The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5)(46)

‘How can you be so sure?’

Piper studied the tattoo on his forearm – SPQR, the eagle of Jupiter, twelve lines for his years in the legion. ‘My dad used to tell me this story about making choices …’ She shook her head. ‘No, never mind. I’ll sound like Grandpa Tom.’

‘Go on,’ Jason said. ‘What’s the story?’

‘Well … these two Cherokee hunters were out in the woods, right? Each of them was under a taboo.’

‘A taboo – something they weren’t allowed to do.’

‘Yeah.’ Piper began to relax. She wondered if this was why her dad and granddad always liked telling stories. You could make even the most terrifying topic easier to talk about by framing it as something that happened to a couple of Cherokee hunters hundreds of years ago. Take a problem; turn it into entertainment. Perhaps that’s why her dad had become an actor.

‘So one of the hunters,’ she continued, ‘he wasn’t supposed to eat deer meat. The other guy wasn’t supposed to eat squirrel meat.’

‘Why?’

‘Hey, I don’t know. Some Cherokee taboos were permanent no-no’s, like killing eagles.’ She tapped the symbol on Jason’s arm. ‘That was bad luck for almost everybody. But sometimes, individual Cherokee took on temporary taboos – maybe to cleanse their spirit, or because they knew, from listening to the spirit world or whatever, that the taboo was important. They went with their instincts.’

‘Okay.’ Jason sounded unsure. ‘So back to these two hunters.’

‘They were out hunting in the woods all day. The only things they caught were squirrels. At night they made camp, and the guy who could eat squirrel meat started cooking it over the fire.’

‘Yum.’

‘Another reason I’m a vegetarian. Anyway, the second hunter, who wasn’t allowed squirrel meat – he was starving. He just sat there clutching his stomach while his friend ate. Finally the first hunter started feeling guilty. “Ah, go ahead,” he said. “Eat some.” But the second hunter resisted. “It’s taboo for me. I’ll get in serious trouble. I’ll probably turn into a snake or something.” The first hunter laughed. “Where did you get that crazy idea? Nothing will happen to you. You can go back to avoiding squirrel meat tomorrow.” The second hunter knew he shouldn’t, but he ate.’

Jason traced his finger across her knuckles, which made it hard to concentrate. ‘What happened?’

‘In the middle of the night, the second hunter woke up screaming in pain. The first hunter ran over to see what was wrong. He threw off his friend’s covers and saw that his friend’s legs had fused together in a leathery tail. As he watched, snakeskin crept up his friend’s body. The poor hunter wept and apologized to the spirits and cried in fear, but there was nothing to be done. The first hunter stayed by his side and tried to comfort him until the unfortunate guy fully transformed into a giant snake and slithered away. The end.’

‘I love these Cherokee stories,’ Jason said. ‘They’re so cheerful.’

‘Yeah, well.’

‘So the guy turned into a snake. The moral is: Frank has been eating squirrels?’

She laughed, which felt good. ‘No, stupid. The point is, trust your instincts. Squirrel meat might be just fine for one person, but taboo for another. The second hunter knew he had a serpent spirit inside him, waiting to take over. He knew he shouldn’t feed that bad spirit by eating squirrel meat, but he did it anyway.’

‘So … I shouldn’t eat squirrels.’

Piper was relieved to see the gleam in his eyes. She thought about something Hazel had confided to her a few nights ago: I think Jason is the linchpin to Hera’s whole scheme. He was her first play; he’s going to be her last.

‘My point,’ Piper said, poking his chest, ‘is that you, Jason Grace, are very familiar with your own bad spirits, and you try your best not to feed them. You have solid instincts, and you know how to follow them. Whatever annoying qualities you have, you are a genuinely good person who always tries to make the right choice. So no more talk about giving up.’

Jason frowned. ‘Wait. I have annoying qualities?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Come here.’

She was about to kiss him when there was a knock on the door.

Leo leaned inside. ‘A party? Am I invited?’

Jason cleared his throat. ‘Hey, Leo. What’s going on?’

‘Oh, not much.’ He pointed upstairs. ‘The usual obnoxious venti trying to destroy the ship. You ready for guard duty?’

‘Yeah.’ Jason leaned forward and kissed Piper. ‘Thanks. And don’t worry. I’m good.’

‘That,’ she told him, ‘was kind of my point.’

After the boys left, Piper lay on her pegasus-down pillows and watched the constellations her lamp projected on the ceiling. She didn’t think she could sleep, but a full day of fighting monsters in the summer heat had taken its toll. At last she closed her eyes and drifted into a nightmare.

The Acropolis.

Piper had never been there, but she recognized it from pictures – an ancient stronghold perched on a hill almost as impressive as Gibraltar. Rising four hundred feet over the night-time sprawl of modern Athens, the sheer cliffs were topped with a crown of limestone walls. On the clifftop, a collection of ruined temples and modern cranes gleamed silver in the moonlight.