DIVINE » l. valdez

xxiii

❝no, i'm never gonna once have it easy ❞

The crew had gathered below deck for a celebratory breakfast once everyone had dried off and changed into new clothes. Unfortunately for Frank, he was stuck with a too small pair of jeans from Jason after Buford had lost his clothes earlier. Coach Hedge had retreated to hammer out some dents to the hull, citing the atmosphere being too cozy for him. 

However, Hina suspected the satyr needed time to unwind.

Leo fussed over the state of his ship, while Frank and Hazel relayed the story of the underwater centaurs and their training camp.

"Incredible," Jason said. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.

He looked surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"I know," Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That," Hazel said, "is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man," Jason said.

Hina snorted at the two while Hazel and Piper exchanged exasperated looks.

Percy kept making Frank repeat the details of the underwater camp, a frown on his face. "They didn't want to meet me?" Was his only concern.

"It wasn't that," Hazel said. "Just...undersea politics, I guess. The merpeople are territorial. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

Percy nodded absently. "But they didn't want to meet me?"

Annabeth swatted his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."

"She's right," Hazel said. "After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest somehow."

"Nico must have information about the Doors of Death," Piper said. "We'll save him, Hazel. We can make it in time. Right, Leo?"

"What?" Leo tore his eyes away from the controls. "Oh, yeah. We should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then...."

The brownie in Hina's hand suddenly felt heavy. "Which means we only have twenty-four hours to find and rescue Nico."

"And that's only part of the problem. There's the Mark of Athena, too," Percy added.

Annabeth seemed unhappy with the change in subject, her hand moving to rest on her backpack. Since their trip to Charleston, the girl had kept the bag at her side the entire time.

She opened the bag and brought out a thin bronze disk the diameter of a donut. "This is the map that I found at Fort Sumter. It's..."

Annabeth stopped abruptly, staring at the bronze disk. "It's blank!"

Percy took it and examined both sides. "It wasn't like this earlier?"

"No! I was looking at it in my cabin and..." Annabeth muttered under her breath. "It must be like the Mark of Athena. I can only see it when I'm alone. It won't show itself to other demigods."

Frank scooted away from the disk, as if it might suddenly explode. He had an orange juice mustache and a brownie crumb beard, and Hina wondered how the two foods could taste good together.

Annabeth took the disk back from Percy, turning it in the sunlight. "The map was hard to read, but it showed a spot on the Tiber River in Rome. I think that's where my quest starts...the path I've got to take to follow the Mark."

"Maybe that's where you meet the river god Tiberinus," Piper said. "But what is the Mark?"

"The coin," Annabeth murmured.

Percy frowned. "What coin?"

Annabeth dug into her pocket and brought out a silver drachma. "I've been carrying this ever since I saw my mom at Grand Central. It's an Athenian coin."