LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XX.

THE NEXT DAY, the crew gathered for a hurried meeting on the foredeck after Frank and Piper came back from searching for poison for the entire morning or however much time had passed — mostly because Percy was keeping an eye on a giant red sea serpent swimming off the port side.

"That thing is really red," Percy muttered. "I wonder if it's cherry-flavored."

"Why don't you swim over and find out?" Mia asked.

"How about no." He was staring at her weirdly. That probably meant that they were going to talk later. Damn it.

"Anyway," Frank said, "according to my Pylos cousins, the chained god we're looking for in Sparta is my dad . . . uh, I mean Ares, not Mars. Apparently the Spartans kept a statue of him chained up in their city so the spirit of war would never leave them."

"Oo-kay," Leo said. "The Spartans were freaks. Of course, we've got Victory tied up downstairs, so I guess we can't talk."

Jason leaned against the forward ballista. "On to Sparta, then. But how does a chained god's heartbeat help us find a cure for dying?"

"Piper told me she'd seen some visions in Katoptris," Hazel said, looking toward Piper pointedly, who was staring at the horizon unblinkingly. "Piper?"

Piper stirred. "Sorry, what?"

"I was asking you about the visions," Hazel prompted. "You told me you'd seen some stuff in your dagger blade?"

"Uh . . . right." Piper unsheathed Katoptris. "I, um . . . I don't see anything right now. But one vision kept popping up. Annabeth, Mia and I are exploring some ruins—"

"Ruins!" Leo rubbed his hands. "Now we're talking. How many ruins can there be in Greece?"

"Quiet, Leo," Annabeth scolded. "Piper, do you think it was Sparta?"

"Maybe," Piper said. "Anyway . . . suddenly we're in this dark place like a cave. We're staring at this bronze warrior statue. In the vision I touch the statue's face and flames start swirling around us. That's all I saw."

"Flames." Frank scowled. "I don't like that vision."

"Me neither." Percy kept one eye on the red sea serpent, which was still slithering through the waves about a hundred yards to port. "If the statue engulfs people in fire, we should send Leo."

"I love you too, man."

"You know what I mean. You're immune. Or, heck, give me some of those nice water grenades and I'll go. Ares and I have tangled before."

Annabeth stared at the coastline of Pylos, now retreating in the distance. "If Piper saw the three of us going after the statue, then that's who should go. We'll be all right. There's always a way to survive."

"Not always," Mia warned. She didn't want to go on this excursion. But if the stars willed it . . .

Frank held out the vial of Pylosian mint. "What about this stuff? After the House of Hades, I kind of hoped we were done drinking poison."

"Store it securely in the hold," Annabeth said. "For now, that's all we can do. Once we figure out this chained god situation, we'll head to the island of Delos."

"The curse of Delos," Hazel remembered. "That sounds fun."

"Hopefully Apollo will be there," Annabeth said. "Delos was his home island. He's the god of medicine. He should be able to advise us."

Off the port bow, the cherry-flavored sea serpent spewed steam.

"Yeah, it's definitely checking us out," Percy decided. "Maybe we should take to the air for a while."