A 1

hadn’t been there at the beginning of the meal. “Reyna might listen, but Octavian won’t. The Romans
have honor to think about. They’ve been attacked. They’ll shoot first and ask questions post hac.”
Piper stared at her own dinner. The magical plates could conjure up a great selection of vegetarian
stuff. She especially liked the avocado and grilled pepper quesadilla, but tonight she didn’t have much
of an appetite.
She thought about the visions she’d seen in her knife: Jason with golden eyes; the bull with the
human head; the two giants in yellow togas hoisting a bronze jar from a pit. Worst of all, she
remembered herself drowning in black water.
Piper had always liked the water. She had good memories of surfing with her dad. But since she’d
started seeing that vision in Katoptris, she’d been thinking more and more of an old Cherokee story
her granddad used to tell to keep her away from the river near his cabin. He told her the Cherokees
believed in good water spirits, like the naiads of the Greeks; but they also believed in evil water spirits,
the water cannibals, who hunted mortals with invisible arrows and were especially fond of drowning
small children.
“You’re right,” she decided. “We have to keep going. Not just because of the Romans. We have to
hurry.”
Hazel nodded. “Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed.”
Jason frowned. “You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?”
“I think,” Hazel said. “But if so, that’s not much time.”
“Why six days?” Percy wondered. “And how are they going to destroy Rome?”
No one answered. Piper didn’t want to add further bad news, but she felt she had to.
“There’s more,” she said. “I’ve been seeing some things in my knife.”
The big kid, Frank, froze with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth. “Things such as… ?”