If weapons were allowed in the city, my friends would all be dead. The Romans have coalesced into an angry mob. Some throw plates, food, and rocks at the Argo II, which is pointless because most of the stuff falls back into the crowd. Piper and Jason are surrounded by several dozen Romans. Piper is trying to charmspeak them, but it's useless against so many screaming, angry demigods. Jaosn's head is bleeding, his purple cloak ripped to shreds, revealing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. The warship is still shooting flaming spears into New Rome. One lands nearby and blasts a toga shop to rubble.
"Pluto's pauldrons." Reyna curses. "Look."
Armed legionnaires are hurrying towards the forum. Two artillery crews are setting up catapults just outside the Pomerian Line, preparing to fire at the ship.
"That'll just make things worse." I realize.
"I hate my job." Reyna growls, rushing off towards the legionnaires.
I search the crowd for Annabeth and Percy, who are nowhere to be found. A panic begins to set in. Time to switch from peacemaker to protector. But it's nearly impossible to see anything in the chaos. There's angry Romans, burning couches, exploding buildings, and purple Lares drifting through all the people. The fauns are swarming dining tables, grabbing food and plates and cups. A statue of Terminus explodes into being in front of me, but I just push past him, looking for my friends. Heracles keeps up behind me, snapping and growling at anyone who tries to sneak up on me.
I spot Percy, Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel standing in a fountain. Percy is repelling the crowd with blasts of water. His toga is in tatters, but they look unhurt.
I start pushing towards them, but another explosion rocks the forum. This time, the flash of light came from overhead. One of the Roman catapults had fired, and the Argo II groans and tilts sideways. I want to cry at the sight of my ship being damaged. We haven't even started the quest and it's already messed up.
I notice a figure clinging desperately to the rope ladder. Octavian, his robes steaming and his face black with soot.
I push my way towards the fountain, tapping every Roman I can trying to give them peace. But my little river of calm is not enough against the raging crowd.
"Theo!" Annabeth spots me. "What-"
"I don't know!" I yell back.
"I'll tell you what!" Octavian cries from above is. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!
My chest fills with ice. I feel like I might shatter into a million pieces. No way. No way Leo would do this. It has to be Octavian. He did something.
"You're lying." I tell him. "Leo would never-"
"I was just there!" Octavian shrieks. "I saw it with my own eyes!"
The ship returns fire. Legionnaires in the field scatter as one of their catapults is blasted to splinters.
"You see?" Octavian screams. "Romans! Kill the invaders!"
I fill with rage, and I notice a darkness is forming in the sky above us. I need to cool it before i make things worse, but my emotions are overwhelming me right now.
"We have to leave." I tell Percy and Annabeth. "Now."
Percy nods grimly, looking up at the darkening sky before he turns to his friends. "Hazel, Frank, you've got to make a choice. Are you coming?"
Hazel looks terrified, but she dons her cavalry helmet. "Of course we are, but you'll never make it to the ship unless we buy you some time."
"How?" Annabeth asks.
Hazel whistles, and instantly, a blur of beige shoots across the forum. A majestic horse materializes next to the fountain. He rears, whinnying and scattering the mob. Hazel climbs on his back and unsheathes the golden sword that was strapped to the saddle. "Send me an Iris-message when you're safely away and we'll rendez-vous. Arion, ride!"
The horse zips through the crowd with incredible speed, pushing back Romans and causing mass panic.
Okay, that's going to help a lot. Across the forum, I hear Jason shouting. "Romans, please!"
He and Piper are being pelted with plates and stones. Jason tries to shield Piper, but a brick catches him above the eye, and he crumples.
That's it.
I squeeze my eyes shut, grab my dog, and concentrate. When I open them, I'm dizzy, but we're in front of Piper. I hold my hands out, balls of pure energy emanating from my hands, the light spreading up my arms. Heracles prepares to lunge at any Roman who dares take a step forwards.
"Get back!" Piper commands, more confident now that I'm here.
The Romans back away quickly at the sight of me and my wolf, tripping over each other to avoid getting mauled or blasted. I see Percy and Annabeth climbing the rope ladder. Percy yanks Octavian off and throws him into the crowd. Out of nowhere, I see a full sized dragon charging through the forum, scarier and bigger than Festus. This one is real, with rough gray skin and leathery bat wings. I really hope the dragon is on our side and not another Roman weapon. I don't want to add dragon slayer to my list of names. I grab Heracles, Piper and Jason and squeeze my eyes shut again. I get us onto the ship, now incredibly dizzy.
The rigging is on fire, the foresail is ripped, and the ship is listing badly to starboard.
There's no sign of Coach Hedge, but Leo stands amidships, calmly reloading the ballista. My gut twists with horror.
"Leo!" I scream, running over to him. "What are you doing?"
"Destroy them..." He faces me, and my whole world twists. His eyes are glazed, his expression flat, and his movements are like a robot's. "Destroy them all."
He turns back to the ballista, and I panic. I can't hurt Leo. I can't do it.
"Sleep." I command, trying to knock him out Hypnos-style. Nothing happens except that I get dizzier.
"God damn it Leo!" I yell. I look away and blast him with a burst of air. He flies across the deck, hitting his head so hard that his eyes roll back up into his head, to where you can only see the whites.
I immediately run over and crouch down, seeing if there's something I can do to fix him. Heracles licks his face worriedly.
Above, the dragon soars into view. It circles the ship once and lands at the bow.
"Theo! Get us out of here!" Annabeth screams.
It takes me a second to remember what's going on. I'm in a complete state of panic now. I run to the helm. I make the mistake of looking over the rail, and see armed legionnaires closing ranks in the forum, preparing flaming arrows. Hazel spurs Arion, and they race out of the city with a mob chasing after them. All along the Pomerian Line, the statues of Terminus are glowing purple, as if building up energy for some kind of attack.
I look over the controls, and realize I can't really see. Why is that? I wipe my eyes and find they're wet. I'm crying. Great. Thankfully, I helped design these controls. Otherwise, we'd be done for. Leo and I think alike. The commands make sense. I grab the aviation throttle and yank it straight up. I shake the wii controller, lowering the sails. I set a drum line, and we move.
The ship groans, the bow tilts upwards at an almost dangerous level, and the mooring lines snap, but the Argo II shoots upwards into the clouds.
The second we're out of sight, my adrenaline wears off, and the exertion from the power I used kicks in. I stumble, and Annabeth catches me.
"I'm fine." I mutter. "Let me even out the ship."
I pull myself up and straighten us out. When I turn I see Percy has Leo sitting up, looking around. We make eye contact, but I have to look away. I can't explain what I feel at this moment. That wasn't him. When I looked him in the eye, it wasn't him.
