Chapter 13 (Percy)
Percy is having nightmares about drowning, but that would be ridiculous since he's the son of the sea god making it impossible for him to be harmed by the element. If he doesn't control the fear, it might control him... Just when he thought he couldn't keep his breath in for any longer, his dream had changed. He stood in a gloomy space like an underground garage, with miscellaneous objects hanging from the ceiling. He saw a giant standing in front of a bronze jar about the size of Percy himself, and next thing you know, the giant called for Otis, who seems to be a giant as well. The first giant complains how Otis matched outfits with him yet again and apologizes calling him Ephialtes. Ephialtes asks if the preparations are coming along, and what exactly the jar does because it's not exciting. "But that's the whole point of the show. He dies unless the others rescue him. And if they arrive on schedule, we start the destruction of Rome. It'll be perfect. The crowd will love it. Roman ghosts adore this sort of thing.", Otis replies. Ephialtes seemed to be unconvinced, but according to Otis, they need to keep whoever is in the jar alive for a few more days or the seven won't take the bait. With that the two lumbered off, and Percy willed himself forward in the dream to take a look inside the jar.
Inside he saw Nico being held captive inside the completely sealed jar. He looked to be meditating, his breathing shallow. On the inner wall of the jar, he could see three marks made with his sword, but if this indicated Nico had been in the jar for three days, how had he survived so long without suffocating? Then he noticed glistening objects between Nico's feet, pomegranate seeds, Percy thought. Three had been eaten, and five remained encased in the dark red pulp. Before he could investigate any further, Annabeth was calling for him. He thought something was attacking the ship, but it turns out Annabeth had just sneaked in at night, wanting to take a walk with him.
She led him into the stables, and they sat down together. He talks to Annabeth about what he had felt for the several months they were separated. Annabeth was the only person he had remembered, and when he saw the families and couples living in New Rome, he thought he wanted to share a future like that with Annabeth since there was nothing of that sort back in Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth appreciates his thoughts but says they may have burned that bridge. The Romans and Greeks have never been able to get along, and because of that, the gods have kept them separate.
He then tells Annabeth about the nightmare he had just had, and how Nico has been captured and he's the bait for the seven of them to get trapped. They have five more days according to Nemesis, the deadline being the Kalends of July. They don't know how Nico could survive that long, so they plan on talking to Hazel about it in the morning. Then they both fell asleep in the stables.
Chapter 14 (Percy)
They wake up to Frank discovering where they had slept. Everyone had thought that they were kidnapped, and were frantically searching the entire ship. They all gathered in the mess hall, where he told everyone about the dream he had. Hazel knew what the seeds were right away, saying he had once shown them to her. The seeds are a last-resort food and only the children of Hades can eat them. They don't have much time before Nico's supply of pomegranate seeds runs out, but they are determined to rescue him. Jason and Leo get suspicious of Nico, since he had known beforehand about both camps and think he may be unloyal which upsets Hazel making her walk out.
Before they could properly discuss it, Leo notifies them they are close to reaching Atlanta, and Percy is planning to scout there because he is good with water. He asks Frank to come with him because he also has the blood of Poseidon and maybe it would help. He also asks Annabeth to accompany him, but the supervisor of the ship, Coach Hedge refuses to let the two of them be together after what had happened last night. He instead volunteers to go with them to scout the city to seek out Phorcys.
Chapter 15 (Percy)
The ship lands and the three of them headed to the presidential library, were one of the librarians insisted on driving them personally. Percy asks her what comes to mind concerning saltwater, and she responds mentioning an aquarium with whale sharks. She drops them off and there seems to be a long line so they decide to wait, but then someone who seems to be a staff with a name tag that read Kate comes and leads them into the aquarium as VIP visitors. They all know it must be some sort of trap, but they have no other choice but to follow her. They come across the gift shop, and since the staff said they could, Frank takes extra clothes and a pair of Chinese handcuffs since he had never seen one before.
They come across a huge aquarium and inside were dozens of big fish, including two-spotted whale sharks, and when Frank and Coach Hedge are in awe, Kate responds that they should see her babies out in the wild. Percy gets to the point and asks her if she knows Phorcys, and it turns out they were siblings. Another tunnel appears in front of them, and there were several aquariums lined up containing sea creatures. They all looked lifeless, which made Percy's blood boil. He asks who she is and before she can respond, a small man scuttled out trying to present a show which none of the sea creatures obeyed to. He claims to be Phrocys, and gets mad at Kate which he refers to as Keto for saying so much information.
Coach Hedge seems so into all the fascinating things about the sea creatures that Keto offers to lead him through a maze of aquariums, and before Percy could object, he was left with Frank and a crabby sea god. They tell Phorcys that Bacchus had sent them here, and eventually have him talk about the twin giants. He explains that Gaea initially shaped the giants with specific enemies in mind. The twins together were the anti-Bacchus in a way. He also gives information about how Gaea specifically wanted two demigods to be spared, one girl and one boy. He says that even if the found the map in Charleston, the demigods that are threats would never make it to Rome alive. Percy asks Phorcys if they can ask questions, and are lead into another tunnel with a tank.
Chapter 16 (Percy)
When Frank asks about what they would possibly keep in the tanks, Phorcys responds knowing Frank's full name. Percy demands how he knows, and he says that it was probably the descriptions Gaea had provided for the bounty. He and Frank ran for the exit, only to slam into a glass wall that had completely encased them in the tunnel. The glass started to shatter, and they were engulfed with water. Frank had turned into a giant goldfish, and he couldn't turn into something else. They couldn't make a dent in the glass wall, and he couldn't control the water around them to expand, maybe it was enchanted by Phorcys.
They had lost hope, but then Frank telepathically yelled "Look!", and he could see Coach Hedge and Keto. In desperation, he threw a giant marble at the glass, and Coach Hedge's ears thankfully caught the sound of it. He distracted Keto and knocked her out, and on the count of three, they were able to crack the glass and escape. The mortal section of the aquarium was filled with screams of chaos, and they blended in with them and ran for the exit.
Thoughts
I'm anxious to read how they will save Nico from the twins considering they only have five more days to do so before Rome is destroyed. These chapters were long, though I like detail, there was a lot of conversations between the characters that could have been shortened to be simpler. However, these chapters were able to further tie the story together to make sense.
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