Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 37

Percy may have slept soundly that night, but Cressida was the one plagued with nightmares.

And for the first time, she saw the giant twins that were born to oppose her father. They were speaking to someone. A woman, but the voice wasn't Gaia's and yet they still addressed her as Your Ladyship.

They were walking about them, and about how they were scheduled to land in Rome shortly after daybreak. But they'd have to get past the golden boy.

This woman...the Ladyship, she was residing in a place barely held together. And the wrong move would apparently send them to Tartarus the hard way, whatever that meant but the giant Otis seemed proficiently terrified as the floor was solid in some places and not in others. And she was the only thing holding it together for Centuries of Athena's rage could only be contained so well and that she hoped the child of Athena - Annabeth - would prove to be a worthy victim for she could be her last plaything.

This woman had been working with the twins for centuries and when they bowed to the woman.....Cressida recognised silver drachmas like the one Annabeth had braided in their hair.

None had ever succeeded. They were the reason why.

And they'd wanted Percy and Annabeth to have their blood spilt on the ancient stones and it made sense.

The countless times Annabeth had spoken to her about the Parthenon, the ancient stones in Athens, she'd mentioned that the oldest shrines were for Athena and Poseidon. It would make sense why they'd want to spill their blood.

But that didn't answer the question why Gaia was after Cressida in the wheat field.

At least until Otis mentioned that the other girl was an acceptable hostage as well. That girl that was the evil spawn of her party-pooper father. As the only living daughter of Dionysus in centuries, her blood and the powers of madness that flowed within it would bring the Earth Mother to full consciousness much faster and give her additional power.

To spill Annabeth and Percy's blood was symbolic.

To spill hers...

And she woke with a start in Percy's arms.

"It's ok. It's ok. It was just a dream. I've got you. It was just a dream," he whispered as she trembled in his arms.

But just as she was beginning to calm down, Jason knocked on the door that he pushed open and she flinched again.

"We've set down in the water," he said, looking utterly exhausted. "Your turn." And then he noticed Cressida. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we're fine," Percy assured him before Jason left, his exhaustion overpowering his reluctance to leave.

"Annabeth," Cressida gasped after a while. "We have to wake Annabeth."

******************************************************************

And as they stood on the seas, Leo refused to leave the helm as the trio of friends gathered on the deck. Cressida was hugging herself as Percy wrapped an arm around her and she told them about her dream.

And then Annabeth asked them not to say anything about it.

"What you saw was about the Mark of Athena," she said. "It won't help the others to know. It'll only make them worry, and it'll make it harder for me to go off on my own."

Cressida was just silent as Percy protested.

"Annabeth, you can't be serious. That thing in the dark, the big chamber with the crumbling floor—"