{Kiara}
Kiara thought Hazel had never looked so happy. Well, except for maybe on the night of the victory feast at Camp Jupiter, when she'd kissed Frank for the first time... but this was a close second.
As soon as she reached the ground, she ran to Arion and threw her arms around him. "I missed you!" She pressed her face into the horse's warm neck. "Where have you been?"
Arion nickered. Kiara wished she could speak Horse like Percy could, but she got the general idea. Arion sounded impatient, as if saying, No time for sentiment, girl! Come on! Or that was what she figured from all the way up at the deck.
"You want me to go with you?" Hazel guessed.
Arion bobbed his head, trotting in place. His dark brown eyes gleamed with urgency.
Kiara couldn't believe the horse was actually here. He could run across any surface, even the sea; but Kiara had guessed he wouldn't follow them into the ancient lands. The Mediterranean was too dangerous for demigods and their allies.
He wouldn't have come unless Hazel was in dire need. And he seemed so agitated... Anything that could make a fearless horse skittish terrified Kiara.
But Hazel looked so happy and excited, Kiara didn't want to pop her bubble. Besides, Hazel was strong. She would be fine, Kiara hoped.
"Hazel!" Nico called down from the ship. "What's going on?"
"It's fine!" Hazel crouched down and summoned a gold nugget from the earth. She was getting better at controlling her power. Precious stones hardly ever popped up around her by accident anymore, and pulling gold from the ground was easy.
She fed Arion the nugget... his favorite snack. Then she smiled up at Leo, Kiara and Nico, who were watching her from the top of the ladder a hundred feet above. "Arion wants to take me somewhere."
The three exchanged nervous looks.
"Uh..." Leo pointed north. "Please tell me he's not taking you into that?"
A mile away, on the crest of the next hill, a storm had gathered over some old stone ruins—maybe the remains of a Roman temple or a fortress. A funnel cloud snaked its way down toward the hill like an inky black finger.
Hazel suddenly looked nauseous. She looked at Arion. "You want to go there?"
Arion whinnied, as if to say, Uh, duh!
She tightened the straps of her Imperial gold cavalry sword and climbed onto Arion's back. "I'll be okay!" she called up to Nico, Kiara and Leo. "Stay put and wait for me."
"Wait for how long?" Nico asked. "What if you don't come back?"
"Don't worry, I will," she promised. Kiara hoped it was true.
She spurred Arion, and they shot across the countryside, heading straight
for the growing tornado. And soon, she was out of view.
"She'll be okay," Kiara said, mostly to convince herself.
"I hope so," Nico said.
"Maybe we should wake the others now," Leo suggested. "We could use some rest. At least, until Hazel comes back."
Sleep sounded good, but lately Kiara had been having more trouble falling asleep. She didn't know how the rest of the crew of the Argo II managed to sleep through even a numina attack. Her mind had been more scrambled with Percy and Annabeth falling into... It was so depressing she couldn't even finish the thought.
"They need rest too," Kiara said. "Besides, our turn isn't over until morning." She took a look at Leo. He looked exhausted. He had been working without breaks for the past few days, guiding the ship through Italy. Apparently, Nico had been having the same thoughts.
"You rest for a bit," he said. "Kiara and I can take care of the ship."
Leo glanced at the helm, then back at the children of the god of the Underworld. "You sure?"
"Valdez," Kiara said. "Go get some sleep. You look like you're about to collapse."
"Yeah, okay." Leo made his way down the stairs to his room, or maybe to the engine room (he slept there more often).
As soon as the son of Hephaestus left, Kiara sat on the deck, leaning against what was left of the mast. She wanted to get her head together, but with Percy and Annabeth falling, the deadline of the end of the world approaching, and Piper basically just existing, she couldn't focus. She wished Venus hadn't made her love life so complicated.
After a couple of minutes, Nico came and sat next to her. "How are you holding up?"
"About?" Kiara leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
"About Piper."
Kiara had told Nico about her not-so-little crush on Piper a while after Percy, Jason and Piper had rescued Nico from the twin giants, Ephialtes and Otis. He had been very understanding and told his sister about his crush on Percy. It was understandable; Percy was pretty impressive.
"I don't know," Kiara admitted. "I wish she could just see that I like her. She's the daughter of the goddess of love, yet she's so oblivious about me liking her."
"Does anyone else know?" Nico asked. "I mean, other than me and Hazel."
"No." She hesitated. "Well, Leo knows that I like girls, but he doesn't know who I like."
Nico nodded absently. "Are you planning on telling anyone?"
Kiara shook her head. "Why are you asking me this anyway?"
"Just wanted to have a conversation with my little sister," Nico replied. "Is that a crime now?"
The daughter of Pluto laughed softly. "No. Just curious. You normally aren't the one who's interested in love. Although," she added, smirking slightly, "that son of Apollo, back at Camp Half-Blood. He seems to care about you a lot."
Kiara watched in amusement as her half brother's face went red.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Nico looked away, probably to hide his face.
"Oh, really? Does the name Will Solace ring a bell, then?" At those words, Nico's face turned tomato red as the blood rushed to his face. "I knew it."
"Shut up." Nico swatted her arm, his face beat red.
"Fine," Kiara said. She decided to change the subject. "Should I go wake Leo? Hazel should be back soon."
Nico looked glad for the change of subject. "Sure."
Kiara found Leo curled up on the engine floor, just as she'd suspected. It didn't take long to wake him up, then together they went back up to the deck.
"What happened?" Leo asked as Hazel climbed aboard the Argo II.
Hazel's hands still shook from whatever had happened. She glanced over the rail; the dust of Arion's wake stretching across the hills of Italy. The countryside sparkled as the summer sun hit the morning dew. On the hill, the old ruins stood white and silent.
"Hazel?" Nico asked.
Her knees buckled. Nico and Kiara grabbed her arms and helped her to the steps of the foredeck.
"I met Hecate," she managed. She told them about the secret northern pass through the mountains, and the detour Hecate described that could take them to Epirus.
When she was done, Nico took her hand. His eyes were full of concern. "Hazel, you met Hecate at a crossroads. That's... that's something many demigods don't survive. And the ones who do survive are never the same. Are you sure you're—"
"I'm fine," she insisted.
But Kiara knew she wasn't. She could see it in her sister's eyes; normally shining golden, now they were dimmed.
"What if Hecate is tricking us?" Leo asked. "This route could be a trap."
Hazel shook her head. "If it was a trap, I think Hecate would've made the northern route sound tempting. Believe me, she didn't."
Leo pulled a calculator out of his tool belt and punched in some numbers. "That's... something like three hundred miles out of our way to get to Venice. Then we'd have to backtrack down the Adriatic. And you said something about baloney dwarfs?"
"Dwarfs in Bologna," Kiara corrected.
"I guess Bologna is a city," Hazel said. "But why we have to find dwarfs there... I have no idea. Some sort of treasure to help us with the quest."
"Huh," Leo said. "I mean, I'm all about treasure, but—"
Kiara elbowed him.
"It's our best option." Nico helped Hazel to her feet. "We have to make up for lost time, travel as fast as we can. Percy's and Annabeth's lives might depend on it."
"Fast?" Leo grinned. "I can do fast." He hurried to the console and started flipping switches.
Nico took Hazel's arm and guided her out of earshot, Kiara following close behind. "What else did Hecate say? Anything about—"
"I can't." Hazel cut him off.
Nico had warned them. He'd communed with the dead, heard them whispering hints about their future. Three children of the Underworld would enter the House of Hades. They would face an impossible foe. Only one of them would make it to the Doors of Death.
"I'll tell you later," Hazel promised, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Kiara could tell her sister was shaken. "Right now, we should rest while we can. Tonight, we cross the Apennines."
As Kiara layed on her bed, staring at the ceiling above her, she could hear Leo tinkering with the Athena Parthenos below.
Ever since they'd brought the statue aboard, Leo had been obsessed with figuring out how it worked. He was sure it had primo powers. He was sure there had to be a secret switch or a pressure plate or something.
He spent hours crawling over the statue, which took up most of the lower deck, and Kiara would hear every scratch and thud. Athena's feet stuck into the sick bay, so you had to squeeze past her ivory toes if you wanted some Advil (which was quite often for Kiara). The statue's body ran the length of the port corridor, her outstretched hand jutting into the engine room, offering the life-sized figure of Nike that stood in her palm, like, Here, have some Victory! Athena's serene face took up most of the aft pegasus stables, which were fortunately unoccupied.
Annabeth had said the statue was the key to defeating Gaea. It could heal the rift between Greek and Roman demigods. Kiara figured there had to be more to it than just symbolism. Maybe Athena's eyes shot lasers, or the snake behind her shield could spit poison. Or maybe the smaller figure of Nike came to life and busted out some ninja moves.
The ship careened to one side, taking evasive maneuvers. Jason, Piper, and Frank were on duty with Hazel now.Hazel had insisted on taking the wheel to guide them through the secret pass that the magic goddess had told her about. Though Kiara thought her sister needed some serious rest. Yet, she also hoped Hazel was right about the long detour north. She didn't trust Hecate. She didn't see why such a creepy goddess would suddenly decide to be helpful.
There was a knock on her door, and someone poked their head in.
Piper smiled at her. "I figured you were awake."
Kiara hoped she wasn't blushing, and sat up in her bed. Piper came in and sat next to Kiara on the bed. She was wearing denim shorts and her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. Drew could make an orange shirt and shorts look glamorous, but Piper made them look like designer clothes.
She forced her thoughts to the back of her head. "What's up?"
"I need help," Piper said, chewing on her bottom lip. Gods, she was gorgeous.
"Sure," Kiara said, trying hard not to get lost in Piper's kaleidoscopic eyes. "With what?"
Piper hesitated, then began telling Kiara about how she had begun losing feelings for Jason. She didn't feel attracted to him anymore, but she couldn't tell why. She told Kiara how it felt wrong to kiss Jason, or to tell him that she loved him. "I don't know what to do," she admitted. "I don't want to lie to him. Should I break up with him?"
It hurt Kiara to see Piper like that; confused and desperate. But she wasn't good at giving relationship advice. It was also very weird that the daughter of Aphrodite had come to a daughter of Pluto for advice on her relationship. "I think you should do what feels right," Kiara suggested, trying to keep a straight mind.
"But I don't know what feels right," Piper said.
"Talk to Jason about this, then," Kiara said. "Figure it out together. It involves both of you, after all."
Piper considered that. "That's a good idea." She smiled at Kiara, and the latter felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach. "Thanks."
"Anytime."
Piper got up to leave, then glanced over at Kiara's desk and froze. She approached the table and picked up one of the drawings. She turned back to Kiara. "Did you draw this?"
It wasn't something pretty, just a pencil sketch of the view of Rome from above. Kiara had drawn it the other night, when she hadn't been able to sleep, and Leo had been tinkering with the forty foot tall statue of the goddess of wisdom beneath her room.
"Uh, yeah," Kiara replied.
Piper looked down at the drawing in her hand. "It's really good."
Kiara felt heat rushing to her cheeks. "Thanks."
Someone knocked on the door aggressively and shouted from the hallway, "Come on, McLean! What's taking so long? You better not be—"
Kiara rushed to the door, her face feeling hot, and opened it, cutting Coach Hedge's sentence. "We were just talking, Coach. No need to shout at 7 AM."
Piper giggled and set down the drawing back on Kiara's desk. She thanked Kiara once more, then left her cabin, following Coach Hedge.