08. THEO

When the trio returned from the cavern of Asclepius, Leo was humming Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. That didn't exactly smooth over Theo's nerves.

"Uh," said Percy, thinking the same thing as Theo. He glanced over Jason and May to clarify if they were alright, then fixed his curious gaze back on Leo. "Did he go insane down there?"

"No," said May. "He's just Leo."

"And all da ladies luv Leo," Jason added seriously, nodding. Theo noticed a new pair of Imperial Gold-framed glasses perched on his nose—she raised her eyebrows, but before she could comment, Leo held up a glowing red vial.

Frank crunched on his carrot sticks. Man, Theo thought, life when you actually listened to the doctors about what foods you can't have because of your dairy intolerance must have been boring as all get out. But Frank didn't look bothered.

"So what..." He searched for the right words, then settled on, "uh, is it?"

"It's awesome, is what it is," Leo said, rolling it out to sit in the center of the mess hall table. "And Asclepius was cool, too. Hey, Theo, you know that's your brother?"

"I'm aware," she said uneasily. "Are you seriously saying he didn't give you a hard time?"

"His secretary was where the trouble came from," scoffed Leo. "But we got that sorted out, didn't we, boys?"

Jason and May rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"I didn't like it down there," Jason said. "The way Asclepius was looking at Leo—"

"Aw, he just sensed my heartsickness." Leo smiled unevenly at Jason. Then he furrowed his brow and stammered for an explanation: "You know, I'm dying to see—Calpyso."

"Cute," said May, offering a sardonic smile, "but I'm not sure that's it. He seemed really sad to me. Like he didn't want to see us go."

"Then he just didn't want to see us go," Leo agreed flippantly. "Whatever. Anyone have any questions? Anyone that wasn't down there with us?"

Percy frowned at the vial that sat in the middle of the table. "Any of us might die, right? So we just need to keep the potion handy."

"Assuming only one of us dies," Jason added. "There's only one dose."

Theo, Hazel, and Frank looked at Leo. He gave them the hardest glare Theo had ever seen from him. She exhaled a sigh and rubbed her eyes.

She didn't think Leo was getting the full picture. It wasn't his decision to make, and not in the whole "Leo, I'm not going to let you kill yourself! I'm too heroic for that!" kind of way. It was up to the Fates. The prophecy said To blue or grey skies, the world will fall. Nowhere did it mention fire. Nowhere did it mention a skinny little kid from Texas. But Leo was trying to play the hero, and Theo had no idea how to stop him. He was already halfway executed with his plan—how could Theo stand back and let him carry out the rest? This Physician's Cure wasn't that magical.

Theo was pretty sure she and Percy were the only ones who understood: Fighting against a prophecy never worked. No matter how hard you try, how many holes you step in and corners you skim past. Prophecies were unavoidable.

"We have to keep our options open," said May, spreading her hands over the table like some sort of strategizing army general. "We need a designated medic to carry the potion—somebody who can react quickly and heal whoever gets healed."

"Good idea, Beauty Queen," said Leo. "I nominate Theo."

She tried not to scream. "Yeah, no—"

"All votes for Theo Scott?" Leo raised his hand and glanced around the table, nodding as everybody else's arms slowly lifted, too.

Theo shook her head, her hands bracing the table for support. "Leo, this is not—"

"Your father is Apollo," said Percy. He squeezed Theo's hand and gave her a look that she thought said No matter how much you hate it. "The god of medicine. When the time comes, you'll know what to do. I believe in you, Sunshine."

"Yeah," said Jason, smiling. "We'll all be there together, at the end. I've got a feeling you're the best choice, Teddy."

Theo narrowed her eyes on him. Ever since the ancient palace of Odysseus, Jason had been trying to get the nickname Theo's mom called her to stick. So far, he hadn't had much luck—and not by accident. Theo had shot him down for every attempt he made. Seriously, she had fired an arrow on him: He'd learned to say the nickname and immediately fly away as fast as he could. Theo could always hear him laughing from the sky.

Leo plucked up the vial, looking pleased. "So is everyone in agreement?"

No one objected. Theo locked eyes with Leo, and he seemed to be telling her You know what needs to happen. Theo swallowed the lump that had been sitting deep in her throat. Leo and Hazel shared a glance.

He pulled a chamois cloth from his tool belt and made a big show of wrapping up the physician's cure. Then he presented the package to Theo. She tucked it in her pocket, ignoring the fact that the cloth felt empty in her hands.

"Okay, then," he said. "Athens tomorrow morning, gang. Be ready to fight some giants."

"Yeah..." Frank murmured. "I know I'll sleep well."

Theo was glad Frank had a good night's sleep, because Theo sure didn't.

In her dreams, she saw Reyna, that praetor from Camp Jupiter whose mother was Bologna. Or Bellona. One of the two. In any case, Reyna was supposed to be with Nico and Coach Hedge bringing the ruins of the Apollo Belvedere to Camp Half-blood in order to stop the destruction of demigods everywhere. Instead, Nico and Hedge were nowhere to be seen, and Reyna was on her hands and knees, fumbling around with an injured Pegasus.

Then Theo realized: It wasn't just any Pegasus. It was Blackjack.

There was an arrow lodged deep in his flank—from who, Theo couldn't tell, so she assumed Reyna took care of their opponents with ease. Still, Blackjack was spasming with pain, blood trickling from the arrow wound. He was in bad shape. Theo's heart clenched.

"This will hurt, my friend," Reyna told Blackjack, before she cut a slit on either side of the arrow and pulled it out. Blackjack shrieked, but the arrow came out cleanly—the tip wasn't barbed. Theo and Reyna exhaled short sighs at the same time.

Reyna poured healing potion over the wound and bandaged it. She applied pressure, counting under her breath. By the time she stood up, she was shaking—either with fear or with exhaustion—but Blackjack was still alive. His eyes were cleared of pain.

"You're going to be fine," she promised. "I'll get you help from Camp Half-Blood."

For a moment, Theo wondered why the Fates had decided to show her this scene. Surely there were more important events going on elsewhere in the world that would have been nice to know, right? Like, sure, Blackjack had scared her—Percy would have been devastated if he lost his Pegasus—but everything seemed alright now. At least, to Theo.

Reyna stiffened like she didn't agree. She looked up to the sky. Theo saw strands of light on the horizon, like the sun was just about to peek up from behind the night. Reyna didn't seem interested in the time of day, though. She narrowed her eyes.

She turned toward the shore, where signs of a battle lay destitute; a Greek trireme bobbing lazily in the morning tide. Stray arrows or swords on the sand. Other than that, the hills looked green and peaceful.

It was a nice morning. Theo wished she could experience it for herself. Perhaps a mimosa or two on the shore, letting the water lap against her feet. Percy beside her. Yeah, that was the dream. Couldn't she just relax for the rest of her life? Hadn't she and Percy earned it by then?

Nah, of course not. Letting demigods catch a break was not something the gods often liked to do.

Theo was just thinking she was being shown this dream just because the Fates wanted to let her know what she was missing out on when an orange glow illuminated the hilltops. Multiple streaks of fire climbed skyward like burning fingers.

Theo's stomach dropped to her toes. She wanted to scream. She wanted to catch the flying explosions with her hands and not let them fall. She couldn't just watch it happen. This was the beginning of it all—the beginning of the end.

The Romans had fired their onagers. The war had begun.

Theo jerked awake, sweating and breathless in her bed. She had forgotten she was only inside a dream, that she wasn't actually there with Reyna. She couldn't do anything to stop the attack. She just had to know it was happening. It was torture. But Theo had grown accustomed to that over the years, so she merely rolled out of bed and changed into a jeans and an old Camp Half-blood T-shirt. Keep up the routine, like always.

The thing about mental torture: it only affected you if you let it. So Theo never let it.

She lugged herself, rubbing her eyes and still yawning, out onto the deck. The sun was only just rising. Its soft pink glow settled over the ship—another curse of Theo's father and how she would never be able to escape him, no matter how hard she tried. She exhaled a sigh and ran her hand down her face as if to wipe the thought from her mind entirely.

It hardly worked. She could only hear his voice from all those months ago when he had cornered her in that New York diner, when he had insisted so much and so seriously that he was not her father. If she would fight with the Romans—for the Romans—then, Apollo said, she was no child of his.

Had he considered that she never wanted to be a child of his in the first place?

Somewhere around the corner leading down to the mess hall, Theo heard footsteps. She glanced back to see Jason pausing in his tracks at the sight of her. He was in his regular attire for night duty: plaid pajama pants and a white T-shirt. Theo normally hated when her friends took guard and weren't dressed for the situation, because gods knew anything could attack them in the ancient lands. But Jason never bothered her. She knew he would be prepared no matter what he was wearing.

"You're up early," he said, rounding the deck to take her side. "Couldn't sleep?"

She rested her arms on the rail and gazed out over the sea, exhaling a sigh. "I can sleep just fine. That's the problem."

Something that sounded like a mirthless laugh left Jason's lips and he nodded, dipping his head down toward the ocean. "Yeah, I'm familiar. Are you doing okay?"

"Walking on sunshine."

He scoffed. "Really."

Theo drew in a sharp breath and lifted her shoulders with it to offer him a shrug. "I... guess. I mean, I've definitely been worse. Can that answer your question?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied, nodding, letting his curiosity fall. He gazed out over the Piraeus skyline.

The ship had docked around an hour or so ago, Jason told Theo. They were on the outskirts of Athens—deep in the ancient lands. In fact, this was about as ancient as it got, Theo figured. All the myths she'd ever heard, all of the eras the gods had persevered through. All of the past heroes that came before Theo and her friends.

Jason looked a lot like the original Jason right then, Theo thought. Standing at the prow of an Olympian-sized warship, sharp gaze penetrating the Athens city horizon, shoulders tense as he likely thought about how their journey would be ending today. Theo hoped the original Jason was like this one; they could have used Jason Grace's leadership and strength back then.

She wondered if, in all the history of Greece, whether someone had been like her. Whether there were hidden tales about demigods that somewhat resembled her, any archers with dairy allergies (other than Frank), maybe a similarity in any of her personal memories that coincided with a detail in some minor mythological story.

Maybe there had been heroes like her; maybe they had just all been unsuccessful and were forgotten in the end.

She didn't know what made her more uneasy: the thought of absolutely nobody coming before her, or the thought of nothing but failure preceding her.

From downstairs, Theo heard the familiar clunking and banging of Leo readying his weapons. The rest of the ship must have awoken to their alarms ringing; Leo had only rarely used the built-in alarm clock system in everyone's bedrooms for good, but it seemed like today he didn't want to tick anyone off. Theo appreciated it, and she was pretty sure the rest of the crew did, too.

Everyone must have been gearing up for combat—checking their weapons and armor, loading up the ballistae and catapults. Nobody knew what awaited them here, just that their quest would be coming to an end, one way or another.

Jason, whose gaze hadn't left the horizon, straightened his back. "What's that?"

Theo frowned and followed his gaze. Down along the docks, three men with snake tails instead of legs winded through crowds of people who paid them no mind. Greece woke with the sun, apparently, and so did Theo's least favorite monsters.

"Great," she muttered unhappily. Her hand moved to her waistline for her dagger, but she remember she'd lost it in Tartarus. Her bow was back in her cabin. She cursed herself. What happened to being constantly prepared? "Dracaenae."

"I don't think so," said Percy, cresting the staircase and peering over the rail of the ship. He held Theo's bow in one hand and her quiver of arrows in the other—she gave him a kiss of thanks and shouldered both. "Those don't look like Kelli. Remember how she was more horse-looking?"

"I think that was just a Kelli thing," Theo said, then frowned down at the monsters again. "But you're right. Dracaenae have two tails for legs. These guys look like mermaids. Say, Aquaman, these don't happen to be any siblings of yours, do they?"

Percy scoffed and nudged her shoulder. "I'm not related to every sea creature in existence. Do you know how many of them there are?"

"But... I thought that was your whole thing," Jason said, frowning. "Or are you not Poseidon's son?"

"I can't be related to everything; I'm literally just a dude," said Percy defensively, stifling. "Anyway, are we talking or fighting?"

Theo was tempted to say fighting, but she looked back down to the monsters again, taking time to think before she made up her mind. Weirdly, the one in the middle reminded her of Aquaman—not Percy, but the real one. Well, not real, but the actual Aquaman. You know. The huge guy with magical long hair and a thick beard. It didn't help that one hand of his carried a staff topped with a glowing green jewel. In his other hand he held a platter covered with a silver dome, like Aquaman was on his way to a fancy dinner.

"Anyone know their D.C. Comics?" said Theo.

"I don't think that's the real Aquaman," Percy replied.

The two guys behind the main one appeared to be guards. They wore bronze breastplates and elaborate helmets topped with horsehair bristles. Their spears were tipped with green stone points. Their oval shields were emblazoned with a large Greek letter K—kappa.

They stopped a few yards from the Argo II. The leader looked up and studied the demigods. His expression was intense but inscrutable. He might have been angry or worried or terribly in need of a restroom. Theo hoped it wasn't the last one; they didn't have a snake-accessible potty on board.

"Permission to come aboard." His rasping voice made Theo think of a straight razor being wiped across a strop.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He fixed his dark eyes on her. "I am Kekrops, the first and eternal king of Athens. I would welcome you to my city." He held up the covered platter. "Also, I brought a Bundt cake."

Jason glanced at Theo and Percy. "A trick?"

"Maybe," Theo said.

"At least he brought dessert." Percy smiled down at the snake guys. "Welcome aboard!"

VIA CHATTER!!!!

Im really just loving this era of Theo where she is the most haunted she has ever been and has absolutely no hope for the future and can't even think past what's right in front of her