impressed with Hedge’s nursing abilities before, but he must have done something right. Either that, or the spirits that possessed the boys had also made them extra resilient. They both groaned and opened their eyes.
Within a few minutes, Jason and Percy were sitting up in their berths and able to talk in complete sentences. Both had fuzzy memories of what had happened. When Piper described their duel on the highway, Jason winced.
“Knocked out twice in two days,” he muttered. “Some demigod.” He glanced sheepishly at Percy. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to blast you.”
Percy’s shirt was peppered with burn holes. His hair was even more disheveled than normal. Despite that, he managed a weak laugh. “Not the first time. Your big sister got me good once at camp.”
“Yeah, but…I could have killed you.”
“Or I could have killed you,” Percy said.
Jason shrugged. “If there’d been an ocean in Kansas, maybe.”
“I don’t need an ocean—”
“Boys,” Annabeth interrupted, “I’m sure you both would’ve been wonderful at killing each other. But right now, you need some rest.”
“Food first,” Percy said. “Please? And we really need to talk. Bacchus said some things that don’t—”
“Bacchus?” Annabeth raised her hand. “Okay, fine. We need to talk. Mess hall. Ten minutes. I’ll tell the others. And please, Percy…change your clothes. You smell like you’ve been run over by an electric horse.”
Leo gave the helm to Coach Hedge again, after making the satyr promise he would not steer them to the nearest military base “for fun.”
They gathered around the dining table, and Piper explained what had happened at TOPEKA 32—their conversation with Bacchus, the trap sprung by Gaea, the eidolons that had possessed the boys.
“Of course!” Hazel slapped the table, which startled Frank so much, he dropped his burrito. “That’s what happened to Leo too.”
“So it wasn’t my fault.” Leo exhaled. “I didn’t start World War Three. I just got possessed by an evil spirit. That’s a relief!”
“But the Romans don’t know that,” Annabeth said. “And why would they take our word for it?”
“We could contact Reyna,” Jason suggested. “She would believe us.”
Hearing the way Jason said her name, like it was a lifeline to his past, made Piper’s heart sink.
Jason turned to her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “You could convince her, Pipes. I know you could.”
Piper felt like all the blood in her body was draining into her feet. Annabeth looked at her sympathetically, as if to say:
“I could try,” she said halfheartedly. “But Octavian is the one we have to worry about. In my dagger blade, I saw him taking control of the Roman crowd. I’m not sure Reyna can stop him.”
Jason’s expression darkened. Piper didn’t get any pleasure from bursting his bubble, but the other Romans— Hazel and Frank—nodded in agreement.
“She’s right,” Frank said. “This afternoon when we were scouting, we saw eagles again. They were a long way off, but closing fast. Octavian is on the warpath.”
Hazel grimaced. “This is exactly the sort of opportunity Octavian has always wanted. He’ll try to seize power. If Reyna objects, he’ll say she’s soft on the Greeks. As for those eagles…It’s like they could smell us.”
“They can,” Jason said. “Roman eagles can hunt demigods by their magical scent even better than monsters can. This ship might conceal us somewhat, but not completely—not from them.”
Leo drummed his fingers. “Great. I should have installed a smoke screen that makes the ship smell like a giant chicken nugget. Remind me to invent that, next time.”
Hazel frowned. “What is a chicken nugget?”
“Oh, man…” Leo shook his head in amazement. “That’s right. You’ve missed the last like, seventy years. Well, my apprentice, a chicken nugget—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Annabeth interrupted. “The point is, we’ll have a hard time explaining the truth to the Romans. Even if they believe us—”
“You’re right.” Jason leaned forward. “We should just keep going. Once we’re over the Atlantic, we’ll be safe— at least from the legion.”
He sounded so depressed, Piper didn’t know whether to feel sorry for him or resentful. “How can you be sure?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t they follow us?”
He shook his head. “You heard Reyna talking about the ancient lands. They’re much too dangerous. Roman demigods have been forbidden to go there for generations. Even Octavian couldn’t get around that rule.”
Frank swallowed a bite of burrito like it had turned to cardboard in his mouth. “So, if
“We’ll be outlaws as well as traitors,” Jason confirmed. “Any Roman demigod would have the right to kill us on sight. But I wouldn’t worry about that. If we get across the Atlantic, they’ll give up on chasing us. They’ll assume that we’ll die in the Mediterranean—the Mare Nostrum.”
Percy pointed his pizza slice at Jason. “You, sir, are a ray of sunshine.”
Jason didn’t argue. The other demigods stared at their plates, except for Percy, who continued to enjoy his pizza. Where he put all that food, Piper didn’t know. The guy could eat like a satyr.
“So let’s plan ahead,” Percy suggested, “and make sure we
