Everything smelled like poison. Two days after leaving Venice, I still couldn't get the noxious scent of eau de cow monster out of my nose.
"Feeling any better?" Jasper asked.
He took my hand, his fingers completely covering mine. I couldn't believe how much taller he'd become. His shoulders had broadened. He walked with more confidence.
What Jasper had done on that bridge in Venice ... I was still in awe. None of us had actually seen the battle, but no one doubted it. Jasper's whole bearing had changed.
"I'm – I'm all right," I managed. "You?"
He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm, uh, taller. Otherwise, yeah. I'm good..."
"You can be honest with me, I won't judge you." I said.
Jasper's smile faded into a small frown. He leaned over and hugged me tightly, burying his face into my shoulder.
"I just..really thought I lost you." He said his voice was shaking. I could tell that wasn't the only thing bothering him. "And...I-I..." His shoulders began to shake. "I'm afraid."
He voice shook and he sounded ashamed of himself.
"I'm scared of myself." He said. "When I was killing all those monsters all I could think about was how it made me feel."
"How did it?" I asked quietly. He pulled away and I saw the pain in his eyes. There were tears threatening to fall and he looked guilty and ashamed.
"It felt good." The tears fell. "The entire time I just couldn't stop thinking about how easy it was for me to kill all the monsters and...and if those had been real people...how much blood would've been on my hands."
He shook his head and looked away from me. "I feel like a monster." The pain in his voice made my heart ache and my breathing hitch.
His eyes met mine again and his voice broke. "I think there's something wrong with me. I think I'm broken."
The last part came out a soft whisper.
I placed my hands on his face and wiped away his tears.
"Listen to me," I said gently. His tearful eyes lifted up and met mine. "You are not broken."
He sniffled.
"You are not a monster. You're just Jasper." I said, "Your height may have changed but you didn't."
At first, his new appearance had shocked me. I was worried that his personality had changed as well. But truthfully he hadn't. He was still just Jasper, my War Boy.
"You're still the same Jasper you've always been. Your favorite color is red, you say you don't like waking up early but you will just so you can watch the sunrise with me. You've lived in California your whole life but you've never gone surfing before. And most importantly you have an amazing girlfriend who cares about you very, very much."
He half smiled at the end.
"And she would do anything for you." I said sincerely, "She could watch you take down an entire legion and still stand by your side."
I took his hand and squeezed it. "And she'll never leave you."
"This girl sounds pretty amazing." He said his smile returning to his face.
I smirked. "She's the best."
Suddenly the boat lurched forward.
We tumbled over each other. Jasper accidentally gave me the Heimlich maneuver with his elbow and I curled on the deck, moaning and coughing up the taste of katobleps poison.
Through a fog of pain, I heard the ship's figurehead, Festus the bronze dragon, creaking in alarm and shooting fire, as well Jasper apologizing.
Dimly, I wondered if we'd hit an iceberg – but in the Adriatic, in the middle of summer?
The ship rocked to port with a massive commotion, like telephone poles snapping in half. Jasper helped me up and we raced to the deck.
"Gahh!" Leo yelled. "It's eating the oars!"
What is? I wondered.
Everyone else was scrambling. Jason jumped over Hazel and Frank who had fallen, with his sword drawn, and raced towards the stern. Piper was already on the quarterdeck, shooting food from her cornucopia and yelling, "Hey! HEY! Eat this, ya stupid turtle!"
Turtle?
I sprinted up the steps, shook my arm activating my bracelet, which instantly transformed into a bow and armor along my arm. By the time I reached the helm, I had already fired one arrow and was nocking the second.
Leo frantically worked the ship's controls. "Oars won't retract. Get it away! Get it away!"
Up in the rigging, Nico's face was slack with shock.
"Styx – it's huge!" he yelled. "Port! Go port!"
Coach Hedge was the last one on deck. He compensated for that with enthusiasm. He bounded up the steps, waving his baseball bat, and without hesitation goat-galloped to the stern and leaped over the rail with a gleeful "Ha-HA!"
The boat shuddered. More oars snapped, and Leo yelled, "No, no, no! Dang slimy-shelled son of a mother!"
I reached the stern and couldn't believe what I saw.When I heard the word turtle, I thought of a cute little thing the size of a jewelry box, sittingon a rock in the middle of a fishpond. When I heard huge, my mind tried to adjust – okay, perhaps it was like the Galapagos tortoise I'd seen in the zoo once, with a shell big enough to ride on.
I did not envision a creature the size of an island. When I saw the massive dome of craggy black and brown squares, the word turtle simply did not compute. Its shell was more like a landmass – hills of bone, shiny pearl valleys, kelp and moss forests, rivers of seawater trickling down the grooves of its carapace.
On the ship's starboard side, another part of the monster rose from the water like a submarine. Lares of Rome ... was that its head?
Its gold eyes were the size of wading pools, with dark sideways slits for pupils. Its skin glistened like wet army camouflage – brown flecked with green and yellow. Its red, toothless mouth could've swallowed the Athena Parthenos in one bite.
I watched as it snapped off half a dozen oars.
"Stop that!" Leo wailed.
Coach Hedge clambered around the turtle's shell, whacking at it uselessly with his baseball bat and yelling, "Take that! And that!"
Jason flew from the stern and landed on the creature's head. He stabbed his golden sword straight between its eyes, but the blade slipped sideways, as if the turtle's skin were greased steel. I shot arrows at the monster's eyes with no success. The turtle's filmy inner eyelids blinked with uncanny precision, deflecting each shot. Piper shot cantaloupes into the water, yelling,
"Fetch, ya stupid turtle!"
But the turtle seemed fixated on eating the Argo II.
"How did it get so close?" I demanded.
Leo threw his hands up in exasperation. "Must be that shell. Guess it's invisible to sonar. It's a freaking stealth turtle!"
"Can the ship fly?'"Piper asked.
"With half our oars broken off?" Leo punched some buttons and spun his Archimedes sphere. "I'll have to try something else."
"There!" Nico yelled from above. "Can you get us to those straits?"
I looked where he was pointing. About half a mile to the east, a long strip of land ran parallel to the coastal cliffs. It was hard to be sure from a distance, but the stretch of water between them looked to be only twenty or thirty yards across – possibly wide enough for the Argo II to slip through, but definitely not wide enough for the giant turtle's shell.
"Yeah. Yeah." Leo apparently understood. He turned the Archimedes sphere. "Jason, get away from that thing's head! I have an idea!"
Jason was still hacking away at the turtle's face, but when he heard Leo say, "I have an idea," he made the only smart choice. He flew away as fast as possible.
"Coach, come on!" Jason said.
"No, I got this!" Hedge said, but Jason grabbed him around the waist and took off. Unfortunately, the coach struggled so much that Jason's sword fell out of his hand and splashed into the sea.
"Coach!" Jason complained.
"What?" Hedge said. "I was softening him up!"
The turtle head-butted the hull, almost tossing the whole crew off the port side. I heard a cracking sound, like the keel had splintered.
"Just another minute," Leo said, his hands flying over the console.
"We might not be here in another minute!" I fired another arrow.
Piper and Jasper yelled at the turtle, "Go away!"
For a moment, it actually worked. The turtle turned from the ship and dipped its head underwater.
But then it came right back and rammed us even harder.
Jason and Coach Hedge landed on the deck.
"You all right?" Piper asked.
"Fine," Jason muttered. "Without a weapon, but fine."
"Fire in the shell!" Leo cried, spinning his Wii controller.
I thought the stern had exploded. Jets of fire blasted out behind us, washing over the turtle's head. The ship shot forward and threw me to the deck again.
I hauled myself up and saw that the ship was bouncing over the waves at incredible speed, trailing fire like a rocket. The turtle was already a hundred yards behind us, its head charred and smoking.
The monster bellowed in frustration and started after them, its paddle feet scooping through the water with such power that it actually started to gain on them. The entrance to the straits was still a quarter mile ahead.
"A distraction," Leo muttered. "We'll never make it unless we get a distraction."
"A distraction," Hazel repeated. She looked like she was concentrating very hard,
I spotted something on the horizon – a flash of light and steam. It streaked across the surface of the Adriatic. In a heartbeat, Arion stood on the quarterdeck.
Hazel climbed on his back. "Piper, I could use that charmspeak of yours."
"Once upon a time, I liked turtles," Piper muttered, accepting a hand up. "Not any more!"
Hazel spurred Arion. He leaped over the side of the boat, hitting the water at a full gallop.The turtle was a fast swimmer, but it couldn't match Arion's speed. Hazel and Piper zipped around the monster's head, Hazel slicing with her sword, Piper shouting random commands like,
"Dive! Turn left! Look behind you!"
The sword did no damage. Each command only worked for a moment, but they were making the turtle very annoyed. Arion whinnied derisively as the turtle snapped at him, only to get a mouthful of horse vapor.
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.""Leo, since when do we have jet propulsion?" I said giving him a pointed look.
"Aw, you know ..." Leo tried to look modest and failed. "Just a little something I whipped up in my spare time. Wish I could've given you more than a few seconds of burn, but at least it got us out of there."
"And roasted the turtle's head," Jasper 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 in the other direction, you big galoot."
Frank looked confused. "What's a galoot?"
"Guys!" Nico called down from the mast. "About sailing in the other direction? I don't think that's going to work."
He pointed past the prow.
A quarter mile ahead of us, 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." I got a cold feeling in her fingers and goosebumps on my arm. I knew this feeling. It was a rare feeling I got but it always meant trouble. It was like a vision but only the feelings.
"This is a trap," I said.
The others looked at me.
"Nah, it's fine," Leo said. "Worst 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.
I studied the angle of the bolt in the mast and pointed towards the top of the cliffs.
"Up there," I said. "Single shooter. See him?'
The sun was in everyone's eyes, but the one of the perks being the daughter of the sun god was that I could look into practically any bright light without it bothering me. I 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."
I hadn't seen it before, but a parchment scroll was tied to the arrow shaft. I wasn't sure why, but that made her angry. I stormed over and untied it.
"Uh, Eliana?" Leo said. "You sure that's safe?"
I 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," I 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 ... I got the feeling this was not the first time the letter writer had ambushed a ship here.
I cleared my 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." I read, "don't even think about using your catapults."
"Curse it!" said the coach. "This guy is good."
"Is the note signed?" Jasper asked.
I shook my head. I'd heard a story back at Camp Half-Blood, something about a robber who worked with a giant turtle, but, as usual, as soon as I needed the information it sat annoyingly in the back of my memory, just out of reach.
Leo studied the cliff top and muttered under his breath. "That's not a good trajectory. Even if I could arm the catapult before that guy pin cushioned us with arrows, I don't think I could make the shot. That's hundreds of feet, almost straight up.'
"Yeah," I grumbled. "My bow is useless too. He's got a huge advantage, being above us like that. I can't reach him."
"And, um ..." Piper nudged the arrow that was stuck in the mast. "I have a feeling he's a good shot. I don't think he meant to hit me. But if he did ..."
She didn't need to elaborate. Whoever that robber was, he could hit a target from hundreds of feet away. He could shoot them all before they could react.
"I'll go," Hazel said.
The others stared at her.
Frank gripped his bow. "Hazel –"
"No, listen," she said, "this robber wants valuables. I can go up there, summon gold, jewels,whatever he wants."
Leo raised an eyebrow. 'If we pay him off, you think he'll actually let us go?'
"We don't have much choice," Nico said. "Between that guy and the turtle ..."
Jason raised his hand. The others fell silent.
"I'll go too," he said. "The letter says two people. I'll take Hazel up there and watch her back.Besides, I don't like the look of those steps. If Hazel falls ... well, I can use the winds to keep us both from coming down the hard way."
"Jason ... yes. I think you're right. It's the best plan." Hazel said.
"Only wish I had my sword." Jason glared at the coach. "It's back there at the bottom of the sea, and we don't have Percy to retrieve it."
The name Percy passed over them like a cloud. The mood on deck got even darker.Hazel stretched out her arm.
Jason's blade flew out of the water and into her hand.
"Here," she said, handing it over.
Jason's eyes widened. "How ... That was like half a mile!"
"I've been practicing," she said.
"I'll go too," I said raising my hand. "It's always best to have three, right? Plus if things do go wrong I can keep you two alive."
Hazel and Jason nodded.
"Now, if there are no other objections, we have a robber to meet."
Now I didn't mind the outdoors but climbing a two-hundred-foot cliff on a stairway without rails? Not so much. Especially when we could have ridden Arion to the top in a matter of seconds.
Jason walked behind us so he could catch us if we fell. I appreciated that, but it didn't make the sheer drop any less scary.
I glanced to my right, which was a mistake. My foot almost slipped, sending a spray of gravel over the edge.
"You all right?" Jason asked.
"Yes." My heart hammered in my chest. "Fine."
I had no room to turn and look at him. I just had to trust he wouldn't let me plummet to my death. Since he could fly, he was the only logical backup. Still, I wished it was Jasper at my back.
Gale the weasel jumped off Hazel's shoulder and scampered ahead. She glanced back and barked eagerly.
"Going as fast as I can," Hazel muttered.
"This, uh, controlling the Mist," Jason said. "Have you had any luck?"
"No," Hazel admitted.
"You'll get it," Jason said. His tone seemed to surprise her. While they talked I was left to my own thoughts. I was thinking about how skilled this person was to make those shots with the sun blaring straight in the eyes, and from the angle they did. I couldn't lie, part of the reason I volunteered to come was to see this skilled archer. But I was also thinking about the prophecy.
Jason had been Hera's first move in the war against the giants. The Queen of Olympus had dropped Jason into Camp Half-Blood, which had started this entire chain of events to stop Gaia. Why Jason first? Something told me he was the linchpin. Jason would be the final play, too.
To storm or fire the world must fall.
Jason Grace could cause some pretty huge storms.
I glanced up and saw the rim of the cliff only a few yards above me.
I reached the top, breathless and sweaty. A long sloping valley marched inland, dotted with scraggly olive trees and limestone boulders. There were no signs of civilization.
My legs trembled from the climb. Gale seemed anxious to explore. The weasel barked and farted and scampered into the nearest bushes. Far below, the Argo II looked like a toy boat in the channel. I didn't understand how anyone could shoot an arrow accurately from this high up,accounting for the wind and the glare of the sun off the water, without being related to Apollo.
At the mouth of the inlet, the massive shape of the turtle's shell glinted like a burnished coin.
Jason joined me at the top, looking no worse for the climb.
He started to say, "Where –"
"Here!" said a voice.
I flinched. Only ten feet away, a man had appeared, a bow and quiver over his shoulder and two old-fashioned flintlock dueling pistols in his hands. He wore high leather boots, leather breeches and a pirate-style shirt. His curly black hair looked like a little kid's do and his sparkly green eyes were friendly enough, but a red bandanna covered the lower half of his face.
"Welcome!" the bandit cried, pointing his guns at us. "Your money or your life!"