The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4)(50)

Soon the monster had completely forgotten the Argo II. Hazel kept stabbing at its head. Piper kept yelling commands and using her cornucopia to bounce coconuts and roasted chickens off the turtle’s eyeballs.

As soon as the Argo II had passed into the straits, Arion broke off his harassment. They sped after the ship, and a moment later were back on deck.

The rocket fire had extinguished, though smoking bronze exhaust vents still jutted from the stern. The Argo II limped forward under sail power, but their plan had paid off. They were safely harbored in the narrow waters, with a long, rocky island to starboard and the sheer white cliffs of the mainland to port. The turtle stopped at the entrance to the straits and glared at them balefully, but it made no attempt to follow. Its shell was obviously much too wide.

Hazel dismounted and got a big hug from Frank. “Nice work out there!” he said.

Her face flushed. “Thanks.”

Piper slid down next to her. “Leo, since when do we have jet propulsion?”

“Aw, you know…” Leo tried to look modest and failed. “Just a little something I whipped up in my spare time. Wish I could give you more than a few seconds of burn, but at least it got us out of there.”

“And roasted the turtle’s head,” Jason said appreciatively. “So what now?”

“Kill it!” Coach said. “You even have to ask? We got enough distance. We got ballistae. Lock and load, demigods!”

Jason frowned. “Coach, first of all, you made me lose my sword.”

“Hey! I didn’t ask for an evac!”

“Second, I don’t think the ballistae will do any good. That shell is like Nemean Lion skin. Its head isn’t any softer.”

“So we chuck one right down its throat,” Coach said, “like you guys did with that shrimp monster thing in the Atlantic. Light it up from the inside.”

Frank scratched his head. “Might work. But then you’ve got a five-million-kilo turtle carcass blocking the entrance to the straits. If we can’t fly with the oars broken, how do we get the ship out?”

“You wait and fix the oars!” Coach said. “Or just sail the other direction, you big galoot.”

Frank looked confused. “What’s a galoot?”

“Guys!” Nico called down from the mast. “About sailing the other direction? I don’t think that’s going to work.”

He pointed past the prow.

A quarter mile ahead of them, the long rocky strip of land curved in and met the cliffs. The channel ended in a narrow V.

“We’re not in a strait,” Jason said. “We’re in a dead end.”

Hazel got a cold feeling in her fingers and toes. On the port rail, Gale the weasel sat up on her haunches, staring at Hazel expectantly.

“This is a trap,” Hazel said.

The others looked at her.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Leo said. “Worse that happens, we make repairs. Might take overnight, but I can get the ship flying again.”

At the mouth of the inlet, the turtle roared. It didn’t appear interested in leaving.

“Well…” Piper shrugged. “At least the turtle can’t get us. We’re safe here.”

That was something no demigod should ever say. The words had barely left Piper’s mouth when an arrow sank into the mainmast, six inches from her face.

The crew scattered for cover, except for Piper, who stood frozen in place, gaping at the arrow that had almost pierced her nose the hard way.

“Piper, duck!” Jason whispered harshly.

But no other missiles rained down.

Frank studied the angle of the bolt in the mast and pointed toward the top of the cliffs.

“Up there,” he said. “Single shooter. See him?”

The sun was in her eyes, but Hazel spotted a tiny figure standing at the top of the ledge. His bronze armor glinted.

“Who the heck is he?” Leo demanded. “Why is he firing at us?”

“Guys?” Piper’s voice was thin and watery. “There’s a note.”

Hazel hadn’t seen it before, but a parchment scroll was tied to the arrow shaft. She wasn’t sure why, but that made her angry. She stormed over and untied it.

“Uh, Hazel?” Leo said. “You sure that’s safe?”

She read the note out loud. “First line: Stand and deliver.”

“What does that mean?” Coach Hedge complained. “We are standing. Well, crouching, anyway. And if that guy is expecting a pizza delivery, forget it!”

“There’s more,” Hazel said. “This is a robbery. Send two of your party to the top of the cliff with all your valuables. No more than two. Leave the magic horse. No flying. No tricks. Just climb.”

“Climb what?” Piper asked.

Nico pointed. “There.”

A narrow set of steps was carved into the cliff, leading to the top. The turtle, the dead-end channel, the cliff…Hazel got the feeling this was not the first time the letter writer had ambushed a ship here.

She cleared her throat and kept reading aloud: “I do mean all your valuables. Otherwise my turtle and I will destroy you. You have five minutes.”

“Use the catapults!” cried the coach.

“P.S.,” Hazel read, “Don’t even think about using your catapults.”