The Mark of Athena

Chapter 10

First off, Jason is very important, otherwise why would he be a leader? I'm not even past the fifteenth chapter yet! Thalia and Leo are innocent it won’t be a full out love thing. This is Rome and things will get interesting…frank and hazel won’t be the perfect couple for a second longer. Also thank you for the subscriptions and story alerts. I know I know it’s been FOREVER since I have wrote a chapter that is why I will be posting multiple chapter so don’t worry cuz this one is short, the others will create one long chapter…in a sense.  I’ll shut up now and enjoy!

Disclaimer:  Rick Riordan owns everything.

Percy

Percy was pacing. Rome was in sight and he knew that staying with the others was dangerous. Who knew what Gaea could do while he was there? That was why Jason had to take over. He didn’t want to hurt his friends. The plan was simple. Percy would try to find Gaea, pretend to work for her, find Nico if the others didn’t, make sure Annabeth closed the doors, and hopefully escape back to his friends. Of course no one could know about that. He felt terrible about leaving especially leaving Annabeth after they just reunited. His head was swarming with ideas and outcomes.

He now understood what it would be like to be a child of Athena; it hurt. Everyone was trying to preoccupy themselves with games, tricks, moving, or simply just staring intently at nothing. Percy was holding Annabeth’s hand leaning over the rail. Jason and Piper were talking. Percy sort of told Piper what he was going to do.

Okay really he just explained that Percy had to leave for a while and Jason was going to be the leader and he needed her support. It took a lot of convincing but in the end it worked. To add to his drama, his peaceful night was interrupted by Leo’s loud snoring. He talked nonstop about Thalia. Percy knew she only had a crush on Leo. He sensed it in a weird way.

“So what do you guys want to do in Rome?” Leo asked trying to make conversation.

“I don’t know, sightseeing?” Frank said sarcastically.

“Be nice we’re all tense.” Hazel scolded.

“How on earth are we supposed to find the doors? And how will I be able to close them?” Annabeth tersely added.

“Guess what guys Jason and I are back together!” Piper falsely cheered. Jason looked worried and Percy hoped it would go away. His plan had to be perfect.

“Take a deep breath, especially you Percy. It looks like you’re about to explode which I would rather not see and I'm speaking from experience.” Thalia stated.

Percy could feel the ship starting to descend. They hit the ground right next to the Trevi Fountain. The group slowly got off and soon they were all silent and still. The ground shook slightly and for some reason Percy knew it was a warning. He could feel his body wanting to give in. Random anger surged through his veins it was painful. Everyone snapped out of their trance and started to walk around. They were utterly clueless. There was an objective. It was to get to Rome, they didn’t get any farther than that. Percy was pacing once again and creating puddles here and there. Jason was making a breeze in the air cooling them off. It was hot. Thalia blew sparks of lightning at defenseless flowers.

Percy felt sorry for the flowers. Leo was blinking on and off with his fire while Hazel was conjuring golden nuggets and jewels from the ground. Frank was practicing his shape shifting abilities, or trying. Meanwhile, Piper was braiding her hair and Annabeth was thinking. Nothing was unusual except they had no goal. Finally, Annabeth broke the silence and it made Percy stumble a little, unsure what to do next.

“I think we should go to the Roman Forum, it’s the center of the city and only a few miles from here. I don’t know why but I have this feeling.” Annabeth said out of the blue.

 No one contradicted her as they followed Annabeth towards the Doors of Death. They walked for a while and made small talk. He could tell everyone was nervous as they strolled to their ultimate doom. No one knew what would await them when they arrived at the Roman Forum. Percy was worrying about Nico too. He was only a kid a powerful one too. No way was Percy going to let him die just as he let Bianca. Half-bloods had it hard. Who knew Percy’s plan would even work? He was side by side with Annabeth. She was fretting over his fate. It was typical, so naturally he zoned out. Hazel and Frank were bickering in the background about tiny unimportant matters; he even thought he heard Hazel scold Frank for wearing combat boots.

Piper was forcing a smile and pathetic laugh when Jason talked. He could tell Jason was noticing her unhappiness. Thalia was talking to Leo but a bored expression was easily read on her face. The world was going to end and It was up to the seven of them adding Thalia to save it. They were supposedly the seven greatest heroes of Olympus, but in truth they were a bunch of teenagers still having to face normal everyday problems.  Percy decided to make his move and walked slowly falling behind with Jason. This was his opportunity to tell him about his new role.

“Hey Jason how’s it going? Anyways, I have a proposition for you.” Percy said in a hushed tone. Jason looked at him quizzically. Percy rushed on.

“You get to be the sole leader and show your true potential!” Percy whispered loudly.

“Uh wait why?” Jason asked.

“I have to make a little detour that’s all.”

“A detour to where and am I the only one who knows?”

“Somewhere confidential and yes you are and we’re gonna keep it that way. Kapeesh?”

“I’m not going to question you but what about the others?”

“Say that I had to…I had to talk to…my dad! Yeah that’s good…and I will meet you guys at the doors somehow.”

“You’re insane, should I be concerned about what you’re going to do?”

“No you shouldn’t now swear on the River Styx you’ll be the leader while I'm gone and not tell anyone about this exchange.”

“I’m going to regret this,  if you die it’s so not my fault. I swear on the River Styx.”

“Good now I gotta go, see you later hopefully.”

“Hopefully? Percy get back here!” Jason's whisper shouts were useless as Percy dashed off to gods knows where. Surprisingly no one else noticed. Jason wasn’t even staring at Percy anymore. Gaea was helping him; that wasn’t good. Percy knew his body wouldn’t be able to blockade Gaea’s power any longer, he was weak from walking for so long. Probably an hour or so until his defenses were defeated. He thought about the others.

When would they realize he was missing? Would Jason listen to his words? Would his plan even work? After an hour of thinking about his actions, it had started. His left arm went numb and his right leg cramped up. Percy crumpled to the dirt floor. He was in a plaza which was deserted. How could I have been so stupid? No one is even here, Gaea planned this…he couldn’t finish his thoughts. The pain was much worse than before. It felt like his bones were snapping one by one. He was yelling but it wasn’t heard. He went mute. Blood spilled onto the ground around him. Percy was getting dizzy. Dark figures started to make their way towards him.

Percy’s body went slack.