𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
piper looked around at everybody who was hastily dressed.
frank's vancouver winter olympics shirt was inside out.
percy wore pajama pants and a bronze breastplate, which was an interesting fashion statement.
cherry stood right beside him, and she looked great. her outfit was super cute.
hazel's hair was all blown to one side, as though she'd walked through a cyclone.
leo had accidentally set himself on fire. his t-shirt was in charred tatters. his arms were smoking.
about a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past. tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. some smiled and took pictures. none of them looked surprised to see an ancient greek trireme. maybe the mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the argo ii was a tourist attraction.
the cruise ship blew its horn again, and the argo ii had a shaking fit.
coach hedge plugged his ears. "do they have to be so loud?"
"they're just saying hi," frank speculated.
"what?" hedge yelled back.
the ship edged past them, heading out to sea. the tourists kept waving. if they found it strange that the argo ii was populated by half-asleep kids in armor and pajamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on.
"bye!" leo called, raising his smoking hand.
"can i man the ballistae?" hedge asked.
"no," leo said through a forced smile.
hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "where are- oh wow."
piper followed her gaze and gasped.
without the cruise ship blocking their view, a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north was visible.
on one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below. on the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forest, so that the whole thing reminded piper of a colossal sphinx, worn down over the millennia, with a massive white head and chest, and a green cloak over its back.
"the rock of gibraltar," annabeth said in awe. "at the tip of spain. and over there-" she pointed south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "that must be africa. we're at the mouth of the mediterranean."
the morning was warm, but piper shivered.
once in the mediterranean, the mare nostrum, they would be in the ancient lands. if the legends were true, their quest would become ten times more dangerous.
"what now?" she asked. "do we just sail in?"
"why not?" leo said. "it's a big shipping channel. boats go in and out all the time."
"not full of demigods." cherry commented.
"we can be the first ones." jason shrugged.
"i love being first." leo agreed.
annabeth gazed at the rock of gibraltar. piper recognized that brooding expression on her friend's face.
it almost always meant that she anticipated trouble.
"in the old days," annabeth said, "they called this area the pillars of hercules. the rock was supposed to be one pillar. the other was one of the african mountains. nobody is sure which one."
"hercules, huh?" percy frowned. "everywhere you turn, there he is."
a thunderous boom shook the argo ii. there weren't any ships nearby, and the skies were clear.
"so.. these pillars of hercules. are they dangerous?" piper asked.
annabeth stayed focused on the white cliffs, as if waiting for the mark of athena to blaze to life. "for greeks, the pillars marked the end of the known world. the romans said the pillars were inscribed with a latin warning-"
"non plus ultra," percy said.
annabeth looked stunned. "yeah. nothing further beyond. how did you know?"
percy pointed. "because i'm looking at it."
directly ahead of them, in the middle of the straits, an island had shimmered into existence. piper was positive no island had been there before.
it was a small hilly mass of land, covered in forests and ringed with white beaches.
not very impressive compared to gibraltar, but in front of the island, jutting from waves about a hundred yards offshore, were two white grecian columns as tall as the argo's masts. between the columns, huge silver words glittered underwater. maybe an illusion, or maybe inlaid in the sand.
nonplus ultra.
"guys, do i turn around?" leo asked nervously. "or.."
no one answered.
they"d noticed the figure standing on the beach.
as the ship approached the columns, the dark-haired man in purple robes became more and more visible, his arms were crossed, and he was staring intently at their ship as if he were expecting them.
frank inhaled sharply.
"who the fuck is that?" cherry questioned.
"hercules," jason answered. "the most powerful demigod of all time."
"need an answer," leo said urgently. "i can turn, or we can take off. the stabilizers are working again. but i need to know quick-"
"we have to keep going," annabeth said. "i think he's guarding these straits. if that's really hercules, sailing or flying away wouldn't do any good. he'll want to talk to us."
"won't hercules be on our side?" piper asked hopefully. "i mean... he's one of us, right?"
"he was a son of zeus, but when he died, he became a god. you can never be sure with gods." annabeth shook her head.
"oh man." cherry spoke.
"besides you." annabeth commented, with a small smile.
"thanks, annie!" cherry grinned.
"great," percy said. "eight of us against hercules."
"and a satyr!" hedge added.
"you can take him all on your own." cherry encouraged.
"i've got a better idea," annabeth said. "we send ambassadors ashore. a small group, one or two at most. try to talk with him."
"i'll go," jason said. "he's a son of zeus. i'm the son of jupiter. maybe he'll be friendly to me."
"or maybe he'll hate you," percy suggested. "half brothers don't always get along."
jason scowled. "thank you, mr. optimism."
"it's worth a shot," annabeth said. "at least jason and hercules have something in common. and we need our best diplomat. somebody who's good with words."
all eyes turned to piper.
she very closely didn't want to do it, but jason was going, and she wanted to be with him.
"fine," piper said. "just let me change my clothes."
once leo had anchored the argo ii between the pillars, jason summoned the wind to carry him and piper ashore.
it had not worked out as planned.
they'd finished off the encounter with hercules lobbing coconuts at them from far below.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
cherry woke with a start.
some weird dolphin warrior had yanked her up out of bed and hauled her up the stairs wirh the resr of her friends.
jason was unconscious. judging from the new bruises on his face, he'd tried to fight. hazel and piper were bound hand and foot.
piper had a gag in her mouth, so apparently the dolphins had discovered she could charmspeak.
frank was the only one missing, though two of the dolphins had bee stings covering their faces.
could frank actually turn into a swarm of bees?
percy eyed his girlfriend.
he felt horrible. he couldn't say anything, it would just give them more leverage to use against him.
chrysaor directed his warriors to dump jason by the crossbows.
"the boy is no use to me," chrysaor said. "but we have an understanding with the witch circe. she will buy the women, but not you, lovely annabeth."
annabeth recoiled. "you are not taking me anywhere."
"that's so gross." cherry made a face.
percy was having a difficult time not saying a word.
"annabeth, you and your friend percy are spoken for. a certain goddess is paying a high bounty for your capture, alive, if possible, though she didn't say you had to be unharmed." chrysaor threatened.
cherry bit down on the shoulder of the man that was still holding her up in the air.
piper wailed so loudly it could be heard through her gag. then she fainted against the nearest guard, knocking him over.
hazel got the idea and crumpled to the deck, kicking her legs and thrashing like she was having a fit.
percy drew riptide and lashed out.
the blade should have gone straight through chrysaor's neck, but the golden warrior was unbelievably fast. he dodged and parried as the dolphin warriors backed up, guarding the other captives while giving their captain room to battle.
they chattered and squeaked, egging him on, and percy got the sinking suspicion the crew was used to this sort of entertainment. they didn't feel their leader was in any sort of danger. they battled back and forth, thrusting and parrying.
percy feinted and thrust at chrysaor's gut, but chrysaor anticipated the move. he knocked percy's sword out of his hand again, and once more riptide flew into the sea.
chrysaor laughed easily.
he wasn't even winded. he pressed the tip of his golden sword against percy's sternum.
"a good try," said the pirate. "but now you'll be chained and transported to gaea's minions. they are quite eager to spill your blood and wake the goddess."
percy crafted a plan in his head.
maybe he couldn't defeat chrysaor on his own, but he could with everybody else.
percy glanced toward the stern and spotted frank, in human form, peeking out from behind a ballista, waiting. percy resisted the urge to smile.
"fine!" percy shouted, so loudly that he got everyone's attention. "take us away, if our captain will let you."
chrysaor turned his golden mask. "what captain? my men searched the ship. there is no one else."
percy raised his hands dramatically. "the god appears only when he wishes. but he is our leader. he runs our camp for demigods. doesn't he, cherry?"
"yeah!" cherry nodded eagerly, despite having no idea what he was talking about.
"mr. d! the great dionysus!" percy cheered.
a ripple of uneasiness passed through the dolphin-men.
one dropped his sword.
"stand fast!" chrysaor bellowed. "the only god on this boat is right here- here?"
the red-haired girl was gone.
"you should be scared!" percy looked at the pirate crew with sympathy. "dionysus will be severely cranky with you for having delayed our voyage. he will punish all of us. didn't you notice the girls falling into the wine god's madness?"
hazel and piper began to flop around like fish.
the dolphin-men fell over themselves trying to get away from their captives.
"fakes!" chrysaor roared. "shut up, percy jackson. your camp director is not here. he was recalled to olympus. this is common knowledge."
"so you admit dionysus is our director!" percy said.
"he was," chrysaor corrected. "everyone knows that."
percy gestured at the golden warrior like he'd just betrayed himself. "you see? we are doomed. if you don't believe me, let's check the ice chest!"
percy stormed over to the magical cooler.
no one tried to stop him. he knocked open the lid and spotted the silver-and-red can of soda cherry had just ran off to hide.
she made her way to the corner frank was hiding in, and told him to be ready for anything.
"behold!" percy shouted. "the god's chosen beverage. tremble before the horror of diet coke!"
the dolphin-men began to panic.
they were on the edge of retreat.
percy could feel it.
"the god will take your ship," percy warned. "he will finish your transformation into dolphins, or make you insane, or transform you into insane dolphins! your only hope is to swim away now, quickly!"
"ridiculous!" chrysaor's voice turned shrill.
he didn't seem sure where to level his sword, at percy or his own crew.
"save yourselves!" percy warned. "it is too late for us!" then he gasped and pointed to the spot where frank was hiding.
"oh, no! frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"
nothing happened.
cherry cheered him on, and frank stumbled out of nowhere.
he made a big show of grabbing his throat.
"oh, no," he said, like he was reading from a teleprompter. "i am turning into a crazy dolphin."
he began to change, his nose elongating into a snout, his skin becoming sleek and gray.
a soft red glow encased him, causing him to spin all over the place.
percy looked over at his girlfriend, who was having way too much fun bouncing him around the boat. cherry whispered a sorry to frank.
the pirate crew disbanded in terror, chattering and clicking as they dropped their weapons, forgot the captives, ignored chrysaor's orders, and jumped overboard.
in the confusion, annabeth moved quickly to cut the bonds on hazel, piper, and coach hedge.
within seconds, chrysaor was alone and surrounded.
"this isn't over, jackson," chrysaor growled. "i will have my revenge-"
his words were cut short by frank, who had changed forms again.
an eight-hundred-pound grizzly bear can definitely break up a conversation. he sideswiped chrysaor and raked the golden mask off his helmet. chrysaor screamed, instantly covering his face with his arms and tumbling into the water.
all of them ran to the rail.
chrysaor had disappeared.
"you are a genius!" cherry out her hands on her boyfriends face, smiling at him.
she spun around to face frank. "you did really good, too! sorry for spinning you so much."
frank held out a thumbs up.
"we need to get rid of this pirate trireme." percy looked over.
"burn it?" annabeth suggested.
percy looked at the diet coke in his hand. "no. i've got another idea."
it took them longer than percy wanted.
as they worked, he kept glancing at the sea, waiting for chrysaor and his pirate dolphins to return, but they didn't. leo got back on his feet, thanks to a little nectar.
piper tended to jason's wounds, but he wasn't as badly hurt as he looked. mostly he was just ashamed that he'd gotten overpowered again, which percy could relate to.
they returned all their own supplies to the proper places and tidied up from the invasion while coach hedge had a field day on the enemy ship, breaking everything he could find with his baseball bat.
when he was done, percy loaded the enemy's weapons back on the pirate ship. their storeroom was full of treasure, but percy insisted that they touch none of it.
"i can sense about six million dollars' worth of gold aboard," hazel said. "plus diamonds, rubies-"
"six m-million?" frank stammered. "canadian dollars or american?"
"leave it," percy said. "it's part of the tribute."
"tribute?" hazel asked.
"oh." piper nodded. "kansas."
jason grinned.
he'd been there too when they'd met the wine god. "crazy. but i like it."
cherry was really happy for her boyfriend, but she was suddenly feeling really stupid.
percy went aboard the pirate ship and opened the flood valves. he asked leo to drill a few extra holes in the bottom of the hull with his power tools, and leo was happy to oblige.
the crew of the argo ii assembled at the rail and cut the grappling lines.
piper brought out her new horn of plenty and, on percy's direction, willed it to spew diet coke, which came out with the strength of a fire hose, dousing the enemy deck. percy thought it would take hours, but the ship sank remarkably fast, filling with diet coke and seawater.
"dionysus," percy called, holding up chrysaor's golden mask. "or bacchus, whatever. you made this victory possible, even if you weren't here. your enemies trembled at your name.. or your diet coke, or something. so, yeah, thank you."
the words were hard to get out, but percy managed not to gag. "we give this ship to you as tribute. we hope you like it."
"six million in gold," leo muttered. "he'd better like it."
"shh," hazel scolded. "precious metal isn't all that great. believe me."
percy threw the golden mask aboard the vessel, which was now sinking even faster, brown fizzy liquid spewing out the trireme's oar slots and bubbling from the cargo hold, turning the sea frothy brown.
percy summoned a wave, and the enemy ship was swamped.
leo steered the argo ii away as the pirate vessel disappeared underwater.
"isn't that polluting?" piper asked.
"i wouldn't worry," jason told her. "if bacchus likes it, the ship should vanish."
percy didn't know if that would happen, but he felt like he'd done all he could. he had no faith that dionysus would hear them or care, much less help them in their battle against the twin giants, but he had to try.
as the argo ii headed east into the fog, percy decided at least one good thing had come out of his sword fight with chrysaor.
he was feeling humble, even humble enough to pay tribute to the wine dude. after their bout with the pirates, they decided to fly the rest of the way to rome.
jason insisted he was well enough to take sentry duty, along with coach hedge, who was still so charged with adrenaline that every time the ship hit turbulence, he swung his bat and yelled, "die!" they had a couple of hours before daybreak, so jason suggested percy try to get a few more hours of sleep.
"it's fine, man," jason said. "give somebody else a chance to save the ship, huh?"
percy agreed, though once in his cabin, he had trouble falling asleep.
eventually, he did so.
cherry and piper sat on the deck together.
piper could just tell that the girl was upset, but didn't understand why.
percy came up into the deck too.
the sky was brilliant blue, as if the stormy weather had never happened. the sun rose over the distant hills, so everything below them shone and sparkled like the entire city of rome had just come out of the car wash.
the city spread through hills and valleys, jumped over the tiber with dozens of bridges, and just kept sprawling to the horizon.
streets and alleys zigzagged with no rhyme or reason through quilts of neighborhoods.
glass office buildings stood next to excavation sites.
a cathedral stood next to a line of roman columns, which stood next to a modern soccer stadium. in some neighborhoods, old stucco villas with red-tiled roofs crowded the cobblestone streets.
"we're setting down in that park," leo announced, pointing to a wide green space dotted with palm trees. "let's hope the mist makes us look like a large pigeon or something."
the argo ii set down in the grassy field and the oars retracted. the noise of traffic was all around them, but the park itself was peaceful and deserted.
to their left, a green lawn sloped toward a line of woods. an old villa nestled in the shade of some weird-looking pine trees with thin curvy trunks that shot up thirty or forty feet, then sprouted into puffy canopies.
they reminded percy of trees in those dr. seuss books his mom used to read him when he was little. to their right, snaking along the top of a hill, was a long brick wall with notches at the top for archers, maybe a medieval defensive line, maybe ancient roman.
to the north, about a mile away through the folds of the city, the top of the colosseum rose above the rooftops, looking just like it did in travel photos.
jason pointed to the base of the archers' wall, where steps led down into some kind of tunnel. "i think i know where we are," he said. "that's the tomb of the scipios."
percy frowned. "scipic. reyna's pegasus?"
"no," annabeth put in. "they were a noble roman family, and.. wow, this place is amazing."
jason nodded. "i've studied maps of rome before. i've always wanted to come here, but.."
nobody bothered finishing that sentence.
looking at his friends' faces, percy could tell they were just as much in awe as he was. they'd made it. they'd landed in rome. the rome.
"plans?" hazel asked. "nico has until sunset at best. and this entire city is supposedly getting destroyed today."
"that sucks. this is really pretty. i need to buy a camera." cherry thought, making a mental note.
percy shook himself out of his daze. "annabeth, did you zero in on that spot from your bronze map?"
"yes," she said carefully. "it's on the tiber river. i think i can find it, but i should-"
"take me along," percy volunteered.
"yeah, you're right. that's not-"
"safe. one demigod walking through rome alone. i'll go with you as far as the tiber. we can use that letter of introduction, hopefully meet the river god tiberinus. maybe he can give you some help or advice. then you can go on alone from there."
"fine."
piper looked at annabeth.
then she looked at percy.
then, finally, at cherry.
cherry just shrugged back.
she'd worked so hard to get her jealousy problems under control; she'd attended one too many outdoor therapy sessions to became angry and spiteful again.
annabeth was her friend, and percy was her boyfriend. she trusted them both. there was no reason to be upset.
"hazel, now that we're in rome, do you think you can pinpoint nico's location?" annabeth asked.
"hopefully, if i get close enough. i'll have to walk around the city. frank, would you come with me?" hazel asked.
frank beamed. "absolutely."
"and, uh, leo," hazel added. "it might be a good idea if you came along too. the fish-centaurs said we'd need your help with something mechanical."
"yeah," leo said, "no problem."
frank's smile turned into something more like chrysaor's mask.
percy was no genius when it came to relationships, but even he could feel the tension among those three.
cherry thought that this was all too awkward for everybody.
piper drew her knife and set it on the rail. "cherry, jason and i can watch the ship for now. i'll see what katoptris can show me. but, hazel, if you guys get a fix on nico's location, don't go in there by yourselves. come back and get us. it'll take all of us to fight the giants."
"good idea," percy said. "how about we plan to meet back here at.. what?"
"three this afternoon?" jason suggested. "that's probably the latest we could rendezvous and still hope to fight the giants and save nico. if something happens to change the plan, try to send an iris-message."
the others nodded in agreement, but percy noticed several of them glancing at annabeth.
hopefully, annabeth would return.
coach hedge grunted. "that'll give me time to eat the coconuts- i mean dig the coconuts out of our hull."
he looked around at his friends, trying not to feel like this was the last time they'd ever be together. "good luck, everyone."
leo lowered the gangplank.
percy rushed back over to his girlfriend, pressing a kiss to her lips, just in case.
and then he went back and did that a couple times before being forcefully removed from the boat.