★ 。＼｜／。★

𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊 𝖖𝖚𝖆𝖙𝖗𝖊:
A TRIP TO KANSAS

★ 。／｜＼。★

LET BELLE SAY one thing: she never, and she means never, expected tar monsters to come after them.

Being a Demigod, she always had to expect the unexpected. Anything could be waiting around the corner to attack. Or in this case, waiting in the buckets of tar. Belle didn't even know tar monsters were a thing, and it was just their luck that they had to have an encounter.

Three out of the four Demigods landed on the deck with a THUMP, courtesy of Frank dropping them in his bird form. Percy was carrying a five-gallon plastic bucket of tar (which smelled horrible, might Belle add) and his whole shirt was covered in it. Annabeth had a patch of tar in her hair and Belle's legs and arms were completely covered in it. They couldn't worry about that right now, though. Belle, Annabeth, and Percy went running down the hall to see a queasy-looking Hazel, a calm Piper, and an awake Jason by Jason's cabin.

"Roofing tar?" Piper guessed once she saw them.

Frank then stumbled up behind them, a smear of tar down his face. The entire hallway was pretty crowded with Demigods now.

"Uh, yeah, we ran into some tar monsters," Belle explained. She then smiled at the blonde boy in front of her. "Hey Grace, glad to see you're awake. Looks like you defeated the almighty brick after all."

Jason rolled his eyes playfully. "Shut up, Adair."

"Hazel, where's Leo?" Annabeth asked, stopping their conversation.

She pointed down the hall. "Engine room."

Suddenly, the entire ship listed to port. All of the Demigods in the hall stumbled. Percy almost spilled the bucket of tar.

"Uh, what was that?" Percy demanded.

"Oh . . ." Hazel trailed off, looking very embarrassed now. "We may have angered the Nymphs who live in this lake. Like . . . all of them."

"Great." Percy handed the bucket of tar to Belle, Annabeth, and Frank. "You guys help Leo. I'll hold off the water spirits as long as I can."

"On it!" Frank exclaimed.

"Be careful," Belle told him. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Me? Stupid? Never." Percy leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Go."

All of them ran off down the hall. While Percy went up to the deck, Belle, Annabeth, and Frank entered the engine room. Belle immediately stopped in her tracks once she noticed him. Leo's hair was greased back, a pair of welding goggles rested on his forehead, a lipstick mark was on his cheek, tattoos were scribbled all over his arms, and he was wearing a t-shirt that read HOT STUFF, BAD BOY, and TEAM LEO.

"What happened to you?" Belle questioned. "Team Leo?"

"Later," Leo promised. "Right now, just help me fix this."

If she was honest, Belle didn't even know what she did. Everything was kind of blur. The four of them ran around the engine room, listening to Leo's instructions and putting lime, tar, and Celestial Bronze wherever it was needed. Belle really wished she could have somehow used her powers to help, but one, there were no plants around, and two, plants wouldn't do that good of a job fixing a machine.

Finally, after what seemed like literal hours, the engine began to hum, the oars creaked and groaned, and the ship lifted into the air. All of the rocking and shaking from the water Nymphs stopped. Everything on the ship was quiet besides the drone of machinery.

Leo was the first one to emerge from the engine room. He pretty much looked the worst out of all of them. Leo was caked with sweat, lime dust, and tar. His t-shirt was ripped to shreds and the TEAM LEO on his chest now read AM LEO. However, in true Leo fashion, he was grinning like a madman as he announced they were safely under way.

"Meeting in the mess hall, one hour," Leo announced. "Crazy day, huh?"

Belle was glad the meeting was in one hour, because it took about forty-five minutes to completely scrub everything off of her. After everyone had completely cleaned up, Coach Hedge took the helm while the Demigods gathered below for dinner.

This was the first time all eight of them had sat down together. The same thought that Belle had before seeped into her mind. Sure, before it was just the eight of them gathered, but now they were actually together, sitting at the same table. They were under way on their quest to the ancient lands with a whole Camp of angry Romans behind them. The Giants were waiting and Gaea was rising. Unless they succeeded in this quest, the whole entire world would be destroyed. It was all up to them.

It seemed like the others felt it too. A thick layer of tension hung around the mess hall like a brewing electrical storm, which was definitely possible with Percy and Jason's powers. There was an awkward moment where both of them had tried to sit at the chair at the head of the table. Sparks had literally flown from Jason's hands. After a short silent standoff, they gave the chair to Annabeth and sat on opposite sides of the table — Percy next to Belle, Jason next to Piper. They then began to tell each other what had happened in Salt Like City. Even Leo's ridiculous story about tricking Narcissus wasn't enough to cheer up the group.

"So where to now?" Leo asked through a mouthful of pizza. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."

Percy was eating a piece of pie that was completely blue — the filling, the crust, the whipped cream — which was very typical for him. "We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter. Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

That certainly didn't improve the mood around the table. Belle bit back a sigh and placed her chin in the palm of her hand.

"I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans?" Piper suggested. "Maybe — maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."

Jason took her hand in his. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's. Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two Camps apart."

"Maybe if we could explain that, though—"

"With no proof?" Annabeth cut in. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."

"She's right," Hazel agreed, still looking a little queasy, but she was trying to eat a few saltine crackers. The rim of her plate was embedded with rubies, which Belle was certain weren't there at the beginning of the meal. "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."

Belle looked down at her plate and pushed her pasta around with her fork. She didn't have much an appetite, especially after everything that had gone down at Camp Jupiter. It was making her all sick to her stomach.

She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. Belle turned to lock eyes with Percy, whose seemed to say what's going on? She gave him a small smile and shook her head before looking back to her plate.

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

Hazel nodded. "Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."

"You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?" Jason inquired with a frown.

"I think," Hazel answered. "But if so, that's not much time."

"Why six days?" Percy asked. "And how are they going to destroy Rome?"

Nobody answered. They couldn't. None of them knew.

"There's more," Piper said. "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, just garbled images, but I saw two Giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins."

Belle looked over at the video wall that showed Camp Half-Blood. Right now it was showing the living room in the Big House. A cozy fire was burning on the hearth and Seymour the stuffed leopard head was snoring in content above the mantle.

"Those twins might link to the ones in Ella's Prophecy," Belle stated. "It would probably help if we could figure out those lines."

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy recited, and Belle got chills from hearing it again. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to 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 deep breath. "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman Praetors — something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."

Leo and Hazel exchanged a nervous look.

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo announced. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"

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

Percy drew a frowny face in his blue whipped cream with his fork, Belle smiling slightly at it. "I was only a Praetor for about two hours. Jason, you ever hear a legend like that?"

"I . . . uh, I'm not sure," Jason replied. "I'll give it some thought."

Belle raised an eyebrow. It sounded an awful lot like he knew what they were talking about it and didn't want to share any information.

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

"Percy," Belle warned. "We can talk about it later. First, I think we need to try and decipher the rest of the Prophecy."

"Belle's right," Hazel voiced. "What about the other lines? Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death."

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

"Giants' bane," Leo repeated. "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 the Gods."

Jason looked 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," Frank replied. "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 . . . Percy's right, we'll need the Gods."

Belle looked back to the wall. Although the images made her incredibly homesick, it also gave her determination. She wouldn't give up this fight because she had to save her home.

However, her heart broke watching the scene right in front of her. Hestia's hearth was burning in the middle of the green as the Cabins turned off their lights for curfew. Belle turned her attention to two figures at Cabin Eleven. She recognized them as Connor and Travis Stoll, two of her best friends whom she missed terribly. Connor was staring wistfully at Cabin Four by the light switch of his Cabin. Travis put his arm around his brother and gently steered him away to go to bed.

She frowned as she looked back down to her plate. No matter what, Belle knew she had to get back to them. They all deserved a future. She was only snapped out of her trance by Leo pushing his chair away from the table.

"So . . ." Leo began. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put down in the morning to finish repairs."

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

No one spoke for a second.

"Well," Piper finally ventured. "How do you guys feel about Kansas?"

⭒ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ☆ ⭒

BELLE HAD A hard time falling asleep that night. All of the events of the day weighted her shoulders down. She hadn't really felt that bothered by anything since the Battle of Manhattan, which was almost a year ago. Belle didn't know if she could go through all that pain again.

She awoke the next morning pretty tired. Her eyes fluttered open to see her cabin come into view. Leo had made the cabins as comfortable as possible, allowing the temperature to range however Belle liked it (which was a little chilly, she could never sleep in hot temperatures) and a lantern that adjusted brightness. Pegasus hide (no Pegasi were harmed in the making) made up the mattress and the pillows so they were extra comfortable and constellations from the lantern decorated her ceiling.

Since Belle knew that she would spending a couple months on this ship, she decorated her cabin as homey as possible. Several different types of plants rested around and made the cabin vibrant with green. Packets of seeds were strewn across her desk in case she needed to grow something with no plants around. Pictures of her and her friends were pinned to the wall. Her favorite books lined the bookshelf Leo had put in for her.

Sighing, she forced herself to get up. They had things to do that day, which included going to Kansas like Piper's knife had shown. Belle quickly showered and changed, pinning back the two front pieces of her hair while she was at it to have them out of her face. Once she was ready, she climbed up to the deck to join the others as the Argo II landed in a field of sunflowers (which Belle greatly appreciated.)

She saw Percy and Annabeth standing at the rail next to each other while in a conversation with Piper. Percy was the first one to notice her. His green eyes lit up and he nodded his head to beckon her over. She smiled slightly at him and joined his side. Her smile only widened to see him in faded jeans and a fresh Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. It made butterflies flutter around her stomach.

Percy immediately slung an arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Morning, Beauty."

"Morning, Perce," Belle responded.

"Hey, B," Annabeth voiced. "Have you had anything to eat yet?"

Belle shook her head. "No, I didn't stop by the mess hall."

Piper ripped off half of her bagel and offered it to Belle. "Here, we can share."

"Thanks Pipes." Belle gratefully accepted the half of the bagel and bit into it. "Do you have a plan now that we're here?"

"I want to check out the highway," Piper answered. "Find the sign that says Topeka 32."

Leo spun his Wii controller in a circle, which made the sails lower themselves. "We shouldn't be far. Festus and I calculated the landing as best we could. What do you expect to find at the mile marker?"

Piper then explained what she had seen in her knife, which was a man in a purple shirt, vines on his hat, and a silver goblet in his hand.

"Purple shirt?" Jason repeated. "Vines on his hat? Sounds like Bacchus."

"Dionysus," Percy muttered. "If we came all the way to Kansas to see Mr. D—"

"Bacchus isn't so bad. I don't like his followers much . . . but the God himself is okay. I did him a favor once up in the wine country."

Percy looked like he couldn't believe what Jason was saying. "Whatever, man. Maybe he's better on the Roman side. But why would he be hanging around in Kansas? Didn't Zeus order the Gods to cease all contact with mortals?"

Frank grunted, looking like he was going for a jog in the sunflowers in his blue tracksuit. "The Gods haven't been very good at following that order. Besides, if the Gods have gone schizophrenic like Hazel said—"

"And Leo said," Leo added.

Frank scowled at him. "Then who knows what's going on with the Olympians? Could be some pretty bad stuff out there."

"Sounds dangerous!" Leo exclaimed in a cheerful tone. "Well . . . you guys have fun. I've got to finish repairs on the hull. Coach Hedge is gonna work on the broken crossbows. And, uh, Annabeth — I could really use your help. You're the only other person who even sort of understands engineering."

Annabeth nodded and looked apologetically at Belle and Percy. "He's right. I should stay and help."

"Don't worry about it," Belle reassured her. "I'll watch over Aqua Boy to make sure he won't do anything stupid."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Wow, I can just feel the love for me radiating off of you."

"You know I do," Belle argued. "But what's love without teasing the other person?"

Frank slide his bow off of his shoulder and leaned it against the rail. "I think I should turn into a crow or something and fly around, keep an eye out for Roman eagles."

"Why a crow?" Leo asked. "Man, if you can turn into a dragon, why don't you just turn into a dragon every time? That's the coolest."

Frank got a sour look on his face. "That's like asking why you don't bench-press your maximum weight every time you lift. Because it's hard, and you'd hurt yourself. Turning into a dragon isn't easy."

"Oh." Leo nodded as if he understood. "I wouldn't know. I don't lift weights."

"Yeah. Well, maybe you should consider it, Mr.—"

Hazel stepped between the two arguing boys. "I'll help you, Frank." She shot Leo an evil look. "I can summon Arion and scout around below."

"Sure," Frank agreed, still sending a harsh glare to Leo. "Yeah, thanks."

Belle's eyes flickered between Frank and Leo. It was obvious that Frank and Leo were showing off for Hazel, yet it almost seemed like Hazel and Leo had a history even though they supposedly met for the first time yesterday. She wondered if something else happened when they went to the Great Salt Lake to collect the lime.

Hazel turned to Percy. "Just be careful when you go out there. Lots of fields, lots of crops. Could be Karpoi on the loose."

"Karpoi?" Piper questioned.

Belle crossed her arms. "You mean grain spirits?"

Hazel nodded. "You don't want to meet them."

"Well, it's good that we have a daughter of Demeter on our hands to fend them off," Percy announced, shaking Belle's shoulders a little with his arm. "So that leaves the four of us to check on the mile marker. Me, Belle, Jason, Piper. I'm not psyched about seeing Mr. D again. That guy is a pain. But, Jason, if you're on better terms with him—"

"Yeah," Jason cut in. "If we find him, I'll talk to him. Piper, it's your vision. You should take the lead."

"Of course," Piper stated. "Let's find the highway."

—  [  ♡  ]  —

I love the mark of athena so much there's so many good moments

anyways I have to go take a test in 10 minutes and I feel like I'm going to actually throw up so that's fun

gifs by 1-800-SIMPINGFORSEB !