THE HEALER| Heroes of Olympus

s e v e n

I spotted the secret entrance immediately. 

"Oh, that's beautiful." Leo maneuvered the ship over the ruins of Epidaurus.

The Argo II really wasn't in good shape to fly, but Leo had got her airborne after only one night of work. With the world ending tomorrow morning, he was highly motivated.

He'd primed the oar flaps. He'd injected Styx water into the samophlange. He'd treated Festus the figurehead to his favorite brew – thirty-weight motor oil and Tabasco sauce. Even Buford the Wonder Table had pitched in, rattling around below decks while his holographic Mini-Hedge yelled, "GIVE ME THIRTY PUSH-UPS!" to inspire the engine.

Now, at last, we hovered over the ancient temple complex of the healing god Asclepius, where we could hopefully find the physician's cure and maybe also some ambrosia, nectar and Fonzies, because my supplies were running low.

Next to Leo on the quarterdeck, Percy peered over the railing.

"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.

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

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

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," Jasper 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," I said. "In ancient times, the temple of Asclepius was like the General Hospital of Greece. Everybody came here for the best healing. Above ground, it was the size of a major city, but supposedly the real action happened below ground. 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?"