The Mark of Athena hoo-3

by Rick Riordan

  “You’re crazy!” Frank yelled.

  “Don’t sell yourself short!” Phorcys said. “You’ll be our biggest draw!”

  Frank ran for the exit, only to slam into a glass wall. Percy ran the other way and found it blocked as well. Their tunnel had become a bubble. He put his hand against the glass and realized it was softening, melting like ice. Soon the water would come crashing in.

  “We won’t cooperate, Phorcys!” he shouted.

  “Oh, I’m optimistic,” the sea god’s voice boomed. “If you won’t fight each other at first, no problem! I can send in fresh sea monsters every day. After you get used to the food here, you’ll be properly sedated and will follow directions. Believe me, you’ll come to love your new home.”

  Over Percy’s head, the glass dome cracked and began to leak.

  “I’m the son of Poseidon!” Percy tried to keep the fear out of his voice. “You can’t imprison me in water. This is where I’m strongest.”

  Phorcys’s laugh seemed to come from all around them. “What a coincidence! It’s also where I’m strongest. This tank is specially designed to contain demigods. Now, have fun, you two. I’ll see you at feeding time!”

  The glass dome shattered, and the water crashed in.

  Percy held his breath until he couldn’t stand it. When he finally filled his lungs with water, it felt just like normal breathing. The water pressure didn’t bother him. His clothes didn’t even get wet. His underwater abilities were as good as ever.

  It’s just a stupid phobia, he assured himself. I’m not going to drown.

  Then he remembered Frank, and he immediately felt a surge of panic and guilt. Percy had been so worried about himself that he’d forgotten his friend was only a distant descendant of Poseidon. Frank couldn’t breathe underwater.

  But where was he?

  Percy turned in a full circle. Nothing. Then he glanced up. Hovering about him was a giant goldfish. Frank had turned—clothes, backpack, and all—into a koi the size of a teenaged boy.

  Dude. Percy sent his thoughts through the water, the way he spoke with other sea creatures. A goldfish?

  Frank’s voice came back to him: I freaked. We were talking about goldfish, so it was on my mind. Sue me.

  I’m having a telepathic conversation with a giant koi, Percy said. Great. Can you turn into something more…useful?

  Silence. Maybe Frank was concentrating, though it was impossible to tell, since koi don’t have many expressions.

  Sorry. Frank sounded embarrassed. I’m stuck. That happens sometimes when I panic.

  Fine. Percy gritted his teeth. Let’s figure out how to escape.

  Frank swam around the tank and reported no exits. The top was covered with Celestial bronze mesh, like the curtains that roll down over closed storefronts at the mall. Percy tried to cut through with Riptide, but he couldn’t make a dent. He tried to smash through the glass wall with his sword hilt—again, no luck. Then he repeated his efforts with several of the weapons lying around the bottom of the tank and managed to break three tridents, a sword, and a speargun.

  Finally he tried to control the water. He wanted it to expand and break the tank, or explode out the top. The water didn’t obey. Maybe it was enchanted, or under the power of Phorcys. Percy concentrated until his ears popped, but the best he could do was blow the lid off the plastic treasure chest.

  Well, that’s it, he thought dejectedly. I’ll have to live in a plastic gingerbread house the rest of my life, fighting my giant goldfish friend and waiting for feeding time.

  Phorcys had promised they’d learn to love it. Percy thought about the dazed telkhines, the Nereids and hippocampi, all swimming in bored, lazy circles. The thought of ending up like that didn’t help to lower his anxiety level.

  He wondered if Phorcys was right. Even if they managed to escape, how could they defeat the giants if the gods were all incapacitated? Bacchus might be able to help. He had killed the twin giants once before, but he would only join the fight if he got an impossible tribute, and the idea of giving Bacchus any kind of tribute made Percy want to gag himself with a Monster Donut.

  Look! Frank said.

  Outside the glass, Keto was leading Coach Hedge through the amphitheater, lecturing him on something while the coach nodded and admired the stadium seating.

  Coach! Percy yelled. Then he realized it was hopeless. The coach couldn’t hear telepathic yelling.

  Frank bumped his head against the glass.

  Hedge didn’t seem to notice. Keto walked him briskly across the amphitheater. She didn’t even look through the glass, probably because she assumed the tank was still empty. She pointed to the far end of the room as if saying, Come on. More gruesome sea monsters this way.

  Percy realized he had only a few seconds before the coach would be gone. He swam after them, but the water didn’t help him move as it usually did. In fact, it seemed to be pushing him back. He dropped Riptide and used both arms.

  Coach Hedge and Keto were five feet from the exit.

  In desperation, Percy scooped up a giant marble and hurled it underhanded like a bowling ball.

  It hit the glass with a thunk—not nearly loud enough to attract attention.

  Percy’s heart sank.

  But Coach Hedge had the ears of a satyr. He glanced over his shoulder. When he saw Percy, his expression went through several changes in a matter of microseconds—incomprehension, surprise, outrage, then a mask of calm.

  Before Keto could notice, Hedge pointed toward the top of the amphitheater. It looked like he might be screaming, Gods of Olympus, what is that?

  Keto turned. Coach Hedge promptly took off his fake foot and ninja-kicked her in the back of the head with his goat hoof. Keto crumpled to the floor.

  Percy winced. His own recently whopped head throbbed in sympathy, but he had never been happier to have a chaperone who liked mixed martial arts cage matches.

  Hedge ran to the glass. He held up his palms like: What are you doing in there, Jackson?

  Percy pounded his fist on the glass and mouthed: Break it!

  Hedge yelled a question that might have been: Where’s Frank?

  Percy pointed at the giant koi.

  Frank waved his left dorsal fin. ’Sup?

  Behind Hedge, the sea goddess began to move. Percy pointed frantically.

  Hedge shook his leg like he was warming up his kicking hoof, but Percy waved his arms, No. They couldn’t keep whopping Keto on the head forever. Since she was immortal, she wouldn’t stay down, and it wouldn’t get them out of this tank. It was only a matter of time before Phorcys came back to check on them.

  On three, Percy mouthed, holding up three fingers and then gesturing at the glass. All of us hit it at the same time.

  Percy had never been good at charades, but Hedge nodded like he understood. Hitting things was a language the satyr knew well.

  Percy hefted another giant marble. Frank, we’ll need you too. Can you change form yet?

  Maybe back to human.

  Human is fine! Just hold your breath. If this works…

  Keto rose to her knees. No time to waste.

  Percy counted on his fingers. One, two, three!

  Frank turned to human and shoved his shoulder against the glass. The coach did a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick with his hoof. Percy used all his strength to slam the marble into the wall, but he did more than that. He called on the water to obey him, and this time he refused to take no for an answer. He felt all the pent-up pressure inside the tank, and he put it to use. Water liked to be free. Given time, water could overcome any barrier, and it hated to be trapped, just like Percy. He thought about getting back to Annabeth. He thought about destroying this horrible prison for sea creatures. He thought about shoving Phorcys’s microphone down his ugly throat. Fifty thousand gallons of water responded to his anger.

  The glass wall cracked. Fracture lines zigzagged from the point of impact, and suddenly the tank burst. Percy was sucked out in a torrent of water. He tumbled
across the amphitheater floor with Frank, some large marbles, and a clump of plastic seaweed. Keto was just getting to her feet when the diver statue slammed into her like it wanted a hug.

  Coach Hedge spit salt water. “Pan’s pipes, Jackson! What were you doing in there?”

  “Phorcys!” Percy spluttered. “Trap! Run!”

  Alarms blared as they fled the exhibits. They ran past the Nereids’ tank, then the telkhines. Percy wanted to free them, but how? They were drugged and sluggish, and they were sea creatures. They wouldn’t survive unless he found a way to transport them to the ocean.

  Besides, if Phorcys caught them, Percy was pretty sure the sea god’s power would overcome his. And Keto would be after them too, ready to feed them to her sea monsters.

  I’ll be back, Percy promised, but if the creatures in the exhibits could hear him, they gave no sign.

  Over the sound system, Phorcys’s voice boomed: “Percy Jackson!”

  Flash pots and sparklers exploded randomly. Donut-scented smoke filled the halls. Dramatic music—five or six different tracks—blared simultaneously from the speakers. Lights popped and caught fire as all the special effects in the building were triggered at once.

  Percy, Coach Hedge, and Frank stumbled out of the glass tunnel and found themselves back in the whale shark room. The mortal section of the aquarium was filled with screaming crowds—families and day camp groups running in every direction while the staff raced around frantically, trying to assure everyone it was just a faulty alarm system.

  Percy knew better. He and his friends joined the mortals and ran for the exit.

  A NNABETH WAS TRYING TO CHEER UP H AZEL, regaling her with Percy’s greatest Seaweed Brain moments, when Frank stumbled down the hall and burst into her cabin.

  “Where’s Leo?” he gasped. “Take off! Take off!”

  Both girls shot to their feet.

  “Where’s Percy?” Annabeth demanded. “And the goat?”

  Frank grabbed his knees, trying to breathe. His clothes were stiff and damp, like they’d been washed in pure starch. “On deck. They’re fine. We’re being followed!”

  Annabeth pushed past him and took the stairs three at a time, Hazel right behind her and Frank trailing, still gasping for air. Percy and Hedge lay on the deck, looking exhausted. Hedge was missing his shoes. He grinned at the sky, muttering, “Awesome. Awesome.” Percy was covered with nicks and scratches, like he’d jumped through a window. He didn’t say anything, but he grasped Annabeth’s hand weakly as if to say, Be right with you, as soon as the world stops spinning.

  Leo, Piper, and Jason, who’d been eating in the mess hall, came rushing up the stairs.

  “What? What?” Leo cried, holding a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich. “Can’t a guy even take a lunch break? What’s wrong?”

  “Followed!” Frank yelled again.

  “Followed by what?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t know!” Frank panted. “Whales? Sea monsters? Maybe Kate and Porky!”

  Annabeth wanted to strangle the guy, but she wasn’t sure her hands would fit around his thick neck. “That makes absolutely no sense. Leo, you’d better get us out of here.”

  Leo put his sandwich between his teeth, pirate style, and ran for the helm.

  Soon the Argo II was rising into the sky. Annabeth manned the aft crossbow. She saw no sign of pursuit by whales or otherwise, but Percy, Frank, and Hedge didn’t start to recover until the Atlanta skyline was a hazy smudge in the distance.

  “Charleston,” Percy said, hobbling around the deck like an old man. He still sounded pretty shaken up. “Set course for Charleston.”

  “Charleston?” Jason said the name as if it brought back bad memories. “What exactly did you find in Atlanta?”

  Frank unzipped his backpack and starting bringing out souvenirs. “Some peach preserves. A couple of T-shirts. A snow globe. And, um, these not-really-Chinese handcuffs.”

  Annabeth forced herself to stay calm. “How about you start from the top—of the story, not the backpack.”

  They gathered on the quarterdeck so Leo could hear the conversation as he navigated. Percy and Frank took turns relating what had happened at the Georgia Aquarium, with Coach Hedge interjecting from time to time: “That was awesome!” or “Then I kicked her in the head!”

  At least the coach seemed to have forgotten about Percy and Annabeth falling asleep in the stable the night before. But judging from Percy’s story, Annabeth had worse problems to worry about than being grounded.

  When Percy explained about the captive sea creatures in the aquarium, she understood why he seemed so upset.

  “That’s terrible,” she said. “We need to help them.”

  “We will,” Percy promised. “In time. But I have to figure out how. I wish…” He shook his head. “Never mind. First we have to deal with this bounty on our heads.”

  Coach Hedge had lost interest in the conversation—probably because it was no longer about him—and wandered toward the bow of the ship, practicing his roundhouse kicks and complimenting himself on his technique.

  Annabeth gripped the hilt of her dagger. “A bounty on our heads…as if we didn’t attract enough monsters already.”

  “Do we get WANTED posters?” Leo asked. “And do they have our bounties, like, broken down on a price list?”

  Hazel wrinkled her nose. “What are you talking about?”

  “Just curious how much I’m going for these days,” Leo said. “I mean, I can understand not being as pricey as Percy or Jason, maybe…but am I worth, like, two Franks, or three Franks?”

  “Hey!” Frank complained.

  “Knock it off,” Annabeth ordered. “At least we know our next step is to go to Charleston, to find this map.”

  Piper leaned against the control panel. She’d done her braid with white feathers today, which looked good with her dark brown hair. Annabeth wondered how she found the time. Annabeth could barely remember to brush her hair.

  “A map,” Piper said. “But a map to what?”

  “The Mark of Athena.” Percy looked cautiously at Annabeth, like he was afraid he’d overstepped. She must have been putting out a strong I don’t want to talk about it vibe.

  “Whatever that is,” he continued. “We know it leads to something important in Rome, something that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks.”

  “The giants’ bane,” Hazel added.

  Percy nodded. “And in my dream, the twin giants said something about a statue.”

  “Um…” Frank rolled his not-exactly-Chinese handcuffs between his fingers. “According to Phorcys, we’d have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?”

  Everyone looked at Annabeth. Her scalp tingled, as if the thoughts in her brain were agitating to get out: a statue…Athena…Greek and Roman, her nightmares, and her argument with her mom. She saw how the pieces were coming together, but she couldn’t believe it was true. The answer was too big, too important, and much too scary.

  She noticed Jason studying her, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and didn’t like it any more than she did. Again she couldn’t help but wonder: Why does this guy make me so nervous? Is he really on my side? Or maybe that was her mom talking.…

  “I—I’m close to an answer,” she said. “I’ll know more if we find this map. Jason, the way you reacted to the name Charleston…have you been there before?”

  Jason glanced uneasily at Piper, though Annabeth wasn’t sure why.

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “Reyna and I did a quest there about a year ago. We were salvaging Imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley.”

  “The what?” Piper asked.

  “Whoa!” Leo said. “That’s the first successful military submarine. From the Civil War. I always wanted to see that.”

  “It was designed by Roman demigods,” Jason said. “It held a secret stash of Imperial gold torpedoes—until we rescued them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter.”

  Hazel crossed her arms. �
�So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say…not cool?”

  Jason put his hands in front of him, palms up. “I personally was not alive then. And it wasn’t all Greeks on one side and all Romans on the other. But, yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad choices.” He looked sheepishly at Hazel. “Like sometimes we’re too suspicious. And we speak without thinking.”

  Hazel stared at him. Slowly it seemed to dawn on her that he was apologizing.

  Jason elbowed Leo.

  “Ow!” Leo yelped. “I mean, yeah…bad choices. Like not trusting people’s brothers who, you know, might need saving. Hypothetically speaking.”

  Hazel pursed her lips. “Fine. Back to Charleston. Are you saying we should check that submarine again?”

  Jason shrugged. “Well…I can think of two places in Charleston we might search. The museum where they keep the Hunley—that’s one of them. It has a lot of relics from the Civil War. A map could be hidden in one. I know the layout. I could lead a team inside.”

  “I’ll go,” Leo said. “That sounds cool.”

  Jason nodded. He turned to Frank, who was trying to pull his fingers out of the Chinese handcuffs. “You should come too, Frank. We might need you.”

  Frank looked surprised. “Why? Not like I was much good at that aquarium.”

  “You did fine,” Percy assured him. “It took all three of us to break that glass.”

  “Besides, you’re a child of Mars,” Jason said. “The ghosts of defeated causes are bound to serve you. And the museum in Charleston has plenty of Confederate ghosts. We’ll need you to keep them in line.”

  Frank gulped. Annabeth remembered Percy’s comment about Frank turning into a giant goldfish, and she resisted the urge to smile. She would never be able to look at the big guy again without seeing him as a koi.

  “Okay.” Frank relented. “Sure.” He frowned at his fingers, trying to pull them out of the trap. “Uh, how do you—?”

  Leo chuckled. “Man, you’ve never seen those before? There’s a simple trick to getting out.”

  Frank tugged again with no luck. Even Hazel was trying not to laugh.