★ 。＼｜／。★

𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊 𝖉𝖔𝖚𝖟𝖊:
PIPER'S KNIFE
APPARENTLY ONLY
SHOWS BAD VISIONS

★ 。／｜＼。★

BELLE DIDN'T WASTE any more time at that café. If what Tiberinus said was true, they didn't have a lot of time to save Nico from the Giants. Plus, she had to tell Percy and the others what had happened with Annabeth. They deserved to know.

She was no track star, but she ran as fast as she could through the streets of Rome. After getting lost more times than she'd like to admit, she finally found the park where the Argo II had set down. Belle pushed herself forwards and spotted Jason and Piper having a picnic in the park. Her face must've indicated something was wrong, because as soon as she approached them, they immediately stood up. Belle put her hands on her knees and began to breathe heavily after running for so long.

"Woah, B, what's going on?" Jason asked in concern, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What happened?"

"Audrey Hepburn," Belle wheezed, suddenly discovering she was not cut out for running. "Gregory Peck. Motor scooter. Mark of Athena."

"Belle, you're not making any sense," Piper said.

She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, still not breathing quite properly. "Deck. Talk. Percy and Coach Hedge."

Jason wrapped his arm around her shoulder while Piper gathered up their picnic supplies. The three of them walked back onto the ship, where Percy and Coach Hedge were on the deck. Once Percy spotted Belle he immediately rushed up to her and gathered her in his arms. She exhaled in content and rested her head on his chest, trying her best not to completely freak out and burst into tears.

"I had to let her go," Belle voiced quietly. "I didn't want to."

Percy kissed the top of her head. "It's okay, Beauty. Why don't you tell us all what happened?"

Belle untangled herself from Percy and faced everyone else. She told them everything Annabeth had said to her and how she had left on a motor scooter for her quest with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, who were actually Rhea Silvia and Tiberinus.

"So Annabeth was kidnapped on a motor scooter by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn," Piper repeated.

"She wasn't exactly kidnapped, but I have a really bad feeling . . ." Belle trailed off. She took a deep breath to compose herself, making Percy take her hand and give it a squeeze. "Anyways, she's gone. It was really hard to let her go off by herself, but I know she had to go alone."

"Besides, Annabeth is tough and smart," Piper reassured her. "She'll be fine."

Belle nodded in agreement. "Yeah, definitely. But, guys, Tiberinus said we had less time to rescue Nico than we originally thought. Hazel, Frank, and Leo aren't back yet?"

Piper glanced over to the helm control for a second. "It's two in the afternoon. We said three o'clock for a rendezvous."

"At the latest," Jason reminded them.

Belle's eyebrows knit in thought. "All right. Piper, I need to see Katoptris. Tiberinus said we could find Nico's location with it."

Piper bit her lip nervously. "I've tried. The dagger doesn't always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does."

"Please," Percy cut in. "Try again."

Belle glanced up. He was giving Piper his baby seal eyes trick, where he makes his sea-green eyes go big. Belle felt herself go weak in her knees. It was always hard to win an argument with Percy when he did that, but Belle had put up with it for almost two years. She knew how to ignore it. However, Piper didn't. She had only just met Percy.

Piper caved in with a sigh and drew her dagger. "Fine."

"While you're at it, see if you can get the latest baseball scores," Coach Hedge stated. "Italians don't cover baseball worth beans."

"Shh."

They all began to study the bronze blade, and the light shimmered into a vision. A loft apartment was filled with Roman Demigods while a dozen of them stood around a table with Octavian talking and pointing at a big map. Reyna was pacing next to the windows, gazing down at the scenic view of Central Park.

"That's not good," Jason muttered. "They've already set up a forward base in Manhattan."

"And that map shows Long Island," Percy added.

Belle felt even more worry seep into her heart. "You think they're looking for the Sound?"

"They're probably scouting the territory," Jason answered. "Discussing invasion routes."

Piper apparently did not want to see that, so she concentrated harder. Light rippled across the blade once more and a new scene that was familiar to Belle came into view. There were ruins consisting of a few crumbling walls and a stone floor covered in moss and dead vines that were all clustered on a grassy hillside dotted with pine trees.

"Wait, Annabeth and I were just there," Belle revealed. "It's in the old Forum."

The view zoomed in. A set of stairs had been excavated on one side of the stone floor, and it led down to a modern iron gate with a padlock. The image zoomed straight through the doorway, down a spiral stairwell, and into a dark cylindrical chamber. Piper then immediately dropped her blade. Belle's head snapped up to look at her in concern.

"What's wrong?" Jason questioned. "It was showing us something."

"We can't go there," Piper said, looking suddenly very pale.

Percy frowned at that. "Piper, Nico is dying. We've got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed."

Piper still looked like she was about to be sick, but she picked up Katoptris again. Belle gazed into it to see two Giants in gladiator armor sitting on oversized Praetors' chairs. The Giants toasted each other with golden goblets. Between them stood a large bronze jar, and the image zoomed into it, revealing Nico di Angelo curled into a ball with all of his promegranate seeds eaten.

Belle's breath hitched. "Oh, Gods. Nico."

"We're too late," Jason announced.

"No," Percy refused. "No, I can't believe that. Maybe he's gone into a deeper trance to buy time. We have to hurry."

Katoptris' surface went dark, and Piper slipped it back into its sheath. Belle felt her mind swirl with possibilities. She wondered how all of those images were connected.

"We should wait for the others," Piper suggested. "Hazel, Frank, and Leo should be back soon."

Percy shook his head. "We can't wait."

"No, Percy's right," Belle agreed. "Nico doesn't have a lot of time. We can't just leave him."

"It's just two Giants," Coach Hedge commented. "If you guys want, I can take them."

"Uh, Coach," Jason began. "That's a great offer, but we need you to man the ship — or goat the ship. Whatever."

Coach Hedge scowled. "And let you four have all the fun?"

Percy gripped his arm. "Hazel and the others need you here. When they get back, they'll need your leadership. You're their rock."

For the first time since she had let Annabeth go off on her own, Belle smiled. She ducked her head down to hide it and tried to not laugh.

Jason managed to keep a straight face. "Yeah. Leo always says you're his rock. You can tell them where we've gone and bring the ship around to meet us at the Forum."

"And here," Piper voiced. She unstrapped Katoptris and handed it to Coach Hedge. Belle's eyes widened along with Coach Hedge's. A Demigod was never supposed to leave their weapon behind, but Belle guessed Piper had had enough with Katoptris' visions. "Keep an eye on us with the blade. And you can check the baseball scores."

Coach Hedge nodded grimly, obviously prepared to do his part for the quest. "All right. But if any Giants come this way—"

"Feel free to blast them," Jason finished.

"What about annoying tourists?"

"No," they all chorused.

"Bah. Fine. Just don't take too long, or I'm coming after you with ballistae blazing."

⭒ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ☆ ⭒

BELLE LED THE three others to the place Piper's knife had shown, which was on an abandoned stretch of hillside that overlooked the ruined Forum. It was easy to get in, since Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock like it was nothing. The metal gate creaked open. Belle gazed down into the darkness while gripping the green hilt of Sunflower tightly. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this.

"I'll go first," Jason offered.

"No!" Piper yelled.

Belle blinked in surprise. All of them turned towards her.

"Pipes, what is it?" Jason inquired. "That image in the blade . . . you've seen it before, haven't you?"

She nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the four of us drowning."

Belle frowned. "Drowning?"

"I can't drown," Percy stated, though it sounded like a question.

"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."

"Look. I'll check it out first," Percy offered. "It's fine. Be right back."

"Be careful," Belle told him.

Percy kissed her cheek quickly and disappeared down the stairwell. It felt like eternity waiting for him to come back, but he finally did. However, instead of looking relieved, he looked extremely confused.

"What's down there?" Belle asked.

"Good news: no water," Percy replied. "Bad news: I don't see any exits down there. And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this . . ."

They all then descended cautiously. Percy took the lead with Riptide drawn. Belle went after him with Sunflower raised. Piper followed after her. Jason was the last one to follow and guarded all of their backs. Belle glanced around at the stairwell. It was a cramped corkscrew of masonry that was about six feet in diameter. If they were getting attacked, swords would be no use in such close quarters. As for her plant powers, she could feel plant roots all around her, but as they went farther and farther underground, the fainter the feeling got. Old graffiti of Roman numerals and words in Italian were gouged into the stones. That told Belle other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire. Finally, after a lot of descending, they reached the bottom.

Percy turned to them. "Watch this last step."

He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell they were on. Percy offered his hand to Belle. She bent down to take it and jumped off. Belle let go of his hand and looked around the room.

It was exactly how Katoptris had shown it except there wasn't any water. Curved walls that were once painted with frescoes had faded into nothing but eggshell white with some flecks and colors. A domed ceiling was about fifty feet above them. Around the back side of the room that was opposite to the stairwell were nine alcoves carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue. However, they were all empty. The air felt strangely cold and dry. And just as Percy had said, there were no other exits.

"All right," Percy voiced, raising his eyebrows. "Here's the weird part. Watch."

He stepped into the middle of the room. Immediately, green and blue light rippled across the walls. Despite there being no water, Belle heard the sound of a fountain. And there was no other source of light besides the gold beam of Jason's sword and the bronze glows of Riptide and Sunflower.

"Do you smell the ocean?" Percy questioned.

Belle thought it was Percy since she was standing next to him and he always smelled pleasantly like the sea. However, he was right. The scent of salt water and storm was getting much stronger, almost as if a summer hurricane was approaching.

"Maybe it's just you," Belle suggested, feeling very thirsty all of the sudden. "You know, son of Poseidon and all."

"I don't know," he responded. "I feel like there should be water here — lots of water. But there isn't any. I've never been in a place like this."

Jason moved to the row of niches and touched the bottom shelf of the nearest one, which was just at his eye level. "This stone . . . it's embedded with seashells. This is a Nymphaeum."

"A what?" Piper inquired.

"We have one at Camp Jupiter on Temple Hill. It's a shrine to the Nymphs."

Belle walked up to another niche and ran her hand along it. Jason was right. Multiple kinds of seashells studded the alcove. They seemed to dance in the watery light and were ice-cold to the touch.

Back at Camp Half-Blood, they had Nymphs in the canoe lake and the streams in the woods. They were usually friendly spirits, being silly, flirtatious and normally harmless. Children of Aphrodite got along with them the most because they loved to gossip and share beauty tips. However, this place didn't feel like the places where Belle normally found Nymphs. It felt unnatural, hostile, and extremely dry.

Jason took a step back and examined the row of alcoves. "Shrines like this were all over the place in Ancient Rome. Rich people had them outside their villas to honor Nymphs, to make sure the local water was always fresh. Some shrines were built around natural springs, but most were manmade."

"So . . . no actual Nymphs lived here?" Piper asked.

"Not sure. This place where we're standing would have been a pool with a fountain. A lot of times, if the Nymphaeum belonged to a Demigod, he or she would invite Nymphs to live there. If the spirits took up residence, that was considered good luck."

"For the owner," Percy guessed. "But it would also bind the Nymphs to the new water source, which would be great if the fountain was in a nice sunny park with fresh water pumped in through the aqueducts—"

"Unlike this place, which has been buried underground in a dry environment for centuries," Belle added. "So what would happen to the Nymphs?"

The sound of water changed to a chorus of hissing like ghostly snakes. Belle backed up to Percy's side and raised Sunflower as the rippling light changed from sea blue and green to purple and sickly lime. The nine niches glowed above them, and suddenly, they were no longer empty.

Standing in each one was a withered, dried up, and brittle old woman. Their eyes were dark purple as if the clear blue water of their life source had condensed and thickened inside them. The dresses that were once made of fine silk were now tattered and faded. Their hair was now disheveled and as dry as straw instead of being piled in curls arranged with jewels. Belle's eyes widened in shock as she looked around at them.

"What would happen to the Nymphs?" the creature in the center niche repeated.

She seemed to be in worse shape than the others. Her back was hunched over, her skeletal hands had a layer of skin as thin as paper, and a battered wreath sat on top of her roadkill hair.

"Percy?" Belle asked quietly.

"I — I don't know," he stammered.

The creature's eyes fixed straight on Belle, making Belle grip Sunflower a little tighter. "What an interesting question, my dear. Perhaps the Nymphs would still be here, suffering, waiting for revenge."

—  [  ♡  ]  —

the love I have for belle is like literally astronomical bc damn out of her, natalia, mackenzie, emilia, and athena she's my favorite oc <33

ok maybe athena comes in a close second I love her

tell me your favorite oc of mine besties 🕺🏼

gifs by 1-800-SIMPINGFORSEB !