The Mark Of Athena

Piper, Jason, and Percy quickly find the circular stairwell they are looking for, and Piper reveals that Katoptris showed the three of them drowning in a cylindrical room. Puzzled, Percy reminds her that he cannot drown and offers to investigate first. When he returns, he assures Jason and Piper that the room is holding no water but also has no exits. The three descend together. When he steps into the middle of the room, green and blue lights appear on the walls, accompanied by the sound of a fountain and the smell of the ocean. Jason notes that the room is a nymphaeum, “a shrine to the nymphs” (355).

The room feels “hostile,” not what Piper associates with the flirty, gossipy nymphs at Camp Half-Blood (356). Jason shares that that ancient Romans had them outside their villas to ensure fresh water, and demigods would invite nymphs to live in their nymphaeum, for good luck. Percy reminds him that this would bind the nymph to the water source. Piper wonders what would happen to nymphs bound to an underground nymphaeum. The sound of water transforms to hissing, the lights turn purple and lime, and “nine desiccated zombie nymphs” appear to answer her question: They would suffer and wait for revenge (357).

The nine nymphs reveal that they were present at the birth of Zeus and promised honors back “in the old country, in Greece” (358). A son of Jupiter invited them a new home in Rome, but when the city fell, the nymphs’ master did not release them. They have been trapped for centuries without water, and now their minds are warped with hatred. Piper and Percy offer to help them, but they reveal they are working for the giant twins who promised that if the nymphs deal with the demigods, they will be freed from their suffering. The chamber begins filling with “sickly dark water, like oil” (359).

As black water pours into the chamber, Piper recalls Achelous reminding her of a Cherokee flood story that her father used to tell her. In the story, a family’s dog gives them the key to surviving a flood: build a raft and sacrifice the dog. When the father grabs him to throw into the water, he is revealed to be a skeleton. The family survives the flood. Piper wonders why Achelous reminded her of the story, feeling that she is already dead.

The room fills quickly, and the demigods cannot find a way out. Percy dives underground to try to locate a drain and barely makes it back to the surface. Poisoned by the nymphs’ malice, the water is abnormal; Percy cannot breathe in it. The nymphs are draining the demigods’ power. As the water reaches their chins, Piper remembers the skeleton dog’s sacrifice and how her cornucopia works. Her plan is to channel Jason and Percy’s power through the cornucopia to flood the chamber with clean, fresh water. She urges them to work together, offering their power as a gift to the nymphs.

Clean water blasts out of the cornucopia, quickly filling the room to the ceiling. Just before the demigods go under, Piper tells Jason she loves him. Just as Piper wonders if the room will crack, the water begins draining. Piper breaks the surface and pulls up Percy and Jason, saving them. The nine nymphs are now young and beautiful. Eight vanish, leaving one behind, who explains that the demigods have released the nymphs, who will now go in search of new homes. Both the stairs and a sewer pipe appear; the demigods can choose to return to the surface or descend further to find the giants.