DON'T BLAME ME! (p. jackson) (#2) (ON HOLD)

- sixteen

THAT NIGHT, ROSE SLEPT without nightmares, which just made her uneasy when she 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 rose 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. piper, annabeth, and hazel were ready to go, but first rose turned to percy, who was leaning on the starboard rail, gazing over the bay.

rose took his hand. "what are you going to do while we're gone?"

"jump into the harbor," he said casually, like a normal kid might say, i'm going to get a snack. "i want to try communicating with the local nereids. maybe they can give me some advice about how to free those captives in atlanta. besides, i think the sea might be good for me. being in that aquarium made me feel... unclean."

his hair was dark and tangled as usual. his silver streak seemed to sparkle under the summer sun.

rose kissed him. "good luck, aquaman. just come back to me, okay?"

"i will," he promised. "you do the same."

she turned to her friend. "let's find the ghost of the battery."

afterward, rose wished she'd jumped into the harbor with percy. she even would've preferred a museum full of ghosts.

not that she minded hanging out with her friends. at first, they 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 the road were old civil war cannons and bronze statues of historical figures, which made rose shudder. she thought about the statues in new york city during the titan war, which had come to life thanks to daedalus's command sequence twenty-three. she wondered how many other statues around the country were secretly automatons, waiting to be triggered.

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. rose had a vague memory of that fort being important in the civil war, but she didn't spend much time thinking about it.

she breathed in the sea air and thought about percy. gods forbid she ever had to break up with him. she'd never be able to visit the sea again without remembering her broken heart. she was relieved when they turned away from the seawall and explored the inland side of the gardens.

the park wasn't crowded. rose imagined that most of the locals had gone on summer vacation, or were holed up at home taking a break from the summer heat. 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 had set 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."

annabeth clearly loved the architecture here. the houses and the gardens were very beautiful, very roman. but rose 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.