Chapter 17 (Annabeth)
Percy, Frank, and Coach Hedge came stumbling onto the ship. Nobody aboard had any idea what had happened, but they were surely being followed. Percy tells Leo to set out for Charleston, and they all gathered to hear what exactly had happened while they were out.
Percy tells them they need to seek out a certain map when in Charleston, and it's supposed to be helpful for the Mark of Athena. Everyone glances at her, but Annabeth notices Jason studying her as if he doesn't like it any more than she did. She asks Jason if Charleston rings a bell, and he talks about how around a year ago he and Reyna had been searching for Imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley. He said if he can think of a place to look for the map, it could either be in the museum the Hunley is kept, or a place called the Battery, a park by the harbor. The last time he was there, there was a spirit, but only Reyna could approach it without it disappearing. It must have been important, but Reyna seemed shaken after that and acted differently around him.
Jason says he will go to the museum since he knows the layout, with Leo and Frank. Frank seems to have stuck his fingers stuck in the Chinses handcuffs he had taken and turns into an iguana to beat them, making everyone burst out in laughter. Percy will stay near the ship and check the harbor, maybe get some useful information from the local Nereids. The girls will go to the Battery to talk to the spirit. Leo tells them that Festus detected that the Roman eagles aren't far behind them, and plans to make a detour so they can have more time when arriving in Charleston in the morning. His mechanic table, Bufford, goes to the edge of the railing, and the blades on him spun. He took off with dirty demigod laundry to throw the eagles off their scent.
Annabeth goes back to her dorm and opens up Daedalus's laptop which she inherited from the original inventor, and it could practically do anything. She opened up the 3-D rendering program on the laptop, to study the structure of the Parthenon in Athens. She heard a knock, and it was Frank to her surprise. He comes to her to show him the trick to dealing with the Chinese cuffs and says he didn't feel comfortable with asking anyone else other than her. Annabeth felt strangely honored and made a 3-D model of the cuffs. She explains that when you put your fingers inside, it loosens, but the more you try and remove them, the more that circumference of the cuffs shrinks and tightens. She tells Frank many of the best traps are the simplest, you just have to think about it and hope the victim doesn't.
She also tells him to know that Leo doesn't intend to sound mean and that he just has a big mouth to start with. Frank mentions that Leo can summon fire and that he would like it if Annabeth could help him with another problem he has, kind of like an Achilles' heel. He was about to open up about the situation, when the bell rang, indicating that it was time for dinner, and Frank tells her maybe some other time.
Chapter 18 (Annabeth)
When Annabeth wok the next morning, the boys had already left for the museum, and she and the girls made their way to the Battery. They came across a park, they could see a figure of a woman. Before they could decide whether to approach it, Piper walked towards it without warning, and Annabeth and Hazel follow behind her.
As they got closer, Annabeth notices she was breathtakingly beautiful, and Piper greets her as her Mom, Aphrodite. The goddess leads them to a table lined with an assortment of tea cakes and sweets and tells them to sit down for a chat. She seems very interested in the love lives of Annabeth and Hazel, but she tells them she is here to help them. They find out that the Mark of Athena does in fact lead to the statue, but rather than a direct path, it is more of like a spiritual trail and can only be found by the most worthy. She tells Annabeth that there is a map that should be a clue to her, and it would be located at Fort Sumter.
Then, Hazel points up to the sky, where two large eagles were descending, along with a flying chariot pulled by pegasus. The Romans were here, and ready to kill them.
Chapter 19 (Annabeth)
They didn't make it back to the ship. Halfway across the dock, three eagles descended while dropping off three demigods, which one turned out to be Octavian. They were told to drop their weapons, and Annabeth did some quick thinking and threw her dagger as far into the harbor as she could. Just as the Romans were trying to close in on them, a wall of seawater hit them and putting them at bay frantically trying to stay afloat due to their armor. Percy stood on the dock with Annabeth's dagger, and they all ran for the ship to get to Fort Sumter to get their other friends aboard the ship.
Piper Iris messages him telling him of the situation and to get back to the ship. Then they see Jason flying along with a large bald eagle with a screaming Leo. They couldn't land onto the ship because of the Romans targeting them and were forced to head over to Fort Sumter. They plummeted downwards and disappeared behind the ramparts of the fort. Annabeth tells everyone she will look for them, as well as looking for the map, and with that, they landed into the harbor.
Chapter 20 (Annabeth)
Once Annabeth was inside the museum, she sees the others but meets Jason first and tells him to get the others aboard. There were screaming tourists which made a scene so she could hind better from the Romans, and dogged into a small room that has been a part of the garrison. Suddenly the walls glistened, and thousands of spiders blanketed the walls. She started panicking, remembering her worst childhood memories, until she heard the voice of Gaea. She murmured in her head that she would want Annabeth as a sacrifice and that she needs to have the weaver have her revenge on her.
Then the garrison door burst open and she made a run for it. She sees a mortar pointing out to the sea which seemed to glow. She made her way over and pried it open with her dagger. She stuck her hand inside to find a metal disk with letters and illustrations. She put it into her backpack and Reyna caught her.
Reyna tells her that they need to come to a trial, otherwise, they will have to attack Camp Half-Blood. Reyna does belive her about Leo being possessed by the Eidolons, but Octavian has whipped the legion into a way frenzy and she can't stop them. She makes Reyna promise to at least try and delay their arrival to the camp, and they see the Romans closing in on the ship.
Reyna lets her go, telling her that when they meet again, they will be enemies. Annabeth ran for the dock, and the ship was pulling away but Piper held out her hand from the gangplank and the two tumbled onto the deck. The ship lifted into the air, and by the time the ship was at top speed, Fort Sumter was in the distance, already making their way across to the ancient lands.
Thoughts
I was surprised about how much the story moved in these chapters narrated by Annabeth. I really enjoyed these chapters, because of how much new information we know about the Mark of Athena. I wonder who the weaver is, being the person Annabeth will have to face alone on her quest in Rome. I also liked the scene where Frank comes to Annabeth to ask her about the trick of the Chinese handcuffs because it was the first time they had a conversation. From this, I could really tell that as a character and friend, Annabeth is respected and trusted by everyone.
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