Leo and Hazel were in a bad mood.

She didn't blame them– Nemesis didn't exactly instill any good feelings in anyone. It left them all thinking, though Emilia got the sense she was processing it a lot better than the others.

"Who's Aunt Rosa?" asked Hazel carefully. Emilia wished it could be possible to transmit knowledge to people instantaneously. She knew Hazel was simply curious, probably also wishing to console Leo through knowing more about him. But it might be nice to transport her memories to Hazel so that she could know who Aunt Rosa was and jump straight to the comforting part.

"Long story," murmured Leo a bit dismissively. "She abandoned me after my mom died, gave me to foster care."

"I'm sorry." Her voice was so gentle, so sweet. Emilia disliked each time she remembered that Hazel was pretty much Blanca's age. Even if she was from the past, she seemed so sweet, too sweet to be here, knowing this sort of suffering.

Leo shrugged it off, trying to change the subject. "Yeah, well... what about you? What Nemesis said about your brother?"

Hazel blinked like she'd gotten salt in her eyes. "Nico... he found me in the Underworld. He brought me back to the mortal world and convinced the Romans at Camp Jupiter to accept me. I owe him for my second chance at life. If Nemesis is right, and Nico's in danger... I have to help him."

"We'll find him," said Emilia. She didn't want it to sound like a promise (it was one of the first things Percy taught her when he started mentoring her– don't make a habit of promising people you're going to keep someone else safe when you're not sure it's possible) but she did have every intention of locating Nico. He was just a kid and most importantly, Hazel's brother. "Her warning about Rome being destroyed, it doesn't bode well. Six days... gods, it's all happening way too fast."

Hazel nodded slowly. Whatever she was thinking, she didn't share it. She climbed one of the largest boulders to get a better view. As Leo tried to follow her, he slipped. Hazel caught his wrist while Emilia held out her hands to shield her own head. Once he'd been moved out of the way, Emilia had them hoist her the rest of the way.

"When we were talking to Nemesis," said Hazel uneasily to Leo, "your hands... I saw flames."

"Yeah," he said. "It's a Hephaestus power. Usually I can keep it under control."

"Oh." She put one hand protectively over her denim shirt, like she was about to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Emilia was starting to get frustrated with this strange tension between them. "Look," she said, calling their attention across the island. The opposite shore was only a few hundred yards away. Between here and there were dunes and clumps of boulders, but nothing that looked like a reflecting pool.

There wasn't really anything to look at, in that sense. Emilia had a feeling they were both still thinking about Nemesis. "Hey," said Emilia. "Don't dwell too much on what Nemesis said. Such negative things often have double meanings– nothing will be truly clear until it comes to pass. Besides, she may be on our side, but her whole deal is trying to encourage vengeful feelings. It's like my mother sowing discord because she feeds off of it. Nemesis isn't all that different. She wants you to feel this way. Doesn't mean it's really how things are or how they will be."

Leo still didn't seem to believe her. Emilia tilted her head at him. "We're here because of you. Because your brilliant mind made us this super badass ship. The rest of us couldn't have figured it out. I'm not sure in what context Nemesis meant the 'wheel' part. Could be romantic, could not be. Again, no sense in internalizing it because everything has a double meaning and she wants to piss you off. Also..." She turned toward where the sun was touching the horizon. "I don't like what she said about darkness."

"Agreed," said Hazel slowly. "Who is this cursed boy she mentioned?"

Below them, a voice called, "Cursed boy she mentioned."

They looked down, not having been aware anyone was near them. It took a moment before they could see that a young woman was standing only ten feet from the base of the boulder. Her dress was a Greek style tunic the same color as the rocks. Her wispy hair was somewhere between brown and blonde and gray, so it blended with the dry grass.

She wasn't invisible, exactly, but she was almost perfectly camouflaged until she moved. Even then, it was difficult to focus on her. Her face seemed... generic. So simple that it wasn't memorable. Each time Emilia blinked, it was like she forgot what the girl looked like.

"Hello," said Hazel. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" The girl answered. Her voice sounded weary, like she was tired of answering that question.

"Looks cursed to me," murmured Emilia. "Cursed... girl?"

"Cursed... girl?" repeated the girl.

"Excuse me?" said Leo.

"Excuse me," the girl said miserably.

Emilia sighed. "Echo."

The girl nodded. "Echo." She shifted, her dress changing with the landscape. Her eyes were the color of salt water.

"I don't remember the myth," said Leo quietly. "You were cursed to repeat the last thing you heard?"

"You heard," replied Echo.

"Poor thing," said Hazel. "If I remember right, a goddess did this?"

"A goddess did this," Echo confirmed.

Emilia's jaw clenched. "Hera," she muttered under her breath.

Leo scratched his head. "But wasn't that thousands of years... oh. You're one of the mortals who came back through the Doors of Death. I really wish we could stop running into dead people."

"Dead people," said Echo, like she was chastising him.

Emilia sighed when she saw Hazel staring at her feet. "Uh... sorry," said Leo. "I didn't mean it that way."

"That way." Echo pointed toward the far shore of the island.

"You want to show us something?" asked Hazel, climbing down the boulder. Leo followed, then Emilia. Even as they approached Echo, she was hard to see. She seemed to get more invisible the longer one kept their eyes on her.

"You sure you're real?" inquired Leo. "I mean... flesh and blood?"

"Flesh and blood." She touched Leo's face, and he flinched.

"So you have to repeat everything?" He asked.

"Everything," she sighed.

Leo smiled. "That could be fun."

"Fun," she said unhappily.

"Leo," Emilia said in a warning tone as he said, "Blue elephants."

"Blue elephants," said Echo quietly.

"Kiss me, you fool."

"You fool."

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

"Leo!" said Emilia, getting agitated. "Don't tease her!"

"Don't tease her," agreed Echo.

"Okay, okay," he said, though he was clearly restraining himself from saying more. "So what were you pointing at? Do you need our help?"

"Help," Echo agreed emphatically. She gestured for them to follow and sprinted down the slope. They could only follow her progress by the movement of the grass and the shimmer of her dress as it changed to match the rocks.

"We'd better hurry," said Hazel. "Or we'll lose her."

They broke into a sprint, following her to where the problem was. Echo led them down into a grassy meadow shaped like a blast crater, with a small pond in the middle. Gathered at the water's edge were several dozen nymphs. They wore gossamer dresses, their feet bare. They had elfish features, their skin bearing a slightly green tinge.

They were all crowded together in one spot, facing the pond and jostling for a better view. Several held up phone cameras, trying to get a shot over the heads of the others. It was a ridiculous sight, the type one expected when there was a celebrity in the vicinity.

"Oh, no," said Emilia once they'd pushed their way through the crowd. The nymphs had parted unhappily as to reveal a young man kneeling at the edge of the pond, gazing intently at the water. "It's him. Of course."

Nemesis's cursed boy was good-looking, with a chiseled face and an androgynous beauty that would have anyone admitting he was gorgeous. Dark hair swept over his brow. He was built like a dancer with long graceful arms and muscular legs, perfect posture and an air of regal calm. He wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans, with a bow and quiver strapped to his back. But these weapons were covered in dust, not having been used for a very long time.

His face was unusually golden. In the sunset, the light was bouncing off a large flat sheet of Celestial bronze that lay at the bottom of the pond, washing his features in a warm glow.

Hazel inhaled sharply. "He's gorgeous." Around her, the nymphs squealed and clapped in agreement.

"I am," the young man murmured dreamily, his gaze still fixed on the water. "I am so gorgeous."

"Narcissus," said Emilia lowly.

"Narcissus," agreed Echo sadly.

"Oh, not you again!" said one of the nymphs, annoyed. She tried to push Echo away, but misjudged where she was and ended up shoving several other nymphs.

"Stop it!" said Emilia, tugging at the shadows and moving them even further away from Echo. She glanced at Leo and Hazel as the nymphs began to argue. She had a bad feeling Narcissus was going to lose it once they took that Celestial Bronze away.

If he couldn't see his reflection anymore at night... if he couldn't see it at all... oh, she wished she had even a fraction of Pollux's control over madness. She could keep him from going mad. She could try to alleviate his curse.

She decided to step forward, kneeling beside Narcissus. "We're demigods on a quest and we have something to ask of you."

"Could you move?" he asked distractedly. "You're ruining the view."

"No," said Emilia. "First of all, I'm not. Second of all, no one tells me to move. We need that piece of Celestial bronze." She hoped Leo could pull an ornate gold-lined mirror out of his toolbelt as a substitute.

He seemed to know what he was thinking. He withdrew a small hand mirror, about the size of a monocle. She offered it to Narcissus, "Look at this. It's still you. Great, let me–"

He seized her wrist as she reached into the water. "Don't," he said, not even looking at her. "No ripples, that ruins the image. This here is a much better image. The color flatters me, don't you think?"

"Oh, gods, yes!" a nymph screamed. She kicked off a chain of screaming as the nymphs tried to get him to pay attention to them. Emilia had never been that obsessed with anyone. The nymphs needed to learn to value themselves a bit more– they were worth a thousand of Narcissus. It wasn't his fault he cared for nothing else, but they at least had a choice of whether they drooled over him or not.

"We're going to need to get creative," Emilia told Leo and Hazel as she ripped her hand away from Narcissus. "We have to make him look away on his own."

Leo leaned over. "Hey, man... you're alive again, right? However that happened. You have a second chance. That's what Nemesis was telling us. You can get up, and get on with your life. Echo..." He acknowledged where she kneeled on the other side of Narcissus, waving her hand fruitlessly in front of his face. "Is trying to save you. Or you can stay here and stare at yourself until you die again."

The nymphs squealed, not wanting him to leave. How brainwashed could they be? Emilia felt bad for them. Narcissus shook his head. "You just want my reflection. I don't blame you, but you can't have it. I belong to me."

Hazel beckoned for them to follow her. Echo came along, the nymphs instantly filling in the spots they left vacant. Once they were out of earshot, Hazel said, "Nemesis was right. Some demigods can't change their nature. Narcissus is going to stay there until he dies again."

"I could just kill him now," said Emilia realistically. "Save him a whole lot of suffering. Get the Celestial bronze and just... leave."

"We hopefully won't need to resort to that," said Leo. "If we take the bronze away, it might give Narcissus a reason to snap out of it. Echo could have a chance to save him."

"A chance to save him," said Echo gratefully.

Hazel stabbed her sword in the sand. "It could also make several dozen nymphs very angry with us. And Narcissus might still know how to shoot his bow."

Emilia sighed. "Maybe. I can try to shadow-travel us away, I can form a shield of dark energy... I'll be stronger at night but that is a big group of nymphs and honestly, I'm not as used to just knocking people out. I usually go straight for the kill, so..."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Hazel... your power with precious metal... can you just detect it, or can you actually summon it to you?"

She frowned. "Sometimes I can summon it. I've never tried with a piece of Celestial bronze that big before. I might be able to draw it to me through the earth, but I'd have to be fairly close. It would take a lot of concentration, and it wouldn't be fast."

"Be fast," warned Echo.

"Okay," said Emilia, "but he's looking at it all the time. How are we going to have her drag it out without him noticing it?"

"That'll be my job," said Leo. "Echo and I will cause a distraction. Emilia, can you make it just dark enough that it doesn't shimmer as much in the water?"

"I can try," she said. "But what do you mean you and Echo are going to cause a distraction?"

"Distraction?" Echo asked, also wondering.

"I'll explain," promised Leo. "Are you willing?"

"Willing," said Echo.

"Great," said Leo. "Now, let's hope we don't die."

The plan sounded absolutely ridiculous once he explained it. Still, Hazel and Emilia had no better ideas, at least none that involved everyone walking out of there with their heads still attached to their bodies. They watched him suck on breath mints while he pushed up his curly hair with welding goggles, greasing the sides with machine oil. His sleeves were rolled up and the girls were made to write and draw all sorts of random things on his arms to make it look like he had tattoos.

"What in the world are you thinking?" asked Hazel, sounding pretty flustered.

"I try not to think," said Leo candidly. "It interferes with being nuts. Just concentrate on moving the Celestial bronze and you, Emilia, make sure the only light shining out is over me. Echo, you ready?"

"Ready," she confirmed.

He took a deep breath, strutting back toward the pond. "Leo is the coolest!" he shouted, having Echo repeat each phrase as loud as she could. "Yeah, baby, check me out! Make way for the king! Narcissus is weak!"

It certainly did get the nymphs to pay him attention. Hazel crouched down, working on the Celestial bronze. Emilia closed her eyes, the shadows being dragged as if the sun was receding faster, the only remnants of its setting shining down on Leo like a spotlight. It made them all turn toward him like moths when they saw a lamp.

"Just concentrate on the metal," she said, trying to keep Hazel calm. She was staring at Leo as if he was doing the most scandalous thing her mind could possibly conjure up. As silly as it was, Emilia felt this was tame relative to other comments Leo would make or things he found funny.

As Leo swept around demanding autographs and making some pretty creative comments about Narcissus, Hazel inched the Celestial bronze toward them little by little. Narcissus wasn't even paying attention to his reflection anymore– he was fully scowling at Leo, who insisted Narcissus was a weak loser who couldn't even bench-press a Kleenex.

Suddenly, the nymphs were all about Leo. In fact, they decided 'Team Leo' was a real option. Hazel tugged with all her might, taking advantage of Narcissus's annoyance. The glow in the lake had ceased completely, and from the ground sprung the large sheet. Emilia rushed to Hazel, the two of them picking up the Celestial bronze. Leo would have to catch up to them so that Emilia could get them back to the ship in one piece.

Leo and Echo hadn't been able to keep up the distraction long enough. Narcissus and the nymphs turned their attention to the two girls sprinting away. Leo and Echo bounded toward them, trying to avoid being caught by any of the nymphs or one of Narcissus's arrows.

The nymphs weren't pursuing as quickly as they might have expected. These were burdened with posters, T-shirts, and other Narcissus merchandise that was weighing them down even as they stumbled into one another.

"Echo!" They heard Leo calling just before they reached them. "You're one brave nymph."

"Brave nymph?" asked Echo, unsure.

"I'm proud to have you on Team Leo," he continued. "If we survive this, you should forget Narcissus."

"Forget Narcissus?" she asked, again uncertain.

"You're way too good for him."

Emilia reached for his hand, then grabbed onto Hazel. Leo cried, "We can't leave Echo!"

"Leave Echo," said the nymph with a small smile. She didn't offer her hand even as Emilia reached out for her to come with them.

"Why?" asked Leo. "You don't think you can still save Narcissus..."

"Save Narcissus," she said confidently. She leaned forward and kissed Leo on the cheek.

"Brace yourselves," warned Emilia as the shadows converged over them, just before the others could reach them.

Hazel and Leo clung to her tight as they were delivered right back to the deck of the Argo II. They collapsed almost immediately, the band of lime and sheet of Celestial bronze plopping down as they went to the edge, looking like they'd be sick to their stomachs.

"Sorry about that," said Emilia sheepishly. "I've yet to find a way to make that not... terrible. It's my first time transporting other people."

Leo held a shaky thumbs-up. Emilia pulled them both to their feet, supporting Hazel as she sighed and insisted she needed to go and sit down for a while. Leo was ready to get started on the repairs.

There was a sound thump! On the deck as Frank, Percy, and Annabeth return, toting a steaming five-gallon plastic bucket of tar. "Ran into some tar monsters," said Annabeth. "Leo–?"

"Bring it here," he offered. Frank and Annabeth followed him down to the engine room after taking the tar from Percy.

The ship gave a rough lurch, which only worsened Hazel's nausea. "Oh," said Hazel softly. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake. Like... all of them."

"Great," said Percy. "I'll hold off the water spirits as long as I can."

Coach Hedge arrived to unhelpfully yell at the lake. Festus breathed fire, Hazel retreated to her cabin, Percy shouted and moved the lake to his will, and Emilia tried to form a shield of shadows around the ship to keep it stable as the nymphs screamed and shouted in Narcissus's defense.

It felt like hours before the engine began to hum. The oars creaked and groaned as the ship ascended again, the rocking and shaking completely subsiding. Leo emerged from the engine room caked in sweat, lime dust, and tar. He called for a meeting in the mess hall within the hour.

Once she'd made sure Hazel had received some ginger candy and saltine crackers, Emilia went into Jason's cabin, where he was now awake, though still pretty groggy. "Hey," she said, seating herself on the edge of the bed as Piper helped him sit up. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit with a brick," he said honestly. "Not my finest moment."

"Happens to the best of us," she joked. "Had us all worried there. Glad to see you awake."

"Glad to see you're alive," he said, as if she was the one who'd risen from her near-deathbed. "We saw your mom on deck."

Piper shivered. "I've never seen something so... terrifying."

"Annabeth said the same thing," mused Emilia. "What exactly did it look like?"

"We could tell it was a woman. But it was hard to make her out, exactly, it was just this cloud of darkness, purple and black shimmers, the whole sky was dark, and I... I remember feeling this anger, this despair, like nothing would ever be alright again. I wanted to hurt people in ways I've never craved. When that brick hit Jason, I felt murderous. And each time I would look up, I just felt more afraid. Of myself, of other people. It's hard to explain but I know it started to control me."

Emilia supposed she'd never really understand that fear. How it could take control of a person. She'd never looked at something and felt so hopeless. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been truly terrified of anything. Nothing was ever really enough for it to haunt her dreams unless it came from herself.

"Hopefully she'll stay away," said Emilia, knowing that if Piper had felt this, the Romans must have had that to an even greater degree, already so untrusting of them. Gaea had known exactly where to send Eris. "For now, we focus on other things. Anything I can get you, Jason?"

"Out of the meeting?" he asked hopefully. "Not because I don't want to attend but I just... really would prefer to stay asleep here a bit longer."

"Wish I could do that. The best I can offer is a piggyback ride there. Not sure if I can manage that entirely by myself, the shadows will need to help. Take it or leave it."

"You know what... I'll take it."

Piper was laughing the entire time that Emilia dragged Jason to the dining hall with her shadows. It was less of a piggyback ride and more of Jason hovering behind her, which looked ridiculous because he was already over half a foot taller than her. Coach Hedge took the helm as they sat down for dinner, just the eight of them, their first of many meetings as they went through this quest.

It all became so real. The Prophecy of the Eight was real. The impending doom of Rome was real. The tension in the mess hall was like an electrical storm brewing– a possibility, really, considering Percy and Jason's abilities. They'd both instinctively tried to sit at the head of the table before Emilia gave them a weird look and beckoned for Annabeth to sit there. The boys settled on opposite sides next to her.

They swapped stories before considering where they could go next. There was still a lot of damage on the Argo II, and they needed to put down again to fix things before they started over the Atlantic. They couldn't stop too soon– they required more distance between them and Camp Jupiter.

Frank had spotted some eagles, which meant the Romans weren't far behind. Piper offered the possibility of negotiation, but it didn't seem like it would work. According to Annabeth, it would be suicide, especially since they didn't know what Gaea was really up to.

Hazel was in agreement. "Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have honor to think about. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions post hac."

"You're right," Piper decided. "We have to keep going. Not just because of the Romans. We have to hurry."

"Agreed," said Emilia. "We have six days to save Nico and all of Rome. We're not sure why or how or even where in Rome, but that's something to go off of. I can try to reach out to Nemesis in my sleep and maybe obtain more information but that's unlikely to work."

They were silent for a moment until Piper offered hesitantly, "There's more. I've been seeing some things in my knife."

Frank froze with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth. "Things such as...?"

"They don't really make sense," said Piper, "just garbled images, but I saw two giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins."

"Twins," mused Emilia. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death. The banes of Dionysus. Otis and Ephialtes."

Annabeth's voice was surprisingly steady. "Ella's prophecy. If we could figure out those lines, it might help."

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," recited Percy. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's gotta mean you. Juno told me... well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."

Annabeth took a long breath. "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among Roman praetors— something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," said Leo, exchanging a nervous look with Hazel and Emilia. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled–"

"The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," recalled Hazel. "'An old wrong finally avenged.'"

Percy drew a frowny face in his blue whipped cream. "I was only a praetor for about two hours. Jason, have you ever heard a legend like that?"

"I uh... I'm not sure," he said. "I'll give it some thought."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "You're not sure?"

"Give him a break," said Emilia, unintentionally defensive. "He just took a brick to the head. Besides, Annabeth and I have studied myths for years. Neither of us know anything off the top of our heads. I plan to Iris-message Hylla tonight and see how she's doing, at least explain our side to her. If she chooses to relay that message to Reyna, maybe Reyna could contact us directly and explain more."

The others watched Emilia, Percy, and Jason all glance between themselves, equally tense and assessing one another. Hazel cleared her throat. "What about the last line?"

"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," said Frank, "won through pain from a woven jail."

"Giants' bane," said Leo. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good."

Percy nodded. "We can't kill the giants without the help of gods."

Jason turned to Frank and Hazel. "I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you."

"Alcyoneus was a special case," said Frank. "He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn— Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but..." He shrugged. "Percy's right, we need the gods."

"So..." Leo pushed his chair away from the table. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put down in the morning to finish repairs."

"Someplace close to a city," suggested Annabeth, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"

"Well," Piper ventured, "how do you guys feel about Kansas?"

No one had any other suggestions. Leo dismissed the meeting once he'd rerouted the ship toward Kansas.