BRIAR STARED INTO the horizon, dread trickling down her throat.

Every second she spent here, she was one step closer to her home. One step closer to a quest that would surely end her life.

One step closer to Reyna.

The thought of being able to see her made Briar want to throw up, right down to the ground. Maybe if she was lucky, her vomit would make it through the clouds.

The warship descended through the clouds, and Briar quickly scrapped that idea. Her puke would not, in fact, go through the clouds. Therefore, she would not throw up.

The Argo II definitely did not look friendly, and it wouldn't look any friendlier with Briar's puke on it. Two hundred feet long, with a bronze-plated hull, mounted repeating crossbows fore and aft, a flaming metal dragon for a figurehead, and two rotating ballistae amidships that could fire explosive bolts powerful enough to blast through concrete . . . well, it wasn't the most appropriate ride for a long awaited reunion with the people in Briar's home.

She wished that she'd gotten to prepare herself more. She'd interrupted Leo's message with a holographic scroll that he'd invented to alert their friends inside the camp, to try and steel herself for what was coming.

"Hey!" Leo said. Gods, his voice was loud. "Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera. This is Leo. I'm the . . ." He looked at Briar and yelled: "What's my title? Am I like admiral, or captain, or—"

"Repair boy," Briar drawled, debating on which sunglasses she should wear. She was wearing the red dress that she'd had when she first arrived at Camp Half-Blood along with Reyna's jacket. On one hand, she could wear her new red sunglasses. On the other hand, wouldn't that be tacky? Briar shook her head and stowed her sunglasses rack away as she put her favorite pair of sunglasses on her head.

"Very funny, Briar," she heard Leo grumble.

"What would you rather I have said?" Briar asked, puckering her lips in the mirror. She looked decent enough. "Gay disaster?"

"Says you," Leo quipped. "Sleeping Beauty."

"The one time I wanted to take a nap, your boyfriend woke me up because you nearly blew us up—"

"Doesn't matter!" Leo looked back at the piece of parchment in his hands. "So yeah, I'm . . . ah . . . supreme commander of the Argo II. Yeah, I like that! Anyway, we're gonna be sailing toward you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship. We'd appreciate it if you'd not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the Romans that. See you soon. Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out."

"Wait!" Briar yelped, running over before he could do whatever he did to hang up on the message or whatever. "You're a horrible diplomat, Leo."

Leo glared at her. "Aren't you the one who, instead of doing something useful, told Medea that you're a lesbian when she explained her life story to you?"

"We made it out alive," Briar rolled her eyes. "I just don't see the appeal in ancient-times Jason, thank you very much. Now . . ."

She looked at the piece of parchment and she felt as ridiculous as she did when she talked tree roots into going to sleep.  "To my favorite people. Hazel, I love you and I miss you. I hope you didn't go crazy without me here. Piper, you owe me 5 denarii, you fucker. But I still miss you and love you. And, Reyna . . ."

Briar's smile, which had just appeared, faded. Her teeth gripped at her bottom lip tightly and she looked down. Leo grabbed her hand and she sent him a small smile before looking at the paper again.

"Just wait a little bit longer," she said. "I love you. I'll be home soon. Do me a favor and not let the Senate run us over, please. I'd hate to not see you again before I inevitably explode via one of Leo's inventions."

"Hey!" Leo protested.

"You disrupted my nap." Briar huffed, before grinning and waving at the parchment. "Love you, bye!"

Too late to turn back now. Briar was regretting what she'd said in that message, but too bad so sad.

The clouds broke around their hull, revealing the gold-and-green carpet of the Oakland Hills below them. Briar gripped the railing in front of her tight enough that her knuckles were white.

"Calm down," a familiar voice said next to her, bumping his shoulder into hers. "I can practically hear your thoughts. You forget I know you as well as you know me."

Briar pushed down a slew of frustrating thoughts as she looked up at her best friend.

Jason stood at the bow on the raised crossbow platform next to her. Despite his words, Briar could see his knuckles were white on the hilt of his golden sword. Over his jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, he'd donned a toga and a purple cloak — symbols of his old rank as praetor. With his wind-ruffled blond hair and his icy blue eyes, he looked ruggedly handsome and in control — just like a son of Jupiter should.

Did he know her as well as she knew him? Briar doubted it. She'd barely opened up to him about the onslaught of memories she'd gotten back since Hera had given them back to her. She'd mostly told him about ones that he was in: quests they'd went on together, childhood memories, a fight they'd had that was their most serious one, and that was only because he'd gotten the same memory back.

But she couldn't tell him about anything else. She couldn't bring herself to tell him about how much she missed Reyna, how she felt that half of her was gone because she wasn't there next to her and it hurt so much. She couldn't bring herself to tell him about how she was so angry and insecure about herself because she'd seen her mother once and then she disappeared again.

She couldn't bring herself to talk about her father, no matter how much Jason had pleaded for her to talk about him now that he'd found Thalia. Briar was happy for him that he'd found his sister, but she didn't want to talk about her own family.

What was there to talk about? Ever since that day when Briar and Reyna became official, Briar's dad disappeared on more quests for longer time periods. In fact, they'd had a giant fight a few months after that day, and Briar hadn't talked to him again. What was there to say?

"What am I thinking about, Jay?" Briar asked him. She didn't expect him to answer; after all, she didn't even know what she was thinking about.

"They'll accept us coming back," Jason said. "You know this. We're important to them. You're important to them. You know that she'd fight the Senate before she'd let you come down with a scratch on your arm."

Briar huffed out a laugh. "I know she would. But . . . I've changed. And so have you."

Jason stared at her. It was true. They've become vastly different people in the eight months they've been gone from this camp. And he'd certainly noticed, unless his reaction to her emotional rollercoasters were fake.

"I can't live without her, Jason." Briar said quietly. "I'd rather die than have to learn how to live without her. But if she doesn't want me anymore . . . I don't know what I'd do."

Jason was quiet.

"You know this," she said, in the same tone he'd used. "I talked to your boyfriend not twenty minutes ago."

They both glanced back.

On the stern quarterdeck, Leo rushed around like a madman, steering the ship and pulling levers. Most helmsmen would've been satisfied with a pilot's wheel or a tiller. Leo had also installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a jet that he'd sent Jason and Briar to get parts from, a dubstep soundboard, and motion-control sensors from a Nintendo Wii. He could turn the ship by pulling on the throttle, fire weapons by sampling an album, or raise sails by shaking his Wii controllers really fast. Even by demigod standards, Leo was seriously ADHD.

Him and Jason had been together for months now — since Valentine's Day. They were really cute together. Briar had known it from the start. They were right for each other. Like soulmates. It was a daughter of Venus thing.

Venus. Briar ignored the anger that bubbled up in her.

"I've never seen you happier than when you're with him," Briar said, turning to her best friend. "And I . . . I had that. But do I still have it?"

"Are you doubting Reyna, or yourself?" Jason asked. "Because I really don't think that you should do either."

Briar looked back again because she felt a gaze on her. She looked at Annabeth, who was leaning against one of the shields, gripping it with a vice grip. Despite this, she looked calm and collected. Must be a daughter of Athena thing. She was wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jean shorts, and she probably would've worn armor had Briar not intervened. She smiled at the other blonde before looking back at Jason.

"I'd never doubt her." Briar bit her lip subconsciously, probably ruining her makeup. "As for myself—"

Then, in the valley below, horns sounded. The Romans had spotted them.

Briar didn't elaborate further as she went on her tiptoes to look at her home for the first time in eight months. Ringed by the Oakland Hills, the valley was at least twice the size of Camp Half-Blood. The Little Tiber snaked around one side and curled toward the center like a capital letter G, emptying into a sparkling blue lake.

Directly below the ship, nestled at the edge of the lake, the city of New Rome gleamed in the sunlight. She looked down at the familiar landmarks — the hippodrome, the coliseum, the temples and parks, the neighborhood of Seven Hills with its winding streets, colorful villas, and flowering gardens that Briar had definitely gone to with Reyna before.

She saw evidence of her people's recent battle with an army of monsters. The dome was cracked open on a building she guessed was the Senate House. The forum's broad plaza was pitted with craters. Some fountains and statues were in ruins.

Dozens of kids in togas were streaming out of the Senate House to get a better view of the Argo II. More Romans emerged from the shops and cafés, gawking and pointing as the ship descended.

About half a mile to the west, where the horns were blowing, a Roman fort stood on a hill, with a defensive trench lined with spikes, high walls, and watchtowers armed with scorpion ballistae. Inside, perfect rows of white barracks lined the main road — the Via Principalis.

A column of demigods emerged from the gates, their armor and spears glinting as they hurried toward the city. Briar grinned at the sight of the war elephant.

She was home now. One of the weights on her shoulders lifted. She felt a happiness she hadn't felt in a long time.

Then something behind her went BOOM!

Briar whirled and found herself next to an angry statue.

"Unacceptable!" he shrieked.

Naturally, Terminus had exploded into existence, right there on the deck. Sulfurous yellow smoke rolled off his shoulders. Cinders popped around his curly hair. From the waist down, he was nothing but a square marble pedestal. From the waist up, he was a muscular human figure in a carved toga.

"I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian Line!" he announced in a fussy teacher voice. "I certainly will not have Greeks!"

"Terminus," Jason said. "It's me. Jason Grace. And you know Briar Lovelace."

"Oh, I remember you, Jason and Briar!" Terminus grumbled. "I thought you two had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome!"

"But they're not enemies—"

"That's right," Briar said. "We just want to talk. If we could—"

"Ha!" snapped the statue. "Don't try that charmspeak on me, Lovelace. And put down your knife before I slap it out of your hands!"

Briar glanced at her knife, which was now onyx. "Um . . . okay. I didn't even know I was charmspeaking. Sorry, Terminus."

"I told you an order, Lovelace!" There was a sharp POP and a flash of yellow, and a wave of heat. Briar yelped and dropped the knife, which was now smoking and sparking.

"Lucky for you I've just been through a battle," Terminus announced. "If I were at full strength, I would've blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already!"

"Hold up." Leo stepped forward, wagging his Wii controller. "Did you just call my ship a monstrosity? I know you didn't do that."

The idea that Leo might attack the statue with his gaming device was apparently enough to snap Annabeth out of her shock.

"Let's all calm down." She raised her hands to show she had no weapons. "I take it you're Terminus, the god of boundaries. Briar and Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of—"

"Oh, I know who you are!" The statue glared at her. "A child of Athena, Minerva's Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for that goddess."

Annabeth clenched her jaw. "What exactly do you mean, that goddess? And what's so scandalous about—"

"Right!" Briar interrupted. "Anyway, Terminus, we're here on a mission of peace. We'd love permission to land so we can—"

"Impossible!" the god squeaked. "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!"

"Which is it?" Leo asked. "Surrender, or leave?"

"Both!" Terminus said. "Surrender, then leave. I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that?"

"Wow." Leo studied Terminus with professional interest. "You're wound up pretty tight. You got any gears in there that need loosening? I could take a look."

He exchanged the Wii controller for a screwdriver from his magic tool belt and tapped the statue's pedestal.

"Stop that!" Terminus insisted. Another small explosion made Leo drop his screwdriver. "Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line."

"The what?" Leo asked.

"City limits," Jason translated.

"And this entire ship is a weapon!" Terminus said. "You cannot land!"

Down in the valley, the legion reinforcements were halfway to the city. The crowd in the forum was over a hundred strong now. Briar scanned the faces and . . . oh, Christ. She saw her. she was walking toward the ship with Hazel and two other people — a stout boy with a black buzz cut, and a boy with unruly black hair and a purple cape — the mark of a praetor. Reyna still looked the same as when Briar had saved her on Mount Diablo six months ago, but yet she somehow looked prettier.

Briar's heart stopped, then started beating as fast as she could change emotions.

"Leo, stop the ship," Annabeth ordered.

"What?"

"You heard me. Keep us right where we are."

Leo pulled out his controller and yanked it upward. All ninety oars froze in place. The ship stopped sinking.

"Terminus," Annabeth said, "there's no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?"

The statue frowned. "Well, no . . ."

"We can keep the ship aloft," Annabeth said. "We'll use a rope ladder to reach the forum. That way, the ship won't be on Roman soil. Not technically."

The statue seemed to ponder this. Briar wondered if he was scratching his chin with imaginary hands.

"I like technicalities," he admitted. "Still . . ."

"All our weapons will stay aboard the ship," Annabeth promised. "I assume the Romans — even those reinforcements marching toward us — will also have to honor your rules inside the Pomerian Line if you tell them to?"

"Of course!" Terminus said. "Do I look like I tolerate rule breakers?"

"Uh, Annabeth . . ." Leo said. "You sure this is a good idea?"

"It'll be fine," Annabeth said. "No one will be armed. We can talk in peace. Terminus will make sure each side obeys the rules." She looked at the marble statue. "Do we have an agreement?"

Terminus sniffed. "I suppose. For now. You may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my town."