The Mark of Athena

When Piper’s vision cleared, she saw Jason sitting up, still gasping, but the color was coming back to his face.

“Sorry,” he coughed. “Didn’t mean to—”

Piper tackled him with a hug. She would have kissed him, but she didn’t want to suffocate him.

Percy grinned. “In case you’re wondering, that was clean water in your lungs. I could make it come out with no problem.”

“Thanks, man.” Jason clasped his hand weakly. “But I think Piper’s the real hero. She saved us all.”

Yes, she did, a voice echoed through the chamber.

The niches glowed. Nine figures appeared, but they were no longer withered creatures. They were young, beautiful nymphs in shimmering blue gowns, their glossy black curls pinned up with silver and gold brooches. Their eyes were gentle shades of blue and green.

As Piper watched, eight of the nymphs dissolved into vapor and floated upward. Only the nymph in the center remained.

“Hagno?” Piper asked.

The nymph smiled. “Yes, my dear. I didn’t think such selflessness existed in mortals…especially in demigods. No offense.”

Percy got to his feet. “How could we take offense? You just tried to drown us and suck out our lives.”

Hagno winced. “Sorry about that. I was not myself. But you have reminded me of the sun and the rain and the streams in the meadows. Percy and Jason, thanks to you, I remembered the sea and the sky. I am cleansed. But mostly, thanks to Piper. She shared something even better than clear running water.” Hagno turned to her. “You have a good nature, Piper. And I’m a nature spirit. I know what I’m talking about.”

Hagno pointed to the other side of the room. The stairs to the surface reappeared. Directly underneath, a circular opening shimmered into existence, like a sewer pipe, just big enough to crawl through. Piper suspected this was how the water had drained out.

“You may return to the surface,” Hagno said. “Or, if you insist, you may follow the waterway to the giants. But choose quickly, because both doors will fade soon after I am gone. That pipe connects to the old aqueduct line, which feeds both this nymphaeum and the hypogeum that the giants call home.”

“Ugh.” Percy pressed on his temples. “Please, no more complicated words.”

“Oh, home is not a complicated word.” Hagno sounded completely sincere. “I thought it was, but now you have unbound us from this place. My sisters have gone to seek new homes…a mountain stream, perhaps, or a lake in a meadow. I will follow them. I cannot wait to see the forests and grasslands again, and the clear running water.”

“Uh,” Percy said nervously, “things have changed up above in the last few thousand years.”

“Nonsense,” Hagno said. “How bad could it be? Pan would not allow nature to become tainted. I can’t wait to see him, in fact.”

Percy looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself.

“Good luck, Hagno,” Piper said. “And thank you.”

The nymph smiled one last time and vaporized.

Briefly, the nymphaeum glowed with a softer light, like a full moon. Piper smelled exotic spices and blooming roses. She heard distant music and happy voices talking and laughing. She guessed she was hearing hundreds of years of parties and celebrations that had been held at this shrine in ancient times, as if the memories had been freed along with the spirits.

“What is that?” Jason asked nervously.

Piper slipped her hand into his. “The ghosts are dancing. Come on. We’d better go meet the giants.”

PERCY WAS TIRED OF WATER.

If he said that aloud, he would probably get kicked out of Poseidon’s Junior Sea Scouts, but he didn’t care.

After barely surviving the nymphaeum, he wanted to go back to the surface. He wanted to be dry and sit in the warm sunshine for a long time—preferably with Annabeth.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know where Annabeth was. Frank, Hazel, and Leo were missing in action. He still had to save Nico di Angelo, assuming the guy wasn’t already dead. And there was that little matter of the giants destroying Rome, waking Gaea, and taking over the world.

Seriously, these monsters and gods were thousands of years old. Couldn’t they take a few decades off and let Percy live his life? Apparently not.

Percy took the lead as they crawled down the drainage pipe. After thirty feet, it opened into a wider tunnel. To their left, somewhere in the distance, Percy heard rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine needed oiling. He had absolutely no desire to find out what was making that sound, so he figured that must be the way to go.

Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signaling Jason and Piper to wait. He peeked around the corner.

The corridor opened into a vast room with twenty-foot ceilings and rows of support columns. It looked like the same parking-garage-type area Percy had seen in his dreams, but now much more crowded with stuff.

The creaking and rumbling came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no apparent reason. Water flowed through open trenches (oh, great, more water), powering waterwheels that turned some of the machines. Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside. Percy couldn’t help thinking of Mrs. O’Leary, and how much she would hate being trapped inside one of those.

Suspended from the ceiling were cages of live animals—a lion, several zebras, a whole pack of hyenas, and