tartarus and back ⇩

36. preparing for battle.

After their encounter with Kym, the Argo II limped through the Aegean, too damaged to fly, too slow to outrun monsters. They fought hungry sea serpents about every hour. They attracted schools of curious fish. At one point they got stuck on a rock, and Percy and Jason had to get out and push. Not that I was complaining, of course, because I love the ocean.

When I wasn't defending the ship or helping where I could, I was studying. I'd forgotten too much about monsters and I was behind in my education. It also kept me from thinking about how we were sailing towards our death.

Both Percy and I were green in the face from our underwater poisoning. The bathroom was nearly impossible to find open, between Hazel, Percy, and I's sea poisoning.

I only came out of my cabin when Annabeth knocked on my door holding a cup of peanut butter gelato.

The whole crew sat on deck, without a storm or a monster attack to worry about for the first time in days, and ate ice cream. Well, except for Frank, who was lactose intolerant. He got an apple.

Curving off to their starboard side was the town of Mykonos – a collection of white stucco buildings with blue roofs, blue windows and blue doors.

"We saw these pelicans walking around town," Percy reported. "Like, just going through the shops, stopping at the bars."

Hazel frowned. "Monsters in disguise?"

"No," Annabeth said, laughing, "just regular old pelicans. They're the town mascots or something. And there's a "Little Italy" section of town. That's why the gelato is so good."

"Europe is messed up." Leo shook his head. "First we go to Rome for Spanish steps. Then we go to Greece for Italian ice cream."

I laughed. "It's still beautiful, though. Glad to know the world wasn't ruined in six years."

Everyone's mood dampened whenever I brought up Tartarus, but I needed to come to terms with it.

Piper set down her ice-cream cup. "So, the island of Delos is right across the harbour. Artemis and Apollo's home turf. Who's going?"

"Me." Leo said immediately.

Everybody stared at him.

"What?" Leo demanded. "I'm diplomatic and stuff. Frank and Hazel volunteered to back me up."

"We did?" Frank lowered his half-eaten apple. "I mean... sure we did."

Hazel's gold eyes flashed in the sunlight. "Leo, did you have a dream about this or something?"

"Yes," Leo blurted. "Well ... no. Not exactly. But ... you got to trust me on this, guys. I need to talk to Apollo and Artemis. I've got an idea I need to bounce off them."

I didn't know the other very well, not even Percy and Annabeth. But it was pretty obvious that Leo was planning something, and wasn't planning on telling the rest of us.

Annabeth frowned. She looked like she might object, but Jason spoke up.

"If Leo has an idea," he said, "we need to trust him."

"Thanks, man."

Percy shrugged. "Okay. But a word of advice: when you see Apollo, don't mention haiku."

I sighed; another journey Percy had that I missed out on.

Hazel knitted her eyebrows. "Why not? Isn't he the god of poetry?"

"Just trust me."

"Got it." Leo rose to his feet. "And, guys, if they have a souvenir shop on Delos, I'm totally bringing you back some Apollo and Artemis bobblehead!"