I was trying to cheer up Hazel.
I knew how it felt to lose a brother and I refused to let her feel the same way. Annabeth was always here regaling us with Percy's greatest Seaweed Brain moments, when Frank stumbled down the hall and burst into her cabin.
"Where's Leo?" he gasped. "Take off! Take off!"
We shot to our feet.
"Where's Percy?" Annabeth demanded. "And the goat?"
Frank grabbed his knees, trying to breathe. His clothes were stiff and damp, like they'd been washed in pure starch. "On deck. They're fine. We're being followed!"
Annabeth pushed past him and took the stairs three at a time, I was right behind her as well as Hazel and Frank trailing, still gasping for air. Percy and Hedge lay on the deck, looking exhausted. Hedge was missing his shoes.
He grinned at the sky, muttering, "Awesome. Awesome."
Percy was covered with nicks and scratches, like he'd jumped through a window. He didn't say anything, but he grasped Annabeth's hand weakly as if to say, Be right with you, as soon as the world stops spinning.
Jasper, Leo, Piper, and Jason, who'd been eating in the mess hall, came rushing up the stairs.
"What? What?" Leo cried, holding a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich. "Can't a guy even take a lunch break? What's wrong?"
"Followed!" Frank yelled again.
"Followed by what?" Jasper asked.
"I don't know!" Frank panted. "Whales? Sea monsters? Maybe Kate and Porky!"
"That makes absolutely no sense. Leo, you'd better get us out of here." I said.
Leo put his sandwich between his teeth, pirate style, and ran for the helm.
Soon the Argo II was rising into the sky. Annabeth manned the aft crossbow. I saw no sign of pursuit by whales or otherwise, but Percy, Frank, and Hedge didn't start to recover until the Atlanta skyline was a hazy smudge in the distance.
"Charleston," Percy said, hobbling around the deck like an old man. He still sounded pretty shaken up. "Set course for Charleston."
"Charleston?" Jason said the name as if it brought back bad memories. "What exactly did you find in Atlanta?"
Frank unzipped his backpack and starting bringing out souvenirs. "Some peach preserves. A couple of T-shirts. A snow globe. And, um, these not-really-Chinese handcuffs."
Annabeth tried to stay calm. "How about you start from the top—of the story, not the backpack."
They gathered on the quarterdeck so Leo could hear the conversation as he navigated. Percy and Frank took turns relating what had happened at the Georgia Aquarium, with Coach Hedge interjecting from time to time: "That was awesome!" or "Then I kicked her in the head!"
When Percy explained about the captive sea creatures in the aquarium, I understood why he was so upset.
"That's terrible," she said. "We need to help them."
"We will," Percy promised. "In time. But I have to figure out how. I wish..." He shook his head. "Never mind. First we have to deal with this bounty on our heads."
Coach Hedge had lost interest in the conversation—probably because it was no longer about him—and wandered toward the bow of the ship, practicing his roundhouse kicks and complimenting himself on his technique.
Annabeth gripped the hilt of her dagger. "A bounty on our heads...as if we didn't attract enough monsters already."
"Do we get WANTED posters?" Leo asked. "And do they have our bounties, like, broken down on a price list?"
Hazel wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about?"
"Just curious how much I'm going for these days," Leo said. "I mean, I can understand not being as pricey as Percy or Jason, maybe...but am I worth, like, two Franks, or three Franks?"
"Hey!" Frank complained.
Jasper and I both glanced at each other at the same time.
"I'm worth two of you." We said in unison. We looked away from each other and hid our smiles. Our arguing was now mostly playful as well as making fun of each other.
"Knock it off," Annabeth ordered. "At least we know our next step is to go to Charleston, to find this map."
Piper leaned against the control panel. She'd done her braid with white feathers today, which looked good with her dark brown hair. I wondered where she had found the time.
"The Mark of Athena." Percy looked cautiously at Annabeth, like he was afraid he'd overstepped. She was putting out a very strong I don't want to talk about it vibe.
"Whatever that is," he continued. "We know it leads to something important in Rome, something that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks."
"The giants' bane," Hazel added.
Percy nodded. "And in my dream, the twin giants said something about a statue."
"Um..." Frank rolled his not-exactly-Chinese handcuffs between his fingers. "According to Phorcys, we'd have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?"
Everyone looked at Annabeth.
"I—I'm close to an answer," she said. "I'll know more if we find this map. Jason, the way you reacted to the name
Charleston...have you been there before?"
Jason glanced uneasily at Piper, though I wasn't sure why.
"Yeah," he admitted. "Reyna and I did a quest there about a year ago. We were salvaging Imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."
"The what?" Piper asked.
"Whoa!" Leo said. "That's the first successful military submarine. From the Civil War. I always wanted to see that."
"It was designed by Roman demigods," Jason said. "It held a secret stash of Imperial gold torpedoes—until we rescued them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter."
Hazel crossed her arms. "So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say...not cool?"
Jason put his hands in front of him, palms up. "I personally was not alive then. And it wasn't all Greeks on one side and all Romans on the other. But, yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad choices." He looked sheepishly at Hazel. "Like sometimes we're too suspicious. And we speak without thinking."
Hazel stared at him. Slowly it seemed to dawn on her that he was apologizing.
Jason elbowed Leo.
"Ow!" Leo yelped. "I mean, yeah...bad choices. Like not trusting people's brothers who, you know, might need saving. Hypothetically speaking."
Hazel pursed her lips. "Fine. Back to Charleston. Are you saying we should check that submarine again?"
Jason shrugged. "Well...I can think of two places in Charleston we might search. The museum where they keep the Hunley—that's one of them. It has a lot of relics from the Civil War. A map could be hidden in one. I know the layout. I could lead a team inside."
"I'll go," Leo said. "That sounds cool."
Jason nodded. He turned to Frank, who was trying to pull his fingers out of the Chinese handcuffs. "You should come too, Frank. We might need you."
Frank looked surprised. "Why? Not like I was much good at that aquarium."
"You did fine," Percy assured him. "It took all three of us to break that glass."
"Besides, you're a child of Mars," Jason said. "The ghosts of defeated causes are bound to serve you. And the museum in Charleston has plenty of Confederate ghosts. We'll need you to keep them in line."
"Have Jasper go he's a much better commander than me." Frank said.
Jasper shook his head. "No, you go with them. I've never talk to undead soldiers you'll be more useful."
"Okay." Frank relented. "Sure." He frowned at his fingers, trying to pull them out of the trap. "Uh, how do you—?"
Leo chuckled. "Man, you've never seen those before? There's a simple trick to getting out."
Frank tugged again with no luck. Even Hazel was trying not to laugh.
Frank grimaced with concentration. Suddenly, he disappeared. On the deck where he'd been standing, a green iguana crouched next to an empty set of Chinese handcuffs.
"Well done, Frank Zhang," Leo said dryly, doing his impression of Chiron the centaur. "That is exactly how people beat Chinese handcuffs. They turn into iguanas."
Everybody busted out laughing. Frank turned back to human, picked up the handcuffs, and shoved them in his backpack. He managed an embarrassed smile.
"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. Whatever he was thinking about, I could tell it wasn't pleasant.
"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."
"A girls' adventure, then," Annabeth said. "Eliana, Piper and Hazel can come with me."
"And Jasper." Percy said.
"And Jasper." Jason repeated.
"And..Jasper?" Jasper said unsure.
I rolled my eyes. Protective boyfriends always send someone to protect their girlfriends. I could tell Annabeth was a little annoyed at this but she went along with it anyway.
"And Jasper." She finalized.
Evryone nodded, though Hazel looked nervous. No doubt her time in the Underworld had given her enough ghost experiences for two lifetimes. 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 coursethey'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."
Annabeth decided to take that as a green light. "Okay, Leo. What kind of decoy are we talking about?"
"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 hadn't seen much of Buford during the trip. He mostly stayed in the engine room. (Leo insisted that Buford had a secret crush on the engine.) 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."
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!"
***
That night I slept without nightmares or visions, which just made me uneasy when I woke up—like the calm before a storm.
Leo docked the ship at a pier in Charleston Harbor, right next to the seawall. Along the shore was a historical district with tall mansions, palm trees, and wrought-iron fences. Antique cannons pointed at the water.
By the time I came up on deck, Jason, Frank, and Leo had already left for the museum. According to Coach Hedge, they'd promised to be back by sunset. Jasper, Annabeth, Piper and Hazel were ready to go.
Annabeth turned to us. "Okay, ladies. Let's find the ghost of the Battery."
Jasper scowled as he was not a lady. He grumbled and followed slightly behind us three.
At first, we had a pretty good time walking along the Battery. According to the signs, the seaside park was called White Point Gardens. The ocean breeze swept away the muggy heat of the summer afternoon, and it was pleasantly cool under the shade of the palmetto trees. Lining theroads were old Civil War cannons and bronze statues of historical figures.
Charleston Harbor glittered in the sun. To the north and south, strips of land stretched out like arms enclosing the bay, and sitting in the mouth of the harbor, about a mile out, was an island with a stone fort. I had a vague memory of that fort being important in the Civil War, but she didn't spend much time thinking about it.
The park wasn't crowded. I imagined that most of the locals had gone on summer vacation, or were holed up at home taking a siesta. They strolled along South Battery Street, which was lined with four-story Colonial mansions. The brick walls were blanketed with ivy. The facades had soaring white columns like Roman temples. The front gardens were bursting with rosebushes, honeysuckle, and flowering bougainvillea. It looked like Demeter hadset the timer on all the plants to grow several decades ago, then forgotten to come back and check on them.
"Kind of reminds me of New Rome," Hazel said. "All the big mansions and the gardens. The columns and arches."
Jasper nodded, agreeing with her. I remembered reading how the American South had often compared itself to Rome back before the Civil War. In the old days their society had been all about impressive architecture, honor, and codes of chivalry. And on the evil side, it had also been about slavery. Rome had slaves, some Southerners had argued, so why shouldn't we?
The houses and the gardens were very beautiful, very Roman. But I wondered why beautiful things had to be wrapped up with evil history. Or was it the other way around? Maybe the evil history made it necessary to build beautiful things, to mask the darker aspects.
I shook my head from the thought. I think I was reading too much poetry and now I was starting to sound philosophical.
Everyone was silent. Piper kept looking around like she expected an ambush. Annabeth looked lost in thought and Jasper trailed behind us silent as usual.
"There." Piper pointed across the harbor. A hundred yards out, a shimmering white figure floated on the water. At first, I thought it might be a buoy or a small boat reflecting the sunlight, but it was definitely glowing, and it was moving more smoothly than a boat, making a straight line toward them. As it got closer, I could tell it was the figure of a woman."The ghost," I said."That's not a ghost," Hazel said. "No kind of spirit glows that brightly."
I decided to take her word for it. She couldn't imagine being Hazel, dying at such a young age and coming back from the Underworld, knowing more about the dead than the living.
As if in a trance, Piper walked across the street toward the edge of the seawall, narrowly avoiding a horse-drawn carriage.
"Piper!" Annabeth called.
"We'd better follow her," Hazel said.By the time we caught up to her, the ghostly apparition was only a few yards away.
Piper glared at it like the sight offended her.
"It is her," she grumbled.
Annabeth squinted at the ghost, but it blazed too brightly to make out details. Then the apparition floated up the
I gasped. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful and strangely familiar. Her face was hard to describe. Her features seemed to shift from those of one glamorous movie star to another. Her eyes sparkled playfully—sometimes green or blue or amber. Her hair changed from long, straight blond to dark chocolatey curls.
I was instantly jealous. I'd always wished I had dark hair. I felt like nobody took her seriously asa blonde. Especially as a child of Apollo. Everyone assumed I was a sunshine girl whose only talent was serenading them with songs. People only began to take me seriously when I predicted what they would say or do.
"Wait, I've seen her before." I said trying to rack my brain for where.
"A vision?" Jasper suggested coming to stand next to me.
"Actually, yeah." I said now remembering. "She was in the series of visions I saw when Nemesis put me to sleep."
The woman was dressed like a Southern belle, just as Jason had described. Her gown had a low-cut bodice of pink silk and a three-tiered hoop skirt with white scalloped lace. She wore tall white silk gloves, and held a feathered pink-and-white fan to her chest.Everything about her seemed calculated to make me feel inadequate: the easy grace with which she wore her dress, the perfect yet understated makeup, the way she radiated feminine charm that no man could possibly resist.
She was beautiful and I suddenly found myself wishing I was as beautiful as her.
"Aphrodite," Annabeth said.
"Venus?" Hazel asked in amazement.
"Mom," Piper said, with no enthusiasm.
"Girls!" The goddess spread her arms like she wanted a group hug.
The three demigods did not oblige. Hazel backed into a palmetto tree. Jasper scowled and looked very annoyed that she was the one we ran into.
"I'm so glad you're here," Aphrodite said. "War is coming. Bloodshed is inevitable. So there's really only one thing to do."
"Uh...and that is?" I ventured.
"Why, have tea and chat, obviously. Come with me!"
Aphrodite knew how to do tea.
She led them to the central pavilion in the gardens—a white-pillared gazebo, where a table was set with silverware, china cups, and of course a steaming pot of tea, the fragrance shifting as easily as Aphrodite's appearance—sometimes cinnamon, or jasmine, or mint. There were plates of scones, cookies, and muffins, fresh butter and jam—all of which, Annabeth figured, were incredibly fattening; unless, of course, you were the immortal goddess of love.
Aphrodite sat—or held court, rather—in a wicker peacock chair. She poured tea and served cakes without getting a speck on her clothes, her posture always perfect, her smile dazzling.I hated her more and more the longer they sat.
"Oh, my sweet girls," the goddess said. "I do love Charleston! The weddings I've attended in this gazebo—they bring tears to my eyes. And the elegant balls in the days of the Old South. Ah, they were lovely. Many of these mansions still have statues of me in their gardens, though they called me Venus."
"Which are you?" I asked. "Venus or Aphrodite?"
The goddess sipped her tea. Her eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Eliana Corbyn you've grown into quite a beautiful young lady. You really should do something with your hair, though. And, Hazel Levesque, your clothes—"
"My clothes?" Hazel looked down at her rumpled denim, not self-consciously, but baffled, as if she couldn't imagine what was wrong with them.
"And Annabeth dear, tsk tsk I'll find you a new stylist soon." Annabeth looked offended. Then the goddess seemed to notice that there was in fact a boy present. She got up and gave a beautful smile.
"Jasper, what a beautiful face you have." She ogled running her hands down his cheek. "And these muscles! Just like your father." She winked. She then stepped away. "But at last I see your heart belongs to someone already. I won't over step."
I remembered the story about Venus and Mars. Venus or Aphrodite was married to Vulcan or as I knew him, Hephaestus but her true love has always been Mars. The stories had said she was ridiculed by Mt. Olympus when they were caught. I guessed she saw a lot of her lover Mars in him.
"Mother!" Piper said. "You're embarrassing me."
"Well, I don't see why," the goddess said. "Just because you don't appreciate my fashion tips, Piper, doesn't mean the others won't. I could do a quick makeover for Annabeth and Eliana. Perhaps even find Eliana a boyfriend, and then a simple refresh of clothing for Hazel perhaps silk ball gowns like mine. Then I can teach Jasper exactly what to do with this girl he likes—"
"Mother!"
"Fine," Aphrodite sighed. "To answer your question, Eliana, I am both Aphrodite and Venus. Unlike many of my fellow Olympians, I changed hardly at all from one age to the other. In fact, I like to think I haven't aged a bit!"
Her fingers fluttered around her face appreciatively. "Love is love, after all, whether you're Greek or Roman. This civil war won't affect me as much as it will the others."
Lovely, I thought.Of all the gods who might help them, the only ones not affected by the Greek–Roman schism seemed to be Aphrodite, Nemesis, and Dionysus. Love, revenge, wine. Very helpful.
Hazel nibbled a sugar cookie. "We're not in a war yet, my lady."
"Oh, dear Hazel." Aphrodite folded her fan. "Such optimism, yet you have heartrending days ahead of you. Of course war is coming. Love and war always go together. They are the peaks of human emotion! Evil and good, beauty and ugliness."
She smiled at me as if she knew what I had been thinking earlier about the Old South.
Hazel set down her sugar cookie. She had a few crumbs on her chin, and Annabeth liked the fact that Hazel either didn't know or didn't care.
"What do you mean," Hazel asked, "heartrending days?"
The goddess laughed as if Hazel were a cute puppy. "Well, Annabeth could give you some idea. I once promised to make her love life interesting. And didn't I?"
Annabeth almost snapped the handle off her teacup.
"Interesting," Annabeth said, "is a mild way of putting it."
"Well, I can't take credit for all your troubles," the goddess said. "But I do love twists and turns in a love story. Oh, all of you are such excellent stories—I mean, girls. You do me proud!"
"Mother," Piper said, "is there a reason you're here?"
"Hmm? Oh, you mean besides the tea? I often come here. I love the view, the food, the atmosphere—you can just smell the romance and heartbreak in the air, can't you? Centuries of it."
She pointed to a nearby mansion. "Do you see that rooftop balcony? We had a party there the night the American Civil War began. The shelling of Fort Sumter."
"That's it," I remembered. "The island in the harbor. That's where the first fighting of the Civil War happened. The Confederates shelled the Union troops and took the fort."
"Oh, such a party!" Aphrodite said. "A string quartet, and all the men in their elegant new officers' uniforms. The women's dresses—you should've seen them! I danced with Ares—or was he Mars? I'm afraid I was a little giddy. And the beautiful bursts of light across the harbor, the roar of the cannons giving the men an excuse to put their arms around their frightened sweethearts!"
My tea was cold. I hadn't eaten anything, but I felt like she wanted to throw up. "You're talking about the beginning of the bloodiest war in U.S. history. Over six hundred thousand people died—more Americans than in World War One and World War Two combined."
"And the refreshments!" Aphrodite continued. "Ah, they were divine. General Beauregard himself made an appearance. He was such a scoundrel. He was on his second wife, then, but you should have seen the way he looked at Lisbeth Cooper—"
"Mother!" Piper tossed her scone to the pigeons.
"Yes, sorry," the goddess said. "To make the story short, I'm here to help you, girls and of the pretty boy." She smiled and winked at Jasper. I felt fire in my chest as she looked at him. Luckily jasper wrinkled his nose at her and scowled.
"I doubt you'll be seeing Hera much. Your little quest has hardly made her welcome in the throne room. And the other gods are rather indisposed, as you know, torn between their Roman and Greek sides. Some more than others." Aphrodite fixed her gaze on Annabeth. "I suppose you've told your friends about your falling-out with your mother?"
"Falling-out?" Hazel asked.
"An argument," Annabeth said. "It's nothing."
"Nothing!" the goddess said. "Well, I don't know about that. Athena was the most Greek of all goddesses. The patron of Athens, after all. When the Romans took over...oh, they adopted Athena after a fashion. She became Minerva, the goddess of crafts and cleverness. But the Romans had other war gods who were more to their taste, more reliably Roman—like Bellona—"
"Reyna's mom," I muttered.
"Yes, indeed," the goddess agreed. "I had a lovely talk with Reyna a while back, right here in the park. And the Romans had Mars, of course. And later, there was Mithras—not even properly Greek or Roman, but the legionnaires were crazy about his cult. I always found him crass and terribly nouveau dieu, personally. At any rate, the Romans quite sidelined poor Athena. They took away most of her military importance. The Greeks never forgave the Romans for that insult. Neither did Athena."
"The Mark of Athena," Annabeth said. "It leads to a statue, doesn't it? It leads to...to the statue."
Aphrodite smiled. "You are clever, like your mother. Understand, though, your siblings, the children of Athena, have been searching for centuries. None has succeeded in recovering the statue. In the meantime, they've been keeping alive the Greek feud with the Romans. Every civil war...so much bloodshed and heartbreak...has been orchestrated largely by Athena's children."
"That's..." Annabeth started.
"Romantic?" Aphrodite offered. "Yes, I supposed it is."
"But..." Annabeth seemed to be lost in thought. "The Mark of Athena, how does it work? Is it a series of clues, or a trail set by Athena—"
"Hmm." Aphrodite looked politely bored. "I couldn't say. I don't believe Athena created the Mark consciously. If she knew where her statue was, she'd simply tell you where to find it. No...I'd guess the Mark is more like a spiritual trail of bread crumbs. It's a connection between the statue and the children of the goddess. The statue wants to be found, you see, but it can only be freed by the most worthy."
"And for thousands of years," Annabeth said, "no one has managed."
"Hold on," Piper said. "What statue are we talking about?"
The goddess laughed. "Oh, I'm sure Annabeth can fill you in. At any rate, the clue you need is close by: a map of sorts, left by the children of Athena in 1861—a remembrance that will start you on your path, once you reach Rome. But as you said, Annabeth Chase, no one has ever succeeded in following the Mark of Athena to its end. There you will face your worst fear—the fear of every child of Athena. And even if you survive, how will you use your reward? For war or for peace?"
"This map," Annabeth said, "where is it?"
"Guys!" Jasper pointed to the sky.
Circling above the palmetto trees were two large eagles. Higher up, descending rapidly, was a flying chariot pulled by pegasi. Apparently Leo's diversion with Buford the end table hadn't worked—at least not for long.
Aphrodite spread butter on a muffin as if she had all the time in the world. "Oh, the map is at Fort Sumter, of course." She pointed her butter knife toward the island across the harbor. "It looks like the Romans have arrived to cut you off. I'd get back to your ship in a hurry if I were you. Would you care for some tea cakes to go?"