FOUR — Theo.
If weapons had been allowed in New Rome, Theo's friends would have been long gone by now.
The Roman demigods in the forum had coalesced into an angry mob. Some threw plates, food, and rocks at the hovering Argo II, which was pointless, as most of the stuff fell back into the crowd.
Several dozen Romans had surrounded Mayfair and Jason, who were trying to calm them without much luck. May's words were useless against so many screaming, angry demigods. Jason's forehead was bleeding. His purple cloak had been ripped to shreds. He kept pleading, "I'm on your side!" but his orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt didn't help matters—nor did the warship overhead, firing flaming spears into New Rome. One landed nearby and blasted a toga shop to rubble.
Theo cursed to herself. How could everything have gone so wrong? And what was Leo doing, up on the ship? Surely he knew better than this!
"Pluto's pauldrons," Reyna swore. She jerked her chin to the forum boundaries. "Look."
Armed legionnaires were hurrying toward them. Two artillery crews had set up catapults just outside the Pomerian Line and were preparing to fire at the Argo II.
"That'll just make things worse," Theo said. "You have to stop them, Reyna."
"I hate my job," Reyna growled. She rushed off toward the legionnaires, her dogs at her side.
Percy, Theo thought, scanning the forum desperately. Percy, where are you?
Two Romans tried to grab her. She ducked past them, plunging into the crowd. As if the angry Romans, burning couches, and exploding buildings weren't confusing enough, hundreds of purple ghosts drifted through the forum, passing straight through the demigods' bodies and wailing incoherently. Of course this place had ghosts—that was just the cherry on top, wasn't it?
A lime statue of what Theo assumed must be Terminus, the god of boundaries, materialized before her, looking furious. He shouted at her in Latin, no doubt calling her a liar and a rule-breaker; and though she was undoubtedly both of these things, she pushed the statue over and kept running.
Finally, she spotted Percy in the crowd, and she almost laughed, because why hadn't she looked to the fountain in the first place? He and his friends, Hazel and Frank, were standing in the middle of the water feature as Percy repelled the angry Romans with powerful splashes. Percy's toga was in tatters, but he looked unhurt.
Theo called out to him as another explosion rocked the forum. This time the flash of light was directly overhead. One of the Roman catapults had fired, and the Argo II groaned and tilted sideways, flames bubbling over its bronze-plated hull.
Theo noticed a figure clinging desperately to the rope ladder, trying to climb down. It was Octavian, his robes steaming and his face black with soot.
Over by the fountain, Percy blasted the Roman mob with more water. Theo ran toward him, ducking a Roman fist and a flying plate of sandwiches.
"Theo!" Percy called. "What—?"
"I don't know!" she yelled. "Something's gone wrong!"
"I'll tell you what!" cried a voice from above. Octavian had reached the bottom of the ladder. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"
Theo's chest filled with ice. She felt like she might shatter into a million frozen pieces. "You're lying," she yelled up to Octavian. "Leo would never—"
"I was just there!" Octavian shrieked. "I saw it with my own eyes!"
The Argo II returned fire. Legionnaires in the field scattered as one of their catapults was blasted to splinters.
"You see?" Octavian screamed. "Romans, kill the invaders!"
"No!" Theo tried to protest, but it was useless. Trying to calm an angry Roman mob clearly would not be the way to get out of this mess. There was no time for anyone to figure out the truth. The crew from Camp Half-Blood was outnumbered a hundred to one, and even if Octavian had managed to stage some sort of trick (which she thought likely), they'd never be able to convince the Romans.
She looked again to Percy. "We have to go. Now."
He nodded grimly. "Hazel, Frank, you've got to make a choice. Are you coming?"
Hazel looked terrified, but she donned her cavalry helmet. "Of course we are. But you'll never make it to the ship unless you have some sort of distraction."
"Leave that to me," Theo assured her. Hazel nodded once, and she and Frank headed off for the rope ladder. The Roman crowd turned their full weight on Theo and Percy. They stood back to back, wielding off attackers as best as possible.
"I hope you have a plan," he told her over his shoulder, still blasting people away.
She nodded and shrugged at the same time. "I hope so too."
"Reassuring!"
"Shut up," she told him. "Just let me think."
She had no weapons. All she was relying on now was Percy's protection. Of course she'd have to use her powers, but how? Then, from halfway across the forum, she heard Jason shouting.
"Romans!" he cried. "Please!"
He and May were being pelted with plates and stones. Jason tried to shield May, but a brick caught him above the eye. He crumpled, and the crowd surged forward.
"Get back!" May screamed. She might not have had any charmspeak like the children of Aphrodite, but the fury in her voice drove the Roman mob back in the slightest.
"Frank!" Percy shouted up the rope ladder. He gestured over to May and Jason. "It's up to you!"
"So he's got them," Theo said, ducking a shoe, as Frank bolted over to help Jason and May. "Where does that leave us?"
Percy grunted, and Theo heard a Roman yell as they were launched back in the air by a jet of water. "Your plan, Sunshine. Now's a good time."
"Right," she said. "Okay. Okay, Perce, close your eyes. Now!"
She could only hope he did, because she worked up her adrenaline inside herself and unleashed an explosion of light so blinding it sent the Roman calvary back ten yards. They dropped their makeshift weapons and scattered back, yelling and shielding their eyes painfully.
When she looked over her shoulder, Percy was doubled over, covering his face with both his hands.
"C'mon, Aquaman," Theo said, grabbing him by the arm. "Was the bending over really necessary?"
"Yeah, 'cause I could still see the light through that," he retorted, holding the base of the rope ladder still so Theo could climb. He glanced over his shoulder. "Hurry—Octavian's coming!"
They began to climb as armed legionnaires flooded into the forum. Arrows whistled past Theo's head. An explosion almost knocked her off the ladder. Halfway up, she heard a roar below and glanced down.
Romans screamed and scattered as a full-sized dragon charged through the forum—a beast even scarier than the bronze dragon figurehead on the Argo II. Arrows and rocks bounced harmlessly off its hide as it lumbered toward May and Jason, grabbed them with its front claws, and vaulted into the air.
"Is that... ?" Theo couldn't even put the thought into words.
"Frank," Percy confirmed, a few feet above her. "He has a few special talents."
She scoffed. "That's insane!"
Once onboard, Theo understood just how detrimental the ship's situation was. The rigging was entirely blasted. The foresail was ripped down the middle, and the ship listed badly to starboard.
There was no sign of Coach Hedge, but Leo stood amidships, calmly reloading the ballista. Theo's gut twisted.
"Leo!" she screamed. "What are you doing?"
"Destroy them." He faced Theo. His eyes were glazed. His movements were like a robot's. "Destroy them all."
He turned back to the ballista, but Percy tackled him. Leo's head hit the deck hard, and his eyes rolled up so that only the whites showed. The gray dragon soared into view. It circled the ship once and landed at the bow, depositing Jason and May, who both collapsed.
"Go!" Percy yelled. "Get us out of here!"
With a shock, Theo realized he was talking to her. Unfortunately, she did not know how to fly a warship like the Argo II, but she had flown a helicopter once (albeit, she had been under the control of a defected demigod at the time, but that's another story (literally)), and she figured there couldn't have been that much a difference between the two airships.
The control system was probably one of the most complicated things she'd ever seen, which was saying a lot, because she was friends with Annabeth Chase. A million different levers and wheels and buttons all jumped out at her at once. This place was ADHD demigod heaven.
There was no time for fancy maneuvers, but Theo did know one command like the back of her hand: Up.
She grabbed the aviation throttle and yanked it straight back. The ship groaned. The bow tilted up at a horrifying angle. The mooring lines snapped, and the Argo II shot into the clouds.
Theo had a friend, Thalia Grace, that was afraid of heights. What Theo always thought ironic, though, was that her dad was the god of the sky— plus, she never thought heights to be that scary, anyhow.
Now, she changed her mind. Thalia was right. Heights were very bad.
What was worse, however, was having to interrogate Leo Valdez, who had become like a little brother to her in all the time she'd known him. An annoying brother, one you don't really ever get along with because he always steals your snacks or makes dumb jokes, but a brother nonetheless.
And he'd just betrayed everyone's trust by turning the ship on New Rome, destroying any semblance of peace that could have been salvaged between the two sides.
It was obvious, from the way he spoke, that Leo wasn't the one at fault. He swore up and down that he had no control over what he was doing, that some cold feeling overtook him and used his body like its own. (That had thrown Theo—she was getting sick and tired of the presence bothering her!).
Still, it was suspicious, but Theo even gave Leo a chance to place the blame on Octavian. Maybe it was all a coincidence.
"Nah, man," Leo said miserably, running a hand down his face. "The guy's a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."
Well, that was great to hear. (Not.) But there was nothing else to be done, for the time being. They couldn't just waltz back to Camp Jupiter and ask for forgiveness because it was all just a misunderstanding: Leo was being controlled by a cold presence that nobody could see! They would have been killed before they could touch down.
So Theo left Frank, Hazel, and Leo above deck to go downstairs and check on Jason.
As soon as they'd gotten back onboard, Mayfair had taken him below. Theo hadn't gotten a good look at him originally, but she knew he had been hit in a bad spot by a brick—ouch. He was unconscious, last she saw him, and he didn't look much better now.
Percy was at his side with Mayfair. He asked Theo if there was anything to be done.
Theo was getting really tired of saying it, but there wasn't. They couldn't do anything to help except pray to any gods listening that Jason woke up. Mayfair rolled her eyes. Theo didn't blame her. She felt useless, and even worse than before, now that Percy was here to watch her failure.
"It'll be okay," he told her anyway, when the pair of them began climbing the stairs back up to the main deck again. "We've been in stickier situations."
She appreciated the mini pep talk, but it didn't help the tightness in her gut that hadn't let up since Percy disappeared. Not even having him back helped, annoyingly, so Theo didn't know where to begin on feeling better about herself.
When Leo saw them, he looked terrified, which made Theo even more miserable for giving him a hard time. "Is Jason—?"
"He's alive," she said. "Resting now, but Mayfair's gonna keep an eye on him. He should be fine, so long as we get a little ambrosia in him later."
Percy zeroed in on Leo, giving him a hard look. "Theo says you did fire the ballista?"
Leo swallowed, his throat moving and eyes lowering to the floor. "Man, I—I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry—"
"Sorry?" Percy growled.
Theo put a hand on his arm. "We'll have to figure it out later. Right now, we need to regroup and... make a plan, I guess. Leo, have you found out anything about the ship?"
Looking a little bit calmer now that he was talking about something he understood, Leo filled Theo in about all the materials he needed to fix the Argo II—Celestial bronze, tar, lime. The good news, Leo said, was that Festus found a supply of each material within short distances from each other. Leo routed the ship for the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and they headed off.
Once they got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent. He insisted the others strap themselves into a seat down below for safety measures, but Hedge clung to the forward rail and cheered, "YEAHHH! Bring it on, lake!" Theo could hear him from below decks.
When they were securely in the water, Leo rang the all clear bell, and everyone except Mayfair and Jason headed over to the mess hall. Hazel looked a bit nauseous, and Theo wanted to offer her some water, but she didn't know Hazel all that well and was worried about judgment from her—then she thought that was crazy, because Theo had literally died two different times in her life, so why would she be scared of a fifteen year-old girl? By the time she came to this conclusion, though, the moment had passed.
Leo had made the lounge as nice as possible, since he figured they'd be spending a lot of time there. The cupboard was lined with magic cups and plates from Camp Half-Blood, which would fill up with whatever food or drink you wanted on command. There were no windows, but the walls were enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood—the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields—and though Theo had appreciated the view at first, now it made her homesick. Annabeth-and-Grover-and-Will-and-Nico sick.
Percy was staring longingly at a sunset view of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree. "So we've landed. What now?"
"Now," Theo said, tapping her fingers along the string of her bow, "we need to figure out that prophecy the harpy spoke. How did she know it, anyway?"
"Ella's freakishly good at memorizing books," Frank explained, watching Theo mess with her bow. He had one of his own, but it wasn't Apollo's Golden Bow, so Theo's was better. "At some point in the past, she inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome. The Sibylline Books. She can spit them out like it's nothing."
"Just like Theo," Percy added. "Anyway, that's why we didn't want to tell the Romans. We didn't want them to get a hold of Ella. She's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want..." His eyes clouded. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there."
Theo wanted to point out that nobody was safe anywhere, now that there was a war brewing between the Greeks and the Romans, but she didn't bring it up for Leo's sake.
"Leave the prophecy up to me," she said with a short nod of affirmation. "Right now, we've got more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. What do we need, Valdez?"
"The easiest thing is tar." Leo looked glad to change the subject. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."
"We'll have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."
Leo shifted under everyone's gaze. "Guys...I don't know what happened. Honestly, I—"
Theo shot him a look. "We've been talking, and we all agree it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned... I've felt it too. It must have been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaea or one of her minions. But until we understand what happened—"
Frank grunted. "How can we be sure it won't happen again?"
Theo narrowed her eyes at him. Hazel and Frank were the only two demigods aboard the ship that she wasn't close with, and as far as she knew, Leo wasn't, either; but it was clear that there was some sort of underlying resentment, or something, between the three of them.
"I'm fine now," Leo insisted, though he gave Frank an uncertain look. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave May and Coach Hedge on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."
"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea."
"It'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to three demigods, right?"
Theo raised her eyebrows, appraising Hazel from across the table. "You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II; outside camp, seven demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board; but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than three. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to."
Percy still didn't look happy about it, but he took Theo's hand. "As long as you're my partner, I'm good."
"Barf," Leo added. Theo smiled. At least he was starting to feel better about himself again.
Hazel grinned over at Frank. "Oh, splitting up is easy. You were amazing, turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Theo and Percy into town for the tar?"
Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "I...I guess. But what about you?"
"I'll ride Arion with Sa—with Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt. Theo had no idea what an Arion was, and she thought it sounded like a Disney ride, but she didn't ask. "We'll get the bronze and the lime. We can all meet back here by dark."
Frank scowled. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Leo going off with Hazel.
"Leo," Theo said, "if we get the supplies, how long to fix the ship?"
He lifted his shoulders. "With luck, just a few hours."
"Fine," she decided. "We'll meet you back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck, but that doesn't mean we'll get it."