Ivy Pittaluga had always made a solemn vow to keep her distance from Percy Jackson, determined to keep her world separate from the camp hero.
However, she realizes that fate has a mischievous plan in store for her. Suddenly thrown together as unlik...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
We sailed out of the Colosseum and veered south over the rooftops of Rome. Luckily, as we flew over the city, none of the giants' plans to destroy Rome were successful. The mortals were going about their day normally and safely.
We gathered around the helm. Jason bandaged Piper's sprained shoulder. She had irritated it while climbing down the emperor's box. Thankfully it wasn't dislocated anymore. Hazel sat at the stern, giving Nico another small piece of ambrosia. Getting out of the emperor's box had drained the little energy he had regained. He could barely lift his head. His voice was quiet and Hazel would have to lean in whenever he spoke.
Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres, and the visions Gaea had shown them in the bronze mirror. We quickly decided that the best lead to find Annabeth was the cryptic advice Bacchus had given us: the Emmanuel Building. Frank started typing at the helm's computer while Leo tapped furiously at his controls, muttering, "Emmanuel Building. Emmanuel Building." Coach tried to help by wrestling an upside down street map of Rome.
"You okay?" Percy asked me, eyeing my healed arm.
"I'm fine, just going to have a scar." I nodded. "You okay?"
"I'm okay." He sent me a soft smile before he frowned. "I swear, even in his Roman form, your dad still wants to make my life miserable."
"I know." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "You don't help sometimes, though, making it worse."
"Well, he starts it." Percy muttered with a shrug. I gave him a look. He gave me a sheepish smile. "I'll work on it."
"That's all I ask." I smiled up at him, pecking his lips.
"Come on, let's go check on the others." Percy slung an arm around my shoulder and led us to Jason and Piper. They were sitting on the ground. "How's the shoulder?"
"It'll heal." Piper smiled. She glanced at both Percy and Jason. "Both of you did great."
"Great team work." I nodded along.
"Not a bad team, you and me." Jason elbowed Percy.
"There it is!" Leo cried, pointing to his monitor. "Frank, you're amazing! I'm setting course."
"I just read the name off the screen." Frank hunched his shoulders. "Some Chinese tourist marked it on Google Maps."
"He reads Chinese." Leo grinned at us.
"Just a tiny bit." Frank said.
"How cool is that?"
"Guys." Hazel broke in. "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this."
She helped Nico to his feet. He still looked pale, but thankfully not as bad as before.
"Thank you." Nico rapsed. His eyes darted nervously around the group. I gave him a reassuring smile. "I'd given up hope."
