Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 16

Cressida ended up standing in a fountain with Percy, Frank and Hazel as he used water to repel the angry Romans with blasts of water. His toga was in tatters as Cressida scared them back with bursts of fire, the Romans not knowing that her fire was harmless.

Piper and Jason were fighting together somewhere near the rope ladder, the orange t-shirt Jason wore not doing any wonders for his credibility, when they heard Annabeth call out from somewhere as another explosion rocked the forum.

This time the flash of light was directly overhead. One of the Roman catapults had fired, and the Argo II groaned and tilted sideways, flames bubbling over its bronze-plated hull.

Cressida had also been able to grow a vine that was knocking Romans away as Annabeth ran towards them.

"Annie!" Cressida called as she spotted her. "What-"

"I don't know!" she replied.

"I'll tell you what!" cried a voice from above. Octavian had reached the bottom of the ladder. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"

"LIAR!" Cressida raged, her eyes aflame.

"You're lying," Annabeth said. "Leo would never-"

"I was just there!" Octavian shrieked. "I saw it with my own eyes!"

The Argo II returned fire. Legionnaires in the field scattered as one of their catapults was blasted to splinters.

"You see?" Octavian screamed. "Romans, kill the invaders!"

While Annabeth growled in frustration, Cressida decided that she didn't like Octavian as she sent her grapevine after him, yanking him off the ladder and dropping him into the Little Tiber.

"We have to leave. Now!" Annabeth urged.

Percy nodded. "Hazel, Frank, you've got to make a choice. Are you coming?"

Hazel looked terrified, but she donned her cavalry helmet. "Of course, we are. But you'll never make it to the ship unless we buy you some time."

"How?" Annabeth asked. 

Hazel whistled. Instantly a blur of beige shot across the forum. A majestic horse materialized next to the fountain. He reared, whinnying and scattering the mob. Hazel climbed on his back like she'd been born to ride. Strapped to the horse's saddle was a Roman cavalry sword. Hazel unsheathed her golden blade. "Send me an Iris message when you're safely away, and we'll rendezvous," she said. "Arion, ride!" The horse zipped through the crowd with incredible speed, pushing back Romans and causing mass panic.

"Oh, Fish Face, I like your taste in friends," Cressida remarked as they jumped from the fountain, a trail of water following them as Percy kept it hovering in the air and they tried heading towards the ladder.

"Of course, you do," he replied. "Look how well it turned out for you."

"Gods of Olympus! Can you flirt later when we're not being attacked by a camp of angry Romans?!" Annabeth scolded as she ducked under Roman's arm before swiping his legs out from under him.

Neither replied as they heard Jason shouting from halfway across the forum.

"Romans!" he cried. "Please!" He and Piper were being pelted with plates and stones. Jason tried to shield Piper, but a brick caught him above the eye. He crumpled, and the crowd surged forward.

"Get back!" Piper screamed. Her charmspeak rolled over the mob, making them hesitate, but it wouldn't last forever. A column of purple fire grew in front of Piper and Jason, the Romans backing off even more as Cressida stretched out her hand to buy them time, but they couldn't possibly get there in time to help.