Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 62

Jason was dreaming as he watched Rachel Dare, the Oracle, along with a satyr he hadn't met before, named Grover, walk straight into the Roman battlement that was preparing to attack their camp. They'd been thoroughly searched and yet Rachel still had a blue plastic hairbrush that she was tapping against her thigh nervously.

He then watched Rachel dig a piece of paper like a napkin out of her jeans pocket. "A message," she said. "From Cressida Lynn."

Jason wasn't sure he'd heard her right. Maybe he died. Cressida was in Tartarus. She couldn't send anyone a note on a napkin. It was simply impossible. Then again - from everything he'd seen and heard about her, that girl lived to do the impossible.

Lightning flickered over the Empire State Building, making the Romans' armour flash. Reyna took the note. As she read it, her eyebrows crept higher. Her mouth parted in shock. Finally, she looked up at Rachel. "Is this a joke?"

"I wish," Rachel said. "They're really in Tartarus."

"But how—"

"I don't know," Rachel said. "The note appeared in the sacrificial fire at our dining pavilion with her brother's name on it. He verified that it was genuine and that's Cressida's handwriting. She asks for you by name."

Octavian stirred. "Tartarus? What do you mean?"

Reyna handed him the letter.

Octavian muttered as he read: "Rome, Arachne, Athena—Athena Parthenos?" He looked around in outrage as if waiting for someone to contradict what he was reading. "A Greek trick! Greeks are infamous for their tricks!"

Reyna took back the note. "Why ask this of me?"

Rachel smiled. "Cressida is a talented actress, but her need for peace is real. Her story as a demigod is crueller than most. She craves peace above all else. And there was a time you were Percy's friend, perhaps you still are, but that means that you were Cressida's friend by extension. She doesn't leave friends behind. She believes you can do this, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano."

Jason felt like he'd been slapped. Nobody ever used Reyna's full name. She hated telling anyone what it was. The only time Jason had ever said it aloud, just trying to pronounce it correctly, she'd given him a murderous look. That was the name of a little girl in San Juan, she told him. I left it behind when I left Puerto Rico.

Reyna scowled. "How did you—"

"Uh," Grover Underwood interrupted. "You mean your initials are RA-RA?"

Reyna's hand drifted toward her dagger.

"But that's not important!" the satyr said quickly. "Look, we wouldn't have risked coming here if we didn't trust Cressida's instincts. And trust me, she may as well be Athena's daughter because she's hardly ever wrong. A Roman leader returning the most important Greek statue to Camp Half-Blood—she knows that could prevent a war. And Annabeth agrees. She retrieved the statue, and we contacted her about this before reaching out to you. You have to do this, Reyna."

"This isn't a trick," Rachel added. "We're not lying. Ask your dogs." 

The metallic greyhounds didn't react. 

Reyna stroked Aurum's head thoughtfully. "The Athena Parthenos...so the legend is true."

"Reyna!" Octavian cried. "You can't seriously be considering this! Even if the statue still exists, you see what they're doing. We're on the verge of attacking them—destroying the stupid Greeks once and for all—and they concoct this stupid errand to divert your attention. They want to send you to your death!"