The Mark Of Athena

While Annabeth and the other demigods split up to go on their separate missions, Percy stays behind, planning to jump into the harbor to get advice from the local Nereids about how to free Keto’s captive sea creatures. Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel head for the Battery. As the girls stroll, Annabeth contrasts the beauty of the surroundings and the sinister history of slavery that is bound up in it. She worries about the deadline to save Nico, about whom she has “mixed feelings” (168). Piper catches sight of the ghost, but Hazel claims that she glows too brightly to be a ghost. As the apparition approaches, Annabeth realizes that it is Aphrodite/Venus, who is filling Annabeth with feelings of inadequacy. Piper is not happy to see her mother, who brings the girls to a pavilion for tea.

Annabeth asks if she is Aphrodite or Venus, and she replies that she is both, claiming, “Love is love,” hence the civil war will not affect her as much as some of the other gods (170). Annabeth notes that the only gods who seem able to help them heading into the war represent love, revenge, and wine. Aphrodite reminisces about a party the Confederates threw the night the Civil War began in the same area they now sit enjoying tea. Horrified, Annabeth reminds her that it was “the bloodiest war in U.S. history” (172). Aphrodite continues unabashed.

Claiming to want to help the girls, she notes that the Romans “sidelined” Athena, “the most Greek of all goddesses” (173). Neither the Greeks nor Athena ever forgave the Romans. Annabeth realizes the Mark of Athena leads to “the statue” (173, italics in original). Aphrodite replies that Athena’s children have been looking for it for centuries, in the meantime largely being responsible for every civil war. Reminding Annabeth that none of Athena’s children have managed to find the statue, Aphrodite tells them that the map they need is located nearby in Fort Sumpter. Two large eagles suddenly appear. The Romans have found them.

The girls run for the ship, but three eagles drop Octavian and two other Roman commandos in their path. Octavian demands they throw down their weapons and surrender. With the other scouting group still out, and Percy in the harbor, Annabeth thinks of a distress signal: She tosses her dagger into the water. The harbor explodes “like a Las Vegas fountain putting on a show” (176). Emerging from the water, Percy hands Annabeth her dagger.

They rush back to the ship and send messages to the others to return quickly. Annabeth and Percy get the ship moving. Festus blows fire to keep the eagles away. Frank, Leo, and Jason struggle to make it back to the ship, finally disappearing behind the fort’s ramparts. Eagles carrying Roman demigods rush the ship. Annabeth orders Percy to guard the ship so she can go into the fort and recover their friends and the map.

The Mist obscures the fighting between the Roman demigods and Jason, Leo, Frank, and Annabeth, but the morals are panicked, providing cover for Annabeth to move deeper into the fort while the others head back to the ship. As Annabeth tries to imagine where the map could be hidden, spiders cover the walls and surround her. She recalls a memory from her childhood of spiders surrounding her at night as she slept. Later, she learned that all Athena’s children fear spiders, a consequence of Athena’s curse of Arachne.

Now, Annabeth hears Gaea tell her that she will soon meet “the weaver” (182, italics in original). Athena’s owl blazes red along the wall, burning up the spiders. Annabeth hears her mother command her to “Avenge me. Follow the Mark” (183, italics in original). The garrison door blasts open. Explosions rock the fort. The Argo is under attack, but a storm is holding the Romans back. The Mark of Athena glows along a cannon, in which Annabeth recovers a hidden disk that contains the map.

As she turns to leave, Reyna appears with her dogs. She wants Annabeth to surrender and accept a show trial and execution to prevent further violence. If Annabeth chooses not to, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood and destroy it. Annabeth tells Reyna the quest must go on and asks her to delay the Romans for as long as possible. On the Argo’s deck, Annabeth sees Jason and Percy working together, commanding the sea and sky to slow the Roman attack. Reyna warns her that the next time they meet, they will be on opposite enemy lines, then retreats. Annabeth rushes back to the ship, and they race across the ocean (186).