━━ chapter thirty-six
coward's defeat

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    ━━And so, Fiona was led to an underwater infirmary by a bunch of fish-centaurs. She followed them into an entire city of kelp; rows as tall as apartment buildings with Greek-style temple and amphitheatres all on the seafloor. Looking up, her heart twisted to see━high above━a smudge of white that could be the sun. Had they'd been under here overnight? Gods, was everyone all right? Was Percy all right? Had they sailed on without them, were they still searching, or ... or had the monster won over. 

    Fiona didn't want to think of that possibility, but she was in the ocean, and Percy hadn't found her. Not that she needed to be found, she can take care of herself (can she? Her brief moment of panic against the monster could argue otherwise), but he would have been down here, breathing and searching for them, talking to these creatures to let them go. 

    Fiona hated to limp. She refused help, hobbling in behind the escorts. Despite how much it hurt, she also refused to show it. She will not be weak, even if recently, she seemed to be. She tried to search for Hazel, Leo or Frank and where they could be, but had no luck. She ducked under the door of a small pillared house and was met with a bunch of floating coral hammocks.

    That can't be comfortable. 

     But Fiona was led straight to one. She awkwardly drifted up onto it, sitting there and waiting as the escorts left. She looked around. Curtains draped in colourful seaweed, separating the coral beds. A seashell was open and used as a cupboard to the far right. It looked a lot like The Little Mermaid. 

    She was suprisingly alone. There were no other injured ... uh ... would they be mermaids? Hippocampi? (She really doesn't know what's going on here). 

    Fiona took a wide glance in search of anyone, and when she was sure she was completely alone, she took a deep breath and doubled over. Tears prickled at her eyes, and she couldn't help but let out a sob at the pain she felt and the shame. 

     What had happened? She had stared at that creature while her friends were fighting and let it take her, like a coward. She didn't try to run again ... she just took that one chance and that was it. Amongst tears and sobs, Fiona glared at her dislocated knee, the strap still attached, but it did nothing to help. She yelled at it through gritted teeth, frustrated. 

    Fiona felt like she was a football player with an injury that stopped her from ever returning to a game; her whole life, her job, everything she has worked towards, thrown out because of one unfortunate event in the field. She had lost. And that moment she froze up? Fiona has never felt more scared. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, it was like she had stared straight into Medusa's eyes and was turned into stone, forever in an expression of horror. 

    She's never experienced something like that before. She was always quick to think, quick to act, just quick in general ... and now ... she wasn't━and not just mentally. 

     "Are you all right?"

     A gentle voice whispered in through the curtains of seaweed. Fiona's sobbing immediately stopped. Furiously wiping away her tears, she croaked, "Who's there?"

    The head appeared; a meditteranean complexion with pretty eyes and sharp cheekbones. What followed, was a fish tail. He looked human tail up, but there was something different. That was until Fiona saw the gills on his neck and the scales around his nose and chest. And his eyes ... they were the colour of purple like the coral. 

     He gave her a smile full of sharp teeth. But it wasn't intimidating━instead, quite kind. "I'm Ethos," he greeted, holding out his hand.

    Fiona stared at him. "You're a mermaid," was all she could manage. 

    Ethos winced, "More like Merfolk. I don't like labels. I don't neccessarily call myself Merman or Mermaid. Just ... you know ... me." The Merfolk stepped in closer. Fiona stiffened. "You must be Fiona Midgrass, right?" She nodded, still not liking how Ethos caught her in a vulnerable moment. "That's a nasty thing to happen to you. Runner with knee problems ..."

    She scowled at them. "I don't have a knee problem."

    "Yeah, you have a knee problem..." Ethos hovered over her brace, frowning. "Not much I can do about it other than just relieve the pain. "A lot of us don't have human knees. And besides, I'm more of a spiritual doctor ..." They gestured to their head. "The problems of the mind and such. 

    Fiona hated how her shoulders slumped. That throb in her throat returned. "So ... you ... you can't fix my knee? I'm━I'm going to be like this forever? I'll never be able to run really fast again?"

    "Well, not with that attitude you will." Ethos winced again at her scowl. "Sorry. I mean, just, you know ... with some therapy, excerices, you probably could eventually. But right now? No, sadly."

     Fiona's bottom lip trembled. So I'm useless? She said to herself, staring at her knee in dismay. 

     "You're not useless," Ethos said, as if reading her mind. Her eyes shot up, startled. They shrugged. "Yeah, kinda like a satyr━well, faun for you━I have wonderful empathy. Why do you think I took up merpsychology?"

     (Mer━what?). 

     "Why do you think you're useless, Fiona?" asked Ethos, leaning forward. They weren't particularly sitting, rather just floating in the water with their tail. She didn't need to say anything; her emotions must be quite on display (she cursed herself for that). "Hmm," they hummed. "I see. Overwhelming expectations from family; that always does it. Especially for you Romans."

     "I thought you didn't like labels."

      "Sarcasm. Cool. I get that. But in the end it's just a defence mechanism."

     "Can you stop reading my emotions?"

    Ethos gave her a smile. "Can't do, sorry. It just ... happens. I know, I know━no one likes to feel vulnerable and exposed. But sometimes they just need to hear what they need to hear sometimes."

     "I don't need to hear this."

     "Would you rather hear it from your grandmother?"

     Fiona fell silent, her fury growing. She clenched her hands, her nails digging into her palm. Ethos raised a placatating hand with webbed fingers. "Now, the last thing I want to be in agressive. But I feel like the last thing you need to hear is how you're a 'coward', because that's very demeaning."

     She scoffed at this. "Yeah ... no kidding."

     "But you're being a coward right now."

     Fiona stared at Ethos, startled. "What is wrong with you? This is not how psychologists act."

     "I'm not a psychologist. I'm a Merpsychologist━and besides, I said: I don't like labels."

     "You don't even know me."

    "No, I don't. But I can read your emotions right now, so ..."

    "Yeah, well, that gives you no right to just tell me all of this and give me this advice when you've never met me before now."

     "Okay," Ethos nodded, leaning back. "Good point. How about this. You asked me whether I could fix your knee. I can't fix your knee, only you can. And I'm trying to help you as to how."

    (Fiona always disliked psychologists). 

    Before Fiona could ask Ethos want they meant, the door to the infirmary opened. A frizz of hair poked through, and Fiona's mood immediately lifted to see Hazel. She grinned, "Fiona!" she exclaimed. "There you are━they're taking us back to the Argo!"

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    ━━Fiona didn't think she was really a nice person. She was short-curcuited, sharp-tongued and stand-offish, so she was quite confused that as soon as she resurfaced from the water with the others that Piper would dive straight into the water after them. She paddled to them, planting a sisterly kiss o Leo's cheek (which kind of suprised him) and threw her arms around Fiona for a hug.

    It took her a few seconds before reciprocating, holding her close. 

    "Miss me?" Leo laughed.

    Piper was suddenly very furious. She pulled away from Fiona and gave her a whack across the shoulder. She gasped, surprised, to the point she wasn't even angry. "Where were you?! How are you guys alive?"

    "Long story," said Leo. A picnic basket bobbed to the surface next to him from Aphros. "Want a brownie?"

    Once they were got on board (and Fiona was very annoyed she had to have help to get back onto the deck with her knee), Percy immediately━as soon as he saw her━rushed forward, still quite tired and pulled her towards him. The others gave them a short moment as Percy cradled her head, for he had been so worried. He thought he had lost her, and though he was beyond exhausted, he had spent the entire time searching through the ocean. Jason had been up in the air, Piper had been looking into her knife━Fiona was so touched she just melted in Percy's touch. Percy didn't leave her side except for when she had to change, taking some of Annabeth's dry clothes. They were a bit big on her, considering Annabeth was far taller, but the blonde was desperate to help in her own way. They had surprisingly gotten quite close recently, and Fiona hadn't even realised it happened. 

    (She's really terrible at recognising friendships, isn't she?).

    But as soon as she returned back on deck for a celebratory breakfast (everyone was there except Coach Hedge, who grumbled that the atmosphere was getting too cuddly for his tastes and went below to hammer out some dents in the hull) Percy was right there to slip his arms around her waist and hug her from behind, setting his chin on the top of her head. Sam and Annabeth stood by them, sharing a bagel (or rather, Sam picking at his sister's bagel and her just letting him with an annoyed glance every now and then). 

    While Leo fussed over his controls, Hazel, Frank and Fiona recalled the story of the fish-centaurs and their training camp. Fiona stayed silent for most of it, for she had been stuck in the infirmary with Ethos, and she didn't really want to relate the story of her breaking down in the coral bed until she was alone with Percy and could just cuddle and forget it ever happened. 

    "Incredible," said Jason. "These are really good brownies."

    Piper frowned at him. "That's your only comment?"

    He blinked. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letters of into to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies━"

    "I know," agreed Frank, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

    Fiona frowned. "Gross..." she chorused with Annabeth.

    Hazel held her hand up, taking a moment, "That is incredibly disgusting."

    "Pass me the jar, man," Jason held out his hand and Frank eagerly traded it over. 

    The girls all shared a look of total exasperation. Boys. 

    Percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. He kept coming back to one point, "They didn't want to meet me?"

     "It wasn't that," Hazel said. "Just ... undersea politics, I guess. The merpeople are territorial. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

    Percy nodded absently, "But they didn't want to meet me?"

    Annabeth smacked his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."

    Fiona smiled up at him, liking the way he pouted. For such a serious demigod, who was quite intelligent, even though he hid it, he was also such a child. 

    "She's right," said Hazel. "After today, Nico has less than two days━" (and Fiona's mood dampened again. She felt Percy hold her tighter, and she appreciated it). "The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest somehow."

    She looked around defensively, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did. Fiona settled her hands on Percy's arms, feeling sick with worry. What if they don't save him in time? They were never close, her and Nico, but gods, he was still her brother. There was an unconditional love there. Annabeth saw the look on her face and squeezed her shoulder. Sam ate the rest of her bagel. 

    "Nico must have information about the Doors of Death," said Piper. "We'll save him, Hazel, Fiona. We can make it in time. Right, Leo?"

    "What?" Leo tore his eyes away from the controls. "Oh, yeah. We should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then..."

    "You will, Leo, have faith in yourself," said Fiona. 

    Everyone was surprised by the compliment. Percy glanced down at her, as if to say, you're being nice to Leo? But the son of Hephaestus just gave her a thumbs up from behind, too busy focusing on his controls. What? They bonded ... sort of, down in the ocean. Was that bonding? Fiona doesn't know how friends work! 

     Jason didn't look so happy about his brownie and peach preserves anymore. He met Fiona's gaze, and the two Romans shared a silent exchange of what they were going to get into, and the risk of never returning home if they didn't win their camp onto their side. Though, recently, Fiona has seen that Jason's discilpined Roman-self was starting to carve away, showing another side to him. Spending time with the Greeks at their camp has made him open up, and it surprised her ... almost made her envious. 

     "Which will put us in Rome on the last possible day for Nico," murmured the son of Jupiter. "Twenty-four hours to find him━at most."

    Percy squeezed Fiona━whether it was comfort for her, or to settle his nerves, she wasn't sure. "And that's only part of the problem. There's the Mark of Athena, too."

    Annabeth wasn't pleased by the change of topic. She rested her hand on her backpack, which, Fiona has realised, she hasn't let go since Charleston. She opened the bag and brougth out a thin bronze disc the diametre of a doughnut. "This is the map that I found at Fort Sumter. It's..." she stopped abruptly, staring at the surface in shock. "It's blank!"

    Percy let go of Fiona and took it, examining both sides. "It wasn't like this earlier?"

    "No! I was looking at it in my cabin and ..." Annabeth muttered under her breath━maybe a curse of some sort in Greek. "It must be the Mark of Athena. I can only see it when I'm alone. It won't show itself to other demigods."

    Sam looked━for once━very worried. He glanced at his older half-sister, not sure what to say. Fiona could tell he was scared for her. 

    Frank scooted back like the disc might explode. He had an orange-juice moustache and brownie-crumb beared. Fiona reached out for a napkin and handed it over. "What did it have on it?" he asked nervously as he wiped away at the crumbs and juice. "And what is the Mark of Athena? I still don't get it."

    Annabeth took back the disc from Percy. She turned it to the sun, squinting her eyes━but it remained blank. "The map was hard to read, but it showed a stop on the Tiber River in Rome. I think that's where my quest starts ... the path I've got to take to follow the Mark."

    "Maybe that's where you meet the river god Tibernius," said Piper. "But what is the Mark?"

    "The coin," she murmured.

    "What coin?" asked Percy.

    Annabeth dug into her pocket and brought out a silver drachma, a Greek currency. "I've been carrying this ever since I saw my mom at Grand Central. It's an Athenian coin."

    Percy looked a little offended she didn't tell him, but it didn't last for long, replaced by an intense worry as he took the coin from his best friend and inspected it. Fiona watched him, wrapping a soft arm around him to settle her hand on his back. They passed it around and each demigod had a look. 

    "An owl," Leo noted. "Well, that makes sense. I guess the branch is an olive branch? But what's this inscription, AΘE━Area of Effect?"

    "That's alpha, theta and epsilon," Sam explained, pointing them out. He took notice of how uncomfortable Annabeth looked talking about it and took over. Fiona guessed he knew quite a lot about it too, as he was a child of Athena as well. "In Greek it stands for of the Athenians ... or I guess you could kind of read it as the children of Athena. It's sort of the Athenian motto ... quite nationalistic, I'd say. You know, like SPQR for the Romans."

    Fiona trailed a finger over her tattoo thoughtfully. 

    Annabeth nodded at her brother. "Anyway," she said, "the Mark of Athena is an owl, just like that one. It appears in fiery red. I've seen it in my dreams. Then twice at Fort Sumter..." she told them what had happened: the voice, the spiders, the Mark burning them away. Fiona could tell it was hard for her to talk about. 

    Percy rested a hand on her shoulder. "I should have been there for you."

    "But that's the point," said Annabeth. "No one can be there for me. When I get to Rome, I'll have to strike out on my own. Otherwise, the Mark won't appear. I'll have to follow it to ... to the source."

    Fiona met her gaze. They were both quite similar in many aspects━while Fiona wanted to tell her she wanted to help in any way she could without interfering, she knew she wouldn't want to hear something sappy like that in front of everyone else. She'd have to tell her later, or perhaps not even tell her, just make a food sacrifice to her grandmother tonight and hope she listened. 

     Frank took the coin from Leo. He stared at the owl. "Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won with pain from a woven jail," he looked up to Annabeth. "What is it ... this thing at the source?"

    "It's a statue," Fiona said with a nod from Annabeth. This is how she will help. "A statue of Athena━the statue of Athena." Jason agreed with her, and Piper frowned.

    "You said you didn't know?" she said to him. 

    "I don't," he answered. "But the more I think about it ... there's only one artefact that could fit the legend," he turned to Annabeth. "I'm sorry. I should have told you everything I've heard, much earlier. But, honestly, I was scared. If this legend is true━"

    "I know," said Annabeth. "I figured it out, Jason. I don't blame you. But if we manage to save the statue, Greek and Romans together ... Don't you see it? It could heal the rift."

    Percy held his hands up for time-out. "Hold on━What statue?"

    "The Athena Parthenos," explained Fiona. "The statue the Romans stole━supposedly," she added. "It's the most famous Greek statue of all time: forty-feet tall, apparently, covered in ivory and gold ..." she glanced at Annabeth for assurance she was correct. She nodded. "Yeah, it stood in the middle of the Parthenon in Athens."

    The ship went silent. 

    Until Leo sighed and spoke up, "Okay, I'll bite. What happened to it?"

    "Well," Fiona crossed her arms, "technically it disappeared, but━"

    Leo cut her off, "How does a forty-foot-tall statue in the midle of the Parthenon just disappear?"

    Fiona frowned at him. "Let me finish, Valdez."

    He held his hands up as if to say, Oh, sorry, Mom. She narrowed her eyes. "The story is━well, it's actually one of the biggest mysteries in history. Some beieve it was melted down for its gold or destroyed by invades. Athens was sacked a number of times━by the Persians ... The Romans ..."

    "What she's saying is that there's a legend at Camp Jupiter where the Romans carried it off," Jason continued for her. "To break the Greek's spirit, the Romans carted off the Athena Parthenos when they took over the city of Athens. They hid it in an underground shrine in Rome. The Roman demigods swore it would never see the light of day. They literally stole Athena, so she could no longer be the symbol of Greek military power. She became Minerva, a much tamer goddess."

    "And the children of Athena have been searching for the statue ever since," said Annabeth. "Most don't know about the legend, but in each generation a few are chosen by the goddess. They're given a coin like mine. They follow the Mark of Athena ... a kind of magical trail that links them to the statue ... hoping to find the resting place of the Athena Parthenos and get the statue back."

    Percy looked a little surprised to see the three of them speak so smoothly as a team. Annabeth and Fiona were getting along pretty well, but it wasn't hard to notice how suspicious Annabeth was of Jason recenty. "So if we━I mean you━find the statue ..." he said, "...what would be do with it? Could we even move it?"

    "I'm not sure," said Annabeth honestly. "But, if we could save it somehow, it could unite the two camps. I t could heal my mother of this hatred she's got, tearing her two aspects apart. And maybe ... maybe the statue has some sort of power that could help us against the giants."

     "This could change everything," agreed Piper, looked quite awestruck at Annabeth's bravery and responsibility. "It could end thousands of years of hostility. It might be the key to defeating Gaea. But if we can't help you..."

    She didn't need to finish the question; they were all thinking it. Was saving the statue even possible? 

    Annabeth squared her shoulders. Fiona knew she was terrified inside, but she did a great job at not showing it. "I have to succeed," she said simply, even though the topic was far from simple. "The risk is worth it."

    Fiona couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they succeeded. If they stopped the rif between the Romans and Greeks ... she could return home, she could visit Percy without any trouble, visit her knew friends ... Percy could come and stay in New Rome, go to college like he wanted ... maybe, if things went well, they could rent a house together, maybe one day purchase one, he could meet her mother, they could have dinner together, live a domestic life without the worry of monsters ...

    It seemed too good to be true, but she wanted it so badly. 

    But was Annabeth's life worth it all? 

    Fiona was startled she had grown to care for the blonde so dearly in such a short time. Gods, has she changed. 

    Hazel twirled her hair, pensive. "I don't like the idea of you risking your life alone, but you're right. We saw what recovering the golden eagle standard did for the Roman legion. If this statue is the most powerful symbol of Athena ever created━"

    "It could kick some serious booty," offered Leo.

    Fiona frowned at him. Hazel arched a brow. "that wasn't the way I'd put it, but yes."

    Percy rubbed Fiona's shoulders, trying to soothe his nerves. His fatal flaw was loyalty, Fiona could tell from the very beginning she knew him━not being able to be there for his best friend, he must feel so useless. "Except ... No child of Athena has ever found it. Annabeth, what's down there? What's guarding it? If it's got to do with spiders━?"

    "Won through pain from a woven jail," Frank recalled. "Woven, like webs?"

    Annabeth's face turned white; she looked worse than the ghosts of the Fields of Asphodel. Fiona had a feeling she knew exactly what awaited her, or at least suspected. She was trying to hold down a wave of panic and terror. 

    "We'll deal with that when we get to Rome," said Fiona strongly. Annabeth glanced at her, appreciation flickering across her grey eyes.

    Piper nodded, "It's going to work out," she added, putting some charmpseak into her words to soothe Annabeth. "Annabeth is going to kick some serious booty, too. You'll see."

    "Yeah," said Percy. "I learned a long time ago: never bet against Annabeth."

    Annabeth looked at them all gratefully. Fiona smiled. 

    Judging from everyone's half-eaten breakfasts, they were still all quite uneasy. Leo was there, however, to shake them out of it. He pushed a button and a loud blast of steam exploded from Festus's mouth, making everyone jump. 

    "Well!" he declared. "Good pep rally, but there's still a ton of things to fix on this ship before we get to the Mediterranean. Please report to Supreme Commander Leo for your superfun list of chores!"

    Sam clapped his hands eagerly. "Oh! I want to engineer one! Let me have the engineer ones!"

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     a/n: not much happened in this chapter, sorry. a lot of dialogue, not much action, some cute fiona and percy moments. a non-binary merfolk. (hehe). i forgot how many chapters are in this book ... the answer is sO mANy