The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5)(48)

‘You need not worry, princess,’ Enceladus said. ‘We have taken Delphi. Apollo was driven out of Olympus in shame. The future is closed to the gods. They stumble forward blindly. As for tempting fate …’ He gestured to his left, and a smaller giant shuffled forward. He had ratty grey hair, a wrinkled face and eyes that were milky with cataracts. Instead of armour, he wore a tattered sackcloth tunic. His dragon-scale legs were as white as frost.

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.’