LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XXI.

MIA HADN'T BEEN sleeping much since Tartarus, but she'd been rudely interrupted from doing her makeup by her door slamming open. She'd flinched, her lipstick going way off her lips.

"Do you not know how to knock or something?" Mia asked Piper, wiping off the lipstick gingerly. "Hazel's on the other side, and she's sleeping."

"Sorry," Piper winced. "I have to tell you and Annabeth something. It's — uh, important."

"Not more important than coffee," Mia said, standing up and walking out of the room. "Let me get it first, then we'll talk."

When Piper recounted her dream for Mia and Percy, the ship's toilets exploded. And that definitely wasn't a power that Mia had.

"No way are you three going down there alone," Percy said.

Leo ran down the hall waving a wrench. "Man, did you have to destroy the plumbing?"

Percy ignored him. Water ran down the gangway. The hull rumbled as more pipes burst and sinks overflowed. Mia rolled her eyes. Dramatic little shit.

"We'll be all right," Annabeth told him. "Piper foresaw the three of us going down there, so that's what needs to happen."

Percy glared at Piper. "And this Mimas dude? I'm guessing he's a giant?"

"Probably," she said. "Porphyrion called him our brother."

"And a bronze statue surrounded by fire," Percy said. "And those . . . other things you mentioned. Mackies?"

"Makhai," Piper corrected. "I think the word means battles in Greek, but I don't know how that applies, exactly."

"That's my point!" Percy said. "We don't know what's down there. I'm going with you."

"No." Mia held him back with the back of her hand pressed lightly against his chest. "If the giants want our blood, the last thing we need is a boy and a girl going down there together. Remember? They want one of each for their big sacrifice."

"Then I'll get Leo and Jason," Percy said. "And the three of us —"

"Delphinus, are you implying that three boys can handle this better than three girls?"

"No." He stopped at the nickname. "I mean . . . no. But —"

"We'll be back before you know it," Mia told him. "Besides, me and Nico have done worse. Go-karting in Tokyo resulted in accidental arson. Don't ask me how. Bye!"

She turned and left before the whole lower deck could flood with toilet water, causing her outfit to become dirty.

An hour later, the three of them stood on a hill overlooking the ruins of Ancient Sparta. They'd already scouted the modern city, which, strangely, reminded Mia of Albuquerque — a bunch of low, boxy, whitewashed buildings sprawled across a plain at the foot of some purplish mountains. Annabeth had insisted on checking the archaeology museum, then the giant metal statue of the Spartan warrior in the public square, then the National Museum of Olives and Olive Oil ( yes, that was a real thing ). Mia had learned more about olive oil than she ever wanted to know, but no giants attacked them. They found no statues of chained gods.

Annabeth seemed reluctant to check the ruins on the edge of town, but finally they ran out of other places to look.

There wasn't much to see. According to Annabeth, the hill they stood on had once been Sparta's acropolis — its highest point and main fortress.

The weathered slope was covered with dead grass, rocks and stunted olive trees. Below, ruins stretched out for maybe a quarter of a mile: limestone blocks, a few broken walls and some tiled holes in the ground like wells. She found it depressing that their legacy had been reduced to a field of rubble and a small modern town with an olive-oil museum.