the_blood_of_olympus_-_rick_riordan

‘Ruins!’ Leo rubbed his hands. ‘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.’
‘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 at the coastline of Pylos, now retreating in the distance. ‘If Piper saw the two 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.
Since she was the only one in the group who had actually died and come back to life, her
observation sort of killed the mood.
Frank held out the vial of Pylosian mint. ‘What about this stuff? After the House of Hades, I kind of
hoped we were done drinking poison.’
‘Store it securely in the hold,’ Annabeth said. ‘For now, that’s all we can do. Once we figure out
this chained god situation, we’ll head to the island of Delos.’
‘The curse of Delos,’ Hazel remembered. ‘That sounds fun.’
‘Hopefully Apollo will be there,’ Annabeth said. ‘Delos was his home island. He’s the god of
medicine. He should be able to advise us.’
Aphrodite’s words came back to Piper: You must bridge the gap between Roman and Greek, my
child. Neither storm nor fire can succeed without you.
Aphrodite had warned her of what was to come, told her what Piper would have to do to stop
Gaia. Whether or not she would have the courage … Piper didn’t know.
Off the port bow, the cherry-flavoured sea serpent spewed steam.
‘Yeah, it’s definitely checking us out,’ Percy decided. ‘Maybe we should take to the air for a
while.’
‘Airborne it is!’ Leo said. ‘Festus, do the honours!’
The bronze dragon figurehead creaked and clacked. The ship’s engine hummed. The oars lifted,
expanding into aerial blades with a sound like ninety umbrellas opening at once, and the Argo II rose
into the sky.
‘We should reach Sparta by morning,’ Leo announced. ‘And remember to come by the mess hall
tonight, folks, ’cause Chef Leo is making his famous three-alarm tofu tacos!’