LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XXV.

MIA SPOTTED THE secret entrance immediately.

"Oh, that's beautiful." Leo, standing next to her at the helm, maneuvered the ship over the ruins of Epidaurus.

Also standing next to her on the quarterdeck, Percy peered over the railing over her shoulder, because she was sitting on a crate so she was just as tall as him.

"Looks like more rubble," he noted.

His face was still green from his underwater poisoning, but at least he wasn't running to the bathroom to upchuck quite so often. Between him and Hazel's seasickness, it had been impossible to find an unoccupied toilet onboard for the past few days.

Mia pointed to the disc-shaped structure about fifty yards off their port side. "There."

Leo smiled. "Exactly. See, the stargirl knows her stuff."

"Only Percy can call me that, crippling insomniac," Mia scrunched up her nose.

"Fine, fellow crippling insomniac."

The rest of the crew gathered around.

"What are we looking at?" Frank asked.

"Ah, Señor Zhang," Leo said, "you know how you're always saying, 'Leo, you are the only true genius among demigods'?"

"I'm pretty sure I never said that."

"Well, turns out there are other true geniuses! Because one of them must have made that work of art down there."

"It's a stone circle," Frank said. "Probably the foundation of an old shrine."

Piper shook her head. "No, it's more than that. Look at the ridges and grooves carved around the rim."

"Like the teeth of a gear," Jason offered.

"And those concentric rings." Hazel pointed to the center of the structure, where curved stones formed a sort of bull's-eye. "The pattern reminds me of Pasiphaë's pendant: the symbol of the Labyrinth."

"Huh." Leo scowled. "Well, I hadn't thought of that. But think mechanical. Frank, Hazel . . . where did we see concentric circles like that before?"

"The laboratory under Rome," Frank said.

"The Archimedes lock on the door," Hazel recalled. "It had rings within rings."

Percy snorted. "You're telling me that's a massive stone lock? It's, like, fifty feet in diameter."

"Leo might be right," Annabeth said. "In ancient times, the temple of Asclepius was like the General Hospital of Greece. Everybody came here for the best healing. Aboveground, it was the size of a major city, but supposedly the real action happened belowground. That's where the high priests had their intensive-care super-magical-type compound, accessed by a secret passage."

Percy scratched his ear. "So, if that big round thing is the lock, how do we get the key?"

"Way ahead of you, Aquaman," Leo said.

"Okay, do not call me Aquaman. That's even worse than water boy."

Leo turned to Jason and Piper. "You guys remember the giant Archimedes grabber arm I told you I was building?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were kidding."

"He was not kidding," Mia drawled. "I watched him make it. It was . . . certainly something, alright."

"I never kid about giant grabber arms!" Leo agreed, rubbing his hands in anticipation. "It's time to go fishing for prizes!"

Leo extended the arm, guided by the console monitor and Jason, who flew outside, yelling directions.