Eleutheromania

21)

I NEVER FELT MORE OF A third wheel than I did now. Percy and Annabeth were holding hands as we navigated the winding streets, dodging cars and crazy Vespa drivers, squeezing through mobs of tourists, and wading through oceans of pigeons. The day warmed up quickly. Once we got away from the car exhaust on the main roads, the air smelled of baking bread and freshly cut flowers.

      We aimed for the Colosseum because that was an easy landmark, but getting there proved harder than I anticipated. As big and confusing as the city had looked from above, it was even more so on the ground. Several times we got lost on dead-end streets. We found beautiful fountains and huge monuments by accident.

      Annabeth commented on the architecture, but I kept my eyes open for other things. Once I spotted a glowing purple ghost—a Lar—glaring at us from the window of an apartment building. Another time I saw a white-robed woman—maybe a nymph or a goddess—holding a wicked-looking knife, slipping between ruined columns in a public park. Nothing attacked us, but I felt like we were being watched, and the watchers were not friendly.

      Finally we reached the Colosseum, where a dozen guys in cheap gladiator costumes were scuffling with the police—plastic swords versus batons. I wasn't sure what that was about, but we decided to keep walking. Sometimes mortals were even stranger than monsters.

      We made our way west, stopping every once in a while to ask directions to the river. Percy did not consider that everyone here would speak Italian, which is dumb of him to think that, and non of us spoke Italian. As it turned out, though, that wasn't much of a problem. The few times someone approached us on the street and asked a question, Percy just looked at them in confusion, and they switched to English.

      Next discovery: the Italians used euros, and we didn't have any. I regretted this as soon as I found a tourist shop that sold sodas. By then it was almost noon, getting really hot, and I was starting to wish I had a trireme filled with Diet Coke.

       Annabeth solved the problem. She dug around in her backpack, brought out Daedalus's laptop, and typed in a few commands. A plastic card ejected from a slot in the side.

      Annabeth waved it triumphantly. "International credit card. For emergencies."

      Percy stared at her in amazement. "How did you—? No. Never mind. I don't want to know. Just keep being awesome."

      "Can I borrow it sometimes?" I asked with a smile on my face.

      "No, it's for emergencies."

      "Well shit," I answered frowning.

      The sodas helped, but we were still hot and tired by the time we arrived at the Tiber River. The shore was edged with a stone embankment. A chaotic assortment of warehouses, apartments, stores, and cafés crowded the riverfront.

      The Tiber itself was wide, lazy, and caramel-colored. A few tall cypress trees hung over the banks. The nearest bridge looked fairly new, made from iron girders, but right next to it stood a crumbling line of stone arches that stopped halfway across the river—ruins that might've been left over from the days of the Caesars.

      "This is it." Annabeth pointed at the old stone bridge. "I recognize that from the map. But what do we do now?"

      Percy gestured to a nearby café with tables overlooking the water. "It's about lunchtime. How about we try your credit card again?"

      Even though it was noon, the place was empty. We picked a table outside by the river, and a waiter hurried over. He looked a bit surprised to see us—especially when we said we wanted lunch.