DON'T BLAME ME! (p. jackson) (#2) (ON HOLD)

- twenty

THE ARGO II WAS ONLY A FEW HUNDRED YARDS FROM THE COLUMNS.

"need an answer," leo said urgently. "i can turn, or we can take off. the stabilizers 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."

unfortunately, rose had a feeling that annabeth was right. if they wanted to pass into the mediterranean, they couldn't avoid this meeting.

"won't hercules be on our side?" piper asked hopefully. "i mean... he's one of us, right?"

jason's brows were furrowed. "he was a son of zeus, but when he died, he became a god. you can never be sure with gods."

"great," percy said. "right 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."

rose wacked his arm as jason scowled and said, "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 rose and piper.

"rock paper scissors?" piper asked.

they threw down their hands. piper lost.

"fine," she sighed. "just let me change my clothes."

after about ten minutes, rose got a text from piper: "have to go find some river god. tell everyone we'll be back later"

rose relayed the message, and everyone sighed.

"so what do we do?" leo asked.

"wait," annabeth said. "that's pretty much the only thing we can do."

after about three hours, rose peered over the side of the ship. she could see two figures moving through the trees.

"leo!" she yelled. "pull us out of the water!"

he didn't question her, simply pulled the anchor up and put the oars in aerial mode.

piper and jason stopped on the beach to converse with hercules. nobody seemed very happy. piper was holding a cornucopia. she used it to shoot an entire restaurant's worth of food at hercules.

"go!" she yelled at jason.

he grabbed Piper's waist and summoned the wind.

hercules's head broke above the mound of goodies. half a coconut was stuck on his head like a war helmet. "kill!" he bellowed, like he'd had a lot of practice saying it.

jason touched down on the deck of the argo ii. he summoned a gale so strong, it pushed them into the sky, while percy sent a ten-foot-tall wave against the shore, knocking hercules down a second time, in a cascade of seawater and pineapples.

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.