TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

twenty two.

VAL WISHED SHE hadn't thrown up, so she'd have an appetite, because the Romans knew how to eat.

Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it resembled a furniture showroom. Val adored going to those. She went with Annabeth all the time. Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while wind spirits — aurae — swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies. Drifting through the crowd were purple ghosts — Lares — in togas and legionnaire armor. Around the edges of the feast, satyrs ( no, fauns, Val thought ) trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change. In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with Mrs. O'Leary, and children played tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits.

The whole scene was so familiar yet so completely alien that it gave Val vertigo, which was just not a good sign.

Reyna and a few of her officers ( including the blond kid Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods ) sat with Val and her crew. Percy joined them with his two new friends, Frank and Hazel.

As a tornado of food platters settled onto the table, Val leaned against Trystan, staring over at the animals.

"Do you like hellhounds?" she asked softly.

Trystan shrugged. "I dunno. My parents told me to show no mercy toward monsters, but I think they're pretty sick."

A corner of Val's mouth went up. "They're all just big softies, if you can tame them. Like Cerberus."

"You've met him?" Trystan raised an eyebrow.

"Darling, I'm the daughter of Death," Val giggled. "How could I not have?"

"Really?" he said, "I'm the son of Somnus. I think it's Hypnos in Greek?"

Her mouth fell open. "Really?"

He nodded, but before either of them could say anything else, Reyna called a toast to friendship.

After introductions all around, the Romans and the crew began exchanging stories. Jason explained how he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood without his memory, and how he'd gone on a quest with Piper and Leo to rescue the goddess Hera from imprisonment at the Wolf House in northern California.

"Impossible!" Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there—"

"They would've destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish."

Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Val wanted to laugh, but she didn't. Trystan sure did.

"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands — Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by . . . what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Gaea's been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face."

Percy recounted his side of the story. He talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name — Annabeth.

When Val heard that, she had to resist the urge to throw up. Percy told them how he'd traveled to Alaska with Frank and Hazel — how they'd defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed the death god Thanatos, and returned with the lost golden eagle standard of the Roman camp to repel an attack by the giants' army.