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XVI

As they walked through the tunnel, Jason thought to himself.
     This doesn't make sense. West must the queen's defeat mask the scent of betrayal. Either we are missing something or Bacchus is toying with us.
     'You alright?' Jake turned to him.
     'Yeah, why?' They fell behind.
     'You feel, I don't know, tense.'
     Jason looked away. 'No, I don't. I feel fine. I'm just thinking. You know, your father gives very vague quest descriptions.'
     Jake said nothing.
     They walked in silence for a while until Clarisse broke it.
     'I've been thinking.' She turned her head to face Jason, then turned back. They were now out of the tunnel and back at the beach. 'We've been west, but what does it mean by the queen's defeat will mask the scent of betrayal?'
     'Same. But we need to think otherwise for now. We need to think, where do we go next?'
     'The ghost of fire with deal and cage,
Shift to places you have been.
Halt in the path of this king's rage,
With every surge of pain sin.

West must the queen's defeat
Mask the scent of betrayal.
To the heart shall they retreat,
Wind and sky will risk and-' Clarisse stopped. 'You know, you never told us the last word.'
Jason looked at his feet. 'Fail.'
'What?' Clarisse ordered.
'I said fail.' He looked up. 'The last word is fail.'
     Everyone went silent and they just wandered around the beach, pondering what to do next.
     Then out of the blue, a flickering image appeared in front of Jason. Jason was pretty sure that it was an iris message. It displayed an image of Hephaestus and Poseidon.
     'Jason.' Poseidon said. 'We know what you need to do next.'
     Jason looked at Jake and Clarisse. 'What is it?'
     'Your friend, Ella told you to find the king, right? And the prophecy, the second line, shift to places you have been. It means to retrace your steps when you went on that quest to Athens.' Poseidon told them.
     'I don't remember that, though.' Jason informed them.
    'You will.' Hephaestus said.
     'Okay, and is that it?'
     'All that we know of so far.' Hephaestus said.
     Jason turned to face the ocean. 'Okay, thank you.'
     The gods nodded in unison. Hephaestus asked, 'Can I see my boy?'
     Jason nodded and Jake stepped into the frame.
     'Hey there, kiddo.' He said.
     'Hey, dad.' Jake said.
     'Okay, you guys need to leave the deadline is in 6 days.' The god of the forge told everyone.
     'Your right. Okay, we'd better get going.' Jason said, and the image flickered and disappeared.

As Jason flew at turbo speed back to Camp Jupiter through the tunnel, bearing the weight of the other three demigods, he remembered where he has to go.
     'Jason, when did you ever go on a quest to Athens?' Jake asked.
     'It was when I was in Cano Jupiter, at least it must have been.' He looked back and saw three eurynomoi running towards them. He shouted, 'HOLD ON!'
     He flew faster than he could've ever imagined. He was going so fast that he couldn't see the cave walls' texture.
     Jason looked back and the ghouls were nowhere to be seen. He knew better to slow down.
     When they passed the Tiber, Jason dropped everyone.
     'Hey!' They howled in unison.
     'What? Carrying three demigods on your back while flying is hard work!'
     Then, around the corner, Reyna shouted, 'Your back, why?'
     'We need to borrow a mode of transportation, something that can fly would be good.' Jason managed, panting between every word.