𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

96

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

The Argo II really wasn't in good shape to fly, but Leo had got her airborne after only one night of work. Somehow they'd made it to their next destination.

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

"Looks like more rubble," Percy noted, peering over the rails.

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 somewhere overboard. "There."

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

Jason and 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."

Dante shook his 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.

In the morning light, he looked gorgeous. His blue and brown eyes were so mesmerizing, Jason was willing to forget the whole quest if it meant they could laze around in bed, just napping next to each other.

He'd tried to sleep alone a few times after Tartarus, but sleeping next to Dante always made Jason feel safer. Sometimes he'd wake up in the middle of the night, heart racing from a nightmare and he'd find Dante in his arms. Slowly, he'd bury his face in his hair and slip back into sleep.

That morning, Dante was wearing a sleeveless top that showed off his shoulders (also his scar) and Jason felt like a Victorian man seeing a woman's ankles for the first time.

The memories of the previous night played on repeat in his mind and he tried and failed to catch Dante's eye.

"And those concentric rings." Hazel pointed to the centre 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."