Fate Withstands

Chapter 27

Nico still hated the Argo II. With each new monster, each seperate task and delay, he felt like he was going stir crazy.

Then he had to be reminded of his least favorite place.

When Jason finished telling them about his dream, about the letter from Percy and Annabeth, Nico felt like he was trying to swallow the Phlegethon all over again.

"A letter from Percy and Annabeth?" Piper asked, shaking her head. "But how-"

"You won't want to hear the only explanation I can think of," Nico cut in. "So drop it and be thankful that you know they're alive."

Silence. It still shocked them when they were reminded that he had gotten out of that pit, had survived to tell the tale. The tale he would never tell.

The topic started again, slowly, as they spoke about Reyna and her plans to meet up with them. Sure, they needed all the help they could get, but Nico wasn't sure how she'd get to them in one piece.

"Well, technically we've been in Croatian territory for the past day or so," Leo said. "All that coastline we've been sailing past is it, but I guess back in the Roman times it was called...what'd you say, Jason? Bodacious?"

"Dalmatia," Nico corrected. "Croatia used to be Dalmatia, a major Roman province. You want to visit Diocletian's Palace, don't you?"

Jason nodded. "It's where Reyna will go first, because she knows I will go there."

"And why would Reyna think that?" Piper asked. "Because you've always had a mad fascination with Croatian culture?"

"Reyna and I used to talk about Diocletian," he said. "We both kind of idolized the guy as a leader. We talked about how we'd like to visit Diocletian's Palace. Of course we knew that was impossible. No once could travel to the Ancient Lands. But still, we made the pact that if we ever did, that's where we'd go."

"Diocletian..." Leo looked between Jason and Nico. "Why was he so important?"

Nico was about to answer, but the others started going off about things that weren't really important. Even Hazel added in to the conversation, talking about what they told her back at her old school. Finally, Piper ended the useless conversation.

"So, why is the palace so special?" she asked.

"It's said to be haunted by the ghost of Diocletian," Nico said.

"Who was a son of Jupiter, like me," Jason added. "His tomb was destroyed centuries ago, but Reyna and I used to wonder if we could find Diocletian's ghost and ask where he was buried...well, according to the legends, his scepter was buried with him."

Nico frowned at the memory, another legend to read while learning the language he was now stuck in. "Ah...that legend."

"What legend?" Hazel asked.

"Supposedly Diocletian's scepter could summon the ghosts of Roman legions, any of them who worshipped the old gods," Nico answered.

Leo whistled. "Okay, now I'm interested. Be nice to have a ass-kicking army of pagan zombies on our side when we enter the House of Hades."

"Not sure I would have put it that way," Jason muttered. "But yeah."

"We don't have much time," Frank warned. "It's already July ninth. We have to get to Epirus, close the Doors of Death-"

"Which are guarded," Hazel murmured, "by a smoky giant and a sorceress who wants... Well, I'm not sure. But according to Pluto, she plans to rebuild her domain. Whatever that means, it's bad enough that my dad felt like warning me personally."