave. 'A girl,' said a watery voice, echoing through the room. 'Girls are not allowed.' 'A female demigod,' said a second voice. 'Inexcusable.'
The chamber rumbled. Dust fell from the cracked ceiling. Annabeth bolted for the hole she'd come through, but ithad disappeared. Her string had been severed. She clambered up on the bench and pounded on the wall where thehole had been, hoping the hole's absence was just an illusion, but the wall felt solid. She was trapped.
(Y/N)'s POV
"I thought them extinct." Zoe said, marvelling at the bird that soared beside the eagle. Even he was taken aback by it's splendour. It was as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry.
"A phoenix." Zoe said in shock, her bow almost dropping. "That is the one they follow. But why is it here?" (Y/N) didn't have time to admire the creature. "Argh!" He said as the fox-horse tackled him away from his friends, through a fruit stand and into an alley.
His friends turned to help him but he called out "Go after the bird." Or so they thought. (Y/N) didn't say anything, but the chattering of bone produced a sound that sounded so close to his voice, even (Y/N) second guessed himself.
He shook his head and tried to stand, but he mustn't have healed his leg as well as he thought, because he had trouble standing. By the time he managed to hobble up into a standing position, the creature was gone.
(Y/N) looked around, using his magical eyes to search for the creature, even if it was hidden, but it was as if it had just disappeared. "(Y/N)!" Percy said, (Y/N) looked around to see him and tell him to be careful, only to catch a hoof to the face.
As you would expect, he collapsed almost immediately. He could already feel his face swelling like a balloon. He tried to get up, only for the creature to dash of again. "What are you?" He said thought cracked teeth, knowing the creature could communicate.
"It is Leucrotae" It said in Terry's voice. "You hunt the brilliant one, we are not kind. We will eat you, we do not listen to the voice of the seer. He knows our secrets but he keeps many more." It's voice trailed off.
"Eat you and send you to him." Said Zoe's voice. "Why are you protecting the eagle from us?" (Y/N) asked, trying to buy time, "Protecting, no. Eating, eating the sheep, eating the fish, eating the little ones. You burnt the food, smells good."
"Why are you here?" "Following the voice, the voice of the seer, draws us here, across the sea, across the desert, found the magnificent one. Want to eat it!" Percy's voice said, "Eat it and eat it and eat it! Only one, is delicacy. Yum!"
"I'll let you eat it if you give us the bird, the other bird." (Y/N) offered. Zoe's voice laughed. "No, no, eat you, eat her, eat him, then eat bird and magnificent one, over and over. Full belly." It explained. "Fair enough!" (Y/N) said as it pulled at the shadow the creature was hiding in.
It crashed on top of it like a cage, but the beast was fast. Fast enough to avoid the encroaching shadow. It laughed, it's bone tooth clattering against it's jaw. The noise made (Y/N) cringe. "Stop doing that!" He shouted.
The creature replied. This time in a voice it shouldn't have known, "I know your smell. Smell like food. Good sacrifice to him, better food!" It shouted, this time, in his mother's voice. (Y/N) was frozen as the creature lunged for his neck.
This time however, having used it's voice to locate it, he managed to catch it with both hands mid pounce. "That voice, where did you hear that voice?" He demanded, squeezing for all he was worth, the monster howled and yipped in pain.
"TELL ME!" He shouted, releasing the creature so it could speak, "Pretty voice, kind voice, wanted to eat it, but it said no. We are not kind, and we are not food." (Y/N) shook with anger at the mere thought of this creature daring to utter a word like his mother would have.
He was filled with rage. "How dare you!" He said, his eyes blazing. Before he knew it, he was rushing towards the creature with vitriol, it snarled at him with as series of clacking noises, but he ignored it.
Swords didn't work on it, but he didn't care. "I am tired. Of people toying with me." He said, the creature tried to run, but he seized it by the back of the neck. Looking into it's blood red eyes that now quivered in fear.
"When did you hear that voice? TELL ME. WHEN!" He demanded, the creature switched to Zoe's voice. "Don't know, time is hard, many many meals ago." It whimpered. "And you called me a sacrifice, sacrifice to who? To what?"
"Who are you talking about?" He asked, the creature was silent. He threw it to the ground. "Tell me!" He said in a rage. The creature turned it's long head towards him almost mockingly, the bone plate of it's mouth opened.
Instead of giving (Y/N) an answer, it said "You will fall, you will die." In his own voice. (Y/N) kicked it in anger, then kept kicking it. Stomping on it. Shouting in anger, not realizing that his powers were flowing, that he had killed the creature a long time ago, before it had even hit the ground.
"Like mother like son, eh?" said a voice. (Y/N) turned, expecting it to be some god come to taunt him. Instead he found a man, an old man with a short beard and choppy but wild hair. Reminding him a little bit of Doc Brown. "Who are you?"
"Who am I my new friend? Well, I am Melampus, the seer, the argonaut, and lucky for you, the healer." The old man hooked his arm around (Y/N)'s shoulders and dragged him away with surprising strength. "Let's get you healed up, it's the least I could do for her..." Was the last thing (Y/N) heard before blacking out.
Annabeth's POV
Along the benches, a dozen ghosts shimmered into existence—glowing purple men in Roman togas, like the Laresshe'd seen at Camp Jupiter. They glared at her as if she'd interrupted their meeting.
She did the only thing she could. She stepped down from the bench and put her back to the bricked-in doorway.She tried to look confident, though the scowling purple ghosts and the demigod skeletons at her feet made her wantto turtle in her T-shirt and scream.
"I'm a child of Athena," she said, as boldly as she could manage."A Greek," one of the ghosts said with disgust. "That is even worse."At the other end of the chamber, an old-looking ghost rose with some difficulty (do ghosts have arthritis? She'd ask (Y/N) later) andstood by the altar, his dark eyes fixed on Annabeth.
Her first thought was that he looked like the pope. He had aglittering robe, a pointed hat, and a shepherd's crook."This is the cavern of Mithras," said the old ghost. "You have disturbed our sacred rituals. You cannot look uponour mysteries and live."
"I don't want to look upon your mysteries," Annabeth assured him. "I'm following the Mark of Athena. Show methe exit, and I'll be on my way."Her voice sounded calm, which surprised her. She had no idea how to get out of here, but she knew she had tosucceed where her siblings had failed.
Her path led farther on—deeper into the underground layers of Rome. 'The failures of your predecessors will guide you,' Tiberinus had said. 'After that...I do not know.' The ghosts mumbled to each other in Latin.
Annabeth caught a few unkind words about female demigods andAthena.Finally the ghost with the pope hat struck his shepherd's crook against the floor. The other Lares fell silent."Your Greek goddess is powerless here," said the pope.
"Mithras is the god of Roman warriors! He is the god ofthe legion, the god of the empire!""He wasn't even Roman," Annabeth protested. "Wasn't he, like, Persian or something?""Sacrilege!" the old man yelped, banging his staff on the floor a few more times.
"Mithras protects us! I am thepater of this brotherhood—""The father," Annabeth translated."Do not interrupt! As pater, I must protect our mysteries.""What mysteries?" Annabeth asked. "A dozen dead guys in togas sitting around in a cave?"
The ghosts muttered and complained, until the pater got them under control with a taxicab whistle. The old guyhad a good set of lungs. "You are clearly an unbeliever. Like the others, you must die."
The others. Annabeth made an effort not to look at the skeletons.Her mind worked furiously, grasping for anything she knew about Mithras. He had a secret cult for warriors. Hewas popular in the legion.
He was one of the gods who'd supplanted Athena as a war deity. Aphrodite had mentionedhim during their teatime chat in Charleston. Aside from that, Annabeth had no idea. Mithras just wasn't one of thegods they talked about at Camp Half-Blood.
She doubted the ghosts would wait while she whipped out Daedalus'slaptop and did a search.She scanned the floor mosaic—seven pictures in a row. She studied the ghosts and noticed all of them wore somesort of badge on their toga—a raven, or a torch, or a bow.
"You have rites of passage," she blurted out. "Seven levels of membership. And the top level is the pater."The ghosts let out a collective gasp. Then they all began shouting at once."How does she know this?" one demanded.
"The girl has gleaned our secrets!""Silence!" the pater ordered."But she might know about the ordeals!" another cried."The ordeals!" Annabeth said. "I know about them!"Another round of incredulous gasping.
"Ridiculous!" The pater yelled. "The girl lies! Daughter of Athena, choose your way of death. If you do not choose,the god will choose for you!""Fire or dagger," Annabeth guessed.Even the pater looked stunned.
Apparently he hadn't remembered there were victims of past punishments lying onthe floor."How—how did you... ?" He gulped. "Who are you?""A child of Athena," Annabeth said again.
"But not just any child. I am...uh, the mater in my sisterhood. Themagna mater, in fact. There are no mysteries to me. Mithras cannot hide anything from my sight.""The magna mater!" a ghost wailed in despair.
"The big mother!""Kill her!" One of the ghosts charged, his hands out to strangle her, but he passed right through her."You're dead," Annabeth reminded him. "Sit down."The ghost looked embarrassed and took his seat.
"We do not need to kill you ourselves," the pater growled. "Mithras shall do that for us!"The statue on the altar began to glow.Annabeth pressed her hands against the bricked-in doorway at her back.
That had to be the exit. The mortar wascrumbling, but it was not weak enough for her to break through with brute force.She looked desperately around the room—the cracked ceiling, the floor mosaic, the wall paintings, and the carvedaltar.
She began to talk, pulling deductions from the top of her head."It is no good," she said. "I know all. You test your initiates with fire because the torch is the symbol of Mithras.His other symbol is the dagger, which is why you can also be tested with the blade."
"You want to kill me, just as...uh,as Mithras killed the sacred bull."It was a total guess, but the altar showed Mithras killing a bull, so Annabeth figured it must be important. Theghosts wailed and covered their ears. Some slapped their faces as if to wake up from a bad dream.
"The big mother knows!" one said. "It is impossible!"Unless you look around the room, Annabeth thought, her confidence growing.She glared at the ghost who had just spoken. He had a raven badge on his toga—the same symbol as on the floorat her feet.
"You are just a raven," she scolded. "That is the lowest rank. Be silent and let me speak to your pater."The ghost cringed. "Mercy! Mercy!"At the front of the room, the pater trembled—either from rage or fear, Annabeth wasn't sure which.
His pope hattilted sideways on his head like a gas gauge dropping toward empty. "Truly, you know much, big mother. Yourwisdom is great, but that is all the more reason why you cannot leave. The weaver warned us you would come."
"The weaver..." Annabeth realized with a sinking feeling what the pater was talking about: the thing in the darkfrom Percy's dream, the guardian of the shrine. This was one time she wished she didn't know the answer, but shetried to maintain her calm.
"The weaver fears me. She doesn't want me to follow the Mark of Athena. But you will letme pass.""You must choose an ordeal!" the pater insisted. "Fire or dagger! Survive one, and then, perhaps!"Annabeth looked down at the bones of her siblings.
The failures of your predecessors will guide you.They'd all chosen one or the other: fire or dagger. Maybe they'd thought they could beat the ordeal. But they hadall died. Annabeth needed a third choice.
She stared at the altar statue, which was glowing brighter by the second. She could feel its heat across the room.Her instinct was to focus on the dagger or the torch, but instead she concentrated on the statue's base.
She wonderedwhy its legs were stuck in stone. Then it occurred to her: maybe the little statue of Mithras wasn't stuck in the rock.Maybe he was emerging from the rock."Neither torch nor dagger," Annabeth said firmly.
"There is a third test, which I will pass.""A third test?" the pater demanded."Mithras was born from rock," Annabeth said, hoping she was right. "He emerged fully grown from the stone,holding his dagger and torch."
The screaming and wailing told her she had guessed correctly."The big mother knows all!" a ghost cried. "That is our most closely guarded secret!"Then maybe you shouldn't put a statue of it on your altar, Annabeth thought.
But she was thankful for stupid maleghosts. If they'd let women warriors into their cult, they might have learned some common sense.Annabeth gestured dramatically to the wall she'd come from.
"I was born from stone, just as Mithras was!Therefore, I have already passed your ordeal!""Bah!" the pater spat. "You came from a hole in the wall! That's not the same thing."Okay. So apparently the pater wasn't a complete moron, but Annabeth remained confident.
She glanced at theceiling, and another idea came to her—all the details clicking together."I have control over the very stones." She raised her arms. "I will prove my power is greater than Mithras. With asingle strike, I will bring down this chamber."
The ghosts wailed and trembled and looked at the ceiling, but Annabeth knew they didn't see what she saw.These ghosts were warriors, not engineers. The children of Athena had many skills, and not just in combat.
Annabethhad studied architecture for years. She knew this ancient chamber was on the verge of collapse. She recognized whatthe stress fractures in the ceiling meant, all emanating from a single point—the top of the stone arch just above her.
The capstone was about to crumble, and when that happened, assuming she could time it correctly..."Impossible!" the pater shouted. "The weaver has paid us much tribute to destroy any children of Athena whowould dare enter our shrine. We have never let her down. We cannot let you pass."
"Then you fear my power!" Annabeth said. "You admit that I could destroy your sacred chamber!"The pater scowled. He straightened his hat uneasily. Annabeth knew she'd put him in an impossible position.
Hecouldn't back down without looking cowardly."Do your worst, child of Athena," he decided. "No one can bring down the cavern of Mithras, especially with onestrike. Especially not a girl!"Annabeth hefted her dagger.
The ceiling was low. She could reach the capstone easily, but she'd have to make herone strike count.The doorway behind her was blocked, but in theory, if the room started to collapse, those bricks should weakenand crumble.
She should be able to bust her way through before the entire ceiling came down—assuming, of course,that there was something behind the brick wall, not just solid earth; and assuming that Annabeth was quick enoughand strong enough and lucky enough.
Otherwise, she was about to be a demigod pancake."Well, boys," she said. "Looks like you chose the wrong war god."She struck the capstone. The Celestial bronze blade shattered it like a sugar cube.
For a moment, nothinghappened."Ha!" the pater gloated. "You see? Athena has no power here!"The room shook. A fissure ran across the length of the ceiling and the far end of the cavern collapsed, burying thealtar and the pater.
More cracks widened. Bricks fell from the arches. Ghosts screamed and ran, but they couldn'tseem to pass through the walls. Apparently they were bound to this chamber even in death.Annabeth turned.
She slammed against the blocked entrance with all her might, and the bricks gave way. As thecavern of Mithras imploded behind her, she lunged into darkness and found herself falling