Where You Go ― Jason Grace

xiii. girl's trip to meet a ghost (who's not actually a ghost)

THE NEXT MORNING, Ophelia took her time getting ready. She put on one of the t-shirts she'd stolen from Jason, tucking it into a pair of jean shorts and putting her compass. As she started braiding her hair to keep it out of her hair, there was a knock on her door. "Come in," she said, her voice muffled as she clenched the hair-tie between her teeth.

Piper opened her door. "Wanted to make sure you were up," she said. She shooed Ophelia's hands away from her and directed her to sit down in her desk chair. "Let me do it."

Piper made quick work of braiding Ophelia's hair. When she was done, Ophelia smiled up at her. "Thanks, Pepper."

Piper rolled her eyes with a smile. "I never should have told you about that dumb nickname," she said, shaking her head. "C'mon, let's get something to eat."

They grabbed bagels in the mess hall with Hazel and Percy, then headed up to the deck, where Jason, Leo, and Frank were getting ready to leave for the museum to look for the map.

"I thought I lost that shirt," Jason said when he saw what she was wearing.

"You did," Ophelia said. "To me. It's mine now."

Jason smiled lightly. "Be careful at the Battery," he told her softly. "We should be back from the museum by sunset."

Ophelia nodded. She leaned up and kissed him. "Love you," she whispered.

His smile widened a little. "I love you, too."

She kissed him one more time, simply because she felt like it, and watched him, Leo, and Frank depart for the museum.

It didn't take much longer for Annabeth to join them on the deck. Annabeth said her goodbyes to Percy, then turned to Ophelia, Piper, and Hazel. "Okay, ladies. Let's find the ghost of the Battery."

❖

Their walk along the Battery was full of pretty scenery. According to the signs, the seaside park was called White Point Gardens. The ocean breeze swept away the muggy heat of the Southern summer afternoon, and it was pleasantly cool under the shade of the palmetto trees.

Charleston Harbor glistened in the sun. To the north and south, strips of land stretched out like arms enclosing the bay, and sitting in the mouth of the harbor a little ways out was an island with a stone fort.

Soon, they reached the inland side of the gardens. The park wasn't crowded as they strolled along South Battery Street, which was lined with four-story Colonial mansions. The facades had souring white columns like Roman temples. The front gardens were bursting with rosebushes, honeysuckle, and flowering bougainvillea.

"Kind of reminds me of New Rome," Hazel said. "All the big mansions and the gardens. The columns and arches."

Ophelia nodded in agreement.

They didn't do much more talking after that. Ophelia was too wrapped up in her own head to attempt small talk, and everyone else seemed to be the same.

Eventually, Piper stopped, grabbing Annabeth's arm to stop her as well, since the daughter of Athena was lost in thought.

"There." Piper pointed across the harbor. A hundred yards out, a shimmering white figure floated on the water. It drifted smoothly toward them, and as it grew closer, Ophelia saw that it was the figure of a woman.

"The ghost," Piper said.

"Not a ghost," Ophelia corrected. "I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not a ghost."

"No kind of spirit glows that brightly," Hazel agreed.

As if in a trance, Piper walked across the street toward the edge of the seawall, narrowly avoiding a horse-drawn carriage.