Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 41

They gathered on deck so that Coach Hedge could hear the story. They told them everything and neither Jason nor Piper could believe it.

They went over the whole Annabeth thing but there was nothing they could do for her now. And with Hazel and the boys still gone they were left with the four of them going after Nico because they could wait no longer.

Piper had been reluctant to look for images in her knife again and for good reason because when she did, she saw the Romans gathered around a dining table. They'd set up a base in Manhattan and they were scouting Long Island.

Cressida felt sick to her stomach at the thought of her home being destroyed and she was literally half a world away and unable to help them. She didn't care what Percy thought about the Romans or what they could offer, but if she survived and her home didn't, she'd raze the Romans to the ground.

Piper concentrated herder before she saw ruins —a few crumbling walls, a single column, a stone floor covered with moss and dead vines—all clustered on a grassy hillside dotted with pine trees. It was the old Forum that Percy and Cressida had just been to.

The view zoomed in. On one side of the stone floor, a set of stairs had been excavated, leading down to a modern iron gate with a padlock. The blade's image zoomed straight through the doorway, down a spiral stairwell, and into a dark, cylindrical chamber like the inside of a grain silo.

Piper dropped the blade.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "It was showing us something."

Piper felt like the boat was back on the ocean, rocking under her feet. "We can't go there."

Percy frowned but Cressida spoke.

"Shakespeare, Nico is minutes away from running out of oxygen. He's my friend and we have to find him."

"Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed," Percy added.

Piper tried again, the blade was colder in her hand.

She saw two giants in gladiator armour sitting on oversized praetors' chairs. The giants toasted each other with golden goblets as if they'd just won an important fight. Between them stood a large bronze jar. The vision zoomed in again. Inside the jar, Nico di Angelo was curled in a ball, no longer moving, all the pomegranate seeds eaten.

"We're too late," Jason said.

"No," Percy said. "No, I can't believe that."

"Like hell Nico is giving up without a fight. He is not dead, but he will be if we don't move," Cressida said, her voice filled with a fiery determination as Piper slipped her blade back into its sheath.

"We should wait for the others," she said. "Hazel, Frank, and Leo should be back soon."

"We can't wait," Percy insisted.

Coach Hedge grunted. "It's just two giants. If you guys want, I can take them."

"Uh, Coach," Jason said, "that's a great offer, but we need you to man the ship—or goat the ship. Whatever."

Hedge scowled. "And let you four have all the fun?"

Cressida gripped his hands. "Gleeson, Hazel and the others will need your leadership when they get back. And only you are brave enough to lead them to us once they return."

Percy picked up on what she was doing quite quickly. "Cress is right," he agreed. "You're their rock."

"Yeah." Jason managed to keep a straight face. "Leo always says you're his rock. You can tell them where we've gone and bring the ship around to meet us at the Forum."