She frowned, still looking a bit wobbly from her electric shock treatment. "Not-not totally. Sometimes I can tell when he's close, but, like I said, Rome is so confusing, so much interference because of all the tunnels and caves-"

"You tracked him with your metal-finding senses," Leo guessed. "His sword?"

She blinked. "How did you know?"

"You'd better come here." He led Hazel and Frank up to the control room and pointed to the black sword.

"Oh. Oh, no." Hazel would've collapsed if Frank hadn't caught her. "But that's impossible! Nico's sword was with him in the bronze jar. Percy saw it in his dream!"

"Either the dream was wrong," Leo said, "or the giants moved the sword here as a decoy."

"So this was a trap," Frank said. "We were lured here."

"But why?" Hazel cried. "Where's my brother?"

A hissing sound filled the control booth. At first, Leo thought the eidolons were back. Then he realized the bronze mirror on the table was steaming.

Ah, my poor demigods. The sleeping face of Gaea appeared in the mirror. As usual, she spoke without moving her mouth, which could only have been creepier if she'd had a ventriloquism puppet. Leo hated those things.

You had your choice, Gaea said. Her voice echoed through the room. It seemed to be coming not just from the mirror, but from the stone walls as well.

Leo realized she was all around them. Of course. They were in the earth. They'd gone to all the trouble of building the Argo II so they could travel by sea and air, and they'd ended up in the earth anyway.

I offered salvation to all of you, Gaea said. You could have turned back. Now it is too late. You've come to the ancient lands where I am strongest-where I will wake.

Leo pulled a hammer from his tool belt. He whacked the mirror. Being metal, it just quivered like a tea tray, but it felt good to smash Gaea in the nose.

"In case you haven't noticed, Dirt Face," he said, "your little ambush failed. Your three eidolons got melted in bronze, and we're fine."

Gaea laughed softly. Oh, my sweet Leo. You three have been separated from your friends. That was the whole point.

The workshop door slammed shut.

You are trapped in my embrace, Gaea said. Meanwhile, Annabeth Chase faces her death alone, terrified and crippled, at the hands of her mother's greatest enemy.

The image in the mirror changed. Leo saw Annabeth sprawled on the floor of a dark cavern, holding up her bronze knife as if warding off a monster. Her face was gaunt. Her leg was wrapped up in some sort of splint. Leo couldn't see what she was looking at, but it was obviously something horrible. He wanted to believe the image was a lie, but he had a bad feeling it was real, and it was happening right now.

The others, Gaea said, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, and my dear friend Percy Jackson-they will perish within minutes.

The scene changed again. Percy was holding Riptide, leading Jason and Piper down a spiral staircase into the darkness.

Their powers will betray them, Gaea said. They will die in their own elements. I almost hoped they would survive. They would have made a better sacrifice. But alas, Hazel and Frank, you will have to do. My minions will collect you shortly and bring you to the ancient place. Your blood will awaken me at last. Until then, I will allow you to watch your friends perish. Please...enjoy this last glimpse of your failed quest.

Leo couldn't stand it. His hand glowed white hot. Hazel and Frank scrambled back as he pressed his palm against the mirror and melted it into a puddle of bronze goo.

The voice of Gaea went silent. Leo could only hear the roar of blood in his ears. He took a shaky breath.

"Sorry," he told his friends. "She was getting annoying."

"What do we do?" Frank asked. "We have to get out and help the others."

Leo scanned the workshop, now littered with smoking pieces of broken spheres. His friends still needed him. This was still his show. As long as he had his tool belt, Leo Valdez wasn't going to sit around helplessly watching the Demigod Death Channel.

"I've got an idea," he said. "But it's going to take all three of us."

He started telling them the plan.

Piper tried to make the best of the situation.

Once she and Jason had gotten tired of pacing the deck, listening to Coach Hedge sing "Old MacDonald" (with weapons instead of animals), they decided to have a picnic in the park.

Hedge grudgingly agreed. "Stay where I can see you."

"What are we, kids?" Jason asked.

Hedge snorted. "Kids are baby goats. They're cute, and they have redeeming social value. You are definitely not kids."

They spread their blanket under a willow tree next to a pond. Piper turned over her cornucopia and spilled out an entire meal-neatly wrapped sandwiches, canned drinks, fresh fruit, and (for some reason) a birthday cake with purple icing and candles already lit.

She frowned. "Is it someone's birthday?"

Jason winced. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Jason!"

"There's too much going on," he said. "And honestly...before last month, I didn't even know when my birthday was. Thalia told me the last time she was at camp."

Piper wondered what that would be like-not even knowing the day you were born. Jason had been given to Lupa the wolf when he was only two years old. He'd never really known his mortal mom. He'd only been reunited with his sister last winter.

"July First," Piper said. "The Kalends of July."

"Yeah." Jason smirked. "The Romans would find that auspicious-the first day of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno's sacred day. Yippee."

Piper didn't want to push it, or make a celebration if he didn't feel like celebrating.

"Sixteen?" she asked.

He nodded. "Oh, boy. I can get my driver's license."

Piper laughed. Jason had killed so many monsters and saved the world so many times that the idea of him sweating a driving test seemed ridiculous. She pictured him behind the wheel of some old Lincoln with a STUDENT DRIVER sign on top and a grumpy teacher in the passenger seat with an emergency brake pedal.

"Well?" she urged. "Blow out the candles."

Jason did. Piper wondered if he'd made a wish-hopefully that he and Piper would survive this quest and stay together forever. She decided not to ask him. She didn't want to jinx that wish, and she definitely didn't want to find out that he'd wished for something different.

Since they'd left the Pillars of Hercules yesterday evening, Jason had seemed distracted. Piper couldn't blame him. Hercules had been a pretty huge disappointment as a big brother, and the old river god Achelous had said some unflattering things about the sons of Jupiter.

Piper stared at the cornucopia. She wondered if Achelous was getting used to having no horns at all. She hoped so. Sure, he had tried to kill them, but Piper still felt bad for the old god. She didn't understand how such a lonely, depressed spirit could produce a horn of plenty that shot out pineapples and birthday cakes. Could it be that the cornucopia had drained all the goodness out of him? Maybe now that the horn was gone, Achelous would be able to fill up with some happiness and keep it for himself.

She also kept thinking about Achelous's advice: If you had made it to Rome, the story of the flood would have served you better. She knew the story he was talking about. She just didn't understand how it would help.

Jason plucked an extinguished candle from his cake. "I've been thinking."

That snapped Piper back to the present. Coming from your boyfriend, I've been thinking was kind of a scary line.

"About?" she asked.

"Camp Jupiter," he said. "All the years I trained there. We were always pushing teamwork, working as a unit. I thought I understood what that meant. But honestly? I was always the leader. Even when I was younger-"

"The son of Jupiter," Piper said. "Most powerful kid in the legion. You were the star."

Jason looked uncomfortable, but he didn't deny it. "Being in this crew of seven...I'm not sure what to do. I'm not used to being one of so many, well, equals. I feel like I'm failing."

Piper took his hand. "You're not failing."

"It sure felt that way when Chrysaor attacked," Jason said. "I've spent most of this trip knocked out and helpless."

"Come on," she chided. "Being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible. It just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed."

"And if I don't know what's needed?"

"That's what your friends are for. We've all got different strengths. Together, we'll figure it out."

Jason studied her. Piper wasn't sure that he bought what she was saying, but she was glad he could confide in her. She liked that he had a little self-doubt. He didn't succeed all the time. He didn't think the universe owed him an apology whenever something went wrong-unlike another son of the sky god she'd recently met.

"Hercules was a jerk," he said, as if reading her thoughts. "I never want to be like that. But I wouldn't have had the courage to stand up to him without your taking the lead. You were the hero that time."

"We can take turns," she suggested.

"I don't deserve you."

"You're not allowed to say that."

"Why not?"

"It's a breakup line. Unless you're breaking up-"

Jason leaned over and kissed her. The colors of the Roman afternoon suddenly seemed sharper, as if the world had switched to high definition.

"No breakups," he promised. "I may have busted my head a few times, but I'm not that stupid."

"Good," she said. "Now, about that cake-"

Her voice faltered. Percy Jackson was running toward them, and Piper could tell from his expression that he brought bad news.

They gathered on deck so that Coach Hedge could hear the story. When Percy was done, Piper still couldn't believe it.

"So Annabeth was kidnapped on a motor scooter," she summed up, "by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn."

"Not kidnapped, exactly," Percy said. "But I've got this bad feeling...." He took a deep breath, like he was trying hard not to freak out. "Anyway, she's-she's gone. Maybe I shouldn't have let her, but-"

"You had to," Piper said. "You knew she had to go alone. Besides, Annabeth is tough and smart. She'll be fine."

Piper put some charmspeak in her voice, which maybe wasn't cool, but Percy needed to be able to focus. If they went into battle, Annabeth wouldn't want him getting hurt because he was too distracted about her.

His shoulders relaxed a little. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, Gregory-I mean Tiberinus-said we had less time to rescue Nico than we thought. Hazel and the guys aren't back yet?"

Piper checked the time on the helm control. She hadn't realized how late it was getting. "It's two in the afternoon. We said three o'clock for a rendezvous."

"At the latest," Jason said.

Percy pointed at Piper's dagger. "Tiberinus said you could find Nico's location...you know, with that."

Piper bit her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was check Katoptris for more terrifying images.

"I've tried," she said. "The dagger doesn't always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does."

"Please," Percy said. "Try again."

He pleaded with those sea-green eyes, like a cute baby seal that needed help. Piper wondered how Annabeth ever won an argument with this guy.

"Fine," she sighed, and drew her dagger.

"While you're at it," said Coach Hedge, "see if you can get the latest baseball scores. Italians don't cover baseball worth beans."

"Shh." Piper studied the bronze blade. The light shimmered. She saw a loft apartment filled with Roman demigods. A dozen of them stood around a dining table as Octavian talked and pointed to a big map. Reyna paced next to the windows, gazing down at Central Park.

"That's not good," Jason muttered. "They've already set up a forward base in Manhattan."

"And that map shows Long Island," Percy said.

"They're scouting the territory," Jason guessed. "Discussing invasion routes."

Piper did not want to see that. She concentrated harder. Light rippled across the blade. She saw ruins-a few crumbling walls, a single column, a stone floor covered with moss and dead vines-all clustered on a grassy hillside dotted with pine trees.

"I was just there," Percy said. "That's in the old Forum."

The view zoomed in. On one side of the stone floor, a set of stairs had been excavated, leading down to a modern iron gate with a padlock. The blade's image zoomed straight through the doorway, down a spiral stairwell, and into a dark, cylindrical chamber like the inside of a grain silo.

Piper dropped the blade.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "It was showing us something."

Piper felt like the boat was back on the ocean, rocking under her feet. "We can't go there."

Percy frowned. "Piper, Nico is dying. We've got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed."

Her voice wouldn't work. She'd kept that vision of the circular room to herself for so long, now she found it impossible to talk about. She had a horrible feeling that explaining it to Percy and Jason wouldn't change anything. She couldn't stop what was about to happen.