ENTRAPPED ₂

112

"TURN BACK!" REYNA YELLED.

Ethan opened his eyes. Throughout the ride, he had tried his best to slip into unconsciousness; but it was nearly impossible for him to relax in midair. The best he had done were a few half hour long naps that left him groggier and more anxious than he had been previously. Overall, he was not happy about the situation; but it was better than Nico killing himself via more shadow travel.

As they approached Camp Half-Blood in the predawn hours of August 1, Ethan spotted what Reyna had been afraid of: six Roman onagers. Even in the dark, their Imperial gold plating glinted. Their massive throwing arms bent back like ship masts listing in a storm. Crews of artillerists scurried around the machines, loading the slings, checking the torsion of the ropes.

"What are those?" Nico called.

He flew about thirty feet to Ethan's left on Percy's pegasus, Blackjack. Ethan knew that Nico wasn't very happy about the arrangement, but they would take what they could get.

"Siege weapons," Reyna said. "If we get any closer, they can shoot us out of the sky."

"From this high up?" Nico asked.

"They're onagers," Ethan called. He was riding the peanut butter colored steed that Madeleine adored, which made him almost sick with longing. "I've studied Roman weaponry. You can't mess with those things."

Reyna herself was leading the charge on the back of Pegasus. She rested her hand on the stallion's neck and said, "Lord Pegasus, we need a safe place to land."

Pegasus seemed to understand. He wheeled to the left. The other flying horses followed―Blackjack, Ethan's ride, and six others who were towing the Athena Parthenos beneath them on cables.

As they skirted the western edge of the camp, Ethan took in the scene. The legion lined the base of the eastern hills, ready for a dawn attack. The onagers were arrayed behind them in a loose semicircle at three-hundred-yard intervals. Judging from the size of the weapons, Ethan calculated that Octavian had enough firepower to destroy every living thing in the valley. The thought of it made Ethan's head pound with rage.

Unfortunately, Octavian's weaponry was only part of the threat. Encamped along the legion's flanks were hundreds of inhuman forces. Ethan couldn't see well in the dark, but he spotted at least one tribe of wild centaurs and an army of cynocephali: dog-headed men. The Romans were badly outnumbered, surrounded by a sea of unreliable allies. Why the monsters didn't eat the demigods, Ethan didn't know. He almost wished they would.

"There." Nico pointed toward Long Island Sound, where the lights of a large yacht gleamed a quarter mile offshore. "We could land on the deck of that ship. The Greeks control the sea."

Ethan liked the idea of landing, although he dreaded being on another yacht. Still, they did need a place to land, and Ethan was more eager to see Greeks than Romans right now. Pegasus seemed to like the idea, too. He banked toward the dark waters of the Sound, and the other pegasi followed suit. Ethan gripped his horse's mane, willing himself not to panic. If he fell now, that would be a really embarrassing death.

The ship was a white pleasure craft a hundred feet long, with sleek lines and dark tinted portals. Painted on the bow in red letters was the name MI AMOR. On the forward deck was a helipad big enough for the Athena Parthenos.

Ethan saw no crew. He guessed the ship was a regular mortal vessel anchored for the night, but he couldn't get over how eerily similar it looked to Luke's old cruise ship. If they were wrong and this was a trap, none of them were in a state to be ambushed.

"It's our best shot," Nico said. "The horses are tired. We need to set down."

Reyna nodded, though she looked as reluctant as Ethan felt. "Let's do it."