𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒊.

"𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐄'𝐃 𝐆𝐎 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘."

percy tilted his head at me, a small smile filling his face as he remembered my promise to him so long ago. 

"i'm only here because you said it's prettier than france," he nudged me. "and we've still got to visit greece. if i remember correctly, you mentioned both."

"we'll see greece too," i told him, squeezing his hand. "we'll see the whole word together."

"as long as i'm with you."

"we're setting down in that park," leo announced, pointing to a wide green space dotted with palm trees. "let's hope the mist makes us look like a large pigeon or something." 

the argo ii set down in the grassy field and the oars retracted.

the noise of traffic was all around us, but the park itself was peaceful and deserted. to our left, a green lawn sloped toward a line of woods. an old villa nestled in the shade of some weird-looking pine trees with thin curvy trunks that shot up thirty or forty feet, then sprouted into puffy canopies. 

"hey, what are those dr. seuss trees called?" percy asked me. "you know, the ones from the book? and there's that movie with the orange dude?"

"truffula trees," i answered. "also the orange dude is called the lorax and he speaks for the trees. show some respect."

the top of the great colosseum was just visible from our view point. it looked exactly like it did the last time i visited this country. percy gripped my hand a little tighter as he stared at the building.

jason pointed to the base of the archers' wall, where steps led down into some kind of tunnel."i think i know where we are," he said. "that's the tomb of the scipios." 

percy frowned. "scipio... reyna's pegasus?" 

"no," annabeth put in. "they were a noble roman family, and... wow, this place is amazing." 

jason nodded. "i've studied maps of rome before. i've always wanted to come here, but..." 

nobody bothered finishing that sentence. and considering no one besides me and theo had even travelled outside of the continent, it was a big deal to make our first stop in rome.

"plans?" i asked, trying to get everyone back to schedule. "nico has until sunset — at best. and this entire city is supposedly getting destroyed today." 

percy nodded. "you're right. annabeth... did you zero in on that spot from your bronze map?" 

her eyes turned dark, and i knew she wanted percy to keep the details of his dream to himself. "yes," she said carefully. "it's on the tiber river. i think i can find it, but i should—"