Warriors || Leo Valdez [2]

22

Hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "Where are-oh... Wow."

Alex followed her gaze and gasped. She saw a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north. Alex had seen impressive cliffs before. But none as amazing as this massive fist of blinding white rock thrust into the sky. On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below, as near as Alex could figure. On the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forest, so that the whole thing reminded Alex 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 said in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there-" She pointed 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, but Alex shivered. Despite the wide stretch of sea in front of them, she felt like she was standing at an impassable barrier. Once in the Mediterranean-the Mare Nostrum-they would be in the ancient lands. If the legends were true, their quest would become ten times more dangerous.

"What now?" Alex asked. "Do we just sail in?"

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

Not triremes full of demigods, Alex thought.

"In the old days," Annabeth said, "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 frowned. "That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you turn-there he is."

A thunderous boom shook the Argo II, though Alex wasn't sure where it came from this time. She didn't see any other ships, and the skies were clear.

"So... these Pillars of Hercules. Are they dangerous?" Piper asked.

Annabeth stayed focused on the white cliffs, as if waiting for the Mark of Athena to blaze to life. "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 said.

Annabeth looked stunned. "Yeah. Nothing Further Beyond. How did you know?"

Percy pointed. "Because I'm looking at it."

Directly ahead of them, in the middle of the straits, an island had shimmered into existence. Alex was positive no island had been there before. It was a small hilly mass of land, covered in forests and ringed with white beaches. Not very impressive compared to Gibraltar, but in front of the island, jutting from waves about a hundred yards offshore, were two white Grecian columns as tall as the Argo's masts. Between the columns, huge silver words glittered underwater-maybe an illusion, or maybe inlaid in the sand: NON PLUS ULTRA .

"Guys, do I turn around?" Leo asked nervously. "Or... "

No one answered-maybe because, like Alex, they had noticed the figure standing on the beach. As the ship approached the columns, she saw a dark-haired man in purple robes, his arms crossed, staring intently at their ship as if he were expecting them. Alex couldn't tell much else about him from this distance, but judging from his posture, he wasn't happy.

Frank inhaled sharply. "Could that be-?"

"Hercules," Jason said. "The most powerful demigod of all time."

The Argo II was only a few hundred yards from the columns now.

"Need an answer," Leo said urgently. "I can turn, or we can take off. The stabilisers are working again. But I need to know quick-"

"We have to keep going," Annabeth said. "I think he's guarding these straits. If that's really Hercules, sailing or flying away wouldn't do any good. He'll want to talk to us."

"Won't Hercules be on our side?" Piper asked hopefully. "I mean... he's one of us, right?"

Jason grunted. "He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god. You can never be sure with gods."

"Great," Percy said. "Eight of us against Hercules."

"And a satyr!" Hedge added. "We can take him."

"I've got a better idea," Annabeth said. "We send ambassadors ashore. A small group-one or two at most. Try to talk with him."

"I'll go," Jason said. "He's a son of Zeus. I'm the son of Jupiter. Maybe he'll be friendly to me."

"Or maybe he'll hate you," Percy suggested. "Half brothers don't always get along."

Jason scowled. "Thank you, Mr. Optimism."

"It's worth a shot," Annabeth said. "At least Jason and Hercules have something in common. And we need our best diplomat. Somebody who's good with words."

All eyes turned to Piper.

"Fine," she said. "Just let me change my clothes."

--- 

At first Percy and Alex were moping about. Both were sad that they hadn't been useful yet and that no one seemed to want to meet them. 

Then Piper's iris message arrived. Leo prepared the ship for take off, Piper hadn't explained what had happened on the island, but it was clear she didn't like Hercules. 

Alex was on the deck and gasped when she saw Jason flying toward them with Piper while an angry Hercules was still on the shore. 

Percy and Alex sent two huge waves toward the shore knocking Hercules down. By the time the god regained his feet and started lobbing coconuts at them from far below, the Argo II was already sailing through the clouds above the Mediterranean.

After leaving the Pillars of Hercules-unscathed except for a few coconuts lodged in the hull's bronze plating-the ship traveled by air for a few hundred miles.

Alex hoped the ancient lands wouldn't be as bad as they'd heard. But it was almost like a commercial: You'll notice the difference immediately!

Several times an hour, something attacked the ship. A flock of flesh-eating Stymphalian birds swooped out of the night sky, and Festus torched them. Storm spirits swirled around the mast, and Jason blasted them with lightning. While Coach Hedge was having dinner on the foredeck, a wild pegasus appeared from nowhere, stampeded over the coach's enchiladas, and flew off again, leaving cheesy hoof prints all across the deck.

Finally by midnight Jason told Percy and Alex to go to sleep. 

Instead of going to her own cabin, she snuck into Leo's. He was still on deck and had assured her that he would sleep later. 

She cleared his work table and organised his belongings just the way he liked. She smiled at one of the photos he had stuck on the wall. It was of Leo and her, a week after their first quest. Alex's camp t-shirt was blackened with burn marks and Leo was dripping wet. Both of them had wide smiles when they were staring into the camera that Will was holding. 

Alex got into Leo's bed and promised to wait for him, but soon her eyes closed and there wasn't anything she could do about it.