𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xiii ━━ when the first stone's thrown, there's screaming

03. chapter thirteen

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

WE DIDN'T MAKE IT TO THE SHIP.

halfway across the dock, three giant eagles descended in front of us. each deposited a roman commando in purple and denim with glittering gold armor, sword, and shield. the eagles flew away, and the roman in the middle, who was scrawnier than the others, raised his visor.

"surrender to rome!" octavian shrieked.

hazel drew her cavalry sword and grumbled, "fat chance, octavian."

i cursed under my breath. by himself, the skinny augur wouldn't have bothered me, but the two other guys looked like seasoned warriors—a lot bigger and stronger than i wanted to deal with, especially since hazel and i were the only ones here with swords. piper and annabeth only were armed with daggers.

piper raised her hands in a placating gesture. "octavian, what happened at camp was a setup. we can explain."

"can't hear you!" octavian yelled. "wax in our ears—standard procedure when battling evil sirens. now, throw down your weapons and turn around slowly so i can bind your hands."

i drew my stygian iron sword.

"let me dissolve his essence," i muttered. "please."

the ship was only fifty feet away, but i saw no sign of coach hedge on deck. he was probably below, watching his stupid martial arts programs. leo's group wasn't due back until sunset, and percy would be underwater, unaware of the invasion. if annabeth could get on board, she could use the ballistae; but there was no way to get around these three romans.

we were running out of time. the eagles circled overhead, crying out as if to alert their brethren: hey, some tasty greek demigods over here! i couldn't see the flying chariot anymore, but i assumed it was close by. we had to figure out something before more romans arrived.

maybe i could try and communicate with a fish or eel in the harbor, then they could get the message to percy. i had never tried talking to any underwater creatures before, but i figured i may be able to communicate with fresh water animals.

"well?" octavian demanded. his two friends brandished their swords. (i hadn't spent enough time at camp jupiter to memorize their names, but they looked vaguely familiar).

very slowly, using only two fingers, annabeth drew her dagger. instead of dropping it, she tossed it as far as she could into the water.

octavian made a squeaking sound. "what was that for? i didn't say toss it! that could've been evidence. or spoils of war!"

annabeth made a fake dumb-blonde face, like: oh, silly me. nobody who knew her would have been fooled. i for sure wasn't. that expression looked really, really unnatural on annabeth. but octavian seemed to buy it. he huffed in exasperation.

"you three..." he pointed his blade at hazel, piper, and i. "put your weapons on the dock. no funny bus—"

all around the romans, charleston harbor erupted like a las vegas fountain putting on a show. when the wall of seawater subsided, the three romans were in the bay, spluttering and frantically trying to stay afloat in their armor. percy stood on the dock, holding annabeth's dagger.

"you dropped this," he said, totally poker-faced.

annabeth threw her arms around him. "i love you!"

"guys," hazel interrupted. she had a little smile on her face. "we need to hurry."