The Mark of Janus (Book 2)

Chapter 15

"Surrender to Rome!" I heard shouting near the ship. I swung over the side of the ship, climbing and running towards Octavian, where he and his Romans were confronting Hazel, Piper and Annabeth.

I pulled out my sword, coming up to the group. "Hi, you need to leave." I blocked blows from one of the soldiers.

I was doing pretty well, especially when the girls joined in. We had gotten most of the Romans to back off.

My nerves were still a problem. I slipped up. I had never slipped up before, and now, it was going to cost me.

My sword was dropped out of my hand and clattered on the ground. I was grabbed and a knife was held by my throat.

Octavian spoke, "I guess you have to come with us now. Unless you want us to kill the girl." He grinned at me.

"No, we're not going to. Let her go." Piper spoke. She forced charmspeak into it, but it didn't affect them.

Octavian held up a knife at my cheekbone. He stared at Piper and dragged it down the length of my face. I cried out in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth dropping her knife in the water.

Octavian ignored and grinned. "So, what's it going to be." The gold of his blade glinted in the sun. "Are you going to come with us?"

The harbor erupted as Percy shot out of the water, bringing a giant wave of water through the sky to slam into the Romans.

The instant before the wall of water could tear them away, I felt a slice against my throat. It didn't hurt. The slice on my cheek had resulted in immediate pain, but this slice didn't hurt at all. But as seconds passed, I started to lose vision, and it became harder to breathe. I started to cough and as I coughed into my hand, blood came out.

Percy stood over me and in a second he had pulled his shirt off and was now pressing the fabric to my neck, trying to keep me alive.

Piper cried as she spoke. "We have to get her to the ship. We have to get her some nectar.

Percy summoned the water to carry us to the ship, and as soon as we landed, Piper got a canteen of nectar and gently poured it on my wound, still crying. In the distance I could hear Annabeth Iris messaging Jason, Frank and Leo.

I knew this was coming, and I knew that this was it, but a part of me still wanted to believe that I was going to make it through this.

"Why isn't the nectar doing anything?" Percy yelled, obviously frustrated. He was covered in my blood and a tear slipped from my eye. We had just gotten each other back and now I had to leave.

Piper cursed. "She's allergic to gold. It has to be that. There shouldn't be any reason why it wouldn't work, other than that."

"This is fine. We just have to bandage it up." Percy muttered. "You'll be fine." He told me, tears in his eyes.

I heard voices above us and in a second, Jason was next to me, holding my hand. "Oh my gods. Pepper." He whispered. I tried to sit up. "Don't move. We need to close the wound."

I shook my head. "No. You can't."

"You don't know what you're saying." Jason wiped away a tear. "You're going to be fine."

I turned to Percy, sitting up. I whispered in his ear. "Only one of you can fall." Hades had told me that, and now I knew that I needed to tell him.

"Fall where?"

"You'll know when the time comes." I kissed him on the cheek gently.

He nodded, before turning to Jason and letting him take over with the shirt on my neck. Jason stared at me. His tears had stopped, now he just looked devastated. "Pepper." He whispered.

I smiled at him, pressing my lips to his. "I love you."

"You can't die. I'm not going to let you die." His voice shook.

I sadly laughed. "I knew this was coming. It doesn't even hurt." I coughed into my hand. Blood dribbled from the corner of my mouth.

He held me to his chest, kissing my forehead. "I love you, Pepper. I love you so much."

The rest of the eight came forward, all saying sweet goodbyes. Slowly, my vision was fading, and by the time they were finished, I was almost gone.

I smiled, whispering. "It's not goodbye. It's see you later." I closed my eyes, and let out a final breath.