ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

95

KAT SPOTTED THE secret entrance immediately.

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

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, and KitKats, because Kat and Frank had wrestled in the hallway last night and she'd gotten a bruise from it and they didn't have any left to heal the bruise. And because she'd lost, she owed him a KitKat. Which, like, what the fuck.

"Looks like more rubble," noted Percy, staring over the railing.

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. Kat hopped down from her perch on the foremast, landing right next to Frank and scaring him. Revenge.

"What are we looking at?" asked Frank, his eyes still wide.

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

"No one has ever said that to you," drawled Kat, pressing against Frank.

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

"It's a stone circle," said Frank. "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," offered Jason.

"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," realized Frank.

"The Archimedes lock on the door," recalled Hazel. "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," said Annabeth. "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."

"Besides, the best vault doors are basically giant locks," commented Kat. "This is essentially just a giant vault."

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

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

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

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

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