invisible string | f. zhang

xxviii. dolphin men

chapter twenty eight. dolphin men

MARIBELLE BARELY HAD TIME TO WONDER what the lump was laying beside her when she woke up that morning. The ship had tilted, causing her to crash straight into whoever else was in her bed.

She jolts awake, rubbing her eyes and cursing herself for not taking out her contacts.

"Frank," She shakes the boy but he keeps snoring as if he didn't feel the whole ship rock. It moves again and she's jerked out of bed. Maribelle groans as she sits up, Frank had finally jolted awake and was looking around confused.

"Wha—"

"Something's wrong," Maribelle says.

A loud horn thunders through the Argo II. They both scramble out of the room and up to the main deck where everyone else was also gathering.

About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glides past. Tourists wave at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. Maribelle briefly wondered what their ship looked like to the tourists.

The cruise ship blows its horn again, and the Argo II has a shaking fit.

Coach Hedge plugs his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"

"They're just saying hi," Frank speculates.

"WHAT?" Hedge yells back.

The ship moves past them, heading out to sea. The tourists kept waving.

"Bye!" Leo calls, raising his smoking hand.

"Can I man the ballistae?" Hedge asks.

"No," Leo says through a forced smile.

Hazel rubs her eyes and looks across the glittering green water. "Where are — oh . . . wow."

Maribelle follows her gaze and gasps. Without the cruise ship blocking their view, she saw a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north. On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below. On the other side, the mountain slopes in tiers, covered in a green forest, so that the whole thing reminded Piper of a colossal sphinx, worn down over the millennia, with a massive white head and chest, and a green cloak over its back.

"The Rock of Gibraltar," Annabeth says in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there —" She points south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."

The morning was warm, Maribelle shifts herself closer to Percy who was yawning. He smiles at her when he notices and ruffles her already messed-up hair. She slaps his hand away.

"What now?" Maribelle asks, "Do we just sail in?"

"Why not?" Leo says, "It's a big shipping channel. Boats go in and out all the time."

"In the old days," Annabeth begins, "they called this area the pillars of Hercules. The Rock was supposed to be one pillar. The other was one of the African mountains. Nobody is sure which one."

"Hercules, huh?" Percy frowns, "That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you turn — there he is."

A thunderous boom shakes the Argo II. Maribelle clings to Percy, "So . . . these Pillars of Hercules. Are they dangerous?"

"For Greeks, the pillars marked the end of the known world. The Romans said the pillars were inscribed with a Latin warning —"

"Non plus ultra, " Percy says.