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"how about no"
LEO HAD ANCHORED the Argo II a quarter of a mile out to sea.
Percy—god, she loved that boy—had to hold Annabeth back from slapping the shit out of the daughter of Dionysus when she had told her best friend with a grin about her fight with the goddess Nike. Apparently, the girl didn't appreciate Ariadne picking fights with anymore immortal figures after just escaping the literal birthplace of monsters, nor the assortment of golden blood splatter on her clothes.
Grover had fretted, knocking a tin can into Ariadne's head, and she huddled in a ball in the corner of the deck while cradling her head. A scared and angry Grover was scary, and Percy was no help, as he laughed at her.
Piper and Frank had been sent to investigate Pylos port. Currently, Ariadne was helping her boyfriend reset the ship's desk, raveling ropes and hanging them on the hooks against the wooden walls. She admired Percy working. He did it with no effort, hauling the heaviest of items over his shoulder, arms flexing and she was caught up in staring rather than helping.
Piper and Frank had arrived back to the ship and shared a hug. It was sweet, the way most of them grew close.
The crew gathered for a hurried meeting on the foredeck—mostly because Percy was keeping an eye on a giant red sea serpent off the port side.
"That thing is really red," Percy muttered. "I wonder if it's cherry-flavored."
"Why don't you swim over and find out?" Annabeth asked.
"How about no."
Ariadne raised an eyebrow at the duo and sighed. They were at each other's throats sometimes, but what brother-sister duo wasn't?
"Anyway," Frank said, "according to my Pylos cousins, the chained god we're looking for in Sparta is my dad...uh, I mean Ares, not Mars. Apparently the Spartans kept a statue of him chained up in their city so the spirit of war would never leave them.
"Oo-kay," Leo said. "The Spartans were freaks. Of course, we've got Victory tied up downstairs so I guess we can't talk."
Jason leaned against the forward ballista. "On to Sparta, then. But how does a chained god's heartbeat help us find a cure for dying?"
Hazel mentioned something about visions, but Piper was dazed.
"Piper?" Hazel asked.
She stirred. "Sorry, what?"
"I was asking you about the visions," Hazel prompted. "You told me you'd seen some stuff in your anger blade?"
"Uh...right." Piper reluctantly unsheathed Katoptris. Ever since she'd used it to stab the snow goddess Khione, the visions in the blade had become colder and harsher, like images etched in ice. She'd seen eagles swirling over Camp Half-Blood, a wave of earth destroying New York, a hand reaching from the ground. She'd seen scenes from her past: her father beaten and bound at the top of Mount Diablo, Ariadne and Percy fighting giants in the Roman Colosseum, the river god Achelous reaching out for her, pleading for the cornucopia she'd cut from his head. "I, um...I don't see anything right now. But one vision kept popping up. Annabeth and I are exploring some ruins."
