The next morning, I had a panic attack. Percy and Lavender had vanished. I almost died of laughter though when I found out they had fallen asleep together in front of the stables. Freya had found them and now wouldn't let go of Percy's leg. Leo took a bunch of photos for blackmail. Freya didn't really understand why everyone was laughing at her.
"Where are we now?" I asked Leo.
"We're hovering over Atlanta as we speak," Leo grinned. "I'll go land us in a park where there aren't a lot of mortals."
"Sounds good to me," Sirius said. "Of course, Moony is the smart one."
"So glad you remembered," Remus snorted. "That's a smart move, Leo. Tonks and I will help you."
"Course we will," Tonks shouted excitedly. Frank and Percy agreed to travel together to find salt water. Percy wanted to take Lavender too, until Hedge told him they weren't allowed to travel together anymore because of their little "incident". They were both miffed about that. Hedge said he would go with Percy and Frank. The rest of us would stay on the ship and work out any problems.
When Frank, Percy, and Hedge got back, they immediately told Leo to lift off. Leo and Annabeth rushed to the deck to steer the ship to Charleston as per Frank's instructions. "Why are we going to Charleston?" Lavender asked as she curled up into Percy's side.
"There's a map there," Frank replied. He and Percy went into detail about their little excursion in Atlanta. They had run into Phorcys and Keto, sea gods. I felt bad for them. They almost got turned into exhibits at an aquarium. This map in Charleston would supposedly lead us to the Mark of Athena. I noticed how nervous Annabeth got whenever someone mentioned it.
"What should we do when we get to Charleston?" I asked.
"I know two places the map might be," Jason said. "Leo, Frank, Percy, you guys can come with me. But there's another thing too. There's this spirit, like a confederate southern belle. I met her once when I was with Reyna." Piper glared at Jason. He bit his lip. "She only talks to girls."
"We'll have a girl's adventure," Annabeth grinned. "Nina, Hazel, Piper, Lavender, and me."
"Sounds good to me," Hazel smiled.
"I come too!" Freya shouted.
"No, baby," I sighed. "It's too dangerous."
"Pwease!" Freya begged.
"No, Freya," I said sternly. "You want to see Daddy right?" Freya nodded excitedly. "Well, then you need to stay with Uncle Remmy and Auntie Tonks so that you don't get hurt. If you get hurt, you won't be able to see Daddy."
Freya frowned. She seemed to be weighing the pros and cons. "Okay, Mommy. I'll stay here."
"Good girl," I smiled. I hugged my daughter. "Ti amo, Sunshine."
"Ti amo troppo, Mama!" Freya grinned. I stood up. Lavender hugged Freya good bye before linking arms with me.
"Shall we, ladies?" she asked.
Charleston really was a nice town. The town the girls and I were in was beautiful. I would have to convince Apollo to take me here for a date one of these days. That is, if, no when I free him from Otus. And I would. I would free Apollo from Otus because I loved him. I couldn't live without him. I looked down at what I was wearing. I was wearing a forest-green sweatshirt Apollo had lent me so long ago. I hadn't taken it off since I found out he had been kidnapped. Apollo had given it to me when I was eight, right before my mother hit me for the first time. I shook my head to rid myself of the memory. My mom and I were on much better terms now.
We were in the Battery. It was a park near a port. There were tons of confederate ghosts here. I had never felt pity for them before. I always assumed they had all fought for slavery, which I am very against. But now, looking at them floating around the Battery, I pitied them. I'm sure some of them did fight for slavery, but when push comes to shove, I realized mostly they were fighting for their families, to keep their homes safe. We weren't so different in that sense. We fought for family, Confederate, Yankee, Roman, Greek, or even Order member, Death Eater. Most of us were just fighting for our homes.
"You okay?" Hazel asked, falling into step beside me.
"Just thinking," I sighed. I looked over to see her eyeing me nervously. "I'm not going to jinx you, if that's what your worried about."
Hazel blushed. "Sorry. It's just that my mom practiced gris-gris, and it destroyed her. Magic has scared me ever since."
I smiled sympathetically at Hazel. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't a witch," I confessed. Hazel looked at me curiously. "There's a blood war going on right now in Europe. It's pureblood wizards against muggleborn wizards. Muggleborns are wizards or witches who don't have magical parents. Technically, I'm both a half-blood and a muggleborn since Poseidon has magic but isn't a wizard." Hazel nodded in understanding. "So there is this guy who wants to wipe out the muggleborns because he believes we aren't pure enough to be witches or wizards."
"Kind of like racial segregation," Hazel muttered.
"Yeah," I said, remembering she was from the 1940's. "A lot like that actually."
"There she is!" Piper said excitedly. Hazel and I looked in the direction Piper was pointing at a woman sitting inside a gazebo. Annabeth sighed in relief. We all rushed over to where the woman was sitting. We ran towards the gazebo. The glow around the woman had faded away by the time we got to her. She had golden hair down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a beautiful dark blue. Her skin was a golden tan. I had never seen anyone so beautiful. I instantly knew who it was, and I was terrified.
"Hello, Mom," Lavender smiled, realizing who the spirit was too.
"Lavender, dear," Aphrodite squealed. "It's so good to see you, dear!" Aphrodite threw her arms around Lav in a tight hug. Lav laughed and hugged her mom back. "And Piper!" Aphrodite squealed, smiling down at her younger daughter. "It's so good to meet you." Aphrodite pulled Piper into her hug.
"Lady Aphrodite," I curtsied towards the goddess.
She waved my curtsy off. "Please, Nina, dear. We're practically related."
"We are related," Lavender said.
"Exactly!" Aphrodite grinned. "I'm your great aunt!"
I thought about Greek history. Aphrodite was the daughter of Ouranos. That made her Kronos' half-sister and my dad's aunt. Wow, our family was seriously messed up.
"I'm so glad your here," Aphrodite grinned. "War is coming. Bloodshed is inevitable. There's really only one thing to do."
"And that is?" Annabeth asked.
"A tea party," Lavender and her mother replied in unison. I stared at my friend. She just shrugged her shoulders and followed her mom under the gazebo. Aphrodite snapped her fingers, and an entire meal was set up. It was like tea time back in England.
"Are you Venus or Aphrodite?" Annabeth asked as Aphrodite poured tea. I asked for hot chocolate. I never did like tea.
"I am both Aphrodite and Venus. Love is the same no matter where you go. I changed the least among all the gods because no matter what, love remains the same. Whether Roman or Greek, I am still love."
"We're not in a war yet, my lady," Hazel responded. Um...yeah, we kind of were. The war started when my brother was stolen. The war started when Jason, Piper, and Leo were sent to save Hera. The war started when Polybotes tried to destroy Camp Jupiter. There was no way of denying that the war had already begun.
"Oh, dear Hazel," Aphrodite smiled. "Of course you are. You poor thing. Such heartrending days ahead of you. Love and war always go together. Nina and Lavender can tell you that. Why, even Annabeth could give you a good description of that." Annabeth looked down at her hands, blushing. My eyes widened. I had forgotten that she had a rush on Luke. At least he died a hero in the end.
"What do you mean by heartrending days?" Hazel asked, determined to find an answer.
Aphrodite simply winked at her. "Mother?" Piper asked. "Is there a reason you're here?"
Aphrodite didn't answer immediately. "Do you see that balcony over there?" she asked, pointing towards a beautiful balcony. "We had a party up there, the night the Civil War started. I danced with Ares, or was he Mars. I'm not sure which. Apollo was there, Nina. He sat there thinking about what you would be like all night, Nina."
I blushed. I never thought about it, but the prophecy about me and Apollo was made back in Ancient times. The gods were still new back then. Hades, Dionysus had just become a god according to Apollo. I couldn't believe Apollo waited four thousand years for me.
"Anyways," Aphrodite continued, "that was the Shelling of Fort Sumter."
"The island in the Harbor," Annabeth said, remembering what Aphrodite was talking about. "The Confederates shelled the Union troops and took the fort."
"And the refreshments," Aphrodite continued. "They were divine. General Beauregard even made an appearance. He was on his second wife then, but you should have seen the way he was looking at Lisbeth Cooper."
"Wait a minute," Lavender stopped her mom. "Is General Beauregard related to Silena?"
"He's her great-great-great grandfather," Aphrodite replied. "Her great-great-great grandmother is Lisbeth Cooper. What a scandalous man he was. His third wife, she was."
"Mother!" Piper groaned. "Can we get on with this?"
"Yes, yes, of course. To get to the point, Hera won't be able to help you anymore. The gods are mad at her for their split personality disorder."
"You mean they have schizophrenia?" Piper asked.
"Everyone gets that mixed up with Multiple Personality Spirosis," Annabeth groaned.
"Schizophrenia is when you see and live in another dimension," I added.
"Oh," Piper blushed.
"Don't worry, everyone mixes it up," Annabeth said. "Lady Aphrodite, do you know what the Mark of Athena is?"
"Of course! It's the statue the Romans stole. Your mother subconsciously left a trail to it."
"The Athena Parthenos," Annabeth said. "It was stolen millennia ago."
"Exactly," Aphrodite said.
"So there's a map to it," I asked.
"Of course."
"It's on Fort Sumter, isn't it?" Annabeth asked.
"I would leave now if I were you," Aphrodite said, giving Annabeth a wink. She disappeared into the air.
We turned to see Romans running towards us. "I'll get the map!" Annabeth said. "You guys get to the ship. Don't wait for me."
"I'll cover you," Lav insisted. "Nina, Piper, Hazel, you guys get to the ship. Tell Leo to start getting it ready." I pulled my wand out of its holster. Hazel unsheathed her spatha while Piper pulled out her knife. We charged into the small group of five Romans. I stunned two of them. Hazel hit one with the butt of her spatha, knocking her out, and Piper hit the other two in the temple. We ran towards the ship.
Piper reached the top of the ladder first. "Start the engines!" she shouted. Hazel and I climbed on behind her. Percy used the water from where we were docked to propel himself onto the ship. I gave him the Really, you show off? look. He gave me one of his lopsided grins before frowning.
"Where are Lav and Annabeth?" he asked.
I looked over the side of the ship. I couldn't see them. Frank and Jason flew onto the ship, Frank in the form of an eagle, Jason using his weird Superman powers. "They're coming up now!" I shouted over my shoulder. Leo gave me a thumbs up and gunned the engines. Jason raised his arms, summoning the winds. Percy and I focused our energy to summon a huge wave to shove us out to sea.
Lavender threw herself at Percy and wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Thank the gods. I thought Reyna was going to kill us."
"What?" Percy nearly shouted.
"I convinced her not to," Annabeth sighed. "I was worried there too. I got the map though."
"Next stop Rome," Leo grinned.
"I'm going to go sleep," Frank said, going below deck. I wondered how bad his and Jason's fight with the Romans was. They both looked beat. Jason went to join Frank in a nap.
"Mommy!" Freya shouted. "Look what Cassie did! She made me look like a princess!" I turned around to see Freya run up from below deck with Cassie, Sirius, Tonks, and Remus behind her. I giggled when I saw Remus and Tonks holding hands. They blushed and let go when they saw me looking.
Freya looked adorable. She had a deep blue princess dress on that I'm guessing one of the adults transfigured. Two chunks of hair from each side of her head had been braided back and then made into a bun in the back of her head. She was even wearing my silver eye shadow and gold eyeliner.
"You look adorable," I smiled. I picked up my daughter and spun her around. "Do you want to help me get dressed up too? Think we can convince Auntie Lav and Uncle Percy to get dressed up too?"
"I'm in," Lav grinned.
"It's a flat out no," Percy frowned. Lavender and I both glared at him. "Let's go, Freya," Percy grinned shakily. He knew better than to mess with his girlfriend and sister. Leo, Sirius, and Remus started laughing at Percy and how whipped he was. Percy followed us into mine and Freya's room.
The next day, I woke up to the monster alarm. I grinned when I saw Freya and I had fallen asleep without changing. Lavender was passed out on the chair with Percy on the floor at her feet. "Wake up!" I shouted. "There's a monster!" Percy and Lav jumped up. Freya yawned, sitting up.
"Wha's goin' on, Mommy?" she asked sleepily.
"Go back to bed, Sunshine," I whispered, kissing her forehead. Freya rolled over sleepily on my bed. I relaxed when I saw her breathing deepen. I tried not to think of how I might not come back down to see her wake up. I tried to avoid thoughts of how I might not make it to Rome to save my daughter's father and my boyfriend. I ran up the stairs to the top deck after Percy and Lavender. I wished I hadn't.
In the sea was a huge sea monster. It was a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach. I hoped it wasn't like the cockroaches back home, immune to everything short of an atomic bomb. I raised my wand.
"Gah!" Percy shouted. "Shrimpzilla!"
"I forgot the sonar!" Leo yelled.
"Maybe if you hadn't been so busy staring into Hazel's eyes!" Gleeson yelled.
"What?" Frank shouted.
"Not the time!" Piper yelled.
Tentacles shot out of the monsters nose. They wrapped around my legs. Piper screamed. I saw the tentacles wrapping around her as well. "Not my baby sister!" Lavender shouted. She raised her wand. "Incendio!" she screeched. Flames burst from her wand. The creature flailed back, its face blackening as the flames engulfed it. As they dissipated into the air, I saw that the entire front half of the giant shrimp was barbequed.
Leo grinned. "That was insane!" His eyes widened as he thought of a plan. "Hazel, open that box!"
"Are you insane?" I shrieked. I knew what was in that box. I had put it there over spring break. Leo glared at me. Hazel bit her lip, but opened the box that I had labeled DO NOT OPEN. She pulled out to glass vials filled with green liquid and handed them to Leo.
"What is that?" Cassie asked, gazing wide eyed at the vials.
"Greek fire," Sirius said simply. He grabbed the vials from Hazel. Taking aim, he threw them into Shrimpzilla open mouth. The glass broke and the Greek fire was unleashed. From on the ship, I could feel the blast of the Greek fire. Sirius threw me behind him along with Cassie as the flames flared up towards the deck. Remus threw Tonks behind himself and lifted his arms to protect his face. When the flames disappeared, the shell of Shrimpzilla was sinking into the depths of the Atlantic.
I looked around to see Leo wasn't there. "Leo?" I asked. "Leo, where are you?"
"He went overboard," Hazel gasped, leaning over the edge.
My eyes widened and I jumped over. I didn't hear the young girl yell, "Mommy!" or Sirius yell, "Freya, no!"
I dove down to the bottom of the ocean. I felt someone grab my hand. I thought it was Leo before realizing the hand was way too small. "Freya!" I gasped.
"Hi, Mommy," Freya replied.
"How?" was all I could managed to say.
"You blood adopted me," was her simple response. Freya wrapped her arms around me. I put an arm around her waist and swam forwards, searching for Leo. I found him standing in a group of ichthyocentaurs. I made it my business to know about monsters under the sea. After this quest, I was so researching what that shrimp thing was.
"We have trained Bill," the ichthyocentaur that was speaking said as I neared them.
"Um...excuse me," I called. They all turned towards me.
"Nina!" Leo shouted. "Thank the gods! I think they want to kill me."
"I am Aphros, Sea Princess," the lead ichthyocentaur said to me. "Your kind are not welcome here."
"Alright," I said. "I'll take my friend and get going then. We're sorry for intruding."
"Tell me your story, Sea Princess," Aphros said. "Then let me decide if I should kill you or not."
"Well, first off, call me Nina. Second of all, we're on a quest to save the gods." I went in to explain everything else to Aphros.
"You speak the truth, Sea Princess." I guess he was still going to call me that. "Swear on the Styx you will not reveal our location and we'll let you go." Leo and I quickly agreed, swearing on the Styx. I explained to Freya what it was and made her repeat what we had said.
"Is the ship alright?" Leo asked.
"The skolopendra did not harm it to bad," Aphros said. So that's what that creature was. "Keto must really hate you if she sent one of them after you. Do not worry. We understand your concern about the sea creatures being held captive that your brother found, Sea Princess. We will send a quest to rescue them."
Leo and I thanked Aphros before I grabbed Freya and Leo's hands, using the water to transport us back onto the ship.
"That was so weird," Leo groaned. I nodded my head in agreement.
"Hi, Uncle Percy," Freya giggled, skipping over to my brother. Piper informed us that Tyson, Ella, and Mrs. O'Leary had all made it to Camp Half-Blood safely. The question was, how long was Camp Half-Blood going to be safe. Another thing kept bothering me too. After today, Apollo only had two more days before he became mortal and Otus killed him.
That night, I took watch with Coach Hedge and Remus. Freya was curled up in the crows nest, fast asleep. She had wanted to help or something like that. "What's that?" Remus asked, pointing out towards a cruise ship moving towards us. It was moving faster than should've been possible.
"Gleeson, raise the alarm!" I shouted. Gleeson nodded and started ringing the bell. Freya woke up and peeked over the edge. "Stay up there, Sunshine," I called up. "Stay hidden!" Freya nodded and curled up out of sight. The other demigods ran up on deck. I pointed out the cruise ship to them.
As the ship was passing us, I groaned. It was just a cruise ship. The tourists were taking pictures of us. I smiled and waved, pretending to be an attraction because that's what they thought we were. "Sorry, guys," I groaned. "Freya, you can come down!" Freya giggled and quickly climbed down the rope ladder. She grabbed my hand, waving at the passengers on the cruise ship.
"I'm steering us into the shipping channel!" Leo called from the controls. I gave him a thumbs up. When we were in the channel, I saw a buff man sitting on a beachy island.
"Hercules," Jason groaned.
"He's a demigod," Piper argued. "Shouldn't he be on our side?"
"He guards the straits. He'll try and stop us," Annabeth said. "He'll want to talk to us."
"I volunteer Jason," I said. "He is Heracles' half-brother. I'm not going anywhere near him."
"Me neither," Percy agreed. We remembered what Heracles had done to Zoë Nightshade.
"I'll go too," Piper volunteered. Jason grinned and took his girlfriend's hand. They were such a cute couple. We spent half an hour waiting for them to return. When they finally did, they were soaking wet, had a few new scars, and Piper was carrying a cornucopia. I decided it would be best not to ask about that one. They told us how Heracles had asked them to get the horn of a river god and return it to him. Piper had decided Heracles didn't deserve it, so she kept it for herself. Leo gunned the engines and we rocketed out of the strait.
"We should reach Rome by tomorrow morning," Percy said. I sighed. That meant one day to rescue Nico and Apollo, who were most likely in completely on opposite ends of Rome. I barely noticed the ship rise out of the water and start flying.
The next morning, we were back on the water. We travelled about a hundred miles before the other ship showed up. This one really was dangerous. We were all eating breakfast when the ship rammed into us. I picked up Freya before following everyone up to the top deck. Dolphin-Pirate hybrids were attacking us. Some had dolphin heads while others had flippers for hands or feet.
Freya spoke first. "You look funny," was all she said.
The dolphin-man in gold armor chuckled. He used his sword to smack Mov out of my hand. "Hello my niece, sister, and brother."
"Why are we related to all the creeps?" Percy groaned. The dolphin-man scowled at him before smacking Riptide out of Percy's grip. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
"I am Chrysaor," my half-brother said. "I am the golden sword, and I want to rob you."
"Your accent sounds familiar," Percy said.
"He's Medusa's son, Percy," Annabeth groaned.
"We're screwed," I mumbled.
"I am the best pirate. I rule the Mare Nostrum," Chrysaor boasted. "I own all that goes through these seas."
"Didn't you get cursed by Dionysus?" I asked, attempting to change the subject. I knew I hit the nail on the head when Chrysaor glared at me.
"My pirates are loyal t me," Chrysaor boasted. "They fear nothing."
"Except Dionysus," Annabeth grinned, catching on to what I was doing.
"But he's not here," Chrysaor argued. I knew we couldn't beat this guy. We would just have to hope Dionysus would hear us and help.
"Says who?" Annabeth grinned.
"Me!" Chrysaor yelled.
"Take us away if you wish," Percy grinned. He had also caught on. "But our captain won't be pleased when he finds out."
Please hear us, my lord, I prayed. We need you. Please aid us.
"You have no captain," Chrysaor argued. "My crew searched the entire ship. There is no one else here."
"The god appears only when he wants to," Cassie said mystically.
"You are doomed," Tonks agreed. "He's coming right now."
"It's too late for us," Hazel sighed. "You need to save yourselves."
"Uncle Frank is turning into crazy dolphin!" Freya shrieked. I hadn't expected her to figure out what we were doing. I turned to where she pointed and saw that Frank had indeed turned into a crazy dolphin. Nice. The pirates turned and jumped into the ocean, freaking out. Frank shifted into a grizzly bear and swiped Chrysaor off the deck with his large paw.
"Sweet," Sirius grinned. "I think we might want to sacrifice the ship to Dionysus now."
"Six million dollars worth of gold, rubies, and diamonds would be a good sacrifice," Hazel agreed.
"Dionysus," Percy shouted. "You made this victory possible. We sacrifice the ship of your enemies to you in thanks." The ship began sinking fast. Diet coke spewed from the port holes. Leo quickly steered us away from the sinking ship. A few hours later, we entered Rome.