He didn’t look like much, but Piper noticed that the other monsters kept their distance. Even Porphyrion leaned away from the old giant.
‘This is Thoon,’ Enceladus said. ‘Just as many of us were born to kill certain gods, Thoon was born to kill the Three Fates. He will strangle the old ladies with his bare hands. He will shred their yarn and destroy their loom. He will destroy Fate itself!’
King Porphyrion rose and spread his arms in triumph. ‘No more prophecies, my friends! No more futures foretold! The time of Gaia shall be our era, and we will make our own destiny!’
The crowd cheered so loudly that Piper felt as if she were crumbling to pieces.
Then she realized someone was shaking her awake.
‘Hey,’ Annabeth said. ‘We made it to Sparta. Can you get ready?’
Piper sat up groggily, her heart still pounding.
‘Yeah …’ She gripped Annabeth’s arm. ‘But first there’s something you need to hear.’
XIX
Piper
WHEN SHE RECOUNTED her dream for Percy, the ship’s toilets exploded.
‘No way are you two going down there alone,’ Percy said.
Leo ran down the hall waving a wrench. ‘Man, did you have to destroy the plumbing?’
Percy ignored him. Water ran down the gangway. The hull rumbled as more pipes burst and sinks overflowed. Piper guessed that Percy hadn’t meant to cause so much damage, but his glowering expression made her want to leave the ship as soon as possible.
‘We’ll be all right,’ Annabeth told him. ‘Piper foresaw the two of us going down there, so that’s what needs to happen.’
Percy glared at Piper like it was all her fault. ‘And this Mimas dude? I’m guessing he’s a giant?’
‘Probably,’ she said. ‘Porphyrion called him our brother.’
‘And a bronze statue surrounded by fire,’ Percy said. ‘And those … other things you mentioned. Mackies?’
‘Makhai,’ Piper said. ‘I think the word means battles in Greek, but I don’t know how that applies, exactly.’
‘That’s my point!’ Percy said. ‘We don’t know what’s down there. I’m going with you.’
‘No.’ Annabeth put her hand on his arm. ‘If the giants want our blood, the last thing we need is a boy and a girl going down there together. Remember? They want one of each for their big sacrifice.’
‘Then I’ll get Jason,’ Percy said. ‘And the two of us –’
‘Seaweed Brain, are you implying that two boys can handle this better than two girls?’
‘No. I mean … no. But –’
Annabeth kissed him. ‘We’ll be back before you know it.’
Piper followed her upstairs before the whole lower deck could flood with toilet water.
An hour later, the two of them stood on a hill overlooking the ruins of Ancient Sparta. They’d already scouted the modern city, which, strangely, reminded Piper of Albuquerque – a bunch of low, boxy, whitewashed buildings sprawled across a plain at the foot of some purplish mountains. Annabeth had insisted on checking the archaeology museum, then the giant metal statue of the Spartan warrior in the public square, then the National Museum of Olives and Olive Oil (yes, that was a real thing). Piper had learned more about olive oil than she ever wanted to know, but no giants attacked them. They found no statues of chained gods.
Annabeth seemed reluctant to check the ruins on the edge of town, but finally they ran out of other places to look.
There wasn’t much to see. According to Annabeth, the hill they stood on had once been Sparta’s acropolis – its highest point and main fortress – but it was nothing like the massive Athenian acropolis Piper had seen in her dreams.
The weathered slope was covered with dead grass, rocks and stunted olive trees. Below, ruins stretched out for maybe a quarter of a mile: limestone blocks, a few broken walls and some tiled holes in the ground like wells.
Piper thought about her dad’s most famous movie, King of Sparta, and how the Spartans were portrayed as invincible supermen. She found it sad that their legacy had been reduced to a field of rubble and a small modern town with an olive-oil museum.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead. ‘You’d think if there was a thirty-foot-tall giant around we’d see him.’
Annabeth stared at the distant shape of the Argo II floating
above downtown Sparta. She fingered the red coral pendant on her necklace – a gift from Percy when they started dating.
‘You’re thinking about Percy,’ Piper guessed.
Annabeth nodded.
Since she’d come back from Tartarus, Annabeth had told Piper a lot of scary things that had happened down there. At the top of her list: Percy controlling a tide of poison and suffocating the goddess Akhlys.
‘He seems to be adjusting,’ Piper said. ‘He’s smiling more often. You know he cares about you more than ever.’
Annabeth sat, her face suddenly pale. ‘I don’t know why it’s hitting me so hard all of a sudden. I can’t quite get that memory out of my head … how Percy looked when he was standing at the edge of Chaos.’
Maybe Piper was just picking up on Annabeth’s uneasiness, but she started to feel agitated as well.
She thought about what Jason had said last night: Part of me wanted to close my eyes and stop fighting.
She had tried her best to reassure him, but still she worried. Like that Cherokee hunter who changed into a serpent, all demigods had their share of bad spirits inside. Fatal flaws. Some crises brought them out. Some lines shouldn’t be crossed.
If that was true for Jason, how could it not be true for Percy? The guy had literally been through hell and back. Even when he wasn’t trying, he made the toilets explode. What would Percy be like if he wanted to act scary?
‘Give him time.’ She sat next to Annabeth. ‘The guy is crazy about you. You’ve been through so much together.’
‘I know …’ Annabeth’s grey eyes reflected the green of the olive trees. ‘It’s just … Bob the Titan, he warned me there would be more sacrifices ahead. I want to believe we can have a normal life someday … But I allowed myself to hope for that last summer, after the Titan War. Then Percy disappeared for months. Then we fell into that pit …’ A tear traced its way down her cheek. ‘Piper, if you’d seen the face of the god Tartarus, all swirling darkness, devouring monsters and vaporizing them – I’ve never felt so helpless. I try not to think about it …’
Piper took her friend’s hands. They were trembling badly. She remembered her first day at Camp Half-Blood, when Annabeth had given her a tour. Annabeth had been shaken up about Percy’s disappearance and, though Piper was pretty disoriented and scared herself, comforting Annabeth had made her feel needed, like she might actually have a place among these crazy-powerful demigods.
Annabeth Chase was the bravest person she knew. If even she needed a shoulder to cry on once in a while … well, Piper was glad to offer hers.
‘Hey,’ she said gently. ‘Don’t try to shut out the feelings. You won’t be able to. Just let them wash over you and drain out again. You’re scared.’
‘Gods, yes, I’m scared.’
‘You’re angry.’
‘At Percy for frightening me,’ she said. ‘At my mom for sending me on that horrible quest in Rome. At … well, pretty much everybody. Gaia. The giants. The gods for being jerks.’
‘At me?’ Piper asked.
Annabeth managed a shaky laugh. ‘Yes, for being so annoyingly calm.’
‘It’s all a lie.’
‘And for being a good friend.’
‘Ha!’
‘And for having your head on straight about guys and relationships and –’
‘I’m sorry. Have you met me?’
Annabeth punched her arm, but there was no force to it. ‘I’m stupid, sitting here talking about my feelings when we have a quest to finish.’
‘The chained god’s heartbeat can wait.’ Piper tried for a smile, but her own fears welled up inside her – for Jason and her friends on the Argo II, for herself, if she wasn’t able to do what Aphrodite had advised. In the end, you will only have the power for one word. It must be the right word, or you will lose everything.
‘Whatever happens,’ she told Annabeth, ‘I’m your friend. Just … remember that, okay?’
Especially if I’m not around to remind you, Piper thought.
Annabeth started to say something. Suddenly a roaring sound came from the ruins. One of the stone-lined pits, which Piper had mistaken for wells, spewed out a three-storey geyser of flames and shut off just as quickly.
‘What the heck?’ Piper asked.
Annabeth sighed. ‘I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’s something we should check out.’