DIVINE » l. valdez

xxxiii

❝you won't believe the mess that we've become ❞

Researching everything she could about the Oracle of Delphi and Delos, only made Hina more anxious. No one held control over the Oracle, so whatever was happening with Dephi was dangerous.

She only became more on edge, when Percy, Leo, Frank, and Hazel returned with Nike. They filled the crew in on what they learned: someone had to die to defeat Gaea, the physician's cure was their only hope to defy the fate, and the rift between the Romans and Greeks was still deadly.

Frank and Piper had set out to find an ingredient for the cure, and finally arrived back on the Argo II.

The crew assembled on the foredeck to meet up while Percy kept his eyes on a giant red sea serpent lingering along the horizon.

"That thing is really red," Percy muttered. "I wonder if it's cherry-flavoured."

"Why don't you swim over and find out?" Annabeth asked.

"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."

"Please never say that again," Hina begged.

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?"

Hina could see him grimace, his sword wound still painful. She frowned. Jason still refused to let her help heal the Celestial bronze wound.

Hazel asked Piper about her visions but she seemed too distracted to notice.

"Piper?" Hazel asked.

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 stuttered. She unsheathed the blade, studying it cautiously. "I, um ...'I don't see anything right now. But one vision kept popping up. Annabeth, Hina and I are exploring some ruins –"

"Oh, ruins!" Leo rubbed his hands together, and Hina wondered if he was going to start a fire. "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."

Hina grinned, wrapping Leo's arms around her. 

"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 out at the disappearing coastline. "If Piper saw the three 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.

She was the only one who had fully experienced dying, which darkened the mood. Hina's own brush against death seemed like nothing compared to Hazel's explanation of coming back to life.