▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY ▬▬▬

IT HAD BEEN TWO HOURS since Percy, Frank, and Coach Hedge left the Argo II to scour Atlanta for Phorcys and Jason had yet to properly apologize to Esmerelda. He and Leo had already attempted to apologize profusely to Hazel, but it was hard with Ethan hovering ominously in a dark corner of the room. In the end, the older boy scared them off and took Hazel away.

Esmerelda was even harder to talk to. Mainly because she looked like she was going to gut him like a fish and then throw his soul into the Fields of Punishment. She was almost as scary as Ethan on his regular days, maybe even worse.

But he knew he had to apologize. He had never seen Esmerelda react so angrily before, but he knew he had also hurt her with his words. He had been... callous and insensitive. Back at Camp Jupiter, a leader had to be logical and decisive. They had to put their feelings aside—put everyone's feelings aside—and make decisions that would benefit the Legion and Rome.

Jason was soft though. At least, softer than what the previous Praetors had been like. Reyna always told him that he was too kind and lenient, but he was still a proper Roman soldier at least so she, or anyone else, didn't complain too much about it. Nevertheless, he had been raised in the Roman ways since he was a toddler. Weakness wasn't tolerated, so he pushed that aside and became a good leader that the Romans could be proud of.

Then he lost his memories and ended up in Camp Half-Blood. He wasn't a leader there. There were no expectations for him to make the hard decisions, to be cold and strong. His softness was actually welcomed there. Nobody cared about acting like a 'proper Greek' or a 'good soldier'. He was free. Even when he didn't have any memories, he knew he felt more like himself than he ever did.

And when he did start to get his memories back and revealed to everyone that he was a Roman, nobody really cared about that. Then again, they were more concerned with the whole Gaea thing, but no one was screaming 'DIE EVIL ROMAN!' and trying to kill him. That was nice.

The more memories he regained, the more conflicted he became. He didn't know whether to be the good Roman soldier or a regular dude from Camp Half-Blood. His people back at Camp Jupiter wanted him to act as a good Praetor and a soldier to Rome, but his friends needed the other Jason, the nice guy they met back at Camp Half-Blood.

He was having, well... an identity crisis (but it sounded lame when he called it that). He didn't seem to know who to be anymore. But he knew one thing, acting like a cold and harsh Praetor back in the mess hall was not what he should've done, especially when there were three people—Esmerelda, Ethan, and Hazel—who cared so much about the person he was initially going to leave for dead. 

I need to make things right, Jason told himself, his palms sweating nervously.

But that was kind of hard to do since Piper was currently chatting his ear off.

He was about to head on over to the central corridor where the cabins were located since Esmerelda was most likely in her room throwing darts at a picture of his face, but Piper intercepted him the second he stepped onto the deck.

The daughter of Aphrodite apparently came to vent because the tense atmosphere in the Argo seemed to be frustrating her to no end even though she wasn't really doing much to help alleviate it.

"It's ugh—I just can't believe she would say all those things about you, Jason," Piper seemed to have been offended by Esmerelda's outburst for his sake. "And threatening you too! Who does she think she is? She's not the leader of the group."

She threatened Leo too, Jason wanted to point out. But you don't seem so concerned about that...

He refrained the urge to sigh, not wanting to look rude and tired of her.

"Look, Piper, I don't blame Essie for getting angry," he began. "I was being extremely insensitive back there—me and Leo. I was practically suggesting that we left her son for dead, of course she'd be upset! Hazel and Ethan too. I deserve it, honestly."

He really wanted to punch himself in the face for ever letting the words leave his lips. He had seen the betrayed look on Esmerelda's face before it turned into anger. He had seen the same things in Hazel and Ethan too, except they hadn't exploded like Esmerelda had.

Piper crinkled her nose. "Well, yeah, but—"

"—Please stop trying to make excuses for what I did," he said as nicely as he could. "I was in the wrong, and I know that."

Her face softened and she reached out to grasp his hand. "Jason, I know that wasn't you back there. You were having a hard time, we all were. You were just trying to look out for everyone, I get it. That doesn't mean Essie had the right to say all those things—"

Jason cleared his throat nervously, slipping his hand free and pretending to smoothen out his shirt to make things less awkward. It wasn't working.

"It was really nice talking to you, Piper," he said, trying to discreetly back away from her. "But, um, I gotta go do something."

Panicked flickered through her face.

"Jason, wait!" She called out, grabbing him by the hand once more and making him face her. "I still want to talk to you about something."

He could no longer escape the sigh that left his lips. "Yeah?"

"It's about Reyna—"

He yanked his hand away from her, his face hard. "Reyna is none of your business."

She winced at the look on his face, and he wondered if he had been too harsh with her, but then she opened her mouth again.

"Look, Jason, I know you broke up with me because you thought you were dating Reyna, but she isn't really your girlfriend. You remembered that, so maybe—"

"—You're not my girlfriend either, Piper," he cut her off, his voice stern. Ethan was right. She was completely delusional. "Your memories of us dating are fake. They never happened, and they're never going to happen. You need to understand that. I'm sorry you that kept clinging on to the hope that we could be real, but you need to wake up."

Piper's eyes began to water. "Jason... please—"

"—No," he said, more firmer this time. "Piper, gods, please just stop it with all of this."

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. When she opened them, her kaleidoscope eyes seemed to be swirling with emotion.

"Jason, you don't understand, I... I really love you.*" She told him. She reached out to grab his hand again and he yanked himself free.

"Stop it!" His voice rose. "Piper just—"

"—For fucks sake," an irked voice interrupted them. "You just don't know what 'no' means, do you?"

They both turned to see a scowling Ethan. He was wearing one of those cloth headbands that were used to push the hair away from the face, except this one was colored pink and had cat ears on the top. Despite the bitchy expression he had on, his skin looked very nice and refreshed. He must have finished using up a mask. 

Piper turned as white as a sheet at the sight of him, but then the fear faded away when she saw what he was wearing. She looked at him in disbelief. Figures she'd get weirded out over a dude wearing pink.

Ethan calmly strode over to them, Jason and Piper shrinking with every step he took. He gave Piper one look and said, "Go."

Piper scrambled away as far as she could.

Jason was impressed.

"You gotta teach me how to do that," he said, half-serious. He could never get Piper to leave him alone.

Ethan snorted. "You wouldn't be able to achieve it, so forget about it."

Jason sobered up quickly, remembering what he came here for. "Ethan, um, about—"

He raised a hand to stop him. "Don't bother. You wanted to apologize right? Yeah, whatever. I already heard what you said and I know you felt bad about it."

Blue eyes widened. "You were eavesdropping on us?"

"Yeah," he replied, shrugging. "I was waiting to step in in case Piper did something stupid. I wish I had my phone though... I would've been paid big money to spread around a video of her confessing her love to you as if she was a main character some sort of stupid romance movie. i LovE yOu, jASoN," he mocked her in a high pitched voice.

Jason couldn't help but cringe. He couldn't believe Ethan out of all people had to have witnessed that embarrassing moment. The older guy was probably going to taunt him about it for the rest of his miserable life.

"Thanks," Jason said. "For getting her to back off. She's been really..."

"Desperate? Delusional?" Ethan suggested.

He nodded. "Basically... She's gotten even worse since we left Camp Jupiter."

"Doesn't surprise me," Ethan commented. "I would say that I'm proud of you for finally standing up to her... but you went and made my girlfriend cry."

Jason winced at the vicious glare he sent him.

"Look, you came here to apologize to Essie, right? Now's a good time for that. We just had a nice spa day so she should be in a better mood."

That perked up his hopes. "Really?"

"Sure. She'd probably give you ten seconds to speak before trying to kill you."

Jason deflated. "Of course..."

He went to go find her anyways, Ethan promising to stay back and give them some time to talk. Jason bravely walked down the hallway, feeling like he was walking down the plank with Ethan watching closely behind (did Leo even install one for the Argo II? He wouldn't be surprised).

You can do this, he tried to pep himself up once he finally reached the door to her room.

He had already written down his apology and had it memorized to a T, like he always did every time had to say a speech in front of the Legion. But standing here now, with his hand hovering over the door, he could feel the words of his speech scrambling about in his head and leaving him lost.

He knocked on the door, his heart racing.

"Ethan!" A cheery voice exclaimed as the door began to swing open. "Did you find the olive oil for our hair—"

The happy look dropped from her face the second she saw who was standing in front of her. "Oh," she said, looking ready to kill. "It's you."

Her hand began reaching out for one of the charms in her charm bracelet and Jason panicked.

"Wait, wait, wait! Please don't kill me just yet!" He pleaded with her.

She scowled, but thankfully didn't grab any of her charms. Wow. Ethan wasn't kidding. She really was in a better mood.

"Fine," she said curtly. "Spit it out."

"I'm really sorry for what I said about Nico," he began.

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to kill you," she scoffed.

"Well yes, but no," he stumbled with his words.

Gods dammit, the speech! Remember the speech!

But he couldn't remember it at all. The words were all mixed up in his head, something that had never happened before since his first speech from when he was granted the praetorship. His face was white, sweat was beading down his skin, and his heart was beating so fast it could probably burst from his chest. And the worst thing? Esmerelda was growing increasingly impatient with him.

"It—it was wrong of me to say that," he stammered, swallowing thickly. "I was being really insensitive to you, Hazel, and Ethan especially. And you were right about what you said. I was judging him before I even knew him, and I never took into account how you or the others would feel."

"It wasn't that you judged him based on appearances," she said sharply. "You were going to leave him to die! And he's just a kid too!"

"I-I know," he said nervously, the guilt making his stomach turn cold. "It was sick of me to suggest that. I shouldn't have been so heartless. I was thinking like a... like a Praetor and not... well, not like..."

He trailed off. He wanted to say 'not like me', but wasn't that what he was? He was a praetor too, after all, but...

Now isn't the time for your stupid identity crisis! He mentally scolded himself before turning his attention back to her.

"I'm really sorry," he said, his tone begging. "I never should have said any of those things."

"You're right," her voice was very clipped when she said that. "You really shouldn't have."

He nodded in agreement, shrinking in on himself when he saw that her icy look had yet to disappear or melt in the slightest.

"So, um," he fidgeted under her stare. "Does this mean you forgive—"

She slammed the door on his face.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"I'm guessing since Jason's in one piece that the talk went well?" Ethan asked casually as he styled Esmerelda's hair into a loose fishtail braid. Her hair was slick with an olive oil hair mask, same as his, which made it kind of hard to braid, but he was doing well despite the oily fingers.

"I guess," she said, fully relaxed. "He's lucky he came to me while I was in a good mood."

Ethan hid his smirk. "Yeah. Lucky timing."

She sighed. "I should probably forgive Leo too. He's been trying to apologize a lot."

"Let him come to you first," he suggested. "I heard he was making cheesy taquitos for his next apology."

Ooooh. Taquitos were delicious! Leo was a good cook too which was a bonus.

After they were done with haircare, they finally decided to leave their room for some nice dinner. Percy, Frank, and Coach Hedge had yet to come back, but the city of Atlanta was still standing so they figured that everything was going well for them.

But then the three of them burst into the ship, collapsing on the deck while Frank headed for the central corridor screaming his head off for Leo. He came back with a worried looking Annabeth instead.

Leo, Piper, and Jason, who'd been eating in the mess hall, came rushing up the stairs.

"What? What?" Leo cried, holding a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich. "Can't a guy even take a lunch break? What's wrong?"

"Followed!" Frank yelled.

"Followed by what?" Jason asked.

"I don't know!" Frank panted. "Whales? Sea monsters? Maybe Kate and Porky!"

"That makes absolutely no sense," Annabeth said, stressed. "Leo, you'd better get us out of here."

Leo put his sandwich between his teeth and ran for the helm.

Soon the Argo II was rising into the sky. Annabeth manned the aft crossbow. So far there was no sign of pursuit by whales or 'Kate and Porky', but Percy, Frank, and Hedge didn't start to recover until the Atlanta skyline was a hazy smudge in the distance.

"Charleston," Percy said, hobbling around the deck like an old man. He still sounded pretty shaken up. "Set course for Charleston."

He toppled over to the side and nearly fell on Ethan, who shoved him back without hesitation.

"Watch it," he glared. "You'll mess up my hair."

"Charleston?" Jason said the name as if it brought back bad memories. "What exactly did you find in Atlanta?"

Frank unzipped his backpack and starting bringing out souvenirs. "Some peach preserves. A couple of T-shirts. A snow globe. And, um, these not-really-Chinese handcuffs."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to scream. "How about you start from the top—of the story, not the backpack."

They gathered on the quarterdeck so Leo could hear the conversation as he navigated. Percy and Frank took turns relating what had happened at the Georgia Aquarium, with Coach Hedge interjecting from time to time: "That was awesome!" or "Then I kicked her in the head!"

But as the conversation droned on, he had lost interest—probably because it was no longer about him—and wandered toward the bow of the ship, practicing his roundhouse kicks and complimenting himself on his technique.

Annabeth gripped the hilt of her dagger. "A bounty on our heads... as if we didn't attract enough monsters already."

"Do we get WANTED posters?" Leo asked. "And do they have our bounties, like, broken down on a price list?"

Hazel wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about?"

"Just curious how much I'm going for these days," Leo said. "I mean, I can understand not being as pricey as Percy or Jason, maybe... but am I worth, like, two Franks, or three Franks?"

"Hey!" Frank complained.

"Don't be mean," Esmerelda scolded, and she was obviously in a better mood now because there was a bright smile on her face. "This is kind of exciting, don't you think? You know what this reminds me of? That Teen Wolf episode about the Deadpool! I wonder how much I'm worth!"

"Aww, babe, you're priceless," Ethan crooned, giving her a charming smile that left everyone speechless. He looked almost... handsome when he did that.

Esmerelda looked like she could swoon at her boyfriend's words. "Oh, you're so sweet...!"

"Ugh," Annabeth faked a gag. "Enough flirting. We're all here you know?"

The daughter of Hecate turned pink while Ethan just glared at them all as if they were the ones intruding on a moment.

"Back to more important topics," the blonde continued. "At least we know our next step is to go to Charleston, to find this map."

"A map," Piper said. "But a map to what?"

"The Mark of Athena." Percy answered, giving Annabeth a cautious glance."Whatever that is. We know it leads to something important in Rome, something that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks."

"The giants' bane," Hazel added.

He nodded. "And in my dream, the twin giants said something about a statue."

"I heard about that too," Esmerelda spoke up nervously. All heads turned her way. "Back when... back when I was in Tartarus. I heard some empousai talking about a statue, and how someone was guarding it. Apparently they're ready for Annabeth to come."

Percy sucked in a breath, looking faint.

"Um..." Frank rolled his not-exactly-Chinese handcuffs between his fingers. "According to Phorcys, we'd have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?"

Everyone looked at Annabeth, who looked tense under all the eyes aimed at her. For once she didn't say anything right away, which was concerning. Annabeth always had the answers they needed.

"I—I'm close to an answer," she managed to say. "I'll know more if we find this map. Jason, the way you reacted to the name Charleston... have you been there before?"

He sent Piper a wary glance before replying, "Yeah. Reyna and I did a quest there about a year ago. We were salvaging Imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."

"The what?" Piper asked, her voice tight and badly hidden.

"Whoa!" Leo said. "That's the first successful military submarine. From the Civil War. I always wanted to see that."

"It was designed by Roman demigods," Jason explained. "It held a secret stash of Imperial gold torpedoes—until we rescued them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter."

Hazel crossed her arms. "So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say... not cool?"

Jason put his hands in front of him, palms up. "I personally was not alive then. And it wasn't all Greeks on one side and all Romans on the other. But, yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad choices." He looked sheepishly at Hazel. "Like sometimes we're too suspicious. And we speak without thinking."

Hazel stared at him. Slowly it seemed to dawn on her that he was apologizing.

Jason elbowed Leo.

"Ow!" Leo yelped. "I mean, yeah...bad choices. Like not trusting people's brothers or sons who, you know, might need saving. Hypothetically speaking."

He looked over at Esmerelda next and sheepishly slid over a plate of cheesy taquitos. He looked like he was bracing himself for an attack, but Esmerelda merely took the plate, nodded, and began eating with Ethan.

Leo sighed in relief and looked back to Hazel.

Hazel pursed her lips. "Fine. Back to Charleston. Are you saying we should check that submarine again?"

Jason shrugged. "Well... I can think of two places in Charleston we might search. The museum where they keep the Hunley—that's one of them. It has a lot of relics from the Civil War. A map could be hidden in one. I know the layout. I could lead a team inside."

"I'll go," Leo volunteered eagerly. "That sounds cool."

Jason nodded. He turned to Frank, who was trying to pull his fingers out of the Chinese handcuffs. "You should come too, Frank. We might need you."

Frank looked surprised. "Why? Not like I was much good at that aquarium."

"You did fine," Percy assured him. "It took all three of us to break that glass."

"Besides, you're a child of Mars," Jason said. "The ghosts of defeated causes are bound to serve you. And the museum in Charleston has plenty of Confederate ghosts. We'll need you to keep them inline."

"Okay." Frank relented. "Sure." He frowned at his fingers, trying to pull them out of the trap. "Uh, how do you—?"

Leo chuckled. "Man, you've never seen those before? There's a simple trick to getting out."

Frank tugged again with no luck. Even Hazel was trying not to laugh.

"Dude, come on," Ethan sighed in disappointment.

Still better than Percy though, he thought.

Frank grimaced with concentration. Suddenly, he disappeared. On the deck where he'd been standing, a green iguana crouched next to an empty set of Chinese handcuffs.

"Well done, Frank Zhang," Leo said dryly, doing his impression of Chiron. "That is exactly how people beat Chinese handcuffs. They turn into iguanas."

Everybody busted out laughing. Frank turned back to human, picked up the handcuffs, and shoved them in his backpack. He managed an embarrassed smile.

"Anyway," Frank said, clearly anxious to change the subject. "The museum is one place to search. But, uh, Jason, you said there were two?"

Jason's smile faded.

"Yeah," he said. "The other place is called the Battery—it's a park right by the harbor. The last time I was there...with Reyna..."

He glanced at Piper like he was expecting her to have a hysterical fit, then rushed on.

"We saw something in the park. A ghost or some sort of spirit, like a Southern belle from the Civil War, glowing and floating along. We tried to approach it, but it disappeared whenever we got close. Then Reyna had this feeling—she said she should try it alone. Like maybe it would only talk to a girl. She went up to the spirit by herself, and sure enough, it spoke to her."

Everyone waited.

"What did it say?" Annabeth asked.

"Reyna wouldn't tell me," Jason admitted. "But it must have been important. She seemed... shaken up. Maybe she got a prophecy or some bad news. Reyna never acted the same around me after that."

"A girls' adventure, then," Annabeth said. "Piper, Hazel, and Essie can come with me."

"No," Ethan denied. "If Essie's going then I am too."

She scowled at him. "You need to let Essie breath without you suffocating her with your presence. Besides, didn't you hear what Jason said? The spirit would only talk to girls."

Ethan sneered back. "Essie breathes just fine around me. There's no way we're being separated. So either Essie stays here, or we both tag along."

Piper pursed her lips and spoke to Annabeth, "Maybe they should both stay then."

Annabeth shook her head. "No. Essie has good control over ghosts, she and Hazel could help us out if it starts to get unruly. Ethan... will have to come with us."

Her jaw dropped. "But the ghost won't talk to us if Ethan's there!"

"Ethan can just wait a distance away while we talk to the spirit," Esmerelda suggested, not wanting to be parted from him but also wanting to visit Charleston. She felt like she needed to go out of the ship once a while or else she would go stir-crazy.

"Yeah," Ethan nodded. "I'll give you guys some space." And by that, he meant he was going to shamelessly spy on the conversation to make sure nothing was going wrong.

"Then it's settled," Annabeth stated. "It'll be a girls' day... with Ethan."

Esmerelda beamed, though Hazel looked nervous. No doubt her time in the Underworld had given her enough ghost experiences for two lifetimes. Piper's eyes flashed defiantly, like anything Reyna could do, she could do.

Annabeth turned to Leo, who was studying his console, listening to Festus creak and click over the intercom. "Leo, how long until we reach Charleston?"

"Good question," he muttered. "Festus just detected a large group of eagles behind us—long-range radar, still not in sight."

Piper leaned over the console. "Are you sure they're Roman?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "No, Pipes. It could be a random group of giant eagles flying in perfect formation. Of course they're Roman! I suppose we could turn the ship around and fight—"

"—Which would be a very bad idea," Jason interrupted. "And remove any doubt that we're enemies of Rome."

"Or I've got another idea," Leo continued. "If we went straight to Charleston, we could be there in a few hours. But the eagles would overtake us, and things would get complicated. Instead, we could send out a decoy to trick the eagles. We take the ship on a detour, go the long way to Charleston, and get there tomorrow morning—"

Esmerelda, Ethan, and Hazel started to protest, but Leo raised his hand. "I know, I know. Nico's in trouble and we have to hurry."

"We only have until July first!" Esmerelda cried out.

"And it's June twenty-seventh now," Hazel said. "After today, four more days. Then he dies."

"I know! But this might throw the Romans off our trail. We still should have enough time to reach Rome."

"And how much time is that?" Ethan questioned, his face hard.

Leo bit his lip. "Er, well... barely enough."

Ethan sighed. "Great..."

Annabeth decided to take that as a green light. "Okay, Leo. What kind of decoy are we talking about?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" He punched a few buttons on the console, rotated the turntable, and repeatedly pressed the A button on his Wii controller really, really fast. He called into the intercom, "Buford? Report for duty, please."

Frank took a step back. "There's somebody else on the ship? Who is Buford?"

A puff of steam shot from the stairwell, and Leo's automatic table climbed on deck.

Ethan quirked a brow in begrudging amazement. He had been killing people over in Britain while Leo was making most of the equipment for the Argo II so he had completely missed out on this.

Buford was a three-legged table with a mahogany top. His bronze base had several drawers, spinning gears, and a set of steam vents. Buford was toting a bag like a mail sack tied to one of his legs. He clattered to the helm and made a sound like a train whistle.

"This is Buford," Leo announced.

"Woooaaaah," Esmerelda marveled.

"You name your furniture?" Frank asked.

Leo snorted. "Man, you just wish you had furniture this cool. Buford, are you ready for Operation End Table?"

Buford spewed steam. He stepped to the railing. His mahogany top split into four pie slices, which elongated into wooden blades. The blades spun, and Buford took off.

"A helicopter table," Percy muttered. "Gotta admit, that's cool. What's in the bag?"

"Dirty demigod laundry," Leo said. "I hope you don't mind, Frank."

Frank choked. "What?"

"It'll throw the eagles off our scent."

"Those were my only extra pants!"

Leo shrugged. "I asked Buford to get them laundered and folded while he's out. Hopefully he will." He rubbed his hands and grinned. "Well! I call that a good day's work. I'm gonna calculate our detour route now. See you all at dinner!"

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The next day, it was time for everyone (sans Percy and Coach Hedge) to board off the ship and embark on their separate missions. Jason, Leo and Frank headed for the museum while the girls began their girls' day... with Ethan.

Esmerelda was the only one excited about it. As they walked along the South Battery Street, she would occasionally point out all the pretty sights like the clear skies, the blooming flowers, and the tall mansions while swinging hers and Ethan's intertwined hands.

"Ooh, look at the front garden of that mansion! The flowers are so colorful!" She gushed.

Ethan held her hand tight. "I'll get you an even better one once we have our own place." He promised. Then he muttered under his breath, "And I'll make sure it's far... far away..."

She didn't catch that last part. "Huh?"

"Nothing, angel," he lied, smiling as he clutched her hand tighter.

Hazel had to cover her mouth to keep her 'awww!' in. Piper scowled. Annabeth rolled her eyes. This mission was starting to become more like a date between Esmerelda and Ethan that the rest of them were just third-wheeling in.

Suddenly Piper stopped dead.

"There." She pointed across the harbor.

A hundred yards out, a shimmering white figure floated on the water. As it got closer, Esmerelda could see a figure of a woman, but she wasn't sensing anything... ghostly from it.

She frowned. "That's not a ghost."

"Yeah," Hazel agreed, confused. "No kind of spirit glows that brightly."

As if in a trance, Piper walked across the street toward the edge of the seawall, narrowly avoiding a horse-drawn carriage.

"Damn," Ethan cursed. "So close."

"Piper!" Annabeth called.

"We'd better follow her," Hazel said.

By the time Ethan and the girls caught up to her, the glowing figure was only a few yards away.

Piper glared at it like the sight offended her.

"It is her," she grumbled.

Esmerelda had no idea what she was talking about. The figure was blazing too brightly to make out details. Then it floated up the seawall and stopped in front of them. The glow faded.

Her eyes widened in awe. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful that it was almost impossible to put into words. Her features seemed to shift from those of one glamorous movie star to another. Her eyes sparkled playfully—sometimes green or blue or amber. Her hair changed from long, straight blond to dark chocolatey curls.

And then it finally settled with one appearance. Suddenly her eyes seemed darker, and her lips were set into a small frown. Her jaw and cheeks looked more sharper and defined. Her new features gave her a colder, more brutal appearance.

Those features were so familiar to her though... They greatly reminded her of Ethan.

Speaking of him, she had no idea who he was seeing, but he was looking between her and the woman as if he was seeing another clone of her. Then his eye widened as if he realized who the woman was. At that time, so did Esmerelda.

Aphrodite, she thought, blushing. Aphrodite's appearance tended to change depending on the viewer, but one thing was the same: she would always appear to others as their personal epitome of beauty.

Right now, the goddess was dressed like a Southern belle, just as Jason had described. Her gown had a low cut bodice of pink silk and a three-tiered hoop skirt with white scalloped lace. She wore tall white silk gloves, and held a feathered pink-and-white fan to her chest.

"Lady Aphrodite," Esmerelda breathed out, while Ethan gave her a nod in greeting.

"Aphrodite," Annabeth said blandly.

"Venus?" Hazel asked in amazement.

"Mom," Piper said, with no enthusiasm.

"Girls!" The goddess spread her arms like she wanted a group hug.

The five demigods did not oblige. Hazel backed into a palmetto tree.

"And Ethan!" Aphrodite added, beaming at him. "Goodness, it's been so long since I've seen you! You've grown into such a fine young man. Did you enjoy the cage I gave you?"

"Yeah," Ethan answered, avoiding everyone's pointed stare. He gave Esmerelda an apologetic glance. "It was really... useful."

"Good to hear," she laughed jovially. "I heard your prayers, you know, and I sensed your love and desperation, so I just had to help you capture her! I'm glad my efforts paid off."

"Right..."

"I'm so glad you're all here," she continued. "War is coming. Bloodshed is inevitable. So there's really only one thing to do."

"Uh... and that is?" Annabeth ventured.

"Why, have tea and chat, obviously. Come with me! And Ethan, you can come as well! I know you don't like being twenty feet away from your pretty little darling and I can't blame you! My, if I ever went through what you and Esmerelda did, I'd certainly lose my mind, haha!"

She led them to the central pavilion in the gardens—a white-pillared gazebo, where a table was set with silverware, china cups, and of course a steaming pot of tea, the fragrance shifting as easily as Aphrodite's appearance—sometimes cinnamon, or jasmine, or mint. There were plates of scones, cookies, and muffins, fresh butter and jam.

Aphrodite sat—or held court, rather—in a wicker peacock chair. She poured tea and served cakes without getting a speck on her clothes, her posture always perfect, her smile dazzling. Regulus would've approved of it.

"Oh, my sweet godlings," the goddess said. "I do love Charleston! The weddings I've attended in this gazebo—they bring tears to my eyes. And the elegant balls in the days of the Old South. Ah, they were lovely. Many of these mansions still have statues of me in their gardens, though they called me Venus."

"Which are you?" Annabeth asked. "Venus or Aphrodite?"

The goddess sipped her tea. Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Annabeth Chase, you've grown into quite a beautiful young lady. You really should do something with your hair, though. And, Hazel Levesque, your clothes—"

"My clothes?" Hazel looked down at her rumpled denim, not self-consciously, but baffled, as if she couldn't imagine what was wrong with them.

"You could do better," Aphrodite said, before turning to the only couple in the room. "You two though are looking splendid! Esmerelda, I take it that you used the hair mask recipe my dear late Silena gave you?"

"Yes," Esmerelda smiled, her back straight and her hand holding the teacup delicately just like her father taught her. "The concoction worked wonders."

The goddess shot her a dazzling smile. "I knew it would! Silena had always been good at making good natural beauty products..." Her face dimmed a little before she smiled again. "And Ethan, I must say, your skin is looking very exquisite—"

"—Mother!" Piper exclaimed. "You're embarrassing me."

The goddess' face turned hard and that was when they knew she had said the wrong thing.

"Apparently, I'm always embarrassing you," Aphrodite said tightly with a sickly sweet tone. "I apologize, dear. It must be so unfortunate to be living in a cabin full of... what was it you called my children? Losers?"

The atmosphere darkened immediately and the fragrance turned into something foul—like the stench of fresh blood being spilled.

A tiny crack appeared in Aphrodite's teacup as she glared at Piper with a smile still plastered on her face, except it looked more menacing than dazzling. Her eyes were glowing a fierce pink now, a clear indication that she was furious.

"I don't like being insulted, Piper dear, and I especially don't like it when my children are being slandered," she said, her voice cold and unforgiving. "You would do well to remember that I was once worshiped in Sparta as a war goddess. Do I need to give you a fresh reminder of how many tragedies I've caused? The blood I've spilled?"

Piper's hands were shaking. She kept glancing to the others for help, but they all stared back at her, wide-eyed with terror. Only Ethan wasn't. He was watching the scene with sadistic amusement, like he was waiting for Aphrodite to slaughter her right then and there.

"Answer me, Piper," Aphrodite demanded.

"N-no, mother," her voice shook.

"N-no, mother," she mocked back. "Why do you sound so scared, dear? I thought I was just some silly little love goddess to you, hmm?"

Piper looked like she was being held at gunpoint. "I was wrong," she admitted quietly.

"You were," Aphrodite said sternly. "Just like you were wrong about everything else, you foolish girl! Don't think I haven't heard your thoughts about me and my children, or of femininity in general. I've never once had a child like you, so at least you've accomplished one thing: you're certainly a lot different."

Piper flinched, as if she had been slapped. Tears were welling in her eyes, and it didn't help that Ethan was looking a lot more gleeful the more she was scolded.

"Femininity doesn't equal weakness," Aphrodite pressed on, the harshness never wavering. "Get that through your head, darling. Just because a girl is wearing a skirt, doesn't mean she can't kill you. Just because a boy is wearing makeup, doesn't mean he can't kill you either. Get rid of that hideous misogyny, Piper, I'm sick of having to hear it all the time and I'm sick of hearing you blame me for your failed love life. Get over yourself."

Piper had never felt so humiliated before. Her face, neck, and ears were completely red and tears were streaming down her face. She refused to speak. She knew if she opened her mouth all that would come out were sobs.

Suddenly the stench of blood abruptly disappeared and so did the wrath all over the goddess' beautiful face. The aromatic smell of food came back and Aphrodite was back to beaming at them all as if the scene had never happened.

Piper, however, was still crying, her body trembling from head to toe.

"Anyways!" She continued on brightly. "To answer your question, Annabeth, I am both Aphrodite and Venus. Unlike many of my fellow Olympians, I changed hardly at all from one age to the other. In fact, I like to think I haven't aged a bit!" Her fingers fluttered around her face appreciatively. "Love is love, after all, whether you're Greek or Roman. This civil war won't affect me as much as it will the others."

The others felt like they could finally breathe again. Neither of them had smelled so much blood before. Not even Ares' or Mars' presence brought them the same waves of fear as his girlfriend had.

Hazel nibbled a sugar cookie, glancing nervously between her and Piper. "We're, um, not in a war yet, my lady."

"Oh, dear Hazel." Aphrodite folded her fan. "Such optimism, yet you have heartrending days ahead of you. Of course war is coming. Love and war always go together. They are the peaks of human emotion! Evil and good, beauty and ugliness."

"What do you mean," Hazel began. "Heartrending days?"

The goddess laughed as if Hazel were a cute puppy. "Well, Annabeth could give you some idea. I once promised to make her love life interesting. And didn't I?"

"Interesting... is a mild way of putting it." She said slowly, as if she was thinking of ways to best phrase her sentence as to not offend her. She had never seen the goddess look so deadly before, and she hadn't been expecting it either. It was terrifying.

"And Esmerelda," Aphrodite turned to the aforementioned couple. "I remember talking to you about your love life as well!"

"Yeah," she put on a tired smile. "It was after the rest of the gods decided not to kill me."

"I think the two of you could be my favorite couple," Aphrodite winked at them both. "The love, obsession, and passion—it's my favorite combination!"

"Thanks," Ethan said, sending his girlfriend a knowing smirk. "Hear that, angel? We're passionate."

Esmerelda's face reddened and the goddess let out a squeal of laughter.

"Oh, all of you are such excellent stories—I mean, people." She exclaimed. "You do me proud!"

She wasn't looking at Piper when she said that, clearly still infuriated with her.

"Lady Aphrodite," Esmerelda began.

"Oh, just call me by name, honey."

She couldn't help but smile. That was Drew's favorite nickname for people. "Aphrodite, is there a reason why you're here in Charleston?"

"Hmm? Oh, you mean besides the tea? I often come here. I love the view, the food, the atmosphere—you can just smell the romance and heartbreak in the air, can't you? Centuries of it."

She pointed to a nearby mansion. "Do you see that rooftop balcony? We had a party there the night the American Civil War began. The shelling of Fort Sumter."

"That's it," Annabeth remembered. "The island in the harbor. That's where the first fighting of the Civil War happened. The Confederates shelled the Union troops and took the fort."

"Oh, such a party!" Aphrodite said. "A string quartet, and all the men in their elegant new officers' uniforms. The women's dresses—you should've seen them! I danced with Ares—or was he Mars? I'm afraid I was a little giddy. And the beautiful bursts of light across the harbor, the roar of the cannons giving the men an excuse to put their arms around their frightened sweethearts!"

Annabeth stared. "You're talking about the beginning of the bloodiest war in U.S. history. Over six hundred thousand people died—more Americans than in World War One and World War Two combined."

"And the refreshments!" Aphrodite continued. "Ah, they were divine. General Beauregard himself made an appearance. He was such a scoundrel. He was on his second wife, then, but you should have seen the way he looked at Lisbeth Cooper—"

Ethan cleared his throat politely.

"Yes, sorry," the goddess said. "To make the story short, I'm here to help you, children. I doubt you'll be seeing Hera much. Your little quest has hardly made her welcome in the throne room. And the other gods are rather indisposed, as you know, torn between their Roman and Greek sides. Some more than others."

Aphrodite fixed her gaze on Annabeth. "I suppose you've told your friends about your falling-out with your mother?"

Heat rose to Annabeth's cheeks.

"Falling-out?" Hazel asked.

"An argument," Annabeth said. "It's nothing."

Esmerelda wondered if it was that talk Annabeth told her about, the one where she met her mother while Percy was still missing.

"Nothing!" Aphrodite said. "Well, I don't know about that. Athena was the most Greek of all goddesses. The patron of Athens, after all. When the Romans took over... oh, they adopted Athena after a fashion. She became Minerva, the goddess of crafts and cleverness. But the Romans had other war gods who were more to their taste, more reliably Roman—like Bellona—"

"—Reyna's mom," Piper couldn't help but mutter.

"Enough with the jealousy dear, it's not a pretty look on you," Aphrodite said airily, barely sparing her a glance. "I had a lovely talk with Reyna a while back, right here in the park. And the Romans had Mars, of course. And later, there was Mithras—not even properly Greek or Roman, but the legionnaires were crazy about his cult. I always found him crass and terribly nouveau dieu, personally. At any rate, the Romans quite sidelined poor Athena. They took away most of her military importance. The Greeks never forgave the Romans for that insult. Neither did Athena."

"The Mark of Athena," Annabeth's eyes grew. "It leads to a statue, doesn't it? It leads to... to the statue."

Aphrodite smiled. "You are clever, like your mother. Understand, though, your siblings, the children of Athena, have been searching for centuries. None have succeeded in recovering the statue. In the meantime, they've been keeping alive the Greek feud with the Romans. Every civil war... so much bloodshed and heartbreak... has been orchestrated largely by Athena's children."

"That's..." Annabeth was speechless.

"Romantic?" Aphrodite offered. "Yes, I supposed it is."

"But..." Annabeth shook her head. "The Mark of Athena, how does it work? Is it a series of clues, or a trail set by Athena—"

"—Hmm." Aphrodite looked politely bored. "I couldn't say. I don't believe Athena created the Mark consciously. If she knew where her statue was, she'd simply tell you where to find it. No... I'd guess the Mark is more like a spiritual trail of bread crumbs. It's a connection between the statue and the children of the goddess. The statue wants to be found, you see, but it can only be freed by the most worthy."

"And for thousands of years," Annabeth began. "No one has managed."

"A statue is the cause of all this mess?" Ethan asked skeptically. "What sort of statue is this?"

The goddess laughed. "Oh, I'm sure Annabeth can fill you in. At any rate, the clue you need is close by: a map of sorts, left by the children of Athena in 1861—a remembrance that will start you on your path, once you reach Rome. But as you said, Annabeth Chase, no one has ever succeeded in following the Mark of Athena to its end. There you will face your worst fear—the fear of every child of Athena. And even if you survive, how will you use your reward? For war or for peace?"

Worst fear, Esmerelda repeated. Was it the person who was guarding it? The same one the empousai were talking about?

"This map," Annabeth said, gulping. "Where is it?"

"Guys!" Hazel pointed to the sky.

Circling above the palmetto trees were two large eagles. Higher up, descending rapidly, was a flying chariot pulled by pegasi. Apparently Leo's diversion with Buford the end table hadn't worked—at least not for long.

Aphrodite spread butter on a muffin as if she had all the time in the world.

"Oh, the map is at Fort Sumter, of course." She pointed her butter knife toward the island across the harbor. "It looks like the Romans have arrived to cut you off. I'd get back to your ship in a hurry if I were you. Would you care for some tea cakes to go?"

— author's note —

* Piper canonically confesses her "lOvE" to Jason when they reach Rome, but that's like... a few days away so it makes no difference having her confess now. Plus, we all know she would've confessed her "love" to him hella early into the relationship anyways.

God I've been waiting to do this chapter 😩

In canon, Aphrodite never once calls out Piper's internal misogyny or even gets upset with her bratty attitude, which is just so... weird?? Actually wait, no it's not cuz Rick wrote it in an attempt to make Piper "super speshul and dIfFeRenT" and thought he was writing her as a strong female character when in actuality she's a Mary Sue with internalized misogyny. So of COURSE he wouldn't have Aphrodite call her out, cuz he didn't even realize how terrible Piper is.

(Piper is also clearly his fav character cuz he never once listened to people's criticism of her and instead made her bi in the next series to make her more likable without actually changing any of her horrible traits or calling her out. He just kept randomly adding more stuff for her and shoving her in our faces throughout TOA when he should've just... NOT put her in there? When a bunch of your fans complain about a certain character and give you reasons why she's awful, your best options are to either

1) Listen to your fans' constructive criticism and understand that the way you wrote said character was problematic and try to fix them

OR 2) DON'T PUT HER IN THE NEXT SERIES AT ALL???

He literally just... kept her EXACTLY the same but made her bi and had her dump Jason because she "realized the relationship was fake" BUT NEVER ONCE REALIZED SHE WAS THE CAUSE FOR THE MESS AND EHFGURYFG... Like dude... why)

So anyways, in the myths, Aphrodite literally caused wars every time she was insulted. She would NOT have let Piper's attitude go. She's literally so vicious, but was reduced to some ditzy lil love goddess in the books, which only worsens the misogyny that was written ALL OVER the series smh.

I just had to change it cuz like I said, I was keeping Piper canon in here except she would be actually be called out. You're welcome 💖 Also, I keep getting messages/comments from people to be nicer to Piper despite the multiple fucking times where I said I wouldn't. If you people are reading this now: STOP ASKING ME. I've already told you guys so many times that I wouldn't do that here smh

Me to Piper and Piper apologists:

From -chxcolatte: