NINETEEN. happy birthday!

Mayfair was no optimist, but she still tried to make the best of the situation.

Pacing the deck with Jason was fruitless. It just made her worn out faster and didn't really do anything except keep her just within earshot of Coach Hedge's continuous performance of Old MacDonald Had A Gun. So about two hours into this abyss of nothingness, May took Jason, and they headed off to have a picnic in the park.

They took one of Leo's mechanical picnic blankets (which sounds more uncomfortable than it really is), designed to spout out food for picnicking based on the wants of its guests. Laid out beneath a willow tree, Mayfair could have thought she and Jason were on a normal, mortal person date. Jason opened the basket in the center of the blanket and out spilled an entire meal: neatly wrapped sandwiches, canned drinks, fresh fruit—and a birthday cake smeared with purple icing and topped with candles already lit.

Mayfair 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."

May twisted her lips. She couldn't imagine not knowing her own birthday. "Well? Blow out the candles!"

Shooting her an embarrassed smile, he did. May wondered if he made a wish. She knew what she'd wish for, but she didn't want to ask him. That was a good superstition: Saying your wishes out loud defeated their purpose. May never voiced hers because her dad was a big believer in the supernatural.

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

That got Mayfair's attention. Usually that line never lead to anything good, in her opinion. I've been thinking, and we should probably break up. Or, I've been thinking, and I believe it's time for you to go to the Wilderness School. Or even I've been thinking, and now I feel like I should tell you: you're a demigod.

She popped a grape into her mouth. "About?"

"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," May said with an understanding shrug. "Most powerful kid in the legion. You were the golden boy."

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."

May gave him a disbelieving look. "You are not failing."

"Sure feels that way after all these attacks," said Jason dejectedly, staring down at his cake. "I've spent most of this quest knocked out and helpless."

"Yeah, that's true," she ceded, "but being a hero isn't a one-way ticket to invincibility. It's complicated. You've saved my life on multiple occasions."

"Well, you've returned the favor," Jason shot back. "I just feel like I'm not as godly as our title makes us sound. You think demigod, and you see Hercules or Achilles. You don't see a guy who was knocked out by a brick chucked at his head."

"I see that guy," said May, frowning. "Jason, being a hero doesn't mean being one of those big names from myths that are centuries old. It means being brave enough to stand up and do what's needed."

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

May tipped her head to the side. "Nobody does until the time comes."

Jason sat on her words for a moment longer, then nodded, giving in. "Yeah, you're right. Also, look, if you could keep the little birthday secret between us two, at least for now—?"

May smiled, swiping a finger through the purple frosting. "Of course. But about this cake we have here—"

She faltered. Percy Jackson was running across the park toward them, and she could tell from his expression that he did not bring good news.

He told them the abridged version while they ran alongside each other, which of course meant Mayfair could focus on nothing except how in-shape he was for being able to get any words out after running so hard. She herself was panting by the time they reached the ship.

"So you're telling me Theo was kidnapped by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn?" Jason scoffed. "Jeez, that's not something you hear every day."

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

"You had to," said May. "We all know she has to go alone. Besides, she's pretty tough. She'll be fine."

Percy's shoulders relaxed a little. His eyes were still that deep, stormy green they go when he's upset, but he told Mayfair and Jason about Tiberinus's claim that they had less time than they thought to rescue Nico.

May glanced at the time on the helm control. It was already two in the afternoon.

"Also," said Percy, looking to Mayfair, "Tiberinus told me you would be able to know where to take us to find Nico. That you'd be able to see it in your mind."

Mayfair shifted between her feet awkwardly, sharing a glance with Jason. "I mean, I did have a dream last night that was pretty weird—"

"Perfect." Percy gripped his sword, not waiting to hear anything else. "Then someone tell Coach Hedge to guard the ship. We have to go save Nico."

After appealing to Hedge by way of promising baseball scores upon their return, Mayfair led Percy and Jason through Rome, keeping a wary eye out for the entrance to the cave she'd seen in her dream. What she didn't tell them—and what was currently clutching at her heart so tightly she was pretty sure she'd be having an aneurysm soon—was that she was pretty sure she was leading them to that underground well, where she'd seen all of them drowning in that awful black water.

Her heartbeat jumped to her throat. Suddenly, she could feel the water suffocating her again, just as she had in her dream. She stopped in her tracks, frozen.

"May?" Jason turned back towards her, sharing a confused glance with Percy. "What's wrong?"

"We can't go there," she said.

Percy didn't look happy. "May, Nico is dying. We've got to find him. Not to mention, Rome's about to be destroyed. What is it?"

Her voice wouldn't work. She'd kept that vision of the circular room to herself for so long that 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.

She swallowed her reluctance and nodded over to a hill about twenty yards away. On one side, a set of stairs had been excavated, leading down to a modern iron gate with a padlock.

Percy and Jason followed her gaze, and the three of them headed towards it, moving quicker now.

Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock like butter, and the gate creaked open. A chill ran down May's back. She had the feeling that she was leading all of them to their deaths.

Jason peeked his head in, then said, "I'll go down first."

"No!" said May.

Both boys turned to her.

"May, what is it?" Jason said. "You've seen this place before, haven't you?"

She nodded, staring down the staircase with wide, worried eyes. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the three of us drowning."

"I can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question.

"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "It does that sometimes."

"Look, May," said Percy, "I'll go down first, you two can follow me. I'm sure it's fine."

Reluctantly, May followed Percy down the stairs, gripping her dagger like it was her lifeline. She knew she shouldn't have had any reason to be afraid; she was with the sons of two of the strongest gods, and she herself wasn't any sort of delicate flower, either. They should have been fine. That's what she kept telling herself, at least.

Percy's foot missed the last step. He stumbled into a cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Watch that last step."

May hopped down into the room, staring curiously at the stairs. Who designed a staircase that ended before it reached its mark?

Then she forgot all about the weird stairs, because she looked around the room for the first time, and her mouth went dry. It was just as she'd seen it in her dream, except there was no water. The curved walls had once been painted with frescoes, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above. Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty.

The air felt cold and dry. There were no exits except back the way they'd came.

"Do you smell the ocean?" Percy said, frowning.

May hadn't noticed at first; she was next to Percy, and he always smelled like the sea. But the room was filling with the scent of salt water, like a summer hurricane was approaching.

Jason touched one of the niches gingerly, looking confused. "This stone—it's embedded with seashells. This is a nymphaeum."

May's mouth was definitely getting drier, and not out of fear. She felt parched. "A nymphaeum? I've never heard of that."

"We have one at Camp Jupiter," Jason said, "on Temple Hill. It's a shrine to the nymphs."

May ran her hand along the bottom of another niche. Jason was right. The alcove was studded with cowries, conches, and scallops. The seashells seemed to dance in the watery light. They were ice-cold to the touch. May frowned. She'd always thought of sea nymphs as harmless creatures—the occasional flirt or so, but overall, not bloodthirsty. But now, she felt much more afraid of them than usual.

"If a nymph was invited to live in a nymphaeum," Jason explained, glancing around, "and they accepted, it was seen as good luck for the village it resided in."

"But not for the nymph," said May, nodding. She remembered hearing about myths revolving nymphaeums now, pictured herself sitting at her father's desk in his office and listening as he rambled on about random Greek stories. "The nymph would be bound to the water source."

"Which would be great if the fountain was in a nice, sunny park," finished Percy, "but this place has been underground for centuries. Dried and buried. What would happen to the nymphs?"

A quiet stream of hissing filled the chamber, like ghostly snakes. Above the three demigods, the nine niches glowed, as if someone said the magic words and they'd been awoken from their century-long slumber.

Standing in each was a withered old woman, so dried up and brittle they reminded May of mummies—except mummies didn't normally move. Their eyes were dark purple. Their fine silk dresses were now tattered and faded. Their hair had once been piled in curls, arranged with jewels in the style of Roman noblewomen, but now their locks were disheveled and dry as straw.

"What would happen to the nymphs?" mocked the creature in the center niche.

She was in even worse shape than the others. Her back was hunched like the handle of a pitcher. Her skeletal hands had only the thinnest papery layer of skin. On her head, a battered wreath of golden laurels glinted in her roadkill hair. She fixed her purple eyes on Percy.

"What an interesting question, my dear. Perhaps the nymphs would still be here, suffering, waiting for revenge."

May's eyes shot to the staircase, the words "get the hell out of here" blaring across her mind, but the wall was sealed now, no trace of an exit anywhere around. Besides, she would never make it to the opposite side of the room before one of the zombie nymphs jumped down on them.

Jason and Percy stood on either side of Mayfair. She held her dagger at the ready, but she didn't feel very protected. She'd already seen what would happen in this room.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded.

The central nymph tilted her head. "Ah...names. We once had names. I was Hagno, the first of the nine!"

May thought it was a cruel joke that a hag like her would be named Hagno, but she decided not to say that.

"The nine," Jason repeated. "The nymphs of this shrine. There were always nine niches."

"Of course." Hagno bared her teeth in a vicious smile. "But we are the original nine, Jason Grace, the ones who attended the birth of your father."

Jason's sword dipped. "You mean Jupiter? You were there when he was born?"

"Zeus, we called him then," Hagno said. "Such a squealing whelp. We attended Rhea in her labor. When the baby arrived, we hid him so that his father, Kronos, would not eat him. Ah, he had lungs, that baby! It was all we could do to drown out the noise so Kronos could not find him. When Zeus grew up, we were promised eternal honors. But that was in the old country, in Greece."

The other nymphs wailed and clawed at their niches. They seemed to be trapped in them, Mayfair realized, as if their feet were glued to the stone along with the decorative seashells.

"When Rome rose to power, a son of Jupiter tempted you," May remembered, hearing her father's voice in her head. "He told you of this place and promised Rome would last forever. But it didn't—the aqueducts were diverted and you all were buried down here. You couldn't leave because your life forces were tied."

Hagno's purple eyes flashed, like she was angry May had heard her story before. "For centuries, we have withered here in the darkness, thirsty... so thirsty."

May swallowed, adjusting her grip on her dagger and lowering it only slightly. "I'm sorry that happened to you," she tried, "but we are not your enemies. If we can help you—"

"Oh, such a wise voice!" Hagno cried. "Such beautiful features. I was once young like you. My voice was as soothing as a mountain stream. But do you know what happens to a nymph's mind when she is trapped in the dark, with nothing to feed on but hatred, nothing to drink but thoughts of violence? Yes, my dear. You can help us."

Percy raised his hand. "Uh...I'm the son of Poseidon. Maybe I can summon a new water source."

"Ha!" Hagno cried, and the other eight echoed, "Ha! Ha!"

"Indeed, son of Poseidon," Hagno said. "I know your father well. Ephialtes and Otis promised you would come."

"The giants," May said. "You're working for them?"

"Once we have dealt with you," promised Hagno, "the twins have sworn that we will never suffer again."

Hagno turned to Jason. "You, child of Jupiter—for the horrible betrayal of your predecessor who brought us here, you shall pay. I know the sky god's powers. I raised him as a baby! Once, we nymphs controlled the rain above our wells and springs. When I am done with you, we will have that power again. And Percy Jackson, child of the sea god...from you, we will take water, an endless supply of water."

"Endless?" Percy's eyes darted from one nymph to the other. "Uh...look, I don't know about endless. But maybe I could spare a few gallons."

"And you, Mayfair Alvarez." Hagno's purple eyes glistened. "So young, so lovely, so gifted with your wisdom. From you, we will reclaim our youth. We have saved our last life force for this day. We are very thirsty. From you three, we shall drink."

All nine niches glowed. The nymphs disappeared, and water poured from their alcoves—sickly dark water, like oil.

Via Speaks

Happy birthday Jason Grace you are everything to me.

flayedcrank sorry for no prancing happily around a field this chapter :/ someday I'll give u what u deserve but probably not because apparently I don't like giving Theo any joy 😄🤝