𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄, PJ2

𝟎𝟏𝟏.𝟑

"Is this going to go on for long?" Augustus grumbled as Percy supposedly said his goodbye to Juliet to go with them.

They had landed near the summit of a forested hill. A complex of white buildings, like a museum or a university,nestled in a grove of pines to the left. Below them spread the city of Atlanta—a cluster of brown and silver downtownskyscrapers two miles away, rising from what looked like an endless flat sprawl of highways, railroad tracks, houses,and green swathes of forest.

"Fuck off," Perch mumbled lazily, holding tightly onto Juliet's jaw to kiss her repeatedly.

Augustus rolled his eyes, Frank turned away in embarrassment and Coach Hedge joined them.

"Ah, lovely spot." Coach Hedge inhaled the morning air. "Good choice, Valdez."

Leo shrugged. "I just picked a tall hill. That's a presidential library or something over there. At least that's what Festus says."

"I don't know about that!" Hedge barked, making Juliet jump in surprise as Percy stopped for a second to glare at Coach. "But do you realize what happened on this hill? Frank Zhang, you should know!"

Frank flinched. "I should?"

"A son of Ares stood here!" Hedge cried indignantly.

"I'm Roman...so Mars, actually."

"Whatever! Famous spot in the American Civil War!"

"I'm Canadian, actually."

"Whatever! General Sherman, Union leader. He stood on this hill watching the city of Atlanta burn. Cut a path of destruction all the way from here to the sea. Burning, looting, pillaging—now there was a demigod!"

Frank inched away from the satyr. "Uh, okay."

Augustus didn't care much about history, but he wondered whether landing here was a bad omen. He'd heard that most human civil wars started as fights between Greek and Roman demigods. Now they were standing on the site of one such battle.

The entire city below them had been leveled on orders of a child of Ares. Augustus could imagine some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood giving such a command. Clarisse La Rue, for instance, wouldn't hesitate. But he couldn't imagine Frank being so harsh.

"Anyway," he said, pulling Percy away from eating away at Juliet, "let's try not to burn down the city this time, I know that's gonna be hard for you water boy."

Percy flipped him off while trying to reach for Juliet again who side stepped him waving goodbye.

The coach looked disappointed. "All right. But where to?"

Percy grumbled eyes trailing after Juliet as she walked inside and pointed toward downtown. "When in doubt, start in the middle."

Catching a ride there was easier than they thought. The four of them headed to the presidential library—which turned out to be the Carter Center—and asked the staff if they could call a taxi or give them directions to the nearest bus stop.

Percy could have summoned Blackjack, but he was reluctant to ask the pegasus for help so soon after their last disaster.

Frank didn't want to polymorph into anything. Augustus said he wasn't hauling the three of them on his winged shoes. And besides, Percy was kind of hoping to travel like a-regular mortal for a change.

One of the librarians, whose name was Esther, insisted on driving them personally. She was so nice about it, Percy thought she must be a monster in disguise; but Hedge pulled him aside and assured him that Esther smelled like a normal human.