Chapter Text
The whole ship was rocking. When we left Rome, the Argo II has been attacked nearly nonstop. From Gryphons to Venti, Harpies to even giant condors, what’s left of the Seven, plus Nico and I and one exceedingly grumpy satyr, have barely gotten any rest.
Not that I could rest even if we weren’t being bombarded by monsters. Every time I tried to fall asleep, I kept seeing the same thing. My brother Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and his girlfriend Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, fell into the black pit of Tartarus. Every time I closed my eyes, I relived the memory of failing to save the people important to me.
I felt like an absolute failure. I still do. What was the point of being a hero if I couldn’t save the people I love? What’s the point of learning magic if it never works when I need it to? I never felt so weak and pathetic as I have been the last few days.
With a sudden jerk of the ship I roughly fell out of the bed. “What the hell is going on this time?” I could just barely hear Leo cursing in Spanish. He must be pissed if he’s that loud.
I knew I couldn’t just go up there and help. Nico nearly threatened to lock me in my room, well, Percy’s room, just to make sure I would get some rest. Luckily it didn’t come to that yet. But he was right. I have been pushing myself harder than ever, all in order to expedite our travel to Epirus, where the Doors of Death are, where we can save Percy and Annabeth. That is, if they can survive in Tartarus and get to the Doors on their side.
What am I talking about? Of course, they’ll survive. Between Percy’s raw power and Annabeth’s brain they can survive anything. They are the perfect team. And their love will help them survive that hellscape. They survived the war with Kronos, months of separation, they can make it through this. They can make it through anything.
The rocking of the ship was starting to slow before the Argo II steadied to a stop. After a few minutes I was getting restless. Why would we be stopping at all? Is the damage that bad? We can’t afford to lose any time.
After my…fit, once we got out of Rome, we discussed going by sea. I told the others that it might not be a good idea. While I am the child of a sea god, I don’t think it’s going to be enough without Percy. It seems that more and more sea deities are siding with Gaea, so I doubt I could protect us from a sea attack for long.
With that I got out of bed and started to head up the door. Frank, Piper and Jason were in their rooms resting from the attack the four of us had to defend against. They must be really exhausted to be able to ignore the ship being attacked.
Once I got to the deck I saw the damage. The foremast sail had collapsed. The sail was sprawled against the floor. A Celestial Bronze cannon was still smoking from recent use. Bits and pieces of woods littered the deck.
“I told you to get some rest.”
I let out a breath and turned around. Nico stood there; arms crossed. He was wearing his black aviator’s jacket, which had some wood splinters in the sleeves. Around his neck were three of the seven jewels of the Yasakani no Magatama, one of the three Sacred Regalia of Japan, the symbol of my aunt Amaterasu the sun goddess. The Jewels gave off a soft light, meaning they were still using their magic to heal Nico.
After we saved Nico, I gave him the Magatama to help heal him from his time in Tartarus and his stint with the Death Trance. You should have seen him before. His skin had been this sickly greenish white and practically transparent. Nico always had bags underneath his eyes, but when he was rescued they were so dark. And his eyes looked as if they lost some of their light.
But now, Nico looked so much better. His skin had more of a natural color to it, still paler than you’d consider healthy but that’s a son of Hades thing I guess. He looked like he’s been getting better rest, the bags underneath his eyes having lessened. All in all, he looked more like the son of Hades that I know. Although he still looked like he needed to eat more, with the way his clothes were hanging off of him. But Nico has never been a heavy eater, unless its McDonald’s, for whatever reason.
It has been a slow and steady process. Maybe it’s because the Yasakani no Magatama is split. Four of the seven Jewels flew into the black pit, with me desperate prayer that someone would help my friends. I doubt my aunt will be happy at this, but what else could I do since I failed to save Percy and Annabeth. With how well Nico has recovered so far, I really hope that Percy and Annabeth are okay. But I don’t know how much help the Yasakani no Magatama can offer in Tartarus, fractured as it is. I just hope that it will be enough.
“I did rest.” I said. “I’m fine. What attacked us this time?”
Nico glared at me, probably able to tell I didn’t really rest like he wanted before rolling his eyes. “Mountain gods, children of Gaea that were inhabiting the Apennine Mountains. Ourae, or as Jason would call them Numina Montanum. They were chucking boulders at us. They were able to break the foremast before we got out of the mountain range.”
“I thought we were hidden from monsters like that?”
“We are, I think. But me and Hazel are children of the Underworld. They don’t like us. We literally get under their skin.”
“Must be like having a really annoying itch you can’t get at.”
“But even if the two of us weren’t aboard they’d still attack. I’m sure they can sense the Athena Parthenos.”
The Athena Parthenos. The thing that cost us Percy and Annabeth. That damned statue was what we had to get in Rome, on top of killing two Giants. Annabeth had to fight Arachne, who hated Athena and her children more than anything else in the world, all by herself. If it wasn’t for her, then Annabeth wouldn’t have been pulled into Tartarus, and Percy wouldn’t have after her.
“Yeah, that thing just radiates power. I figured that we’d get more attention the farther east we go, but this is ridiculous.” I walked over to the railing and looked down.
The ship was hovering over an Italian countryside. It was filled with rolling green hills and golden fields, probably filled with Karpoi. There were some old houses here and there, probably home to the people who work the fields. And atop a hill was some old ruins, but it was surrounded by this weird funnel shaped cloud.
“Well that’s not ominous.” My voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“Tell me about it. Hazel went there on this horse called Arion.”
“Oh, that’s right, you haven’t met him yet. Apparently, Arion is Percy’s half-brother.”
“Doesn’t that technically make him your uncle?”
“I’d rather not talk about that. You should know how messed up the whole Olympian family tree is with your obsession with Mythomagic.”
“I’m not obsessed with that card game.”
“Says the boy who built me a deck just so he can have some competition at Camp.”
“Shut up.”
“Never.” I smiled. “Anyway, Arion is this really fast horse, I think the fastest horse alive since he carried Percy, me, Hazel, Frank and a whole cart of Imperial Gold weapons and armor from Alaska to Camp Jupiter.”
“Impressive.”
“Yeah it is pretty cool. But from what Percy was willing to interpret for us Arion has this mouth on him that would make anyone want to grab a bar of soap and clean until he learns to stop his foul language.”
Nico grimaced a little. “Hopefully Hazel doesn’t pick up anything.”
“Why is Hazel with Arion?”
“No idea. She just got excited to see him.”
“I think Hazel said that horse of hers might have an idea how to get through the mountains.” Leo grabbed our attention, pulling out a series of tools from his magical tool belt. His curly hair was matted in sweat. “Hey Tsuna, since your up, can you help with some of the repairs? I’d like to get us ready to go by the time Hazel come back.”
“Uh, sure. What do you need?”
By the time Hazel climbed back aboard the Argo II, Leo and I were able to get the foremast back up and secured. Leo and Nico rushed over when they saw how spooked Hazel looked. She was still shaking from whatever she experienced.
“What happened?” Leo asked, concerned. Hazel looked back at where the old temple was, the funnel cloud no longer there.
“Hazel?” Nico said gently. “Are you okay?” It’s nice seeing Nico be sweet with someone, although as his sister Hazel would always be on the receiving end of Nico’s kindness.
Hazel’s knees buckled and she collapsed. Luckily Nico and Leo were both there to catch her. They carried her over to a wall and sat her down. I ran to get her a bottle of water and pressed it against her forehead. After she took a drink she seemed a little bit better.
“I met Hecate.” She explained.
“The goddess of Magic?” Leo asked.
“Technically she’s a Titan.” Nico said.
I rolled my eyes. “What did Hecate want Hazel?”
Hazel glanced at me with this look in her eye that I couldn’t tell what it meant. “She had Arion bring me to the temple, where a crossroads sat.” Nico tensed a little. “She said that I had to make a choice for us to continue on. She even gave me a choice for us to turn back. But I told we were going forward to Epirus, to the House of Hades so we can save our friends and take back the Doors. She seemed to like that answer and told me that there is a way to pass the mountains.”
“There is?” Leo asked. He took out his Archimedes Sphere, the tool that caused him to blame himself for Percy and Annabeth’s fall into Tartarus, something to do with Nemesis. He pressed a few buttons and a 3D projection on the mountain range popped up. “I can’t see anything on the map.”
“It’s a secret northern pass.” Hazel said. “She said it was the best route to save us.”
“Hazel,” Nico started, “You met Hecate at a crossroads. That’s…that’s something many demigods don’t survive. And the ones who do survive are never the same. Are you sure you’re—”
“I’m fine.” She insisted.
“What if Hecate is tricking us?” Leo asked. “She did side with the Titans in the last war right? Who’s to say she isn’t sided with Gaea and this ‘secret route’ of hers isn’t a trap?”
“If it was a trap,” Hazel said with a shake of her head, “I don’t think Hecate would’ve made the route sound so dangerous. She would have made it sound tempting, and trust me, it’s not. But it is our only choice if we’re going to head to Epirus.”
Leo pressed a few more buttons on his sphere and a series of numbers appeared. “That’s…something like three hundred miles out of our way to get to Venice. And then we’d have to back track down the Adriatic.”
“And once we get to Bologna we have to deal with Dwarves.” Hazel added.
“Dwarves? Like Gimli from Lord of the Rings?” I chuckled.
Hazel looked at me with confusion. “What’s Lord of the Rings?”
“Oh, um…well…it’s uh, a very popular fantasy series that, uh, came out…” Wow this is awkward. “Came out after…you know, you, uh…”
“Died?” Hazel asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah…that.” I rubbed the back of head and looked away. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay Tsuna.” Hazel said. “And Hecate didn’t go into detail about the Dwarves. Other than that we’ll have to deal with them. Maybe they have some treasure to help us on the Quest.”
“Huh.” Leo said. “I mean, I’m all in for treasure, but—”
“It’s our best option then.” Nico said, helping Hazel to her feet. “We have to make up for lost time, travel as fast as we can. Percy’s and Annabeth’s lives might depend on it. We can deal with these dwarves once we arrive at Bologna”
“Hope the Argo has a nitrous boost or something Leo.” I said.
“Not yet, but thanks for the idea.” Leo smirked, his eyes now glimmering with inspiration. What did I just unleash upon the world?
After Leo left to the ship’s control console and started flipping switches Nico tried to get Hazel to talk about what else Hecate had told her, but she was quiet about it. It was like she saw something else at her meeting, something that really spooked her. And why does she keep glancing at me? What did I do?
Maybe she was freaked out still that I nearly popped Jason’s arm out of its socket when we were leaving Rome. In my defense I was in an emotional unstable place then. And I did apologize to everyone the next day after spending the night crying. Jason forgave me pretty quick, but I could feel the tension when I’m around the others. It’s a good thing that they aren’t letting themselves be too worked up about since we all have bigger things to deal with. But that doesn’t explain Hazel’s looks.
“I’ll tell you later Nico, I promise.” Hazel said. “But right now, we should rest while we can. Tonight, we cross the Apennines.”