The Uniting

Chapter 8.) Rome

Today was the day.

We were in Rome.

July 1st.

Ugh.

Anyway, when I got out of bed I took a quick shower and changed into a light denim button down shirt with sleeves that went down to my elbow. I slipped on easy to move in jeggings and my blue green converse. Instead of a ponytail, I pulled my hair into a French braid for a change.

Yeah that's right. I had some style.

Suddenly a knock on the door. "Come in." I called.

"Hey Soph I'm leaving to go drop Annabeth off for her quest. Just wanted to let you know." He said.

I felt so bad for him, I mean, his girlfriend was leaving for a quest that no child of Athena had ever survived. He looked like a lost kitten right now.

I smiled sympathetically and gave him a big hug. "She'll be fine. Have a little faith." I whispered to him. He nodded and kissed my forehead. "I'll be back before lunch so we can go find Nico." He told me. This time I nodded and then we left.

Out on deck, everyone was already eating. "Hey Sea Queen." Leo said as hd kissed my cheek quickly handing me a plate of food. "Thanks much Fire Boy." I said as I dug in.

"Annabeth Chase get your butt over here right now and hug your best friend before you leave." I yelled at Annabeth. She rolled her eyes and we hugged tightly.

"I believe in you." I told her. "Thanks Sophie. That means a lot." She replied. Then we let go and said our final goodbyes before they left.

"Sophie. You and Coach are in charge while we're gone." Percy called. I gave him a thumbs up and then finished my breakfast.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Leo asked as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "I really don't know. Honestly, I guess we should just stay here and wait for Percy to come back." I said.

"Alright well let's have a picnic or something." Piper suggested. "Pipes we literally just ate." Hazel pointed out. "Think of it as a after breakfast brunch." She replied.

We laughed and agreed. Piper brought out a cornucopia from a sheath. "Where did you get that?" I asked in awe. "This morning we were stopped at the pillars of Hercules. Me and Jason had to do this stupid thing for him and I ended up with this." She shrugged.

I nodded and she blew into the cornucopia. Picnic food came out of it, landing perfectly onto a blanket that appeared as well. "Wait, cake?" Frank asked in confusion. There was a cake in the center of it all with 17 candles.

"Well it's not my birthday, it's not Pipers or Leo's, so it has to be one of you guys." I said referring to the Romans. Jason groaned. "Alright you caught me. It's my birthday." He reluctantly admitted.

Piper gasped and immediately tackled him in a big hug. "Happy birthday!" She squealed. We all laughed and sang happy birthday as he stood there blushing awkwardly. We ate happily until we couldn't eat any longer.

We talked and joked around, and it was just nice hanging out like normal people would. Well, if you consider talking about your messed up childhood normal. Soon enough, Percy was back looking extremely worried.

"So she's gone?" I asked gently. He nodded and I took him into a tight hug. "She's gonna be fine." I told him. I was trying to convince him. But I wasn't really sure it was him I was trying to convince.

Maybe it was me that needed convincing.

"Alright let's go. Any idea where we're going?" Jason asked. "I saw in my knife that the giants were hiding Nico in a giant bronze jar. It looked like this underground sewage system, except there were tons of cages everywhere. It was a long hallway and at the end of it, Nico and the giants were there." Piper explained.