“Frank!” Annabeth’s ears were as red as strawberries. “We just came down here to talk. We fell asleep. Accidentally. That’s it.”
“Kissed a couple of times,” Percy said.
Annabeth glared at him. “Not helping!”
“We’d better…” Frank pointed to the stable doors. “Uh, we’re supposed to meet for breakfast. Would you explain what you did—I mean didn’t do? I mean… I really don’t want that faun—I mean satyr—to kill me.”
Frank ran.
When everyone finally gathered in the mess hall, it wasn’t quite as bad as Frank had feared. Jason and Piper were mostly relieved. Leo couldn’t stop grinning and muttering, “Classic. Classic.” Only Hazel seemed scandalized, maybe because she was from the 1940s. She kept fanning her face and wouldn’t meet Percy’s eyes.
Naturally, Coach Hedge went ballistic; but Percy found it hard to take the satyr seriously since he was barely five feet tall.
“Never in my life!” Coach bellowed, waving his bat and knocking over a plate of apples. “Against the rules! Irresponsible!”
“Coach,” Annabeth said, “it was an accident. We were talking, and we fell asleep.”
“Besides,” Percy said, “you’re starting to sound like Terminus.”
Hedge narrowed his eyes. “Is that an insult, Jackson? ’Cause I’ll—I’ll terminus you, buddy!”
Percy tried not to laugh. “It won’t happen again, Coach. I promise. Now, don’t we have other things to discuss?”
Hedge fumed. “Fine! But I’m watching you, Jackson. And you, Annabeth Chase, I thought you had more sense—”
Jason cleared his throat. “So grab some food, everybody. Let’s get started.”
The meeting was like a war council with donuts. Then again, back at Camp Half-Blood they used to have their most serious discussions around the Ping-Pong table in the rec room with crackers and Cheez Whiz, so Percy felt right at home.
He told them about his dream—the twin giants planning a reception for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers; Nico di Angelo trapped in a bronze jar, slowly dying from asphyxiation with pomegranate seeds at his feet.
Hazel choked back a sob. “Nico… Oh, gods. The seeds.”
“You know what they are?” Annabeth asked.
Hazel nodded. “He showed them to me once. They’re from our stepmother’s garden.”
“Your step… oh,” Percy said. “You mean Persephone.”
Percy had met the wife of Hades once. She hadn’t been exactly warm and sunny. He had also been to her Underworld garden—a creepy place full of crystal trees and flowers that bloomed bloodred and ghost white.
“The seeds are a last-resort food,” Hazel said. Percy could tell she was nervous, because all the silverware on the table was starting to move toward her. “Only children of Hades can eat them. Nico always kept some in case he got stuck somewhere. But if he’s really imprisoned—”
“The giants are trying to lure us,” Annabeth said. “They’re assuming we’ll try to rescue him.”
“Well, they’re right!” Hazel looked around the table, her confidence apparently crumbling. “Won’t we?”
“Yes!” Coach Hedge yelled with a mouthful of napkins. “It’ll involve fighting, right?”
“Hazel, of course we’ll help him,” Frank said. “But how long do we have before… uh, I mean, how long can Nico hold out?”
“One seed a day,” Hazel said miserably. “That’s if he puts himself in a death trance.”
“A death trance?” Annabeth scowled. “That doesn’t sound fun.”
“It keeps him from consuming all his air,” Hazel said. “Like hibernation, or a coma. One seed can sustain him one day, barely.”
“And he has five seeds left,” Percy said. “That’s five days, including today. The giants must have planned it that way, so we’d have to arrive by July first. Assuming Nico is hidden somewhere in Rome—”
“That’s not much time,” Piper summed up. She put her hand on Hazel’s shoulder. “We’ll find him. At least we know what the lines of the prophecy mean now. ‘Twins snuff out the angel’s breath, who holds the key to endless death.’ Your brother’s last name: di Angelo. Angelo is Italian for ‘angel.’”
“Oh, gods,” Hazel muttered. “Nico…”
Percy stared at his jelly donut. He had a rocky history with Nico di Angelo. The guy had once tricked him into visiting Hades’s palace, and Percy had ended up in a cell. But most of the time, Nico sided with the good guys. He certainly didn’t deserve slow suffocation in a bronze jar, and Percy couldn’t stand seeing Hazel in pain.
“We’ll rescue him,” he promised her. “We have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death.”
“That’s right,” Piper said encouragingly. “Hazel, your brother went searching for the Doors of Death in the Underworld, right? He must’ve found them.”
“He can tell us where the doors are,” Percy said, “and how to close them.”
Hazel took a deep breath. “Yes. Good.”
“Uh…” Leo shifted in his chair. “One thing. The giants are expecting us to do this, right? So we’re walking into a trap?”
Hazel looked at Leo like he’d made a rude gesture. “We have no choice!”
“Don’t get me wrong, Hazel. It’s just that your brother, Nico… he knew about both camps, right?”
“Well, yes,” Hazel said.
“He’s been going back and forth,” Leo said, “and he didn’t tell either side.”
Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.”
Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this. He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?”
Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that.” He glared at Leo. “Nobody had better be saying that.”
Leo blinked. “Look, guys. All I mean is—”
“Hazel,” Jason said. “Leo is raising a fair point. I remember Nico from Camp Jupiter. Now I find out he also visited Camp Half-Blood. That does strike me as… well, a little shady. Do we really know where his loyalties lie? We just have to be careful.”
Hazel’s arms shook. A silver platter zoomed toward her and hit the wall to her left, splattering scrambled eggs. “You… the great Jason Grace… the praetor I looked up to. You were supposed to be so fair, such a good leader. And now you…” Hazel stomped her foot and stormed out of the mess hall.
“Hazel!” Leo called after her. “Ah, jeez. I should—”
“You’ve done enough,” Frank growled. He got up to follow her, but Piper gestured for him to wait.
“Give her time,” Piper advised. Then she frowned at Leo and Jason. “You guys, that was pretty cold.”
Jason looked shocked. “Cold? I’m just being cautious!”
“Her brother is dying,” Piper said.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Frank insisted.
“No,” Piper said. “Let her cool down first. Trust me on this. I’ll go check on her in a few minutes.”
“But…” Frank huffed like an irritated bear. “Fine. I’ll wait.”
From up above came a whirring sound like a large drill.
“That’s Festus,” Leo said. “I’ve got him on autopilot, but we must be nearing Atlanta. I’ll have to get up there… uh, assuming we know where to land.”
Everyone turned to Percy.
Jason raised an eyebrow. “You’re Captain Salt Water. Any ideas from the expert?”
Was that resentment in his voice? Percy wondered if Jason was secretly miffed about the duel in Kansas. Jason had joked about it, but Percy figured that they both harbored a little grudge. You couldn’t put two demigods in a fight and not have them wonder who was stronger.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Somewhere central, high up so we can get a good view of the city. Maybe a park with some woods? We don’t want to land a warship in the middle of downtown. I doubt even the Mist could cover up something that huge.”
Leo nodded. “On it.” He raced for the stairs.
Frank settled back in his chair uneasily. Percy felt bad for him. On the trip to Alaska, he had watched Hazel and Frank grow close. He knew how protective Frank felt toward her. He also noticed the baleful look Frank was giving Leo. He decided it might be a good idea to get Frank off the ship for a while.
“When we land, I’ll scout around in Atlanta,” Percy said. “Frank, I could use your help.”
“You mean turn into a dragon again? Honestly, Percy, I don’t want to spend the whole quest being everyone’s flying taxi.”
“No,” Percy said. “I want you with me because you’ve got the blood of Poseidon. Maybe you can help me figure out where to find salt water. Besides, you’re good in a fight.”
That seemed to make Frank feel a little better. “Sure. I guess.”
“Great,” Percy said. “We should take one more. Annabeth—”
“Oh, no!” Coach Hedge barked. “Young lady, you are grounded.”
Annabeth stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “Excuse me?”
“You and Jackson are not going anywhere together!” Hedge insisted. He glared at Percy, daring him to mouth off. “I’ll go with Frank and Mr. Sneaky Jackson. The rest of you guard the ship and make sure Annabeth doesn’t break any more rules!”
Wonderful, Percy thought. A boys’ day out with Frank and a bloodthirsty satyr, to find salt water in a landlocked city.
“This,” he said, “is going to be so much fun.”
Chapter 15
Percy climbed out on deck and said, “Wow.”
They had landed near the summit of a forested hill. A complex of white buildings, like a museum or a university, nestled in a grove of pines to the left. Below them spread the city of Atlanta—a cluster of brown and silver downtown skyscrapers two miles away, rising from what looked like an endless flat sprawl of highways, railroad tracks, houses, and green swathes of forest.
“Ah, lovely spot.” Coach Hedge inhaled the morning air. “Good choice, Valdez.”
Leo shrugged. “I just picked a tall hill. That’s a presidential library or something over there. At least that’s what Festus says.”
“I don’t know about that!” Hedge barked. “But do you realize what happened on this hill? Frank Zhang, you should know!”
Frank flinched. “I should?”
“A son of Ares stood here!” Hedge cried indignantly.
“I’m Roman…so Mars, actually.”
“Whatever! Famous spot in the American Civil War!”