The Mark of Janus (Book 2)

Chapter 13

"Awesome. Awesome." Percy muttered, laying on deck with the coach.

Leo rushed up, a grilled cheese sandwich in his hand. "Can't a guy get a lunch break? What's up?" He waved his sandwich through the air. As it "flew" past my face I snatched a bite, motioning towards Frank to explain.

"Followed." He shouted.

"Followed by what?"

"I don't know. Whales? Sea monsters? Maybe Porky and Kate."

"You're not making any sense." I nodded. "Leo, get us out of Atlanta."

Percy eventually got up. "Set course for Charleston."

I gasped. It was like a switch was flipped in my brain. I choked a little. "Oh gods." I whispered.

Jason also looked a little tense. "Charleston? What exactly did you find in Atlanta?"

"Some peach preserves. A couple of t-shirts. A snowglobe. And some chinese handcuffs."

"How about we start with the top of the story, not the backpack?" Annabeth half smiled.

"That's terrible. We have to help them." Percy had finished the story.

"We will. In time. I have to figure out how. I wish... nevermind. Right now we have to worry about the bounty on our heads."

Annabeth sighed. "A bounty on our heads. As if all the monsters aren't enough to worry about."

Leo ignored her comment. "Do we get WANTED posters? Do they have a bounty price list?"

Hazel frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"How much are we all worth. Like, I know I'm not worth a Jason, or a Percy. But maybe I am worth two or three Franks."

"Hey." Frank complained.

I sighed. "Leo, you don't put a price on friends." I lightly hit him in the arm. "Where would I be?"

He muttered to me. "Probably equal to Annabeth."

"And where is Annabeth?" I muttered back.

"She's pretty up there. Like number one."

"Sick." I nodded.

"Anyway." Percy frowned. "Now we know our next step. We need to go to Charleston and find that map."

"A map to what?" Piper fiddled with the feathers in her hair.

"The Mark of Athena." Percy stated, warily looking at Annabeth. He continued. "Whatever it is, we know it's important to bridge the gap between Greeks and Romans."

"The giants' bane." Hazel added.

"And in my dream the twin giants said something about a statue."

Frank fiddled with the Chinese handcuffs. "According to Phorcys it would be insane to try and find it. But what is it?"

Annabeth stammered. It was uncharacteristic and I felt nervous because of it. "I-I'm close to an answer. I'll know more if we find the map. Jason, the way you reacted when Percy said Charleston... have you been there before?"

"Yeah." He admitted. "Reyna and I went to a quest there about a year ago. We were scavenging imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."

"The what?" Piper muttered.

Leo grinned. "Dude, I've always wanted to see that. It's the first working submarine from the Civil War."

"It was built by Roman demigods. It held a stash of Imperial gold torpedoes--until we took them back to camp."