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Theo was getting sick of having to tell Coach Hedge not to attack everyone in his immediate area.
They were less than an hour out from Camp Jupiter, and everyone—everyone—knew Greeks and Romans didn't have the best track record of getting along. The coming of a warship, armed to the teeth, captained by a whole bunch of Greek demigods, to a Roman camp... It was like begging for a war.
That was the reason for the carrier message, Leo's invention. The video scroll delivered an hour before they were due to arrive. Let Camp Jupiter know what they're in store for, that they have four Greek demigods and a ready-to-attack satyr coming to visit. In a warship.
They even had a white flag hanging down the mast, beaming in the sun. We come in peace. Please don't kill us.
Over the course of their travel, Theo consistently reviewed the plan with the rest of the crew. And the backup plan. And the backup for the backup plan. Nothing could go wrong, okay? Absolutely nothing. There was no room for error. Even the slightest slip-up, the tiniest misstep—it could lead to being destroyed on the spot, shot right out of the sky and killed upon impact.
Theo didn't know about the others, but she, for one, really wanted to see Percy again. She wouldn't be able to do that if they were shot down within a second of arrival.
And a war-crazed chaperone desperate to sink his hooves into anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way would definitely be a fast-track to death by Camp Jupiter defense systems.
So Theo had pulled Gleeson Hedge aside and encouraged him to take the morning off in his cabin to watch reruns of his favorite mixed martial arts championships or Karate Kid again. He'd seen it at least three times since they boarded the Argo II, and Theo was holding out hope that he could stomach just one more run-through so he didn't ruin anything by threatening all the Roman campers.
Now, the warship was descending through the clouds. Leo had just announced they were on track to land. But Theo couldn't stop second-guessing everything; what if she overlooked something? What if the Romans panicked and attacked? It would be all her fault.
Fucking Annabeth, she thought to herself. She should be the one leading. I'm not prepared for this.
"Feeling okay?" Jason asked her, and she almost jumped because she hadn't heard him coming. He did that sometimes. Just appeared and you had no idea he was there until he talked.
Theo shook her hands out in front of herself, exhaling the air out of her cheeks. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. What could go wrong?"
"Nothing, really," he said, tipping his head. "I mean, who would they ever attack this ship?"
It was hard to miss the sarcasm hidden behind the words, and Theo scoffed a laugh.
The Argo II definitely did not look friendly. Two hundred feet long, with a bronze-plated hull, mounted repeating crossbows fore and aft, a flaming metal dragon for a figurehead, and two rotating ballistae amidships that could fire explosive bolts powerful enough to blast through concrete...Well, it wasn't the most appropriate ride for a meet-and-greet with the neighbors.
