𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

76

"Keep it in your dam pants" Percy burst in again. He glared at Jason first and then Hadrian, "The world is about to end, Nico di Angelo is going to die. Stop being gay for one second"

"That's homophobic" Hadrian mumbled, but shut up when Percy looked at him. 

"I can't even leave you guys alone, holy Hera"

"Nothing happened, Jackson" Hadrian rolled his eyes. He forced his hair to become black and green to go with what he was wearing- a green t-shirt and black cargo pants. This time, Percy seemed snappier at catching them. 

They gathered on deck so that Coach Hedge could hear the story. When Percy was done, Hadrian still couldn't believe it.

"So Annabeth was kidnapped on a motor scooter," he summed up, "by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn."

"Not kidnapped, exactly," Percy said. "But I've got this bad feeling...." He took a deep breath, like he was trying hard not to freak out. "Anyway, she's—she's gone. Maybe I shouldn't have let her, but—"

"You had to," Hadrian said. "You knew she had to go alone. Besides, Annabeth is tough and smart. She'll be fine."

Hadrian some charmspeak in his voice, which maybe wasn't cool, but Percy needed to be able to focus. If they went into battle, Annabeth wouldn't want him getting hurt because he was too distracted about her. Hadrian tried to bite back the jealousy.

Percy's shoulders relaxed a little. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, Gregory—I mean Tiberinus—said we had less time to rescue Nico than we thought. Hazel and the guys aren't back yet?"

Hadrian checked the time on the helm control. He hadn't realized how late it was getting. "It's five in the afternoon. We said four o'clock for a rendezvous."

"At the latest," Jason said.

Percy looked at Hadrian, "Tiberinus said you'd knew Nico's location- got a vision or something?"

Hadrian almost said no, but then the whole world turned fuzzy. 

He saw ruins—a few crumbling walls, a single column, a stone floor covered with moss and dead vines—all clustered on a grassy hillside dotted with pine trees. The old Roman Forum.

The view zoomed in. On one side of the stone floor, a set of stairs had been excavated, leading down to a modern iron gate with a padlock. The blade's image zoomed straight through the doorway, down a spiral stairwell, and into a dark, cylindrical chamber like the inside of a grain silo.

Hadrian would have fallen face first but Percy caught him, hand under his ribs. Hadrian gave him a tight lipped frown. "We can't go there"

Percy frowned. "Hadrian, Nico is dying. We've got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed."

His voice wouldn't work. He'd kept that vision of the circular room to himself for so long, now he found it impossible to talk about. He had a horrible feeling that explaining it to Percy and Jason wouldn't change anything. He couldn't stop what was about to happen.

He forced himself to concentrate. He saw two giants in gladiator armor sitting on oversized praetors' chairs. The giants toasted each other with golden goblets as if they'd just won an important fight. Between them stood a large bronze jar.

The vision zoomed in again. Inside the jar, Nico di Angelo was curled in a ball, no longer moving, all the pomegranate seeds eaten.

"We're too late" He mumbled, the world came back into view. Percy was staring right at him. He explained what he'd seen. 

"No," Percy said. "No, I can't believe that. Maybe he's gone into a deeper trance to buy time. We have to hurry."

"We should wait for the others," Hadrian said. "Hazel, Frank, and Leo should be back soon."

"We can't wait," Percy insisted.

Coach Hedge grunted. "It's just two giants. If you guys want, I can take them."

"Uh, Coach," Jason said, "that's a great offer, but we need you to man the ship—or goat the ship. Whatever."

Hedge scowled. "And let you three have all the fun?"

Percy gripped the satyr's arm. "Hazel and the others need you here. When they get back, they'll need your leadership. You're their rock."

"Yeah." Hadrian managed to keep a straight face. "Leo always says you're his rock. You can tell them where we've gone and bring the ship around to meet us at the Forum."

"All right," he said. "But if any giants come this way—"

"Feel free to blast them," Jason said.

"What about annoying tourists?"

"No," they all said in unison.

"Bah. Fine. Just don't take too long, or I'm coming after you with ballistae blazing."