Athenaíí's body lay on a woven mat at the edge of the camp. Hazel and Will cleaned her wounds with vinegar and comfrey salve and bandaged them with scraps of linen. Annabeth changed out of her peplos and put on a simpler chiton so Athenaíí could have something nice to wear to the underworld.
"We'll cremate her before we leave the island. When I get back to Athens, I'll put her ashes in the finest urn I can find and place them in the royal tomb."

Piper placed the small, bronze mirror and painted, terra-cotta spindle, which were Athenaíí's prized possessions, into the dead girl's lap.

Calypso ran her fingers through Athenaíí's hair. The blood, gore, and tangles disappeared and the flaxen tresses were once again smooth and clean. A crown of oak blossoms grew from her scalp.

Leo clapped her on the shoulder.
"Nice work."
Jason placed Athenaíí's lyre in the crook in one of her arms. He positioned the other arm so that it looked as though Athenaíí were playing it.
In death, the sullen-faced little slave looked beautiful and serene. Reyna blew her a kiss.
"Sweet dreams, Little One."
"And I'll commission a statue of her, " Annabeth said. "And put it on the Acropolis where everyone can see it."

Annabeth's eyes darted off into the hills. The slack, stupid expression returned to her face. "P-eer-cy."
Both Piper and Hazel were needed to restrain her.
"Speaking of Percy," Will said. "Does anyone know where he and Frank are?"
Leo sat down in the sand and sharpened his knife with a whetstone.
"I know Prince Percy broke away from our hunting party when he thought heard Princess Annabeth's voice. Frank followed him."
"P-eer-cy." Annabeth fought off Piper and Hazel and followed whatever it was that called to her.

They found Frank wandering on the cliffs above Ogygia Beach. His face had the same slack, stupid expression as Annabeth and his eyes were glazed and distracted. Hazel ran to him and tugged on the sleeve of his chiton. Frank blinked at her.
"Hazel?"
She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes.
"There you are...are you alright?"
He looked around the cliffs.
"How did I get here?"
"I was just about to ask you the same thing."
"Percy, " Annabeth grabbed Frank's shoulder. "Have you seen Percy?"
"He went off in search of you, Lady. He swore that he heard your voice.  The last thing I remember is following after him."
"Annabeth."
Percy came running down from the hills. Annabeth ran to his side and covered his face in kisses.
"We were all terrified that something might have happened to you."
Something else followed Percy. Reyna raised her spear. Hazel lifted a lamp and shrieked when a white lioness approached her. Frank stepped forward with his bow and arrow. The lioness roared and bared her sharp fangs.
"Aunt Hecate, " Calypso reached out to the lioness. "Please... Aunt Hecate."
"Don't touch her, " the lioness froze in her tracks. A tall woman stepped out of the darkness. Her silvery-white robes glowed in the lamplight. Annabeth approached the woman only to meet with a loud laugh.
"So our little bird has fled her cage."
"You bitch, " Annabeth spat at her. Percy grabbed her arm and pulled her behind his shield. He raised his sword to the tall woman's breast.
"Come closer if you dare, witch!"
Thalia aimed her bow at Circe, who pulled out a wand from her girdle. A strong wind blew in from the sea and knocked Thalia over. Thalia stumbled towards the edge of a cliff. The rocky ledge crumbled under her weight.
Reyna's heart raced like a wild stallion. She swooped in and grabbed Thalia's hand. Jason helped his sister to her feet.
Circe twirled her wand around her head. The air became damp and heavy. Thunder clapped and winds roared and whistled. Waves crashed against the cliffs and sent up huge curtains of spray. Heavy rains soon soaked Reyna's tunic and hair.
The lioness unfroze and circled around Calypso. Leo picked up a handful of stones and used a woven slingshot to launch them at the beast.

"Leo, stop!" Calypso cried. "You'll only make her angry."
Circe lifted her wand and the lioness pounced at Leo. He put a flat, oblong stone in his slingshot and it struck the lioness in her shoulder.

Jason approached the wounded animal with his spear.
"I'll finish it off."
The lioness's claw slashed at Jason's neck between his helmet and his breastplate. Blood ran down his throat and onto his armor. His chest rose and fell and he struggled for breath. Gasping, he fell to the ground.
Piper and Will went to his side. Will removed Jason's breastplate to help him breathe while Piper held his hand. The rain and her tears cleaned the blood and mud from his fingers.
Annabeth stepped out from behind Percy's shield.
"Give me your knife, Piper."
Piper handed over the weapon and Annabeth approached Circe, who stood near the edge of a cliff.
"Now what are you going to do with that, Little Princess?"
Annabeth raised the knife to Circe's throat.
"I have every right to kill you. If I don't then you'd most likely kill me."
Circe lowered her wand.
"You look just like your father right now. Seventeen years ago, when he sentenced a fifteen-year-old girl to be imprisoned in a brothel and raped for the crime of being a traitor's daughter- the same gold, grey eyes."
The first bright orange rays of dawn illuminated the horizon. Circe laughed.
"And now Frederick will never see his precious little girl again. After the sun has risen, she'll spend the rest of her life as a beast of the air, trapped on this island forever."
Annabeth dropped the knife.
"If I'm to spend the rest of my life as a beast of the air, it's better than living with a soul twisted by bitterness and hatred. I don't hate you, Circe. All I can feel for you is pity."
Percy stood next to his betrothed. He rested the blade of his sword against Circe's next.
"You're cornered, Circe. Surrender and we'll allow your daughter to give you a proper burial."
Circe's looked in front of her at those who bayed at her like Acteon's hounds. She then turned to look at the cliffs, rocks, and sea below. The ledge underneath her feet crumbled.
The witch smiled and let herself fall.
Calypso rested her head against Leo's shoulder and burst into tears.

Dawn ran her rosy fingers across the sky. Annabeth looked over her own limbs and hair, expecting them to transform into the wings and feathers of an owl. But the limbs stayed slim, graceful, and pale, and the hair stayed long, silky, and flaxen. She and Percy embraced and looked out across the Aegean towards Athens.
Reyna gasped when she saw the lioness writhe and twist. A bony old woman with wild, grey streaked hair and crooked nose lay in place of the lioness when the metamorphosis finished.
"Aunt Hecate," Calypso ran to the old woman and covered the old woman's nakedness with a himation.
"Thanks for saving my ass back there," Thalia stood next to Reyna.
"Are you alright?" Reyna said.
"Never better."