MΛЯK ӨF ΛƬΉΣПΛ

IN A RUSH THE SIX ARGO MEMBERS STUMBLED UP THE STAIRS.

When Lucia saw the monster that had surfaced, she gasped in complete shock. She had never seen anything like it.

"Oh, gross..." Lucia wrinkled her nose

Percy yelled, "What's going— Gah! Shrimpzilla!"

The thing was the length of their ship. In the moonlight, it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, and millipede-type legs undulating hypnotically as the monster scraped against the hull of the Argo II.

Frank ran to Hazel's side. She was clutching the rigging, dazed but she gestured that she was all right.

The monster rammed the ship again. The hull groaned. Annabeth, Piper, and Jason tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard.

Leo reached the helm. His hands flew across the controls. Over the intercom, Festus clacked and clicked,

Lucia didn't understand bronze dragon but she hoped he didn't say the ship was at risk of sinking...

The monster was in spitting distance, which meant that Lucia couldn't run to the ballistae without setting the Argo II on fire as well.

"How did it get so close?" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields.

"I don't know!" Hedge snarled. He looked around for his bat, which had rolled across the quarterdeck.

"I'm stupid!" Leo scolded himself. "Stupid, stupid! I forgot the sonar!"

The ship tilted farther to starboard. Lucia yelped as she and Percy fell against the railing of the ship. She gripped his bicep to keep him from falling overboard. "Leo! If I fall into that cold water! I'm making you speak like a Dr. Seuss book for the rest of your damn life!"

"Sonar?" Hedge demanded. "Pan's pipes, Valdez! Maybe if you hadn't been staring into Hazel's eyes, holding hands for so long—"

"What?" Frank yelped.

"It wasn't like that!" Hazel protested.

"Save this soap opera for later!" Lucia cried. "Someone just kill that thing!"

"Jason, can you call some lightning?" Piper suggested,

Jason struggled to his feet. "I—" He only managed to shake his head.

Summoning the storm earlier had taken too much out of him. Lucia doubted the poor guy could pop a spark plug in the shape he was in.

"Percy!" Annabeth said. "Can you talk to that thing? Do you know what it is?"

The son of the sea god shook his head, clearly mystified. "Maybe it's just curious about the ship. Maybe—"

The monster's tendrils lashed across the deck so fast, Lucia didn't even have time to yell out a warning.

One slammed Percy in the chest and sent him crashing down the steps. Another wrapped around her legs and dragged her, screaming and cursing out profanities, toward the rail.

Dozens more tendrils curled around the masts, encircling the crossbows and ripping down the riggings.

"Nose-hair attack!" Hedge snatched up his bat and leaped into action; but his hits just bounced harmlessly off the tendrils.

Lucia hissed, she willed her body temperature to rise. Illuminating the dark sea with her presence. Steam fell off the creature and it cried in pain, its skin blistering the longer it held her.

Finally, Lucia dropped back onto the deck. She groaned but gained her bearings quickly.

Her success in getting freed seemed to anger the creature as it smashed one of its tentacles down on her. The golden brunette rolled away, Shrimpzilla was only able to make a dent in the deck.

Annabeth had unsheathed her dagger. She ran through the forest of tentacles, dodging and stabbing at whatever target she could find. Lucia took out her bow. Firing over the side at the creature's body, lodging arrows in the chinks of its shell; but that only seemed to annoy the monster more. It bellowed and rocked the ship. The mast creaked like it might snap off.

They needed more firepower, but they couldn't use ballistae. They needed to deliver a blast that wouldn't completely destroy the ship. Lucia didn't know if she could deliver something like that. Her specialty was light, not fire... but then again, she was able to set things ablaze if she tried hard enough...

"Lucia!" Leo cried and distracted her. She turned towards the younger boy. "We need-"

Suddenly the creature had her in its grips again. Lucia cried out in frustration as she felt her feet leave the ground.

Jason drew his sword. He tried to free Lucia, but he was still weak. His gold blade cut through the tendrils with no problem, but faster than he could sever them, more took their place. They began to squeeze around her. She struggled in its grip.

"Gods!" She complained furiously, "I am really not your strongest soldier!"

The monster pushed against the Argo II. The deck lurched to forty-five degrees. Despite everyone's efforts, the tentacles were just too numerous to fight. They seemed able to elongate as much as they wanted. Lucia had tried to keep slicing off the tentacles around her with her daggers. But they just kept growing and wrapping around her tighter. It was almost strange how determined it felt...

Soon the creature would have the Argo II completely entangled. Percy hadn't appeared from below. And everyone was fighting for their lives against the monster.

"Frank!" Leo called as he ran toward Hazel. "Buy us some time! Can you turn into a shark or something?"

Frank glanced over, scowling; at that moment a tentacle slammed into the big guy, knocking him overboard.

Hazel screamed.

Lucia felt her heart drop to her stomach. Frank could have just been killed, and it would have happened right in front of Hazel...

You see little Lucia, this world is simply too corrupted. come to me... give in and be my sacrifice...I can make all your pain go away...

Lucia shut her eyes tightly as memories hit her in tandem. No doubt Gaea wanted to torture her as Kronos once did. But she couldn't let herself think about it. She had to save the ship. She had to save her friends. She had to save herself.

The world turned sideways. The monster rose her higher, ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet above the Argo. She caught a glimpse of her friends in a losing battle, yelling and slashing at the monster's tendrils. She saw Leo struggling to keep the ship from overturning. The sea was dark, but in the moonlight, she thought she saw a glistening object floating near the monster—maybe the unconscious body of Frank Zhang...

Lucia became livid in the monster's grip. It almost felt like her blood actually began to boil. She thought of how Percy talked about Frank and Hazel. And how much they meant to him. How good they were. How badly Frank and Hazel deserved a better chance... How all of them did.

Lucia screamed. A clamoring scream that disoriented the monster and the entire Argo crew. She could feel her own ears ring as the boat shook at its intensity. Her entire body began to glow brighter. Enveloping her in complete and utter sunlight. She pressed her right hand forward aiming at its tentacles, and willing all her anger to come out in a shooting light from her palm—the white-hot burst solidified mid-air.

That got the creature's complete attention. Flesh-blistered tentacles seared themselves off its body, hitting the water like bricks. That's when the monster raised its maw, bellowing in pain, and Lucia prepared herself. Her body became obscured by the golden aura that enveloped her body, she used every ounce of her remaining strength to send a final blast of light.

After that, everything became spotty and dizzy. Lucia felt her body free fall in the air. An image appeared in her mind of Ethan falling the same way, straight from her fingertips. She heard a muffled explosion and saw a golden light emit and slice through the inside of the giant pink monster's body. The water hit Lucia harshly, the impact shattered through her as she sank into darkness.

She held her breath to keep the water from entering her lungs knowing that with one gasp it would all be over. She tried to kick her feet as Percy taught her. Tried to fight through to the surface. But it felt impossible. Her eyes felt too heavy, her body felt like it wasn't hers anymore.

Such a shame. I guess I shall choose another for my sacrifice...The Aphrodite girl will do well...I'd rather the Athena girl but I've already made a promise to the weaver...

Her voice gurgled in the water. She called out for Percy but she was lucky if even one of the fishes noticed her. Her body sank lower; her legs kicked to and fro with strength to try and get to the surface. But she could feel herself losing consciousness. Her head started pounding and her lungs burned in a desperate attempt to remind her brain she needed air.

No, No, I will not die!

Through the sting of the salt water, she thought she saw the hazy silhouette of the ship's hull above—a dark oval surrounded by a fiery corona, but she couldn't tell if the ship was actually on fire.

Lucia prayed to anyone who would listen that it wasn't. At least let the Argo II survive. Let my friends be okay.

Her vision began to fade to black. Her chest felt like it was going to explode...

Just as she was about to give up, she heard a different voice— It wasn't Gaea. It was deeper, stronger, and much more terrifying... The voice was rasping, though every word came out perfectly clear, it caused her blood to run cold.

You must survive summer flower. If you go now... There will be no world to save...no friends left alive.

A Vivid scene flashed in her head.

Annabeth sobbed as she hit the edge of a pit. Her legs went over the side. She was tangled in something. The entire floor around her was covered in cobwebs, one of the strands was wrapped around the blonde's foot—and the other end went straight into the pit. It was attached to something heavy down in the darkness, something that was pulling her in. She slipped over the edge. Her body slammed into something. She'd fallen partway into the pit and was dangling over the void.

The image shifted

Lucia watched as Jason yelled, "GO! Remember!"

While Jason's back was turned, A young, slender, and lithe man wheeled about. He threw a spear, driving its point between Jason's shoulder blades. Piper screamed a guttural scream, her voice cracking and tears spilling down her cheeks. Jason stiffened, his blue eyes wide in shock.

He slumped forward, wrapping his arms around Tempest's neck. His lips moved as if he was whispering something to his steed.

Jason toppled from Tempest. He hit the deck facedown, the spear still in his back, his gladius clattering from his hand.

More images hit her at full speed. This was much worse than the scroll. She was instead completely immersed in the tragedies she was seeing.

Percy was underwater, motionless...

Will was in a dark place. His golden aura dimmed as a horrified look was etched on his face...

A boy that felt familiar lay at the feet of something large and chilling, next to what looked like a river of darkness. The boy's body was being chipped away slowly into nothingness.

Camp Half-Blood was in flames... And the earth looked practically destroyed in all the chaos...

Then Lucia saw an image of herself.

Floating lifeless in the water. Her lips were purple, and her body turned white. She was nothing but a corpse dimming into complete nothingness.

That was not what she wanted. That was not their fate, it couldn't be...

Fate. The voice boomed in her ears. Her head throbbed in pain. Can not be unspun or changed. But it is not as rigid as you may think. Even more so now that he dwells in Delphi... it will unravel as it should, but only if you save yourself and allow it to..there has never been a time when a hero could choose like you can now...So what will it be Daughter of the sun...What is your choice?"

"But I feel brave." Lucia's own voice echoed in her mind, "I do Percy. I've survived this far and I just won't, won't let it be for nothing..."

She didn't know where she was drawing the strength from. But suddenly Lucia began to kick upwards. She clamped her mouth shut, drawing blood from her now-splitting lips. She flailed her arms upward in a swimming motion.

༄

WHEN PERCY REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS, CAME UP THE STEPS AND DIDN'T FIND HER. Frankly, he almost caused the boat to capsize himself.

Only Annabeth was able to remotely get him to calm down. She focused his senses and kept him from pummeling Leo to the ground for not turning on the sonar. If it weren't for her the Argo would have looked much worse than it already did with all the angry waves subconsciously called by Percy.

She helped him realize that instead of lashing out, he had to focus his anger on finding her and Frank. But he searched the sea with wild eyes, exhaustedly and with a blood-curdling fear that he would never see Luz again.

Annabeth, Coach Hedge, and Buford the table rushed around repairing things so that the ship wouldn't sink. Jason, also exhausted, flew around the rigging like a blond Peter Pan, putting out fires from the second golden explosion that had lit up the sky just above the mainmast.

As for Piper, she stared at her knife Katoptris, trying to locate Frank and Lucia. All while comforting a very distraught Hazel.

Percy kept asking her for some kind of damn update. But the only images that came to her were ones he didn't want to hear about: three black SUVs driving north from Charleston, packed with Roman demigods, Reyna sitting at the wheel of the lead car. Giant eagles escorted them from above. Every so often, glowing purple spirits in ghostly chariots appeared out of the countryside and fell in behind them, thundering up I-95 toward New York and Camp Half-Blood.

Percy was submerged in the water. He scoured the seafloor and found nothing. The Argo II was no longer in danger of sinking. The ship was capable of sailing, but they weren't going to leave the area—not without their missing friends. And Percy wouldn't stop until he found them. Until he found her.

However, it wasn't until Percy broke surface that he found something bright floating in the distance.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed out from the Argo deck, catching his attention. "It's Lucy!"

Percy dove into the water without a second thought. He sped through the water, following the light as salt water rippled behind him. He hooked his arms under her legs when he resurfaced, holding her close to his chest. Lucia was unconscious but her head lolled to the side, falling onto Percy's shoulder. She wasn't face down and breaths fell from her lips in exhausted huffs. That was all Percy needed to feel more at Peace.

He swam up to the Argo by the starboard bow. Annabeth and Jason helped him get her aboard. Once Percy laid them both on the bow of the deck, Lucia's eyes fluttered open. She coughed, and Percy rubbed her back in comfort. When her coughing fit was finally over. She looked up at him and the other demigods that came to check on her. Her eyes were red and droopy, her slick drenched hair stuck to her cheeks as she shivered.

Her blue lips managed to say, "I can swim."

His eyebrows knitted together. A thin laugh fell from Percy's mouth. He looked into her eyes and his heart ached at the thought of never looking into them again. In a moment of appreciation, he pressed his lips against her forehead delicately.

Piper rushed toward them with a blanket in hand. "Percy, here."

"Thank you." He took it from Piper. Wrapping it around the shivering girl in his arms:

"What about Frank," Hazel asked, her eyes brimming with tears. Already imagining the worst of the worst.

Percy looked up at her. He kissed Lucia's hair before calling for Annabeth to take his place. Annabeth crouched down to be beside the silent girl, she pulled the blanket tighter around her. Lucia moved into her arms as she continued to shiver.

"I'm going to keep looking, Hazel. If we found Lucia...he has to be close."

Hazel nodded morosely. Percy gave her a reassuring nod before diving back into the water to find his missing friend.

After searching for hours he returned to the Argo with a sullen look on his face. By the time the sun rose, none of them had slept. Not even Lucia, who didn't say anything more until she left to get dried and changed. The only thing she managed to say since her arrival was that her call to camp was a bust and that they should try to contact Chiron.

Which Percy couldn't help but worry about. He only heard a bit of the conversation. But he knew that those words cut Lucia deep. He wished he could give Eunice a piece of his own mind, maybe even tip the boat over the next time she went canoeing.

Piper and Annabeth took matters into their own hands. They sent a dream vision to Camp Half-Blood, warning Chiron of what had happened with the Romans at Fort Sumter. Annabeth explained her exchange of words with Reyna. Piper relayed the vision from her knife about the SUVs racing north. The kindly centaur's face seemed to age thirty years during the course of their conversation, but he assured them he would see to the defenses of the camp. Tyson, Mrs. O'Leary, and Ella had arrived safely. If necessary, Tyson could summon an army of Cyclopes to the camp's defense, but Ella and Rachel Dare really couldn't tell any new prophecies or learn more about what the future held. The job of the eight demigods aboard the Argo II, Chiron reminded them, was to finish the quest and come back safely.

After the Iris message, he saw Lucia come up the stairs dried and looking as beautiful as ever. Sadly, she came back to see the demigods pacing the deck in silence, staring at the water and hoping for a miracle.

When it finally came—a giant pink bubble burst at the surface of the starboard bow and ejected Frank. Hazel cried out with relief and dove straight into the water.

She paddled over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm okay," Frank reassured.

Hazel cried. In a mix of anger and relief. "Where were you? How are you alive?"

"Long story," He said. A picnic basket bobbed to the surface next to him. "Want a brownie?"

Once Frank got on board and changed into dry clothes (poor Frank had to borrow a pair of too-small pants from Jason) the crew all gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast—except for Coach Hedge, who grumbled that the atmosphere was getting too cuddly for his tastes and went below to hammer out some dents in the hull.

While Leo fussed over his helm controls, Frank related the story of fish centaurs and their training camp.

Lucia frowned when she heard how calm his trip was. How come she didn't get taken there? They had to have seen her too...

"Incredible," Jason said. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.

He looked surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"I know," Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That," Hazel said, "is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man," Jason said.

Hazel and Piper exchanged a look of total exasperation.

Percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. He kept coming back to one point: "They didn't want to meet me?"

"It wasn't that," Frank explained. "Just...undersea politics, I guess. The merpeople are territorial. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

Percy nodded absently. "But they didn't want to meet me?"

Annabeth swatted his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."

Percy pouted. Lucia nodded, but she reached out to hold his hand on the other side of him. She squeezed in silent comfort. Still unable to find her words...

"She's right," Hazel said. "After today, Nico has less than two days. If what Frank says is true and the fish centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest somehow."

She looked around defensively as if waiting for someone to argue.

No one did.

Lucia tried to imagine what Nico was feeling, stuck in a jar with only two pomegranate seeds left to sustain him, and no idea whether he would be rescued. It made her anxious to reach Rome, even though she had a horrible feeling she was sailing toward her hell...

"Nico must have information about the Doors of Death," Piper said. "We'll save him, Hazel. We can make it in time. Right, Leo?"

"What?" Leo tore his eyes away from the controls. "Oh, yeah. We should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then...."

Jason suddenly looked as though his brownie with peach preserves didn't taste so good. "Which will put us in Rome on the last possible day for Nico. Twenty-four hours to find him—at most."

Percy crossed his legs. "And that's only part of the problem. There's the Mark of Athena, too."

Annabeth didn't seem happy with the change of topic. She rested her hand on her backpack, which, since they'd left Charleston, she always seemed to have with her.

She opened the bag and brought out a thin bronze disk the diameter of a donut. "This is the map that I found at Fort Sumter. It's..."

She stopped abruptly, staring at the smooth bronze surface. "It's blank!"

Lucia took it and examined both sides. "It wasn't like this earlier?"

"No! I was looking at it in my cabin and..." Annabeth muttered under her breath. "It must be like the Mark of Athena. I can only see it when I'm alone. It won't show itself to other demigods."

Frank scooted back like the disk might explode. He had an orange juice mustache and a brownie-crumb beard that made Lucia hand him a napkin.

"Thanks, So...What did it have on it?" Frank asked nervously. "And what is the Mark of Athena? I still don't get it."

Annabeth took the disk from Percy. She turned it in the sunlight, but it remained blank. "The map was hard to read, but it showed a spot on the Tiber River in Rome. I think that's where my quest starts...the path I've got to take to follow the Mark."

"Maybe that's where you meet the river god Tiberinus," Piper said. "But what is the Mark?"

"The coin," Lucia murmured softly.

Percy frowned. "What coin?"

Annabeth dug into her pocket and brought out a silver drachma. "I've been carrying this ever since I saw my mom at Grand Central. It's an Athenian coin."

She passed it around. Lucia watched as the other demigods looked at it, she had a ridiculous memory of show-and-tell in elementary school.

"An owl," Leo noted. "Well, that makes sense. I guess the branch is an olive branch? But what's this inscription, I∪⊕—Area Of Effect?"

"It's alpha, theta, epsilon," Annabeth said. "In Greek, it stands for Of The Athenians...or you could read it as the children of Athena. It's sort of the Athenian motto."

"Like SPQR for the Romans," Piper guessed.

Annabeth nodded. "Anyway, the Mark of Athena is an owl, just like that one. It appears in fiery red. I've seen it in my dreams. Then twice at Fort Sumter."

She described in detail what had happened at the fort—the voice of Gaea, a spider attack in the garrison, the Mark burning them all away. Lucia could tell it wasn't easy for her to talk about.

Piper took Annabeth's hand. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have gone alone..."

"But that's the point," Annabeth said. "No one can be there for me. When I get to Rome, I'll have to strike out on my own. Otherwise, the Mark won't appear. I'll have to follow it to...to the source."

Frank took the coin from Leo. He stared at the owl. "The giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won with pain from a woven jail." He looked up at Annabeth. "What is it...this thing at the source?"

Before Annabeth could answer, Jason spoke up.

"A statue," He said. "A statue of Athena. At least...that's my guess."

Lucia frowned. "You said you didn't know."

"I don't. But the more I think about it...there's only one artifact that could fit the legend." He turned to Annabeth. "I'm sorry. I should have told you everything I've heard, much earlier. But honestly, I was scared. If this legend is true—"

"I know," Annabeth said. "I figured it out, Jason. I don't blame you. But if we manage to save the statue, Greek and Romans together...Don't you see? It could heal the rift."

"Hold on." Percy made a time-out gesture. "What statue?"

Annabeth took back the silver coin and slipped it into her pocket.

"The Athena Parthenos," she said. "The most famous Greek statue of all time. It was forty feet tall, covered in ivory and gold. It stood in the middle of the Parthenon in Athens."

The ship went silent, except for the waves lapping against the hull.

"Okay, I'll bite," Leo said at last. "What happened to it?"

"It disappeared," Annabeth said.

Leo frowned. "How does a forty-foot-tall statue in the middle of the Parthenon just disappear?"

"That's a good question," Annabeth said. "It's one of the biggest mysteries in history. Some people thought the statue was melted down for its gold, or destroyed by invaders. Athens was sacked several times. Some thought the statue was carried off—"

"By Romans," Jason finished. "At least, that's one theory, and it fits the legend I heard at Camp Jupiter. To break the Greeks' spirit, the Romans carted off the Athena Parthenos when they took over the city of Athens. They hid it in an underground shrine in Rome. The Roman demigods swore it would never see the light of day. They literally stole Athena, so she could no longer be the symbol of Greek military power. She became Minerva, a much tamer goddess."

"And the children of Athena have been searching for the statue ever since," Annabeth said. "Most don't know about the legend, but in each generation, a few are chosen by the goddess. They're given a coin like mine. They follow the Mark of Athena...a kind of magical trail that links them to the statue...hoping to find the resting place of the Athena Parthenos and get the statue back."

Annabeth and Jason spoke like a team, without any hostility or blame. The two of them had never really trusted each other. That was kind of clear. But now...if they could discuss such a huge problem so calmly—the ultimate source of Greek/Roman hatred—maybe there was hope for the two camps.

Percy seemed be having similar thoughts, judging from his surprised expression. "So if we—I mean you—find the statue...what would we do with it? Could we even move it?"

"I'm not sure," Annabeth admitted. "But if we could save it somehow, it could unite the two camps. It could heal my mother of this hatred she's got, tearing her two aspects apart. And maybe...maybe the statue has some sort of power that could help us against the giants."

Piper stared at Annabeth in awe.

"This could change everything," Piper said. "It could end thousands of years of hostility. It might be the key to defeating Gaea. But if we can't help you..."

She didn't finish, but the question seemed to hang in the air: Was saving the statue even possible? Annabeth squared her shoulders. Lucia knew she must be terrified inside, but she did a good job hiding it.

"I have to succeed," Annabeth said simply. "The risk is worth it."

Hazel twirled her hair pensively. "I don't like the idea of you risking your life alone, but you're right. We saw what recovering the golden eagle standard did for the Roman legion. If this statue is the most powerful symbol of Athena ever created—"

"It could kick some serious booty," Leo offered.

Hazel frowned. "That wasn't the way I'd put it, but yes."

"Except..." Piper's voice shook. "No child of Athena has ever found it. Annabeth, what's down there? What's guarding it? If it's got to do with spiders—?"

"Won through pain from a woven jail," Frank recalled. "Woven, like webs?"

Lucia felt herself fall back into the vision of Annabeth. The one she saw when she was drowning. No, that...I won't let it happen...

Annabeth's face drained of color. Her heartbeat began to race.

"We'll deal with that when we get to Rome," Piper suggested, Lucia could tell she added a bit of charm-speak to it. "It's going to work out. Annabeth is going to kick some serious booty, too. You'll see."

"Yeah," Percy said. "I learned a long time ago: Never bet against Annabeth."

"Exactly." Lucia nodded in agreement, "I don't care who failed before. Annabeth always has a plan."

Annabeth looked at the three of them gratefully. Judging from everyone's half-eaten breakfasts, they all still felt uneasy; but Leo managed to shake them out of it. He pushed a button, and a loud blast of steam exploded from Festus's mouth, making everyone jump.

"Ow!" Lucia cried, slamming her hands over her ears, Her eyes flashed with anger. "Valdez. Don't fuck with me. You're the reason I fell into the water. I will make you speak in rhyming couplets!"

"Heh, Sorry Lucia!" He said. "Anyway! Good pep rally, but there are still a ton of things to fix on this ship before we get to the Mediterranean. Please report to Supreme Commander Leo for your super fun list of chores!"

༄

PIPER AND LUCIA TOOK CHARGE OF CLEANING THE LOWER DECK. Something Coach assigned to keep the golden brunette from 'fornicating with fish boy'. (Yeah, she hated the wording too)

They worked reorganizing sickbay and battening down the storage area most of the day, Lucia felt dead on her feet after not sleeping the night before and her body still felt weak from everything that she put it through.

As they were fixing up the stables, Lucia thought about the night she had spent down there with Percy. She wished that she could go back to that safety. That she could be in Percy's arms again, with the feeling that everything would be okay. With the hope of a future in New Rome. But Lucia had a feeling nights like that were over, and she was afraid she'd never get that serenity again.

She blasted the music through her headphones even louder. She needed to drown out her own thoughts before she drove herself insane.

Piper swept the hay into piles. While Lucia oiled the saddles in the stables. The glass floor hatch glowed from the ocean below—a green expanse of light and shadow that seemed to go down forever.

In-between songs, Lucia turned to see as Piper stared off into space. Her face was twisted sourly, she glared through the glass bay doors at the school of herring swimming under the ship.

"What are you thinking?" Lucia asked. She took her headphones off, Shoving them into her back pocket.

"Nothing," she said. "I mean...a lot of things. Kind of all at once."

Lucia nodded in understanding. "I get that. Shits overwhelming."

Piper frowned, "Aren't you the optimistic one on this ship."

Lucia laughed bitterly, "Forgive me, I'm taking my break for the day..."

"I'm scared," Piper admitted. "I was just saying that to make Annabeth feel better. But what if, If—"

"We all are, I mean what we go through isn't exactly mundane..." Lucia interrupted. "But, you should tell them. How you really feel."

Piper frowned at the change of subject, "What—"

"Annabeth deserves to know how you truly feel about her." Lucia hummed, "And you deserve to tell her."

"I don't know—"

"Oh please, Piper," Lucia laughed, which took Piper aback. "Been there, done that. You should know better than anyone that you can't deny your feelings forever. No matter how hard you try. And look it's not my business. So if I'm overstepping I'm sorry. But Annabeth means too much to me for me not to try. We don't know what's going to happen...we really don't..." Her voice trailed off, she inhaled deeply and continued. "And I think, that you, Annabeth, and Jason deserve to stop living a lie while you still can."

Above them, the ship's bell rang for dinner.

Piper sighed. She looked down at her feet. "Come on, we better get up there."

"Finally," Lucia sighed, she looked at the glass doors below her feet. "I need a huge plate of pasta and eight hours of uninterrupted sleep."