NEVER BE THE SAME . . . percy jackson

one hundred and seven: the reassurance.

AFTER THAT INCIDENT, the crew gathered for a hurried meeting on the foredeck the next day — after Piper and Frank went looking for poison to make even more poison — 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."

"Dare you to swim over and find out," Brooklyn smirked.

"How about no."

"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 about a vision she'd seen," Hazel said, looking over at Piper, who was staring in the distance with a worried expression. "Piper?"

She 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 her knife. "I, um . . ." she stared at it with furrowed eyebrows, "I don't see anything right now. But one vision kept popping up. Annabeth 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 two 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," Hazel warned.

Since she was the only one in the group who had actually died and come back to life, her observation kind of killed the mood.

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."