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May was fuming. She can't lie.
Percy and Theo, the most infamously rule-breaking couple on the entire ship—probably the entire continent—go missing for a night, then are found half-naked in the stables, then get off easy by making a joke about having a baby in nine months. If it had been May, she would have been so embarrassed, she probably would've gone home all on her own.
But no. Stupid Theo and her attention-seeking persona had to have all the fun. Gods, just thinking about it made May seethe.
Still—because she was probably the most mature demigod on the entire ship—May set her hatred aside, at least for the duration of the meeting. She listened as Percy explained the dream he'd had about the twin giants planning for the seven's arrival and Nico di Angelo trapped in a glass jar, slowly dying from asphyxiation.
"The giants are trying to lure us," Jason said, eyes fixed on the empty plate in front of him. He'd insisted he wasn't hungry, but May knew he needed to eat something. They'd compromised to his consumption of one apple, which he'd already finished by this time in the meeting. "They're assuming we'll try to save Nico."
"Well, they're right!" Hazel looked around the table, her confidence apparently crumbling. "Won't we?"
"Hazel, of course we'll help him," said Frank soothingly. "But how long do we have before, uh.... I mean, how long can Nico hold out?"
"One pomegranate seed a day," was Hazel's miserable reply, nodding back to Percy. He'd described the seeds in his dream, how children of Hades can rely on them. "That's if he puts himself in a death trance."
"That doesn't sound fun," admitted Theo.
"It keeps him from consuming all his air," Hazel said. "Like hibernation. One seed can sustain him for a day, barely. If he only has five left, that gives us five days. The giants must have planned it that way so we'd have to arrive by July first. Assuming Nico is somewhere in Rome—"
"That's not much time," May summed up. She put her hand on top of Hazel's. "We'll find him. At least we know what the lines of the prophecy mean now. Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death."
"That leaves one last point," Percy said, his eyes moving to Theo. "Darkness's bane stands marble and pale, ruined by brevity at serpent's fail."
"Whatever that means," Theo added, her shoulders sinking in. "I hate snakes."
"So we deal with the Nico lines first," said Jason, giving Theo a reassuring nod. "We'll take it chronologically."
Mayfair despised the smile he shared with Theo.
"One thing," said Leo, shifting in his chair. "The giants are expecting us, right? So... we're walking into a trap? I mean, don't get me wrong, Hazel. It's just that Nico—he knew about both camps, right?"
